Genre: LGBT YA
Words: 41,000
Query:
A young man named Benjamin Strong has just lost everything after the death of his parents and girlfriend. After a failed suicide attempt, Benjamin wakes up to find an angelic version of his girlfriend, Charlotte, sitting by the edge of his bed. She tells him that he has seven days left to live- and that he has a very important decision to make: Die alone, or take all of humanity with him.
While this seems like it would be an easy choice for anyone to make, for Benjamin it is very difficult-he has endured a lot of bullying in life and a lot of hardship. He spends his final days travelling and reflecting on the past, mostly recalling memories of his girlfriend Charlotte whom he has loved since they first met when he was tweleve.
I believe that "Charlotte's Feathers" will fit in well with your contest because it is written and presented in a way that I believe will challenge the reader, GLBTQ or not. Near the end of Benjamin's story it is revealed that Charlotte was transgendered and was drowned during a campus hazing incident. This revelation holds a lot of weight because I have written this novel from the first person, present point of view and never once refer to Charlotte as anything other than "her" or "she." It is ultimatlely only her attackers that refer to her as anything else.
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