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lilareviewsbooks · 10 months

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Books With Morally Grey Gay People for Pride Month (Except, I'm Late)

Happy Late Pride, everyone! I'm sure many of you, like me, are tired of reading about perfect gay people doing everything right – you want some chaos in your stories! You want some problematic gays! So, even though I missed the end of Pride Month by about two days – and as a reminder that every month is Pride Month! –I've compiled a list of 5 books that have something super cool about them: their gays are bananas, complex as fuck and ready to wreck hell.

The Masquerade Series, starting with The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson

This is one I've read recently and haven't gotten over just yet. The Masquerade Series is a triumph. This series follows Baru Cormorant, a young girl from the island nation of Taranoke, who watches her country be colonized by the hugely powerful Masquerade Empire. After one of her fathers is killed for being queer, Baru decides to join a Masquerade school and destroy the Empire from the inside out. Soon, she is being sent to unruleable Aurdwynn, where she is to be the Imperial Accountant. And things get very, very complicated from there.

Baru is an incredibly complex, ever-changing character surrounded by a cast of other complex, ever-changing figures – and most of them are queer! In fact, I think the only drawback for The Masquerade Series is that it can be a little too complex. But the payoff is amazing, and so worth it – especially in this first book, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. And don't even worry about it – Baru & co. will cause more than enough harm in their way, making them an essential addition to the "problematic queers" packet.

The Locked Tomb Series, starting with Gideon The Ninth, by Tasmyn Muir

You've probably heard of The Locked Tomb Series if you spend a little bit of time on queer SFF booklr, but it's never too much recommending when it comes to this series.

It's very hard to explain what goes on in The Locked Tomb. The first book, Gideon The Ninth, follows our butch lesbian star Gideon as she is enlisted to become the sworn swords-woman to Harrowhark Nonagesimus, and they’re summoned to the First House to compete to become Lyctors, the companions of God. The first book plays out as murder mystery, while the next ones all devise creative ways to tell this story, which grows more and more complex. As the plot thickens, so does the complexity of our characters. They shine through in these novels, as their unapologetic queer selves, in this universe where homo and transphobia don't exist – refreshingly. But, as is the theme here, they don't always make the moral choice. In fact, The Locked Tomb is filled to the brim with crazy queers who do the most insane, deranged things. And Tasmyn Muir's complicated, intriguing writing will get you completely hooked and desperate to know what happens next with our problematic queers!

The Salt Grows Heavy, by Cassandra Khaw

I feel like The Salt Grows Heavy is severely underrated. It just needs to be better known! This is a horror twist on The Little Mermaid, and follows a siren and a plague doctor, the only survivors of a destroyed kingdom, as they go on the run, and the creepy things they find along the way. Now, although our queers aren't exactly villains, they aren't exactly the most moral of people. And their deep feelings of anger, for instance, permeate every page of this book. Mx. Khaw's writing style perfectly captures this, as they weave a tapestry of purple prose that keeps you hooked – I wasn't able to put this novella down from the moment I started until I finished it. Hopefully, you'll have as intense of an experience! She Who Became The Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan

Another must for your problematic queer needs: She Who Became The Sun is a multi-POV story spanning two different nuclei. One follows Monk Zhu, who assumes her brother’s identity, sure that she is destined for greatness, and the people she meets in her quest to achieve this. Another focuses on Ouyang, an eunuch general who serves – and is lowkey in love with – Esen, the son of a province’s Prince, and the war they’re involved in. Zhu and Ouyang are the most chaotic of protagonists – and their decisions are morally grey, at best. The best part is that they arrive there very naturally – Mx. Parker-Chan is a master at character development, taking you from A to B smoothly. Plus, their writing is absolutely fantastic. She Who Became The Sun is a stunning debut and it is definitely worth all the hype! I'd hop on the train now, before He Who Drowned The World, the sequel, comes out in August!

The Monster of Elendhaven, by Jennifer Giesbrecht

Another novella, this one follows a monster and the man who controls him, exploring their complicated relationship. It's hard not to spoil it, but rest assured that these gay people do the craziest, most morally corrupt things you can imagine! What I enjoyed the most about The Monster of Elendhaven is its readability. I remember flying through this in a single sitting. The writing style reminds a little bit of The Salt Grows Heavy in the sense that it leans into the gruesome, but keeps itself very lyrical! Not to mention, the build up for the toxicity of their relationship is absolutely masterfully done, and I loved every single second of it.

That's all I have, guys, but if you want more queer books, I'd definitely check out my Queer Normal-World Books, where I've compiled some stories with no queerphobia in them!

#queer sff #queer sff books #fantasy books #scifi books #queer fantasy books #queer scifi books #queer booklr #booklr #book review #book recs #morally grey characters #tlt #the locked tomb #the masquerade #ttbc #she who became the sun #jennifer giesbrecht #cassandra khaw

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felfiramoondesigns · 1 year

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WAYFARERS SERIES INSPIRED 28MM ENAMEL PINS!

