#trans🇨🇦

[nanonanobackup]

WOULD YOU DATE A NERDY TGIRL LIKE ME 🥹,BE HONEST 🥺

I give you permission to do whatever u want to me x♾️

Send me a message or friend request if you interested 💞

[chrissy-kaos]

***Impersonation alert***

This blog is a scam. They are impersonating me.

Please go report them

They tried to blackmail me for Amazon gift cards

[kanadabiscuits]

It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the skies are blue and we have a Liberal minority government. But the kind of minority that only needs a handful of other party members in support to get shit done. In an age where we need to prove we can collaborate and work together for the better of everyone, this is perhaps the best result.

We have a Prime Minister who, although he skews a little further right in his centrist party than I would usually support, has the even temperament, the financial experience to not just get us through the morass caused by the tariffs but also carve a new path to a future where we no longer rely on a friendly neighbour, and, more importantly, is not going to spend his first 100 days fighting "woke agendas", like scaling back minority rights and attacking trans healthcare.

This morning Pierre Polievre woke up to his worst nightmare. The role as Prime Minister of a supermajority Conservative blue tide, all but guaranteed back in January, melted away like snow in forest fire. To complete the humiliation, he has also lost the seat which he had held for 20 years and will have to either step down as leader of his party or head into a leadership race and spend a tonne of energy trying to convince a deflated party why he should still be steering their ship. I could not be happier for him. This turn of events could not have happened to a man more deserving.

Nothing is solved. The fight is not over. Our country is still very much divided as the hate fuelled rhetoric inspired by Trump has very much taken root, finding fertile ground in people who want to blame other people for the problems in their lives--problems often caused by those spewing said rhetoric. The damage done by the growing fascist dictatorship to our south will continue to compound and the threat will stay real.

But today I breathe a little easier. Because we have hope. And for now, the right captain for our ship. Oh, Canada! 🇨🇦

[danni-gurrl]

You are not alone

June is pride month. Pride to be who you are. You may feel like you are alone. That you don’t matter. But you do. You are not alone. If you’ve ever had feelings that don’t match with what you’ve been brought up to believe, you are not alone. If you’ve ever been afraid to speak up for what you’re feeling, you are not alone. If you’ve ever been the quiet one, sitting in a corner, you’re not alone. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or trans, or just a quiet boy, or girl, who’s unsure of what you’re feeling, you’re not alone. If you don’t feel anything, or cut or hurt yourself to feel SOMETHING, you are not alone. We all have scars, but not all can be seen. Please reach out. There is someone out there to help you.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES

🧡 The Trevor Project – LGBTQ+ youth crisis support

🌐 thetrevorproject.org

📞 1-866-488-7386 (24/7)

�� Text “START” to 678-678

💬 Chat: website

💙 Trans Lifeline – Peer support for trans people

🌐 translifeline.org

📞 1-877-565-8860 (U.S. & Canada)

Staffed by trans operators

💚 LGBT National Help Center

🌐 glbthotline.org

📞 1-888-843-4564 (Main Line)

📞 1-800-246-7743 (Youth Talkline, under 25)

💬 Live chat available

🆘 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

🌐 988lifeline.org

📞 Dial 988

LGBTQ+-inclusive, 24/7 mental health crisis line

💬 Q Chat Space (Teens 13–19)

🌐 qchatspace.org

Safe, online support groups for LGBTQ+ youth

💜 SAGE LGBTQ+ Elder Hotline

🌐 sageusa.org

📞 1-877-360-LGBT (1-877-360-5428)

✊🏾 The BlackLine (for BIPOC & LGBTQ+)

🌐 callblackline.com

📞 1-800-604-5841

⸻

🇨🇦 CANADA

🧒 Kids Help Phone (LGBTQ2S+ inclusive)

🌐 kidshelpphone.ca

📞 1-800-668-6868

📱 Text “CONNECT” to 686868

💬 24/7 chat on website

💙 Trans Lifeline – Also available in Canada

📞 1-877-565-8860

🌐 translifeline.org

🧠 LGBT YouthLine (Ontario, Canada-wide)

🌐 youthline.ca

📞 1-800-268-9688

💬 Text: 647-694-4275

Peer support by and for 2SLGBTQ+ youth

⸻

🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM

🧡 Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline (UK)

