#LGBT fantasy

[thebibliosphere]

Okay, well, I was planning to build up some hype, but

🦇🎃HAPPY HALLOWEEN🎃🦇

Lorehaven Bound: A Hunger Pangs Short is now available on Amazon.

A train ride through the Nevrondian countryside should be a calming proposition, but for Ursula, it isn't. Her thoughts swirl, fixated on one thing... make that two things. Specifically Nathan Northland and Vlad Blutstein. It's not just because they are both breath-stealingly attractive—although to be fair, that doesn't hurt. It's because they surprised her, and Ursula is very rarely surprised.

Even more confounding is her reaction to them, particularly the vampire, Vlad. Just what is she supposed to do about these... feelings?

All Ursula knows is that she doesn't have time for emotions right now. Not when the fate of the world is at stake. She can deal with this later. First, she's got to figure out what story she's going to tell the sure-to-be-furious Alfbern. Then, she needs to catch up on all the sleep she missed before hitting the road again. Surely, she can do those things while being Lorehaven Bound.

*

This story is a 10,000-word character study/missing moment that takes place immediately after Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites. You will want to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled for the events in that book!

---

💖 Available now on Amazon

💖 Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and more... (links still populating.)

💖Payhip - my personal storefront 💖

Happy reading!

Okay, thanks, love you all, bye.

ID: A red book cover showing a feminine figure standing in front of a steam strain. The title reads Lorehaven Bound, A Hunger Pangs short by International Bestselling Author Joy Demorra. There is a glittery crystal next to the text, and gold decorative swirls adorn the corners.

[luna-kipp-themothauthor]

Another variation of the character concept art for Jinn with a mini spoiler background 😉

[jackbeloved]

Dude is just gonna leave his hand there and see how long he can get away with it

[yvesdot]

SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT IS OUT!

“Comedic, witty and chilling by turns.” — A. R. Thompson, author of When Dealing with Wolves

The debut collection returns in a special fifth anniversary edition, repackaged with three new short stories, a new cover, and additional bonus content! A vampire is forced into a compromising situation; a father fears his child's growing plant collection; the undead go to high school; a butcher contemplates whether or not she can be loved. In a captivating debut, yves. opens the door to our world, slightly askew—where the crows work for witches and telephone booths serve as secret channels for prophecy; where a diverse cast of monsters and humans alike are forced to contend with what the world believes is right.

Thank you to everyone who made my weird uncategorizable "Lemony Snicket meets Carmen Maria Machado" speculative fiction an instant bestseller! If you’ve ever felt like a monster, this book is for you.

PRESS: KZSC interview | Santa Cruz Sentinel interview

EXCERPTED SHORT STORIES

BUY NOW!

signed paperback | paperback & ebook (amazon) | ebook (itch.io)

& at all major retailers!

Thank you so much for reading this post about my book. I hope you will share it, and this image of my beautiful black cat, Andy, widely. To queer weird fiction and indie pub! To you, Dear Reader, with love.

[magicalella]

Hi all!! For those of you who don’t know me, My name is Ella Griffin, I’m a 24 year old trans woman based in south florida. For the last four years, I’ve been working on a super special project that I’m beyond thrilled to share with you all: my debut novel, The White Liar. As a big fan of fantasy books, I’ve felt for a long time that there’s a serious lack of authentic trans representation in the genre. For years, I yearned for even just one iconic transfem hero in a high fantasy setting. The White Liar is my attempt to fill that gap in the literary canon.

As a bit of background, I am a massive fan of hard fantasy books with an epic scope and in-depth magic systems; such as Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere books or Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series. I’m also a big fan of gothic literature and character-driven classics like Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and Anna Karenina, all of which have played an influence on this book. The White Liar’s setting is heavily inspired by celtic folklore, mythology and history with a feminist twist.

It’s a world where fae creatures range from tiny glowing insectoids to massive flying mounts and even humanoid beings. Yet, even the tiniest of these has the potential to unlock unfathomable magical potential through the art of Serimancy! Serimancy, the primary magic system of the book, gives users the ability to transmute or ‘spin’ the silk made by fae creatures into supernatural strength, telekinetic threads, and twelve other distinctive powers. Think Rumplestiltskin spinning straw into gold, but more vaporwave.

