#(like obviously structural change and aid is ultimately more important than representation

[clamorybus]

its insane how my small town of <10,000 is more diverse than the majority of hollywood productions that are set in major cities

[rainwindandstars]

Queer book recommendations!

Here is my promised list of queer books! I’ve included a small plot summary, what I liked about the books, what kind of representation they have (queer, disability, POC etc.) and warnings for common triggers. If you want to know more about a specific book, feel free to ask me! The order is random and says nothing about how much I liked a book. All the links go to the books’ goodreads pages, unless it is available for free online, then the link goes to where you can find it. Some of the authors have tumblrs, I’ve added those as well in case you want to follow them (I might have missed some, though). I have included a few novellas/novelettes in this posts, but I will probably make an additional post for queer short stories. Shoot me an ask if you want to be notified when I have done so!

The Second Mango by Shira Glassman  @shiraglassman (Fantasy/Romance)

Young lesbian queen Shulamit is looking for a girlfriend with the help of her bodyguard Rivka (who is a woman pretending to be a man) and the bodyguard’s shapeshifting dragon/horse, when they learn about a sorcerer who is turning women into stone and decide to rescue them.

This book is the first of the Mangoverse books (there are three others and one short story collection) and I really liked all of them. While the characters’ queerness is obviously important to the plot (especially in book one and two), the plot isn’t just about that and the characters also have adventures that have nothing to with their orientation (in book three they get to solve a crime). These books are very fluffy, not overly serious in tone (but also not too silly), with happy endings for all the queer characters. Ideal when you just want to read something lighthearted. Most of the characters are Jewish and later books also have bi and trans characters. There is some homophobia in the setting, esp. in book two, but for the most part the queer characters don’t have to suffer for being queer.

Shira has also written a bunch of other books which I’ve heard are very good, but I haven’t read them.

To Stand In The Light by Kayla Bashe @kayla-bird (Fantasy/Romance)

Shadow, a nonbinary transfem superhero with a tragic past saves the life of Bean, another young superhero and they quickly become friends. While Bean goes to superhero school, Shadow is away on adventures, and when they come back after a few years, they both have developed feelings for each other, but are too insecure and too scared they are not good enough for each other to admit it. And then a supervillain shows up…

This book deals with some quite heavy themes like different kinds of trauma, mental illness and disability, but it’s never grim and I actually count it as another “feel-good” book, because it also has the different characters be wonderfully supportive of each other. The character interactions are definitely the focus of this book, the superhero part is mostly just a background for them. Besides queer main characters, this book also has a lot of other minority representation- Shadow has PTSD and chronic pain, Bean has ADHD and is a Korean transracial adoptee, and there are also otherwise disabled characters, characters if colour, one Jewish character and one DID system (there were probably more, but those are the ones I remember). IIRC, there is no homophobia in the setting and only one minor case of transphobia. Tbh, this book isn’t actually all that great from a purely literary point but for me the characters and themes more than made up for it.

Pantomime by Laura Lam @lauraroselam (Fantasy)

Gene is intersex and runs away from home when his parents want to force him to have surgery to make him “a normal girl”. He joins a circus disguised as a boy and calls himself Micah. While he’s getting used to his new life, he finds out that the circus has some bad secrets and also starts to have strange visions.

This book is the first in a fantastic trilogy and my summary there doesn’t do it justice at all. Pantomime starts out with relatively few magical elements, but book two and three have more of those. This trilogy is more plot driven than my first two recommendations, and it’s probably also the closest to your typical fantasy novels.

Micah is intersex and bigender, one of the other main characters is a gay man and there was also a minor trans women character. Micah’s has to deal with intersexism, mostly in book one, but otherwise the characters don’t suffer for being queer. TW for domestic violence.

This is easily one of the best books I’ve read lately, so go read it!

Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets of The Universe by Benjamin Sáenz (YA)

Ari and Dante are two very different teens who build an unlikely friendship that very slowly develops into romance. (I realise that this probably counts as a spoiler, but this book wouldn’t be on this list without that, so you would be able to guess it anyway.)

