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Sardonic Humor is Just My Way of Relating to the World

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Fun fact about the VQ Library: it lives on bookshelves in my home and is guarded by a carefully curated collection of items that mostly consist of Funko Pops and crystals. One of the said Funko Pops is none other than everyone’s favorite Ace Icon, Jughead Jones. Er, the comic book version of Jughead Jones. Don’t worry, dear readers. I have a lot to say about the Riverdale version of Jughead, and there will be a time when I will appear in a cloud of sulphurous smoke to rattle off every thought I’ve ever had while watching all—seven?---seven seasons of Riverdale . But, alas, today is not that day. Lucky you. Now, back to the reason we’re all here. Jughead. Jughead Jones has had a place of honor in my heart for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a sleepy suburb on the east coast where we have an idyllic Main Street that boasts misspelled graffiti, litter, and too many smoke shops to count. But we also have a small convenience store that used to sell comic books when I was a kid in ...
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"I Want to Love a Boy the Way I Love the Ocean"

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  Listen, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you that I listen to Maya Hawke’s albums on repeat through most of my workday (sometimes I spice it up with murder podcasts). She has the voice of an angel and the lyrics of a genius, and I get sucked into her music and find myself really, truly pondering the things that she’s saying, appreciating music the way it’s supposed to be appreciated. And the first time I heard “To Love a Boy,” I recognized myself in the words. “I want to love a boy the way I love the ocean.” I grew up reading about these grand love stories, love stories where men would swoop women off their feet, and their love became their entire world, and, truly, all they needed was that love (or whatever The Beatles said), and it never sat right with me. Even as a kid, I had questions. What do you mean she just married the prince and lived happily ever after? What about her dreams? What if she wanted to be a veterinarian (stick with me, I was very hyper-focused on ev...
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A MerMay Conversation With Morgan Dante

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 The final day of MerMay has arrived- and we hope you had as much fun as we did! We’re going to keep on reading merfolk books all summer long- of course, with an emphasis on those with LGBTQ+ themes. But to close out the May festivities, we have our final interview- a conversation with Morgan Dante (they/ them) about their book Providence Girls . This book is a sapphic Lovecraftian horror-romance, so… basically everything both Caitlyn and Remy adore. VQ: Why do you think we collectively keep coming back to the Lovecraftian stories? Morgan: Lovecraft generally was good at creating atmospheric works; he very much entrenched many of his works in a bleary New England setting that I personally enjoy. More than that, I think his works, such as “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, offer enough fascinating mythological details while also making an imaginative reader curious: What is it like thinking of the ocean as a place where, far below, there are ancient cities with beings we cannot truly fat...
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A MerMay Conversation With Jason June

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Interviewing Jason June (he/ him) for our blog has been one of the highlights of Caitlyn’s May (and that’s saying something because her May has been jam-packed with activities that involve cute dogs)! Check out our conversation below!!  VQ: Can you talk to me about your passion for writing? Where do you think it comes from? Jason June: My passion for writing definitely comes from the worlds that grabbed hold of my attention as a kid and wouldn’t let go. My gateway was the Animorphs series, then continued with Redwall , Dinotopia , Goosebumps . I couldn’t get enough. I know someday I wanted to create characters and worlds that would provide such a sense of escape and excitement that those books did for me.  VQ: What was the inspiration for Out of the Blue ?  Jason June: Out of the Blue was inspired first and foremost by my love of merpeople. From the moment I saw Ariel singing in the waves as a little kid, I knew my dream was to someday become a merperson. I’m still wor...
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A MerMay Conversation with Ann Claycomb

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 For our next MerMay interview, we had the opportunity to talk to Ann Claycomb, author of The Mermaid’s Daughter . This book is a well thought out, modern look at the story of the Little Mermaid- and there’s opera! Of course, this is one of Remy’s favorite books, so talking to Ann was an exceptional experience for them. VQ- The Little Mermaid has a long history of being a queer metaphor, from the theories about Hans Christian Andersen to the deliberate references to queerness in the Disney movie. How did that influence your decision to make this a sapphic love story? Ann- I definitely did research Andersen’s personal life as I put this book together.  He only appears as a character in the related short story that you can read at the end of the book, but that story was written first, as I sorted out how I wanted to mess with the idea of Andersen having created the Little Mermaid.  Because from the first stages of the book, that was a relationship that bothered me. He gets ...
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A MerMay Conversation with Rose Santoriello

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  The final week of MerMay is upon us, which means the MerMay LGBTQ+ Readathon is almost over! (Though, let’s be honest, there are a lot of books on that list and we’ll be reading them all summer long.) We wanted to finish this event with a splash, so this week, we’re bringing you a series of short interviews with the authors of merfolk books with LGBTQ+ representation.  For our first interview, we talked to Rose Santoriello (they/ them), author of Haunt Me, Baby as well as other queer monster romance books. VQ: The monster romance genre seems to be growing in popularity. How would you describe it to audiences unfamiliar with it? Rose: Monster Romance kind of has two subcategories—scary and cozy. The scary monster romances often feel like a Romantasy, just with a very non-human love interest. The other size is much more cozy! And reads a lot like contemporary, but with cute monsters.  VQ: How does your own queerness influence the types of relationships you highlight in...
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Book Review: "Just Like Christmas" by Annabel den Dekker

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Are you a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies? Do you love cute tropey goodness served with a cup of holiday cheer? Do you enjoy reading? Well we’ve got a book for you! “Just Like Christmas” is a newly-released holiday romance that follows the story of Niall and Sam, childhood friends now drifted apart, but brought back together through fake-dating hijinx! While we’re all familiar with the idea of “enemies to lovers”, this story explores the delightfully fun “frienemies to lovers”- as well as many other classic romance story prompts. We, of course, will not be listing them all here because Spoilers, but suffice it to say, if you’re the kind of person who likes a tale that makes you kick your feet and say “Squee!” you’ll be delighted with the many festive-flavored misadventures that befall our protagonists. Beyond the squee-worthy romance, we enjoyed that this love story is supported by well drawn and interesting secondary characters. Niall and Sam both have siblings who add depth to the ...
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