The Nerd Daily contributor Mimi recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jason June, debut author of the upcoming YA contemporary Jay’s Gay Agenda that encompasses a moving and complex story of first loves and first heartbreaks, paired with loads of laugh-out-loud moments. We talked to Jason June about facepalm moments, the gay agenda and future projects!
Hi, Jason June! Thanks so much for chatting with us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Thank you so much for having me! I’m Jason June (it’s a two-name first name, like Mary-Kate but without the hyphen or the Olsen twin), and I’m a self-described genderqueer writer mermaid. I love writing queer YA full of love and lust and shenanigans. When not writing, I’m either canoodling my Pomeranian, Pom Brokaw, or pouring over Laura Dern’s Instagram for style inspiration.
Now tell us about Jay’s Gay Agenda! What can readers expect?
Jay’s Gay Agenda is very loosely inspired by my time as the only out queer student at my rural eastern Washington high school. Like me, that’s the situation Jay finds himself in, so all these years he’s had to watch while his heterosexual classmates have all their big relationship milestones. Being the Type-A Virgo list-maker that he is, Jay makes a list (his Gay Agenda) of all the things he hopes to one day do when he eventually meets another boy-who-likes-boys. It’s got first kisses, first dates, first time having sex, all of that. Then just before his senior year, his family moves to Seattle and he finally gets to start crossing items off the Gay Agenda. Expect a lot of inner dialogue about feeling uncool around cute guys, a lot of inner dialogue about what Jay wants to do with said cute guys, and a lot of exploration of the amazing and complicated layers that get added to your life when you’re finally seen as a romantic and sexual being for the first time.
This is your debut novel. What was the most challenging and most rewarding aspect of the writing and querying process for you?
The most challenging part of querying is how the ball is just totally not in your court (that’s the only sports metaphor I know) once you hit send and wait to find out if your words connect with your agent-hopefuls. The most rewarding is definitely when you find that agent who does connect with your work. I’m so, so grateful to work with Brent Taylor at Triada US. When he called to talk about JGA, he just instantly got it and what I was trying to do and celebrated with me that JGA so openly and unashamedly talks about gay sex. That aspect of the book was the most challenging and rewarding part about writing it. When I was a teen, admitting that your post-pubescent desires were all same-sex was a big no-no, and created a whole shame spiral that many gays in my generation and others had to deal with. I’m so honored to be a part of this generation of queer writers telling teens today that their sexuality is a beautiful thing, that as long as everything is safe and consensual, wanting to connect through your body with any human is something to be excited about!
You mention the coronavirus in your book which was so surreal in terms of that this will now be part of our history and pop up in books. How did you cope or are still coping with the pandemic? How have you stayed motivated to write – any tips for fellow writers out there?
Part of my coping mechanism was actually making passive references to the coronavirus in JGA, showing a near future where the virus is behind us and we are able to have gatherings again. I needed to envision that world where we could be back to crowded physical spaces and feed off the energy of those around us. But in the end, we actually took those brief mentions of Covid out because I realized what was a coping mechanism for me triggered some early readers, and I definitely don’t want to be the cause of distress for anyone reading Jay’s story. As for staying motivated to write, I was so thankful when my heart and brain synced up and were like, “Let’s distract ourselves from the pandemic by writing about LOVE!” It was definitely a struggle some days when the world has been going through so much. But when I came back to writing flirty and messy and layered queer relationships, it gave me hope that we’d see the end of the pandemic soon and love would be back in full swing.
You hinted in the author’s note that parts of Jay’s story are autobiographical. If you were to write a new Gay Agenda for yourself at your current age, what would be on that list? And what would be the one thing of your old agenda that you were the happiest crossing off?
Wow wow wow I’m ROBSESSED with this question. Okay, so some current Gay Agenda items would be:
- Be the first genderqueer host on The View or The Talk (I’m so excited for the days when genitals are not a requirement for inclusion in daytime panel talk shows)
- Have an epic collection of heels (This is dumb and materialistic, but when society tells you over and over that you’re not supposed to wear something you desperately want to wear and finally realize that, um, the world doesn’t blow up when you slip on clothes “for women”, you can go a bit overboard in the best way making up for lost time)
- Celebrate big anniversaries with my husband (10 years, 25 years, etc. etc.)