🌐 switchboard.lgbt

📞 0800 0119 100 (10am–10pm daily)

💬 Chat & email available

💬 MindOut (LGBTQ+ mental health)

🌐 mindout.org.uk

Offers online support and counselling

🆘 Samaritans UK – 24/7 support

🌐 samaritans.org

📞 116 123 (Free, any phone)

⸻

🇪🇺 EUROPE-WIDE & INTERNATIONAL

🌈 ILGA-Europe (Info, rights, legal help)

🌐 ilga-europe.org

🔍 Find local LGBTQ+ organizations by country

🤝 OII Europe (Intersex support)

🌐 oiieurope.org

🧠 Mental Health Europe (general resource)

🌐 mentalhealtheurope.org

You are not alone.

[dxntloseurhead]

please stop scrolling!! 🏳️‍⚧️🇨🇦

if you are canadian, please take just a minute out of your day to sign this petition to protect gender affirming care for trans youth in alberta!

premier danielle smith of alberta has stated that there will soon be legislation that would restrict, and possibly even ban, the access to gender affirming care for trans youth in the province. this includes puberty blockers and hrt! if this legislation passes, trans youth in alberta will no longer be able to access necessary healthcare.

you do not have to be from alberta to sign! please take a moment to do so, as this harmful legislation is set to be introduced early next week.

[braindeathaoe]

🏳️‍⚧️Tomorrow🏳️‍🌈

Taking a break from writing because of the news. I want to make a reminder to all of you, and don't ever forget it.

Trans rights are human rights.

LGBTQ+ is not a threat to our future.

The color of your skin doesn't define your worth.

Your gender does not make you more or less superior.

You deserve rights on what to do with your own body.

This is 2024. This is our truth. They cannot take it from us.

Don't lose hope.

Stay hydrated. Stay safe. Stay strong.

Much love from Canada. 🇨🇦 🍁

[ninja-muse]

Well, this was a surprisingly strong start to my reading year! I don’t normally give out super high ratings, and especially not so close together, but The City in Glass and The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door deserved nothing less. I also had a nice surprise in In Veritas, which was honestly a “what the heck do I read now” selection, and a very fun time with Greenteeth. I’d review that one but I’ve already done two reviews this month, so just know that if you want a cozy-ish fantasy that’s a shade or two lighter than T. Kingfisher but with the same darkish humour, it’s one to pick up.

Sadly, I also had one DNF. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a fun cozy queer fantasy romance, but the particular character tropes and dynamic just didn’t work for me. And that would’ve been my only queer book, which is also something of a surprise. (Queer authors, yes. Queer-norm worlds, yes. But no queer focus.) I can only hope that February will be gayer, more trans, or more ace, but I’m a mood reader. It’ll be what it’ll be, I guess.

But yes, if you’re counting, I’ve read primarily fantasy this month, including two novels with fairies pretty close together. One of the ARCs I brought home was the third Emily Wilde book, which I’m eager to get to, but it’s going to fall tonally right in the middle of “amusing light fantasy” and “female academic studying fairies” and I can recognize that I need to read at least one book before I pick it up, to give myself space. Which is why I’ve pulled The Prague Cemetery off my shelves. It’s about as different as I can get while staying fiction, I think. And yes, I did look at nonfiction choices. None of them spoke to me.

I’ve decided to add the occasional read-like to my wrap-ups. There have been a few books this month that have reminded me of specific things, be it authors or books or other things, and that’s usually the case in a month. I thought it might be fun to make those notes when I have them, since the way I’m doing my “reviews” here is so compact.

As for my book haul, after not receiving the last two October Daye novels for my birthday or for Christmas, I had to go out and rectify that situation—and of course, the Wayward Children novellas are auto-buys. The other book I picked up was The Myth of Normal, rescued from our damaged books shelf at work because I’ve been on the fence about it for a while. I figure I’ll either find it an interesting or infuriating read, but who knows when I’ll get to it.

In other news, I’ve started writing again, at least a little, and I’ve manage to jot down a couple bunnies that may or may not make good short stories. There’s nothing much else to report. Just working and reading and, oh yes, getting a cold. Don’t get colds, folks. They’re not fun.

