An Unexpected Party: Queer speculative YA fiction

by Seth Malacari (Editor)

From fantastical realms to real-world struggles, this young adult anthology champions queer identity by challenging stereotypes and exploring the many facets of identity. Written with wit, heart and honesty, these stories take queer protagonists outside the box of YA romance and centre them at the heart of stories that involve magic, paranormal beings and adventure. Featuring trans and gender-diverse voices – asexual, aromantic, bisexual and more – the stories in An Unexpected Party are as diverse as their writers.

Genres: LGBT, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Queer

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Sharah McConville · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Unexpected Party is a book of Queer Speculative Young Adult fiction. This collection contains some very unique short stories, some I enjoyed and some I didn’t. The standout stories for me were The Excursion by Seth Malacari, who is also the editor of this book, along with Shellshocked by Aidan Demmers, and Violet Grim and the In-between Place by L.E. Austin. In my opinion this book is for older teens as it addresses some tough issues. An Unexpected Party has beautiful cover artwork and as the stories are so varied, I believe there is something for everyone within these pages. 3.5 stars.

[cockatiel forger · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a cute collection! my personal favourites would be sixteen candles (but with demons), harmless, the graveyard shift, and transmission scars.

ratings for each of the stories:

sixteen candles (but with demons): 5 stars
shellshocked: 4.5 stars
the excursion: 3 stars
harmless: 5 stars
violet grim and the inbetween place: 2.5 stars
thicker than water: 3.5 stars
negara: 1.5 stars
tasseography: 3 stars
figment: 2.5 stars
the graveyard shift: 5 stars
the boy and the witch: 3.5 stars
the parade of the weeds: 1 star
the swan king: 3 stars
transmission scars: 4.5 stars
our time, our home: 3 stars
salt in her pockets: 2.5 stars
surge: 4 stars
hostel nights like these: 2 stars
the vampire and the aunty: 2 stars

[Avril Polson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is just to help me remember key points about the book. If you find it helpful or relatable that's cool too.
Pride Month Edition 🏳️‍🌈

I liked half of the chapters, the others were tolerable at best. I didn't see that it was Australian and the references gave me the ick. Approximately 1 in 3 chapters are about a transmasc character. I really enjoyed five of the stories so I will be looking further into those authors.

Once Sentence Chapter Summaries:
Quirky Demon
Space Lesbians Play Fighting
Merfolk?
Eh the characters seem neat
Gay Ghosties
Wet
I don't get it
Magical Tea Friends
Black Mirror
Gas Station Simulator
A Witch that didn't eat the child
Plant Body Horror
Fantasy Kingdom Monarchy
Cars 4
Bird
Period Monster

[archivist13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. dnf

[Jess Checkland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection truly celebrates the vibrant LGBTQ+ community, offering a diverse range of stories that are both heartwarming and thought-provoking. Personal favourites are “The Paradise of the Weeds”, “Sixteen Candles (but with demons)” and “Violet Grim and the In-between Place”.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

“An Unexpected Party” is an anthology of short stories with a speculative fiction bent. Each also features one or more characters who are LGBTQIA+. Thematically, the anthology hangs together well, and the quality of the stories is very consistent.

Although this is subtitled “queer speculative YA fiction”, in more than one story the characters’ gender or sexual identification seems almost beside the point. The fantasy or science fiction elements are what the story is really about. This is part of editor Malacari’s point: that most people live “normal” lives regardless of their identification. However, this may cause some readers to feel a little misled about the tone of the anthology.

The majority of the stories provide empathetic characters, and engage the reader quickly. As the anthology is aimed at young adults, most of the stories also have young protagonists. It’s not surprising that themes of identity crisis, self discovery, and stepping away from parental guidance run through most of the stories.

Regardless of your personal identification, you’ll likely feel for these characters. You’ll probably recognise or remember many of their feelings. Not all of them are in a bad place emotionally or mentally, but most aren’t fully formed adults either.

If Malacari intended to showcase a large part of the spectrum of sexuality and gender identification, I think he’s succeeded. The writers have backed this up with solidly constructed stories that will draw most readers in emotionally and develop sympathy for lots of different characters.

I also think this succeeds as a speculative fiction anthology. There’s a wide variety of stories here, from fantasy to science fiction to genre blurring stories that are hard to define. They’re all of a similar length. Most have an interesting premise at the heart of the story, and some are strikingly original. They’re also universally well written.

As is common with anthologies, I liked some stories better than others. In general that’s down to personal taste, and other readers will have their own favorites. There was no story I really disliked, although I felt a couple were good ideas that never really went anywhere. They needed more expansion and more of a point or conclusion.

Although sexual and gender identification are integral to most of the stories, sexual activity is not. Some of the themes are on the mature side, and there is some reliance on inference. As a result, while the writing style and many of the stories are suitable for readers from about 10 years, the anthology may resonate more with readers who have entered their teens.

