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Queer YA Hauntings To Creep You Out This Fall

By the time the next newsletter gets to your inbox, I’ll be beginning a month of living alone! My partner is visiting his family on the other coast, and it’ll just be me and the dogs for all of October. I haven’t been by myself that long in… ever?? On the bright side, I’m going to read just a ridiculous amount of books. That’s the plan, at least!

This week I wanted to highlight the organization LGBT Books to Prisoners. They are a “trans-affirming, racial justice-focused, prison abolitionist project sending books to incarcerated LGBTQ-identified people across the United States.” You can find out more about them on the LGBT Books to Prisoners website, and you can contribute on the donation page. They’re also looking for book donations!


Queer YA Hauntings and Possessions

As the weather cools (at least in this hemisphere), I start to crave creepy, atmospheric reads. Usually, I have no interest in horror, but in Fall (and especially October!), it suddenly begins to appeal to me. I listened to two YA horror audiobooks recently that perfectly satisfied that craving, so I wanted to recommend them to you if you’re in a similar reading and listening mood. I also have one that’s on my TBR for this season that looks like it will fit right in and that I’ve heard amazing things about.

cover of the dead and the dark by courtney gould

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (Lesbian YA Horror)

Logan has spent her life crisscrossing the country with her two dads, Brandon and Alejo, as they film their ghost hunting TV show. When Brandon returns to his and Alejo’s hometown, he says he’s scouting for a filming location, but then he doesn’t leave for months. Alejo and Logan come after him, but they’re soon all drawn into this small town’s mysteries–including missing teenagers–and homophobic attitudes make Brandon a prime suspect. Logan finds herself teaming up with Ashley, who is looking for her missing boyfriend. As they investigate, it becomes obvious that something supernatural is going on, and even Logan is becoming suspicious of her father. Even more unexpected? Logan and Ashley are starting to fall for each other.

This one has an incredibly creepy atmosphere, and we get glimpses into an evil being that is possessing someone and killing teens using their body–but who is being possessed, and why did they make a deal with this dark force?

cover of the girls are never gone by sarah glenn marsh

The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh (Bisexual YA Horror)

Dare took this internship to help restore Arrington Estate because it’s rumored to be haunted, and it should make good content for her ghost hunting podcast. The fact that Dare is extremely skeptical about the existence of ghosts is something she keeps under wraps. When she arrives there, she finds assistance in the daughter of the museum’s owner, Quinn. Soon, even Dare has to admit that something weird is happening in this house, with its lake that creeps closer every day, and the face that appears beside hers in the mirror.

I personally love horror stories that have a water focus, and this one is very much about the ominous lake (where at least one girl drowned). No matter how much work they do to restore it, the ceilings are always leaking, mold spreads, and carpets squelch with water underfoot.

This also has disability representation: Dare has Type 1 Diabetes and has to manage it both with medical equipment and a service dog. (The author also has Type 1 Diabetes.)

cover image of The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass showing a drawing of a Black teen boy about to be grabbed by a ghost

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (Gay YA Horror/Social Thriller)

Unlike the previous two books, Jake doesn’t have to hunt for ghosts, because they’re always with him. He sees the dead acting out their deaths, caught in an endless loop. All except Sawyer, the ghost of a school shooter who’s determined to use Jake to exact vengeance. Soon, instead of seeing ghosts, Jake finds himself controlled by one.

This is a gay paranormal thriller that has a lot of social commentary, especially on anti-Black racism. It also gets very dark, including giving the school shooter’s perspective. If you like your horror with hard-hitting social commentary, this should be on your list.

All the Links Fit to Click

LGBTQ Book Riot Posts

New Releases This Week

Did you think we were done with the giant lists of new releases? Well, September still has more to give!

A Dream of a Woman cover

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett (Trans Women Short Stories)

Casey Plett has won multiple awards for her previous books, including a Lambda Literary Award, and this collection has been long-listed for the Giller prize. These stories are heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. They examine the complexities of being human and the flawed, yearning ways we relate to each other. I finished the first story and had to stare at a wall for a while to process it–and I mean that in the best possible way.

Things We Couldn't Say cover

Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles (Bi M/Bi M YA Contemporary)

Gio is a bisexual boy who’s fallen for another bi boy on his basketball team, but that’s far from the most complicated thing in his life right now. After eight years, his absent mother has reappeared in his family’s life, asking for forgiveness. Gio isn’t sure he can give it, or if she even deserves a relationship with him at all. This deals with masculinity and vulnerability–and it’s well worth getting for the stunning cover alone.

Cover of Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow ​by Xiran Jay Zhao (Bisexual YA Sci Fi)

This is being pitched as Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale. Chrysalises are the only way to fight the alien mechas lurking on the other side of the Great Wall, but they require two pilots: a male pilot, and a female concubine-pilot who is often killed by the experience of being drained to power the machine. But Zetian has reversed this dynamic, making her a rare and feared Iron Widow. Everyone wants to find a way to constrain her power, but she’d done being controlled. (Bonus: polyamorous representation!)

cover of the insiders by mark oshiro, a yellow cover with three cartoon children running through open doors

The Insiders by Mark Oshiro (Gay Middle Grade Fantasy)

Héctor Muñoz finds himself forced back into the closet–literally–at his new school. While being gay was no big deal in San Francisco, it makes him a target at Orangevale, and he seeks refuge in the janitor’s closet. Except one day, the closet gives him access to another room, one that connects him to other middle grade outcasts from different corners of the country. This is a coming of age story about not fitting and finding your community, and it also has non-binary representation.

The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine (Trans Woman Fiction)

Better to Trust by Heather Frimmer (Sapphic Fiction)

Suture cover

Suture by Nic Brewer (Lesbian Weird Fiction)

Hugh by David Lawrence (Gay Historical Fiction)

Between His Lover and the Deep Blue Sea by Merry Farmer (M/M Romance)

Mechanics of Love by Meka James (F/F Romance)

Love in the Limelight by Ashley Moore (F/F Romance)

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Sapphic Sci Fi) (Paperback Release)

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune (M/M Fantasy)

Traitors of the Black Crown cover

Traitors of the Black Crown (Black Crown #1) by Cate Pearce (F/F Fantasy)

Sidelined by Kara Bietz (M/M YA Contemporary)

Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh (Questioning YA Contemporary) (Paperback Release)

To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames (Lesbian YA Thriller)

The Bronzed Beasts (The Gilded Wolves #3) by Roshani Chokshi (Bisexual YA Fantasy)

Into the Dying Light (The Age of Darkness #3) by Katy Rose Pool (M/M YA Fantasy)

The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider (Bisexual YA Fantasy)

Beasts and Beauty by Soman Chainani cover

Pepper’s Rules for Secret Sleuthing by Briana McDonald (Sapphic Middle Grade Contemporary) (Paperback Release)

Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani (Gay Main Characters Middle Grade Fantasy/Fairy Tale Short Stories)

Battle Dragons: City of Thieves by Alex London (Queer-Inclusive World, Middle Grade Fantasy)

Tenderness by Derrick Austin (Queer Poetry)

Gumbo Ya Ya by Aurielle Marie (Queer Poetry)


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