And so, without further ado, here’s what I read this month in order of personal enjoyment…

The City in Glass - Nghi Vo

When the demon Vitrine’s city is destroyed by angels, she sets herself to rebuilding while an angel, caught by her grief, tries to understand.

10/10

for fans of: Strange the Dreamer

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, achillean, trans man)

warning: war, death, grief

library book

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door - H.G. Parry When Clover’s brother returns from the trenches carrying a faerie curse, she vows to cure him. Step one is earning a place in the magical university of Camford—but the friends she makes there, and the secrets they uncover, have a much longer, wider, darker reach.

9/10

for fans of: Babel, Pip Williams, Susanna Clarke

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (gay), Indo-British secondary character

library book

In Veritas - C.J. Lavigne

Drawn by her synaesthesia and a dog/snake/shadow, Verity encounters a hidden world of magical people in an Ottawa theatre—a world threatened by technology and in need of saving.

7/10

for fans of: Charles de Lint

neurodivergent protagonist, secondary character with permanently injured leg, Black and East Asian secondary characters, 🇨🇦

warning: suicide, murder, knife violence, false commission to psychiatric facility

library ebook

Genealogy of a Murder - Lisa Belkin In 1960, an ex-con shoots a cop and a doctor could have stopped him—but what was it about their lives that shaped them into who they became?

7.5/10

for fans of: deep-dive true crime podcasts

warning: discussions of poverty, domestic abuse, child abuse, alcoholism, deaths of children and parents, dubiously ethical experiments

library ebook

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear - Seanan McGuire When Nadya’s adoptive parents give her a prosthetic in their bid to make her a perfect American girl, she finds refuge in the world of Belyyreka.

7/10

protagonist with arm hemimelia and a prosthetic

bought/off my TBR

Greenteeth - Molly O’Neill When a witch is thrown into Jenny Greenteeth’s lake, the two women band together to get the witch’s life back, but it won’t be easy. The new parson has brought something old and dark and wrong to their village, and they must go on a quest to rid Britain of it. Out in February

for fans of: T. Kingfisher, Diana Wynne Jones

7/10

🏳️‍🌈-coded protagonist (ace)

warning: animal death

reading copy

And Put Away Childish Things - Adrian Tchaikovsky Harry Bodie is a washed-up actor descended from an author of second-rate portal fantasies. He is definitely not the heir to the throne of Underhill, because Underhill. Does. Not. Exist. (He’s in for more than a bit of a rude awakening.)

7.5/10

for fans of: Paul Cornell, postmodern takes of children’s classics

warning: Covid-19 pandemic

library ebook

A Daughter of No Nation - A.M. Dellamonica Sophie’s returned to the world of Stormwrack, to learn more about its ecologies and her birth father. But when she learns something horrific about him, Stormwrack’s politics and legalities suddenly become a darker web.

7/10

for fans of: adult portal fantasies

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (gay, lesbian), secondary characters read as Black and South Asian, 🇨🇦

warning: slavery, violence

library book

Fifty Places to Travel Solo - Chris Santella and DC Helmuth Some suggested destinations for single travellers.

7.5/10

interviewees of diverse backgrounds, orientations, and body types

library book

Interference - Sue Burke

The Pax colony is thrown into turmoil by a mission from Earth, and it looks like Humans, Earthlings, and Glassmakers might not be the only sentiences out there.

6.5/10

off my TBR

Picture Books

Knight Owl - Christopher Denise Owl wants to be a knight and when knights start disappearing at the castle, he gets his chance!

Bunny Made Tea - Amanda Baehr Fuller

Bunny wants a cup of tea but unfortunately, so does Possum. Out in February

DNF

Yield Under Great Persuasion - Alexandra Rowland Tam has hated Lord Lyford since they were children. Tam and Lyford have been hooking up regularly. When Tam learns that Lyford is favoured by his goddess (which he doesn’t deserve), it’s the last straw and he must confront his feelings and his actions if he wants any hope of a better future.

