Frequent guest blogger Lauren Felsenstein is back with an excellent roundup of some YA fiction you should know about — and it’s all from a set of outstanding male authors. Thanks, Lauren!

If asked to name my favorite YA authors, an awesome list comes to mind—Meg Cabot. Ann Brashares. Suzanne Collins. Maggie Stiefvater. Angie Frazier. Lauren Oliver. Notice something about this group? They’re all women (and amazing ones at that!). Many people associate the YA genre with female authors, but there is also a great list of male writers who are producing fantastic YA fiction and giving a different perspective on many issues facing teens today. Here are some great guy authors with exciting new books!

Michael Northrop, who has written for McSweeney’s, earned a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for a notable debut for his first novel, Gentlemen. His most recent book, Trapped, was just included in a USA Today “snowbound books” round-up. Part The Breakfast Club, part The Shining, Trapped is the fast-paced YA thriller about a blizzard and an unlikely group of seven classmates who have to do much more than get along—they have to survive.

Patrick Ryan is back with a novel that deals with a different type of romance. What happens when fraternal twins Kyle and Judy Renneker fall in love with the same guy – who may or may not be a vampire? Equal parts poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, Gemini Bites explores what it means to pretend to be something you’re not, what happens when that backfires, and how the complete and honest truth is almost always best. Patrick has also written the YA novels The Saints of Augustine and In Mike We Trust.

2004 National Book Award Winner Pete Hautman is back with his newest novel The Big Crunch, a funny, clear-eyed, non-love kind of teen romance, which Kirkus calls, “A poignant and quiet tale in which the only special effect is love—refreshing.” Wes and Jen don’t have some perfect first date story, they don’t swoon or feel love at first sight. Instead, Wes and Jen hang around each others orbits… until eventually they collide. And even after that happens, the course is not that clear. It’s a romance for those not particularly looking for a love story, told with honesty and grace.

I first became familiar with Blake Nelson when I fell in love with director Gus Van Sant’s movie adaptation of his YA  novel Paranoid Park. Currently a Los Angeles resident, Blake’s newest novel, Recovery Road, is set in the author’s childhood town of Portland, Oregon. In a starred review Publishers Weekly raved, “Nelson gives a hard, honest appraisal of addiction, its often-fatal consequences, and the high probability of relapse. This is an important story that pulls no punches.” Against the intense backdrop of substance abuse rehab, Madeline and Stewart meet and feel an instant connection. Never have the two of them felt something so strong and so right. So of course Madeline waits for Stewart after she leaves rehab and tries to get back on her feet. She struggles for a sense of normalcy and balance while rebuilding her life. But it’s not the ideal reunion she’d imagined. Stewart has problems of his own, and they both have serious issues to overcome—with the world, and with each other. This is the story of about finding exactly the right person…at precisely the wrong time.

Canadian author Kenneth Oppel’s first novel was published when he was only 18 years old. Since then, he has won extraordinary acclaim and is the bestselling author of Skybreaker and Airborn, a Printz Honor Book and winner of the Governor General’s Award. Set in the 1970s, Half Brother is a complicated and heart-wrenching story about the inseparable bond between a boy and a chimpanzee, and the ethical implications of animal research. This unforgettable narrative is about the way families are made, the way humanity is judged, the way easy choices become hard ones, and how you can’t always do right by the people, and animals, you love. In a starred review, School Library Journal said, “Deftly integrating family dynamics, animal-rights issues, and the painful lessons of growing up, Half Brother draws readers in from the beginning and doesn’t let go.”

E. Archer lives in New York City. He is a fantasy geek. He is also known as author Eliot Schrefer (The Deadly Sister and The School for Dangerous Girls). The upcoming Geek Fantasy Novel, which PW reviews here, is all about Ralph though. Ralph is also a geek. This is his story. Be careful what you wish for. Really. Because wishes are bad. Very bad. They can get you trapped in fantasy worlds full of killer bunny rabbits, evil aunts, and bothersome bacteria, for example. He’s been asked to spend the summer with his strange British relatives at their old manor house in order to set up their Wifi network. But there’s much more going on than Internet access, of course. It’s just that nobody told Ralph any of it. He’s a gamer, sure. But this game is much stranger—and much funnier—than anything to be found on his Xbox. With wit, thrills, and a Terry Pratchett-esque spin, E. Archer takes fantasy fans and (slightly) grown up wimpy kids on a magical romp.

Do you have a favorite male YA author? Sound off with your book and author suggestions below!