#seriously please read this book

[moupies]

You’re telling me a scum saved this villain

[elizabethzoopzoop986]

IT WAS FORESHADOWING

[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

[tlbodine]

Trans Horror Authors

My January reading challenge is to read a book by a trans author. Luckily, there are many out there to choose from! Here are some who write in the horror genre, because that's my area of expertise. If you know of others, whether in horror or other genres, reply with your recommendations!

In no particular order...

Caitlin R. Kiernan

A genderfluid Irish-American paleontologist who also writes spectacular cosmic horror, what's not to love? They've been repping queerness since the 80s and have a robust library to choose from, so you're bound to find something you'll like!

Poppy Z. Brite

Billy Martin, whose work is published under the name Poppy Z. Brite, was a big name in the Gothic horror scene of the 1990s and continues to be a frequently-recommended author, although he doesn't publish as much horror these days.

Julya Oui

A Malaysian trans woman and prolific short story author. She has several collections out that you can browse, if short stories are your speed! Maybe start with Taiping Tales of Terror, which draws heavily on her native folklore and influences.

Rivers Solomon

A nonbinary, intersex Black author now living in the U.K., Solomon has three books out and they all look spectacular. Their books lean more toward sci-fi/fantasy, but their newest title Sorrowland looks to be pretty solidly Gothic as well.

Gretchen Felker-Martin

Trans woman, film critic, and unapologetically outspoken. Her best-known book is Manhunt, a post-apocalyptic horror tale that doesn't pull any punches. She's got another new release slated for 2024 to keep an eye on.

Hailey Piper

One of the most prolific authors I can name off the top of my head, Hailey also has several novellas out in the world + a few novels. If the intersection of queer fiction, body horror, and cosmic horror sounds like your thing, you can find something in her backlist. Also she's here on tumblr, go learn more at @haileypiperfights

Eve Harms

A bit of a new player on the field, but well worth checking out. Eve is a Jewish trans woman. Her debut novel, Transmuted, is a breathless body horror romp. She also makes a bunch of handmade zines, which I just think are neat :)

Natalie Ironside

One of Tumblr's very own better-known names, Natalie is queer, disabled, trans, hilarious, and author to at least three novels I can think of plus some other stuff too - go scope her out on @natalieironside for the details.

.....I know I'm missing a ton of people but these were the first ones that came to mind. I have to get back to writing, but I hope this inspires y'all to pick up a book you haven't read yet, and to add to my list down in the notes.

Happy reading, y'all :)

[glader-heaven]

I am begging all the Newtmas fans of tumblr who have only watched the movies to PLEASEEEEEE READ THE BOOKS!!!! If you think the movies are heart breaking the books are a million times worse. In every book Thomas is always referring to Newt as the one he cares about and his best friend. And if you think the way Newt dies in the movie is heartbreaking PLEASE READ THE BOOK BECAUSE IT'S EVEN WORSE!! Doomed romances *screams and cries*

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Replenishing the Nonfiction Stack; or, We're Calling the Book Buying Ban a Wash, Officially.

I am not, apparently, immune to coupons for niche nonfiction that's directly up my alley (octopus minds and RUSSIAN OWLS, hello??? Thanks, bookshop!).

I thought perhaps the BURGLAR'S GUIDE would also be covered under said coupon, since it was publisher-specific (alas: it was Not, but we might as well bundle for shipping purposes). And then while I was shopping IRL for gifties I found a copy of ROOM, which has been on my list for...ever? So! Hopefully these will hold me over on the nonfiction front for a minute!

[sspidrwebz]

hypersexuality isnt a fucking joke. not an aesthetic. its a fucking disorder. a trauma response. stop glorifying it im actually begging people, im so fucking sick of that shit. be aware. educate yourself. i swear to fucking god.

[jojotier]

Inspired choice to make the guy she threatened into cleaning up her lair fully fetishize the process of being threatened to be eaten by a hideous monster. Literally the height of comedy

[titsthedamnseason]

i am so disturbed. i just picked up my 12 year old sister from school and she asked me if ive ever read icebreaker because girls at school were talking about it. i don’t talk that much crap about booktok but if what it’s doing is giving smut recommendations to literal children we need to pack it up. and i know we aren’t supposed to want parents to police what their children read for various reasons but this is one of those instances where i think parents should be paying closer attention. i am probably hypocritical saying this because of what i read in middle school but for some reason there is a distinct difference to me between me hiding the fanfiction i was reading from my parents and these kids shamelessly being able to buy NA books at the store. it’s not even just the sexual content but it’s weird to me that these kids want to read books about people in college dealing with issues and having conversations they shouldn’t be able to fathom. it’s saddens me so deeply that kids aren’t kids anymore and are so eager to grow up through wearing makeup, wearing revealing clothes, and now apparently reading adult books. it’s a separate conversation but this has to be connected to the decline of YA as a genre as well. i’m spiraling now but this was just completely shocking and horrifying to me for so many reasons

