Nora Olsen

Here’s your chance to win a free copy of my upcoming novel Swans & Klons on Goodreads!

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You could be the lucky winner!

In other news, I’ll be at the Rainbow Book Fair in NYC this Saturday (April 13th.) I’ve been attending this event for a few years, and I always have a great time because there are so many tables with great books and free swag, and the reading series is also very diverse and interesting. It’s at a new location this year, the Holiday Inn on W. 57th Street, and I’m curious what that will be like. I will be at the Bold Strokes Books table from noon to 1pm, so if you want to drop by and say hello, don’t be shy.

I’ve been enjoying Gizoogle–a parody search engine that translates web pages into exaggerated thuggy slang. (If that doesn’t make sense, just go try it. But a warning!: There is bad language, so don’t do this if you’re too young to look at the F-word.) Because search engines make everyone monumentally self-involved (or is it just me?), I most enjoy Gizoogling myself and my books. For example, my Gizoogled FAQ web page says,

Q. Nora, what tha f*** is yo’ book Da End about?

A. Julia n’ her playaz grill tha unthinkable, a ghetto destroyed by nuclear war.  These five queer teens bust magical amulets ta travel all up in time, desperately tryin ta save humanitizzle from total destruction.

Q fo’ realz. Is you available fo’ readings n’ school visits?

A. Why, yes muthaf****! I be also aiiight ta conduct freestylin workshops or hook up wit yo’ school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. If yo ass is horny bout havin me do a school visit or reading, just drop a note at Contact Me.

Q. Can I gots a review copy of yo’ book?

A fo’ realz. Absolutely, if you gotz a funky-ass B-ta-tha-L-O-Gizzay or other venue where you wanna ta post yo’ honest opinion of tha book.

Q. Do you have any cats?

A. Yes, mah hoe n’ I have two cats, n’ you can put dat on yo’ toast. Look at how tha f*** thugged-out they is biaaatch! I be a gangsta yo, but y’all knew dat n’ mah babies!

It’s true, my cats are a little thugged-out.

I don’t think anyone on earth talks like Gizoogle except Snoop Dogg so my initial reaction was that Gizoogle is not offensive. But, eh, now I’m feeling a little uneasy. What do you think? Is Gizoogle racist? Is this funny or not? I need to know your thoughts.

I’m really excited because the publication of my new novel Swans & Klons is just around the corner. (In May!)

Swans & Klons has already received some reviews that made me really happy. The first one was a very thoughtful and in-depth review from Djibril al-Ayad at The Future Fire Reviews. (The same good people who create the awesome Future Fire magazine also run a review site for speculative fiction from small and indie presses.) Here’s an excerpt:

Swans and Klons. . . is a light-hearted, fast-paced adventure in the utopia-turns-to-dystopia mould. The story follows two rebellious young girls, lovers, in a women-only world where all reproduction is performed via cloning, and a life of luxury, freedom, high culture and learning is supported by a large labor-pool of genetically inferior slave workers, as they fight to undermine their own privileged place in this society. . . . [T]his is a strikingly readable novel with appealing characters and an engaging premise that should keep young readers interested, whether the girls Olsen is specifically targeting who “can see themselves reflected in” a queer narrative, or a more general, open-minded readership.

This is a World Without Men (WWM) of one of the classic types: human males were all but wiped out by a genetic disease, and have been replaced by reproductive technologies through which children are created without the need for either copulation or pregnancy. There is a certain Russ-esque cheerfulness to the way the last surviving men from this historic pandemic are casually referred to as “cretinous males”, and the girls in this story have a horrified fascination with the very idea of male sex or reproduction.

The most effective literary dystopia is that which is not obviously dystopian to all, one where an idyllic life for the privileged class is possible not despite, but because of the terrible oppression of an underclass. . . This travesty, only slowly revealed to the reader, is the injustice upon which the cleverly executed conflict of the entire novel is built. . . This is a powerful story, told by sympathetic but not perfect protagonists, and with both truly frustrating challenges and enough optimistic moments to leave the idea that real change is possible.

Nora Olsen lists her goal as writing “thrilling stories and novels [for] LGBTQ teens”, and this novel certainly normalizes the lesbian relationships without fanfare or angst, but I think it’s also an accessible enough story that it should be popular with a general YA readership as well.

-Djibril al-Ayad

The second review of Swans & Klons was from Queer YA. I follow this site religiously, because the reviewer Daisy Porter is very sophisticated, has no time for cliches, and is quite picky, so I can always take her book recommendations to the bank. If she likes it, I know I will like it. (Although if she doesn’t like it, I still might like it.) So it means a lot to me that she enjoyed Swans & Klons.

A couple of centuries from now, men are obsolete and society is dominated by women. Rubric is sixteen and in training to become a Panna, or upper-middle-class career woman; she’s served by Klons, who aren’t human but look it; and she’s got a “schatzie” (girlfriend), Salmon Jo.  Everything is going well for Rubric until. . . [SPOILERS! Only go read the review of you want to be spoilered.] The advantage of SF is that a world can be built in which lesbianism is the norm and there isn’t any painful coming-out process. Instead, Rubric and Salmon Jo are just people who happen to be in love. Yay.

-Daisy Porter, Queer YA

I’ll keep you kids updated on giveaways, readings, and any other Swans & Klons-related goodness.

If you’re on Goodreads, consider adding Swans & Klons to your TBR list. How do you feel about Amazon’s takeover of Goodreads? Well, you could always switch to LibraryThing or Shelfari. . . oh no, wait, Amazon owns those too. I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords!

Simpsons joke!

I’m very excited to share good news about my next novel. SWANS & KLONS will be published in May 2013 by Bold Strokes Books. Check out the cover!

SWANS & KLONS is the story of Rubric, a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in an idyllic all-female society where non-human Klons do all the work. But once Rubric and her girlfriend Salmon Jo uncover a terrifying secret about the Klons, they fall into the dark underside of their seemingly perfect world. Will they make it out alive?

As I’ve written about before, there is a real shortage of YA dystopian novels with queer characters. I’m happy to do my bit to remedy that! And I’m delighted to be working with Bold Strokes Books, one of the pre-eminent contemporary LGBTQ publishers. Their YA imprint, Soliloquy, is first-rate. (BTW, right now they are running a 10% discount on all orders over $25, if you are in need of reading material.)

Bold Strokes Books holds literary events during Women’s Week in Provincetown, Massacusetts. I’ll be at a panel on forthcoming books called “Worth the Wait.” The moderator will be Anne Laughlin, and the other panelists are PJ Trebelhorn, VK Powell, Sophia Kell Hagin, and Barbara Ann Wright.

The panel will be on Friday, October 12^th from 2pm to 3pm at the Provincetown Library at 330 Commercial Street. We’ll all discuss our upcoming novels and give brief reading. Check out the full schedule of Women’s Week events here!

There’s also a dynamic new organization in New York’s Hudson Valley called POKLit. POKLit holds a series of literary events in Poughkeepsie, NY, and it’s revitalizing both the arts scene and the downtown area. I was lucky enough to participate in two of their events, a spoken-word “funeral” for some outdoor sculptures that were being removed from a park and an open mic reading. Good times!

I didn’t know I made such weird faces when I read aloud. Feh.

POKLit’s project HALLOW STORIES, a performance taking place in a historic fireplace, is coming up on October 20^th and is sure to be spooky and compelling. Don’t miss it if you’re in the area!