Fresh Ink, Edited by Lamar Giles

Careful--you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written--whose next chapters are up to you.

Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.

Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers never before in-print. This collection addresses topics like gentrification, acceptance, untimely death, coming out, and poverty and ranges in genre from contemporary realistic fiction to adventure and romance. It will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.

TITLE: Fresh Ink: An Anthology 
AUTHOR: Lamar Giles (Editor), Schuyler Bailar, Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan, Sharon G. Flake, Eric Gansworth, Malinda Lo, Walter Dean Myers, Ellen Oh, Daniel José Older, Thien Pham, Jason Reynolds, Aminah Mae Safi, Gene Luen Yang, Nicola Yoon
PUBLISHER: Ember, an imprint of Penguin Random House
YEAR: 2018
LENGTH: 209 pages
AGE: Young Adult
GENRE: Anthology, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Contemporary
RECOMMENDED: Yes

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Main Character(s), Trans Main Character(s).

My favorites in the collection are “Be Cool for Once”, “Don’t Pass Me By”, “Catch, Pull, Drive”, and “Super Human”. There’s a lot of variation in setting, theme, and character backgrounds across the stories, so it’s hard to pin down a theme of the collection, except that the point was to have a lot of variety. Most of the stories are deeply intertwined with a character's marginalized identity, sometimes they're about the way the characters are marginalized and in a few of them they get to just exist. It's the kind of collection where most people should find one or two they really click with, if that happens then go read more of that author's work! Overall the collection is good and it’s well worth checking out. 

• Eraser Tattoo: No major CWs.
• Meet Cute: CW for ableism (minor), misogyny, claustrophobia. TW for Harry Potter reference (page 35).
• Don’t Pass Me By: CW for racism, bullying.
• Be Cool for Once: No major CWs.
• Tags: CW for gun violence, violence, police brutality, murder, death.
• Why I Learned to Cook: No major CWs.
• A Stranger at the Bochinche: CW for violence.
• A Boy’s Duty: CW for racism.
• One Voice: CW for racism.
• Paladin/Samurai: CW for homophobia, racism.
• Kodama’s Ramen Shop: CW for racism, ableism, grief, parental death (backstory).
• Catch, Pull, Drive: CW for dysphoria, homophobia, transphobia, misgendering, cursing, bullying.
• Super Human: CW for racism, gun violence (backstory), police brutality (backstory), car accident (backstory), parental death (backstory).

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