Categories
What's Up in YA

Culinary Combat, the Society for Arcane Sciences, and More YA Book Talk

It’s October, which means it’s practically Halloween! I have a couple of queer YA recommendations for the spooky season, whether you’re looking for something spine-chilling or silly.

Speaking of seasonal reads, autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.

Bookish Goods

a photo of three bookmarks with cute ghosts in Edinburgh streets at night

Edinburgh Ghosts Bookmark by SnugAndScribble

Have you seen the TikTok trend of painting ghosts into thrift store paintings? These bookmarks remind me of those, but even better. $3.50+ each or $9.50+ for the set.

New Releases

the cover of The Homecoming War

The Homecoming War by Addie Woolridge

Meg is so close to graduating high school and getting out of Huntersville. She’s even class president! But her plans are complicated when her high school is merged with their rival school. Now, she has to work with Davies High’s class president, Chris, as their two schools have an escalating prank war. To make things even more complicated, she might have a reluctant crush on him.

the cover of The Glass Scientists

The Glass Scientists: Volume One by S. H. Cotugno

This webcomic turned graphic novel has a simultaneous hardcover and paperback release. It follows Dr. Henry Jekyll as he tries to rehabilitate the image of arcane scientists after that unfortunate Frankenstein incident by founding the Society for Arcane Sciences. But some members want to push science in a radical, dangerous direction — and they’re willing to expose Jekyll’s secrets in the process.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Queer YA Reads for Spooky Season

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White book cover

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Looking for a read that proves YA horror doesn’t pull any punches? You need to pick up The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. Silas is an autistic trans teenager stuck in Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. When a ghost asks him for help, he realizes that he needs to take down this school before it kills him first. Be sure to check out the trigger warnings for this one: it’s a bloody read and includes transphobia, ableism, and misogyny.

the cover of The Beginner's Guide to Culinary Combat

Cooking with Monsters (Book One): The Beginner’s Guide to Culinary Combat by Jordan Alsaqa, illustrated by Vivian Truong

Looking for something Halloween-adjacent but not actually scary? How about a fun YA graphic novel about cooking with monsters? Hana has just started at Gourmand Academy of Culinary Combat, and she’s struggling to keep up with her classmates. Pair this with Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione for two different takes on a queer YA graphic novel set at a fantasy cooking school!

That’s it for me! You can usually find me writing the Our Queerest Shelves newsletter. I also have a sapphic book blog called the Lesbrary, and you can also hear me on All the Books, or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
What's Up in YA

1930s Immortal Shanghai Spies, Books for Bi Visibility Month, and More YA Book Talk

Hello, YA readers! This is Danika, filling in for Kelly as she takes some well-deserved time off. Today, I have a couple YA paperback releases for you, as well as some bisexual YA book recommendations to read for Bisexual Visibility Month.

Before we get into this week’s YA paperbacks and recommendations, did you know that Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive? During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

a photo of a Heartstopper totebag with colorful leaf illustrations and speech bubbles saying "hi" and "hi"

Heartstopper Leaves Tote Bag by TesonStore

It’s fall in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s Heartstopper season! You can get those iconic leaf illustrations on just about anything on Etsy, including this tote bag that is perfect for carrying your books. $10

New Releases

Find below two of this week’s paperbacks.

the cover of Bad Girls Never Say Die

Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu

You might recognize Jennifer Mathieu from her book-turned-movie Moxie. In this novel, she reimagines The Outsiders with female main characters. Set in Houston in 1964, Evie and her group of friends are “bad girls” who are too loud and wear too much makeup. They’re fiercely loyal to each other. But when Evie is saved from disaster by a “good girl,” she has to reevaluate what she thought she knew about friendship.

