#queer bookstores

[thistle-nightshade]

I'm going to affectionately compare this to red white and royal blue, but just know it frustrates me when books are compared exclusively along similar plot points. This is two "rival" nations And two princes falling in love and a PR nightmare. But the tone is also similar to red white royal blue. The reverence with which love is spoken, the desire to do something more and better, to undo the mistakes of the past and build something more with the future. The sibling and friend relationships. So much of what I loved about rwrb is also in this.

The prince of Christmas is a fuck up who finds out he isn't as messed up as he thought, who grows into his good ideas and learns to stand on what he believes, which is anticapitalist, anti comidification of holiday and traditions. He fights to get back to when many traditions could all exist in their fullness, and I like that a lot. He learns hes worthy of love.

The king of Halloween married the Queen of Dia de los muertos, and I like the aspects of both that were brought in through their son, the prince of mischief and finding joy in hard times. The prince who loves ofrendas and reconnecting to those passed. The prince who can't swear without magically producing a jack-o'-lantern. Who isn't above using a little magic to tease a friend. Who is fiercely devoted to his duty, but learns to find love anyway.

These two are silly and mischievous and sickenly cute together. A great read, one I will want to revisit every year when the weather starts to turn towards fall and winter.

[sweetreadsict]

Been a bit since we last posted (2023 has been way too hectic) but we do have an exciting announcement in the form of Alex's latest book! If you like queer indie speculative fiction about witches and their familiars, look no further! The anthology has some 60+ compiled short stories and 7 gorgeous section illustrations, and pre-ordered copies are shipping out signed. Ordering & fulfillment are coming out of our shop, so head over that way to get a copy reserved ^^

[thistle-nightshade]

We're a newer queer owned bookstore in Nevada!!

LGBTQ-owned bookstores have been around for decades. Founded in 1973 in the City of Brotherly Love, Philly AIDS Thrift @ Giovanni’s Room—honoring James Baldwin’s queer classic—is perhaps the oldest surviving LGBTQ and feminist bookstore in America. Charis Books and More, in Decatur, Georgia, was launched a year later. A Room of One's Own has been a fixture in downtown Madison, Wisconsin since 1975, and Chicago’s Women and Children First was started in 1979 by two women who fell in love as students at the University of Illinois.

These stores are more than shops to browse for books; they are hubs for both entertainment and enlightenment, meeting grounds for hearts and minds. They are, above all, vital community spaces.

-Michelle Hart, "53 LGBTQ-Owned Bookstores You Can Be Proud to Support, published June 22, 2021

This awesome list includes 53 bookstores in 23 states across the USA. I don't know about Ya'll but I can't WAIT to check them out. The link has them sorted by state; here's a list of all of them, alphabetical.

1977 Books (Birmingham, Alabama)

All She Wrote (Somerville, Massachusetts)

Another Read Through (Portland, Oregon)

Antigone Books (Tuscon, Arizona)

Astoria Bookshop (Queens, New York)

Beausoliel Books (Lafayette, Louisiana)

Big Blue Marble Books (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Black Garnet Books (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Bluestockings Bookstore (New York, New York)

Bookish (Atlanta, Georgia)

BookWoman (Austin, Texas)

Burdock Book Collective (Montgomery, Alabama)

Bureau of General Services - Queer Division (New York, New York)

Charis Books and More (Decatur, Georgia)

Dog Ear Books (Russellville, Arkansas)

Dog Eared Books (San Francisco, California)

East End Books (Provincetown, Massachusetts)

Firestorm Books and Coffee (Asheville, North Carolina)

Foggy Pines Books (Boone, North Carolina)

Hello Again (Cocoa Village, Florida)

Here's the Story (Union, New Jersey)

The Irreverent Bookworm (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Kismet Books (Verona, Wisconsin)

King's Books (Tacoma, Washington)

Kona Bay Books (Kailua, Hawaii)

Kramers (Washington DC)

Lavender Library (Sacramento, California)

Left Bank Books (St. Louis, Missouri)

Left Bank Books (Seattle, Washington)

Lit. on Fire Books (Peoria, Illinois)

Loyalty Bookstores (Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington DC)

Montana Book Company (Helena, Montana)

Omnivore Books on Food (San Francisco, California)

One Grand Books (Narrowsburg, New York)

Philly AIDs Thrift at Giovanni's Room (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Outwords Books (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Rakestraw Books (Danville, California)

Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse (Baltimore, Maryland)

The Ripped Bodice (Los Angeles, California)

Rofhiwa Book Cafe (Durham, North Carolina)

A Room of One's Own (Madison, Wisconsin)

Rust Belt Books (Buffalo, New York)

The Salt Eaters (Inglewood, California)

A Seat at the Table (Elk Grove, California)

Tombolo Books (St. Petersburg, California)

Tubby and Coo's Mid-City Book Shop (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Unabridged Books (Chicago, Illinois)

Under the Umbrella (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Village Books (Bellingham, Washington)

Violet Valley (Water Valley, Mississippi)

W. Whitman Books (Middleburgh, New York)

Women and Children First (Chicago, Illinois)

Womencrafts (Provincetown, Massachusetts)

[just-a-gal-with-a-boomerang]

My local queer bookstore is being threatened with eviction over their free narcan and fentanyl test strips, free store for the unhoused, and free narcan trainings.

