reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
I’ve made a rec list for LGBT graphic novels before (funnily enough, it was on Christmas Eve two years ago) and you can check it out here. But the truth is, you can never have too many of those in your life! Which is why I decided that part two of that particular rec list is long overdue.
So here we are! Ten more LGBT graphic novels, across a bunch of genres and for various target audiences. Hope you will find a new favourite here.
It’s been a good few months since I did a post like this, and since I hit…uh…500 books so far this year, I figure I’ve read enough more books to do a second post. So, here we are! Once again, there is a wide range of books on this post, so hopefully you find something you’ll enjoy.
If you want to know what I recced in the first post, take a peek here.
And, once again, the books on this list, where possible, are not ones that only have fewer than 400* ratings by dint of being published recently (i.e. within the last month, I figure).
*Although by some strange coincidence, none of these actually have over 204 ratings…
Initially, I had not a clue what my second rec list this month would be. Spooky season recs was an obvious one, but after that, I was stuck. But then along came Shri and told me to rec books that fit the king and lionheart trope.
Before we start, though, a quick definition, courtesy of Shri, again:
it’s like hero burdened with the main problem and person who is unconditionally loyal to them and a protector. their rock if you will.
For want of a better example, think Merlin and Arthur from BBC’s Merlin. And since what’s better than a trope, than that same trope made gay, I come bearing recs (sometimes romantic, sometimes not).
It being October, and almost Halloween, clearly the time was perfect for a rec list that combines the best of the spooky season and LGBT rep. Now, full disclosure, I’m very easily spooked (ha) when it comes to these things (especially if I’m reading late at night) – although not as easily as Anna.
I’ve tried for variety in these recs, so it’s not going to be all horror (since I don’t read a whole lot of that, for the aforementioned reason), but anything that features something that you might see around All Hallows’ Eve/All Saint’s Day.
So have a scroll, and let me know what else you would rec!
My credentials to write this post are as follows: I have read War of the Foxes 6 times, and Crush 27 times. When I say I’m obssessed with Siken’s poetry…
I asked people on twitter to share their favourite quotes by Siken with me. And granted, that happened a few months ago, but time flows differently in 2020. So here I am today, with gay and sapphic novels that somehow match the feelings evoked by said Siken quotes. Some of them will make you cry, as they should, but some of them are just beautifully hopeful.
Have you ever picked up a gay middle grade book, in the hopes of something lighter to read in between YA or adult books, and suddenly found yourself bawling over it, because there’s something about MG that just hits and yet is so hopeful?
If you haven’t, you’re missing out.
So, in the interests of helping you not miss out any more, I have compiled a rec list of MG books for you to cry over*.
*Disclaimer: you might not actually cry. I don’t know.
Because I haven’t read huge amounts of LGBT MG myself, here you’ll find 6 books I’d rec, and 4 upcoming releases I can’t wait to read.
Enjoy!
After a last minute switcheroo, today’s rec list is a long-awaited continuation of all those other sapphic rec lists (all the previous posts are here) which you have probably forgotten about. On request, this iteration is the first of (hopefully) many sapphic science fiction rec posts!
Same disclaimer as in that adult sci fi rec list (in which I apparently recced most of these books anyway…huh) applies: I really like hard sci fi, but I know that that’s not the case for everyone, so there are soft sci fi recs in here too (although by some strange coincidence, most of these recs take place in space…proof space is gay I think).
And, because I like fun, 5 of the books on this list are upcoming! (Okay, 6, but does it really count when that 6th is out in 5 days?).
So have a gander!
If there is one thing I care about deeply when it comes to YA literature, it’s supportive parents. I firmly believe that at least in fiction, LGBT kids deserve only the best. And nothing can be more formative than your parents being perfectly fine with who you are (as they always should be!) & allowing you to grow up with love and confidence.
So this is why this rec list got made. Because as much as I personally adore supportive parents, it’s still not the opinion shared by majority and books featuring them are scarce. All the more reasons to appreciate them!
…or urbanish, since most of these turned out to be historical fantasies. But that still counts, in my opinion.
But anyway! Today’s rec list is a continuation of a previous one, because I’ve done high fantasy, I did adult fantasy, and Anna did (some) YA fantasy. So where else to turn to next, but (back) to urban fantasy. So. Without further ado, let’s start!
P.S. you can see what I recced in the first of these posts here.
A little while back, I touted the possibility on twitter of doing a rec list of Arthurian retellings, but gay (obviously). Now, I thought this would be a pretty niche rec list, but apparently not, which is why I’m here today with 10 gay retellings of Arthurian legend.
First things first, I haven’t read any of these myself, and a fair few are upcoming because, as it turns out, gay Arthurian retellings aren’t that big a market (shamefully, let’s be real). So I have dispensed “why should I read it” sections, since all I can really say is it’s gay, it’s Arthuriana, why aren’t you as excited as I am already.
One last thing before we start though. You will probably notice one book in particular missing and I just want to say, before people start mentioning it in the comments, I do know about it. I didn’t get along with it. That’s why it’s not on this list.
P.S. if you want more than this post, I made a list on Goodreads of everything I could find.
When I wrote up the schedule for this month’s posts, I was initially planning for this rec list to be a continuation of that sapphic series. But, at the eleventh hour, I changed my mind, and went with adult sci fi recs.
Sci fi is, in all honesty, one of my favourite genres. And particularly sci fi that leans towards being hard rather than soft (as such, if you don’t like hard sci fi, you may not find a whole lot on this list for you, for which I apologise). And when that sci fi is gay? It just makes it all the better.
So, here are ten of my absolute faves.
The other day Charlotte made for you guys a rec list of adult fantasy books, and so here I am, trying to maintain my brand, reccing YA books.
Specifically, sapphic YA books. I don’t have a particular reasoning here, I’ve just read a bunch of them this year, so it seemed quite obvious. I want to say right away, though, that I didn’t include Crier’s War here, despite it being one of my favourite books. I just figured y’all know about it anyway, so there’s no point! But this is your reminder that it exists, and that Iron Heart comes out next month.
And hey, a lot of those 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.)
Okay, let’s go!
Full disclosure, this year has been bad for me in terms of reading and loving YA fantasy. Yes, I have loved some, but also I’ve been bored as anything by others. So I’ve turned a fair bit to adult fantasy — mostly avoiding all the white cishet men writing it, of course.
This is not a definitive list of all the LGBT adult fantasy novels I have loved, of course. I went to write down possible entries to this list and ended up with about twice as many that I loved, and maybe three or four times as many that I would rec. But these are ten of my favourites.
So, dive in, and I hope you find something to enjoy here!
A bit of a different post for you today in that it’s not really got a theme as such. Instead I went for books that I’d rec that have fewer than 400 ratings (criminally) on Goodreads (as voted for on twitter, actually).
There is a somewhat…eclectic mix here, for sure. But I hope it’s such that you will be able to find something you’re interested in, no matter what you’re looking for.
Oh, and I tried my best to include books that didn’t have so few ratings just because they had only recently been released.
So check it out!
Forgive me if I keep this brief, this post took longer than I expected, and I really need to sleep. But here it is! The final part of our “like this, try that” series, this one dedicated to solely straight media.
Apologies for the sort of… eclectic mix of media. When we thought about this, we realised we didn’t actually know a whole lot of straight media ourselves, so asked twitter (and pooled some ideas). So yeah.
Happy Pride and enjoy!