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (gay), 🏳️‍🌈 love interest (achillean), 🏳️‍🌈 author

library book

Currently reading

The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco A journey through the social upheavals of 19th century Europe, through the eyes of a forger who hates everyone, believes every conspiracy, and is trying to piece together lost time and a secondary identity.

warning: anti-Semitic protagonist and secondary characters; protagonist also xenophobic, racist, and misogynist

off my TBR

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 10+2 Yearly total: 10 Queer books: 0 Authors of colour: 1 Books by women: 8.5 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 2 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 2 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 3 ARCs unhauled: 1 DNFs: 1

[hybriddhthepoet]

The Weight You Cannot Name

You wake and it’s already with you—

coiled in the silence between your lungs,

a patient beast that eats the colour

from the walls you’ve sworn you’d fix.

Your name feels like a borrowed thing.

It echoes wrong in strangers’ mouths,

and even softer when you whisper it

to yourself, hoping it will settle in.

You walk through rooms that blink too bright.

Each lightbulb hums with accusation.

The dishes eye you like forgotten vows,

and the floorboards know too much.

It isn’t always loud, this grief.

Some days it is dust in your throat,

a small betrayal at the sink,

where your hands no longer trust you.

There are mornings you almost speak—

but the words taste like bitten tongue,

and you remember how silence

seldom asks you to explain.

You perform the rituals of the living—

shower, clothes, soft nods on sidewalks.

No one notices the ghost beside you

wears your face a little better.

You’ve buried so much inside yourself,

it’s begun to push back—

filling your chest with metal

that groans when you try to rest.

Some nights, it builds a cathedral

from all the things you never said,

and forces you to kneel

before an altar of unfinished sentences.

Joy is a language you no longer trust.

It arrives sometimes, uninvited,

and you hold it like a sharp thing

you’ve forgotten how to use.

You have written letters to no one.

You’ve cried for things not yet lost.

You’ve stared at ceilings until they stared back

and asked what you were doing here.

Even your dreams are tired of you—

their colours muted, their plots missing.

You wake with the taste of endings

and call it rest.

And yet—

you remain.

Like a cracked bell still holding song,

like a wound that refuses the kindness of closure.

You remain.

Even when the mirror turns its back,

even when your shadow doubts you,

even when your voice forgets how to begin.

Because some part of you—

the part that trembles and does not break—

still believes in the faintest morning,

in a hand you have not yet held.

And that is not nothing.

That is you.

And you are not done.

Not yet.

If you’re still here, reading this—thank you.

This world is not always gentle.

And the weight you carry? It matters, even when no one sees it.

Even when you can’t name it.

Maybe only a few people will find this. Maybe it’ll fade into the noise.

But if you did find it this part is for you.

You are not a burden. You are not broken.

And there is always a hand reaching back.

If you’re in pain, if you feel lost, scared, numb, or like you just can’t keep going, I want you to know you don’t have to go through it alone. There are real people out there trained professionals who want to help, who choose to help, every single day.

It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to not know what to say. But please, reach out. You deserve support. I promise to respond to every message.

Below are links to mental health and suicide crisis services in both Canada and the United State free, anonymous, and available 24/7:

🇨🇦 Canada

988 Suicide Crisis Helpline

Call or text: 988

https://988.ca

Free, 24/7, confidential support in English and French.

Talk Suicide Canada

1-833-456-4566 (24/7)

Text: 45645 (4 PM–12 AM ET)

https://talksuicide.ca

Kids Help Phone (for youth and young adults)

1-800-668-6868

Text CONNECT to 686868

https://kidshelpphone.ca

Available 24/7 in English and French.

Hope for Wellness Help Line (for Indigenous peoples)

1-855-242-3310

https://hopeforwellness.ca

Offers support in Cree, Ojibway, Inuktitut, English, and French.

Trans Lifeline

877-330-6366

🇺🇸 United States:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Call or text: 988

https://988lifeline.org

Free, 24/7, confidential support in English and Spanish.

Crisis Text Line

Text HOME to 741741

https://www.crisistextline.org

The Trevor Project (for LGBTQ+ youth)

1-866-488-7386

Text START to 678678

https://www.thetrevorproject.org

Trans Lifeline (run by and for trans people)

1-877-565-8860

https://translifeline.org

You’re not a burden. You’re not broken. You’re not alone.

Please take care of yourself.

