#for a book series with a SIGNIFICANT amount of nonbinary MAIN CHARACTERS

[grouchythefish]

Honestly I think I am going to be a forever bitch about the Murderbot Diaries tv show. I don't care if it has the author's stamp of approval. I'm gonna be a forever bitch about it the exact same way I still am about howls moving castle. Sometimes you have to be a hater and if I am the only hater so be it.

[qqueenofhades]

20+ Books That You (Might Actually Want) To Read During Pride Month!

Right, so. I got annoyed after seeing the list referenced in this post last night, told myself that my books are all packed up so I couldn’t do anything about it, and lasted all of a whopping 10 minutes before picking up my phone and attempting to make my own list instead. Behold, my from-memory attempt to present 20 books with strong LGBTQ plots, characters, and/or authors, that DON’T just rely on Suffering and Identity Politics and are... you know... fun.

Listed in alphabetical order by title. Links take you to Bookshop.org, where you can buy them from your local independent bookstore at a discount and NOT from the evil empire.

1. A Master of Djinn – P. Djeli Clark * author of color * steampunk Cairo in 1912 * djinn! magic! murder mystery! * butch Arab lesbian main character * devout hijabi Muslim badass assistant * anticolonial alternate history

2. An Accident of Stars – Foz Meadows (Sequel: A Tyranny of Queens) * trans author * bi, pan, trans, aro representation * racially diverse characters * all female POV characters * high-fantasy world adventures

3. Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall * queer author * look I love this book SO MUCH and have absolutely screamed about it before but also I LOVE IT SO MUCH * contemporary M/M fake dating in modern London, complete with full cast of disaster found-family queer friends * it is. fucking. HILARIOUS. I almost died the first time reading it * there is a sequel called HUSBAND MATERIAL scheduled to be released in 2022; I am a normal amount of excited for this book

4. Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir (Sequel: Harrow the Ninth) * the book cover says “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted palace in space!” * that is exactly what you get * slow-burn enemies-to-lovers F/F main romance * I cannot describe this book, it is dark, genre-bendy, science fiction-y, Hunger-Games-with-lesbian-necromancers-in space? Kinda? I have literally never read anything like it * also fucking HILARIOUS

5. One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston * queer author (who wrote Red White and Royal Blue) * bisexual fat girl from the South/lesbian-daughter-of-Chinese immigrants from the 1970s-riot-grrl main romance * time traveling mystery involving the Q train in Brooklyn (mentions Brighton Beach ahem) * magical realism * many more found-family chaotic queers including a trans Latino psychic and a Black accountant by day/drag queen by night and the mean little gay disaster who has a hopeless crush on them

6. Parasol Protectorate (series) – Gail Carriger * this is one of my favorite series, and there are five books: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless * steampunk vampires/werewolves late Victorian London, like Jane Austen crossed with P.G. Wodehouse (they are all fucking hilarious) * pretty much everyone is queer; we got your flamboyantly camp gay vampires (Lord Akeldama ftw!) We got your gay werewolves! We got your lesbian French inventors! We got your big disaster idiot werewolf main male love interest! We got your crazy adventures! You name it we got it! * two spin-off novellas: Romancing the Werewolf (M/M) and Romancing the Inventor (F/F) * she has a ton more books in this same universe and writes sexy queer supernatural romance as G.L. Carriger

7. Plain Bad Heroines – Emily M. Danforth * queer author * historical horror-comedy set between a haunted girls’ school in early-1900s New England and in the modern day * all sapphic female main characters * plays with style/form/voice, a story within a story within a story

8. Red White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston * you’ve probably heard of it but here I am reccing it again * the biracial son of the first female POTUS falls in love with the Prince of England; shenanigans absolutely ensue * yes, the British monarchy still absolutely sucks a big fat dick * hilarious, heartfelt, reads like fanfic, just go get it, it will change your life

9. Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake – Alexis Hall * same author as Boyfriend Material, this is his newest * bisexual female protagonist * absolutely perfect satire of The Great British Bake Off (you can tell this man has watched EVERY SINGLE SERIES and all of the holiday specials) * sweet and surprisingly thoughtful

10. Starless – Jacqueline Carey * genderqueer/transmasculine main character of color * almost all main characters are brown people! * lush Middle Eastern/India-inspired fantasy world * gods, prophecies, monsters * the best Oh God Why Me I Am A Horrible Mentor wise-old-mentor

11. The Future of Another Timeline – Annalee Newitz * nonbinary (they/them) author * time travel but make it The Handmaid’s Tale * will probably make your head explode * feminist, queer, subversive * diverse characters

12. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee * queer author * technically YA but historical/magical adventure set in the 1700s * bisexual disaster main protagonist and love interest of color * (mis)adventures across Europe * has a sequel (see below) with the badass asexual sister of the protagonist

13. The Hate Project – Kris Ripper * nonbinary/genderqueer author * M/M enemies to lovers/sex with no strings attached (spoiler alert: strings attached) * HECKING HILARIOUS * sweet, escapist, and very low stakes * diverse characters, including fat protagonist with realistic anxiety disorder

14. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy – Mackenzi Lee * PIRATES, obviously * sequel to Gentleman’s Guide * asexual female protagonist * strong queerplatonic f/f friendship * more historical/magical 18th century adventures

15. The Last Rune (series) – Mark Anthony * Imma be real with you chief, I haven’t read this series since I was a clueless teenager with no idea why I liked Gay Stuff so much, so if it does turn out to suck now, don’t throw rotten veggies at me * but especially since it was written in the NINETIES, this series was hella progressive?! * gay characters, disabled characters, characters of color, all playing significant and heroic roles in six-book epic fantasy cycle * people from Earth end up in high-fantasy world of Eldh * endgame M/M romance for the main character * books out of print, I think, but you can find them cheap somewhere like AbeBooks; first one (Beyond the Pale) linked above

16. The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith * queer author * heaven-hell-Valhalla supernatural adventures * The Good Place x Good Omens x Lucifer x The Librarians * Pansexual Black badass female heroine * Queer found families * The Sassiest TM Bisexual Villain Turned Reluctant Hero (is he my favorite? Why on earth would you think that.)

17. The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon * epic doorstopper science fiction/historical fantasy set in a vaguely 16th-century world * main F/F romance between a queen and her sorceress bodyguard * sassy old gay alchemist whose backstory will give you Feelings * so many strong women and characters of color * no homophobia! marriage is fully gender-neutral, spouses are called “companions”

18. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller * likewise one you have probably heard of but still * a little light on the myth/historical part imho, but the writing is beautiful and will give you many feelings * M/M romance between Achilles and Patroclus  * reimagining of The Iliad (her other book Circe is also really good)

19 The Stars are Legion – Kameron Hurley * all-female apocalyptic space opera * messy messy antiheroines * grimdark war fantasy * queer sci-fi drama

20. Witchmark – C.L. Polk * author of color * M/M romance * main character is a veteran and a doctor dealing with his own hidden magic and repressed war trauma * gaslamp fantasy set in a world reminiscent of post-WWI England * strong sibling relationship

[fayonyx]

Webcomic Recommendations

List of webcomic recommendations from Writing Alchemy Podcast Episode 30 (Please share your own recommendations for medium to low intensity webcomics!):

Validation: This comic focuses on the experiences of a trans woman who is involved in a modern geeky gaming and comic book culture. It touches on big issues without getting bogged down into drama. Highly recommended!: http://www.validationcomic.com/

Rock and Riot: This is a completed comic that is a series of short, fast paced chapters with queer, trans, nonbinary, and asexual characters in a 1950s setting. It has strong POC representation. Highly recommended!: http://rockandriotcomic.com/

White Noise: This comic focuses on the lives of monsters in a fantasy setting that blends magic with real world technology. It has gorgeous art and strong queer, trans, and POC representation, along with some disability representation. Be aware that it does have significant amounts of intense content. However, there is space in the comic for characters to be supported around their trauma and to heal. That and the connections between the characters make the intense content in this comic easier to hand. (Text below each page transcribes the entire page. I find that reading it highlights interesting aspects of the comic.): http://www.white-noise-comic.com/

Tripping Over You: This is a cute modern romance and relationship comic centered on a male-male couple: http://trippingoveryou.com/

Tripping Over You dramatized on youtube (All of the dialogue is read by voice actors.): https://www.youtube.com/watch…

Questionable Content: This comic focuses on the lives of a large group of friends in a mostly modern setting that includes sentient AIs with android bodies. The current storyline has a large cast that includes respectful representation of trans and queer characters, as well as good representation of neurodiversity. (Personally, I don’t like the oldest stuff in the archive and I recommend avoiding the joke comics and guest comics the author posts on holidays as those tend toward violent humor.): http://questionablecontent.net/

Love Not Found: This is a cute scifi romance comic that is focused on a main male-female couple, which also contains significant time spent on other couples. It has significant queer, nonbinary, and POC representation. At times it touches on some intense content (mostly focused around a significant trauma in the past of the central character.): http://www.lovenotfound.com/

Xkcd: This comic is a bunch of individual science, tech, and nerd jokes. (Note that this comic has a few reoccurring characters, but it does not have a plot): https://xkcd.com/

Rain: This is a modern high school drama centering on a queer trans woman and her group of friends. There is also significant queer, nonbinary, and asexual representation. Note that there is significant angst, drama, and tough stuff that the teens here are dealing with. However, the connections between the characters and the loving community they create make this heavy content easier manage.: http://rain.thecomicseries.com/

The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal: This is a really lovely comic about two gay guys that has some family conflict, that also is really beautiful and pretty chill for the most part. It is a comic about a modern day road trip that contains significant POC representation. http://tjandamal.com/

Never Satisfied: This high fantasy comic focuses on a large cast of characters with great queer, nonbinary, and POC representation. The plot has many sweet moments, but it also contains some intense content. There are multiple nonbinary main characters!: http://www.neversatisfiedcomic.com/comic/never-satisfied