#Chain-Gang All-Stars
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nellasbookplanet · 6 months ago
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Book recs: Queer science fiction, part 2
There is a lot of queer sf out there, and I read a lot of sf. When I started working on this list, I quickly realized it was impossible to include all that I’ve read and enjoyed in one single rec post. Thus, this is my second queer sci-fi book rec post. For queer sci-fi part 1, click here!
A note: queer here does not necessarily mean “guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending”, but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don’t always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of “gay best friend”, word of god, and a blink and you’ll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.
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For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!
If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!
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Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone
Vivian Liao is a highly successful innovator, but she may have bitten off more than she can chew and fears the government may be coming for her. As she goes into hiding, she attempts to pull off one last stunt that could fix everything - but something goes wrong, and suddenly Vivian finds herself waking up in the far future, under attack by an army of robots in space. Hoping to find her way back home, Vivian must assemble a crew of dangerous outlaws to help her hunt down the Empress of Forever, the all-powerful entity who pulled her into the future. Lesbian main character.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Novella. On the outpost of a human colony by Jupiter, a man has gone missing. On the case to find him - and figure out why he disappeared in the first place - is enigmatic investigator Mossa. Her search leads her to the colony's university, and with it, her ex-girlfriend Pleiti, expert on Earth's pre-collapse ecosystem. Together they come to realize that the case is much larger than just a missing man, and could decide the outcome of humanity's very future. Sapphic.
My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan
Nine years ago, all complex technology was made illegal. This complicates life for Joel, young transgender single father, as a bionic just uploaded itself into his brain without consent. Scared of losing his daughter, Joel tries to keep the bionic secret while using it to fix his life, but things quickly get more complicated as the bionic gains more and more control of his body. A bit simplistic in writing style but makes a lot of cool parallels of bodily autonomy to Joel’s experiences as a transman. M/M romance.
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The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez*
A strange child lands on an isolated planet, scaring its inhabitants into handing him over into the hands of Nia Amani. As captain of a transport ship, Nia is not only the planet's only contact with the outside world, she is also a woman out of time, years compressing into months as she travels through space at high speeds. Now responsible for a child who doesn't speak and in a galaxy that wishes them ill, she must rethink exactly what she wants to do with her life, and what she's prepared to give up. Features multiple major queer characters.
The Abyss Surrounds Us (The Abyss Surrounds Us duology) by Emily Skrutskie
Young Adult. Tumblr classic back in the day! Cassandra Leung's family are keepers of sea monsters, genetically engineered and trained to protect ships from pirates. On her first solo mission, Cas finds herself kidnapped by pirates seeking to obtain their own monster. Now they need her help to train it. As Cas seeks to regain her freedom, she must also reckon with unfortunate growing feelings for one of the pirates keeping her under guard. Sapphic.
Ancestral Night (White space series) by Elizabeth Bear
Haimey Dz is part of a three-man salvage crew in space (one of the crew being the sentient spaceship himself). When the small crew comes across a derelict ship that proves the scene of a horrible crime, they must go on the run as they seek to uncover a conspiracy that involves both ancient secrets older than humanity itself, and Haimey's own hidden past. On their tail is a dangerous space pirate, convinced that Haimey is the key to it all. Lesbian main character.
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Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie*
A space opera in which sentient spaceships can walk the ground in stolen human bodies, so called ancillaries. One of these ancillaries, the sole survivor after the complete destruction of her ship and crew, is one the hunt for revenge against the most powerful woman in the empire. This series does very cool things with gender!
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Five New Yorkers find themselves experiencing strangness as the city itself begins to wake up. They are its soul, its avatars and its protectors, and now they must keep it safe as it wakes as something alien and monstrous attempts to kill it before it's even fully alive. Mix of sci-fi, supernatural, and lovecraftian horror. Multiple pov characters of varying queer identities.
Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir*
Gideon, raised as a swordswoman by unfriendly nuns, would rather run away and make her own life, but her services are needed. The Reverend Daughter, Gideon's childhood nemesis, has been invited to a trial to win a place as an immortal by the Emperor's side, and she's in need of a bodyguard. Listen, if you’re on tumblr I probably don’t need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it’s exactly as good as people claim. Humorous and spooky but also absolutely gut wrenching and clever with a lot of political commentary. There are also, indeed, lesbian necromancers in space.
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A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Salvagers trilogy) by Alechia Dow
In a universe run on science and magic working hand in hand, Boots Elsworth makes a living selling fake treasure maps and Nilah Brio is a racer. When one of Boots' maps turns out to be more real than expected and Nilah has to go on the run after having been framed for a murder, the two find themselves on the same spaceship, working with Boots' old captain to find the rumored treasure and reveal the conspiracy its hiding before the people hunting them catch up. Features a main f/f relationship.
The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen*
A wild mix of genres, where a zombie apocalypse has struck and vampires gather up humans to keep their food source from going extinct, a robot travels across America with a young man she’s tasked to keep safe, and former-vampire-hunter-recent-zombie Emily teams up with Death himself to stop the apocalypse. Features bi and ace characters! Bonus rec: the author also runs the youtube channel Maven of the Eventide, where she talks about various vampire media. Check it out!
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Shizuka Satomi is a violin master who made a deal with a devil, and who must now save her soul by delivering the souls of her students in place of her own. Lan Tran is a mother and a refugee of an alien war, hiding on Earth with her children in a donut shop. Katrina Nguyen is a trangender runaway and violin player, in the need of a mentor. As their paths cross, their lives change forever. I would categorize this as cozy, however it does also deal with some pretty heavy themes.
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The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson*
Young adult. Young artist June Costa lives in Palmares Tres, a beautiful, matriarchal city relying heavily on tradition, one of which is the Summer King. The most recent Summer King is Enki, a bold boy and fellow artist. With him at her side, June seeks to finally find fame and recognition through her art, breaking through the generational divide of her home. But growing close to Enki is dangerous, because he, like all Summer Kings, is destined to die. While the main relationship is m/f, it features a worldbuilding where bisexuality is the norm, which is portrayed in its major characters.
The Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne
Nix Marr is a soldier and damned good at it, but that doesn't prepare her for her next mission: bodyguard for Subarch Kessandra, beloved royal and Nix's bitter ex, as she ventures into the underwater city of Fall to seek the cause of a bloody murder spree and a possible deadly contagion. But Kessandra has enemies, the answers she seeks marking her as a possible threat for the nation's rulers. On their way in an isolated and enclosed underwater ship toward Fall, the contagion catches up, and Nix will have to put her hurt feelings aside if the two are to arrive alive. Sci-fi with flavors of horror and the supernatural.
Adaptation (Adaptation duology) by Malinda Lo
Young adult. Strangeness is afoot: all over America, birds are hurling themselves against airplanes and causing crashes. As flights are canceled and travelers stranded, Reese and her debate partner and longtime crush David are forced to head home by car. Accident strikes, and the two wake in a military hospital with no memory of the last month. Returning home, strangeness follows the two, especially as Reese encounters the mysterious and beautiful Amber Gray, who may know more than she lets on. Features a bisexual love triangle.
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Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
Young adult. Fifteen-year-old Kivali, abandoned at birth and adopted by the nonconformist artist Sheila, has as a girl in boys clothes never fit in with the other kids. Sheila has always been supportive, until she one day sends Kivali off to CropCamp. While Kivali chafes at the strict rules of the camp, she also finds herself making friends, and maybe more, for the first time. Strange coming of age story, featuring exploration of gender and sexuality in a dystopian setting.
