The dismal quality of the Young Adult genre

  I don’t enjoy any genre as a rule, but Young Adult is truly raising my ire.

  Mixed with Romance, as it often is (the two are joined at the hip) it becomes an absolutely horrible experience.

  How anyone can enjoy this crap is beyond me.

  It is teenager’s life diluted, clouded by a thousands filters of censorship and misdirection, totally empty of reason and passion both.

  There is no sex, no violence, except off camera and nothing even resembling real life.

  I read LJ Smith when I was ten and couldn't (still can’t) believe the genre she practically started has become so popular. I must «confess» I've never more than browsed Stephanie Meyer’s books, but I read more than enough to form an opinion and it’s worse than its reputation. I forced myself to read Dark Flame by Alyson Noel, just to see if it ever amounted to anything.

  It never did.

  That was supposed to be her darkest story? Ridiculous! If she wrote for Christian grandmothers perhaps (perhaps she does).

  To my fellow young adults enjoying or pretending to enjoy this shit I have only one thing to say: up yours!

  In a world where stale and unexciting storytelling is dominant, this genre is truly the bottom of the barrel.

  I want to read and enjoy completely different stories. This quote from a review I agree wholeheartedly with:

  "ShadowWalk is a powerful tale of magick and empowerment which manages not to sound like a mind-body-spirit-self-obsessed-hippie book. This is full-on reality. Blood and sweat and shit - nothing's toned down or dulled. The intensity of life comes through strong and meaty. Real life bursting off the pages".

  Review in Green Anarchist (the original and best) No. 68/69 Summer 2003.

  This is a story about teenagers, but it is so far removed from the YA-genre it is possible to come. The quote says it all, really. ShadowWalk operates on a completely different level compared to the mainstream shit we are fed continuously today.

Do you know?

  In a survey of children using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking this was the result:

  At age four 84% of the children tested as highly creative.
  At age eight 67% of the children tested as highly creative.
  At age twelve 34% of the children tested as highly creative.
  At age seventeen 12% of the children tested as highly creative.

  Something needs fixing and it is not children.

Kindred souls

  When I hear some of my friends speak, when I listen to their mundane, unimaginative talk I feel even more lonely, but most of all I despair over how little even fairly intelligent people like them have truly grasped of the world. They are, I’m sad to admit usually fooled by the most common and transparent propaganda, and don’t feel the need to break out of their confines to search for the true freedom awaiting them beyond the thin veil of the oppressive society. When they don’t understand the world, they don’t understand me and without that understanding and simple awareness there can be little common ground and true friendship.

  It is said you don’t choose your friends and I guess that’s true. Most friendships grow more out of circumstances than from choice, and true friends are rare. It isn’t sufficient merely to spend a lot of time in someone’s company. You do need to have a somewhat similar view of the world and yearn for the same things.

  I agree with Marylyn French: Loneliness isn’t a search for company, but a longing for kindred souls.