'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 10

YA Pride!

I’m pretty sure I’ve told the story of how Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks happened on this blog before, but the quick version is this: I was at a retreat with the publisher and a bunch of other authors, and we took a “pitch” class where we learned how to craft our pitches to be sharper/more contained, and then we did a “blurb” contest where we had a few minutes to write up a blurb, and then we took turns reading them out, and I wrote the back-cover-copy almost exactly as it eventually appeared on Exit Plans and won the contest.

Gift card in hand, the acquisitions editor said, “Before I give you this, when can we expect the book?”

So, I’m not saying the only way I ever got the courage to attempt to write a YA novel was by trickery, but I’m not not saying that, either.

It’s funny now, of course, that I’ve written more YA and love it, and it took writing Exit Plans to get me there, but since I’m talking YA, how about I talk about some queer YA I love, huh?

One Fame, One Fate, Both Queer YA

Okay, before I begin talking about Adib Khorram’s Kiss & Tell, I need to state two things very, very clearly. One, despite being Canadian (I have papers now and everything!) I know zilch about hockey. Two, despite being queer, I know zilch about boy bands. So when I say that former-Hockey-star-turned-boy-band-songwriter-and-guitar-player Hunter had me pretty much from step one, you need to understand just how incredible a fact that is.

Honestly, what really grabbed me here was how hyper-aware poor Hunter has become. He’s an openly gay kid in an up-and-coming, starting-to-really-hit-it boy band, and all eyes are on him to be… well, perfect. And by perfect, I mean “a perfectly palatable and good-example queer,” in which I give all the props to Khorram for underlining how awful respectability politics is, but how much corporations love it, because it’s so easy to market it. And given Hunter just broke up with someone, is having feelings for a member of his band’s opening act, and knows any mistake could ruin everything—oh, and then someone he trusts decides to total betray him? Oof. I spent so much time in this book angry at the people who should be taking care of Hunter.

That said? There’s so much here that comes from being this massively famous on-stage queer boy that translates so easily to “existing while queer anywhere” that I loved. And as a kicked-to-the-curb-queer myself, I also appreciated how much Hunter thought about those who didn’t have that kind of support and spotlight. He’s not perfect, and no one can be perfect, but he keeps trying. But, again, it’s impossible. Something is going to give.

Oh, and if you possibly can, nab this one on audio. There’s a massively polished, publisher-spared-no-expense, multi-cast recording of it and it’s freaking great.

Hunter never expected to be a boy band star, but, well, here he is. He and his band Kiss & Tell are on their first major tour of North America, playing arenas all over the United States and Canada (and getting covered by the gossipy press all over North America as well). Hunter is the only gay member of the band, and he just had a very painful breakup with his first boyfriend–leaked sexts, public heartbreak, and all–and now everyone expects him to play the perfect queer role model for teens.

But Hunter isn’t really sure what being the perfect queer kid even means. Does it mean dressing up in whatever The Label tells him to wear for photo shoots and pretending never to have sex? (Unfortunately, yes.) Does it mean finding community among the queer kids at the meet-and-greets after K&T’s shows? (Fortunately, yes.) Does it include a new relationship with Kaivan, the star of the band opening for K&T on tour? (He hopes so.) But when The Label finds out about Hunter and Kaivan, it spells trouble—for their relationship, for the perfect gay boy Hunter plays for the cameras, and, most importantly, for Hunter himself.

From fame, we go to fate, and another YA book I loved where a kid finds himself in a very different sort of spotlight. If you’ve been around my blog for long, likely it will not surprise you I’m talking about Jeffrey Ricker’s The Unwanted. This one plays to my spec-fic loving heart, and features Jamie, who after a spectacularly bad day with bullies and school and just being done with it all, comes home to find his mother waiting for him.

Which, y’know, is kind of a big deal since his single-dad has told him his mother was dead. That’d be enough to deal with, but it turns out his mother is also an amazon—like, as in mythological amazon—which would be impossible to believe, if it weren’t for the freaking pegasus in the back yard she arrived on. She just didn’t bother being any part of his life because, well, he’s a boy.

But, by the way, Jaime’s fated to save her entire people, so would he mind coming along and doing that?

Yeah. Yeah he’d mind. But the thing about fate is it doesn’t often care what the individual wants.

My love for this book basically comes down to how deftly Ricker plays Jamie off against the supernatural in a way that grounds itself so much in his queerness and the realities of being tossed aside for a mere quality of being (which is an easy metaphor for any queer reader to feel, no?). Ricker even redeems a trope I normally loathe, and even more than that? The ending of this book! Just trust me.