Bluestockings is an incredible worker-owned community space that has been apart of the Lower East Side for 25 years. But in the last couple years, they've faced increasing harassment from the wealthier neighbors moving in and complaining about the presence of unhoused people around their store front. Despite all their community work being allowed by their lease, the landlord is pushing for an eviction.

Please help support Bluestockings! Visit them (if you're local), order books online, donate! We need more queer and community-oriented spaces, not another overpriced coffee shop or chain franchise.

[vampirescience]

hi! do you like supporting queer-owned/disabled-owned small businesses? do you like buying affordable stuff? awesome!

i have recently launched lavender lit, a used bookstore focused on uplifting the voices, stories, and experiences of marginalized folks of all kinds, with a specialty in queer books.

since so many of my formative experiences took place here on tumblr dot com, i decided to build in a special discount for tumblr users — you can enter the code tumblr10 at checkout for 10% off your first order on our online store! we’ve got a great selection of books, stickers, and zines to browse.

thank you so much for checking us out, spreading the word, and helping me get my dream business off the ground!

[sweatermuppet]

my stickers are restocked with Category Is Books in Glasgow, Scotland!!

shop online to support me / category is books website

[bri-cheeses]

personally I think that all queer books should have a “special edition” with a subtle cover (and a code name if it’s necessary) for all of the people in homophobic areas

[wreckitremy]

So this year i started out in 3 book clubs.

I have dropped out of 2 book clubs since then.

I am now somehow in 4 book clubs.

[jesncin]

✨⭐️YOU CAN NOW PREORDER LUNAR BOY!!🌟✨

It's Princess Kaguya meets the Little Prince with an entirely Indonesian cast of characters! A graphic novel drawn and written by yours truly!

[eli-zab3th]

"Being open about who you are can be a little scary, but I think that after you’ve explored your first dungeon, or been hounded through a forest by an unknown threat, you begin to worry less about the approval of others and more about whether you remembered to bring a torch."

- Once Upon a Tome, Oliver Darkshire

[cuubism]

a selection of The Library's customers

--

One day Hob will get used to The Library's many strange happenings. Maybe. Or probably not.

Today, it's the fact that there's a customer.

Sort of.

The small child who's essentially appeared in Dream's study frowns up at him, hands on her hips. She looks to be about nine. She's wearing a school uniform. Where are her parents?

"This," she says to Dream, horribly affronted, "is not the school library."

"I imagine it did not have what you needed," Dream says. Utterly unbothered by a random child wandering into his shop, seemingly out of nowhere. Hob watches with astonishment from where he's sitting at Dream's desk with a cup of coffee, evidently not needed for this interaction. "What were you looking for?"

"Unicorns," she declares.

It seems odd to Hob that a primary school library wouldn't have any fantasy books with unicorns in them, but what does he know. Dream nods with utter seriousness. "Please wait a moment," he says, and disappears into the bowels of the shop.

"How'd you get in here?" Hob asks as the girl sits down primly in a chair.

"I used the door, silly," she says. Not the front door, surely. Hob definitely hadn't seen her come up the stairs into the study.

Then her eyes light up. "Can I have a scone?"

Hob had brought over a container of them from the cafe, and Dream's been picking at them all morning. Hob passes the kid the container. What the hell else is he supposed to do?

Fortunately, Dream returns before Hob has to figure out what his adult responsibility is as regards an unaccompanied child that probably should be in school right now. Dream hands the girl a stack of at least ten books of varying sizes, presumably about unicorns. The girl looks through them, scrunches her nose up, and asks, "D'you have anything more scientific?"

Dream considers. Then hands her a large, flat book that he definitely hadn't been carrying a moment ago. The girl sets it on the ground, kneeling before it, flipping through the pages. It seems to be made up of scientific diagrams and large, full-color images. Hob sees viscera, organs, bones-- then the girl closes the book again. The cover says, Unicorn Anatomy: Piece by Piece.

The little girl smiles up at him, sharp and pixie-like. "Thank you, Mister Dream," she says, incredibly polite for a child currently grinning madly over unicorn dissections.

Dream nods solemnly. "I hope it will serve you well in your endeavors."

She trots off back into the stacks, to whatever door (?) she came from, and Hob turns to Dream. "Do you often get random children here?"

"The Library finds its customers," Dream says placidly. "She will find her way back to her classroom, worry not."

"Figured that, somehow."

Dream sets the other unicorn books aside and takes up a scone in their place, nibbling on it as he perches on the edge of his desk, looking down at Hob. He seems amused by Hob's confusion. "Why do you have a front door if people don't use it?" Hob asks.

"You use it," Dream points out. Which... is unexpectedly touching. Unexpectedly special.