I really enjoyed this anthology, even though I’m not really the intended audience. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction short stories.

If you enjoyed this review, please visit www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog to read more.

[Emmaby Barton Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Discovered this book at Aesops queer library this year - I ended up choosing another book but immediately borrowed this from the library and I'm very glad I did! As with any anthology, there were of course some I liked more than others but overall a really nice collection (though you can definitely tell it is YA and these are newer authors).

Personal favourites: Sixteen Candles (but with demons); Shellshocked; Violet Grim and the In-Between Place; Thicker than Water; Our Time, Our Home; The Vampire and the Aunty

"There are two versions of the queer experience in mainstream media: rainbows and pride parades, or violence and death. These extreme ends of the queer spectrum do exist, but most of us live somewhere in between... The queer experience is more than just rainbows, 'equal love' and death. The queer experience is every minute of every day for us. It is the mundane and the magical. The inbetween. The unexpected."

"There's a point to this, okay? I'm trying to say that humans do bad things. But there's a difference between doing bad things because you're a flawed human, and doing malicious things. People do bad things, but they don't necessarily do it to hurt you. So, this whole situation: your friends, your family, forgetting. It's bad, they did a bad thing, but it's not personal. It's not malicious... I'm not saying it's okay what they did", the demon continued. "I'm not even saying that you need to forgive them immediately, or even at all. Maybe this is where you decide what you put up with in the future and what you don't. But don't let it get to you. You got a lot of years ahead of you. This is just a blip. Four hundred years from now you won't even remember this birthday."

"Don't these things always take effort?" Jana asks... "Bullshit", Jana says. "There's no way you find me perfect and desirable all the time. I have crooked teeth and a monobrow and I sweat too much. I might not be able to smell it, but I know I annoy you, when I get too pedantic about holo-game rules, or cleaning the fridge, or leaving your hair everywhere...and that's okay... we're all ugly and annoying sometimes, you know? Are you gonna look me in the eyes and tell me I'm perfect?... Because if you do - I don't want that. I'm a sapient, just like you, and we're all complicated and stupid and unattractive. And we love each other despite it. That's the point."

""He loved you" "He tried" And wasn't that the hardest part?"

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many anthologies of stories, especially those with various authors, there are stories that I like much better than others which makes this a difficult book to rate.

This is queer spec fiction, with a broad range of both queer and spec which is good in that it has explored a wide range of both areas, but also it means that if you are only mainly interested in specific areas of either, there will be some stories that interest you and some that you'll find a bit meh. There's also a wide range of styles. There are 19 stories and they don't necessarily focus on love life and actually not that much on sex - there is a strong sense of trying to show that LGBTQIA is a lot more than sex stories.

The first story, Sixteen Candles, was one I enjoyed a lot. It was very simple and straightforward however it felt honest in its emotions and had a nice dose of humour.

Some of the other stories I enjoyed most were:

Violet Grim and the In-between Place - a good ghost story
The Parade of the Weeds - I just loved the language and the way I could feel the weeds and see them
The Swan King - a good fairy story
The Vampire and the Aunty - a rather comical blend of vampires with LGBTQ and Asian culture

I found the most irritating the story "Harmless" where the main character whines that "Someone has to be on my side" and we are supposed to feel there is something wrong with people being nice to him because it doesn't validate him being angry. Sure, if he wants to be angry, be angry - but it's annoying to find that others are being vilified for just trying to be pleasant in an ordinary way. The character is not sympathetic at all.

It's a mix of stories - not surprisingly - and therefore draws a mx of reactions. There's a number of really good stories that are well worth reading.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all shirt story collections, this one has some stories I really enjoyed and others that didn't hit the mark. I especially liked 16 Candles (But with Demons), The Vampire and the Aunty, The Graveyard Shift, and Salt in Her Pockets. They were my favourite stories. I received this book as part of an ARC promotion. I was excited because at the time I was teaching a speculative fiction unit at school and thought this Aussie collection would be a perfect addition to our course. I am going to recommend that our school purchase copies for the library as well as git use in the English department. The speculative elements are fun, and done well. I liked that most of the stories were semi realistic, in that the speculative elements weren't over the top! Many of the stories were regular YA fare that just happened to have something spooky/alien/supernatural embedded within. It really did feel more believable than some collections I've read because you were able to accept what was happening because it just seemed like it wasn't forced. I hope that makes sense?! I think the book would appeal to many YA readers because it featured stories that all types of people could relate to. I definitely recommend this book, it's a lot of fun.

