In Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan brings back the literary chorus of old. The narrative guides of Shakespeare and Ovid at long last reappear, this time through the collective voice of our “ancient” gay predecessors. These are the people who bravely pioneered the social frontier, the rainbow-clad Lewis & Clark who pressed love onward – quietly or with booming voice – and who were lost to one of the greatest tragedies of our day, the AIDS epidemic.

The Premise 

As our guide, this chorus reveals to us a day in the life of multiple contemporary gay youths, in many iterations of the “type.” The main couple, Craig and Harry, are the two boys kissing, but they are not a couple at all (although they used to be). Their goal is to stand up for equality by breaking the world’s record for longest kiss – hoping that the process and the result of two boys’ names together in a permanent book of world records will get people thinking, if not change the world entirely. They are also standing up for their friend, who was violently and viciously beaten for being gay.

In addition to their primary story, the chorus gives us a peek into the worlds of Peter and Neil, a young couple who are learning what that word, “couple,” means; learning how to navigate life for themselves and for each other, including, most importantly, how to understand and respond to one another, sometimes without words. We also meet Avery and Ryan, both of whom have their demons, past and present, and who must confront the idea of what it means to be different, even within the same “gay world.”

Finally, we see Cooper, the boy who no one sees and who refuses to be seen. Cooper’s story is where the chorus truly rallies and where these spirit guides are needed most, lest we forget that where we came from and where we are going are inextricably linked. Technology advances, and these advancements change our perspectives and our possibilities, but for boys like Cooper, the loneliness and isolation only grow deeper, more vacuous.

Thoughts on the Book

Before there was Heartstopper, there was Two Boys Kissing: the gay anthem for our day. It is the very book created from the very inspirations that many of us have been waiting to read for a long, long time. Levithan pulls stories from the real world and links them to our present and our past. He does this through the eyes of a compassionate yet devastatingly helpless and sometimes forgotten chorus of our forbearers.

Levithan, since the publication of his wonderful short novel Boy Meets Boy twenty years ago, has veered from the idyllic and romantic, to the daring and experimental (Every You, Every Me), and the exploratory (Every Day), right into the real, the raw, and the historical. He keeps getting better, and Two Boys Kissing is a triumph indeed.

Quotes to Consider

“It is hard to stop seeing your son as a son and to start seeing him as a human being. It is hard to stop seeing your parents as parents and to start seeing them as human beings. It’s a two-sided transition, and very few people manage it gracefully.”

“What strange creatures we are, to find silence peaceful, when permanent silence is the thing we most dread. Nighttime is not that. Nighttime still rustles, still creaks and whispers and trembles in its throat.  It is not darkness we fear, but our own helplessness within it.”

“You grow. Your life widens. And you can’t expect your partner’s love alone to fill you. There will always be space for other things.”

“Here we are, thousands of us, shouting no, shouting at him to stop, crying out and making a net of our bodies, trying to come between him and the water.”

“There is the sudden. There is the eventual. And in between, there is the living.”

Adam W. Burgess is an English Professor at College of Southern Nevada. He has a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing a post-doc writing certificate at the University of California, Berkeley. He loves engaging in all topics related to LGBTQ literature and craft. You can find Adam on his website or follow him on Twitter, and Instagram.

The post The Triumph of <em>Two Boys Kissing</em> appeared first on DIY MFA.

About Magic’s Pawn

Magic’s Pawn was written by Mercedes Lackey and published in 1989. As a scholar of LGBT literature, I have to say this is remarkable. Not only is this an openly gay text with positive representation, but it’s also mainstream and was printed by a large fantasy press. It’s not surprising that it was written by a woman, as that was rather typical of accepted (“acceptable”) gay fiction up to the 1990s, when it began to be more and more common to see gay men writing and publishing their own stories more successfully (although—well, never mind, that’s a rabbit hole I won’t go down here.) 

Lackey even mentions in her wonderful new introduction to the trilogy that she and her agent had serious discussions about the likelihood of this story ever seeing the light of day. Fortunately, they both took the courageous steps to get it out there, and it worked.

The Plot

The story follows young Vanyel, a beautiful but different noble person and heir to his father’s throne. At home, he is constantly bullied, persecuted, and abused because he is beautiful and soft, the opposite of what a leader is expected to be. His father, his tutor, and his brother all seem determined to grind Vanyel down; only his sister and his overbearing mother show him any love. 

Eventually, Vanyel’s inability to grow into the masculine noble that his father demands is met with punishment: exile to Haven, where he will be tutored by his hard-as-nails aunt, the Herald Savil.

Surprisingly, however, this punishment turns out to be the greatest blessing. In Haven, Vanyel learns a lot about who he really is, what makes him different, yes, but also what makes him great. He finds companionship that develops into true love; he learns the secrets of his once dormant magical abilities, and he earns grudging respect from the most judgmental family and teachers. But all of this comes at a cost.

When Vanyel’s lover is drawn into a terrible battle and suffers a loss beyond consolation, Vanyel immediately rushes to his aid. The choices these two young, talented lovers make will bring about the end of their relationship, but also a great and painful transformation in Vanyel.

While Magic’s Pawn might not include as much wizardry as readers might expect from a “fantasy novel” with a wizard in the leading role, what it does provide is a unique and sensitive representation of a young gay man’s coming-of-age experience, including the difficult pillars of coming out and of falling in love. The very human elements of family and friendship, grief and loss, are also crucial to the story.

A Final Note

At the end of the introduction, Lackey describes the readers who have written to express their appreciation to her for this story. She mentions that many have called her a hero for daring to do that work, and for helping them to see themselves and understand themselves for the first time, through her fiction. It even encouraged young and older readers to come out. And here is her response:

You are the real heroes. I am proud and thrilled to have been part of your journey, but you began the journey, and you kept up with it until you came out on top. It was all you. I’m just glad to have been a part of it.

Mercedes Lackey

Now, remember, Lackey wrote and published this trilogy in the late-1980s/early-1990s, at the height of the AIDS crisis. Here she is, reaching out to a devastated, terrified community, giving them hope, a sense of place, and purpose. This is the power of writing and writing well.

Gay male writers in the United States who know their history will be forever indebted to the women who got them through one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. These women—including ally writers—were, and will forever be, heroes indeed.

Tell us in the comments: Have you read Magic’s Pawn? Do you have any other recommendations for LGBTQ+ high fantasy books?

Adam W. Burgess is an English Professor at College of Southern Nevada. He has a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing a post-doc writing certificate at the University of California, Berkeley. He loves engaging in all topics related to LGBTQ literature and craft. You can find Adam on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post Magic’s Pawn: A Classic of LGBTQ+ High Fantasy appeared first on DIY MFA.