#LGBTQIA contemporary dark fiction | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

teenslib · 4 years

Link

IT’S FINALLY DONE! Every year, the Rainbow Book List Committee has more books to review, because literature is slowing getting queerer, and children’s and YA lit are at the forefront of that change. This year, our committee of 13 people had to review nearly 500 eligible titles, and 130 (well, 129) were good enough and queer enough to make the list. There were so many terrific books that we got a special dispensation to create TWO Top Ten lists--the first time the committee has done so! The Top Tens are below, and please visit the link above for the full list.

I’m proud of our committee’s focus on diversity--along lines of race, ethnicity, queer identity, and even genre. At least half of the Top Ten Books for Young Readers and seven of the Top Ten for Teen Readers are about characters of color, and most of those were written by authors of color. We also tried to feature as many different letters of the alphabet soup as possible. I’ve noted the racial and LGBTQIA+ rep for the books that I’ve read.

Here are the Top Ten Books for Young Readers:

Ana on the Edge by Sass, A.J. Ages 8 to 12. Sports Fiction/Figure Skating. MC is nonbinary and Jewish-Chinese-American. Ana is a champion figure-skater. She hates her new princess-themed program, but how can she tell her mother that, when it cost so much money? And why does it bother her so much, anyway? When she finds the word ‘nonbinary,’ she realizes why the program doesn’t fit, but she still has a lot of work to do repairing relationships that have suffered in the meantime.

The Deep & Dark Blue by Smith, Niki. Ages 8 to 12. Fantasy. One of 2 MCs is a trans girl, all characters appear to be Southeast Asian. A pair of twins flee after a political coup that puts their lives at risk. They decide to disguise themselves as Hanna and Grayce, two girls living in the Communion of the Blue, an order of weaving women who spin magic like wool. What one twin doesn’t know is that, for the other, being Grayce isn’t a disguise. This is a beautiful story about self-discovery, acceptance, and affirmation.

Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Burgess, Matthew and Josh Cochran (Illustrator). Ages 6 to 14. Biography. MC is a white gay man. This colorful picture-book biography traces the life and art of Keith Haring.

The Every Body Book: LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Simon, Rachel E. and Noah Grigni (Illustrator). Ages 8 to 12. Nonfiction/Health. Various identities and races included. Filled with self-affirming information, The Every Body Book uses inclusive language, illustrations, and facts to cover a number of important topics for young people including consent, relationships, gender, sex, puberty, and hormones.

King and the Dragonflies by Callender, Kacen. Ages 8 to 12. Realistic Fiction. MC is a gay black boy, his best friend is a gay white boy. King’s family–especially his father–have strong opinions about what it means to be a Black man, and they don’t allow for being gay. But King admires his friend Sandy for escaping an abusive home and living his truth no matter what. If King comes out, too, can his father learn to change?

Magic Fish by Nguyen, Trung Le. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction/Fantasy. MC is a gay Vietnamese-American boy. A young Vietnamese-American boy literally can’t find the words to tell his parents that he’s gay, but cross-cultural fairytales help bridge the language barrier in this beautifully-illustrated graphic novel.

My Maddy by Pitman, Gayle E. and Violet Tobacco (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC’s parent is nonbinary, MC and her parent are white. My Maddy is a heartwarming story about a young girl and her parent. Readers learn that not all parents are boys or girls; some parents are just themselves. In this young girl’s case, that parent is her Maddy, a loving, caring parent who lives outside the gender binary.

My Rainbow by Neal, DeShanna, Trinity Neal, and Art Twink (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC is an autistic black trans girl. Autistic trans girl Trinity wants to have long hair, but growing it out is too itchy! None of the wigs in the store are quite right, so Mom makes Trinity a special rainbow wig.

Our Subway Baby by Mercurio, Peter and Leo Espinosa (Illustrator). Ages 4 to 8. Adoption Non-fiction. MCs are white gay men, the baby they adopt is Black. Loving illustrations help tell the story of how an infant abandoned in a NYC subway station was adopted by the man who found him and his partner.

Snapdragon by Leyh, Kat. Snapdragon. Ages 10 to 14. Fantasy. Haven’t read this one yet, so I can’t comment on its representation. Snap gets to know the town witch and discovers that she may in fact have real magic and a secret connection to Snap’s family’s past.

And here are the Top Ten Books for Teen Readers:

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by Johnson, George M. Ages 14 to 18. Memoir. Author/MC is a gay Black man. “Memoir-manifesto” is a well-chosen label for this book, which relates stories from the author’s childhood and young adulthood and contextualizes them within a queer Black experience. Although the author’s family is loving and supportive, pervasive heteronormativity, queerphobia, and anti-Black racism threaten his mental, emotional, and physical safety.

Camp by Rosen, L.C. Ages 14 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC and his love interest are gay Jewish boys. For Randy, going away to Camp Outland is a breath of fresh air, a time to be exactly who Randy can’t always be at school. But this year will be different. This year, Randy won’t be the flamboyant theater kid, this year Randy will be exactly the type of bro Hudson would want to date. Changing a thing or too will be necessary for Randy to succeed, even if that means leaving some friends behind.

Cemetery Boys by Thomas, Aiden. Ages 13 and up. Paranormal/Romance. MC is a trans Latino, his love interest is a gay Latino. Yadriel accidentally summons the wrong ghost in an attempt to prove himself a real brujo to his family who struggle to accept his gender identity. Though he thinks he is summoning the ghost of his cousin, he actually summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, and finds himself with not one, but two, mysterious deaths to investigate.

Circus Rose by Cornwell, Betsy. Ages 12 and up. Fantasy. One MC is white and one is mixed-race, one is a lesbian and one is questioning. Ivory and Rosie are twins and half-sisters, born to a bearded woman who refused to choose between her lovers, and raised in their mother’s circus. After a long foreign tour, they come home to find themselves under attack by religious zealots. As tragedy follows tragedy, will Ivory be able to save her circus family?

Elatsoe by Little Badger, Darcie and Rovina Cai (Illustrator). Ages 12 and up. Mystery. MC is an aro/ace Lipan Apache girl. In this OwnVoices novel, Elatsoe is on a mission to discover who killed her beloved cousin, and why. If not for her cousin, then she is doing this for her people, the Indigenous Lipan Apache tribe. Elatsoe has the ability to raise ghosts from the dead, a tradition that has been passed down through generations. On this journey it will take vulnerability, wit, and the legends of her people for Elatsoe to understand all that is hidden in the small town of Willowbee.

I’ll Be the One by Lee, Lyla. Ages 13 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a bi Korean-American girl, her love interest is a bi Korean boy. Skye Shin dreams of becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and a reality TV competition may just be her chance. To win, she’ll have to deal with fatphobic beauty standards, fierce competition, and intense media scrutiny–as well as unexpected attraction to one of her competitors.

Miss Meteor by Mejia, Tehlor Kay and Anna-Marie McLemore. Ages 14 and up. Magical Realism. (I haven’t read this one, but I think both MCs are WLW Latinas.) Lita is a star – literally. After falling to earth several years ago, she’s now living life as a teenage girl. When the annual Miss Meteor pageant rolls around, Lita decides to enter – but will her ex-best friend Chicky be willing to help her? Will the pageant help her forget about the past and imagine a new future? Lita learns that winning isn’t about being perfect, it’s about showing your true self to the world – even the parts that no one else understands.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Johnson, Leah. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a black WLW (woman-loving-woman). In this affectionate rom-com, Liz Lighty finds herself an unlikely candidate for prom queen at her affluent suburban school. Shy, awkward, Black, and low-income, Liz has never felt like she belonged, and she can’t wait to leave for her dream college. But when her scholarship falls through, it seems her last resort is to win prom queen, and the scholarship money that comes with it. Liz’s plan is complicated when new girl Mack decides to run for prom queen also…and ends up running away with Liz’s heart.

War Girls by Onyebuchi, Tochi. Ages 12 and up. Science Fiction/Afro-Futurism. Both MCs are Nigerian, one is a WLW. In a not-so-distant future, climate change and nuclear disasters have made much of the earth unlivable. In the midst of war in Nigeria, two sisters, Onyii and Ify, are torn apart and face two very different futures. As their lives progress through years of untold violence and political unrest, battles with deadly mechs and cyborg soldiers outfitted with artificial limbs and organs, they are brought together again and again and must come to terms with how the war has impacted their lives.

