Sponsored by Jumper & Company, publisher of the Sapience Novella Series.
There is something unusual about Sapience University. It is a dark, isolated castle that has stood empty for years. It is surrounded by undead creatures left behind from a magical war. And when everyone returns to Sapience for the winter semester, some students seem eerily different. Students continue their magical studies unaware that enemies walk among them. However, it won’t be long until the enemy strikes and sends the school back into chaos.
I come to you today freshly boosted! Triple vaxxed! Hooray! I’ve been eagerly anticipating the opportunity. I only got the shot a few hours ago, so I’m still waiting with bated breath to see if I get knocked on my ass by it or not. Fingers crossed I still feel as bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow!
Speaking of essential healthcare, today I’d like to highlight the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which funds a number of programs for LGBTQ+ women and girls, including ones that focus on queer healthcare. You can help out at their donation page.
Read Harder: LGBTQ Edition
Today, I am continuing to go through each of the Read Harder 2022 tasks to give queer recommendations for each one. So far, I am 4/4 of having at least 5 valid options for each one! So let’s tackle tasks 5 and 6 now.
5) Read an anthology featuring diverse voices.
Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead
This book blew me away from the introduction alone. It made me think about how much of both sci fi and fantasy is rooted in colonialism, and how different those same stories are (colonizing another planet, fleeing a dying Earth) from an Indigenous perspective. Plus, there’s a gay love story with a cybernetic rat, so…
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout The Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell
If I could recommend just one book every high school library or teen GSA should have, I think it would be this one. They’re historical fiction short stories with a range of queer identities represented, and they all have happy endings. I found myself thinking about how queer people have to reclaim the past, because so much of our history has been erased. There’s also Out Now: Queer We Go Again!
More recommendations:
- Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers edited by Cat Fitzpatrick
- Be Gay, Do Comics!: Queer History, Memoir, and Satire from the Nib
- Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley and Johanna Burton
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
6) Read a nonfiction YA comic.
There are more queer graphic YA memoirs I could list, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any examples by authors of color in this category. It’s a shame, because YA graphic memoirs are a great way to reach new teen audiences, and I’d love to see something like George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue available in a graphic format as well.
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
If you want to read banned and censored books, this is the book to read this year. I’ve found it puzzling that the book that has drawn the most vitriol from right wing book banners for “sexualizing” children is in fact a memoir partly about Kobabe’s journey to realizing e is asexual. This is a sensitive, thoughtful portrayal of what it’s like to grow up nonbinary, and it’s an important story for teens to have access to, considering how little representation there is for nonbinary (and asexual) people in media. If you have a moment, consider clicking through to the Amazon reviews and marking some of the many positive reviews as helpful, to make that front page a little more accurate.
Spinning by Tillie Walden
This is the story of Walden’s decade of having her life dominated by figure skating. After she switched schools, found a new hobby, and began to fall for a girl, she began questioning what she wanted for her future and whether figure skating fit into it. This is a story about letting go of something once central to your identity, and the simultaneous terror and freedom of that.
More recommendations:
- How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess
- I’m a Wild Seed by Sharon Lee De La Cruz (not specifically YA, but would be well suited for a teen audience and was reviewed by School Library Journal)
- Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir by Bishakh Som (not specifically YA, but would be well suited for a teen audience)
Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!
All the Links Fit to Click
- Here are 17 Books About Ace/Aro Validation That Everyone Should Read
- These five queer books untangle the meaning of family
- Read these Eight Queer Punk and Counterculture Books Set in the 90s
- Here are some Sapphic Slow Burn Romances (that are also on sale)
- Check out these 20 adorable (mostly YA) F/F romances, complete with a flow chart to guide your reading
- Or try these 14 F/F Medical Romances To Raise Your Heart Rate
- Read these sapphic novels set in the 1920s
- “Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, which previously won the National Book Award, was named a Printz honor, the Stonewall Book Award Young Adult winner, and won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the Youth Literature category” at the ALA Youth Media Awards!
- Morgan Thomas was interviewed at Autostraddle about their genderqueer short story collection, Manywhere
- The Last One by Fatima Daas was reviewed at The Guardian
LGBTQ Book Riot Posts
- Queer Harder: 12 Favorites From Past Challenges
- Here are the LGBTQ Comics Nominees for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards
- Mary Oliver’s Poetry: Reading Her in the Worst of Times
- 8 of the Best Queer Horror Books
- SINGLE ALL THE WAY and the Variables of Interracial Romance
New Releases This Week
D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins (F/F Romance)
Kris Zavala is an aspiring influencer who’s gone on the reality TV show Instant I Do to promote her brand. D’Vaughn is a more unexpected addition to the show, who has decided to come out to her mom with a big (fake) gay wedding. All they have to do is convince their friends and family their relationship is real, and they’ll win the prize money. It should be easy enough, considering they already seem to have convinced themselves…
Light Years From Home by Mike Chen (F/F Sci Fi)
15 years ago, Evie and Kass’s father and brother disappeared. When their father reappeared days later, he claimed they had been abducted by aliens. Since then, Evie has been immersed in alien conspiracy theories, determined to find their brother Jakob, while Kass is convinced he just skipped town. Then, Jakob comes back into their life, talking about an interstellar war.
(Evie is a lesbian)
The Magic Shell by Jillian Christmas, illustrated by Diana G. A. Mungaray (Nonbinary Picture Book)
Today is the release day of Flamingo Rampant‘s newest batch of books! They are my favorite children’s publisher because all of their books are diverse — not just in terms of LGBTQ content, but also main characters and creators of color as well as diversity of religion and disability represented. The Magic Shell is written by the poet Jillian Christmas and follows a nonbinary kid who is gifted a magic cowrie shell that transports them back in time to learn from their ancestors.
Perpetual West by Mesha Maren (Gay and Bisexual Fiction)
Manywhere: Stories by Morgan Thomas (Queer and Trans Short Stories)
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A Previous Life by Edmund White (Bisexual Man Fiction)
Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall (M/M Historical Romance)
Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi (M/M Dystopia)
At The End Of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp (Nonbinary YA Dystopia)
The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka (M/M YA Science Fiction)
Metatron’s Children by Chy Ryan Spain, illustrated by Sydney Kuhne (Non-binary Middle Grade Fantasy)
It’s a Hit! by Arin Cole Barth and Marika Barth (Trans Boy Picture Book)
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The Light of You by Trystan Reese and Biff Chaplow, illustrated by Van Binfa (Pregnant Trans Guy Picture Book)
Noodin’s Perfect Day by Ansley Simpson, illustrated by Rhael McGregor (Nonbinary Picture Book)
The Girl I Want is So Handsome! – The Complete Manga Collection by Yuama (Yuri Manga)
Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy by Rachel Krantz (Bisexual Polyamorous Memoir)
And the Category Is…: Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community by Ricky Tucker (Queer Nonfiction)
That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my bi and lesbian book blog, the Lesbrary, as well as on Twitter @danikaellis. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.
Happy reading!
Danika