When strange powers emerge in a group of gay teens in the town of Nuffim, their lives are forever changed. Troy is a closeted jock who starts to sense other people's emotions. His geeky brother, Gibbie, develops super strength. Flamboyant Chad unleashes his inner animal, while his gal pal Mandy turns invisible.
"I can totally use my power to psych out my competition," says Troy. "My night vision will make cruising guys super easy," exclaims Chad. "I am so going to eavesdrop on people's conversations," exclaims Mandy. "Uh, I was thinking we'd make the world a better place," offers Gibbie. They get the chance when their schoolmates Devon and Liza use their own unique abilities to remake the student body in a darker image.
Review
I have wanted to read Queeroes since I first heard about it a couple of years ago but could not locate a copy. Thanks to Steve Berman's Lethe Press it is now available for the masses to enjoy and enjoy you will.
The town of Nuffim is an interesting place. There is a group of gay kids there who discover their super powers after drinking contaminated water. With this we have the return of the superhero and even though the book has been designated as young adult fiction, it is more than that. You simply will feel young as you read.
Troy Allstar is a jock who is emotionally repressed and in the closet. He works at a man's clothier and is able to read others' emotions. He has a younger brother, Gibbie, who truly fulfills the definition of the word "nerd". He lives for "Star Trek" but when he discovers some of his powers, that changes. Chad, a cheerleader, is a shape shifter who can become a werewolf and Mandy, his bgf, is able to disappear at will. However there are problems that superheroes do not have the ability to solve and when it is discovered that the contaminated water only affected the gay kids, Mandy, who is straight, must pose as a lesbian. Gibbie wants to use his power to get Chad to go on a date with him but he is still socially awkward and Troy, even though he can understand other people's emotions, cannot deal with his own. All of the teens here are forced to come to terms with their own weaknesses and get in tune with their super powers.
I love the humor here and the camp aspects of the novel but there are places where it is dark when it deals with the topics of death, suicide and drugs. What the book does do is look at gay teens and it brings us a new understanding of the way they think and act. The section of the book that deals with Devon, a gay Goth kid and Liza, a girl who is not accepted by her peers is quite dark. They attempt to give the student body "a new look" and the way they do so is a bit upsetting.
The lesson of the book, it seems to me, is to take a good look at those kids who are not quite accepted and have to be on the fringes and look in without really being able to take part. Bereznai plays with those archetypical superheroes and gives us a new kind of science fiction that is just great fun.