When We Were Magic by Gailey, Sarah. Ages 14 and up. Contemporary Fantasy. MC is a white bi/questioning girl with gay dads, her friends are racially, ethnically, and queerily diverse. This firecracker of a novel follows a group of friends who attempt to correct the accidental murder of a classmate. When We Were Magic combines magic, friendship, and awkward moments to create a captivating story. Each character brings their own uniqueness to the strong group of friends, but despite their differences, their loyalty remains. Author Sarah Gailey has written another page turning novel, with the quirky strange content to boot.

#Rainbow Book List #LGBT literature #queer books #queer YA #queer children's books #Book Recommendations #we need diverse books

14 notes · View notes

nothingisliteral · 4 years

Text

Literary Agents Accepting Queries 2020

A note; these agents are according to my research as of June 12, 2020. To find more information on these agents, just look up their name and agency. How to query to these agents differ, so it would be wise to look into them more. Bolded is the categories, genres, and/or tropes that said agent is interested in. This list was put together by me, and it was only the agents who’s name start with A. Even though this is labeled as YA, many of these agents are interested in other genres.

* Adria Goetz (Martin Literary Management), Mill Creek, WA General fiction Suspense/thriller Fantasy/science fiction Juvenile fiction Religious

* Adriann Ranta Zurhellen (Foundry Literary + Media), New York, NY all genres and for all age groups, but has a penchant for edgy, dark, unusual voices, unique settings, and everyman stories told with a new spin. She loves gritty, realistic, true-to-life narratives with conflicts based in the real world; women’s fiction and nonfiction; accessible, pop nonfiction in science, history, and craft; and smart, fresh, genre-bending works for children.

* Adrienne Rosado (Stonesong Literary Agency), New York, NY adult and children’s fiction, as well as select non-fiction in the areas of pop-science, business, memoir, and humor. In both adult and children’s fiction, she is looking for contemporary, mystery, historical, thriller, fantasy, and anything with a wickedly dark sense of humor. She��s especially drawn to multicultural fiction, lgbtq+ works, and stories about people from atypical walks of life. She is not currently looking for poetry or children’s picture books.

* Agnes Carlowicz (Carol Mann Agency), New York, NY both fiction and non-fiction, with a special passion for literature that amplifies underrepresented voices and subverts the status quo. Among others, she enjoys: intersectional feminism, millennial self-care, female-driven memoir, true-crime, and humorous pop culture.

* Aimee Ashcraft (Brower Literary & Management), New York, NY busy seeking out stories that feature all-encompassing worlds and compelling female characters. She loves books that are told from an original point of view and are more addictive than a good Netflix binge

* Albert Longden (Albert T. Longden Agency), Bloomfield, NJ (AAR Member) General fiction, Mystery, Romance, Suspense/thriller, Fantasy/science fiction, Biography, Business/investing/finance, Sports, Paranormal (want writers that are preferably experienced and are willing to listen to productive critiques of their work)

* Albert Zuckerman (Writers House), New York, NY books in all adult categories, fiction and non-fiction. And lately I’ve been enjoying working with some YA and Middle Grade authors. I'm interested in working with a few more novelists, literary and commercial

* Alec Shane (Writers House), New York, NY mystery, thrillers (though he’s experiencing terrorist fatigue at the moment), suspense, horror, historical fiction, literary fiction, and middle grade and young adult fiction. He DOESNT want Romance, straight sci-fi, high fantasy, picture books, self-help, women’s fiction, food, or travel memoir.

* Alex Glass (Glass Literary Management), New York, NY General fiction, Mystery, Suspense/thriller, Juvenile fiction, Biography, History, Mind/body/spirit, Health, Lifestyle, Cookbooks, Sports, Literary fiction, Memoir, Narrative nonfiction, Pop culture

* Alexa Stark (Trident Media Group), New York, NY drawn to literary debuts with a unique voice and perspective, stories about dysfunctional friendships and families, edgy coming-of-age tales, character-driven suspense and thrillers, and fiction that delves into the surreal

* Alexandra Levick (Writers House), New York, NY Picture book author-illustrators, a wide range of middle grade and YA, and more speculative-leaning or genre-bent upmarket adult works. I’m committed to working with writers from diverse backgrounds and am looking to put forth a list of outstanding creators who will be able to provide windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors (thank you, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop) into all kinds of experiences. I’m particularly looking for own-voices stories about historically underrepresented characters, identities, and cultures.

* Alexandra Machinist (International Creative Management), New York, NY Commercial fiction Literary fiction Upmarket women's fiction Historical fiction Suspense Fantasy Young adult Middle grade

* Alexandra Penfold (Upstart Crow Literary), New York, NY specializes in young picture books, middle-grade fiction, and young adult

* Alexandra Weiss (Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency), New York, NY contemporary, magical realism, and light SFF. I’d also like to see more rom-coms that make my heart feel warm. dedicated to representing marginalized creators and diverse books, including #ownvoices. I’m actively seeking LGBTQIA+, POC, gender fluid, neurodiverse, and disabled voices for all age ranges and across all genres.

* Alexis Hurley (InkWell Management), New York, NY domestic works in the areas of literary and commercial fiction, memoir, narrative non-fiction and more

* Ali Herring (Spencerhill Associates), Lakewood Ranch, FL I’m open to all YA: Contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi, speculative, horror, romance, issue books (though I have a few already on my list so not my top choice), etc. All the contemporary fantasy right now. Contemporary with a speculative element YA suspense/thrillers All the horror right now, or horror-bordering Anything with an edge Fun teen romance like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Vibrant Teen rom-coms Dystopian or failing Utopia/Utopian worlds (fresh government or control system in place or none at all) Near-future dystopian where the world is not cleaned up and pretty. I want a sense of the horror but without tons of gore. Bold unexplored settings

* Alice Martell (The Martell Agency), New York, NY Open to all/most Genres Excluding: Fantasy, Science Fiction.

* Alice Speilburg (Speilburg Literary Agency), Louisville, KY In YA Fiction, I'm looking for diverse retellings of classic stories, stories rooted in mythology, contemporary fantasy with magical/supernatural worlds alongside our own (but not necessarily "urban," rural & suburban magical systems could be nice). Across the board, I'm looking for an inclusive cast of characters, across gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, and mental health spectrums.

* Alice Tasman (Jean Naggar Literary Agency), New York, NY Alice's fiction tastes, for young adult and adult books, ranging from commercial, literary fiction and history to thrillers and suspense, and women's fiction.

* Alicia Brooks (Jean Naggar Literary Agency), New York, NY she is looking for Memoir, Narrative Nonfiction, Self-Help, Pop Culture, Literary Fiction, Commercial Fiction, YA Fiction, Mystery/Crime, and Historical Fiction

* Alison Picard (Alison J. Picard Agency), Cotuit, MA Adult fiction and non-fiction, children's and young adult NO: short stories, poetry, plays, screenplays or sci-fi/fantasy.

* Allison Hunter (Janklow & Nesbit Associates), New York, NY literary and commercial fiction, especially women's fiction, as well as memoir, narrative nonfiction, cultural studies and pop culture. She is always looking for funny female writers, great love stories, campus novels, family epics, smart beach reads and for non-fiction projects that speak to the current cultural climate

* Alyssa Jennette (Stonesong Literary Agency), New York, NY children’s and adult fiction and picture books, graphic novels, and select pop culture nonfiction. She values diversity and inclusion; in fiction she enjoys ensemble casts with distinct voices, stories about poor characters and communities, and formats that are specific to a story and give it its own context. Alyssa is particularly interested in art/art history/art conservation, archaeology, mythology, language/translation, and criminal justice reform

* Alyssa Reuben (Paradigm Literary and Talent Agency), New York, NY adult, young adult, and the occasional middle grade fiction as well as smart, platform driven, nonfiction ranging from pop-culture, lifestyle, cookbooks, and narrative to memoir. She gravitates toward voice-driven non-fiction presenting a fresh point of view and particularly loves novels with an edge or a great romance arc.