ALL DESIGNS UNLOCKED!!

LITTLE LITERARY ENAMEL PINS: SFF & YA EDITION KS ends April 24th at 7PM BST!

SISSIX & HEDRA KA. Inspired by The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. Sissix is silver plated with pearlescent & screenprint details. Hedra Ka is silver plated with glitter & screenprint details.

Tiers start from £4 a B Grade and £5 an A Grade! (Plus shipping!)

#The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet #Becky Chambers #The Wayfarer #Space Opera #Books About Space #Wayfarer #A Closed And Common Orbit #TLWTASAP #Wayfarers Books #Record Of A Spaceborn Few #The Galaxy And The Ground Within #Science Fiction #Queer SciFi Books #Queer SciFi #wayfarers series #bookish #enamel pin

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mayasynth · 4 months

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My beautiful unhinged daughter, Mary Elizabeth Frankenstein <3 I know this was not at all how the scene actually went, but humour me

(Pssssst everyone please read Our Hideous Progeny, pleaseee 🙏)

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c-e-mcgill · 2 years

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Hey

Do you like unhinged, angry women?

Do you like mad science?

Do you like the exquisite homoerotic tension of two Victorian ladies just barely brushing hands?

Do you think that Frankenstein would have gone a lot better if only Victor had been less of an absolute weenie?

Do you look at the story of the Loch Ness Monster and think “...but what if a dinosaur got in the lake”

THEN BOY, DO I HAVE THE BOOK FOR YOU!

Move over, chemists, it’s time for mad paleontologists to shine!

Years ago, Mary’s great uncle Victor Frankenstein mysteriously disappeared in the Arctic; now, in 1853, Mary and her reckless husband Henry are struggling to make a name for themselves as paleontologists in the old-boys'-club that is the world of Victorian science. But when Mary discovers her great-uncle's old notes, detailing his gruesome attempts at creating life, she comes up with a plan — one that will finally make them some money, prove Henry's radical paleontological theories right, and get Mary some of the respect she goddamn deserves...

Our Hideous Progeny is out NOW! Available wherever good books are sold, and also at your library if you yell (politely) at your local librarians to acquire it! 🖤💚🧡

Thanks all, byeee!

(P.S. You can find the content warnings for OHP here!)

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intersexbookclub · 6 months

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Discussion summary: Left Hand of Darkness

Published in 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness is a classic in science fiction that explores issues of sex/gender in an alien-yet-human society where the aliens are just like us except in how they reproduce. These aliens, the Gethenians, can reproduce as either male or female. They spend most of their lives sexually undifferentiated. Once a month, they go into heat (“kemmer”) and their sexual organs activate as either male or female (it’s essentially random).

Here's a summary of the discussions we had on 2023-08-25 and 2023-09-01 about the book:

HIGH LEVEL REACTONS

Michelle (@scifimagpie): even though it was written by a cis straight perisex woman there is a queerness to the writing that feels true and that she nailed. There is a queerness to the soul of this book that still holds up, that's true and good, and I cannot but love and respect that.

Elizabeth (@ipso-faculty): this book is such a commentary on 1960s misogyny. Genly is a raging misogynist. It takes a whole prison break and crossing the arctic for Genly to realize a woman or androgyne can be competent 👀

Dimitri: [Having read just the first half of the book] I wonder if it keeps happening, if Genly keeps going "woaaaah" [to the Gethenians’ androgyny] or if he ever acclimates. It's been half the novel my guy

vic: yeah a book where a guy is destroyed by seeing a breast makes me want queer theory

vic: [it also] makes me feel good to see how much has changed [since the 1960s]

THE INTERSEX STUFF

A thing we appreciated about the book was how being intersex is contextual. The main character of the book, Genly Ai, is a human from a planet like Earth, who visits Gethen to open trade and diplomatic relations.

On his home planet, and to Earth sensibilities, Genly is perisex - he is able to reproduce at any time of the month and is consistently male.

But on Gethen, Genly becomes intersex. On Gethen, the norm is that you only manifest (and can reproduce as) a given sex during the monthly kemmer (heat/oestrus) period.

The Gethenians understand Genly as living in “permanent kemmer”, which is described as a common (intersex) condition, and these people are hyper-sexualized and referred to as Perverts.

At this point it’s worth noting that depiction is not the same as endorsement. Michelle pointed out the book is very empathetic to those in permanent kemmer. LeGuin does not appear to be endorsing the social stigma faced by these people, merely depicting it, and putting a mirror to how our own society treats intersex people.

Throughout the book, Genly is treated as an oddity by the Gethenians. He is hyper sexualized. He undergoes a genital inspection to prove he is who he says he is.

When Genly is sent to a prison camp and forcibly given HRT, he does not respond “normally” to the hormones, the effects are way worse for him, and the prison camp staff don’t care, and keep administering them even if it’ll kill him.

