PIONEER SUMMER, banned in Russia, authors forced to flee, publisher put out of business...buy now

PIONEER SUMMER
ELENA MALISOVA & KATERYNA SYLVANOVA (tr. Anne O. Fisher)
Abrams Press (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$24.30 ebook, available tomorrow

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: This star-crossed gay romance is a #1 bestselling TikTok sensation that made international news and catalyzed one of Russia’s largest-ever crackdowns on LGBTQ representation

The banned gay romance that took Russia by storm . . .

In the waning days of the Soviet Union, two teenage boys find each other at Pioneer Camp, a patriotic summer program similar to the Boy Scouts. Yury Konev, 16, anticipates the weeks ahead of him with boredom and dread, but things change when he meets 19-year-old counselor Volodya. The two boys are drawn to each other, and though both fear the consequences of their illegal attraction, its gravity pulls them together.

Now, 20 years later, Yury returns to the abandoned camp to reminisce on the relationship that changed his life forever—and discovers that not all history is destined to remain in the past.

Cowritten by a Ukrainian–Russian duo and originally published by an independent publisher, Popcorn Books, Pioneer Summer became a TikTok sensation and runaway #1 bestseller in Russia. Catalyzed by this success, Russian Parliament officials and anti-LGBT activists began a campaign to ban the novel and others like it, an effort which became law just two months after the second book in the series was published. The authors were forced to flee the country, and Popcorn Books ceased publication.

But they—and we—will not be so easily cowed. Beginning in the summer of 2025, Pioneer Summer will become available for the first time in English, with the other two novels to follow.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I don't care if the sound of the book makes your nosehairs combust from discomfort, outrage, or just plain homophobia, if you possess a single functioning neuron the stakes of buying a copy of this book with or without the intent to read it ought to compel you to spend the money.

Little Vladdy Pu-Pu (I saw an image of him with cartoon bunny ears and stil can't stop laughing, singing "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" in my head with his name inserted...gawd how I wish Randy Rainbow would do one of his epic takedowns on him!) is TACO's hero/paymaster (or else why is he exempt from the tariffs?), and role model for his desperately accelerated drive to create an authoritarian state in the US. The 2023 law (see link above) that targeted the book's Russian publisher has similar aims to the many drives to censor and remove these books from public libraries, so you can bet—given the recent distressing ruling in the Llano County case—a lot of prior obedience and censorship will be occurring in the US publishing sphere. The one and only way to hurt capitalists is also the way to make them pay attention: money. The more queer-themed books you buy this Pride Month, the louder your voice is in the war against censorship and the rollback of human rights that will follow it unopposed success. Remember the universal truism that it might not be your turn today...but tomorrow is anothe thing. These christofascist scum have already lied about reproductive rights enshrined in law and every person with a uterus did not and has not risen publicly to shout down and decry this incredibly, horrifically invasive and demeaning government intrusion into private lives (read about this arrest and explain how you're too tired too poor too busy too too too to do more than wring your hands) so They are speeding up before 2026 flushes 'em down a Whataburger toilet. That is, if They don't simply cancel outright our right to vote....

This particular book is a charming romantic confection featuring young men falling into first love. In many ways it felt to me like reading a new-adult (aka "YA with pubic hair") version of Heartstopper but Russian. I was predisposed to like it because of its political meaning, much like I think Abolitionists liked Uncle Tom's Cabin *shudder*. It ended up not being even a small bit like that. I found the young guys in question a bit thinly drawn for my personal taste, but background is (I'm informed) in the very setting, nothing else really needed for a Russian/Ukrainian reader. Okay, I'll go with that...and it's not like we don't spend plenty of time with the guys while they're falling in love. It's really quite charming, if protracted...then comes the ending, and yes indeed I will be requesting the next one as soon as it has a release date. I not only want to support the creators and the publisher, I want to know if "Volodya and Yury" will be the new, matured "Nick and Charlie."

I really hope so.