* Amanda Leuck (Spencerhill Associates), Lakewood Ranch, FL contemporary and speculative fiction that explore social issues, YA fantasy based in mythology across cultures, historical novels that spark my need to know more, characters with disability, chronic illness or mental illness - that doesn't necessarily drive the plot, #ownvoices, women and girls in STEM, romantic plots and subplots that surprise me, LGBTQIA+ characters, the intersection of science and religion, or magic and convention, where what is real is not clear, animal and ecological themes

* Amanda Rutter (Red Sofa Literary), St. Paul, MN Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults, Middle grades, Young adults. Fantasy. Science fiction.

* Amelia Appel (Triada U.S. Literary Agency), Sewickley, PA For YA, she is particularly interested in stories with a savvy protagonist and a slightly dark tone that deal with serious coming-of-age issues well.

* Amy Elizabeth Bishop (Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, LLC), New York, NY Fiction-wise, I'm interested in both upmarket and literary women’s fiction, mysteries, and fiction from diverse and underrepresented authors. I'd love more literary fiction from women of color. I'm choosy about my historical fiction, preferring it voice-driven and female-centric, focusing on the stories of those that history has largely chosen to not tell. [[A bit tuckered out from American Revolution, Civil War, WWII, and Vietnam War, so I'm not really looking in that space.]] I'm always interested in stories that are not set in Western Europe or the East/West Coast. I'd love to see more speculative fiction/light horror, though I'm not as interested in science fiction or fantasy in the adult space at this time. I'm also looking for a literary thriller/literary suspense a la THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY or BARBED WIRE HEART. In YA: would love a smart contemporary rom-com that isn't just boy meets girl in high school (or if it is, it has to be a seriously new story), a fascinating, creepy retelling in the vein of Carmen Maria Machado, and light horror. I'd love to find a multi-generational story and am particularly interested in the intricacies of family (and sister!!) relationships. I'm a sucker for stories that take place in closed environments (like boarding schools) and though I appreciate romantic elements, I'm also eager to see narratives where a happy ending for women isn't necessarily a relationship. #ownvoices, always, please. Anything with some serious creep to it!

* Amy Brewer (Metamorphosis Literary Agency), Kansas City, MO She’s seeking: Romances of all kinds; if your plot revolves around love or angst or both, send it to her. She is also looking for general fiction, LGBTQ+, women’s fiction, book club reads, and quirky humor.

* Amy Jameson (A+B Works), New York, NY loves children’s literature, and is actively seeking Middle Grade and Young Adult projects.

* Amy Rennert (The Amy Rennert Agency), Tiburon, CA General fiction Mystery Biography Business/investing/finance History Mind/body/spirit Health Lifestyle Sports Literary fiction Narrative non-fiction especially memoir and reportage

* Amy Stapp (Wolfson Literary Agency), New York, NY Mystery/suspense Contemporary romance Contemporary coming-of-age Historical fiction Southern Gothic

* Amy Stern (Sheldon Fogelman Agency), New York, NY Summer camps, boarding schools, reality television, kids who are in some way extraordinary, puzzles, puns. I really love stories that involve close family relationships that both enhance and complicate the protagonists' lives. I want to see more mental illness stories that aren't just about diagnosis and LGBTQIA+ stories that aren't just about coming out.

* Andrea Barzvi (Empire Literary), New York, NY General fiction Romance Suspense/thriller Juvenile fiction Biography Business/investing/finance Mind/body/spirit

* Andrea Somberg (Harvey Klinger), New York, NY Upmarket fiction (i.e., bookclub fiction) that has a twist or sheds light on an intriguing issue Novels that explore cultural heritage YA or Adult novels that are based on a true story from the 20th century YA contemporary love stories/romantic comedies Epic fantasy, especially ones set in a non-Western culture, military sf or space opera Magical realism for the adult, YA or MG market. YA and MG novels that feature diverse protagonists YA psychological thrillers MG mystery novels MG novels that are funny and are illustrated MG or YA novels that'll make me cry Nonfiction for MG or YA audiences Any novel with great characters and a compelling storyline Unique nonfiction

* Andy Ross (Andy Ross Literary Agency), Oakland, CA (AAR Member) narrative non-fiction, history, politics and current events, science, journalism, cultural subjects. We also work with literary and young adult fiction

* Angela Rinaldi (The Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency), Los Angeles, CA (AAR Member) I am actively looking for fiction commercial, literary, mainstream women’s fiction, multicultural, suspense, book club fiction – novels where the story lends itself to discussion.

* Anjali Singh (Ayesha Pande Literary), New York, NY Her interests are wide-ranging and include literary as well as popular fiction, young adult, women’s, African-American and international fiction. She is also seeking authors of nonfiction, including biography, history, popular culture, cultural commentary, and memoir. She is particularly drawn to distinctive, original voices.

* Ann Behar (Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency), New York, NY searching for wonderful children's books, from picture books to YA, ever since. I am looking for anything that is beautifully written, with a strong, distinct voice and characters that come alive on the page. Ideally, a book should grab my attention from the very beginning and hold it there, and leave me thinking about it for a few days after I am finished.

* Ann Rose (Prospect Agency), Upper Montclair, NJ YA of all genres: But especially stories that have heart and humor. I want you to transport me to new worlds--even if those "worlds" are in the middle of Iowa. But especially if its fantasy, I really want you to take me there and show me something I haven't seen before. I'd love some fantasy that's based on something other than western cultures. I'm always looking for strong character who are willing to stand up for their convictions--whether it be with their brains or their brawn. Give me fabulous friendship stories (and some no so fabulous ones). LGBTQIA+ stories!!! I'd still really love a story where two girls are running against each other for class president and then they fall in love. In both YA and MG I don't shy away from stories that deal with issues kids are dealing with today. I will say, if you are going to discuss topics like suicide make sure you've done your homework--proper language matters. I'd love to see more YA thriller--not necessarily gore but a story that keeps me on the edge of my seat, guessing until the very end. I'm still looking for my YA version of CLUE (and if it has three different endings, even better.) Which means mystery is a go for me, too. I'd love some YA that deals with toxic masculinity. A funny how to survive high school book with tips and tricks how to make the most out of your four years would be good. Show me characters who are beautifully flawed doing the wrong things for all the right reasons. Give me body positive MC's. Unique sports books--crossfit, ultimate Frisbee, rock climbing, mountain biking, roller derby, and even speed walkers. Oh, and twins - good twins, evil twins, twins that get along, twins that don't, rom-coms where twins switch places and hijinks happen... anything goes. Historicals that tackle things other than WW2--bonus points if there are badass women in in history.

* Anne Bohner (Pen and Ink Literary), New York, NY commercial women's fiction, romance, YA and popular nonfiction.

* Anne Hawkins (John Hawkins & Associates), New York, NY (AAR Member) Fiction of all sorts, non-fiction (contemporary journalism, history, biography, etc.), juveniles (although primarily young adult and middle grades, since we don´t specialize in illustrators, but having said that I should add that we represent several of the best), science-fiction and fantasy.

* Anne Tibbets (Red Sofa Literary), St. Paul, MN Right now, she's acquiring YA and Adult: Thrillers, Mysteries, Horror, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Historicals.

* Annelise Robey (Jane Rotrosen Agency), New York, NY women’s fiction, romance, historical fiction, YA, fantasy, mystery, and suspense, and is always looking for exciting new voices in fiction

* Arielle Datz (Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency), New York, NY (AAR Member) She is looking for literary and commercial fiction (mostly adult, some YA), featuring unusual stories and voices.

* Ashley Lopez (Waxman Literary Agency), New York, NY Ashley is looking for literary and young adult fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and cultural criticism. Most importantly she seeks authors with a strong point of view and an eye for language.

This is the end of my fist alphabetical list of agents accepting queries in 2020. I hope this list was helpful to you, and wish you good luck in your querying!

#writeblr #writblr #writing advice #writing tips #query #queries #querying #writing resources #publishing #isabellaspeaks

71 notes · View notes

richincolor · 4 years

Photo

Title: Dark and Deepest Red Author: Anna-Marie McLemore Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Romance, LGBTQIA Pages: 309 Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Review Copy: Purchased Availability: Available now

Summary: Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fever’s history better than anyone: Emil, whose family was blamed for the fever five hundred years ago. But there’s more to what happened in 1518 than even Emil knows, and discovering the truth may decide whether Rosella survives the red shoes.

