Kira Harp YA

I moderate the Young Adult LGBT Books Group on Goodreads (which you can find here : https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49526-ya-lgbt-books) and while doing so, I’ve written quite a few YA short stories with characters across a range of LGBTQIAP identities. When I was encouraged to publish some, I picked a different pen name, so teen readers wouldn’t wander into my adult books unwarned, although I don’t have a presence online as Kira Harp. Two of those stories- Intervention and The Benefits of Ductwork – were released by Featherweight Press in a charity book line, where royalties went to LGBTQ charities. Sadly, Featherweight is no more, but I don’t have rights back to those stories. I have released two other collections of my YA stories from the group, picking my favorites to be edited, polished and added to.

Both collections are free everywhere except on Amazon (where they are .99) in ebook. Paper copies are also available. (And if you run a verifiable YA LGBTQ group or library and would like a donated copy, contact me about that possibility.)

The second volume – Rainbow Briefs 2 – won the Rainbow Awards “Best Collection or Anthology” in 2019. I hope that some of these stories make young LGBTQ people feel seen, or introduce other readers to the wondeful variety of the LGBTQ community. Big thanks to author/editor Sara Winters who encouraged me and edited my work to make both of these collections happen.

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You can find the ebooks in all formats for free at Smashwords.
Book 1 – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/373653
Book 2 – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/892437

10 thoughts on “Kira Harp YA”

  1. beautiful story! and so true to how many kids have it in the real world. I like that it ends on a hopeful note. Good work, Jory, too!

    (got pointed here by Ann ^_^)

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  2. Thank you. I really appreciated Ann mentioning my stories on her blog, especially this one, since it’s a little different from my usual. I woke up with the story in my head one day and just had to write it. (Although I do hope to write more YA worth publishing on purpose some day.)

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  3. Besides being a good story, I think this is a really important one, too. The opening paragraph… oh my god, so chilling. I love that Jory had such compassion for his little brother.

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  4. Wow. As a parent of a gay teen this hits close to home. But three years later, some meds for depression and therapy, my 17 year old son Matt is thriving! Now I try and help other parents, and teens. If you have a .PDF or something I could print and take to a PFLAG meeting, I think it would be great. Again, thanks for the story, it really touched me. – Lynn

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    • I’d be happy to get you a copy if you like. I’m glad you liked it enough to want one. I’ll email you off-site. I’m still trying to decide whether to post this somewhere like Smashwords where it can be downloaded (and if so , whether I’d better put it under a new YA pen-name that doesn’t link up with Lies and Consequences, which is explicit.)

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  5. So after some consideration, I’ve decided to put a different pen name on this and any future YA stories. Not because I want to keep two secret identities, but as a kind of notification. Both Kira Harp and Kaje Harper are me, but if you read a Kira story it will be suitable for YA, and if you read a Kaje story there may be full frontal sex. That way, people can know what they are getting. I don’t think there’s a successful way to censor teen reading, (and I’m not even sure it’s a good idea.) But I do want to be sure that a reader who doesn’t want the explicit content doesn’t inadvertently download/pay for material that will make them uncomfortable. Hopefully this will do the trick.

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