#magruder twins

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Celebrate Your Pride with 10 Great Queer Reads

Happy Pride! This month, we’re celebrating the LGBTQIAP+ community with the one thing we just can’t stop talking about: books, books and more books! There are lots of amazing novels out there repping queer voices, telling unique and impactful stories, and filing up bookshelves around the world. These are just a few of our favorite outstanding stories. What are you reading this month?

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell 

Take a journey through time and genres and discover a past where queer figures live, love and shape the world around them. Seventeen of the best young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens. 

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten. 

Featuring stories from: Dahlia Adler, Sara Farizan, Tess Sharpe, Shaun David Hutchinson, Kody Keplinger, Mackenzi Lee, Malinda Lo, Nilah Magruder, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Natalie C. Parker, Alex Sanchez, Kate Scelsa, Robin Talley, Scott Tracey and Elliot Wake. 

All Out is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley 

Fifteen-year-old Aki Simon has a theory. And it’s mostly about sex. 

No, it isn’t that kind of theory. Aki already knows she’s bisexual—even if, until now, it’s mostly been in the hypothetical sense. Aki has dated only guys so far, and her best friend, Lori, is the only person who knows she likes girls, too. 

Actually, Aki’s theory is that she’s got only one shot at living an interesting life—and that means she’s got to stop sitting around and thinking so much. It’s time for her to actually do something. Or at least try. 

So when Aki and Lori set off on a church youth-group trip to a small Mexican town for the summer and Aki meets Christa—slightly older, far more experienced—it seems her theory is prime for the testing. 

But it’s not going to be easy. For one thing, how exactly do two girls have sex, anyway? And more important, how can you tell if you’re in love? It’s going to be a summer of testing theories—and the result may just be love. 

Our Own Private Universe is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

The Sidekicks by Will Kostakis 

Ryan, Harley and Miles are very different people—the swimmer, the rebel and the nerd. All they’ve ever had in common is Isaac, their shared best friend. 

When Isaac dies unexpectedly, the three boys must come to terms with their grief and the impact Isaac had on each of their lives. In his absence, Ryan, Harley and Miles discover things about one another they never saw before, and realize there may be more tying them together than just Isaac. 

In this intricately woven story told in three parts, award-winning Australian author Will Kostakis makes his American debut with a heartwarming, masterfully written novel about grief, self-discovery and the connections that tie us all together. The Sidekicks is out now. 

Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler 

When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind's downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place. 

But they are losing. 

Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomás and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett, Tenn realizes he’s become a pawn in a bigger game. One that could turn the tides of war. But if his mutinous magic and wayward heart get in the way, his power might not be used in favor of mankind. 

If Tenn fails to play his part, it could cost him his friends, his life…and the entire world. 

The action-packed follow up, Runebreaker, hits shelves November 27th, 2018. 

Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley 

Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They've been together forever. They never fight. They're deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they're sure they'll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, theirs is bound to stay rock-solid. 

The reality of being apart, though, is very different than they expected. Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, meets a group of transgender upperclassmen and immediately finds a sense of belonging that has always been missing, but Gretchen struggles to remember who she is outside their relationship. 

While Toni worries that Gretchen won't understand Toni’s new world, Gretchen begins to wonder where she fits in this puzzle. As distance and Toni's shifting gender identity begin to wear on their relationship, the couple must decide—have they grown apart for good, or is love enough to keep them together? 

What We Left Behind is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe 

History is filled with stories of women accused of witchcraft, of fearsome girls with arcane knowledge. Toil & Trouble features fifteen stories of girls embracing their power, reclaiming their destinies and using their magic to create, to curse, to cure—and to kill. 

A young witch uses social media to connect with her astrology clients—and with a NASA-loving girl as cute as she is skeptical. A priestess of death investigates a ritualized murder. A bruja who cures lovesickness might need the remedy herself when she falls in love with an altar boy. A theater production is turned upside down by a visiting churel. In Reconstruction-era Texas, a water witch uses her magic to survive the soldiers who have invaded her desert oasis. And in the near future, a group of girls accused of witchcraft must find their collective power in order to destroy their captors. 

This collection reveals a universal truth: there’s nothing more powerful than a teenage girl who believes in herself. 

Toil & Trouble hits shelves August 28th, 2018. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

The Diminished by Kaitlyn Sage Patterson 

 In the Alskad Empire, nearly all are born with a twin, two halves to form one whole…yet some face the world alone.

