This blog is experiencing formatting problems.

If anyone know how to fix the fact that whenever I post something small like this, and then return the font size to normal after, it looks fine when editing yet when posted the 'new' normal text looks like this would be awesome and I would forever be in their debt.

That is all.

Asexy Literature- Part 1 (in which Holly geeks out majorly)

Hello, all.

I've been thinking a while about asexuals in literature- although not the 'fictional character shows ____ traits, maybe they're ace?" kind of discussion- the actual mentions of asexuality and actual literature that deals with asexuality explicitly.

Interestingly, I've seen somewhat of a trend in my favourite pool of writers, the USA's YA author equivalent of the Frat Pack- the group of authors who frequently promote each other's charity and blog events, create anthologies together, and seem to hold pretty much the same ideologies. (Some are more connected than others, and I may be the only one who refers to them this way, but...)

I'm talking about the group of writers such as John Green (vlogbrothers?) Scott Westerfeld (Uglies series author currently delving into steampunk), Holly Black, Maureen Johnson, Justine Larbelestier.... The lists goes on. Forgive me if I've missed any.

Anyway, I'm somewhat of an avid consumer of some of their books, what with being a Young Adult and all, and in particular I've seen rather an interesting trend between them all, namely their mentions of asexuality.

There's the passing mention in 'Geektastic, Stories from the Nerd Herd', the more-than-passing-mentions from 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson', and the way that John Green and Hank have alluded to asexuality through their Youtube channel.

There's also quite a lot of speculation on Scott Westerfeld's various characters, but that's dealt with most in 'Mind Rain', the Uglies Series collection of essays and in his personal blog.

Again, this 'Geek pack' are also known for their various political stances on various issues such as gender and the LGBT spectrum, too.

What's most interesting (apart from the collective awesome) is that they've got a very large following, even in the UK.

With more and more of these concrete mentions of asexuality, surely it's coming into the collective YA-reading psyche a little easier and faster, which is always a good thing.

However, this quiet invasion of popular YA novels isn't really enough, which I'll hopefully be discussing more in Part 2: Things written for asexuals soon(ish).

Asexuality and 'Growing Up'

Hello, there.

Having been away for the past month, I am now getting ready to go back to school. Living in the UK, 'school-school' (i.e. boring and compulsory school) finishes in the eleventh year, where most of the students are 15, turning 16 at various points- though of course, thanks to the devil in disguise, the ageism rearing its head again means that I'm one of the last years to be able to leave at 16.

Anyway, this is quite a change for me. For the majority of my life, school has been a massive presence, one that never goes away. My life has been monotonous for most weekdays, and now that time's coming to an end! Hooray, right?

Um, I'm actually not so sure...

As I'm getting older, life is getting a little bit scarier, for one thing. I acquire more responsibility (work harder at school! Make life choices!) and - this is the clever bit, where I tie the whole thing into asexuality- and also a little bit of added stigma.

"So, have you 'got' boys yet?" I was asked yesterday by a family friend. It's not offensive, as such, but such things are becoming more and more common, because I'm at the prime age to start 'getting' them. Even coming from an isolated, single-sex school, most of my friends are developing emotionally, and some are in long-term relationships. Others aren't, but they're still all people-mad.

I suppose this has been coming for a while, but it is at times like these that I can't wait to escape to college; where hopefully there'll be understanding people and maybe even a LGTBQA group.

I'll be approaching the 'Sweet Sixteen and....", the "Woah, barely legal!" and possibly even rude presents. I'll be facing more and more difficult questions from adults and others alike, and I may even have to come out to parents.... Though I don't see why, from this side of the year.