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong cover

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

Book two in this duology, Foul Heart Huntsman, is out today, and so is the paperback version of book one! In a fantasy version of 1930s Shanghai, Rosalind has healing powers as a result of a strange experiment, and she’s using them to be a spy. Now, to keep her cover, she has to pose as the wife of another spy, Orion. What could go wrong?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Bisexual YA Book Recs

I know Kelly generally does YA book news at this point, but I don’t know where her sources are, because I was having trouble digging up much. So instead, I’m going to recommend a couple of bisexual YA books for Bisexual Visibility Month.

the cover of Follow Your Arrow

Follow Your Arrow by Jessica Verdi

When CeCe and her girlfriend Silvie breaks up, it’s more than heartbreaking: it’s a threat to her brand. CeCe’s whole life is online, and Cevie was supposed to be #RelationshipGoals. When she starts to fall for a very offline guy, how will he react to her online life, and how will the Cevie fans respond? I love how this book explores bisexuality as a distinct identity, including CeCe’s feeling like she doesn’t quite belong in either straight or queer spaces. It’s also one of the few books I’ve read with a bisexual main character who has a preference for one gender (women). I think this deserves way more attention.

Things We Couldn't Say cover

Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles

Gio is a Black bisexual teenage boy who is just starting to feel stable in his life after his mother left eight years ago. Now, she’s suddenly reappeared, looking for forgiveness, and Gio doesn’t know how to feel about her. Meanwhile, he’s starting to become closer friends with a teammate on his basketball team, David, and might be falling for him — but Gio isn’t sure he can handle any more complicated relationships in his life right now. There are still so few books with bisexual men or boys as main characters, and even fewer with Black bisexual men, so this is a must-read. Also, this cover is stunning in real life.

That’s it for me! You can usually find me writing the Our Queerest Shelves newsletter. I also have a sapphic book blog called the Lesbrary, and you can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
What's Up in YA

Honeycomb Horror, a Monstrous Chariot Race, and More YA Book Talk and News: August 3, 2023

Hello YA Readers!

Kelly is off on a well-deserved break, so this is Danika filling in for today’s newsletter! I’ve got a couple YA paperback releases to share along with some YA-related book news — surprise, surprise, it’s mostly censorship-related.

Looking for even more books? Delighting velocireaders since 2017, Book Riot’s New Release Index will keep you in the know about all the latest books. New books for days. Subscribe today — you won’t be able to read them all, but it’s fun to try! 

Bookish Goods

a photo of a Bee and Honeycomb Charm Bookmark Paperclip

Bee and Honeycomb Charm Bookmark Paperclip by NylaBooks

After you read The Honeys, you’ll never be able to look at bees or honeycombs the same way again. But in the meantime, enjoy this cute bee bookmark! $9

New Releases

They’re (paper)back! Let’s look at two excellent YA paperback releases that hit shelves this week. You can also check out the full list of today’s paperback YA releases.

cover of The Honeys by Ryan La Sala; the word 'honeys' repeated all the way down the cover over paintings of flowers

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

I read this one when it first came out, and if you’re in the mood for a summer horror book, this is it. I beg you, I implore you, just read the first two pages. This was the most intense start to a book I’ve ever read, and I was convinced it must be a dream sequence, but no. This is about a genderfluid teenager trying to figure out what led to his sister’s death by going to the summer camp she was obsessed with. There, the strict gender roles are just as unsettling as the body horror.

monsters made and born book cover

Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah

In this oceanic world, Koral and her family are indentured by Landers to capture the monstrous maristags to be used in their Glory Race. When the last maristag escapes, Koral has to find another way to afford her little sister’s medication, so she decides to cheat her way into the deadly Glory Race. But there are a lot of people who will do anything to stop a low-caste girl from winning the gold, and she might just spark a rebellion. This one promises to be a great match for fans of The Hunger Games and These Violent Delights.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter and the New Release Index.

YA Book News

That’s it for me! I usually write Book Riot’s LGBTQ books newsletter, Our Queerest Shelves. You can also find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. Plus, you can hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
Today In Books

Sarah Silverman Sues Meta and OpenAI for Copyright Infringement: Today In Books

The Books Unbanned Club is Distributing Banned Books in Florida Through Little Free Libraries

Little Free Libraries has teamed up with Venables Bell + Partners to create the Unbanned Book Club. Five hundred banned or challenged books have been donated by Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, and they will be appearing in Little Free Libraries starting in Jacksonville. One hundred fifty books have been banned or challenged in Jacksonville’s Duval County during the past two years.