Two of us have had the experience of having hyperandrogenism and being forced onto birth control as teenager, and relating to the sluggishness of the drugs that Genly experienced, as well as the sense that gender/sex conformity was more important to authority figures (parents, doctors) than actual health and well-being.

Another scene we discussed the one where Genly is in a prison van en route to the gulag, and a Gethenian enters kemmer and wants to mate with him and he declines. He is given multiple opportunities over the course of the book to try having sex with a Gethenian, and declines every time, and we wondered if he avoided it out of trauma of being hyper-sexualized & hyper-medicalized & having had his genitals inspected.

We discussed the way he described his genital inspection through a trauma lens, and how it interacts with toxic masculinity - in vic’s terms, Genly being "I am a manly man and I have don't trauma"

Those of us who read the short story, Coming of Age in Karhide, noted that once the world was narrated from a Gethenian POV, the people in permanent kemmer were treated far more neutrally, which gave us the impression that Genly as an unreliable narrator was injecting some intersexism along with his misogyny

WHY IT MATTERS TO READ THIS BOOK THROUGH AN INTERSEX LENS

Elizabeth: I’ve encountered critiques of this book from perisex trans folks because to them the book is committing biological essentialism, and dismissing the book as a result. I think they’re missing that this book is as much about (inter)sex as it is about gender. I think they’re too quick to dismiss the book as being outdated or having backwards ideas because they’re not appreciating the intersex themes.

Elizabeth: The intersex themes aren’t exactly subtle, so it kind of stings that I haven’t seen any intersex analyses of this book, but there are dozens (hundreds?) of perisex trans analyses that all miss the huge intersex elephants in the room.

Also Elizabeth: I’ve seen this book show up in lists of intersex books/characters made by perisex people, and I’ve seen Estraven listed as intersex character, and it gets me upset because Estraven isn’t intersex! Estraven is perisex in the society in which he lives. Genly is the intersex character in this story and people who misunderstand intersex as being able to reproduce as male & female (or having quirky genitals smh) are completely missing that being intersex is socially constructed and based on what is considered typical for a given species.

WHAT THE BOOK DOESN’T HANDLE WELL

The body descriptions. As Dmitri put it: “ Like "his butt jiggled and it reminded me of women" ew. It was intentional but I had to put the book down. It reminded me of transvestigators and how they take pictures of people in public.” 🤮

Not pushing Genly to reflect on how weird he is about other people’s bodies. We all had issues with how Genly is constantly scrutinizing the bodies of other humans to assess their gender(s) and it’s pretty gross.

vic asked: “how much of this is her reproducing violence without her knowing it? A thing I didn't like was how he always judging and analyzing people's bodies and realizing others treat him that way. And I wish there was more of his discomfort about this, that it made him feel icky.”

Dimitri added: “I really wanted him to have a moment of this too, for him to realize how much it sucks to be treated this way. As a trans person it's so uncomfortable. What are you doing going around doing this to people?”

Using male pronouns as default/ungendered pronouns. Élaina asked why Genly thinks a male pronoun is more appropriate for a transcendent God and pointed out there’s a lot to unpack there.

OTHER POSITIVES ABOUT THE BOOK

Genly’s journey towards respecting women, that he still had a ways to go by the end of the book. vic pointed out how “LeGuin was straight, and she loves men, and is kinda giving them the side-eye [in this book]. Her writing about how Genly is childish makes me really happy. It’s kind of hilarious to watch him bang his head against the wall because he’s so rigid.”

To which Dmitri added: “I agree with the bit on forgiving men for stuff. I don't know how she [LeGuin] does it but she really lays it all out. She gives you a platter of how men are bad at things, how they make mistakes that are pretty specific to them. She has prepared a buffet of it.”

Autistic Estraven! As Michelle put it: “autistic queer feels about Estraven speaking literally and plainly and Genly not getting it”

The truck chapter. Hits like a pile of bricks. We talked about it as a metaphor for the current pandemic.

The Genly x Estraven slowburn queerplatonic relationship

The conlang! Less is more in how it gets used

MIXED REACTIONS

The Foretelling. For some it felt unnecessary and a bit fetishy. For others it was fun paranormal times.

Pacing. Some liked how the book really forces you to really contemplate as you go. Others struggled with a pace that feels very slow to 2023 readers.

WORKS WE COMPARED THE BOOK TO

Star Trek (the original series) - we wondered if LHOD and Genly Ai were progressive by 1960s standards, and TOS came up as a comparison point. We were all of the impression that TOS was progressive for its time but all of us find it pretty misogynist by our standards. The interest in extra-sensory perception (ESP) is something that was a staple of TOS that feels very strange to contemporary viewers and also cropped up in LHOD

Ancillary Justice - for being a book where characters’ genders are all ambiguous but the POV character is actually normal about how they describe other characters’ bodies.