The singleborn: 

A rare few are singleborn in each generation, and therefore given the right to rule by the gods and goddesses. Bo Trousillion is one of these few, born into the royal line and destined to rule. Though he has been chosen to succeed his great-aunt, Queen Runa, as the leader of the Alskad Empire, Bo has never felt equal to the grand future before him. 

The diminished: 

When one twin dies, the other usually follows, unable to face the world without their other half. Those who survive are considered diminished, doomed to succumb to the violent grief that inevitably destroys everyone whose twin has died. Such is the fate of Vi Abernathy, whose twin sister died in infancy. Raised by the anchorites of the temple after her family cast her off, Vi has spent her whole life scheming for a way to escape and live out what’s left of her life in peace. 

As their sixteenth birthdays approach, Bo and Vi face very different futures—one a life of luxury as the heir to the throne, the other years of backbreaking work as a temple servant. But a long-held secret and the fate of the empire are destined to bring them together in a way they never could have imagined. 

The Diminished is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley 

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever. 

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily. 

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.” 

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another. 

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody 

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted. 

Frightened and alone, Enne has only one lead: the name Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems. 

Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless Mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city… And she’ll need to play. 

Ace of Shades is out now. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

Pulp by Robin Talley 

As if we couldn’t pack any more of Robin Talley’s fantastic works into this list, we have one more than needs to be on your radar. Keep an eye out for Pulp in November 2018! 

In 1955, eighteen-year-old Janet Jones keeps the love she shares with her best friend Marie a secret, but when she discovers a series of books about women falling in love with other women, it awakens something in her. As she juggles her hidden romance with a newfound ambition to write her own story, she risks exposing herself—and Marie—to a danger all too real. 

Sixty-two years later, Abby Zimet can’t stop thinking about her senior project and its subject—classic 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. The stresses of her life fall away when she's reading her favorite book. She feels especially connected to one author, a woman who wrote under the pseudonym “Marian Love,” and becomes determined to track down her true identity. 

Pulp hits shelves November 13th, 2018. Add it to your Goodreads shelf! 

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[stacks-reviews]

Must Reads Part 13

Happy Friday everyone! This week we have a disturbing thriller, an illegal magic drink, rebel aliens, and more.

–Bird Box by Josh Malerman “Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat - blindfolded - with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?”

This has actually been on my list for a while now. Long enough that I forgot about it unless I scrolled through my To-Read list on Goodreads. What really made me remember it this time around was a friend of mine read it. And she’s been trying to get everyone to read it since. 

“I had mini-nightmares involving the plot for weeks afterward. It’s so odd and terrifying…Go read it so I am not the only one who suffers.”

I read the preview on Goodreads and I’m already paranoid about what is going on in the book. If I remember correctly, the deadly violence all started when a passenger in a car asked their friend to pull over and then attacked them. Afterward the passenger killed his friend, he killed himself. And then another similar attack happened. And then another. That was nine months before our main character had her children. Twins that she calls Boy and Girl. Not much else has been mentioned so far. The first chapter went over them packing up, putting on their blindfolds, and slowly heading toward the river to get in their boat. The second chapter went over how things got started. Just from that preview I am already on edge. I think it is going to be a great thriller and I am planning on reading this October.

–Forbidden Scrollery Volume 1 by Moe Harukawa (11/14/17) “Where else would a girl with the power to translate any tome she sets in her lap reside except a library? Sure, some books may be more dangerous than others, but that’s far from discouragement for a true bibliophile like Kosuzu Motoori!”

I really don’t know much about this manga. I haven’t been able to find much information about it. I really want to try it out when it releases. As I’ve mentioned before, I love it when books are a form of magic in books. And I think I’m drawn to it because the cover makes me think of Cardcaptor Sakura cause the main character kind of looks like Sakura.

–Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact by Matt Mair Lowery and Cassie Anderson 9/19/17 “In the wake of an alien invasion - and her father’s death - a young girl must leave behind the life she knows to fight for the future of Earth. Aided by a shapeshifting, rebel alien posing as her father, Cleo packs extra snacks for the road as they travel in search of both family and foe. Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact follows the unlikely pair as they bond, fight back, and ponder what it means to be human.”