Without giving too much away, the book features a diverse cast of characters from all different backgrounds, including transfem, transmasc, nonbinary, aspec and disabled characters, although those aspects don’t always define their motives or character arcs. Mainly, The White Liar is a book about the nature of truth and identity; the ways in which our environment affects how we perceive those things, and the friction that creates with our own perception.

I would also characterize the book as a gaslamp fantasy like the Mistborn series or the video game Lies of P, with a baroque/art nouveau-meets-Bridgerton 19th century aesthetic. I’m a 100% independent author with a summary $0 budget publishing through kindle direct, and flat broke, so I would highly appreciate any and all support with this project, be it word of mouth or otherwise. The cover art is a digital painting created entirely by me and is canon to the book!

Thank you so, so much for giving me your time and attention. This book is my love letter to the queer community and I truly hope someone somewhere finds it hopeful or inspiring like I’ve found with the works that inspire me.

The White Liar is available now on E-book here:

[freckled-king]

🐉🔥I was commissioned to illustrate this cover for Will Julep's debut smut novella "Felling the Wyvern Prince"! (18+) You can find that here: (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DP5C4FT9) I'm available for all sorts of fun projects! Share yours with me right in my mailbox: peachbooksbri@gmail.com or shoot me a DM here on tumblr 😋

mmromance #mmromancebooks #mmfantasyromance #lgbt #fatedmates #fatedmatesbooks #dragonshifter #dragonshifterromance #monsterromance #monsterlover #gayromance #bookrecs #mmbookrecs

[promptsforthestrugglingauthor]

Writing Prompt #2385

"And you love him more than anything?" The king looked down at his son, and then to the low-born archivist behind him.

"Enough to give up everything if I must."

[malcolmschmitz]

This time of year's hard. Treat yourself.

After treating the Queen's pets, Sawbones wants nothing more than to put as much distance as possible between themself and Her Majesty. But when they stop in a small village to buy supplies, they're forced to to take a detour to take on another patient-- a Cockatrice in crisis! Oh, and help a family suddenly left homeless by a wild sorcerer's awakening. If they must. If there's really no one else around to handle it. …Is there really no one else around to handle it? Nope, just one beleaguered veterinarian on the run from the law. Let's hope Sawbones gets out of town before the witch hunt turns on them.

My short story, "The Cats and the Cockatrice", is up for sale TODAY-- on Amazon, Smashwords, and wherever ebooks are sold.

[thedruidsforest]

Hello friends! I currently have 4 paperbacks and 1 hardcover of Queensdaughter left, ready to be signed and shipped out to you! Shipping is $3, paperbacks are $15 and hardcovers are $27💚 Please DM me if you'd like to claim your copy! I'll sign a lil message for you, just let me know what name/message you'd like, and I'll throw in an extra little gift from my Etsy shop as well. Support your local indie authors and creators!

Queensdaughter is a high fantasy, new adult/LGBT book, and is the first in the Queensdaughter Trilogy! Book 2, Stone & Leaf, is coming late summer 2025. Goodreads link & reviews is HERE

Navette lives a peaceful life in her home of Osala, managing a bakery that was passed down to her and her elder sister. The night of the spring festival of Emystre arrives, and the village is laid to ruin when ancient creatures—the skáiga—come in search of the Queensdaughter. Navette flees to the capital, where she discovers her fate as the heir to the throne and a world far more vast than she had ever imagined. This story follows Navette as she learns how to become a queen, control her innate magic, and battle the darkness that threatens her entire world. Meanwhile, her sister Ivy remains in Osala as the people try to rebuild a village from ruin, even as the darkness returns. In the lands of Varyn, not all is as it seems. The trees begin to whisper of danger, the dragons of old are little more than legends, and even queens have their secrets. Love and companionship are more valued than ever as Varyn begins to sink into darkness, but even after the darkest of nights, not all is lost.

[superectojazzmage]

Watched the Nimona movie last night. Review I guess. It was pretty damn good. Definitely would’ve probably been regarded as Blue Sky’s magnum opus if they’d gotten to release it instead of being fucked over by Disney. Very cute, very funny, very powerful in the right moments. A thing that stuck out to me is that it’s really only an adaptation in the loosest sense of the word. It takes the core premise and beats of the comic but is functionally an entirely different kind of story that does its own thing. And given that ND Stevenson was heavily involved in production, I suspect that was intentional.

