{"id":9822,"date":"2025-09-05T21:25:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T21:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=9822"},"modified":"2025-09-06T00:29:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T00:29:05","slug":"the-controversy-begins-bring-it-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-controversy-begins-bring-it-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The Controversy Begins \u2026 BRING IT ON"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Reader,<\/p>\n

Early readers and reviewers have raved about Bodaciously True & Totally Awesome <\/em>(to be published January 20, 2026), but a recent review from a Gen Z reviewer made it clear there\u2019s a swath of young people out there who aren\u2019t going to get it.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ve got news for those younger readers<\/span>: I didn\u2019t spend a decade writing 1.25 million words and 9 books for your generation; I wrote Bodaciously<\/em> for my<\/em> generation<\/strong>\u2014a generation whose childhood and teen experience has been scandalously underrepresented in American literature; a generation that has consistently been ignored, marginalized and passed-over; a generation that was largely under parented or outright unparented, who had to come home from school to an empty house, who didn\u2019t have cell phones or the internet, who rode their bikes without helmets and body armor, who drank out of hoses, who passed notes in school, and who had to figure out most things themselves or through their friends.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

First, the awesome stuff<\/strong> reviewers have said about the novel:<\/p>\n

One reader of the Advance Reading Copy remarked that the novel \u201cfelt like stepping into a magical time machine<\/strong>\u2014and I didn\u2019t want to leave,\u201d while another wrote, \u201c\u2026this is how it was in real life, the confusion, the exploration, the time we were no longer kids but not adults.\u201d Professional reviews of Episode I<\/em> have been equally laudatory. BlueInk Review<\/em> (*Starred Review*) exclaims, \u201c\u2026it\u2019s so well written<\/strong>\u2026. As Ace himself might say, \u2018Awesome, Dude.\u2019\u201d; Kirkus<\/em> calls it, \u201cA light-hearted, swift adventure\u2026,\u201d; and Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer of Midwest Book Review<\/em> says, \u201c\u2026the 1980s comes to life in a way few other novels could achieve<\/strong>\u2026\u201d and that it \u201c\u2026simmers with discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

For reasons I won\u2019t get into here, I\u2019m not allowed to quote directly from the critical review by the Gen Z reader, but I\u2019ll tell you the gist. She gave it 2 out of 5 stars, pointing out that the sexual situations made her \u201cuncomfortable\u201d\u2014even though the book description makes it very clear that there is a \u201csexual awakening\u201d and intimate teen relationships in the book.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the deal: she acknowledges that 1) she could understand how the book would appeal to members of Gen X; 2) she read Bodaciously all the way to the end<\/em>\u2014something she wouldn\u2019t have done if she absolutely hated it\u2014and 3) she had an emotional response to the work<\/em>, which is what I, as a novelist, am supposed to elicit in readers.<\/p>\n

Guess what?<\/em> NAILED IT.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n