Cecil Castellucci
Cecil Castellucci is an author of young adult novels and comic books. Titles include Boy Proof, The Year of the Beasts (illustrated by Nate Powell), First Day on Earth, Rose Sees Red, Beige, The Queen of Cool The Plain Janes and Janes in Love (illustrated by Jim Rugg), Tin Star Stone in the Sky, Odd Duck (illustrated by Sara Varon) and Star Wars: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure.
Her short stories have been published in various places including Black Clock, The Rattling Wall, Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine and can be found in such anthologies such as After, Teeth, Truth & Dare, The Eternal Kiss, Sideshow and Interfictions 2 and the anthology, which she co-edited, Geektastic.
She is the recipient of the California Book Award Gold Medal for her picture book Grandma's Gloves, illustrated by Julia Denos, the Shuster Award for Best Canadian Comic Book Writer for The Plain Janes and the Sunburst Award for Tin Star. The Year of the Beasts was a finalist for the PEN USA literary award and Odd Duck was Eisner nominated.
She splits her time between the heart and the head and lives north and south of everything. Her hands are small. And she likes you very much.
“Were we all like that? Were we all trying to change how we looked on the outside to match how we felt on the inside? Were we all trying to change how people saw us?”
“It was amazing what I could remember about myself when I retraced my own steps.”
“I was born in Hell. But I am no demon. I am beige and colorful. I was quiet in this room. But I am learning to be loud. Can you hear me? I will make my mark, wherever i am. It is my space. I'll make it mine. I choose. I choose.If I voice my truth, no one loses.”
“My name is Lake Suck and this is my manifesto. I swear to be myself. To think for myself. I will not be led by social conventions. I will make my own way through the world. I will live on my own terms without conforming to society's expectations of who they think I should be, I will be the visible minority.By being myself, I will help to save the world. I swear to always look, listen, learn, think, ask, act, and speak for myself.”
“There's a beast in all of us, you know,' Jasper said.'No,' Tessa said.'Yes, a monster right inside of us all,' Jasper said.They wondered what theirs looked like. They faced each other and blinked while making faces to try to capture the phantom.”
“It’s been three daysstill haven’t heard from you.My heart lives underwaterbreathing for you.But you break apartmy tiny heart,giving me no chanceto start something with you.I dove into the poolI dove inhoping to swimnow I’m drowning.”
“Sometimes my feelings get so big that I just want to swim out into the darkness. Just jump off the end of the world. Sometimes I want to dig, right down to the bones of everything. Sometimes when you dig, you dig up stuff you might not want to find. But that’s where the good stuff lies.”
“Everyone got older but forgot to grow up.”
“My life sucks. So I shave my head.”
“Hello and good-bye are not as simple as everyone thinks.”
“ A shame really, because putting the right book in the right kid’s hands is kind of like giving that kid superpowers.”
“Silent is the ruined land.Man is brutaland the rain does not wash awaythe painor rid the distant memory.It makes it glisten.”
“Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.That's my philosophy. Its a quote from the past. "There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.”
“I want to make my mark,' he says.But what target, I wonder, are you going to hit?”
“Is there any other way to be? I mean, this is it. This is my body, my soul; I gotta live with it. I'd better get comfortable. I plan on taking it for a long ride.”
“I smile a lot. I heard someone say once that it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown, so i'm trying it out.”
“It's a fact of life. Hearts are always hurting. And yet they still keep pumping.”
“Who needs a stupid grampa-loving, book-reading, good-smelling boy who I like to talk to?”
“I took that smile and I put it right where the hole in my chest was. It was better than coffee, or chocolate, or a perfect pirouette. I clutched it and held it tight.”