Sarah Silverman Is Suing OpenAI and Meta for Copyright Infringement of Her Book

Alongside fellow authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, comedian Sarah Silverman is suing Meta and OpenAI over allegations that ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA were trained on illegally acquired copies of their books, as evidenced by ChatGPT being able to summarize the entire book. They claim that their books were accessed through “shadow libraries” like Z-Library, which host pirated ebooks. The authors have stated they “did not consent to the use of their copyrighted books as training material.”

Hundreds March in Solidarity With Cork Library Staff After Harassment for Carrying LGBTQ+ Books

Staff in Cork Library in Ireland have been facing harassment over carrying LGBTQ books, including being accused of being pedophiles as well as being recorded without consent. They also had one person record themselves destroying a copy of This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson in the library. On Friday, roughly 400 people marched on city hall to demand more protection and support for library workers.

Anatomy of a Book Cover: The Process of Book Cover Design

How does book cover design work? Find here an introduction to the process, both in self- and traditional publishing.

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Our Queerest Shelves

Bisexual Werebears and Other Queer Shapeshifters

We’re back! Luckily, this was a light week for new releases, so even though there wasn’t a Tuesday newsletter, this one isn’t out of control. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend, if you had one, and let’s talk about queer books!

Prison Books Collective is looking for more queer fiction, especially trans and gay books! The information on how to donate books is on their Instagram!

What do S.A. Cosby, Khaled Hosseini, Sarah Bakewell, and Yahdon Israel have in common? They’ve been guests on Book Riot’s newest podcast, First Edition where BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world. Subscribe to hear them and stay to hear Book Riot’s editors pick the “it” book of the month.

Bookish Goods

a pin of Nimona with dragon wings

Nimona Recycled Acrylic Pin by FleurMarigold

Everyone is loving the Nimona movie! If you want to carry Nimona everywhere you go, here’s a pin to preorder! $13

New Releases

Because of the holiday, there aren’t many books out this week. Also, the releases I could find aren’t as diverse as I’d like: we need more queer books by and about people of colour!

the cover of A Place for Us

A Place for Us by Brandon J. Wolf (Queer Memoir)

Brandon J. Wolf is an LGBTQ+ activist who is also a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub terror attack. In this memoir, he talks about his journey growing up in a racist and homophobic small town in rural Oregon to finding his community in Orlando — and how that safe space was ripped away. This experience inspired him to become the activist he is today, and A Place for Us reminds us that the fight is not over: “With our backs against the wall,” he writes, “we find a way out together.”

the cover of All About Romance

All About Romance by Daniel Tawse (Nonbinary YA Contemporary) (UK Release)

The U.S. may have paused most of its releases for the Fourth of July, but the UK didn’t! This UK YA release is about Roman, a nonbinary teen in a small town where they feel isolated, especially in terms of dating. When they start getting anonymous postcards in their locker, they think they know who their secret admirer is — but will they be brave enough to act?

A Man of Lies by Ben Crane (Achillean Crime Fiction)

The Beasts of Paris by Stef Penney (Achillean Historical Fiction)

Of Love and Libraries by Brenna Bailey (F/F Romance)

For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Since Nimona is getting so much attention, I thought I’d highlight a couple of other queer books with shapeshifting main characters! Now, “gay shapeshifter books” is a very specific genre, but I’ve gone in a different direction with these two.

the cover of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

This is your favorite queer author’s favorite queer book. It’s praised by Carmen Maria Machado, Eileen Myles, Michelle Tea, Maggie Nelson, and many more. It follows Paul, a queer person in 1993 who can change their body at will: from Riot Grrrl to leather cub. Paul travels across the country, celebrating the joys and mourning the losses of the queer community in the early ’90s.

the cover of Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw

Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw

Zelda is a bisexual plus-sized woman working in the fashion world — who is also a werebear. Which is really damaging her wardrobe. This book is filled with wacky romantic hijinks as she plays bodyguard for a fae nobleman while crushing on a werewolf. (There’s also a female love interest, but I won’t spoil who.) This was such a fun read, and it was a real shock when I read Khaw’s other books and found out they usually write gruesome horror novels!

