• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Gender in SFF

    A while back, Anna asked for rec list suggestions and one of the ones that came up was nonbinary SFF. Now, they passed that onto me, since that’s not really their ballpark, and I sort of changed the rules ever so slightly. Instead of solely nonbinary rep (although most of the books here are still that), I’ve just gone for SFF that actually considers gender in its worldbuilding.

    It’s a smaller category than you might think, sadly. But because it’s Christmas (or another winter holiday of your choice), I’ve lengthened this post from the usual 10 books to include a couple more.

    So, enjoy!

  • All Recommended,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: LGBT Romcoms

    Okay, before we start: yes, there’s only one movie with trans rep and it’s a short feature at that. I know. (I made the list 11 titles long instead of the usual 10 to counterbalance that.) I was going to include Boy Meets Girl (which features a trans actress in the main role, in case you didn’t know), but frankly I have very mixed feelings about that movie. It feels a lot like a film for cis audience and not at all for trans people, and I really, really don’t understand why they didn’t go the sapphic route all the way.

    I will tell you about an upcoming romcom with a trans main character played by a trans actress, though! Right now it’s called Re-Live: A Tale of an American Island Cheerleader and it stars Rain Valdez in the main role. Look out for that in 2021!

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Graphic Novels (II)

    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.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Books With Less Than 400 Goodreads Ratings (II)

    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…

  • All Recommended,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: Movies with two QPOC leads

    I’m sure y’all noticed that weird trend in Hollywood where if one half of a gay couple is POC, the other, without fail, is white. Yeah, we can have some diversity, but just not too much.

    So that’s why this rec list came to be. Here you will find ten gay and lesbian movies where both the main character and the love interest are QPOC. Turns out, it’s not impossible to achieve!

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Gay books matching the feeling of Siken poetry

    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.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Sapphic Science Fiction (I)

    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!

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Urban Fantasy (II)

    …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.

  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: The Magic Fish

    After going slightly rogue last month and picking three books of the month, for September we’re back to usual, with just a single book. We had no trouble looking through our releases list and choosing this one because, in all honesty, it’s one we’re incredibly excited for.

    But anyway, read on to find out more!

    Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Adult Fantasy

    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!

    See also: Adult LGBT Sci Fi Books
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Sapphic YA Contemporary (II)

    It’s been a while since I last did one of these, and I have since read a fair few sapphic books. So, with the second resurgence of the f/f twitter discourse in a week, obviously my only recourse is to rec posts.

    And here I am.

    I also figured I’d go back to YA contemporary because, duh, I know more of them. But to mix things up a little, I’ll add a couple of upcoming ones you can support!

    As ever, all the previous posts are here. The previous contemporary rec list can be found here.

    Also as ever, it’s actually f/f or otherwise sapphic books.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Scribd LGBT Starter Pack

    It’s quarantine day 2839394, you already baked your sourdough bread, learned how to embroider, cleaned all the grout in your flat, and – in a ideal world – finished all the books on your bookshelves. What to do now, you ask? Read more, of course!

    Because we’re all tight on funds right about now, I would like to remind you that Scribd is offering a 30 days free trial on their whole library. If you’re not familiar with the website, this post would be a good place for you to get going. I tried to include a variety of genres in this list, but like it says in the title, it literally is just a starter pack.

    (And if you’ll use my invite link, you will actually get two months off and I will get one, too. It’s a win-win situation.)

    Final note: I very much encourage you to leave reviews of the books you’ll read on amazon and/or goodreads, and buying your own copies, if you can afford it. Or requesting them at your local library once it’s open again!

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Urban Fantasy (I)

    High fantasy’s all well and good, but sometimes you just want to read something that happens in a world you recognise. So that’s what’s happening in this rec list! Ten great urban fantasy novels (featuring LGBT characters, of course).

    And just to make it that much better, I’ve tried to make this rec list as not-white as possible (though you’ll be able to tell where I failed in that), for whoever asked for this specifically (because I don’t remember, so I hope you see this!!).

    So, let’s go!

    See also: Urban LGBT Fantasy, part II.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Sapphic Fantasy (I)

    I am here today, entirely reluctantly it should be noted, to rec you all some f/f fantasy books. (Not reluctantly because I don’t like the genre, I hasten to add, but because sometimes it’s all I seem to be asked to rec when it comes to f/f. But anyway.)

    But you asked, so here I am.

    As ever, I haven’t read every single book on this list. This is just a starter pack for you. And today, because f/f fantasy is a comparatively big genre, I’m going to try rec books that I know are less popular (so if you don’t see some big names on here, that’s why! And also I feel like I end up reccing the same books over and over for this genre so…trying to branch out a little).

    Again, all the previous posts are here.