When I started writing No Sad Songs, I had no idea there was a budding new genre on the verge of bursting onto the scene. I was aware of the genuine sense of doom and depression being presented in books published during what I’d call the dystopian age, but I had no real consciousness of my desire to write a novel that placed hope and positivity at a premium and used it to wash away the darkness of our modern lives.

In fact, when I formulated the original idea for No Sad Songs and created my protagonist, Gabe LoScuda, I thought I was pretty well on my way to writing one of the most depressing YA novels of all time. After all, it zeroes in on the life of a high school senior who loses his parents and is left to care for his grandfather, a man in the latter stages of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

But then I found #Hopepunk. If you haven’t heard of the genre, I can promise you’ve either read or viewed a few works of Hopepunk in your lifetime. The genre is based on the idea of weaponized hope; of plunking characters down in the most dire situations and watching them work their way out of the funk through optimism, positivity, and the strength of the human spirit. It’s a genre that’s just on the verge of exploding full tilt on the literary scene, and it’s best explained in a recent article that appeared on Vox. What makes this article even better to me, you ask? Well, No Sad Songs happens to be included on their very short list of recommended Hopepunk titles.

Read the complete article here: Hopepunk is Weaponized Hope (@Vox.com). Then head out to your favorite indie bookstore and stock up on enough Hopepunk titles to get you through whatever lies ahead of us in 2019. Happy New Year, y’all.