I found Kelley Eskridge's collection Dangerous Space one of the most unusual books I read this year. She twists and turns with gender in ways I did not think were possible - it always works but blows your mind in the process. In my review at Bookslut I wrote the following:

In her new collection, Dangerous Space, science fiction novelist Kelley Eskridge pushes the boundaries of the status quo. She has put together a series of stories that make readers ponder issues of gender, sexuality, and the nature of free choice. Nothing comes easy to the characters in Eskridge’s stories, and, whether they are surprised or shocked by the events she surrounds them with, readers know from the very beginning that reaching resolutions to her often sublimely simple plots is going to require a lot of personal fortitude and courage.

I'm sure that I was only one of many to nominate Space for the Tiptree Award but I can not imagine any other title coming close to what Kelley accomplished. It will be interesting to see what makes the shortlist.

Now on to Kelley's favorite reads for the year!
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I had a conversation this year with an editor of YA fiction who suggested I consider writing a YA novel "as gritty and real" as the title novella of Dangerous Space. I pay attention when editors encourage me to write for them (grin), and I'm intrigued by the idea. I love best to write about characters on emotional journeys. I'm drawn to big feelings, especially those that sneak up on us in our everyday moments, which is pretty much a definition of my own teenage years. And so I've spent much of my reading time this year exploring the field, finding new books and revisiting old friends; looking for work that takes me over, takes me in, takes me back.

You haven't read A Little Princess? I said to Nicola. You must read it now! And so she did, and I reveled in the glee of introducing a book I love to a person I love.

Hmm, she said, does it remind you of The Blue Sword?

Yeesh, no! I said, and scuttled off with the book muttering My precious! And it doesn't: it reminds me so strongly of my own middle school years that I wonder how Frances Hodgson Burnett, who died in 1924, could possibly see into the heart of a young Florida girl who wanted more than anything to be more than she was. A Little Princess walks so carefully the line between hard truth and big drama that it still makes me cry when I read it.

That conversation with Nicola also sent me back to The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. Robin McKinley makes it look so easy: a world full of particular, interesting, complex people, built so gracefully that Bam - there I am walking behind their eyes and feeling the hot sun, the hot hope, the despair and determination.

Or I'm sitting with Maggy-the-artist of Kathe Koja's The Blue Mirror as she draws what she sees and tells herself stories of what the world is and what it might be… and now we're running together through the streets pursued by the beautiful demon lover whose true face she's captured in her sketchbook.

Or I'm slouched in the desk behind Melinda, the girl who doesn't Speak (and whose story, as of this writing, has an astonishing 1,146 customer reviews on amazon). I don't imagine there's a regular reader of Chasing Ray that doesn't know this book by Laurie Halse Anderson, but if you don't, get your skates on. Melinda is funny and sad and broken and brave.

Burnett and McKinley make me want a cold day in front of the fire, or a summer afternoon in a window seat. The Koja and Anderson books are bus books, subway books, stories to read alone over phad thai in the neighborhood restaurant. But I’ll read any of them anywhere; I'll go with them willingly and come back feeling young again, the particular part of youth where we are newly changed, newly scarred, and so full of possibility.
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I reviewed The Blue Mirror way back when it first came out and loved it. I really fell hard for Maggy and all of her artistic longings. Here's a bit of that review:

It is in the Mirror that she meets Cole and his companions, Marianne and Jouly, and her sudden descent into bad love and tragedy begins. They seem to be a happy group, and Cole seems to fall in love with her quickly and completely, but appearances rapidly prove themselves to be deceiving, and Maggy is faced with a difficult choice: fight for the hard life she has, or disappear into one she can not even begin to imagine.

I have not read Kissing the Bee (one of Sharyn November's favorite reads this year) and simply must. Clearly, Kathe Koja is a writer to watch.

As for Kelley writing a YA novel based on "Dangerous Space" - I would like to yell loudly: BRING IT ON! There is most definitely a place for her style of writing in the YA world and we are woefully short of rock and roll novels for teens. Please Kelley - don't give this idea up!

Thanks for stopping by - back tomorrow with Matt Ruff.