Jamie Thomas has enough trouble on his hands trying to get through junior year of high school without being pulverized by Billy Stratton, his bully and tormentor. But the mother he was always told was dead is actually aliveand she’s an Amazon!

Sixteen years after she left him on his father’s doorstep, she’s backand needs Jamie’s help. A curse has caused the ancient tribe of warrior women to give birth to nothing but boys, dooming them to extinction until prophecy reveals that salvation lies with one of the offspring they abandoned.

Putting his life on the line, Jamie must find the courage to confront the wrath of an angry god to save a society that rejected him.

What have been your favourite queer young adult books? Any others that deal with fame or fate (or anywhere in between?) Hit me up and let me know.

One (Night) Pride!

More romance trope talk today for Pride Month, and this time it’s one I find extra enjoyable with queer characters, and that’s the “one night stand” trope. Why do I love this one? Because it’s (a) sex positive and (b) doesn’t as often play into respectability politics, given we’re talking people who believe they are hopping into bed for one night of fun with no strings.

And that’s fine! Two consenting allosexual people who want to have some physical fun? Great!

Of course, in romance, things are never that simple. When I hooked elbows with Angela S. Stone to co-author Saving the Date—where we wrote two dudes with very different reasons for using a service to hook them up for a one night stand—we knew going in what these two fellas did not: that one night wasn’t going to cut it for them.

So today? Today let’s talk about some other fabulous queer one night stands that came back for more.

Oops, Not Just One!

First off, Hudson Lin’s Hard Sell. If you’re already on board with a “one night stand” that chooses not to remain as such, may I also up the stakes with “best friend’s little brother”? Oh, and while we’re here, how about some “chosen family” and a healthy dash of “second chance romance”?

Yeah, see, basically this is ‘Nathan catnip, right? And let me tell you Hudson Lin writes pining, steam, and catching feelings in the best way. Even better, a favourite for me in romance is the outside-born crisis moment, meaning there are things outside the couple that are causing the stress and making them doubt their feelings, rather than “just listen and talk to each other!” and I freaking loved the crisis moment in this book for multiple reasons.

One night wasn’t enough.

Danny Ip walks into every boardroom with a plan. His plan for struggling tech company WesTec is to acquire it, shut it down, and squeeze the last remaining revenue out of it for his Jade Harbour Capital portfolio. But he didn’t expect his best friend’s younger brother—the hottest one-night stand he ever had—to be there.

Tobin Lok has always thought the world of Danny. He’s funny, warm, attractive—and totally out of Tobin’s league. Now, pitted against Danny at work, Tobin might finally get a chance to prove he’s more than just Wei’s little brother.

It takes a lot to get under Danny’s skin, but Tobin is all grown up in a way Danny can’t ignore. Now, with a promising patent on the line and the stakes higher than ever, all he can think about is getting Tobin back into his bed—and into his life for good.

If only explaining their relationship to Wei could be so easy…

Okay, if Hudson Lin brough the second chance magic alongside some one night stand, Frederick Smith tosses “enemies to lovers” into the pile alongside said second chance, and gives us two men who truly believe they’re just letting off steam before they head in two very different directions with their lives and then… Well. Turns out they might not be just One and Done.

Oh, and I forgot. This one also has forced proximity, co-workers (which they both realize is a massive conflict of interest) and so much more “this is such a bad idea” packed into their points of view that you can’t blame them for taking so long to realize they are totally doomed for each other. They crackle, spark, and I even ended up forgiving bad tipping. I mean, how can that not be love, right?

One night of passion and possibly one more chance at love…

Determined, motivated, goal-driven, and eternally single, Dr. Taylor James is an accomplished university administrator in San Francisco determined to get his campus successfully through an upcoming accreditation process. The process could set him up for his ultimate career goal–to be one of the only Black and openly queer university presidents in the US. Taylor gives himself just one day a week to have fun and let loose with friends–a one and done Sunday Funday brunch in the Castro District.

Dustin McMillan is a consultant and project manager who reluctantly returns to the Bay Area, his hometown, for an assignment. The first in his family to finish college, earn a healthy six-figure income, and have choice and agency in his life’s direction, Dustin is fearful that returning home could mean falling back into roles that he’d thought he’d resolved by moving miles away…and equally fearful of falling back into bed with one sexy and toxic ex-boyfriend who still lingers in his memories.