With McLemore's signature lush prose, Dark and Deepest Red pairs the forbidding magic of a fairy tale with a modern story of passion and betrayal.

Review: [Note: This book contains discussions of violence against racial/ethnic minorities and queer people, including the threat of rape and mob violence/public execution.]

Anna-Marie McLemore is one of my favorite authors in young adult fiction right now. Their books are always filled with magic, fairytales, danger, beautiful prose, and queer and Latinx characters. DARK AND DEEPEST RED, inspired by the fairytale The Red Shoes and the dancing plague of 1518, has all of that again, plus a narrative that swings back and forth from 1518 to the present.

McLemore figured out they were nonbinary during the production of DARK AND DEEPEST RED, a novel that focuses heavily on how the world perceives people and how people claim themselves. The different journeys that Lala, Rosella, and Emil go on as they sort out their own identities are well-written callbacks to one another as the narrative jumps back and forth between the past and the present. Lala and her aunt have to hide that they are Romani as it is illegal for them to be in Strasbourg, and Alifair is a trans boy who they took in. Emil also hides and disconnects from his Romani heritage after an incident at school, and Rosella keeps running up against white beauty standards.

I found the book slightly uneven; I was more interested in what was going on with Lala and Alifair in 1518 than the other couple. I wish the book were longer so we had more time to explore the relationship developing between Rosella and Emil. Their relationship didn’t feel as strong to me as Lala and Alifair’s relationship, and I wish I’d had more of it. Lala’s relationship with her aunt was also a standout for me. (Overall, I just really love Lala, okay?)

Recommendation: Get it soon. If you’ve enjoyed McLemore’s previous books and their brand of blending magical realism and fairytales, you’ll likely have fun with DARK AND DEEPEST RED as well. While I felt the contemporary romance was weaker than the historical, both timelines boasted interesting characters and beautiful moments.

#anna-marie mclemore #dark and deepest red #LGBTQIA #romance #historical #WeNeedDiverseBooks

8 notes · View notes

lettersandinkstains · 5 years

Photo

(i won’t be adding my tag list to this post as it’s long already and i do not want to randomly ping people and bother them! however, i will add instructions on how to be added or removed from any of my tag lists! i apologize for mobile users if this does not appear under a read more tag for you guys -- and will tag it as ‘long post’ for your needs)

so said the king

genres ; dark fantasy, new adult, coming of age features ; diverse cast and protagonists, LGBT+ main characters, wlw endgame pair status ; in progress warnings ; violence, swearing, sociopolitical issues, mentions of child abuse, political corruption summary ; when the king says everyone shall die for him, so they shall -- as he sits upon his throne of ivory and the crown of thorns break his skin for every sin committed, he is nothing more than a mere puppet for something bigger. when the queen says to stay out of the library, so shall you obey for her secrets are her own -- and her sins much bigger than the kings.

and when the gods command one to kill, so shall you obey or face their wrath. yet, when it comes between the choices of spilling even more blood or trying to find a way around the command when she is shown much more kindness from her target than most have given her. a life for a life -- but should one’s blood be spilled to save millions? nyx is forced to turn her eyes towards the one who is truly the cause of the hell brought upon her beautiful Ilmarya. and she has to wonder:

can you kill a god?

links: spotify | main tag | wattpad | pinterest (tag list is open for this!)

blood upon the altar

genres ; dark fantasy, urban fantasy, vampire fiction, new adult status ; worldbuilding features ; diverse cast and protagonists, LGBT+ main characters, wlw and mlm endgame pairings warnings ; religious themes & commentary, cult behavior, corruption, violence, adult themes

summary ; when sariel died, the world went dark. slowly but surely, elionde had dug itself out of the darkness and rebuilt without their goddess. from this darkness rose a new order, the church of sariel, sometimes called the soldiers of sariel, or the church. they were founded in the belief that a group of magical beings, vampires, had been the cause of sariel’s death and that they can bring her back to life.

when aleksandra, a member of the church, is saved by a sworn enemy, a vampire, within the free lands of aeonia, does the world start to see odd changes. the warm south begins to cool down, and the cold north begins to warm up and sightings of a silver tree is found within unreachable mountains.

links ; main tag - pinterest (tag list is open for this!)

ichor

genre: urban fantasy, light fantasy, deconstruction of the chosen one trope, young adult, dark status ; worldbuilding - outlining features ; diverse cast, LGBTQIA characters, established queer relationships, wlw endgame and continuous pair warnings ; violence, off screen & mentioned child abuse and csa, mental illness, political commentary, real world setting with magic, fairly dark plot

summary ; their lives were not supposed to intersect -- this was not planned by any higher being.

bailee was not supposed to survive the childhood fire that ravaged her home, nor was an archangel supposed to save her. and older now, she tries to pretend that there was no archangel, her survival was just a fluke. but when the stars begin to call out her lover, lucija, she is forced to follow through with the promise she made on the eve of her 11th birthday.

ariana was supposed to listen and obey The Watchers, angels who have weaved her life so intricately that choice was never a thing. but ariana met a pretty eyed boy whose mere presence made her heart flutter, and her days better.

but she survived the fire and ariana tried to escape the intricately weaved clutches of The Waters all because she loved a boy. and at the end of it all, ichor ran poison through their veins and with it, a monster predicted in texts rose to power and they must choose their paths carefully.

links ; pinterest • main tag • spotify (tag list is open for this WIP!)

the three steps of romance

genre ; LGBTQIA fiction, romance, LGBTQIA romance, contemporary, urban status ; in purgatory -- planning / developing features ; diverse cast, LGBTQIA+ centric, WLW centric, pure fluff and self indulgent warnings ; none

summary ; ember has always looked at the world through the lens of a camera, she has always preferred it to living her actual life. she’s always searching for something but she’s not really quite sure what. it has always felt at the tip of fingers but she could never quite reach.

one fateful night, she meets the newcomer in her little warm town by the lake. for the brief night, ember is swept off her feet and she feels as though she has fallen deeply in love with this women.

and one fateful morning, she finds out this woman is her new veterinarian.

links ; pinterest ♥ main tag (tag list is open for this!)

glass walls

genre ; dystopia, future without robots / aliens but with advanced technology status ; planning ; outlining ; worldbuilding features ; diverse cast & LGBTQIA main cast warnings ; political commentary, dark plotline, violence, police violence, political corruption

summary ; she leads the Revolutionaries, as they call themselves. A group of people who live in the shadows and online. Nobody knows their names, they do not even know each others – only calling each other by pseudonyms. Her name is Lilith, and she was always told she asks too many questions, she’s too inquisitive for her own good and it will get her in trouble one day.

That trouble came in the name of a girl who calls herself Charlotte, or Charlie, who had found Lilith trying to hack into the hidden glass walls, to place in a virus.

A stranger who had panicked, a stranger who was going to call the cops and forced Lilith’s hand to break one of the tenants: to harm nobody.

With kidnapping under her belt, Lilith and her friends are forced to push their plans for a large scale fight closer than what they had wanted.And when the soldiers come, armed with their guns, Lilith knows that she will be ready to face them.

links ; main tag (tag list is open for this!)

so the instructions are simple:

Comment on this post (or any post I make for any of the WIP’s above), send a DM, or an ask, or comment in the tags if you wish to be added or removed. If you do it on this post, please specify which WIP you’d like to be added to! Please be sure that you’ve read the warnings!

alternatively, i also have a general tag list for all of my WIPs + my short stories & prompt fills if you wish to be added to that. if you would only like to be tagged in my short stories let me know for that too !

be sure your blog is taggable -- so this means that you must be searchable on tumblr’s system!

stuff ; writing tag - character page - wip page

(created ; 8-20-19 updated ; 8-20-19)

#writeblr #wip masterlist #wip #writing #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #long post #long post for mobile #original writing #wips #masterlist post

82 notes · View notes

youngneemleaves · 5 years

Text

Journal: 2019

A list of my creative activity and all the media I have experienced throughout the year. I did a version of this eight months ago, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied with it. So I tooled about a little; and in the meantime, the activity has remained as inconsistent as my energy levels, but eventful, nonetheless. Here’s a more thorough list drawn up at the end of the year - after all, the end of 2019 is also the end of the 2010s.