[ozzitower]

I recently commissioned a dear friend of mine and was given permission to post

[juliesque04]

The lack of nuance and extreme polarization in the terf-TRA beef is insane bc i either have to agree with Kai 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ he/xe/tree lesboy transfemme autistic+adhd who has like 54 weird ass kinks or Bertha from slovakia, adult human female, is convinced every single trans woman is a predator/kiddy diddler, is anti-islam (but refuses to criticize any other religion), is slowly falling down the tradwife pipeline for some reason, and claims to be a gender abolitionist but also somehow weaves gender essentialism into every single take and thinks male people are inherently born evil

[menasors]

canada cons for the wip game?

YEEEAAA BABEEEYYY 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

It's a WIP gift fic for a buddy of mine! Taking place in an AU where the Victory crashes in Lake Superior instead of where it canonically crashed (I forgot where).

For the beginning part here, they have humanoid holoforms because they like loitering in Timmie's at 1am and using their holoforms to prank humans. It's strange to write them with human terms, though, even though I know they're not human in the fic...

Dead End stared at the table with wide eyes, "We have to fly." His voice trembled, but was disguised as a tired croak. His anxiety was showing more than he ever let it in public, or even just around Drag Strip.

A teasing cackle came from Drag Strip, and soon after, Wildrider. "Dude," the former breathed, almost choking on his breath in, "even if you fall we can breathe down there. Who cares?

"We can't breathe at all," Dead End corrected with his usual monotone, which comforted Breakdown, "I simply do not think it is a good idea to attempt to fly to a darkly coloured docking tower in the pitch black of night."

Breakdown slumped onto the table, feeling the exhaustion from their adventures creep to her hologrammed eyelids. "I don't think we should go," she mumbled, quiet. Motormaster was probably the only one who heard her, evident by the way the eldest of the Stunticons began to gently rub Breakdown's back. She didn't like how clearly she could feel the curve of her holoform's spine with Motormaster's hand there. Humans had weird shapes.

Also idk why my brain made me trans a bunch of their genders but. It did. So they are. Motors and Breaks got shot with the she/her beam. Megatron too but she's not here...

Yet.

[liquid-bonhomme]

Opinions I have I consider left-wing:

Prison abolition

Nordic model good

Eat billionares, that's what they're good for

Unions economically positive

Universal income good

Landlords go to hell

The NDP is not left-wing enough

Seize the means of production

Labour-based economy is so clearly a way more stable economic model, come on guys, wake the fuck up.

Trudeau is the moderate vote, that's why he sucks

No gods no masters, liberté égalité fraternité, deny defend depose, we stand on guard for thee, kill everyone now condone first degree murder advocate for cannibalism eat shit filth is my politics filth is my life ⚜ᛟ☭🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏴‍☠️🇨🇦🇫🇷🇺🇳

Opinions Lily has that she apparently considers "left-wing":

Cooperations are your friend

Identity politics AREN'T actually just a wedge issues conservative politicians use to fear-monger and distract the populous from advocating for themselves, like jingling trans black gay feminist immigrant keys in a baby's face

Capital punishment good

Drug addicts are scum, but the police shouldn't be allowed to beat them within an inch of their life in their homes or whatever.

Lock up potheads tho

Genocide and collective punishment is cool when I say so

The historically ->French Nationalist<- Canadian party are Libs

The NDP are too left-wing

Trudeau is socialist daddy

Wellfare for me, not for thee

Everyone's a nazi but Lily

Bed thy sister

Bed thy dog

Bed thy minor

She totally didn't write Stockholm, she's too woke

Trans men are evil

Butch women are evil

🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺���🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

[wizardologys]

