"Assisting an intermediary between the worlds of
myths and humans is easier than asking the football hero to homecoming. High
school senior Bridger Whitt is determined to escape humdrum Midden, Michigan,
so he can finally be himself (read: determine his hetero-, homo-, or
bisexuality far from familiar faces). When he is accepted by a Florida college,
he realizes the only way he and his single mom can afford it is to fatten his
coffers via part-time employment. Answering a very peculiar ad, he’s hired to
assist the terminally tackily attired Pavel Chudinov, who is charged with
ensuring humans don’t mix with cryptids. And the sudden abnormal influx of
creatures in Midden (troll, unicorn, mermaids, etc.) has them burning the
mythic candle at both ends. As if dodging toxic troll spit while maintaining
his GPA wasn’t challenge enough, Bridger must also contend with his burgeoning
feelings for dreamy Puerto Rican neighbor Leo, who just might also be into
him."
At last weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
event at USC, I stumbled into a small booth for Duet Books, a publisher of
young adult LGBTQ novels. The persons running were some genuinely charming
women who were more than helpful talking about the small line-up of books be
presented here. One of the ladies was really excited about F.T. Lukens' The
Rules and Regulations For Mediating Myths and Magic. It was on her
enthusiastic love for the book that made me decide to get it.
Now, I don’t read much in this genre, which despite some
mainstream publishers releasing books in this genre; a lot comes from
indie-publishers like Duet Books or self-published houses like Jay Bell’s Something Like…series).
Part of the reasons is that these tales have a tendency to lightly written with
cliché ridden characters and well worn tropes that romance novels (both
straight and gay) fall into. There may also be some internal homophobia from me,
as well, so I've found myself passing up a lot of gay fiction. But still, even
when I do read this genre, I’m always looking for something that can me offer
something different, while still bringing something new to the table.
While there is some repetitive clichés that (maybe) these
type of books can’t escape from (Oh, I do long for a gay male character who
also has a plutonic relationship with a straight male one; I’ve grown weary
with the idea that every gay male character in this genre has to have straight
gal-pal like Astrid here), but the book is surprisingly warm, funny, and charming.
But Lukens does constantly remind us that Bridger is an odd-ball (not a weirdo per se) and knows way too much convenient bits of trivia (the TV game show Jeopardy is named-dropped a lot
here). Still, what really works here is the pacing and believability of the main
characters, which I liked. I also appreciated that Bridger’s struggle with his sexuality was
set more or less on the fringes of the book (and the fact that he's not sure if he's bi or gay is refreshing), along with Luken’s choice to make
the supernatural aspect more prominent (and while she does some World Building
here, she also chooses to limit this, which is fairly refreshing in fantasy
novels these days). So those strengths outweigh some minor quibbles with the
structure.
Pavel Chudinov and his band of merry-odd co-workers (that
includes two pixies and werewolf) are all well drawn out but as I read the
book, I could not help but ship the main characters of Bridger and Leo. I could
see both Grant Davis and Davi Santos (the stars of Something Like Summer)
playing those two boys. Perhaps because I’m so close to the film, the cast,
crew and Jay Bell, that this is unavoidable? And I could genuinely see Jana Lee
Hamblin (who was also in that film and played Ben Bentley’s Mom) playing
Bridger’s mother here as well. Play what you know?
The book does have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but
I kind of hope that Lukens' writes another book featuring these characters. I
like what she’s created here and would enjoy the further adventures of Bridger
and Leo.
Is it me, or does the silhouette character of Bridger on the book cover look like the cover artist is also a huge fan of The Venture Bros?
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