The Deep - for being another book in a situation where being able to reproduce as male and female is the norm. The Deep was written by an actually intersex author, and doesn’t have the cisperisex gaze of scrutinizing every body for sex. But oddly LHOD actually winds up feeling more like a book about intersex people, because it features a character who is the odd one out in a gonosynic society. In contrast, nobody is intersex in the Deep - everybody matches the norms for their species, which makes the intersex themes in the work much more subtle.

Overall, as vic put it, “there's something to be said about an honest depiction that's not great, especially when there's no alternatives”. For a long time there weren’t many other games in town when it came to this sort of book, and even though some things now feel dated, it’s still a valuable read. We’d love to see more intersex reviews & analyses of the book!

#intersex book club #book summaries #book reviews #left hand of darkness #the left hand of darkness #ursula k. le guin #intersex books #intersex literature #queer books #queer literature #queer fiction #queer scifi #intersex

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leebrontide · 4 months

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Oh right, I almost forgot!

If you are in need of a very queer, very absorbing read this time of year, I have this angsty little gem, in which nearly none of the angst is about queerness.

It's got brain altering nanites, main-stage sibling relationships, superheros, a bit of first love, multi-generational superheroing family, family dysfunction, and 7 hamsters named after junk food.

If you want to see a gay trauma therapist write cyberpunk or superheroes, get in on this.

Please check it out, and please RB for anyone else who finds themselves pinching pennies but needing a nice story.

(content warnings in listing at link)

(book 2 in late edits now)

#free books #queer books #indie books #indie author #book rec #scifi #gay shit #queer

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literarydialect · 5 months

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blog where I show off some old science fiction/fantasy I’ve gotten my hands on and share my personal opinion on them: The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold.

a young man receives a thing called a Time Belt from his uncle Jim and uses it to time travel. he meets various versions of himself and even has a little hanky panky with his past self. existential turmoil, mind-bending paradoxes, and questioning of the “self” ensues.

I want to personally call this my absolute favorite piece of science fiction (thus far!). it hit all the right points for me. this has been reviewed as the Ultimate Time Travel Novel and it does not disappoint. a very quick read that can be knocked out in a day and leave with you a sense of lost sense of identity and apathetic existentialism. this book ruined my day in the best way possible.

it is also very queer!

10/10 ⭐️

#science fiction #scifi #discworld #time travel #bookstagram #bookcore #books and reading #reading blog #reading #fantasy #philsophy #existentialism #dark aesthetic #book aesthetic #dark academia #queer #queer books #queer community

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noahhawthorneauthor · 5 months

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I am finalizing Matsdotter and Adrastus this week! Which means I'll be pretty quiet, so to make up for it I present: 60 books which are organized by ✨vibes.✨

You've got tragic and messed up gays. (Red Rising isn't gay, but you can only hate him so much before it gets a little gay)

You've got the paranormal and/or mystery gay disasters.

You've got the I'm figuring things out queers.

You've got the what the f*ck did I just read horror babes. (Who are, you guessed it, queer)

You've got kids versus gender and/or neurodivergencies.

You've got queer witches finding themselves, and love.

You've got gorgeous worlds cheering on even more beautiful romances.

You've got people who will do anything for those they love, no matter the distance.

You've got epic stories with stabby characters, and a lot of sailing.

You've got the mutants, the weirdos who know they have to break things to truly fix them.

#noahs book recs #queer books #indie books #trans books #lgbtqia books #ace representation #demi representation #paranormal romance #queer scifi #sci fi #fantasy books #disability representation #indie authors #books to read #book recommendations #all about the vibes

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celepom · 2 years

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More Great Reads for Pride!

Beetle and the Hollow Bones by Aliza Layne

In the eerie town of ‘Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity. Then there’s twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who’s caught in between. She’d rather skip being homeschooled completely and spend time with her best friend, Blob Glost. But the mall is getting boring, and B.G. is cursed to haunt it, tethered there by some unseen force. And now Beetle’s old best friend, Kat, is back in town for a sorcery apprenticeship with her Aunt Hollowbone. Kat is everything Beetle wants to be: beautiful, cool, great at magic, and kind of famous online. Beetle’s quickly being left in the dust. But Kat’s mentor has set her own vile scheme in motion. If Blob Ghost doesn’t escape the mall soon, their afterlife might be coming to a very sticky end. Now, Beetle has less than a week to rescue her best ghost, encourage Kat to stand up for herself, and confront the magic she’s been avoiding for far too long. And hopefully ride a broom without crashing.

Mooncakes by Wendy Xu

A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any townhome. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

All Freddy Riley wants is for Laura Dean to stop breaking up with her. The day they got back together was the best one of Freddy’s life, but nothing’s made sense since. Laura Dean is popular, funny and SO CUTE … but she can be really thoughtless, even mean. Their on-again, off-again relationship has Freddy’s head spinning — and Freddy’s friends can’t understand why she keeps going back.