This is a beautifully written book, almost poetic. It doesn’t really have an overarching plot, it just tells us about the lives of these two boys and everything that includes. It’s not a romance book, and while romance does happen, it’s actually just a very small part of the book. I would have liked a bit more focus on the romantic relationship - the way it is the ending felt a bit incomplete to me, but there’s a sequel coming out, so hopefully that will help. Both Ari and Dante are Mexican-American. TW for violent homophobia and one very bad accident.

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Sci-fi)

A bunch of humans and aliens have adventures in space.

This is another fantastic book, that is both very well written and the kind of book that makes you feel good while reading it (when it doesn’t make you cry). It’s not as fluffy as some of the other books on this list, but while bad things happen it is, ultimately, still optimistic and never grim. The cast is a very diverse mix of humans and aliens, including aliens with a nonbinary gender, unusual family structures disabled characters. There is a f/f romance happening, but it’s only a subplot, so if you’re reading it only for the queerness you might be disappointed but this book is good enough it might even be worth reading if everyone was straight. ;)

Capricious: Gender Diverse Pronouns Edition - A.C.Buchanan (Editor, lots of different authors) (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)

This is a short story anthology in which all stories feature a major character who uses gender neutral pronouns, including singular they but also several different others like ze/hir, per/pers, e/eir etc. Some of the stories have pronouns/gender as a topic (like “Sandals full of Rainwater” by AE Prevost where a person from a culture that doesn’t have gender moves to a culture that has three genders and pronouns that change depending on both the speaker’s and the other person’s gender, or “Ad Astra Per Aspera" by Nino Cipri, in which the protagonist is pretty sure their gender “left me for someone else”.) while others are typical SFF short stories which just happen to have a nonbinary protagonist.

A few of the stories are really fantastic, but all of them are worth reading.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (YA)

Craig and Harry want to break the world record for the longest kiss, Tariq was beaten up by homophobes, Neil and Peter are a happy couple, Avery (who’s trans) and Ryan are just starting a new relationship and Cooper suffers from crushing loneliness, stuck in the closet. This book tells these vaguely related stories about different gay teens, narrated by the ghosts of the gay men who died from AIDS.

This book is definitely an interesting read that contrasts the lives of gay people during the AIDS crisis with that of gay teens now, showing both how much things have improved but also how hard it can still be, not shying away from the darkest parts of queer lives. TW for violent homophobia, depression and suicide.

Documenting Light by E.E. Ottoman (Contemp./Romance)

Wyatt and Greyson try to find out who the two men in an old photograph are, while dealing with various difficulties in their lives. Romance happens.

This is a very short book (novella?) that describes the slowly developing romance between Wyatt, a closeted nonbinary person, and Greyson, a trans man who was cut off by most of his family after coming out. It’s not as lighthearted as the other romance books on this list, but it’s still optimistic and I really liked it. TW for transphobia.

Freya Snow series by L.C. Mawson @lcmawson (YA/Urban Fantasy)

After Freya finds out about her magical heritage, and learns to use her magic, she gets into various adventures, starting when some demons show up to kill her.

This is a series with currently ten books, with a total of 13 planned, and there are two spin of series with other main characters. These books have several queer characters (Freya is bi), which does come up often, but the focus is more on the action. There are several autistic characters (Freya is one of them), one deaf character and one character in a wheelchair, also several POC. I don’t remember how much homophobia there was in the setting, so if there was any, it wasn’t much.

These books aren’t literary masterpieces, so don’t expect too much, but they are still enjoyable to read. The first one is free, so you can give it a try to see if you like it.

All that also goes for the spinoff books.

Love/Hate by L.C.Mawson (YA/Sci-Fi/Romance)

Emotion-fueled superheros protect the last few existing cities from monsters. Claire just got chosen as the new aspect of Love, but she’s in love with the aspect of Hate - which is a very bad combination.

There are currently four books in this series, I don’t know how many more are planned. Like the Freya Snow books, they have a lot of diversity but especially in later books the focus is on the action. There are again several autistic characters, including Claire, and several queer characters including a trans women and an agender character. Most of the cast are POC. There is no homophobia or transphobia in the setting.