- Continue to write books with queer protagonists forever and ever and ever
I’d say there’s a tie for happiest item to cross off my old agenda between “Marry the love of my life” and “publish a sex-positive queer rom-com”. I honestly used to think that being able to legally get married would never happen in my lifetime. So when same-sex marriage was finally legalized and my hubby and I got hitched two years later, it was like, “Holy wow this is actually happening!” And the exact same sentence pops out of my mouth nearly every day now when I realize that my first YA is published, and it’s all about those very real emotions and hormones of being a gay teen.
Speaking of agendas, I loved how you reclaimed the Gay Agenda – that has been used as a slogan against the queer community – and made it such a powerful notion in Jay’s life. What do you want readers to take away from Jay’s story?
I want readers to know that it’s okay to make mistakes. That we can have all these hopes and dreams, but if we get too narrowly-focused on accomplishing those things, it can make it where we don’t enjoy the ride, and sometimes disregard other people’s feelings as we go about meeting our goals. But if that happens, there’s absolutely a road to redemption, but it’s key that you own up to your mistakes and show those you’ve hurt how you won’t hurt them again.
Jay’s Gay Agenda has so many facepalm moments (as in Jay is adorably awkward and often facepalms). What was your favorite facepalm moment to write?
OHMIGAWD PRINTERBOT! Without going into too much spoiler-y detail, I just absolutely adore how Jay and Albert first meet!
Jay’s best friend Lu has been dealt a tough hand by life and I love how you explored this idea of friendship as support but also sometimes as incredibly hard to balance when one of the two friends is doing “better” in terms of life achievements – where do you imagine Jay and Lu ending up ten years into the future?
Lu is going to be living her field reporter TV journalist fantasy! And she’ll be on the go *a lot* but Jay and Lu will be those friends that it doesn’t matter how much time passes, they always pick up right where they left off. Jay will be more stationary, probably still in Seattle, and whenever he sees Lu on TV he’ll try to text her gifs (if gifs still exist in the 2030s) that will make her laugh and it’ll be this fun little inside thing between them.
There are tons of amazing characters in Jay’s Gay Agenda – from Lu to Max and Damon and Cami…any chance you’d ever revisit some of their stories in the future?
Yes yes YES! I have a story following the adventures of Max and Cami in mind, and I super duper duper hope it can be a reality. I should be pitching this idea very soon, so keep everything crossed! (And business reality time, snagging a copy of JGA or requesting it at your local library will help on this front a ton! The better a book sells, the more likely a companion novel could become a reality!)
With Jay’s Gay Agenda releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a sneak peek with us?
Yes! I’m currently finishing up edits on my second young adult novel, which is a queer reimagining of Splash. A queer mer has to spend a month on land and help a human (and is super not looking forward to it), and meets a recently dumped rom-com-loving lifeguard who could use a bit of a boost. It’s dual POV, and it was so much fun writing this snarky, sarcastic mer and this lovable, hopeful human.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
One of my absolute favorite parts of being a debut novelist in 2021 is getting to read other debut books coming out or that have already come out this year that I completely fell in love with. Here are a few that I loved:
- Jonny Garza Villa’s FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES FROM THE SUN. It follows Julián, a Latinx gay senior, as he gets drunk and accidentally comes out online, unleashing a whole storm of excitement (a Cutie McCuterson DMs him after coming out) and anxiety (having to still stay in the closet when it comes to his dad). Jonny has so perfectly found that balance of jubilation at being yourself after you come out that can come hand in hand with fear when we’re still in an environment that’s not safe. It’s so beautifully done, with both laugh-out-loud and heart-clutching moments.
- Ashley Shuttleworth’s A DARK AND HOLLOW STAR. I just finished this one and it is an epic high fantasy told from four POVs, and they’re all queer! It was so amazing to get all this magical action and high stakes and be surrounded by queerness!
- Emery Lee’s MEET CUTE DIARY. In this we follow Noah, a transgender teen, who runs a blog full of trans happily ever afters. But, all the stories are fiction. And when a troll calls Noah out for making up stories, Noah starts a whole fake-dating escapade to get real-life material that teaches him so much about relationships and what makes a good partner. I especially loved how Emery explores pronouns and gender here and everyone should read it!