When Freddy consults the services of a local mystic, the mysterious Seek-Her, she isn’t thrilled with the advice she receives. But something’s got to give: Freddy’s heart is breaking in slow motion, and she may be about to lose her very best friend as well as her last shred of self-respect. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnist Anna Vice, to help her through being a teenager in love.

Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need.

The Bride Was a Boy by Chii

A heartwarming transgender love story, based on true events! A diary comic with an upbeat, adorable flair that tells the charming tale of Chii, a woman assigned male at birth. Her story starts with her childhood and follows the ups and downs of exploring her sexuality, gender, and transition–as well as falling in love with a man who’s head over heels for her. Now, Chii is about to embark on a new adventure: becoming a bride!

Nimona by N. Stevenson

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess

Earth baker Peony gets the deal of a lifetime when she agrees to be a contestant on the Universe's hottest reality TV show, Space Battle Lunchtime! But that was before she knew that it shoots on location... on a spaceship... and her alien competitors don't play nice! Does Peony really have what it takes to be the best cook in the Galaxy? Tune in and find out!

I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino

Because of a hearing disability, Kohei is often misunderstood and has trouble integrating into life on campus, so he learns to keep his distance. That is until he meets the outspoken and cheerful Taichi. He tells Kohei that his hearing loss is not his fault. Taichi's words cut through Kohei's usual defense mechanisms and open his heart. More than friends, less than lovers, their relationship changes Kohei forever.

Secret XXX by Meguru Hinohara

Shohei loves bunnies! He loves them so much he’s even taken to volunteering at a local pet shop. Store owner Mito is as sweet and kind as the fuzzy critters he cares for, and it’s not long before Shohei finds himself wanting to cuddle with him as much as the bunnies! But Shohei is hiding a dangerous secret, one that makes this dream an unlikely reality.

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Fresh out of shipwreck wine, three tipsy mermaids decide to magically masquerade as humans and sneak onto land to indulge in much more drinking and a whole lot of fun in the heart of a local seaside tourist trap. But the good times abruptly end the next morning as, through the haze of killer hangovers, the trio realizes they never actually learned how to break the spell, and are now stuck on land for the foreseeable future. Which means everything from: enlisting the aid of their I-know-we-just-met-can-we-crash-with-you bartender friend, struggling to make sense of the world around them, and even trying to get a job with no skill set…all while attempting to somehow return to the sea and making the most of their current situation with tenacity and camaraderie (especially if someone else is buying).

Jem and the Holograms by Kelly Thompson & Sophie Campbell

Meet Jerrica Benton—a girl with a secret. She and her sister Kimber team with two friends to become... JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS! But what does it mean to be JEM today? Fashion, art, action, and style collide in Jem and the Holograms: Showtime!

#book rec #pride #queer #gay #lesbian #nonbinary #transgender #asexual #aromantic #graphic novel #manga #comic #fantasy #romance #autobio #science fiction #scifi #music #bands #mermaids #book recs

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oatmilk-vampire · 4 months

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This morning I'm crying.

I received an email from my local library asking me if I would like to donate a copy of Tomorrow's Loss, my book.

I'm crying because, I may not be getting paid for them to purchase my book or for patrons to check out my book, but they'll be able to read it. For free.

I'm crying because trans kids will pick up this book and see themselves represented as a protagonist.

I'm crying because gay and even ace kids will see themselves represented as happy and falling in love despite the world crashing down around them.

I'm crying, and even laughing, because I finally did it; and in a red state no less.

This is the beginning for me.

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up-in-flames-writing · 4 months

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In lieu of Stuff Your Kindle day, can we talk about the issue of how the m/m genre of books, romance or not, is almost entirely dominated by women? Can we talk about how the most recognisable gay couples in media are written by women? Can we talk about how queer men can't even write about ourselves, how we are only allowed to exist when it's from the point of view of a straight woman sexualising us?

Can we talk about that? Or am I going to get called misogynistic for pointing out the disparity between who gets the writing deals, & who gets their books turned into movies, & whose shit gets popular versus whose doesn't? Can we talk about how m/m fiction is only allowed when it appeals to a cishet gaze, or is that too much for tumblr to take?

Can we also talk about how trans queer men are even more hated by publishing? Can we talk about how we get shit from both sides? Can we talk about how books about the experiences of being a queer man, written by queer men, never get the same recognition as books written by women on this subject (barring academia which has its own problems)?

Can we talk about that? Can we?

