Beyond the Straight Gaze – Newsletters Dev

Don’t miss this heart-warming—and seriously hot—contemporary romance from award-winning author Adriana Herrera!

Men who seem too good to be true…usually are. And NYC social worker Camilo Briggs never mixes business with pleasure…until the mysterious man he had an unforgettable hookup with turns out to be the wealthy donor behind his agency’s new, next-level funding.

Thomas Hughes built a billion dollar business from nothing: he knows what he wants and isn’t shy about going after it. When the enthralling stranger who blew his mind at a black-tie gala reappears, Tom’s more than ready to be his Prince Charming…

Hello friends! Here in Canada, we’ve been a little slower on the vaccine rollout than the U.S., but I just booked my second shot! So exciting! I have big plans for two weeks after — by which I mean I’m going to browse the bookstore so hard. I’m also considering getting my hair dyed the bisexual flag. (I haven’t had a haircut since the pandemic started.) I hope that you are keeping healthy and safe out there! Let’s get into the books!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am that I didn’t grow up with the wealth of queer representation there is now in books and TV. I know that sounds wild, so let me contextualize. I am lucky enough to have grown up in a very accepting community — probably one of the most queer-friendly places I could have come out in the world during the aughts.

With all of the privilege I had access to, representation for queer people was still pretty limited. I watched Buffy for the lesbian representation — that’s how bad it was. (Spoiler alert: I do not recommend this now.) There were some queer books, of course. Great authors, like Sarah Waters and Jeanette Winterson. A few YA novels. Not a lot of diversity, whether in terms of intersectionality or genre, but I was grateful for what existed. I started a bi and lesbian book blog to try to draw more attention to these titles and help others find them.

So, as someone who has centered their life around queer books, why would I be glad there weren’t as many options when I was young?

Well, let me tell you about the time I played Gone Home with my partner. I hadn’t read a lot about it. I just knew it was queer and well-respected. I had the vague inkling it was tragic, but I decided to go for it anyway — despite not playing video games much. Vague spoilers for the game Gone Home: I got to the end of that game and cried. For quite a while. I was so prepared for tragedy — the story letting these two teenage girls have a relationship without suffering subverted the expectations ingrained in me most of my life, and I had an immediate response of relief, gratitude, and joy. I had a similar reaction to a cartoon that will go unnamed that made the queer subtext 100% text in its final episodes, something I couldn’t have dreamed of as a kid.

To me, it’s a joy every time queer lit goes somewhere it hasn’t gone before. I know how far it’s come, and I’m constantly surprised at what is possible now. I am proud of the young queer people growing up now who are demanding better representation because they weren’t raised on crumbs. They have entitlement of the best possible kind, because of course they are entitled to have their stories — our stories — told.

On a personal level, though, I’m glad that I got to see this transformation, and that each milestone is so joyful to me. Perhaps it’s masochistic, to be happy that my bar for good queer rep is low enough that I am constantly delighted by what clears it, but here we are. I’m even more grateful, though, that the generations following me aren’t this way. It’s that energy that’s helping to push YA especially forward, never settling for “better than before.” I’m so excited to see what comes next.

All the Links Fit to Click

A bookstore in Kalispell had a window displaying a pride flag broken and the flag thrown into the store, but the community raised money to fix it, and the flag is staying as a permanent fixture.
You’ll want to learn about Eve Adams, “the Most Incredible Lesbian Writer You’ve Never Heard Of,” who published a book called Lesbian Love in 1925.
Here are all the LGBTQ characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, though Marvel says more are coming. (I’m not holding my breath, personally.)
In these M/F romances, both the main character and love interest are bisexual!
Here are 9 novels about being a queer person of colour in the UK!
Your zodiac sign as lesbian pulp covers!
Watch a documentary about the making of the first glossy magazine for lesbians, Curve.

LGBTQ Book Riot Posts

New Releases This Week

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Non-Binary Sci-fi)

It’s been centuries since the robots left. They wandered into the wilderness, leaving behind their tools, never to be seen again — except that one just showed up, asking a tea monk what humans need. The robot can’t leave without an answer to that question, but the monk and robot quickly find this isn’t an easy task. This is a new novella series from the author of the Wayfarers books! (Don’t fear: I’m not counting the robot as non-binary rep! The monk is non-binary/agender.)

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (M/M YA Horror)

Jake Livingston has it hard enough being one of the only Black students St. Clair Prep, dealing with racist teachers. Things seem to be looking up when another Black student, the handsome Allister, arrives — and there’s even the glimmer of romance in the future. There’s just one thing that always gets in the way: Jake sees dead people living their last moments on a loop. While that’s never easy, school shooter Sawyer Doon is a ghost like no other, and his haunting has serious consequences for Jake. (Make sure to look up content warnings before getting into this one, because this social thriller deals with dark subjects and has some skin-crawling horror scenes.)

The Rebellious Tide by Eddy Boudel Tan (M/M Fiction)

The Calyx Charm by May Peterson (Trans Woman Fantasy)

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green (Bisexual F/F Science Fiction) (Paperback rerelease)

The Mythic Koda Rose by Jennifer Nissley (Sapphic Contemporary YA)

Being You: A First Conversation about Gender by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, illustrated by Anne/Andy Passchier (Children’s Nonfiction)

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me on Twitter @Lesbrary. You can also hear me on All the Books on the first Tuesday of the month, and I post weekly New Releases videos on the Book Riot Youtube channel. You can bet I sneak in as many queer titles as I can.

Happy reading!

Danika