The list has become rather long, so I’ve excluded online essays, stories, fanfiction, or poems that I’ve read this year. I ended up resorting to the usual 5-star rating system; because if I had to add a footnote explaining my personal 7-star rating system, the list would’ve been even longer and weirder!

+ Creative Writing

(Obviously, no ratings for this section; that’s up to you all ;)

Beloved - a short story for Holi

Lady Aesculapius: a new short story serial -> episode 6, Sixty Thousand Bedtime Stories

Clara Oswald: The Untold Adventures (coming on April 25, 2020) -> episode 4, As You Like It

+ Books and Audio Drama

Dave Rudden, Twelve Angels Weeping: twelve stories of the villains of Doctor Who (2018) | SFF, short stories [read the review on Downtime] - ⭐⭐⭐

Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven (2014) | literary fiction, SFF [review] - ⭐⭐⭐

Amitav Ghosh, Dancing in Cambodia and Other Essays (2008, first published 1998) | memoir, nonfiction, travel [review] - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman (ed.), A Thousand Beginnings and Endings (2018) | SFF, short stories [did not review] - ⭐⭐⭐

Lidia Yuknavitch, The Chronology of Water (2011) | LGBTQIA, nonfiction, memoir [did not finish] - ⭐⭐⭐

Hsiu-Chuang Deppman, Adapted for the Screen: The Cultural Politics of Modern Chinese Fiction and Film (University of Hawai’i Press, 2010) | nonfiction (academics) [did not finish] - ⭐⭐⭐

Cecilia Sjöholm, The Antigone Complex: Ethics and the Invention of Feminine Desire (Stanford University Press, 2004) | nonfiction, philosophy, psychoanalysis [reread] [did not review] - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

D.N. Bryn, Our Bloody Pearl (2018) | LGBTQIA, romance, SFF [did not finish] - ⭐⭐⭐

Catherynne M. Valente, Palimpsest (2009) | LGBTQIA, SFF [did not finish] - ⭐⭐⭐

Rey Chow, Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films: Attachment in the Age of Global Visibility (Columbia University Press, 2007) | nonfiction (academics) [did not finish] - ⭐⭐⭐

Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories (1982, first published in 1949) | horror, literary fiction, short stories [currently reading] - ⭐⭐⭐

Jeanette Winterson, Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles (2005) | literary fiction, SFF [did not review] - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lauren Berlant, Desire/Love (2012) | nonfiction, philosophy, psychoanalysis [brief review] - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Melissa Broder, The Pisces (2018) | contemporary fiction, romance, SFF [currently reading] - ⭐⭐

Amitav Ghosh, The Shadow Lines (2007) | literary fiction, historical fiction, travel [currently reading] - ⭐⭐⭐

+ Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Adventures - a fan-made audio drama on the further adventures of the Twelfth Doctor: series 1 [re-listen], plus this year’s specials:

Unlikely Thieves [review] - ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Blue Hour [review] - ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

** UNDER THE CUT: list of TV and films watched **

+ TV Round-up

Killing Eve (BBC America, 2016 - ) ⭐⭐⭐

Dark (Netflix, 2017 - ) ⭐⭐ 1/2

Good Omens (Amazon Studios and BBC, 2019) ⭐⭐⭐

The OA (Netflix, 2016 - 2019) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Disney+, 2019 - ) ⭐⭐⭐

His Dark Materials (BBC and HBO, 2019 - ) ⭐⭐⭐

The Witcher (Netflix, 2019 - ) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

+ Films Watched

Disobedience (2017), dir. Sebastián Lelio ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

The Favourite (2018), dir. Yorgos Lanthimos ⭐⭐⭐

First They Killed My Father (2017), dir. Angelina Jolie ⭐⭐⭐

Badla (2019), dir. Sujoy Ghosh ⭐⭐ 1/2

Roma (2018), dir. Alfonso Cuarón ⭐⭐⭐

Us (2019), dir. Jordan Peele ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In the Mood for Love (2000), dir. Wong Kar Wai ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lady Macbeth (2016), dir. William Oldroyd ⭐⭐⭐

Chungking Express (1994), dir. Wong Kar Wai ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Stoker (2013), dir. Park Chan Wook ⭐⭐⭐

Widows (2018), dir. Steve McQueen ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), dir. Gareth Edwards ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

High Life (2018), dir. Claire Denis ⭐⭐

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), dir. Julius Onah ⭐ 1/2

Little Forest (2018), dir. Yim Soon-rye ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jennifer’s Body (2009), dir. Karyn Kusama ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fallen Angels (1995), dir. Wong Kar Wai ⭐⭐⭐

The Phantom of the Opera (2004), dir. Joel Schumacher ⭐⭐

Midsommar (2019), dir. Ari Aster ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Star Wars: episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), dir. George Lucas ⭐⭐ 1/2

Byzantium (2012), dir. Neil Jordan ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Star Wars: episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), dir. George Lucas ⭐⭐ 1/2

Star Wars: episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), dir. George Lucas ⭐⭐⭐ *

Madeline’s Madeline (2018), dir. Josephine Decker ⭐⭐⭐

+ Studio Ghibli films:

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind (1984) ⭐⭐⭐

Spirited Away (2000) ⭐⭐⭐

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) ⭐⭐⭐

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) ⭐⭐⭐

* I would’ve rated it a solid 4 if not for the fridging at the end of the film.

** HEADER IMAGES CREDIT: (from top) 1. Joanna Kosinska; 2. Brazil Topno; 3. Kelly Sikkema; 4. chuttersnap [edits: mine] **

#booklr #adult booklr #writeblr #2019 #end of the year lists #personal #my reads #my reads: 2019 #mine: books #2010s

6 notes · View notes

journeyintotheshelves · 5 years

Text

Tuesday’s Treats is a weekly blog post dedicated to newly released books that I’m most excited for. (Books are in no particular order.)

All books featured this week will be released: SEPT. 17th

Tuesday’s Treats is a weekly blog post dedicated to newly released books that I’m most excited for. (Books are in no particular order.)

All books featured this week will be released: SEPT. 17th

1. Suggested Reading: Dave Connis (goodreads) (book depository)

Clara is furious when she finds her principles new “prohibited media” list: a list of contraband books that are pulled from the library and that would result in punishment if any student is caught with them. A bunch of the books on the list have changed Clara’s life and she wants that to happen for other kids too. To fight back, she starts a secret library in her locker.

YA Contemporary Fiction; KT Books/HarperCollins, Hardcover (US)

2. The Babysitter’s Coven (The Babysitter’s Coven: 1): Kate Williams (goodreads) (book depository)

Esme knows that being a babysitter isn’t the most glamorous thing to do, but it’s better than any other job and she needs the cash. Cassandra, on the other hand, isn’t your “usual” babysitter: she’s rebellious and really doesn’t care what other people think. So it’s a complete surprise to Esme when Cassandra comes to her wanting to join her babysitters club. But, Esme and Cassandra have more in common than they ever thought, including powers to save the innocent (read children) from evil — all before the parents come home.

YA Paranormal Fantasy; Delacorte Press/Random House, Hardcover (US)

3. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them: Junauda Petrus (goodreads) (book depository)

After being caught with her secret girlfriend (and the pastor’s daughter) by her super religious mother, Audre is sent from Trinidad to live in American with her father. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, Mabel is trying to figure out her feelings about her ex Terrell, whatever happened in the woods with Jada, and the strange feeling that she’s had about her health all summer.

When the two girls meet, Mabel quickly falls to Audre and leaps at the opportunity to take care of her, and teach her all the ins and outs of American high school. But when Mabel learns that her feeling about her health is more than just a feeling, Audre has to start taking care of Mabel.

This story just sounds so beautiful and heart wrenching, I cannot wait to dive into it.

YA Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQIA+; Dutton/Penguin, Hardcover (US)

4. A Hero Born (Legends of the Condor Heroes: 1): Jin Yong & Anna Holmwood [translator] (goodreads) (book depository)

Translated from it’s original Chinese, A Hero Born follows Guo Jing as he and his mother flee their home to join Ghengis Khan and his people after Guo Jing’s father is murdered. While there, he learns all that he can in order to, one day, join their cause. What he doesn’t know is that he is destined to fight someone who will challenge him in every way he knows, and will set forward a chain of events that will change his life and his world.