The comic was much darker and more downbeat in a lot of ways, plus it was significantly longer and thus could afford to be slower paced. But more than that, it was a lot more meaty in terms of themes and scope. The whole “LGBT allegory” element was there, but it wasn’t the sole focus, the comic was a story about a lot of different things; not just an LGBT experience, but also discussion of fantasy genre tropes and clichés, criticism of other fantasy deconstructions, character study, exploring what it means to be a hero or villain, critique of the glorification of crime and cruelty in underprivileged communities, corruption in governments, peer pressure, the senseless and self-perpetuating nature of violence, the worthlessness of revenge, etc.. And above all that, it was a story about trauma and people’s responses to it, with Ballister representing people who actually deal with their problems and move on while Nimona represented people who let their mistakes and suffering and grief consume their identity, or worse, use it as an excuse to indulge their worst qualities and take out their feelings on everyone around them.

The movie, by contrast, has a much more narrow focus. The LGBT allegory is front and center and basically the entire focal point of the movie, aside from a spattering of themes about the danger of zealotry and rigid fundamentalist thinking. This gives the movie a much tighter narrative and pacing that suits its inherently shorter runtime, but also leads to a ton of changes to the story either to convey a different kind of message or just work better in a different medium. Most obviously in how Nimona is vastly more sympathetic in the movie and essentially really is the silly gremlin the comic fakes you out into thinking she is, scrapping the comic’s twist that she was a genuinely bad person who was completely serious about wanting to be a villain, caring nothing for the lives she destroyed with her behavior and idolizing Ballister because she thought he was the same as her and would thus tell her what she wanted to hear (i.e., that she was justified in killing and destroying everything around her in the name of getting even). And in the changes to the Institution’s history and nature. And all sorts of other things.

All in all, I feel if you go in comparing and contrasting the movie and the comic, arguing which changes are for the better or worse, you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment in either direction because they’re two different beasts and it’s like comparing apples and oranges. So keep that in mind if you’re a fan of the comic watching the movie or a fan of the movie wanting to look into the comic. I think ultimately I still like the comic better, but that’s purely my personal opinion and there’s plenty that I think the movie did better.

Some other observations:

Riz Ahmed my beloved, thank you Mr. Stevenson for this perfect casting. Literally perfect for Ballister.

Acting in general was very good. You can tell this was a passion project for a lot of people, not just Stevenson.

Only two changes that are objectively bad are Ambrosius losing his awesome Van Halen hairdo and changing Ballister’s last name — Blackheart is a way cooler name than Boldheart and it’s a pointless change, one that I’d argue even hurts the narrative since it makes it too obvious that Ballister isn’t actually a bad guy.

The animation is really great with fantastic expressions, stylish movement, and wonderful aesthetics that perfectly suit the story, but there’s times where it feels a little off. But there are parts where it looks less “movie” and more “cheap mid-2000s CGI-and-Flash cartoon show from France”.

The humor can be a hit and miss, in a “going through the motions of a Hollywood animated comedy for kids” way. The movie excels when it’s either imitating the comic’s Old Internet sense of humor or going hard on the drama, but there’s bits where it seemingly slams on the brakes to do Illumination-esque Twitter humor and those bits definitely throw off the vibe.

Having an actual straight up attempted suicide in the climax was shockingly ballsy. I genuinely can’t believe they went there, but I’m glad they did because the film wouldn’t have felt nearly as raw without it.

I don’t know how they managed to make the Director even more of an asshole than in the comics, but they did.

[b-a-pigeon]

As you might expect from a couple of queer indie authors, Fell & I are going hard on the sales and promotions for Pride Month! I'll try to summarize as succinctly as possible, and remember that you can always click the links for a full synopsis ;)

Are you in the mood for...

✨ An emotional, reflective gay fantasy romance following a werewolf cowboy whose family takes in an amnesiac vampire? Fell's debut novel, Both Sides of the Moon, is on sale! You can buy a paperback for $11.99 & the ebook is on Countdown Sale June 3-7, starting at $0.99!

✨ A short and sweet sapphic contemporary fantasy read? My novella Worm in a Jar is pay what you want on Gumroad all month, so you can download it free if you'd like!

