#lurlene mcdaniel

Y’know, those books about teenagers (usually girls but not always) who got chronic illnesses and sometimes fatal illnesses.  The girl who got leukemia and had to have a limb amputated, the girl who had been track and field star who ended up needed a heart-lung transplant, the girl who had gotten HIV from a blood transfusion and now had to live with it. Hell, even the girl who had type 1 diabetes who was ultimately FINE WITH MODERATE MONITORING but who nearly died before she was diagnosed, etc etc.

There was a draw to those kinds of stories, at least for me, because I was so desperate for both attention and for a reason to be in as much pain as I was.  If I got cancer and had to have my arm or leg cut off, then it would make sense for me to be in pain, and everyone would pay attention.  If I got hurt and a blood transfusion gave me HIV, that would be a reason for me to be in pain and everyone would pay attention.

(also I want to give Lurlene McDaniel some credit here, even tho I’m baffled that the reason she started writing these books was her son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but was, as far as I can tell, otherwise fine, because I had never heard of HIV before I read one of her books when I was like 12.  I’d heard of AIDS, I knew it had something to do with... well I wasn’t sure, having grown up in a really conservative evangelical home, but Bad People, like drug addicts and stuff.  I learned what both HIV and AIDS were from one of her books, and as far as I remember, she was very accurate in her portrayal of it and of the potential risks it posed to people around infected people, and I don’t remember a time I was ever actually SCARED of HIV/AIDS, in a risk-to-me way, because I knew there would have to be more than super-casual contact for it to be dangerous to me, so.  Props, Lurlene.)

Took me a second to realize who Dawn Rochelle looked like on this cover.

Drunk Book Club: The Dawn Rochelle Series

If you grew up in the 90s, chances are good you crossed paths with Lurlene McDaniel, the queen of teen lit tragedy porn. While starting from a genuinely good place, wanting to help sick kids feel seen after her young son was diagnosed with diabetes, her career mostly involved biting off waaaaaaaay more than she could chew and fitting just about every debilitating physical illness under the sun into a very pat and very Christian formula. And along the way her books grew a predominant audience of able-bodied middle school goths with a voyeuristic interest in death (trust us, we know).

CONTENT WARNING for discussion of misogyny, racism, homophobia, chronic illness, and the death of children

1:00 Personal History 3:00 Drinks 5:00 YA History 11:00 Responsibility Hats 19:00 Cancer Camp 24:00 The Evil Fiancee 28:00 Marley 37:00 Voyeurism 43:00 BOYS AND BABIES 53:00 Saint Sandy 59:00 That Gay Subtext

Say hi to Dorothy and Vrai on Twitter @writervrai and @dorothynotgale

I’m still confused about why the one book was called Six Months to Live when Dawn was like the ONE protagonist in the entire canon who lived.

wonderfullywicked No judgement from me lmao I used to read Lurlene McDaniel books all the time in middle school. Her “Angels in Pink” series was my favorite and tbh I’d totally read those three books again. And I just had to look up the title but “Telling Christina Goodbye” damn near ripped my heart out. Also would read again.

Those were a bit past my day, but I think I did read Telling Christina Goodbye at some point.  She’s still writing, but there are fewer terminal illnesses and more cowboy romances.  (Some people still get cancer, though.  Obvi.)

fundiefun   Oh my god I forgot about Lurlene McDaniel novels! I read Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories in the sixth grade and it fucked me up because I did not know that they were gonna be Like That.

OH NO.  Those are not books to walk into unwarned.  Wasn’t that the one where a teenager is living with the people who adopted her baby so she wouldn’t back out on the adoption?  That shit was weird.  

buzzedonjealousy I loved her books! I read soooo many of them ugh I should buy all them off amazon

I can’t in good conscience try and talk you out of that.  There used to be a Lurlene McDaniel snark blog back in the blogspot era, and apparently they’re as batshit as I remember:

http://yalitanddeath.blogspot.com/

(I wish this were ongoing, because Lurlene is STILL WRITING.  I’m not sure if it’s a VC Andrews situation, though, since she’s gotta be well into her 70s at this point.  Maybe she just didn’t want to retire, though; writing that crap does seem like it would be super fun.)

fundamentallyroyal I loved her stuff. My favorite was Baby Alicia is Dying

"It may be a lifetime before I see you again on the far side of time. Wait for me. Look for me. Please don't forget me, Melinda Skye because one day I will come to you. I will come."