Historical Fantasy; St. Martin’s Press, Hardcover (US)

5. The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 3: Hotel Oblivion: Gerard Way [writer] & Gabriel Bá [artist] (goodreads) (book depository)

The first new volume in ten years, Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá are back with The Umbrella Academy. I first read the two volumes after I watched the Netflix adaptation. Even though I didn’t like the graphic novels as much as the show, I love the art style and I’m intrigued to see where Way’s story takes this interesting and diverse group of characters.

Graphic Novel, Fantasy; Dark Horse Comics, Paperback (US)

Will I ever post a Tuesday's Treats post on a Tuesday again? Who knows? But, check out this week's awesome array of new releases (that all have the same purple/red color scheme, coincidentally) here: Tuesday’s Treats is a weekly blog post dedicated to newly released books that I’m most excited for.

#books #contemporary fiction #fantasy #graphic novel #lgbtqia+#new releases #paranormal #Tuesday&039;s Treats #young adult

11 notes · View notes

melaniem54 · 2 years

Text

Review: Moonstruck (Necessary Evil #3) by Onley James

Rating: 5🌈 Moonstruck, the third in Olney James’ extraordinary series about a family of adopted psychopathic children turned into retributive killers under the guidance of the man who raised them, albeit as a loving research project. “…that psychopaths weren’t a plague on society but a gift, an evolutionary tool that could be harnessed to cull the monsters of their society, he’d change the…

View On WordPress

#@OnleyJames1 #A MelanieM Review #author Onley James #D/s #dark fiction #LGBTGIA contemporary dark romance #LGBTQIA contemporary dark fiction #murder #psychopaths #Review: Moonstruck (Necessary Evil 3) by Onley James #Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended #triggers

0 notes

ciphertext-x · 5 years

Text

LGBTQIA+ books!

Pride month is coming up, and my eyes are peeled for more LGBTQIA+ books! In the meantime, here’s my current list. I haven’t read all of these, in fact I’ve only read a small portion of them, but all of them are either queer-centric, or have side characters representing. For the ones I’ve not read myself, my info comes only from what I’ve heard other people say! Also, I’m not necessarily saying that all of these books are good, but they have that representation we so crave!

If you know of any more, feel free to add them!

Long post, so rest is below the cut. Links go to Goodreads so you can read more info, but I’ll put some keywords along with them along with any trigger warnings I know of.

Adrift by Isabelle Adler The main character is gay OR bisexual, OR it may be that someone is gay and someone is bi. I haven’t read this one. Sci-fi, action, adventure, aliens, pirates

And I Darken by Kiersten White One of the main siblings is gay. YA, historical fantasy, romance, royalty, war, diverse

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (most of Sáenz’s stuff is queer) Both main characters are gay. YA, romance, 80′s, Mexican-American, homophobia, hate crime, injury

Ash by Malinda Lo Main character is bisexual. YA, romance, fantasy, Cinderella retelling, fairy, hunter, royalty

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon A side character and the temporary object of the main character’s affections is gay. YA, urban fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, London, clairvoyants, gangs, supernatural race, enslavement, violence, abuse

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan Main character is gay. A side character is a transgender female. YA, contemporary, romance, high school

Boy Meets Hamster by Birdie Milano Main character is gay. His best friend is a bisexual mixed race chubby girl. One of his love interests is black. Teen fiction/middle-grade, contemporary, romance, summer, disaster gay, homophobia, ableism, holiday park

Breaking His Spell by Foster Bridget Cassidy The main character and the prince are both gay. Fantasy, romance, Sleeping Beauty retelling, immortality, royalty, fake relationship, dragons

Captive Prince by C S Pacat The main character is a pleasure slave to another man. Historical fantasy, dark romance, adult, slavery, sexual assault and non-con, royalty, war

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Main character is bisexual. His male love interest is gay. YA, humour, fantasy, romance, Harry Potter, vampire, wizard, enemies-to-lovers

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black Main character’s sister is bisexual. YA, fantasy, royalty, politics, fairies, murder

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer Main character’s brother is gay and in a relationship with a black boy. YA, contemporary & fantasy, Beauty & the Beast retelling, royalty, politics, disabled main character

A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab One of the side characters is genderfluid. The prince is bisexual. Fantasy, parallel worlds, war, smuggler

The Deadly Nightshade by Justine Ashford One of the main characters is asexual. Sci-fi, futuristic, dystopia, war, gangs, humanity, violence, friendship

Dragonoak by Sam Farren Main character is a lesbian. Fantasy, adventure, knights, dark magic, secrets

Draw the Line by Laurent Linn Main character is gay. YA, contemporary, illustrated, homophobia, hate crime, Texas

Enemies Like These by P K Gardner Not sure about this one, there’s not a lot of information out there about it, but it’s tagged LGBT everywhere. Sci-fi, superheroes

Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire One of the main characters is asexual. One of the main character’s is transgender. YA, fantasy, mystery, murder, boarding school

Fourth World by Lyssa Chiavari Both main characters are asexual. One is demisexual. YA, sci-fi, dystopia, space, planet is dying, aliens

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Main character is bisexual. YA, historical, romance, Europe, roguish passions, responsibilities

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan Main character is a lesbian and gets into a romance with another girl. YA, historical fantasy, romance, politics, rebellion, demons, concubines, sexual assault, abuse, Asian-inspired

The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan Main character develops romantic feelings towards another girl. Fantasy, magical realism, mermaids, romance, Scotland

Good Angel by A M Blaushild Main character is AroAce (and there’s a host of other queer rep). YA, fantasy, university, heaven and hell, angels and demons

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky Main character is a very young transgender girl. Middle-grade/teen fiction, contemporary, identity, school

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert A lesbian couple appear in the second half of the book to assist the main characters. YA, urban fantasy, horror, fairytale, mystery

Heels Over Head by Elyse Springer Main character is closeted gay. His love interest is gay. Contemporary, new adult, sports, diving, water, opposites attract

Hello World by Tiffany Rose & Alexandra Tauber Main character is asexual. Sci-fi, thriller, hacker, human data chips, human trafficking, corrupt corporation

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera Main character is gay. YA, contemporary, mental illness, sad, death, grief, romance

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson One of the main characters is gay. YA, contemporary, romance, siblings, drifting apart

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz One of the main characters lives with his adoptive gay father. YA, contemporary, Mexican-American main characters, loss, grief, identity

Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan Main character is bisexual. Her love interest is a lesbian. YA, contemporary, romance, high school

The Last Chronomancer by Reilyn J Hardy Main character is AroAce. One of the side characters is genderfluid. Fantasy, adventure, curses, supernatural creatures

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann Main character is asexual and biromantic (and black). YA, contemporary, romance, college, Japanese love interest

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers One of the main characters winds up in a lesbian relationship with an alien who is pansexual. One character uses they/them pronouns, but is not explicitly non-binary. YA, sci-fi, space opera, adventure, running from the past, aliens, war, racism, found family, Dwarfism, Artificial Intelligence, romance

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth Main character is a lesbian. YA, contemporary, conservative character, religion, conversion therapy?

