For everyone you take out of the world, you can only put back suffering.
Teenage Wastelands is a franchise of YA horror/Urban Fantasy novels by Kent J. Starrett, revolving around Craig Steiger, William Watson and Amy Black; three teenagers whose hometown is laid waste by Cryptid Infestation (Jackie And Craig) and later, a cult of warlike youths with Psychic Powers (Sky Valley).
This series, so far, contains:
This franchise provides examples of:
- The '90s: Jackie And Craig takes place sometime in the late spring/early summer of 1997, while Sky Valley takes place two years later in the autumn of 1999. Amy Black likes Industrial rock, and Will is a fan of then-current rap music. After the first book, however, the nostalgia's played down and the series is revealed to take place in an Alternate History.
- Adults Are Useless: All adults from book one. The adults of book two, outside the dreaded secret society, are either barely present or cannon fodder for the Conjuror Infiltration.
- Alternate History: A Type III. Besides the fact that cryptids, telepathy, elemental powers, etc. all exist, in the book's universe World War II went on until 1953 and reached American Soil, leading to the advanced weaponry and cultural defensiveness seen throughout books two and three. Will mentions Reagan being successfully assassinated in book two.
- Conlang: Though they don't have an entire spoken language, Conjurors do have a collective of terms that seem derived from Cajun French. Rulers are Raquins, Warriors are Malthaires, Telepathic spies are Nighthawks and their lowest rung are referred to as Dravaines.
- Dolled-Up Installment: The lore and plot of books two and three came from an abandoned Screenplay Starrett wrote four years before Sky Valley was released.
- First Person Smart Ass: Whenever the books are from Craig's POV.
- Foregone Conclusion: Jackie is arguably the protagonist of book one, but after her book ends she's never seen or mentioned again outside a brief flashback near the end of the second book.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Craig has chupacabra slashes on his shoulders and fleshgait bite on his right bicep, as well as a parachild slash across his abdomen from an attempted disembowelment. Chavayress Syvier, The Dragon of book two and his recurring nemesis, has a mutilated face from a nervous breakdown she suffered after being assaulted by her father.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Moral ambiguity is a constant feature of the books. Nonhuman factions only want survival, and all human factions from Conjurors to the Society for the Security of Civilization, legitimately believe their way of life is superior to all others, and that their cause is to protect it.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Characters are frequently slashed, shot, and permanently scarred or damaged from constant conflict with either other teenagers or cryptids.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: All monsters are pulled from cryptozoology, particularly the quasi-supernatural, interdimensional cryptozoology of John Keel and other fringe conspiracy theorists.
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Recycled Script: Literally. Books two and three began as a screenplay Starrett failed to sell sometime in the early 2010s. - Technicolor Eyes: Those who can manipulate animals and elements, as well as read minds, have their eye colors change as a result of extensive neurological reprogramming. Most often this is yellow eyes in Conjurors and pink ones in nighthawks, but silver, green, and red are not unseen, either.
- The Men in Black: Both the S.C.C., which ruthlessly suppresses all paranormal phenomena and those who try to expose it to the world, and Indrid Cold, an "Ultraterrestrial" entity who takes the form of a grinning cadaver in an overcoat.
