Book Review- OMG Queer

Title: OMG Queer

 Author: Anthology

Series:  N/A

Published:  14 August 2012 by Bold Strokes Books

Length: 264 pages

Warnings:  graphic sex, homophobia, strong language

Source: Netgalley

Summary : Hope. Fear. Desire. Despair. Promises. Betrayals. Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Questioning. Intersex.
This anthology of short stories gives voice to the rising generation as they define what it means to grow up queer in the twenty-first century. What is it like to grow up in a society that embraces you in certain ways but discriminates against you in others? How do you choose a label from the alphabet soup, and should you even have to? By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, comical and caustic, these stories, imagined and told by youth across America, provide a snapshot of queerness at the dawn of the new millennium.

Review: I find that LGBT fiction tends to be of a high quality. Anthologies tend to be a mix of bad and good fiction of the chosen genre.  This should be quite good then, but...yeah. I like that it’s all done by young people, but sometimes, it’s not amazing. It covers a nice lot of topics, and ACTUALLY INCLUDES THE T OF THE COMMUNITY (It really irritates me when something says it’s LGBT and ends with “gay men and lesbians”.) Unlike with other anthologies, the final tea score isn’t an average of all the stories., but a general impression of the entire book.

Jelson by Breanna Hovey. This deals with being a Swop, which is a little like intersex, but they literally swap sexual characteristics. At last! Something dealing with the non-cis community! (sorry, but it irritates me that we label it LGBT fiction and the T and variants get represented in hardly any way). This story addresses issues, and is also a romance. The idea of a Swop was a little hard to grasp to start with, but this was a good story.         5

The Tea Bowl by Justine F Lane. Girl falls in love with girl. But Girl A is an English teacher and Girl B is a student. Girl A also considers breaking up with her girlfiend to run off with Girl B. And it was like...oh.  Teacher/student relationships squick me out generally, but I like the metaphor running through this.        2

The Piano Player by Thomas Graziano. Will and Wesley meet via piano playing and a funeral. They fall in love. My favourite character in this was Tiffany, the best friend, who is funny and a good friend, from what we see of her. This is a very short and sweet romance.                        4

Cristal Crisis by A J Slater. Ryan recounts her high school experiences, mainly  of bullying, to her new girlfriend. They also meet Cristal, so there’s a nice circle format to this. Lots of horrible issues tackled sensibly.            4

A Tale of Modern Magic by Olivea Dziwak. On World Aids Day, a girl meets a girl. Not much else happens.                2

Indulge Ne by Ashely Bartlett. Two people meet, go home and have sex. This really isn’t my kind of thing. And suddenly having unexpected p4wn on my kindle is all *What???!*  There was a bit of plot in relation to the narrators relationship..but it just wasn't my thing.                1

Ignite the Sky by Julie R Sanchez. Grace and Callie go on a round trip, discovering things about each other and falling in love. I really like the format of this, being told in reverse chronological order.      4

A Round Trip by Warren Smith. Ethan meets Zack on a train and they fall in love. It’s a nice message, but also instalovey, but sweet.   3

Butch Fatale by Kirsty Logan. Bex and Narrator are friends. Narrator goes off with someone else. Six months later, Narrator leaves girlfriend for Bex. Not my kind of thing, but the depiction of clubbing is nicely done.             2

Pool of Sorrow by Sam Sommer.  Narator narrates his summer from many years ago, when he was a reader and when he fell in love with Teddy. Sweet, but not very much happens. 3

My Lips by Joseph Aviv. Seventeen year old Joseph realises he’s gay. I’m not sure of the main line of plot of this, but I like Joseph’s writing style.

Fighting for Love.   Alaina and Billie fall in love  but it doesn't work. There’s a nice element of “finding who you are” and this also was rather emotional.                 4

There Was a Knocking n the Door by Andrew Arslon. Boy comes out and some of the family take it badly. It’s a good look at family dynamics in the LGBT community, and varying attitudes.  I like the different subject matter and the way of handling it.               4

My Aahana .  Unrequited Love between Joe and Aahana. Short plot and not much happens. 2

First Time by Archer Darke.   PWP between Hayden and Grace, but well written PWP. You got to know the characters a little too before they start, which was nice.                 3

Hella Nervous by Rebeckah Weatherspoon  Oskana and Tracy fall in love. Sweet, but not amazing. 2

Closer to Me by Anna Meadows.  Just a little romance.   Different voice interspersed with Spanish was a refreshing change to the writing styles.     3

Graduation by Brighton Bennett  Emmerson and Rachel make up four years after splitting up. A relatively lengthly story.          2.

Overall: Mixed reactions for this.  There’s some rather good stories in this  anthology. And yet there are some stories where I just fail to understand 1. What the plot is and 2. Why I should be interested in someone breaking up/getting together with that person. Strength  2 and a bit,  just about up to 3,  tea to an anthology with a lot of gems but also lot of stories that I didn’t enjoy.

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