Isle of Broken Years by Jane Fletcher
Young spanish noblewoman Catalina thinks she’s done for when the ship she’s traveling on is attacked by pirates and she’s captured. Things gets worse when the entire crew is stranded on an inhospitable island where time works strangely, dangerous monsters terrorize the woods and something alien stops them from leaving. Strong Lost vibes. Lesbian romance. Admittedly quite indulgent but very fun and creative.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Marta Wells*
After having hacked its own governor module, SecUnit uses its small amount of new freedom to secretly download and watch as much media as it can between doing its job guarding humans. But when the scientists it’s been charged with keeping safe come under attack, it must make a choice about whether to continue keeping its freedom secret or risk it all to save them. The series features both novellas and full length novels, and balances humor with scathing critique of capitalism. While it can be debated whether SecUnit counts as agender, asexual and aromantic, as it is a robot (I leave this up to individual judgmenet), however the series also has a diverse cast overall.
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The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James*
Young adult. After the spread of a global virus causing infertility, teenagers Lowrie and Shen are now the youngest humans alive as the adults around them race to find a cure. As they investigate the ruins of the world, the two come across records from the past, of how grief stricken people turned to raising artificial children in apps and how these 'children’ developed, and through these records the two learn of their history. Bisexual main character.
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah*
In a near future America, inmates on death row or with life sentences in private prisons can choose to participate in death matches for entertainment. If they survive long enough - a rare case indeed - they regain their freedom. Among these prisoners are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, partners behind the scenes and close to the deadline of a possible release - if only they can survive for long enough. As the game continues to be stacked against them and protests mount outside, two women fight for love, freedom, and their own humanity. Chain-Gang All-Stars is bleak and unflinching as well as genuinely hopeful in its portrayal of a dark but all to real possible future. Sapphic.
The Disasters by M.K. England
A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access to its systems. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.
Nax Hall may be a hotshot pilot, but that doesn't stop him from being expelled from the prestigious Ellis Station Academy in less than 24 hours. But as he's to be transported back to Earth alongside other failed students, the school is viciously attacked. Nax and the three other students only barely escape, and are left as the only witnesses - and the perfect scapegoats. Now they must go on the run together and find a way to clear their names. Bisexual main character.
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Dust (Jacob's Ladder series) by Elizabeth Bear
In a dying spaceship, orbiting an equally dying sun, noblewoman Perceval waits for her own gruesome death. Having been captured by an opposing house, her wings severed and life forfeit, Perceval’s execution is imminent - until a young servant charged with her care proves to be Perceval’s long lost sister. To stop a war between houses likely to doom them all, the two flee together across a crumbling, dangerous spaceship. At its core waits Jacob Dust, god and angel, all that remains of what the ship once was. And he wants Perceval. Sapphic and asexual characters, however be prepared for kinda fucked up relationships.
Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings
Two ships have gotten stuck in a rift in space, isolated outside of time. One of them is the Jonah, a ship dodging a generations long war against an alien species, carrying a small crew of smugglers, an unintended passenger, and a hijacker. The other ship is the Gallion, which arrived from 150 years in the future carrying an alien ambassador - and whose crew is awestruck at meeting the heroes of the Jonah, known to have ended the war. As the two crews struggle to understand each other's timelines, they must also work together to leave the rift before they're stranded forever. Multiple queer characters, however the main romance plotlines are m/f.
One Last Stop by Casey McQiston*
Twenty-three-year-old August has a lot to deal with. She just moved to New York, got new job at a pancake diner, and acquired several slightly chaotic roommates. So what if she likes to flirt with the pretty girl on her subway commute? But Jane turns out to be more than just a charming stranger: she's lost in time, displaced from the 70s, and unable to leave the subway. Romance with a dash of timetravel sci-fi, One Last Stop is a delightful story of love and queer community.
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The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings*
In an alternate version of our present, the witch hunt never ended. Women are constantly watched and expected to marry young so their husbands can keep an eye on them. When she was fourteen, Josephine’s mother disappeared, leveling suspicions at both mother and daughter of possible witchcraft. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, Jo, in trying to finally accept her missing mother as dead, decides to follow up on a set of seemingly nonsensical instructions left in her will. Features a bisexual lead!