[Kathy Soltan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure what to make of this book when I first started reading it, but after reading Seth Malacari’s introduction, I WAS intrigued. So, I dipped my metaphoric toe in the water of this collection of short stories, and what a wonderful surprise it was!
Demons, aliens, water creatures, next realm ghost presences- these stories had a bit of something for everyone and although some of the tales were hard to fathom, they presented an escapism often lost by older writers and just created joy from the madness!
It took me a while to get my head around those referred to as ‘they’- I kept expecting to see another character introduced, and it gave me an understanding of how people just want to be accepted for who and what they are- not what they are perceived to be.
Although touted as ‘queer speculative YA fiction’ the themes throughout are pretty much like those of their ‘straight��� counterparts- love, friendship, custom, tradition, acceptance, loss, fear, and anger. So maybe we are not all so different from one another.
A very enjoyable read from some talented young writers, highly recommended.
Open your heart and embrace the change!

[Stef (Noveltea Corner) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Unexpected Party is a queer YA anthology of speculative fiction edited by Seth Malacari, featuring 18 emerging YA writers from Australia. It's a diverse collection of queer identities and perspectives from some really talented new voices. As a speculative collection, this anthology centers characters in their worlds - real and imagined - outside of the typical queer YA romance stories. There's magic, adventure and all manor of stories in between. Speculative fiction is such a fascinating umbrella for all manner of stories, and this anthology has a little bit of everything, and thus, something for everyone.

If you're looking for queer stories or just new authors to try, anthologies are a great way to go. I'm personally looking forward to seeing what the author's in this collection produce next as there were plenty of short stories I'd love to see expanded or to see how the authors tackle longer form works in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, @fremantlepress, for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Cherie • bookshelvesandtealeaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting read. So many unique voices, characters and stories jammed into this little anthology. I had a brilliant time reading this.

I find anthologies hard to review. There’s too many stories for me to review them individually, yet they’re all so different I can’t really review the collection as a whole. But I will try.

Every story here is brimming with imagination. It’s all queer speculative fiction and it’s all utterly unique. I’ve never read anything like so many of the stories contained within these pages. There’s so many cool, different worlds here and I’d love to see some of them further expanded on.

My three favourites were Ticker Than Water by AR Henderson, Tasseogeaphy by Emma Di Bernardo and The Graveyard Shift by Jes Layton. These ones not only sparked imagination, but hooked my heart as well.

If you’re looking for something completely different to read, I can’t recommend this enough.

[Ayesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Better Reading I got an advance copy of this fabulous collection of fiction: There wasn't one story I didn't like, but I definitely have my favourite/s. I did like the editors story, and appreciate the references of allyship in the Intro, and especially the paragraph before it acknowledging Our Mob (Indigenous Australians) and our traditional gender and sexual diversity (including my own sons). This book combines my love of short stories and some of my favourite themes of sf, fantasy, dystopia, magic... What's not to love! I really enjoyed Our Time Our Home by Alistair Ott: I was raised on Dreamtime Stories and always felt a Connection with (the) cheeky Crow... Can't wait to pass it along to the teenager in my rainbow family and hear his reaction...

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by predominantly queer Australian authors. All have a fantasy or sci-fi bent, all deal with queer issues.

Being a collection of short stories, there were some I preferred better than others. I also feel there was a slant towards newer authors, which I support... but it did lead to some questionable writing. I don't want to criticise the weaker stories as a result of the potential burgeoning storytellers; all I'll say is, I think a more thorough editor should have been at play.

I enjoyed the variety of stories and identities displayed here. The number of Malay identities was also a fun addition, and one I haven't seen regularly in Australian-based literature.

[Lucien Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely collection of queer short stories, with a variety of genres. As to be expected from this kind of thing, I have some I enjoyed far more than others.
There's many different styles of writing here, some which I enjoyed more than others. There's only 2-3 stories that I didn't really like, and that's more because of personal taste than any flaw in the stories themselves.
Overall I would happily recommend to anyone who wants this kind of thing.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

More accurate rating is 4.5/5. Some stories were far more engaging and readable then others but all of the stories were poignant and beautiful in their own ways.
Being able to read such diverse stories from such diverse voices, some of which mirror my own identity, was a highly satisfying experience.
Overall, I recommend it. It’s a fun, easy and beautiful read.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected! Collection of YA fiction short stories

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all anthologies, some great hits and some misses.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as part of the Better Reading Review early reader previews:

This anthology of speculative fiction short stories has been wonderfully named as each new world of story and characters adds to the unexpected for the reader. I enjoyed the diversity of the experiences as well as the integration of a diverse range of LQBTQIA+ characters within the realms of each story.

Identity is important, exploring emotions and understanding around identity is important, experiencing reading of pronouns ‘they / them’ is important. I appreciated however, that the above did not dominate the storylines, it wasn’t the only aspect of the characters. The reader is immersed in an extravagance of experiences, ideas and above all characters who are nuanced rather than stereotyped.

A wonderful collection of work, this really is a party in a book and a good read of the unexpected.