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera Main character is either bisexual or gay. YA, contemporary, romance, sad, suicide, homophobia, depression

More Than This by Patrick Ness Main character is gay. YA, sci-fi, death, afterlife, mystery, dystopia

Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green The main character and his best friend kiss and end up together in the end only after a lot of soul-searching. Teen fiction/middle-grade, contemporary, romance, comedy, high school

Nocturna by Maya Motayne At least one queer side character (this book is very new, so I can’t find details) YA, fantasy, dark magic, Latinx-inspired, loss, abuse

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst Main character is either a lesbian or is bisexual. YA, fantasy, royalty, arranged marriage, assassination

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy Main character is pansexual, she has two mothers. One side character is genderfluid. One side character is gay. YA, fantasy, sci-fi, King Arthur retelling, racially diverse, disabled side character, space, interdimensional travel, war, politics

Our Bloody Pearl by D N Bryn The siren character is non-binary (they/them) however it’s noted that humans can be non-binary too. One character is asexual. One character is a lesbian. Fantasy, pirates, romance, mermaids, steampunk, sci-fi, New Adult, found family

The Pardoner’s Tale by Morgan Ferdinand Main character is asexual. Urban fantasy, paranormal, vampires, werewolves, exorcist, monster-slayer

Peter Darling by Austin Chant Main character is a transgender male and gay. His love interest is gay. Fantasy, romance, historical, Peter Pan retelling, pirates, NeverLand, fairies, merpeople

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert Main character is gay. YA, contemporary, adoption, anxiety, mental illness, grief, suicide, Asian-American characters

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman Bisexual (and biracial) main character. Her best friend is gay and demisexual. I’m told that MOST characters in this book are LGBTQIA+ and that includes asexual! YA, contemporary, identity, diversity, friendship, mental illness

Release by Patrick Ness Main character is gay. YA, paranormal, thriller, mystery, contemporary, sexual assault, drugs, murder

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness Honestly don’t know about this one, but I hear it does have something. YA, fantasy/sci-fi, superheroes, Chosen One

Showers Flowers and Fangs by Aidan Wayne Main character is a gay transgender male. His love interest is gay. YA, urban fantasy, romance, mythical/supernatural creatures (mainly fairy, vampire, and witch), menstruation, abuse

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Main character is gay. YA, contemporary, romance, high school, Love Simon, blackmail, Tumblr, secret identity

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Main character is in a relationship with another man. Historical, Iliad retelling, Greek mythology, war, Gods and Goddesses

Stake Sauce by RoAnna Sylver Main character is grey-aro-ace, transgender, and gay. One of the side characters is AroAce. A few are in a polyamorous relationship. Literally all side characters are queer. YA, urban fantasy, vampires, mental health, disabled main character, PTSD, chubby vampire, chronic pain

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson Main character’s female best friend spends the book crushing heavily on another girl. One of the minor side villains is gay and has a boyfriend. The main character’s mother (a queen) reportedly courted another girl in her youth. YA, fantasy, romance, royalty/politics, arranged marriage, depression, PTSD

Teeth by Zaya Feli There is an MLM romance. Someone is asexual. YA, historical, fantasy, Vikings

These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch One of the three main characters is gay and in a relationship. YA, fantasy, politics, religion, royalty, botanical magic, pirates, steampunk, PTSD, secrets and lies, trust, racism, ignorance

They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera One of the main characters is described as queer. The other is bisexual, and Cuban-American. YA, contemporary, romance, sad, death, speculative fiction

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli Main character’s sister is a lesbian. YA, contemporary, romance, chubby protagonist, high school, crushes

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson The main character is gay. YA, sci-fi, aliens and abductions, the world is ending, suicide

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia The main character is in a lesbian relationship. YA, politics, spies, school, Latina, dystopia

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera Both main characters are gay (one of them is Puerto Rican). A side character is bioromantic asexual (her exact words). YA, romance, contemporary, humour, summer, disaster gay, first time

Wicked Like a Wildfire by Lana Popovic One of the sisters is in a lesbian relationship. YA, fantasy, forbidden love, secrets

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan One of the Wills is gay. YA, contemporary, humour, coming of age, friendship

#lgbt #lgbtqia #queerfiction #pride month #books #representation #ownvoices

8 notes · View notes

lgbtqiahistoricalromance · 6 years

Photo

LGBTQIA+ Historical Romance Novels with...Favorite Authors

If you’ve followed the blog any length of time at all, you know I make lists based on themes, the one unifying factor being LGBTQIA+ representation that happens in historical romances. I started reading historicals when I was in middle school, because my grandmother and great-aunt would trade them with one another, and back then they were usually low on heat level. I went on to collect them myself, and still have most of those in storage, but left off for various reasons over time.

By the time I came back to it all, I’d reached well into adulthood, and had gone from thinking of myself as a female with tomboy issues to realizing I was non-binary and graysexual. I didn’t feel represented by any of the main characters in those romances I’d once read so avidly, but I still wanted history with a romantic twist. So, I started exploring.

What fits me, won’t of course fit everyone, but I’d like to recommend some of my favorite LGBTQIA+ historical romance authors that I haven’t seen on similar lists in the past, and authors I’m hoping to see more from soon...Maybe it will add to readers’ TBR lists...

Alex Beecroft - I honestly have no idea why Beecroft doesn’t make more Best Of lists. The broad range of her novel settings (from ancient Crete to 18th century Transylvania to Regency ships), the amount of research, character development, and evocative language, makes her one of my favorites. I don’t think there is anything she couldn’t write about, and do it well. For those interested, she also writes contemporaries, and fantasy. My favorites are The Reluctant Berserker (role reversals from the typical warrior and bard combo), and Labyrinth (non-binary MC and a twist on an old myth).

Erastes - One of the first LGBT historical romance authors I found, this author got started by writing Harry Potter slash fiction. Favorite by this author is Muffled Drum, because it’s a lovers-to-friends-to-lovers plotline.

Ainsley Gray - This author normally publishes under other names, but their recently released Unchained came to my attention, and kept it. If you like your Victorian romances with a darker twist, this one is for you. Hoping to see more from Gray, soon.

Eliot Greyson - I know next to nothing about this author, but their Like a Gentleman (Love in Portstmouth #1) put them on my One-to Watch radar. It’s actually a novella, but packs a lot into those few pages, and makes for an adorable read.

Jude Lucens - Lucens is new on the LGBT historical romance scene, but has already managed to give the genre representation in the forms of gay, bisexual, demisexual, and polyamorous MCs. She’s also a WOC author, and has included a biracial MC in her novella/novel pairing of Gutter Roses & Behind Closed Doors: Indecent Proposals Book One.

Katherine Marlowe - I don’t know what happened to Marlowe, but after several lovely novels, she disappeared. Still, her novels are ideal for those that like low dose homophobia in their historical romances, enjoy novels with working class MCs, and she has at least two novels with POC MCs. Favorites: A Wager of Love & The Blue Ribbon.

Farah Mendlesohn - Normally an author of fantasy and science fiction (they’ve won the coveted Hugo Award), this versatile author transported us to the Regency era with some wonderful historical detail, in the delightful and affordable f/f Spring Flowering. They are also the Managing Editor for Manifold Press, which will be returning this January, with a focus on LGBT historical romances.

KA Merikan - The pen name of a duo, their highwayman novel The Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple is one of my favorite bad boy/cinnamon roll novels ever. This pair typically writes contemporary series with motorcycle gangs, but even then they manage to bring historical ghosts and details, with their series Kings of Hell MC. The Art of Mutual Pleasure is another historical, which will amuse and educate, because it deals with the historically accurate notion of illness being brought on by the loss of male essence, and aggravated by self pollution.

Ruby Moone - If Moone writes it, I read it. Moone’s gents tend to reside in the Regency era, and have been adapting in terms of historical elements and diversity. They were some of the first non-titled MCs I read, and some have disabilities and/or cope with mental illnesses. The plots have increased in tension over time, but a mainstay of Moone’s novels is that despite laws against men being together, her MCs are often supported by those around them. There are also sometimes multiple Favorites: The Wrong Kind of Angel, The Mistletoe Kiss, & Thief of Hearts

Niamh Murphy - Looking for lesbian historicals? Murphy has you covered, with loving details, and also high adventure. Her Escape to Pirate Island is a staple of the LGBT pirate genre, and you can read a free sample on her site.

Victoria Sue - Typically Sue is known for contemporary novels and babies. That said, her Regency novels The Innocent Auction and The Innocent Betrayal are two you should try. They’ve a fair dose of angst, but they also come with some good espionage and character development.

Hayden Thorne - If YA and gothic are something you’re into, Thorne’s novels are a staple. An extremely prolific writer, she has created some of the most unique plot lines of any genre, while managing to have intriguing MCs, and representation. Favorites: Ansel of Pryor House

Leandra Vane - Normally a contemporary author and librian, Vane recently published the great historical Cast From the Earth, which takes place in America’s heartland in the 19th century. Vane is another author that uses her novels to explore with MCs that have disabilities, and this novel also delves into polyamorous love.

NR Walker - Walker is actually known for her contemporary m/m romances, and is one of the rare temp authors that I read a lot, because she includes so much research and detail. Recently, she made the leap into historicals though, with the fantastic Nova Praetorian, which takes place in ancient Rome.