#booker speaks #no bloody clue how to tag this #this is for the tags only but #people would get up in arms if the f/f book scene was dominated by cismen only #why are we not extending this same energy to ciswomen writers of m/m?#why did we forget about the original meaning of own voices?#why are queer men pushed out of publishing in the way that we are?#& im not just talking about romance here #like there are fantasy & scifi & contemporary novels about men loving men that are written by ciswomen who have a very narrow view of what #m/m relationships are like. & this extends towards stuff like manga too but im not gonna get into that cause i dont read mangs/comics #can we talk about how hard it is to find queer masc authors nowadays?#saying this both as a reader & as a writer #can we also talk about how lists of queer & especially trans novels almost always forget to include anything by transmascs & gay transmascs #or if they do include us its 1 transmasc book to 1 enby book to 8 transfem books or books about the 'trans experience' in nebulous terms #can we stop reccing detransition baby & start reccing the spirit bares its teeth?#can we look at works written by queer masc people that arent just red white royal blue & stone butch blues?#go read cemetary boys #read alexis hall & max turner #read bloom if you like comics. or nimona #read my shit too!#im gonna be focusing on my writing blog way more this year #& im working on some projects that may or may not end up being published in physical form #read more queer masc stories by queer masc authors!

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excavatinglizard · 3 months

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✨ Hello all it is that time once again!! ✨

Do you like queer sci-fi and fantasy? Do you see the same books recommended everywhere? After a year I’m back with a collection of strange and sometimes dark books that you may have heard of, but I hope I’ve found a few you haven’t! I’m just chucking these into the void so if you enjoy these recs or have read any, let me know!

Meet Us by the Roaring Sea, Akil Kumarasamy

Honeycomb, Joanne M Harris

Hot Head, Simon Ings

Are You Listening, Tillie Walden

Hell Followed With Us, Andrew Joseph White

Enigma, Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee

Salt Slow, Julia Armfield

Never Have I Ever, Isabel Yap

All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From, Izzy Wasserstein

I’ll put the full descriptions below the cut, but as always I’d love to hear if you have any more recommendations!

Meet Us by the Roaring Sea, by Akil Kurasamy

Meet Us by the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy was one of the strangest books I’ve read this year, but also one of my favourites by far. This is a story within a story, following both the near-future second-person narration of a woman training an AI while grieving her mother, and the lives of a group of Tamil medical students. This is a story about grief and the sensationalization of war and the things we do to live each day—but at its heart, it’s a story about women who love each other in whatever way they can. This book has some of the most gorgeous prose I’ve encountered in a long time, and it’s strange and meandering and contemplative.

Honeycomb, by Joanne M. Harris

Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris follows the well-trodden path of fairy stories—a child swapped, a woman seeing what she was never meant to and being blinded for it—and slowly expands into an intricate web of stories and characters. Worlds within worlds within stories make up this book, and the illustrations by Charles Vess bring everything to life. The characters in these stories feel ancient in a way I can’t explain, and if you enjoyed the Starless Sea you’ll almost certainly enjoy this.

Are You Listening, by Tillie Walden

Are You listening is a book that I’ve picked up over and over again—it’s a graphic novel which I can finish in one sitting, and each time I have to sit and think and just feel afterwards. This is a story of a girl who’s run away from home, and who encounters another woman heading on her own way. What started as an escape becomes a road trip across Texas full of cats and shifting roads and tiny quiet moments. Strange and dreamlike at times, this book manages to make me cry over each character and their individual stories every time.

Tw for references to SA

Hell Followed With Us

Hell Followed With Us is one of those books that I didn’t realize how hard it was hitting me until I finished and couldn’t function for two hours. This book follows a young man in a world plagued by a disease that makes mindless monsters out of its victims—only he’s been infected by the church he was raised under, and he’s slowly turning into something much worse. Benji tries to escape, but his past isn’t ready to let him go just yet and the infection is only getting worse. The author describes this book as beginning as a ‘fit of rage’, which is truly the only way to describe it. While this is technically a YA book, beware of body horror, transphobia, religious extremism and disease. Somehow this book managed to look inside me and see so many things I’d never been able to put into words, all bundled up in a mass of viscera and grieving boys.

Enigma, by Peter Milligan

I discovered this comic through a newsletter from Charlie Jane Anders, and then proceeded to absolutely lose my mind over it and have to tell everyone I know about it. Enigma is a story about a man stuck in a dead-end job and a dead-end relationship, who suddenly finds that the characters of his favourite childhood superhero comic have come to life. The art style is gorgeous though it changes throughout the book, and Enigma swerves between a vast and bizarre story of gods in wells and far too many lizards, to incredibly intimate moments and interesting characters. Be prepared for body horror and a constant general sense of unease.

Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee

If last year was giving in to reading Gideon, this was my year of going insane over Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (this is sadly the only space opera on this year’s list). Ninefox Gambit has everything I love in science fiction—casually queer characters, intricate universes, strange definitions of self and TRAUMA. Someone please get these two some therapy. When a major position of power is attacked, Kel Cheris finds herself with a promotion to general and the disgraced strategist who massacred his crew inside her head. The thing that stands out to me about Yoon Ha Lee’s work is his characterizations—even the most minor character has quirks to make them feel like a person, which is only stronger in the main characters.

