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AE: What do you think about the trend of gay teens on television?
BH: Oh, I think it's great, but can I just say? Gay teens on television right now are where books were five years ago. And, frankly, gay teen books right now are where television will be five years from now. So if you want your gay teens to be the main character in the story, if you want them to have actual romance and maybe even some actual sex, well, pick up a book by Alex Sanchez or David Levithan or me. Preferably me.

AE: Let's talk hate mail.
BH: You mean the note you left me about eating the last brownie?

AE: Funny. No, I mean the folks who don't “approve” of homosexuality. Your books get challenged and banned a lot.
BH: I do get hate email, but not as much as you'd think. Most of it is very positive, even when it comes from people you wouldn't expect. But yeah, my books do get challenged and banned all the time. Every time I go to a conference of librarians, I hear another two or three stories about one of my books being challenged, which kind of sucks. Then again, I think more and more communities are fighting back. Basically, people--teachers, librarians, and parents, and teens--are finally willing to really stick their necks out for these books.

One thing that no one ever talks about is the institutional bias against gay books, especially gay teen books. A big part of publishing is book clubs and book fairs and state library lists, and also chain sales, like to Wal-Mart and Target. But can you guess which books almost never show up in these clubs and on these lists, and in Wal-Mart and Target? These are all institutions, and like all institutions, they're fundamentally conservative. They resist change. They're convinced there's no market for books like these in, say, Arkansas. But that's what the publishers used to think about all gay teen lit before they discovered they were dead wrong.

Frankly, given all the institutional disadvantages against them, I think it makes the success of gay teen lit that much more amazing.

I think about this stuff way too much. Which means I'm going to have write an article about it for you!

AE: I'll see if I can fit you in. One last question about Kevin, the hunky jock from Geography Club. Without giving anything away, he plays a pretty interesting role in Split Screen, doesn't he?
BH: Yeah, Kevin and Gunnar are the two “glue” characters, the characters who figure prominently in both stories and who sort of tie them together. Kevin especially. In a way, this is the story of three characters: Russel and Min, who have their own emotional journeys in their books, but also Kevin, whose whole emotional journey you won't know unless you read both books together.

One way to look at this project is that it's Kevin's story told from the point-of-view of two other people!

Incidentally, I'm currently writing a book from Kevin's point-of-view, hopefully for a fall 2008 release. I'd also like to write a whole book from Min's POV, but that probably won't be for another year or so.

AE: Excellent. So thanks for talking to AfterElton. Now what do you wanna do for dinner?
BH: How about pho?

AE: You and your pho. You can't ever get enough of the stuff.
BH: It's addictive. I think they put crack in it or something. But Michael? I think you can turn off the tape recorder now.

AE: Oh. Whoops. Good thing you caught it. That could have been really embarrassing.

Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies is in stores now.
For more information, visit BH's website: www.brenthartinger.com

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