Hypertext Magazine asked Giano Cromley, author of The Prince of Infinite Space, “Is this a YA novel?”

By Giano Cromley

I’m not sure. Do you consider The Catcher in the Rye to be Young Adult fiction? That’s a book mine is frequently compared to, and if it came out now, it would unquestionably be marketed as YA. But Catcher isn’t like most of the YA that’s published today, which, to me, projects a sanitized version of young-adult-ness onto its protagonists and – by extension – its readers. Yet that sanitized version bears little relation to the actual young adulthood I remember. The Prince of Infinite Space deals with drugs and alcohol, crime, running away, poverty, divorce, mental health, homelessness, sexuality, failure, and heartbreak in gritty ways, just like – as any young adult could tell you – real life.

When I began writing The Prince of Infinite Space, I never consciously chose YA as a genre. Instead, I got the voice of Kirby Russo, a wise-cracking, world-weary 17-year-old, stuck in my head, and I needed to hear him out. He makes a lot of bad choices, but they’re real choices, and he deals with the consequences as they come. What he has to say throughout his journey is humorous, profane, raw, and honest – always honest.

I consider YA to be any piece of writing that helps a young person see life more clearly and feel less alone in the world. I’ll never forget the day in 1986 when my mother came home with a paperback copy of Less Than Zero. I was just entering my own young adulthood, and that novel changed my life, not because I saw myself in the privileged LA scions that populated that book, but rather because until that moment I didn’t realize it was okay to represent life and all its jagged awfulness in such an honest way. The day I read that book, the world of what was possible expanded for me. Ultimately, that’s what any book should do for any aged reader. And I believe that’s what The Prince of Infinite Space does for all adults, whether they’re young or old.

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Related Feature: Excerpt: Giano Cromley’s THE PRINCE OF INFINITE SPACE

Giano Cromley is the author of the novel, The Last Good Halloween, and the story collection, What We Build Upon the Ruins, both of which were finalists for the High Plains Book Award. He is the recipient of an Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council, and was a BookEnds Fellow with Stony Brook University. He is an English professor at Kennedy-King College in Chicago, where he is chair of the Communications Department, and sits on the committee for the Center of Equity for Creative Arts. He lives on the South Side of Chicago with his wife and two dogs.

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Hypertext Magazine & Studio (HMS) publishes original, brave, and striking narratives of historically marginalized, emerging, and established writers online and in print. HMS empowers Chicago-area adults by teaching writing workshops that spark curiosity, empower creative expression, and promote self-advocacy. By welcoming a diversity of voices and communities, HMS celebrates the transformative power of story and inclusion. We invite our audience to read the narratives we publish so that, together, we can navigate our complex world.

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