[polycraftory]

Dragon Falls (How to Tame a Husband) by Davis Lavender

Reviewed by Meghan 💜

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5/5 | 🌶️🌶️ 2/5

GENRE: Cozy Portal Fantasy REP: mlm, achillean demi male mc, gay male mc, queer scs CW: mentions of cheating, manipulation, minor injuries LENGTH: 357 pgs

If you are looking for a sweet and funny gay romcom in a fantasy setting, I highly recommend this book! It manages to deliver an interesting isekai / transmigration narrative with a cast of incredibly lovable characters. This is exactly the sort of novel I had wanted when I was growing up looking for queer romance in a fantasy setting. Added to that just a little bit of spice and a whole lot of humor. It's technically an adult novel, but it's a lighthearted one that is also light on the smut. Also, I desperately want this to be a new au setting so fanfic writers please read this. Overall, this is a delightful indie book that I am very glad I got. I really love this Rainbow Crate @rainbowcrate edition from their Cozy Fantasy box.

Below the cut you can find my full review! You can find more reviews like this on my Storygraph or in our "meghan reviews" tag. Check out our pinned post for links!

If you want to avoid spoilers skip the section labeled "The End".

The Main Characters / Core Romance Feliks is an incredibly relatable and very sweet ADHD hot mess. He isn't explicitly neurodivergent, but the way he describes his "brain squirrels" and the everything else about him was deeply relatable to me (my whole household is some flavor of neurodivergent). He is an absolute ray of sunshine, and he gets isekai-ed into a dragon riding warlord with the Ruthless as his moniker. It is incredibly funny to watch him try to do damage control on all the awful things that the old Ryszard did. To differentiate them both in the narrative and for the reader, Feliks has people start to call him Rys. I found him absolutely charming, even though he so often speaks before thinking and puts his foot in his mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him win over everyone, including his husband. Also! He's demisexual and demiromantic! I have literally never read a book before where I saw myself represented like that! It was honestly so wonderful and validating even though its inclusion is very subtle.

Marek is a classic and wonderful example of the grumpy half of the grumpy/sunshine dynamic. He has incredibly good reasons not to trust his husband, who reappeared after being presumed dead for two years. Yet, he can't resist Rys' charm no matter how much he doesn't trust his husband's new polar opposite personality. From his best friend Kasia to the denhands he teaches, I enjoyed how much he cares for everyone despite being so very grumpy. I feel like that personality type tends to be portrayed as a loner, but Marek is at the heart of his community and they all adore him. The relationship between him and his dragon is also incredible, and there is quite a lot of humor in how infuriated he is that his dragon suddenly adores his husband who used to treat them both horribly. Rys calls their dragon Honey Bunny despite there being a Whole Thing (TM) about Dragons not being owned and therefore not being named. It does not at all infuriate Marek that his dragon now only responds to Bunny! Don't be ridiculous!

Their dynamic is everything you'd expect from this sort of grumpy/sunshine pair up, especially with the added component of Rys often saying exactly the wrong thing to Marek since he doesn't know their theoretically "shared" history from before he transmigrated into the story. Rys has absolutely no knowledge of the plot or world he gets thrown into at all, so it leads to quite a lot of unintentional hurt. Still, they have an incredibly sweet romance and both work hard for their happily ever after. For me, this was a very low spice book but I didn't come here for that.

The Worldbuilding I had to give this it's own section because the worldbuilding is so fun and I want people to immediately adopt this as a new fun AU setting for fanfiction. Only nobility can become Dragon Riders. In order to be a Rider, you have to court and marry yourself a Dragon Tamer. Each Tamer has one Dragon that they tame and train. Tamers can be anyone who earns the position, and they often start out as Denhands (basically, like, squires; they help with upkeep around the Den and help care for your dragon). Denhands get adopted by a Tamer and a Rider, so their entire family structure is based around the dragon riding system and I just think that's such a fun build! Once a Tamer and Rider get married, the Rider starts to bond with their dragon and learns how to ride. Once you are done training as a Rider, you have your final test which is the Claiming Ceremony. You take a leap of faith off the cliff and if your dragon catches you, you are a fully fledged Rider. If they don't, well, you fall to your death. Womp womp. Until their Claiming Ceremony, Tamers must protect their Riders from all harm so you get an extra layer of bodyguard romance. Seriously, I need this as an AU setting for every ship I've ever seen immediately. The Plot Very straightforward! Rys thinks his only way back to his world is to survive till his claiming ceremony so he can reuse the whistle at the top of the Falls to reopen the portal. Most of the narrative is a combo of the training leading up to the ceremony, the building romance, and Rys figuring out how to be a good husband (and father lol they adopt a kid. Damon/Demon I adore you). You also see Rys unravel all the harm the character he took over did to all the people of this training camp and home city. It has plenty of found family vibes, and honestly I loved the whole main cast. Overall, this was a very lighthearted plot even though murder / being trapped in another world / falling to his death were all theoretically on the table. The humorous tone keeps the plot from getting dark or serious. It has a good pace and was exactly the right amount of plot based on what I was expecting, which is basically a romcom in a fantasy setting.