Salvation Day by Kali Wallace
A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.
Alien: Echo by Mira Grant
Young adult. Twin sisters Olivia and Viola's parents are both xenobiologists, bringing them all over the galaxy. Most recently they’ve settled on a new colony world to study its life, but it proves more dangerous than they could’ve ever imagined. Under attack from alien monsters, the sisters must keep each pther alive while also coming to terms with a dark family secret. Sapphic horror. Part of the Alien franchise but stands well on its own.
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aroaessidhe · 11 months ago
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faves of 2023: adult sci-fi
The Deep Sky
Emergent Properties
System Collapse
Chain-Gang All-Stars
The Vanished Birds
Some Desperate Glory
Flight & Anchor
Translation State (also entire Imperial Radch series)
World Running Down
Feed Them Silence
The Infinite
The Meister of Decimen City
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fleshmonk · 1 year ago
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Loretta Thurwar from Chain-Gang All-Stars
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seeit-blr-blog · 3 months ago
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JOMP Book Photo Challenge - August 29 - This Month’s Favorite
Finally got to this book and… man.  Incredible, heart-wrenching, poetic.  This is a great example of speculative fiction that deeply engages with the world we currently live in.
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libraryspectre · 2 months ago
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Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is officially an insta-read for me. Chain-Gang All-Stars was my favorite book of last year, and I was SO impressed that it was his first novel. I just finished his short story collection Friday Black, and yeah. I can't wait to see what he writes next. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll read it
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wonkyreads · 1 month ago
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Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
5 “Suck my dick, America.”’s out of 5
I just finished Chain-Gang All-Stars and I don’t think I’ve ever had footnotes just punch me right in the gut like that.
The writing is utterly electric. In the beginning I felt the close third perspective wandering through characters was going to be its downfall because it’s so often done poorly and as a sign the author lacks control, but Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah pulls it off so beautifully. Every perspective has its own flow and rhythm in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever truly seen.
The message is necessary and so clear. It kind of just smacks you in the face over and over; every time I sunk back into the story of it all there was a new sick parallel to the current state of America. And how easy it is to see something this horrifying as not that far off. Some might find it a little heavy-handed, but I’d prefer to see it as just incredibly clear. At some point it feels wrong to read, like maybe you’re just another vulture finding entertainment in another’s hell. This book did an incredible job of making me physically ill.
And the ending. The ending. God, I could write pages and pages on that and still not work through the knot it immediately put me in. It’s perfect. I sat in shock for so long despite knowing, in some ways, what it would be. And it’s perfect.
I am not a reviewer to go to for trigger warnings because I miss some of the more obvious ones, so I’d suggest looking into those, but this is a book I think should be so widely read. Like, please. Please read this.
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whilereadingandwalking · 1 year ago
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I'm obsessed with Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. It was action-packed, cinematic, suspenseful, and overall just impossible to put down. Heart-breaking and genius in its construction, in the way that Brenyah pulls apart the incarceration system and what it shows about all of humanity's worst complicities, acceptance, and flaws.
In this novel set in a not-too-distant feasible future dystopia of surveillance, blood, and capitalism, incarcerated people can opt in to a brutal tournament of fights-to-the-death. If they survive three full years of violence, trickery, and gamesmanship, they'll be High Freed, allowed back out into the world. Otherwise, they may be Low Freed—freed by way of death in the arena. People pack the stands of these stadiums, these big matches, or watch every moment of the competitors' lives via drones and live streams. Amidst all of this, Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxxx want to do something different—forge something new. They want to survive, but they want to do it in a way that goes against this system of blood and hate. But will the system allow it? Or are they on a collision course to defeat?