Salt Slow, by Julia Armfield

Saltslow is the first of three anthologies on this list, and it’s the debut collection by Julia Armfield (who wrote Our Wives Under the Sea. For an idea of what you’re getting into). Following the trend of strange and a little dark this year, a lot of these stories border on horror and explore experiences like losing your ability to sleep, shape shifting through puberty and being a roadie to a band that leaves mass violence in its wake. While Our Wives Under the Sea will definitely stay my favourite Julia Armfield book, Saltslow managed to pack a whole lot into such short stories full of queer women and trans feels.

Never Have I Ever, by Isabel Yap

I picked up Never Have I Ever on a whim and I’m so glad I did, since it definitely ranked in my top anthologies of the year. Never Have I Ever is a collection of short stories, often centered around Filipino and Japanese folk lore (although there is one story about a wizard in San Francisco making a love potion, what of it). This collection ranges from funny to sad and explores Filipino culture, the anti-drug campaigns and the horror that is growing up. Often short stories feel unfinished but every part of this collection felt well thought out and polished, plus the cover is gorgeous.

All the Hometowns you Can’t Stay Away From, by Izzy Wasserstein

The final anthology, All The Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From is mostly sci-fi with a handful of fantasy-leaning stories, though whatever technology there may be takes a back-seat to the characters who stood out as the heart of each piece. Unplaces, a story set up as a researcher’s notes in the margins of an atlas, desperately trying to make the world a better place in whatever way she can, and Everything the Sea Takes, It Returns—a story about living after the end of the world—were the two that really stuck with me. The writing here is perhaps more straightforward than some other entires on the list, but each story is a perfect little piece of character and emotions which truly make an excellent anthology.

Anyway, that’s this year’s list! Go forth and read more strange queer books, and support your local libraries!

#book recommendations #queer books #ninefox gambit #queer scifi #tillie Walden #book recs #here we go. this wasn’t my best year of books but I still managed to drag together enough to make my list!#these lists keep getting broader and broader haha #I need to find more space operas to satisfy my need

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ellebeaumontbooks · 2 months

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Coming July 31, 2024 the retelling you didn't know you needed!

Verona has 99 problems—including a time machine.

All Benvolio has ever desired is a peaceful life alongside his spirited—albeit quarrelsome—roommate, Mercutio. But as the story goes, the course of true love never did run smooth, and when tensions between the Montagues and the Capulets reach a boiling point, Benvolio and Mercutio are dragged into the mess Romeo makes of all their lives.

Then an older version of Benvolio crashes into their lives, offering the opportunity to change fate, Mercutio does as he always does—seizes the chance. There's just one problem: no deal is without strings, and this one involves a deadly secret that Mercutio is determined to take to the grave.

What follows is a lively adventure through the ages, replete with love and heartache. Amidst the chaos, this inseparable duo will unravel the true depth of their friendship.

A riotous romp of a retelling of Romeo & Juliet. Side effects of reading may contain laughter, heartache, and a need for more. This light, sci-fi fantasy is the perfect shelf companion to The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian, Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall, and The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles. (add it to your Goodreads TBR!)

#mercutio x benvolio #elle beaumont #william shakespere #retelling #time travel #scifi #steampunk #fantasy books #queer books #lgbt reads #lou wilham

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lucina-rae · 9 months

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i just finished reading Always Human (again) and it made me cry (again)

I know I already recommended it before a few times but I have to recommend it again because it really is the most beautiful, perfect love story that I've ever experienced. The art, the colors, the characters, the world... all of it is so wonderful!

and it's literally available online for free you have no excuse https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/list?title_no=557

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ipsogender · 9 months

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PSA: "all of [species] are intersex" can reinforce misconceptions

So I'm still gathering my thoughts on The Deep by intersex author Rivers Solomon which I read for @intersexbookclub and one thing that I keep seeing in reviews for the book is "all of the wajinru are intersex" because this is a fantasy species where everybody has both male and female reproductive systems.

And while I know full well this is a work of speculative fiction, everything is a metaphor, and having biological hermaphrodites be stand-ins for intersex people is metaphor, I'm starting to worry that perisex readers don't actually know this distinction.

Intersex refers to individuals of a given species whose sexual traits do not match what is considered typical for the species.

Hermaphrodism in biology refers to species who have both male and female reproductive systems. So for example, snails have both male and female reproductive systems and when they mate they connect up both.

An individual snail with fully-functioning male and female reproductive systems that match norms about snail sexual characteristics is a perisex snail.

An individual snail with only a male reproductive system is an intersex snail.

If you see somebody saying snails/earthworms/trees/etc are ALL intersex they are conflating intersex and biological hermaphrodism, and this is a common but hurtful misconception about us intersex people.

Please note: you do not see biological hermaphrodism in humans, even as intersex variations. And the h-word is a slur when used to refer to intersex humans.

Things get a little more complicated with speculative fiction where it's clear a species is there as a stand-in/metaphor for intersex people. I know it's a little longer to say "the wajinru represent intersex people" but given how common the misconceptions there are about intersex people it matters to state it unambiguously.