This was a limited release, so the physical copy is hard to get ahold of, but you can find the ebook on Kobo.

All the Links Fit to Click

Happy Disability Pride Month 2023! (LGBTQ Reads)

Minnie Bruce Pratt, Lesbian Poet, Essayist, and Activist, Has Died at 76

9 must-read books encapsulating the queer Asian experience

Book Ban Corner

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
Letterhead

What? Our Queerest Shelves is evolving!

Hello fellow book nerds!

I have some exciting news about Our Queerest Shelves. We’re introducing a subscription level, where you’ll get even more queer book content!

The subscription is $6 a month, and bonus content will be once a week. I’ll be experimenting with new formats. That could include more queer book lists on a theme, but also possibly podcasts, videos, essays, opportunities for community engagement, queer BookTok round ups — I’ll keep you on your toes! And I’ll also be looking for feedback from subscribers on what you’d like to see more of. I’m really excited for the chance to do something different, and your subscriptions make it possible for this to be my Real Life Job: yelling about queer books on the internet! (Okay, yes, I do other things too, but this is the best part.)

Don’t worry! You don’t have to subscribe to get the same content you’ve been getting all along from Our Queerest Shelves. You’ll still get two emails every week with new releases, recommendations, and links from the rest of the queer bookternet.

We’re always looking for new ways to improve our book coverage, and subscription newsletters open up so many possibilities that don’t rely on a constantly-changing algorithm. Instead, we can reach our audience directly, and you can support us directly, if you like what we do. After trying out a few options, we’re now going to be sending these newsletters through Substack, which enables us to have a subscription option.

You don’t have to do anything on your end to keep getting OQS in your inbox; it will just be coming from a different source, and it hopefully will look a little snazzier.

I hope you enjoy the next evolution of Our Queerest Shelves!

a graphic in the style of a Pokemon evolution. The text says: "What? Our Queerest Shelves is evolving!" "Our Queerest Shelves evolved into a Substack!" The second image shows the updated OQS logo.

Categories
Our Queerest Shelves

Around The World In Queer Bookstores

Happy Pride! This is the last Our Queerest Shelves in June — in fact, we’re taking the 4th of July off, so I won’t see you until the 6th! I hope Pride month treated you well. Meanwhile, my local Pride starts in July, so I’m just getting started.

In case you missed it, Kelly Jensen put together a list of educators raising money to be able to add queer books to their classroom libraries! Some of them have been funded, but there are still plenty that need help reaching their goal.

Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more drawn from our collective experience as power readers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and bookish professionals? Subscribe to The Deep Dive, a biweekly newsletter to inform and inspire readers, delivered to your inbox! Your first read (The Power Reader’s Guide to Reading Logs & Trackers) is on the house. Check out all the details and choose your membership level at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

a photo of two large enamel pins showing Sailor Moon characters at a pride parade

Sailor Moon Pride Pins by MochMochPins

Today’s Riot Recs has a yuri manga theme, so I had to include the original manga/anime lesbians in my life, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Plus, what a great way to close out Pride! There are several designs with different Sailor Moon characters. $63

New Releases

manslaughter park book cover

Manslaughter Park by Tirzah Price (Bisexual YA Historical Mystery)

This one is by Book Riot’s own Tirzah Price! Manslaughter Park is the third book in the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries series, and it’s the first one with a queer main character. There’s a love story between Fanny Price and Mary Crawford! It’s Jane Austen, but queer and with murder. What’s not to like?

the cover of The Follower of Flowers

The Follower of Flowers (Flowers of Prophecy #2) by Natalia Hernandez (Sapphic YA Fantasy)

This is the sequel to The Name-Bearer. The Name-Bearer was raised to receive the name of the next royal from Flowers of Prophecy. When that prophecy doesn’t play out as planned, the Name-Bearer hides with a group of warrior women, preparing to find the Unnamed Prince and embrace her true destiny.