🫢💅 !! 🫵👁️👄👁️✨T'es woke toi! ✨🫵😳Toi t'es un 🫵😡✨woke ✨🙂‍↔️ left! 🫵🤨 Tu supporte les 🏳️‍⚧️ trans 🙅🏼‍♀️ pis les 💁🏼‍♀️🤨pronoms 😤 toi 🙅🏼‍♀️. 🤔 Veux-tu savoir mes 🙋🏼‍♀️ pronoms? 🧐 Mes pronoms? 🙋🏼‍♀️🧐. 🗣️👄 👏 ⚜️ Qué / 👏Bec 🇨🇦 👁️👄👁️🫱 Fran / 🫱 Çais. 🇫🇷 🥖 🫱 Bar / 🫱 Be / 🫱 Cue. 🍖 ... 👏Go / 🏒 Habs 🏒 / 👁️👄👁️🫱 Go. 🫦 ⚜️🔵 Bleu 🔵 pis 🌹 Rose 🌹⚜️. 😒🤷🏼‍♀️ Toi c'est quoi tes pronoms hein? 🤨 💁🏼‍♀️. Vas-y. 😑🧏‍♀️ Dis-moj tes pronoms. 😒 🫦 👴🏻 Joe / 👴🏻 Bi / 👴🏻 Den? 🥶 🫤Ru 💅/ 🏳️‍🌈 Paul? 🙄 🫠 🫥🙂‍↔️ ... 🙂‍↔️ 😬😑 J'vas🧎🏼‍♀️‍➡️prier 🙏pour toi. 🫵 🙎🏼‍♀️

📍Montréal

[rainbowsquidofficial]

COMMISSIONS OPEN!!!

Hey! Do you want art? Do you want to help a gay and trans student graduate? Congratulations! You can do both of those things at once! Please dm me on:

Tumblr: @rainbowsquidofficial

Discord: @rainbowsquidofficial

Email: rainbowsquidofficial@gmail.com

If you are interested! Typed info + clarification under the cut :3

Prices are currently LOWERED due to:

I need to pass this class to graduate-

COMMISSIONS

All prices in CAD🇨🇦 My PayPal All items with a "+" are an added cost on top of the base price. For example, a "Shoulders up " "Flat colour" "Basic background" would cost $19.00 ($10.00 + $7.00 + $2.00 = $19.00)

Character design = I design the character with your input

For examples see #rainbowsquidscribbles for all of my art, and #commissionquality for art of the quality you can expect from a commission

WILL DRAW:

-Furry/anthro characters

-Animal characters

-Sfw ship

-Light violence/gore

-Mechanical/robot characters

WILL NOT DRAW:

-Nsfw

-Highly suggestive

-Trypophobia

-Extreme violence/gore

If you arent sure whether one of these applies to what you want, feel free to ask! I won't hold it against you or judge, even if it isn't something I'm comfortable drawing :>

BASE PRICES:

-Shoulders up: $10.00

-Waist up: $15.00

-Full body: $25.00

OPTIONS:

Line art: (no additional charge)

-One colour

-multicolour

Colour:

-Flat: + $7.00

-Shaded: + $15.00

Character design: + $25.00

Background:

-Basic: + $2.00

-Detailed: + $15.00

[ninja-muse]

My last wrap-up of the year! Featuring one stack of "didn't know what to read, hey, this is on my shelf, also it's short and reading goals", and one stack of Christmas gifts. I'm very pleased about both. The Laurie Lee was as good as expected and the mafia romance was a gift last Christmas so it's nice to have that finished before the year was up. And I'm two books closer to having my Pratchett collection complete! I'm missing one major Discworld tie-in book now, and a handful of the maps that came out over the years.

In other news, whew, another year is over! It feels like it's taken ages, which I'm going to blame on a bunch of long books and general slumpiness rather than the global political climate. After all, this month has felt long due to both factors. A History of Ancient Egypt, Vol. 3 did take me twice as long as a normal book, and I had two DNFs.

As you can probably tell from the list below, apart from the history book, in December I prioritized fun. (It's about all I wanted to pick up after my workdays.) I was also trying to finish one of my Storygraph reading challenges, which I've managed—75 books from a list I set, mostly, at the start of the year. I recommend everything I finished, though Among the Gnomes is not a masterwork of Victorian fiction by any means. It was, however, readily available as an ebook when I needed something goofy.

In non-book news, I got home for Christmas? Barely a visit, but it worked out and I got to see my grandpa, who is getting very old. I'm sure one of the family cats is beside himself now, though, since I am his official lap provider and rarely around to offer that service. And I went on a walking tour near the start of the month, and ate far too many chocolates and baked goods.

I'll save discussion about reading goals and 2025 resolutions and what-not for my end-of-year wrap-up, which is coming soon, and in the meantime turn you over to my list of everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3 - John Romer

A history of the last major cultural periods of ancient Egypt, centering archaeology and primary sources and deconstructing traditional Western scholarship and all its baggage.