Already sold because the cover shows a girl holding up a cat. And on a preview that Dark Horse put up, it shows the same girl and her father waiting for a patrol of some kind. She is watching some cats playing and creates a diversion for her father so that while he fights, she can go rescue the cats and keep them from harm. I am not sure if the man she was with was her real dad or not. If only because they fight an alien patrol. Though that may just mean that they too are aliens. And although her rebel alien friend is posing as her father, I don’t think she would call said alien friend ‘dad’ on a rooftop in the middle of the night. Regardless, I really want to read a graphic novel with a main character who rescues cats.

–M.F.K.: Book One by Nilah Magruder (9/26/17) “A fantastic adventure following the story of Abbie, a deaf girl with a mysterious power, who is traveling across a vast desert to scatter her mother’s ashes. In a world of sleeping gods, a broken government, and a fragile peace held in the hands of the corrupt, one youth must find the strength to stand up against evil and save humanity. This story is not about that youth. It’s about Abbie, who just wants to get to the mountain range called the Potter’s Spine and scatter her mother’s ashes. But the way is filled with sandstorms, wild beasts, and rogues that wield inhuman powers and prey on poor desert dwellers. When one of these rogues threatens the town where Abbie takes refuge, she must choose between running, or unleashing her own hidden power to meet danger head-on. Journeys are hard on the social recluses of the world.”

I really like the cover to this graphic novel. A young girl leads a giant bird (big enough to ride on) as they walk across a desert. I like the art style it was done in, which was the reason it caught my eye. The last line of the summary might be my favorite thing about it. I’m curious to see how she’ll fair as she crosses the desert.

–Moonshine by Jasmine Gower (2/6/18) “Daisy’s starting a new job and stylish city life, but mage-hunters out for her dark magic threaten to destroy her vogue image. In the flourishing metropolis of Soot City (a warped version of 1920′s Chicago), progressive ideals reign and the old ways of magic and liquid mana are forbidden. Daisy Dell is a Modern Girl - stylish, educated and independent - keen to establish herself in the city but reluctant to give up the taboo magic inherited from her grandmother. Her new job takes her to unexpected places, and she gets more attention than she had hoped for. When bounty hunters start combing the city for magicians, Daisy must decide whether to stay with her new employer - even if it means revealing the grim source of her occult powers.”

First heard of this when they released what the cover was going to look like and it is just amazing. It’s vivid and eye-popping. I’ll try to attack it at the end. It sounds like a good alt-history tale. And switching alcohol with a magic drink that can increase a magicians magic for a time is a great twist on the 1920′s prohibition.

[sandwrite-blog]

Injury Notes: Upton, Abreu, Garcia, Ervin, Goody, Chisenhall

Injury Notes: Upton, Abreu, Garcia, Ervin, Goody, Chisenhall

UmarCheema 12 mins ago Base Ball, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Edwin Encarnacion, Ervin Santana, Jose Abreu, Justin Upton, Leury Garcia, Lonnie Chisenhall, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Nick Goody

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The Angels introduced Tuesday that they’ve positioned outfielder Justin Upton on the 10-day disabled checklist on account of a laceration on his index finger. Jack Magruder…

[writer59january13]

DESPAIR RING uninvited GUEST

Despite countless factorial permutations

and combinations, this cyber surfer avails two alms

(one from alma mater, thee other handily gifted from alma papa)

seeking succor asper sum er set Maugham

mull eight mom mee whiz sic cure ring

(via chemotherapy and radiation) human bondage,

boot metastatic carcinoma snatched away futuristic pharmacological balms

so glad experienced being tethered in utero umbilical connection

and this brother smothered and overly mothered,

etched bromide, which hankering calms

embryonic sensation this corporeal being lacks constantly subjected to exams

from hard school of hard knocks, which i bewail sets back and gloms

mine aim to revel in blissful contentment, but circumstances decrees otherwise

cursing this chap tubby haunted by veritable elfin grotto dwelling phantoms

hovering over sweet clover dials a mirage

yes...iris sieve blurbs from gals and two guys

that span the World Wide Web, and exude

premature ejaculatory ecstasy, puzzled if fie totally tubularly trod a tedious trek

along the boulevard of broken dreams

what happenstance oft finds thyself to flail

amidst difficulty to maximize

optimal opportunities searching for Holy Grail

or whatever constitutes such lofty

personal objective, perchance being hale

and hearty of body, mind and spirit

spurs the furies of fate tut test this primate

while he aims to gallop with mighty industrial

vim and vigor leaving a virtual soundcloud

of dust, though mindfulness helps

to pass go, and chance avoid jail

time, then maybe monopolized feedback offered

to this toothless mwm quasi-vegetarian

enjoying poetry stone soup, yet also subsisting

on supplementary vitamin packed glue tin free NON GMO gluten free

fruity tall tales for a male forty-two years shy sans Bing a centenarian,

which span of life best cut short with a nail  (possibly nine inches) hammered into faux coffin, cuz this imp doth turn pale

at the prospect to fill up a space of land best utilized by birds - such as quail