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake, narrated by Krystal Hammond (Sapphic YA Contemporary) (Audiobook Rerelease)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Queer YA Thriller) (Paperback Rerelease)

Hearts Forged in Dragon Fire by Erica Hollis (Lesbian F/F YA Fantasy)

Godslayers (Gearbreakers #2) by Zoe Hana Mikuta, narrated by Catherine Ho and Cindy Kay (Sapphic YA Fantasy) (Audiobook Rerelease)

Molly’s Tuxedo by Vicki Johnson and Gillian Reid (Gender Creative Picture Book)

For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Yesterday I finally got my library hold for She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat Vol. 2 and absolutely adored it, so I thought I’d talk about two yuri manga series with adult main characters that I’ve read and loved recently! It used to be that yuri manga (at least available in English) was almost entirely schoolgirls, so I really appreciate this shift in recent years!

the cover of She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 1

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat series by Sakaomi Yuzaki

Cooking is Nomoto’s passion, but there’s only so much you can cook for yourself as a single person — and she resents the assumption that the value of her cooking is for feeding men. So when she finds out a neighbor, Kasuga, has a big appetite, she invites her to eat dinner together. I think this is my new favorite manga series, though there are only two volumes so far. I love Nomoto and Kasuga’s relationship dynamic — it’s a little ambiguous in the first volume, but Nomoto is confirmed to be a lesbian in Vol. 2. I appreciate the discussion of gender norms, too. (Also, is Kasuga the butch of my dreams? Maybe.)

the cover of My Cute Little Kitten Vol. 1 by Milk Morinaga

My Cute Little Kitten Vol. 1 by Milk Morinaga

This is the newest from the author of the yuri classic Girl Friends. Rena and Yuna have been roommates since college. When Yuna finds a kitten and asks Rena about moving to a pet-friendly place, Rena can’t hide let this go on any longer: she confesses that she’s been in love with Yuna for years, expecting Yuna to no longer want to live with her. But she doesn’t get the answer she expected. With most manga series, I feel like one volume is about the equivalent of a chapter in a prose novel, but this one covered so much! I’m really looking forward to the next volume!

All the Links Fit to Click

42 of My Favorite Sapphic Graphic Novels and Comics (The Lesbrary)

The Best Sapphic Books of 2023 (So Far) (The Lesbrary)

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
Our Queerest Shelves

Drag Is Not a Crime

One of today’s new releases is a Harlequin Medical Romance between two Black women, and it warms my heart to see LGBTQ books in places that used to be so very straight (and white). Little victories!

Today’s featured Bookish Good (that gives this newsletter its title) is raising money for the Tennessee Equality Project. Even if you don’t need another tee shirt, consider donating to this organization working for equality for LGBTQ people in Tennessee.

Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more drawn from our collective experience as power readers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and bookish professionals? Subscribe to The Deep Dive, a biweekly newsletter to inform and inspire readers, delivered to your inbox! Your first read (The Power Reader’s Guide to Reading Logs & Trackers) is on the house. Check out all the details and choose your membership level at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

Drag is Not a Crime Shirt by StangirlThings

I first saw this DARE parody shirt on Critical Role (a quite queer D&D show) and fell in love with it. Now you can get it and have $5 go toward the Tennessee Equality Project! Available in S to 3XL sizes. $25

New Releases

cover of the archive undying

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon (Queer Sci-Fi)

In the Downworld Sequence, AI gods rule. Khuon Mo is one robotic god who turned against creations, striking down a whole city. But before it died, it brought back its favorite child, Sunai. In the 17 years since, Sunai has been running away from his destiny, escaping with drugs and men. But one of the men he sleeps with leads him right back to the dangerous politics of AI gods. This is described as a “sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies”!

the cover of Daddy Boy

Daddy Boy by Emerson Whitney (Nonbinary Memoir)

In 2017, Emerson was divorcing their dominatrix wife that they called Daddy, and was feeling completely lost. They dive into storm chasing, and along the way, they remember the father figures in their life, trying to put together their own relationship to masculinity as an adult. Emerson explains, “We often look to our gender roles as a sort of map for aging. I wanted to know what the process looked like without that: not man-ness, not-woman-ness.”

