Month: August 2021

I am so excited to be going camping next week! I grew up with regular camping trips, but my partner and I have never gone just the two of us. I’m looking forward to a few days of reading by flashlight, reading by the campfire, reading on the beach — and I suppose some non-reading activities, too. I have a stack of books to catch up on, though, so finishing those will be my first priority. (Well, that and snacking.)

This week, I wanted to highlight the charity True Colors United. Their mission is to “implement innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ young people.” You can find out more about them at their website, and here’s their donation page.

Goodreads Continues To Punish Queer Books

Last month, you might remember that I mentioned I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani getting review bombed on Goodreads before it was released. This is a standalone YA graphic novel with its own version of Starfire, a comics character beloved by many — so beloved, in fact, that some fans seemed to think anyone messing with their vision of her was a threat. There are literally hundreds of 1 star reviews ranting about this book, most of which were posted before anyone had read it. The top review calls the creators “untalented hacks” and includes a derogatory reference to self harm.

I was horrified by this, partly because it came as a complete surprise. I was researching new releases and scrolled down to see people’s general impressions, and suddenly I was punched in the face by misogyny, racism, and homophobia. Although I couldn’t do much about it, I posted my own five star review expressing my disappointment at all the reviewers angry that this book is for and about teenage girls.

What I wasn’t expecting was for that review to rise to the top page, and to then receive daily comments on it screaming at me (including lots more misogyny). Luckily, I could just delete those — which quickly got tiring, because there’s no way to stop them from coming in — but despite reporting many of the truly vile reviews posted weeks ago, they’re still up. And that’s because there is very little that Goodreads won’t allow.

We’ve discussed the Goodreads bots problem before, and the fact that because Goodreads doesn’t even require a confirmation email to create an account, it’s easy for someone to make dozens of accounts to 1 star a book. Last year, I wrote about Goodreads Charles, a user who rates hundreds of not yet released queer women books 1 star (as well as some other marginalized authors’ upcoming titles).

On the I Am Not Starfire Goodreads page, I noticed another feature that is left open for abuse: community questions. These show up before the reviews, and people left judgmental, hateful non-questions there, which are the first things people see when they scroll past the book description.

All of these things combine to cement my opinion that Goodreads is an unsafe place for queer authors and readers — as well as other marginalized groups, especially authors of color. There are no protections to prevent a book’s rating from being dragged down just because a group of people (or one person with a lot of time on their hands creating multiple accounts) are angry about the queer content. Trans books especially get this treatment, with many transphobic accounts having a dedicated shelf for 1 starring trans-accepting titles.

The lack of moderation and loose guidelines mean that hatred is amplified on Goodreads, with no recourse. Flagging reviews rarely does anything, and their guidelines don’t even require that you read a book before rating it. Essentially, as long as people don’t include slurs in their reviews, they’re fair game — and ratings without reviews are just as effective in lowering a book’s overall rating and making it look less appealing to readers.

I don’t have an answer here: Goodreads is so entrenched that it continues to hold a lot of sway. Hopefully, though, it’s a reminder a) to not take Goodreads average ratings as a measure of quality and b) to keep promoting queer and other marginalized lit to try to counteract this.

All the Links Fit to Click

• Your rage read of the week: a Republican congressional candidate shouted at a teen library worker over the LGBTQ display she set up.
• This picture book is fighting back against Russia’s LGBT+ propaganda law
• A Tiny LGBTQ Bookstore Is a Queer Haven in Small-Town Mississippi
• Soak In The Final Days Of Summer By Diving Into A Queer Book 
• Why do so many F/F romance readers love enemies to lovers?
• 5 great books with queer 12 year old main characters
• Read this award-winning lesbian capybara book, The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper: “I often thought with that square jaw and a broad chest, a capybara looked like a really handsome butch lesbian, if that butch were a rodent.”

LGBTQ Book Riot Posts

• 8 Remarkable Black Lesbian Fiction Books To Add To Your TBR
• Being the Bookish Auntie: Musings from Your Black, Queer BFF

New Releases This Week

We’ve got some intriguing YA and middle grade releases out today, plus some much-anticipated SFF sequels!

Both Sides Now by Peyton Thomas (Trans, M/M YA Contemporary)

Finch can’t wait to get out of high school and start his life, preparing to become the first trans congressman. He just has to get through one last National Speech & Debate Tournament competition. Getting the gold would look great on his résumé — which would be helpful, because he hasn’t actually gotten accepted to any colleges yet. There’s just two problems: he’s got a crush on his debate partner Jonah — which prompts new consideration of his sexual orientation — oh, and the debate is on trans rights.

Edie in Between by Laura Sibson (F/F YA Fantasy)

This is being called a “modern-day Practical Magic“! Edie’s family has a reputation for being witches, but Edie wants nothing to do with that. Even her mother’s ghost hanging around won’t convince her to embrace their magic. That is, until her mother’s journal falls into her lap and leads her on a scavenger hunt for meaningful memorabilia from her life. Each object she finds transports her into the journal, letting her relive her mother’s teenage years. And if that wasn’t enough to pull her towards her innate witchiness, the cute girl working at the occult shop will certainly help.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Eighth Grade Witch by E.L. Thomas and Andrew E.C. Gaska, illustrated by Valerio Chiola (Non-binary Middle Grade Graphic Novel)

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid (let’s be honest, I still do), so I am really glad to see the franchise diversifying! This one is a middle grade graphic novel with a Black non-binary main character!

Child in the Valley by Gordy Sauer (M/M Historical Fiction)

Sips of Her by Karmen Lee (F/F Romance)

Red X by David Demchuk (Gay Horror)

We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 edited by C.L. Clark and Charles Payseur (Queer Speculative Fiction)

The Thousand Eyes (The Serpent Gates #2) by A. K. Larkwood (Fantasy)

The Second Rebel (The First Sister #2) by Linden A. Lewis (Pansexual Non-binary Science Fiction)

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at the Lesbrary as well as on Twitter @danikaellis. 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