Mongoose, or ibis (though aye n'er saw one), where cremated ashes sail

across some verdant plain under cerulean skies putting to rest every travail

which thoughts of dem eyes spells relief since homelessness -

therein lied the rub but dove vine intervention    

cooed not comb sooner main impetus explaining this rambling spiel

(since completion a moot point since amazing grace smiled)

the warp and woof ova gauzy veil imperceptibly looms closer upon

turrets of my digital sea faring gun whale

and thus desperation finds pleading salvation. (since completion a moot point

since amazing grace smiled) before mine danse macabre

doppelganger draws dagger punctured skein tight

as a yank key notched belt housed within mine impenetrable 

hermetically sealed invisible bubble drapes with blackened

Hades hued habiliment therein dwelt sinister saboteur mastermind

marauder of Hubble piercing fiery ocular rift presence unseen but felt  

demands sacrifice once into bowels of Hades 

force at Devilled Pitchfork to traverse river Styx with unadulterated gelt,        

which known phantasmagorical double diabolical self amidst aftermath 

from Armageddon rubble astride charred global ruins

entire civilization melt planetary paroxysm

prognosticated by Maya sages  with 11th hour stubble

birthed Darth Vader nemesis  evil upon earth he did pelt

annihilating mankind, the derelict species that fueled trouble

hence evil twin appointed apocalyptic malevolence spelt

desiccation, humiliation, and laceration upon once verdant veldt

with mass crematorium desecration left horrific blistering welt.

Tan Sichuan Countdown to Homo sapiens extinction 

predicted millenniums in past to occur December 21

two thousand and twelve (that date elapsed without incident

but beware unexpected cataclysmic circumstance)

after con comma tinted common era, whereby catastrophic spark

detonating inferno incinerating blast eradicating extant flora

and fauna bereft sans hegira with no means to interrupt the die 

since the dawn of civilization cast. Impossible to escape

ominously predetermined quaking fate of human rat race

nor turn back hands of time with origin of species on clock face

thus ticking closer to hour of doomsday without faith to brace

allowing, enabling, and provide Gaia to redeem terrestrial space

vestiges teeming billions graced erased criminal minds without a trace

forcefully relinquishing simians planetary stranglehold amazing grace

proffering tabula rasa for another dominant species to claim the place.

Sirens promulgate emergency toward impending inescapable cataclysm,

yet no place to run or hide lest one boards rocket light-years away,

which makes suspense thrillers birthed by John Grisham

enviable plot to keep total Earths’ destruction at bay.

mice elf, a lifetime americaonline Meme bur hastens to convey dire

crisis sparking electric nom de plumeHarris40tude a papa who did sire

deux darling daughters, yet for ages hive stung

with hurt early, whence fatherhood did fire meow n childhoods' end fostering people strangers fork get dish

comb bob yule hated communication,

per S0S sprinkled with awe shucks corny, Egret - letting opportunities

take flight aspire, now pleasures soft as gossamer feather bedding

down play hardened angst riddled psyche, where ire

Ronny gully stubbornly thrives amidst adversity as father time spins gyre 

row scope at greased lightening speed, intimating with dead reckoning to hire

grim reaper, who whiz patient as Job, and exemplary at ridding mire

and muck bogs down this dada robbing

existence with joie de vivre, where funeral pyre

doth flickr-beckoning GoDaddy, cuz Juno I haint gonna hear angelic choir

or equivalent enlightenment re:  home sweet home, this atheist doggedly didst tire

so haim trying keep sea legs one step ahead of tipping point

envision self pitched into abyss, thus end of wire.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

now, asper that unwelcome deathly still intruder

tis thee demise of life i.e. known

(among other names) as grim reaper

accompanied by ghost of

John (toot till loo to you) Bankhead Magruder.

[loveyazphoto]

Sunny goodness with Olivia Magruder @ @nousmodels by Love Yaz.