Twin Babies to Reunite Them by Ann McIntosh (F/F Romance)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (Sapphic Speculative Fiction) (Paperback Rerelease)

the cover of Twin Babies to Reunite Them

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard, narrated by Aoife Hinds (Sapphic Fantasy) (Audiobook Rerelease)

Hearts Forged in Dragon Fire by Erica Hollis (Lesbian F/F YA Fantasy)

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake, narrated by Krystal Hammond (Sapphic YA Contemporary) (Audiobook Rerelease)

Negative Money by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram (Nonbinary Poetry)

Song of My Softening by Omotara James (Queer Poetry)

God Themselves by Jae Nichelle, narrated by the author (Queer Poetry) (Audiobook Rerelease)

Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of the Matrix by Tilly Bridges (Nonfiction)

For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Today, I’m returning again to the 2023 Read Harder Challenge! The next task up is #12: Read a nonfiction book about BIPOC and/or queer history, but since I just covered that in Pride is a Protest, let’s skip to #13: Read an author local to you.

Obviously, this depends on where you are! I live in BC, Canada, and it probably comes as no shock to say that there are a lot of queer authors to choose from in the Vancouver and Victoria areas. Here are just two!

the cover of Pride Puppy

Robin Stevenson

Robin Stevenson has been writing queer YA and kids’ books since 2010! She has Pride books for babies (Pride Colors), young kids (Pride Puppy!), and tweens/teens (Pride), along with a ton of other books, both fiction and nonfiction. I also appreciate the she does writing about abortion access (My Body My Choice: The Fight for Abortion Rights as well as the sapphic YA novel Under Threat). Oh, and she regularly sponsors and raises money for refugees coming to the area. What a fantastic person.

the cover of The Gospel of Breaking

Jillian Christmas

Jillian Christmas is a queer, Afro-Caribbean author whose first book is a poetry collection called The Gospel of Breaking. Her work often discusses colonialism as well as queerness. In 2021, she won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. I also highly recommend her picture book The Magic Shell, which follows an ungendered child character traveling through time to meet different generations of their ancestors.

All the Links Fit to Click

12 Sapphic Roller Derby Books for When You Miss the Track (The Lesbrary)

The 10 Most Highly Anticipated Sapphic Books Out in the Rest of 2023 (The Lesbrary)

the cover of And Tango Makes Three

Authors of And Tango Makes Three sue over Don’t Say Gay law that got their book banned in a Florida school (Pink News)

Ferndale library adds more LGBTQ+ books after “Hide the Pride campaign attempt to remove them — this is a heartwarming response to anti-LGBTQ censorship: the community raised money to replace the books plus lots more!

Book Bans Be Damned: Chicago’s Queer-Owned Bookstores Won’t Stop Fighting For LGBTQ+ Community (Block Club Chicago)

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
Our Queerest Shelves

Queer Kids at Summer Camp

I hope you like sapphic YA horror novels, because that’s what most of these new releases are! I’m so excited to pick up Kalynn Bayron’s sapphic summer camp slasher, You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight. But I have also spotlighted some queer middle grade summer camp stories that are a little sunnier.

Speaking of queer kids, one way you can fight back against censorship of LGBTQ kids’ books is by donating to the classrooms on DonorsChoose that are raising money to carry diverse books! Let’s get these all funded!

