Little Brother, YA Triumphant, and Good Lit

Avid websurfers with an interest in YA literature and good sci-fi might have noticed that on pop-culture web outlet BoingBoing, as well as on diverse blogs from literary luminaries such as Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, and perennial YA favorite Scott Westerfeld, the new book Little Brother by science fiction sensation Cory Doctorow is causing a minor net-wave about the topics of young adult crossover appeal and where one can find quality science fiction.

It's interesting to me that there is a quiet move within the industry among science-fiction and fantasy authors to pitch to teen readers. The market for young adult books lets these writers be more flexible in what topics they write about, get better covers and more shelf space, and actually helps them sell more books. As several people pointed out, Scott Westerfeld is the biggest name in science fiction who never gets the recognition he deserves simply because the awards in the genre haven't caught up with the new reality of YA's significance. It's also shocking to me how many people - even after Harry Potter - have missed the groundswell of truly great books emerging in the teen section of their bookstore. These discussions also highlight just how cutting-edge the books available to teenagers have become; there's a second thread on Scalzi's blog that highlights the problems that adult science-fiction faces by comparison. It suggests a lot of interesting things to be aware of -- both that this genre may have its best books already on the YA shelves, but that there may be just as many excellent 'adult' sci-fi and fantasy genre books on the standard sf/f shelves that might have gotten much more attention if only they had been marketed or written 'younger'.

But to circle back again, it's also worth noting that Doctorow, who brought up the topic of the undiscovered country of great YA on the BoingBoing article, is savvy enough to put this awesome book up for download. That's right -- his critically acclaimed sci-fi tale of one teenager against a Homeland Security run amok, Big-Brother-versus-Little-Brother in a good old fashioned showdown, can be read for free download through Creative Commons license. I advise you take a look -- this is highly touted as one of the most important books this year in genre fiction, YA or not, and its buzz is inching towards Twilight-and-Potter huge.