by Hal Schrieve
Triangle Square
10/10/2023, hardcover
SKU: 9781644213018
Boldly weird, cool, and confident, this YA novel of LGBTQ+ teen artists, activists, and telepathic visionaries offers hope against climate and community destruction. From the National Book Award-longlisted author of Out of Salem.
James Goldberg, self-described neurotic goth gay transsexual stoner, is a senior in high school, and fully over it. He mostly ignores his classes at Cow Pie High, instead focusing on fundraising for the near-bankrupt local LGBTQ+ youth support group, Compton House, and attending punk shows with his friend-crush Ian and best friend Opal. But when James falls in love with Orsino, a homeschooled trans boy with telepathic powers and visions of the future, he wonders if the scope of what he believes possible is too small. Orsino, meanwhile, hopes that in James he has finally found someone who will be able to share the apocalyptic visions he has had to keep to himself, and better understand the powers they hold.
How to Get over the End of the World confirms Hal Schrieve as a unique and to-be-celebrated voice in LGBTQ+ YA fiction with this multi-voiced story about flawed people trying their hardest to make a better world, about the beauty and craziness of hope, about too-big dreams and reality checks, and about the ways in which human messiness--egos, jealousy, insecurity--and good faith can coexist. It's also about preserving the ties within a chosen family--and maybe saving the world--through love, art, and acts of resistance.
Target age: 12 to 17
Reviews:
"A story exploding with voice and vulnerability, How to Get over the End of the World is electric and soft and honest and powerful and left me buzzing. I've never read such a raw depiction and reflection of my trans and queer identities, and I'm beyond excited for young readers who'll get to read this book and feel seen by Hal's words. Simply magical. Very gay." --Kacen Callender, author of the National Book Award-winning King and the Dragonflies and the bestselling novel Felix Ever After
"How to Get over the End of the World would have been phenomenal and necessary even without the science-magic: queer and trans teens, playing in bands, falling in love, raising hell, fighting and friending and living radical lives. But, there is science-magic. Aliens and telepathy and vibes. This is the book we need right now." -- Michelle Tea, author of Black Wave
About the Author:
Hal Schrieve grew up in Olympia, Washington. Hir debut novel Out of Salem was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2019. Hal's poetry has appeared in Vetch magazine, and hir comics have been featured in Stacked Deck Press's 2018 anthology We're Still Here. Hal works as a children's librarian in New York.