8/10

warning: discusses racists and colonial attitudes

library book

Swordcrossed - Freya Marske

When Mattinesh Jay hires a swordsman for his wedding, he gets Luca Piere, annoying, attractive, and much more than he bargained for. And that’s before Luca discovers a conspiracy against Matti’s House…

8/10

🏳️‍🌈 main characters (gay), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, trans man, nonbinary), brown-skinned main character, brown-skinned secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 author

library ebook

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee

At 19, in the 1930s, Laurie leaves his childhood home to walk to London, Europe, and the future.

7.5/10

warning: mildly racist towards Black people and Roma, period-typical misogyny, sexualization of child, sex trafficking of children

off my TBR

Greymist Fair - Francesca Zappia

Empty clothes in the middle of the only road to town. A tailor’s daughter and a witch’s cottage. A wandering prince. A lonely, beautiful girl. Magic, wargs, and Death in the forest.

8/10

major genderless character, 🏳️‍🌈 incidental characters (sapphic, achillean)

reading copy

Saga, Vol. 10 - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (illustrator)

Hazel and her family are picking up the pieces and getting by, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of danger. The Will is still out there, and so is Landfall.

8/10

🇨🇦

off my TBR

The Forbidden Book - Sacha Lamb

Fleeing a marriage to the rebbe’s son, Sorel adopts the identity of Isser Jacobs, not knowing that there’s a real Isser who’s just stolen a very important, very illegal book.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (genderqueer, lesbian), Jewish cast, Jewish author, 🏳️‍🌈 author

library ebook

Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop - Emmeline Duncan

Bookshop owner Bailey is running the first literary festival in her Halloween-themed town when she stumbles over a murder victim.

7/10

Indigenous secondary characters

library book

The Rivals - Jane Pek

Claudia and Veracity are still tracking synth-bot accounts on dating sites when a prospective client dies after reporting a copycat profile. Was it someone from the app's developer, or truly an accident?

7/10

Taiwanese-American protagonist, Taiwanese-American secondary characters, Indian and Mexican secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (lesbian), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (gay, achillean, lesbian), Singaporean-American author

warning: suicide

reading copy

Broken Whispers - Neva Altaj

To calm a war between the Italian mafia and the Bratva, a ballerina is pushed into marriage with an enforcer. Beauty and the Beast vibes.

6.5/10

main character with damaged vocal chords, main character with monocular vision

warning: mafia-typical violence and torture

off my TBR

Under the Smokestrewn Sky - A. Deborah Baker

Avery, Zib, and their companions have reached the Kingdom of Fire, one “step” away from the Impossible City on the Improbable Road. But that doesn’t mean they’re home free yet.

6.5/10

off my TBR

Among the Gnomes - Franz Hartmann

A scientist travels to the Unterberg to disprove the existence of gnomes, only to find himself living among them. An anti-science satire.

6/10

warning: anti-Irish xenophobia

ebook/off my TBR

DNF

The Stardust Grail - Yume Kitasei

Maya’s put her thieving past aside to pursue academia, but when a chance to find the legendary stardust grail (and save her friend’s species) falls into her lap, she can’t help but be tempted—even if Earth wants to use it to save itself.

protagonist with Japanese heritage, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (achillean, nonbinary, alternate gender system)

library book

Big Gay Wedding - Byron Lane

Barnett returns to his mom’s farm in Louisiana to confront her unspoken disapproval and introduce his fiancé. And possibly get married there, if certain parties in town don’t stop them.

🏳️‍🌈 POV characters (gay)

warning: homophobia

library ebook

Currently reading

In Veritas - C.J. Lavigne

Drawn by her synesthesia and a dog-that-is-snake-is-shadow, Verity encounters a hidden world in an Ottawa theatre. A world threatened by technology and in need of saving.

🇨🇦

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 11 Yearly total: 127 Queer books: 3 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 6 Authors outside the binary: 1 Canadian authors: 1 Classics: 2 Off the TBR shelves: 5 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 1 ARCs unhauled: 2 DNFs: 2

January February March April May June July August September October November

[lesbiansloveseokjin]

day 405/548 of hobi's military service

these pictures were posted on 180920 with the caption:

🇨🇦Hello🇨🇦

(trans cr: Soren @ bts-trans)