I truly can't recommend this book enough. It might be my book of the year so far. The chapters of those complicit in the system—from the owner of the league, to the doctor who created Influencing, a taser-like pain response used to torture prisoners, to the announcer Micky Wright, to the league's biggest fans. The action scenes out of the best anime you've seen in ages. The shuddering scenes of some of the worst betrayals, the worst twists. The emotional development and love between Loretta and Staxxx.
And of course, the ending of all endings, which made me want to hurl the book out a window, which made it the best ending I've read in quite a long time. 
Strong content warnings for violence, sexual assault, torture, suicide, police brutality. Also warnings for homophobia, suicidal ideation, emotional abuse, racism, grief, ableism.
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heptarchate · 1 year ago
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"I thought of how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it's this."
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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maxalotlxl · 7 months ago
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Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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4.5 Stars.
I would love some more dystopian books like this, ones that feel so real and makes you really think about just how fucked things are because all of this is so believable to happen. Like using prisoners to fight to the death and promoting it like an extreme sport for financial gain.
There were some POVs that felt a little redundant, yet at the same time I guess it was giving us the perspectives of everyone that could be affected by all of this on major to minor scales.
The life and relationships that happen in these scenarios are so fascinating to read about. How they are all going in for the same goal but with massively different motives.
The ending though. I understand why I really do. But also damn I hate it so much (in a good way).
April 2nd.
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bookcoversonly · 7 months ago
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Title: Chain-Gang All-Stars | Author: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Publisher: Pantheon (2023)
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queerographies · 1 year ago
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[Catene di gloria][Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah]
In una surreale versione degli Stati Uniti del prossimo futuro dove il sistema carcerario è totalmente privatizzato, «Catene di gloria» è un format televisivo di enorme successo: i detenuti e le detenute, invece di scontare la pena, possono decidere di sfidarsi a morte in un grande torneo di gladiatori (con annesso reality show), guadagnandosi duello dopo duello la libertà. Nessuno è mai arrivato…
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oracleofmadness · 2 years ago
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An incredibly intriguing and explosive take on a dystopian future and America's prison system.
While this book gives no definitive answer to the multitude of issues in current day prisons across America, this still left me feeling like my eyes are more open to the very real problems at hand.
This story seems to jump all over the place, featuring quite a few different characters and viewpoints, but mostly, this story follows Loretta Thurwar. Thurwar is the reigning champion of a cruel TV show that pits prisoners in fights to the death. The prize for winning, which is beyond difficult, is freedom.
This is a startling but necessary social commentary on many things besides just the prison system. And, without a doubt, this has rattled me. This is a thought-provoking and insightful look into humanity, and I am really glad I read this.
Out May 2, 2023
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
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aroaessidhe · 1 year ago
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2023 reads / storygraph
Chain-Gang All-Stars
a brutal sci-fi set in a near-future America where incarcerated people fight to the death in televised death matches, and are turned into spectacles for entertainment by the privatised prison industry
primarily follows two queer Black women in the same Chain as they near the highest possible rank, promising possible freedom
but also follows various other characters, activists, and fans of the sport with omniscient narration, and footnotes with real stats about prison & discrimination
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macbookamateur · 2 months ago
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just finished Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
a beautiful, incredible, awful, harrowing book. upsetting in all the right places. appropriately grim look at the American prison system, like a somehow less-hopeful hunger games.
you know how people talk about 1984 and similar books "predicting the future", when actually those stories just an exaggerated comment on the world at the time of writing? yeah
Adjei-Brenyah uses examples from past and present US prisons and court cases throughout to drive that home a little more. it's beautifully written, I promise this is a glowing review, I loved it and I cried and I'm angry and it was great
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mccoppinscrapyard · 8 months ago
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Setting up a new book shelf with my Book of the Month and Aardvark Book Club editions!
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libraryspectre · 1 year ago
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I laughed out loud at this, this man is like "WOMEN can also participate state-sanctioned death game executions! #feminism"
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