Like the Freya snow books, these aren’t super great but still a fun read (though I don’t like how the third book ended and where the plot is heading, but that is just my preference. I also haven’t read the fourth book yet.)

Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire(Fantasy/Mystery)

What happens with the children that were pulled in other worlds when they come back? Nancy is one of them, and she gets sent to the Home for Wayward Children where she finally meets others like her, who understand her wish to return to her other world. But then a gruesome murder happens and it’s up to Nancy and her new friends to find out who did it.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, the characters and the first half of the story - it is really beautifully written-, but I really didn’t like the mystery stuff- it changed the tone of the story completely in a way that just didn’t work for me. (You’ve probably noticed by now that I prefer fluffy stories and this one turned from fluffy to grim very quickly.) So if you don’t mind that, you might like this book, I know a lot of people do, that’s why I’m including it on this list. Nancy is asexual, and one of the other major characters is a trans boy. There was probably more diversity that I’m forgetting because I didn’t reread the book and it wasn’t the focus of the book. There were mentions of transphobia, but no cases during the story. TW for murder, gore etc. (It probably wasn’t as bad as I make it sound, I was just really upset when I finished the book so I’m remembering more of the negatives.)

Iwunen Interstellar Investigations by Bogi Takács (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)

Ranai and Mirun, two autistic nonbinary people solve magical crimes in space. There are a lot of cupcakes. The prequel season shows how Ranai and Mirun met and includes some political intrigue. The first (current) season deals with health issues Mirun is having and mysterious accidents.

This is a web serial (updates once per week) which I totally fell in love with when I found it last week. That description makes it sound more silly than it is- it’s another story where a lot of bad things happen but that still feels good to read. It has some very interesting worldbuilding. The majority of characters are nonbinary, autistic and POC. Mirun and Ranai are also both demisexual and Mirun is physically disabled. The book also has some nonsexual kinky elements. There are mentions of discrimination against trans and neurodiverse people, but nothing of that actually happens in the story. TW for lots of medical stuff and major injuries.

Bogi Takács has also written several short stories that also feature queer main characters and which are also worth reading.

A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power by Rose Lemberg (Fantasy)

I’m just going to copy the description on goodreads: “This is a Birdverse novella told from the viewpoint of the Old Royal, who is a bigender trans person. A queer, kinky survivor and exile who struggles with his ethics meets the ancient bigender ruler of the vast Burri desert...they hit it off. This has many trans/non-binary people, advanced discussions of consent and sadistic desire, mythic grandeur, non-gratuitous engagement with trauma, a giant flaming bird, and the magical history of Birdverse. CWs for kink, edgeplay, and discussions of trauma.” Both of the main characters are POC (I think), and I think also not neurotypical. Also, additional TW for brief cases of transphobia that gets called out in-story.

This is a novella, also available as an (amazing) podcast, and I really loved it. It is a very kinky story, but it is all non-sexual kink, there is no genital sex happening. I also wouldn’t classify it as erotica, because I think it wasn’t primarily written to be hot, it’s more about exploring the complex emotions of the characters, trust and about discussions of consent. And I think this worked out really, really great. All in all, if you aren’t completely squicked out or triggered by kink, I definitely recommend this.

Geometries of Belonging by Rose Lemberg (Fantasy)

Mind-healer Parét is asked to cure an autistic teenager- who really, really doesn’t want to be cured. At the same time, he’s getting entangled in political intrigue concerning his partner (who happens to be the Raker from A Portrait…, but many years later).

I absolutely adore this novelette, and I think I reread it about three times in the first week after I found it. It has the strong focus on the characters  and relationships and the slower pace that I like in stories, and it just really stayed with me. I think it dealt really well with the topic of a potential cure for autism (the author is autistic themselves). I also liked how it portrayed both a very queerphobic society and one where trans/queer people and polyamory are completely accepted. This story deals with some difficult topics, and it’s not a fluffy story, but it’s not grim or depressing in any way. (If this was posted on AO3, it might be labelled Hurt/Comfort). There are several queer characters, autistic and mentally ill characters and some POC. The MC is in a D/s relationship, but it’s not as graphic as in A Portrait… TW for ableism, transphobia, homophobia, parental abuse, suicidal ideation.