reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
This year this is a very short post. We weren’t really watching a lot, let alone LGBT media. How that happened? Who knows! Maybe next year will be our year and we’ll finally become actual connoisseurs of gay cinema?
Do you want to check out what we loved in 2021? Here’s the post. Otherwise, enjoy!
Christmas celebrations start tomorrow (if you’re Slavic, like me), and so I am finally here with a bunch of movies (and shows) you can watch to get in the mood! And if you don’t celebrate, you might still enjoy some winter-y silliness & gay kisses.
Funnily enough, though, some of my favourite gay Christmas movies are actually in Part I of this rec list, which I made last year. I strongly encourage you to check that out, too!
Suffering through the shortest days of the year as we northern hemisphere folk are, what better rec list for these long winter nights than cosy fantasy. Snuggle up with a blanket and watch the snow fall outside as these books warm your soul. It’s a tried and trusted method, believe me!
Before we start, though, let me just mention that our awards start tomorrow at 10am GMT! Nominations run until 4th January, so if you’re looking to support the great LGBT lit published this year, check it out.
A lot of these titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
While we’re waiting for Cameron’s newest book – Cassidy is Queen – to come out in June, you can always read about their journey to becoming an author, and a dream team of characters they’d collect from all their books to fight zombies together.
And don’t forget: you can follow Cameron on twitter too!
The Goodreads Choice Awards have come and gone and if, perchance, you thought to yourself huh, where are the Reads Rainbow Awards, well here will be your answer! This being the fourth year of the awards, we decided now is the time to break away from the tyranny of the Goodreads Choice Awards and timing ours alongside, and we’ll do it a different way. So, this is a post to explain just that!
I last did one of these posts way back in January, which means I’ve surely read enough books since then to make another one! That’s how this works, right? Anyway, on this post, as the title suggests, you’ll find 25 books with less than 400 ratings on Goodreads (that being a semi-randomly selected metric by which I’ll judge “underrated”). Maybe you’ve heard of some, maybe you haven’t. Whatever the case, have at it!
And don’t forget, you can also check out the previous posts: find the first post here, the second one here, the third one here, and the fourth one here.
This post could have a lot of different titles, to be frank: gay romances, gay melodramas… But really, it’s just a compilation of movies with gay love at their centre. Hence the title I actually settled on. (And of course, achillean as the more inclusive term, since there’s a few bi characters or ones who don’t really use labels.)
The first movie I thought of for this rec list was Moonlight, so that should tell you all you need to know about it.
In case you missed it, last week the fabulous cover for The Faithless was revealed. If you haven’t seen the cover already, I’m not going to say a word more, because I don’t think there’s a way to prepare you for it, at all, but also. Just look at it. Just look.
And after all that, if you’re impatiently waiting for next March, well, maybe this interview can sate your appetite just a bit. And don’t forget: you can follow Cherae on twitter too!
It’s November’s music and that means holiday songs are slowly trickling in, guys! I even sneaked one into the post itself! (If you already want more, I made a whole playlist!) But anyway, all the LGBT songs I know of from last month are in the playlist at the end of this post. And below you will find 10 songs I want to highlight!
Want more music? Check out the previous monthly posts right here!
We open this wrap up with the news that it’ll be our penultimate one. That’s not to say we won’t be doing something similar still, but just not here on the blog. In fact, we’re transferring it over to a newsletter! The first of those went out yesterday and you can read it here (and subscribe maybe?). Instead of being simply a list of everything we read or watched, and posted, it’ll be a little more interesting than that, our favourites of the month, things we’ve seen that we want to highlight, and more besides.
But in the meantime, we’ll finish off 2022 in wrap ups at least, alongside the first couple of newsletters. So, here’s November’s for you to enjoy (maybe).
Fans of science fiction will have undoubtedly been keeping an eye out for the upcoming A Fractured Infinity, a universe-hopping action-packed book. Well, the (North American) day has very nearly arrived! This time next week the book will be in your hands. And to get you even more excited, we have an interview with Nathan Tavares for you to read today! If you’re in the USA, there’s still time to get your preorder in for this one. If you’re in the UK, you can actually get your hands on it right now!
And don’t forget: you can follow Nathan on instagram too!
A while back, Anna did a post of LGBT sports lit that they’d recommend, so now it’s my turn! There’s a variety of books here and, combined with the previous post, hopefully something that appeals for everyone. Although, I would say, if you’re looking for more sports romances, Anna’s post might be the better place to be, since the bulk of them are on there. But if you’re looking for more literary fiction or otherwise contemporary novels, then scroll on!
A lot of these titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
If you’re looking for the perfect read for December and an impending Christmastime, then look no further than Jake Maia Arlow’s How to Excavate a Heart. It’s out now in the USA, and on Thursday in the UK, so you have no excuse for not picking it up! Start your December right and let this review tell you why!
Before we get to the review though, don’t forget you can follow Jake on instagram too.
It all starts when Shani runs into May. Like, literally. With her mom’s Subaru.
Attempted vehicular manslaughter was not part of Shani’s plan. She was supposed to be focusing on her monthlong paleoichthyology internship. She was going to spend all her time thinking about dead fish and not at all about how she was unceremoniously dumped days before winter break.
It could be going better.
But when a dog-walking gig puts her back in May’s path, the fossils she’s meant to be diligently studying are pushed to the side–along with the breakup.
Then they’re snowed in together on Christmas Eve. As things start to feel more serious, though, Shani’s hurt over her ex-girlfriend’s rejection comes rushing back. Is she ready to try a committed relationship again, or is she okay with this just being a passing winter fling?
Jake Maia Arlow
Rep: Jewish lesbian mc & li, Indian American sapphic side character
CWs: past sexual assault, past controlling relationship
Release: 24th November 2022
As twitter starts its slow slide into destruction, today’s a good (great!) day to sign up to our blog so that you don’t miss posts like this: our interview with Maggie Horne! If you’re a fan of middle grade, then you won’t want to let this interview pass you by. And, hey! If you’re one of those odd people who hasn’t read Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One yet, then maybe this will convince you to.
And don’t forget: you can follow Maggie on instagram too!
The Goodreads Choice Awards are back and so is this post! Anna being busy this afternoon, I’ve taken over writing it. Which will explain the discussion part of this at least… As with last year’s post, the books are sorted into those which have LGBT main characters and side characters alone. Particularly with side characters, it’s possible we have missed a few.
And, if you’re looking out for our awards, don’t worry if you don’t see them for a while yet! We’re working on a little something…
