Two Halves of One Weird Person: We Won’t Feel a Thing By J.C. Lillis

Have you felt a distinct lack of Pushing Daisies in your media rotation? Are you guilty of looking for Magic in Everyday Places? Do you want a romance NOT like all the other YA romances? In this episode, Carey and Marie discuss under-the-radar gem We Won’t Feel a Thing by J.C. Lillis, touching on weird Americana, forbidden romance, scifi versus magical realism, and the inevitable outcome of all those weird self-improvement programs you’re advertised on Facebook: love. Or a mad scientist showing up on your door yelling about manic pixie dream lab assistants AND WHO DOESN’T WANT THAT.

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We Won’t Feel a Thing: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Website, Goodreads

J.C. Lillis: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (Superhero M/M romance You First is out May 23, so why not add it on Goodreads?)

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Content Notes

There’s not siblings, she’s the adopted kid of his mom’s college professor.

Heads up for dead parental figure and neglectful textual parents. Also a DEEPLY creepy dude and his creepy actions, up to attempted assault.

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Lissa Treiman kitty comic

The Order of Oddfish (by friend of the podcast James Kennedy!)

Anastasia Krupnick series

Alice McKinley series

Barbie Made-to-Move Curvy Yoga Barbie

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Readalikes

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

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Current Reads

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The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan 

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 7: I've Been Waiting for a Squirrel Like You by Ryan North &  Erica Henderson

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni 

Episode 16: Fundamental Glitterature: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Lanky Lizards! Carey and Marie couldn't hold back from talking about the It Girl of Gen X lit, Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block. 

Weetzie Bat: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads

Francesca Lia Block: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Polyvore

Wanna chat? GoYourOwnYA at Gmail dot Com and everywhere else!

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Content Warnings

Sex, death, rock and roll, skinheads, addiction, parent death, having a baby with your BFFs behind your partner's back, and some cultural issues well addressed by others. We talk a lot about how on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of publication, it would be a great time to address how things have changed and what would be different nowadays.

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Show Notes

Did you know there's a Weetzie Bat cookbook? Check out Fairies in the Kitchen by Cameron Stanton!

Inside ElsaGate

Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out! by Hillary Carlip

The Zine Scene by Hillary Carlip and Francesca Lia Block

Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block

WhimWham: Living a Life of Whimsy

Download Your LiveJournal as a PDF

Beloved Rookie did a whole series of posts on Weetzie Bat, including:

• Magical Creature: An Interview With Francesca Lia Block

• Secret Style Icon: Weetzie Bat

• Friday Playlist: Hanging Out With Weetzie Bat

• DIY Weetzie Nails

Vintage LA by Jennifer Brandt Taylor is a must read for fans of the Dangerous Angels books!

Pre-order The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

Cynthia Heimel

A&B by J.C. Lillis

The Gallery of Regrettable Food - Spry Lard

Wendy McClure: Weight Watchers Recipe Cards from 1974

Charlotte Zolotow

Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom

Worlds Within: Children's Fantasy From The Middle Ages To Today

Irving Block at IMDB

Valencia Is The Most Masterful Dyke-Centric Artsy-Weirdo Film I’ve Ever Seen

Shock Value: A Tasteful Book about Bad Taste by John Waters

Love The Simpsons? We do too! Have a listen to Everything's Coming Up Simpsons

Eric Carle Museum

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Readalikes

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Current Reads

Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

Unf*ck Your Habitat by Rachel Hoffman

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 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2018)

Episode 9: I Hope You Don't Mind Whimsy: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Travel to magical utopian New Jersey with Carey and Marie in this groundbreaking queer YA romance. For such a sweet book, we spend a lot of time talking about mental health issues and our dead parents! But don't let that take away from this very sweet, very romantic magical realist story where boy meets boy and transphobes meet the Jersey Devil (in our hearts).

Boy Meets Boy: (You want the tenth anniversary edition!) Goodreads, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Better World Books

David Levithan: Website

Content Warnings:

Infinite Darlene is a wonderful trans girl character that the narrative--and Paul's point of view--doesn't serve. The short story at the end of the anniversary edition puts some of this to right, but yeah, it was slim pickings in mainstream YA for a really long time. We'll be addressing this! This is also a pretty white book, and there's a lot of diminishing the abusive relationship of one best friend and abusive parents of another, because you're getting inside the head of a sheltered white cis gay teenage boy. Queer YA--and the author--has grown a lot in the past 12 years, and we're really happy about that, despite the long way we still have to go.

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This is Paul's Elsewhere song. It's also from Robot Unicorn Attack.

Datable cryptids? Learn more about them on the Cryptid Keeper podcast!

The Adventures of the REAL Winnie-the-Pooh - visit them at the Central Children's Room!

Did you know there is Boy Meets Boy fanfic? That's what Host Rie learned while making these shownotes!

David Levithan, editor extraordinaire, talks with Ann M. Martin as the Baby-sitters Club Turns 30 on Scholastic Reads podcast

Strand Bookstore where Paul and Tony meet

A-Camp, Host Rie's family reunion

Montclair Book Center

Cheaper by the Dozen

Weird NJ magazine: why we love New Jersey and why you should too

Feed transphobic boyfriends to the Jersey Devil

Captain Awkward

"Tony" by Patty Griffin. Content warning for gay slurs and suicide.

Obsessed with Joseph Scrimshaw Podcast

The Huntswoman: Brianne Huntsman, business coach

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A Short List of LGBTQAI Teen Resources

Resources for LGBTQ Youth By State from Lambda Legal

PFLAG NYC Links to Recommended Resources for Teens

Scarleteen LGBT Resources

Trans Life Line

Crisis Text Line

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Readalikes

Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block

Mermaids on Parade by Melanie Hope Greenburg

How I Paid for College by Marc Acito

Current Reads

Hi-Fi Fight Club by Carly Usdin

It's Not Like It's a Secret by Misa Sigiura

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  (CC Marie Macula, Carey Farrell 2017)