✨ A not-romantic fantasy novel with queer trans protagonists, about a demon and a demon hunter who must team up to prevent an imprending wave of violence? Our upcoming collab, Hierarchy of the Unseen, comes out June 21! It's up for preorder now, and available as an ARC on Netgalley :)

✨ The above, and also deals and/or supporting queer trans authors? This month, we're running a special offer on Patreon: all new & current patrons starting at the $4 tier will receive a free paperback of HotU (in addition to the ebook downloads, early access to our work, behind-the-scenes exclusives, and more already offered to patrons)!

✨ Finding more queer indies to support? Check out Pride SFF Reads & Read LGBTQ Authors on Bookfunnel!

I'll post about these individually in the coming weeks, but just wanted to throw it all out there at once 🖤 Reblogs appreciated! Thank you all for your support!

[thebibliosphere]

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

In a world of dwindling hope, love has never mattered more...

Captain Nathan J. Northland had no idea what to expect when he returned home to Lorehaven injured from war, but it certainly wasn’t to find himself posted on an island full of vampires. An island whose local vampire dandy lord causes Nathan to feel strange things he’d never felt before. Particularly about fangs.

When Vlad Blutstein agreed to hire Nathan as Captain of the Eyrie Guard, he hadn’t been sure what to expect either, but it certainly hadn’t been to fall in love with a disabled werewolf. However Vlad has fallen and fallen hard, and that’s the problem.

Torn by their allegiances–to family, to duty, and the age-old enmity between vampires and werewolves–the pair find themselves in a difficult situation: to love where the heart wants or to follow where expectation demands.

The situation is complicated further when a mysterious and beguiling figure known only as Lady Ursula crashes into their lives, bringing with her dark omens of death, doom, and destruction in her wake.

And a desperate plea for help neither of them can ignore.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra is a queer, paranormal, gaslamp fantasy romance novel featuring enchanted forests, gothic castles, and just a smidge of industrial coal dust, and is the first book of the Hunger Pangs slow-burn polyamorous romance series. Join Vlad, Nathan, and Ursula as they navigate a magical world torn asunder war and politics as they work to restore balance to the world and find love along the way. Book one is available now in ebook, paperback, and audio.

Buy the (high heat) Flirting With Fangs Edition Here. 

Buy the (medium heat) Fluff and Fangs Edition Here.

Why are there two versions, and what's the difference between them? Glad you asked! You can also check out individual content tags and heat ratings on my website at www.joydemorra.com

[luna-kipp-themothauthor]

When you literally create thousands of years of plausible historical lore woven into story, just to justify a character getting happily railed by a monster

#anything is fair game if the plot makes sense

#just writer things

[jackbeloved]

Actual food and it’s even on a PLATE wow!

[jenyifer]

Thousand Autumns vol 3

9/10

The Sell: Demon boy is injured people believe he’s dead but!!! Good boy Shen Qiao won’t let that happen even after demon man has betrayed him over and over again. Demon man has spilt personalities that actually show affection for Shen Qiao.. maybe those feelings can live at the surface too? Plenty of adventure and travel along with the romantic journey. Politically shit is going down. It’s easier to understand than book 2 Also!!! This book has made me laugh but this time I cried multiple times

Okay here’s the quote photo review

Why does it matter what others think?! 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Oh look who is watching every little thing Yan Wushi does 💜💜

Found ugly sobbing and it’s only going to get worse 🥹

Also why Xie Ling have to look at Shen Qiao with that much tenderness and all his tiddies out.

He’s such an Icon and a legend I wanna grow up to be a heartless demon lord.

You tell your husband the truth baby live your dreams and also cry with me

I screamed I threw the book I cried and that’s how you know it’s good folks

Also Shen Qiao gets to have just so many awesome fights his best one was holding and protecting the babies. He’s too perfect for this world gah

[magicalella]

Popping in to remind everyone that my book, The White Liar, is available for sale on amazon! It's an epic fantasy with a transfem lead about the complex nature of identity and the subjectivity of truth. I can not stress enough how informed this book is by my own struggles with feeling like a fraud or a villain for living in my identity, and I have a strong inkling it will resonate with many trans (and cis) readers in this time of unprecedented hate and transphobia being targeted at our community, and hopefully provide a means of escapism and catharis as well.

Furthermore, I'm a very small independent author with no external support in publishing. This is my passion project, many years in the making. The book itself is $5.99 in ebook formats and free with the use of kindle unlimited!!

Please like and share to support trans art, joy, and longevity ♡