The End Spoilers time! It almost goes without saying, but this is a nice, easy, unequivocal happily ever after. I was pleased that there was still plenty of book left after the climax. We got a really nice falling action with the main characters getting together and figuring out how to stay together. Also, this nicely side-stepped any of the usual portal fantasy or transmigration angst from having to choose between returning to their world and staying with their love interest. Feliks/Rys gets to have the best of both worlds since he has a portal he can open and close with the whistle reforged. I do wish we got to see Marek meet his brother and mother, I am dying to know how that went. Also, my edition had a nice little bonus story, The Trouble With Tybald, about two of the side characters getting together as well as a closer peek at the side romance between Demon (Rys and Marek's son) and the son of the bartender. It was a fun little surprise snack at the end, even though the bonus content wasn't for the main couple!

[sleepybean427]

Guys, I watched The Wild Robot yesterday, and it was so good!!! 💖💖💖

That movie was incredible and when I heard it was based off a book, I knew I just had to read it

You guys should totally watch it!! If you have watched it, let me know what you think so we can rant about it XD

[mamuzzy]

If this is how this person thinks about real people with mental illnesses and especially with personality disorders too and not just about fictional characters, I don't want this person near me IRL.

Not just that it's ultimately ableist, but also...

it totally erases the chance for any kind of forgiveness. Are we really living in this world? That we have to be born perfect to begin with? No place for mistake so no place for development? No place for a chance to make our mistakes right? At all?

I'm with BPD and I have to make sure I don't make black & white decisions every fucking day so I won't upset or make people uncomfortable around me, while the world is radicalized into: Do things perfectly or don't do anything at all. What the fuck???

[floofiest]

I'm reading Harrow the Ninth for the first time, and every time Harrow picks up Gideon's sword she vomits. Well I tjink I have that except every time I pick up my schoolwork I cry

[transhuman-priestess]

I saw your post on that nuclear war book; do u have any recommendations for actually good ones? (I’m interested in both fiction and non-fiction)

I have several!

None of them are quite in the same vein, they are concerned with actual history rather than speculation and chomping at the bit to portray North Korea as The Joker.

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser walks the reader through the history of both US nuclear weapons development, and nuclear warfighting 'strategy' (such that it is), as well as numerous accidents and incidents of weapons mishandling, misfiring, and going missing.

Raven Rock: The Story of the US Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die by Garret M. Graff is probably the closest thing to a "real" version of Jacobsen's book, it talks about US "continuity of government" plans, the bunkers, communication systems, and operational plans to "fight" a nuclear war after the infrastructure of the US has been obliterated. Spoiler alert: It doesn't work that well and is largely a bunch of cope by powerful men.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is the definitive history of the Manhattan Project, and more. It begins near the turn of the century and walks us through the discovery of radiation, fission, and finally the construction and use of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is unflinching in the extreme about the realities of nuclear war. The final chapter is almost entirely first-hand accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima in particular. I've heard people say that Jacobsen is "incredibly detailed" in her descriptions of the effects of nuclear weapons. She is not, but Rhodes is.

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman is the best English-language account I am aware of that chronicles the Soviet side of the Cold War arms race. Its focus is primarily on the USSR's biological and chemical weapons programs, but it also talks about their nuclear infrastructure, and documents the post-Soviet efforts to corral and control nuclear weapons and materials scattered in the former Soviet Republics.

[isfjmel-phleg]

I was looking up reviews of the book assigned for the Sunday school class I'm in, happened to glance at one particular review, and was like "wow, she really didn't like that, did she."

And then I read it more carefully.

..."Bible study" is one of those terms that maybe don't need to be abbreviated as an acronym.

[gwyns]

i am once again asking my followers to read the bloodleaf trilogy and falling kingdoms series. they're young adult but they're chock full of interesting characters and romance