"Fair enough," he agrees, voice tight.

--

Dream's next customer comes bursting in through a side door as Hob is helping Dream stack some new books. He runs in so fast he has to catch himself against the desk, his business suit tattered and smoking, his hair... literally on fire. He rapidly pats it out.

"Please," he begs, as Dream just observes him calmly from where he's sitting cross-legged on the floor. "I need--"

"1983 Alternate History," Dream fills in. "Yes, I'm sure you do. One moment, please."

As he disappears into the stacks, the customer leans against the desk, panting for breath. Hob doesn't think offering a scone is going to help in this case. He's not sure what else would help, either.

Fortunately, Dream returns quickly, handing the shaking man an equally tattered grey book that is indeed titled, in a concerning handwritten scrawl, User's Guide to 1983 - Alternate Version. And, subtitled: FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY.

"Thanks," breathes the man, clutching the book to him. And with no more explanation than that, he runs back through the door he came from. Hob thinks he catches a glimpse of something very large and very on fire through the doorway, but the door swings closed too fast to tell for sure.

"They would do well to pass that around rather than returning it," Dream says, before sitting back down and returning to his book sorting.

Hob is naturally curious, but he thinks about all the fire and this time decides he doesn't want to know.

--

"...Hi?"

For once, Hob has successfully convinced Dream to stop working for a moment. Dream is, in fact, currently sitting on his lap, resting his head on Hob's shoulder in a half-doze as Hob regales him with a university story that's certainly crazy enough to fit in with any of the books in The Library. But Library customers don't follow a nine - to - five schedule, Hob's learned this well enough by now.

Dream does not seem embarrassed to have been caught in this position. He just stands fluidly, stretching his arms over his head. "Yes?"

The young person standing hesitantly in the middle of the room -- might be eighteen? twenty? once he crossed thirty Hob lost the ability to tell young adults' ages with any accuracy, they all seem like kids -- twists their hands together and says, "Could you help me find a book?"

Dream nods and waits for them to tell him which one.

The kid glances back and forth between the two of them nervously, like they think one or both of them might judge their selection. Hob tries to look non-threatening, even though it's hard to look more non-threatening when he's already half-sunk into the couch, wearing sweatpants, and was just caught cuddling his boyfriend in a semi-public space. He's also certain that whatever book this kid might be after, The Library definitely has something more concerning and more questionable.

Like Alternate 1983 History, for example.

Dream probably already knows what they're looking for, too, he always does.

Dream just tilts his head in beckoning and walks off into the stacks, his customer following behind, still wringing their hands.

Hob's fully expecting only Dream to come back, for his customer to disappear through another exit -- none of which Hob can ever find later. But they both come back through around ten minutes later, Dream carrying a book with a yellow cover. The study is close and cozy enough that Hob can make out the title -- Gender Queer -- as Dream passes it over, and oh, yeah, he gets it now. Granted, Hob himself has always been more of the type to punch people out whenever they give him any shit, but he understands the impulse, the need, sometimes, to hide.

The teen clutches yellow-covered book close to their chest. "You can take it home," Dream says when they make no move to leave.

They look down at the cover and then back up at Dream. "...I'm not sure I can," they say at length. "It's too, um. Obvious."

Dream just raises an eyebrow. "Is it?"

Hob swears he didn't look away, but as he follows the teen customer's gaze back down, the book has definitely changed. The cover is blue now, and it seems to be about maths, though it's hard to make out from far away. The kid flips through the pages, and they must be different from before for they look up at Dream in disbelief.

Dream, the fucker, just winks. Presses the book closed again, upon which the cover returns to yellow.

"Algebra is scintillating," he drawls, turning away and snatching up the container of scones from a side table -- a not-insignificant part of Hob's job, at this point, is just keeping Dream in scones -- "and suitable for any young person. Take a scone with you, too." He holds out the container. "Hob's are the best."

And with a tiny smile, the kid takes one.

[itisiives]

Hey, y'all, I'm still raising money for this tuition that's gotten me in a chokehold, so I am still selling my books. But if money is too tight, would you mind requesting the title at your local library, instead? That may help!

📚 📖 📙

And to help convince you: I have a poem featured in Janus Literary.

[itsbansheebitch]

@xiranjayzhao

shout out to my local bookstore for celebrating pride with blind date book picks! this was the first pride event i had ever been to.

shout out to all the local businesses that had Palestine displays out in their stores, there were tons of buttons, pins, stickers, and flags to go around! we can't have pride without our Palestinian siblings! <3

check out my favorites from my haul!

(book was mystery wrapped, you should have seen my face when i saw one of my favorite youtuber's books in my stash lmao! my sister is so excited to read it, she's been meaning to watch your videos :D)

[newvision]

from E.M. Forster’s short story collection The Life To Come And Other Stories about queer love. Most stories were published posthumously, as they would have damaged his writing career significantly while homosexuality was still a crime

[alicekryze]

I love going to the bookstore with my gf. She bought more yuri. We also got hot chocolate like we always do when we go to the bookstore and it was so good