#intersex #intersex in nature #perisex #biology #queer scifi #intersex book club #the deep #rivers solomon

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b0rtney · 1 month

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you want homosexuals in every conceivable scenario?

Boy oh boy do i have the substack for u: mine!

NO PLEASE LEMME TELL U THE STORIES BEFORE U LEAVE--

Current is Cinnamon Muffins. TLDR: Six queer boys in a homophobic tiny town in Iowa are trying to survive winter break dodging awful parents, social stigma, and mental health crises.

Next up is How to Get Away with Marriage. TLDR: Guy with awful, religious parents marries guy who is living paycheck to paycheck so they can both get all their younger sisters out of their shitty situations (but they fall in love ofc).

Longer desc of these plus the stories coming in the next months are below the cut! (Genres include fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, mystery/thriller, coming-of-age)

Cinnamon Muffins centers on Taylor Macready, a homeless senior in high school holed up in a sleeping bag under a bridge after his parents kicked him out. He's fully ready to just accept death when it starts snowing on him while he's stargazing, but social outcast Wes Post is taking his nightly walk in a new direction and stumbles (literally) on his longtime crush, Taylor. Dragging Taylor home, Wes's parents prove themselves the only reasonable parents in this book by setting Taylor up on their pullout couch and nursing him back to health. Then Wes, whose closest school relationships include the kids who bully him for his anxiety-related speech impediment, has to get in touch with Taylor's friends to let them know the situation. Meanwhile, the mean girls of Swisher High School are starting a campaign to get homosexuality banned at school. Administratively, it gets nowhere, but it inspires several small-minded shitwads to take matters into their own hands. While Taylor is used to getting into fights, Wes isn't, but he'll have to sink or swim, because the teachers are not paid enough to care what happens in the hallways during lunchtime.

How to Get Away with Marriage opens with Luke Providence, son of a devoutly Baptist family in Nebraska, proposing to Patrick Demden, son of a recently-deceased alcoholic mechanic. The wealthy Providence parents have a longstanding agreement that once their children get married, they will receive a trust of $100,000 to use on the down-payment of a house and to start a life with their spouse. Patrick's younger sister tutors Luke's younger sister, but Patrick's sister is 16. This age gap doesn't matter much to the Providence parents, but it matters a lot to Luke, so he strikes a deal with Patrick: tell the parents he'll marry the sister, legally marry the brother, everyone gets to move to Colorado and escape abusive religious parents and crushing poverty. He needn't have done something so elaborate, Patrick would have married him for any reason at all. But the secret doesn't stay secret forever, and the Providence parents eventually come knocking, trying to recollect their children and their money.

Future stories I'll keep shorter, but feel free to ask about them either in the replies or my askbox and I'll elaborate!

Assassin x Demon King will be getting books 2 and 3! ADK is about an assassin and the king he was supposed to kill, both of whom have quit their jobs and started trying to save as many people as the assassin killed before he dies of a slow-acting poison in twelve months. Books 2 and 3 will have things getting awfully tragic and somewhat more horny than before! (No smut will make it into the print versions of these, that will remain on my substack alone)

How to Find Your Friends After the End of the World is a fantasy inspired by the isekai anime genre. Five friends in their 20s are on earth as it is wracked by a violent battle between the Heroine of the Gods and her Nemesis, and then, suddenly, they aren't. Earth has been destroyed and they are now on a new planet, in new (non-human) bodies, strewn across continents! On their new wrists, they have tattoos with each others' names, plus one (or two) new ones: their soulmates. Court politics and wastelands of monsters await them as they try desperately to reach each other, and their soulmates try desperately to reach them.

HtFYF will also have a prequel, focusing on the events that led to earth's destruction, and the battle between the Heroine of the Gods, a young woman, and her Nemesis, who seems to know more about the gods than she says. Why do the gods keep choosing such young heroes? What has the Nemesis done to put the world in such peril? Will the Heroine get to graduate on time despite the sleep she's been missing!?

The following do not yet have titles, but are fully fleshed out works ready to be thrown onto Substack:

A trilogy of eleven teens assisting in the fight against an agency that traffics, tortures, and then sells children with preternatural powers and abilities, and an exploration of the trauma those kids emerge with.

A murder mystery where a woman's sister dies, the police rule it suicide, and the woman enlists the help of a rumored contract killer to help her solve the murder-- but why does this rumored murderer-for-hire seem to know so much about her sister's death? And who was truly responsible?

A campy novel about a woman who graduates college, goes back to her hometown, and finds her highschool crush is still there, still single, and has since come out as gay. Of course, the only solution is to co-adopt an at-risk child from a neighbor.

This post will remain pinned on my profile, but for the next few days I'm having a sale on my substack tiers-- 20% off! That makes the cost to you just $8 per month to get a chapter every other day. 15 chapters for $8; that's a steal!

#support the author #indie author #substack #book recommendations #queer fantasy #queer scifi #queer mystery #queer romance #queer ya #wlw #mlm #queer rep #mlnb #wlnb

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