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[adultqueerbookrecs]

Welcome to the Rec List!

The other night, @markwatnae and I were chatting, discussing books we had read recently and sharing recommendations. As we talked, markwatnae mentioned how many more queer books there were today than when we were younger, and I agreed, adding that my first explorations into queer literature were done at specialty bookstores, like the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore in NYC - back before Amazon, when Barnes and Noble's "LGBTQ" section was, maybe, 2 shelves big. I mentioned being very happy that a lot of what I've seen recommended was YA fiction, as 15-year-old me would have loved access to books about people like me without having to travel all the way into the Village from suburban NJ (which, spoilers, never happened), but that, since I don't tend to read YA, I was always looking for adult-level queer fiction. And so, we decided to turn our recommendations into a blog.

The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore was one of the first LGBT bookstores, opening originally in 1967. It moved to Christopher Street in 1973, at the corner of Gay Street, and only a few storefronts down from the Stonewall Inn. It closed, sadly, in 2009, due to the recession and online retailers. In memory of an institution that would have *loved* to see the recent boom in queer literature happening now, we present to you this blog. markwatnae and I, scarletjedi, will be posting our recommendations as we read them, and we encourage you to submit your own recommendations! We'll post them, too, and spread the word!

Note* Please, no spoilers in your recs! And if it appears on AO3 as a content warning, it should probably be tagged as such.

Happy Reading!

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written." - Oscar Wilde

[adultqueerbookrecs]

Book Rec: A Marvelous Light by Freya Markse

Book 1 in the The Last Binding Trilogy

This may have been the most exciting book that I've read in a very long time. It's the book that got me back into reading after a very long slump - so much so that I read it twice in a row, and then again twice more via audiobook. I cannot think of a single miss-step in this book. The descriptions are rich and vibrant, a perfect blend of character voice and wit and image. The characters are beyond charming, and the villains straddle the line between melodrama and realism that makes every victory a delight and every loss heartbreaking. The plot is perfectly paced, a perfect parlor drama for someone who grew up reading Agatha Christie.

Plot/Character: The main characters are the new Sr Robert Blyth (Robin), the newly appointed (and sole) Assistant in the Office of Special Affairs and Complaints, and Edwin Courcey, the magical liaison with whom he'll now be working. Only, Robin has never heard of magic before, and Edwin is focused first on finding what happened to Gatling, Robin's predecessor. (Who is, by the way, very dead. We know this. It's the prologue. They don't. That's plot). Everything is complicated when Robin is cursed by Gatling's killer, who is looking for something called The Last Contract, and then it's off to the races (Courcey's family home in the country) to find a way to un-curse Robin, who is now subject to random bits of pain and alarming dizziness. Robin is a delight, trying to balance the untimely (possibly welcome) death of his parents, and the social-and-financial mess they left behind (unwelcome), with the revelations of magic and the magician who introduced it to him. He's easily characterized as a privileged jock, but his socially impeccable smile hides a large heart, a clever wit, and a deep love of art. He also boxes. Edwin might be my favorite character (with the exception of Robin's sister, Maude). He first appears as a tight-ass, and is quickly revealed that his tightness is born of both a need for control and an astounding lack of it in his personal life. He is magical, but "only just" and in a world where might-is-right, has internalized a lot of negativity while dealing with the external negativity of his family - his brother is a cruel bully, and his sister (and her friends) are habitual bullies. He compensates by living in London and studying *how* magic works - he is one of the most well-read magic users in the book. Perhaps because magic is a special interest - Edwin is also one of the best examples of an Autistic character that I have read. The development of the relationship between these two, while dealing with increasingly deadly stakes, is perf3ectly paced. It simmers and sparks, and it's so wonderful how they each fill needs the other has as well as desires. World building: The best word I have to describe it is immersive. From the very first chapter you get a sense of the history and presence of this alternate society that feels organically grown even as it is unfamiliar. The details are perfectly placed, the slight alteration of language - of common expressions beyond the terms used for the magic system itself, really ground this fiction in a sort of reality. Not to mention the *incredibly* fascinating magic system, built on contracts and cat's cradle and *consent* And speaking of consent, this book has some of the best written spicy scenes that I have seen in published fiction. These scenes break tension, forward emotional arcs, and explore characterization while being genuinely sensual and without the awkward phrasing that can sometimes be so off-putting. 10/10, no notes. Ultimately, I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy a healthy bit of drama-plot in their romance, or romance in their fantasy.