Did you know this isn’t the only Book Riot newsletter I write for? I also contribute to The Deep Dive! Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more drawn from our collective experience as power readers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and bookish professionals? Subscribe to The Deep Dive, a biweekly newsletter to inform and inspire readers, delivered to your inbox! Your first read (The Power Reader’s Guide to Reading Logs & Trackers) is on the house. Check out all the details and choose your membership level at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

a photo of a black tank top with the text Protect Queer Youth

Protect Queer Youth Tank Top by AngiePea

This newsletter has a summer camp theme, and this tank top is a great way to get ready for hot weather. 5% from every order goes to mutual aid projects. $30

New Releases

Cover of You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron (Sapphic YA Horror)

If you loved the Netflix adaptation of Fear Street, you’re going to need to pick this up. Kalynn Bayron is the author of Cinderella is Dead and the This Poison Heart series, and this is her first horror novel. It follows Charity, who is playing the “final girl” in a slasher-themed summer camp. But when people start turning up dead for real, she’ll have to find a way to get her and her girlfriend out alive.

the cover of Ode to My First Car

Ode to My First Car by Robin Gow (Bisexual F/F YA Contemporary)

It’s the summer before senior year, and Claire can’t keep hiding the fact that she’s bisexual and has feelings for her lifelong best friend, Sophia. To pay for repairs on her car, she takes a summer job at a nursing home, and becomes close with Lena, an 88-year-old lesbian. Spending time with her makes Claire more confident in her identity — but then a new girl, Pen, walks into her life, and Claire is torn between a new crush and the feelings for Sophia she’s been repressing for so long.

This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2) by Kalynn Bayron, narrated by Jordan Cobb (Sapphic YA Fantasy Audiobook Rerelease)

Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliot McLemore, narrated by MW Cartozian Wilson and Vico Ortiz (Trans YA Fantasy Audiobook Rerelease)

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould (Queer YA Horror)

The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis (Sapphic YA Horror)

For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight plays on the inherent horror potential of summer camp, and it got me thinking about other queer books set at summer camp, so here a few middle grade examples!

Lumberjanes is the most well-known queer middle grade summer camp story, of course, but here are a couple others. And this is far from an exhaustive list!

cover of in the key of us by mariama j lockington

In the Key of Us by Mariama J. Lockington

Andi came to music camp hoping to regain the love she had for playing the trumpet before her mother died. Zora came because her parents are sure she’s a flute prodigy, though she would rather dance. They bond over being two of the only Black girls at camp, and as they begin to open up and share their struggles, they also start to fall for each other.

Check out Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow for another great sapphic middle grade novel set as a summer music camp!

Cover of Camp QUILTBAG by Melleby

Camp QUILTBAG by Nicole Melleby and A.J. Sass

This one just came out in March! It follows two kids at Camp Quiltbag: Kai and Abigail. Abigail is excited to be somewhere she can be herself, and maybe even talk about her crush on Laura Dern. Kai, though, has less positive reasons for being here: an incident e doesn’t want to remember left eir arm in a sling and eir parents nervous enough to send em to a trans- and queer-inclusive summer camp, though e would rather be hanging out with eir best friend back home. Abigail and Kai team up to help each other navigate camp. They also have a competition between cabins to win!

All the Links Fit to Click

In Pageboy, Elliot Page Gets Vulnerable About Gender Dysphoria, Trans Joy, and Much More

12 New and Emerging LGBTQ+ Writers to Read for Pride 2023

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika

Categories
Our Queerest Shelves

I’m Just Here for the Lesbian Pining

There are lots of amazing queer books out this week! A queer and feminist western, a bisexual “unicorn” thriller, a nonbinary manga memoir, and so many more.

Also, I just stumbled on these and had to share: if you want a “I’m just here for the lesbian pining” or “My local bookstore is gayer than your honor roll student” bumper sticker, A Room of One’s Own Bookstore has you covered.

Today, I wanted to highlight the nonprofit Black Trans Liberation, which aims to keep Black trans people off the street and extend the life expectancy of Black trans people. You help out by checking out their donation page, and you can follow them on Instagram.

Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more drawn from our collective experience as power readers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and bookish professionals? Subscribe to The Deep Dive, a biweekly newsletter to inform and inspire readers, delivered to your inbox! Your first read (The Power Reader’s Guide to Reading Logs & Trackers) is on the house. Check out all the details and choose your membership level at bookriot.substack.com

Bookish Goods

a photo of a progress Pride flag with flower illustrations and the text You Are Loved

You are Loved Pride Flag by Transpainter

We’re near the end of Pride month, but flying a Pride flag at your house keeps the spirit alive in the other months — and helps the queer people in your community feel a little safer. There’s also a Trans Rights are Human Rights flag in the same style! $37

New Releases

There are so many exciting new releases out today that I had a tough time narrowing it down to even these five! So definitely make sure to click through to the other books listed today, too.

Also, I don’t usually include sequels in this list, but The Shadow Cabinet (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven #2) by Juno Dawson is also out today.

the cover of Spare Room

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz (Bisexual Thriller)

Ask any bisexual woman, and she probably has her own horror story about being “unicorn hunted.” The Spare Room takes this to another level: Kelly has just been dumped by her fiancé when her friend Sabrina and his husband Nathan offer her the spare bedroom in their remote mansion. During her stay, she finds herself falling for them both — and they open up their marriage for her. But she soon realizes she’s not the first woman they’ve done this to, and the previous one has gone missing…

cover of Can't Let Her Go

Can’t Let Her Go by Kianna Alexander (F/F Romance)

I can’t resist a sapphic friends to lovers romance. Peaches and Jamie are friends who both have feelings for each other, but is this the right time to see if romance is in the cards? Jamie is planning to move away for college and is not yet sure where she’ll be next year. Peaches is taking care of her whole family after her mother passed away, along with managing her own business, which has her stretched thin. Even if the timing is not ideal, though, they can’t deny the chemistry between them.

Lucky Red Book Cover

Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens (Sapphic Western)

Lucky Red is a queer, feminist take on the Western genre. It’s 1877, and Bridget is a 16-year-old orphan struggling to survive. When she joins Buffalo Queen, a women-run brothel, she finds community with the other women there as well as financial stability. When a notorious female gunslinger comes to town, Bridget falls for her, but other new arrivals threaten to upend the fragile peace of Dodge City. She’ll have to defend her found family — or lose everything, again.

Nuclear Family by Joseph Han (Queer Fiction) (Paperback Rerelease)

Old Enough by Haley Jakobson (Bisexual Fiction)

the cover of Old Enough by Haley Jakobson

Mrs. S by K. Patrick (Sapphic Fiction)

Gods of Want: Stories by K-Ming Chang (Queer Short Stories) (Paperback Rerelease)

Through the Groves by Anne Hull (Lesbian Memoir)

The LGBT Cuban Revolution by Wilfred W. Labiosa (LGBT Nonfiction)

For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

There are so many interesting new releases out today that I had to spotlight at least five of them. Here are a couple of the nonfiction titles you need to know about!

the cover of Until I Love Myself Volume 1

Until I Love Myself: The Journey of a Nonbinary Manga Artist by Poppy Pesuyama (Nonbinary Manga Memoir)

We’ve had a few nonbinary manga memoirs in the past year or two (At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender and X-Gender), which is nice to see! In this one, Poppy discusses what it’s like to be a nonbinary mangaka (manga artist), including the sexual harassment they’ve faced at work.

a graphic of the cover of Tar Hollow Trans: Essays by Stacy Jane Grover

Tar Hollow Trans by Stacy Jane Grover (Trans Essays)

I’ve heard so much about this one that I’m surprised it’s only come out now! Kendra Winchester, our resident Appalachian literature expert, has written about Tar Hollow Trans several times for the site. This collection of essays explores Stacy Jane Grover’s childhood growing up trans in Appalachia, as well as examining the labels of trans and Appalachian: what they have in common, how difficult they are to pin down, and how they’ve contributed to the person she is today.

All the Links Fit to Click

LGBTQ librarians are trying to keep vital books accessible to queer youth, despite bans

Reading is fundamental: inside Britain’s queer bookshop boom

LGBTQ Books with Paperback Cover Redesigns Out in 2023

12 Sapphic Roller Derby Books for When You Miss the Track (The Lesbrary)

That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.

Happy reading!
Danika