Kelley York - In the past, some of you may have read York’s contemporary YA work, but she’s begun publishing about her beloved Victorian era gothic tastes, too. The Dark is the Night series is co-written with her wife, and I’ve been relishing the two novels that have come out so far. It even comes with its own artwork, and playlist.

Of course, there are the mainstays of the genre, authors that have gone above and beyond on bringing LGBTQIA+ representation to the historical romance reader: Keira Andrews, Joanna Chambers, KJ Charles, Charlie Cochrane, Bonnie Dee, Summer Devon, Jordan L Hawk, Ava March, EE Ottoman, and Cat Sebastian.

#lgbt romance #historical romance #m/m romance #f/f romance #poly romance #two men in love #two women in love

86 notes · View notes

ucflibrary · 6 years

Photo

Pride Month has arrived! While every day is a time to be proud of your identity and orientation, June is that extra special time for boldly celebrating with and for the LGBTQIA community (yes, there are more than lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender in the queer community). June was chosen to honor the Stonewall Riots which happened in 1969. Like other celebratory months, LGBT Pride Month started as a weeklong series of events and expanded into a full month of festivities.

In honor of Pride Month, UCF Library faculty and staff suggested books, movies and music from the UCF collection that represent a wide array of queer authors and characters. Additional events at UCF in June include “UCF Remembers” which is a week-long series of events to commemorate the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in 2016.

Click on the Keep Reading link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the 20 titles by or about people in the LGBTQIA community suggested by UCF Library employees. These, and additional titles, are also on the Featured Bookshelf display on the second (main) floor next to the bank of two elevators.

A guide to LGBTQ+ inclusion on campus, post-Pulse edited by Virginia Stead The research in A Guide to LGBTQ+ Inclusion on Campus, Post-PULSE is premised on the notion that, because we cannot choose our sexual, racial, ethnic, cultural, political, geographic, economic, and chronological origins, with greater advantage comes greater responsibility to redistribute life's resources in favor of those whose human rights are compromised and who lack the fundamental necessities of life. Among these basic rights are access to higher education and to positive campus experiences. Queer folk and LGBTQ+ allies have collaborated on this new text in response to the June 16, 2016 targeted murder of 49 innocent victims at the PULSE nightclub, Orlando, Florida. Seasoned and novice members of the academy will find professional empowerment from these authors as they explicitly discuss multiple level theory, policy, and strategies to support LGBTQ+ campus inclusion. Their work illuminates how good, bad, and indeterminate public legislation impacts LGBTQ+ communities everywhere, and it animates multiple layers of campus life, ranging from lessons within a three-year-old day care center to policy-making among senior administration. Suggested by Tim Walker, Information Technology & Digital Initiatives

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love. Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world. Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot--if she's willing to sow the seeds of civil war. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

And Then I Danced: traveling the road to LGBT equality: a memoir by Mark Segal On December 11, 1973, Mark Segal disrupted a live broadcast of the CBS Evening News when he sat on the desk directly between the camera and news anchor Walter Cronkite, yelling, "Gays protest CBS prejudice!" He was wrestled to the studio floor by the stagehands on live national television, thus ending LGBT invisibility. But this one victory left many more battles to fight, and creativity was required to find a way to challenge stereotypes surrounding the LGBT community. Mark Segal's job, as he saw it, was to show the nation who gay people are: our sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers. Because of activists like Mark Segal, whose life work is dramatically detailed in this poignant and important memoir, today there are openly LGBT people working in the White House and throughout corporate America. An entire community of gay world citizens is now finding the voice that they need to become visible. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

Basically Queer: an intergenerational introduction to LGBTQA2S+ lives by Claire Robson, Kelsey Blair, and Jen Marchbank Basically Queer offers an introduction to what it can look and feel like to live life as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, two spirited and trans. Written by youth and elders who've lived these lives first hand, the book combines no-nonsense explanations, definitions, and information with engaging stories and poetry that bring them to life. Basically Queer answers those questions that many want to ask but fear will give offence--What is it really like to be queer? What's appropriate language? How can I be an ally? It also provides a succinct and readable account of queer history and legal rights worldwide, addresses intergenerational issues, and offers some tips and tricks for living queer. It does so in an easy and conversational style that will be accessible to most readers, including teens. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescence, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections, and Schuyler Kerby, Rosen Library

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella "Especially Heinous," Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes. Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Inseparable: desire between women in literature by Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue examines how desire between women in English literature has been portrayed, from schoolgirls and vampires to runaway wives, from cross-dressing knights to contemporary murder stories. She looks at the work of those writers who have addressed the "unspeakable subject," examining whether same-sex desire is freakish or omnipresent, holy or evil, as she excavates a long-obscured tradition of (inseparable) friendship between women, one that is surprisingly central to our cultural history. Inseparable is a revelation of a centuries-old literary tradition — brilliant, amusing, and until now, deliberately overlooked. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann Claire Kann’s debut novel Let’s Talk About Love, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, gracefully explores the struggle with emerging adulthood and the complicated line between friendship and what it might mean to be something more. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert Suzette returns home to Los Angeles from boarding school and grapples with her bisexual identity when she and her brother Lionel fall in love with the same girl, pushing Lionel's bipolar disorder to spin out of control and forcing Suzette to confront her own demons. Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal Myra's personality is altered by her sex change operation and Myron is transported back through time to the year 1948. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers Set on a Southern army base in the 1930s, REFLECTIONS tells the story of Captain Penderton, a bisexual whose life is upset by the arrival of Major Langdon, a charming womanizer who has an affair with Penderton's tempestuous and flirtatious wife, Leonora. Upon the novel's publication in 1941, reviewers were unsure of what to make of its relatively scandalous subject matter. But a critic for Time Magazine wrote, "In almost any hands, such material would yield a rank fruitcake of mere arty melodrama. But Carson McCullers tells her tale with simplicity, insight, and a rare gift of phrase." Written during a time when McCullers's own marriage to Reeves was on the brink of collapse, her second novel deals with her trademark themes of alienation and unfulfilled loves. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala In the tradition of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, Speak No Evil explores what it means to be different in a fundamentally conformist society and how that difference plays out in our inner and outer struggles. It is a novel about the power of words and self-identification, about who gets to speak and who has the power to speak for other people. As heart-wrenching and timely as his breakout debut, Beasts of No Nation, Uzodinma Iweala’s second novel cuts to the core of our humanity and leaves us reeling in its wake. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Tash hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee Fame and success come at a cost for Natasha "Tash" Zelenka when she creates the web series "Unhappy Families," a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina--written by Tash's eternal love Leo Tolstoy. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley The Boys in the Band was the first commercially successful play to reveal gay life to mainstream America. This is a special fortieth anniversary edition of the play, which includes an original preface by acclaimed writer Tony Kushner (Angels in America), along with previously unpublished photographs of Mart Crowley and the cast of the play/film. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword, and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future -- and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

Very Recent History: an entirely factual account of a year (c. AD 2009) in a large city by Choire Sicha What will the future make of us? In one of the greatest cities in the world, the richest man in town is the Mayor. Billionaires shed apartments like last season's fashion trends, even as the country's economy turns inside out and workers are expelled from the City's glass towers. The young and careless go on as they always have, getting laid and getting laid off, falling in and falling out of love, and trying to navigate the strange world they traffic in: the Internet, complex financial markets, credit cards, pop stars, microplane cheese graters, and sex apps. A true-life fable of money, sex, and politics, Very Recent History follows a man named John and his circle of friends, lovers, and enemies. It is a book that pieces together our every day, as if it were already forgotten. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Victim directed by Basil Dearden A highly respected, but closeted barrister, Melville Farr, risks his marriage and reputation to take on an elusive blackmail ring terrorizing gay men with the threat of public exposure and police action. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

Why be happy when you could be normal? by Jeanette Winterson Traces the author's lifelong search for happiness as the adopted daughter of Pentecostal parents who raised her through practices of fierce control and paranoia, an experience that prompted her to search for her biological mother. Suggested by Lindsey Ritzert, Circulation

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson The most beguilingly seductive novel to date from the author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. Winterson chronicles the consuming affair between the narrator, who is given neither name nor gender, and the beloved, a complex and confused married woman. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

#lgbtq pride month #lgbtqia #pride month #neil gaiman #ucf #ucf library #ucf libraries bookshelf #booklr

4 notes · View notes