One chance encounter. One night of passion. Will Taylor and Dustin leave it at one and done?

And there you go! Got any favourite queer “this was supposed to be a one night stand!” reads you’ve loved? Hit me up and let me know…

Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey Pride!

I will always love speculative fiction, and most of my favourite reading experiences when I was younger—The Chrysalids, Witch, A Wrinkle in Time—involved time, space, and/or psychic abilities of some kind. The vast majority of my early writing landed in spec-fic—as is likely obvious to those of you around here on the regular. Even when I tried to write my first romance short story, it ended up involving ghosts and healing…

My first novella? Time travel—sort of. In Memoriam, my wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey romance about an editor who learns he’s quite literally running out of time, and then also learns he has access to the moments of his life he regrets through his journals, and starts making different choices.

And changes time.

So, today, on my journey through Pride Month recommendations, let’s talk tales from differen dimensions, ones that change time, space, or history—or all of the above—and left me completely wowed…

Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey Pride

So much of spec-fic is based in “what-if?” and sometimes what authors do with that leaves me absolutely gobsmacked. So, first off, allow me to introduce you to a city where the queer people have built a country of their own. That’s right—an entire city where queerness is enshrined as not just tolerated or accepted, but is, in fact, the central pillar of society.

Awesome, right?

Not so fast. Because if there’s anything Redfern Jon Barrett knows how to do, it’s to take something binary—good or bad, gay or straight, you name the dichotomy—and then shatter the false binary into something way, way, way more nuanced and fascinating than you ever considered.

Meet Proud Pink Sky. I freaking loved how Proud Pink Sky took the dangers of respectability politics, alongside bi-erasure, the hostility and ignorance around polyamory, the internal trans-hate within the queer community, and the focus on false binaries—all from within our real-world queer movements—and plays them out on this stage.

A glittering gay metropolis of 24 million people, Berlin is a bustling world of pride parades, polyamorous trysts, and even an official gay language. Its distant radio broadcasts are a lifeline for teenagers William and Gareth, who flee toward sanctuary. But is there a place for them in the deeply divided city

Meanwhile, young mother Cissie loves Berlin’s towering high rises and chaotic multiculturalism, yet she’s never left her heterosexual district—not until she and her family are trapped in a queer riot. With her husband Howard plunging into religious paranoia, she discovers a walled-off slum of perpetual twilight, home to the city’s forbidden trans residents.

Challenging assumptions of sex and gender, Proud Pink Sky questions how much of ourselves we need to sacrifice in order to find identity and community.

Next up, why have one universe or timeline when you can have an infinite progression of them? The idea of a “multiverse” isn’t a new concept to science fiction, and I love the idea of alternate history, alternate timelines, alternate iterations of people or places and watching the “what-if?” play out over and over again.

Now, take all that through a queer lens of not only sexuality, but gender, and space-time, and then wrap it up in a plot with an organization intended to maintain order through, well, everything everywhere, and you’ll start to get an inkling of what’s coming from Sander Santiago’s One Verse Multi.

Paced just perfectly enough that the mind-bending realities protagonist Martin King faces down don’t completely overwhelm the reader (I am not so clever as to grasp quantum physics on the first go round) and weaves in one of the most extraordinary—and yet totally grounded—love stories I’ve read in a really long time.

For the last ten years, Martin King has been a rift repair technician for the Multi-verse Protection Corporation (MVP), closing gaps between universes. But he is ready for a change and joins a research team tasked with answering some exciting questions. “Exciting” quickly becomes “troubling” as the team learns that the multi-verse is on the fast track to a collision event that could destroy everyone and everything. MVP is there to help, right? Maybe not. Everything changes when Martin is kidnapped by an anti-MVP group who claims MVP is secretly propelling the collision.

And if the multi-verse issues weren’t enough, several men make Martin rethink what it means to be single or even monogamous. Martin’s growing feelings for Luca, the data manager on his research team, and Tidus from the FOX universe, help him understand what’s truly at stake. Only one thing is certain, Martin must figure out how to keep the multi-verse and his love life from collapsing into chaos.

Okay, hit me with your otherworld, other-universe, other-time best queer stories, and don’t go light on the quantum physics. Or… well, do. But I’ll try and work through the possibilities…

Vampire Pride!

Hello Pride Month revellers, how about we talk blood and biting today? I mean, let’s be honest, vampires and monsters have always stood in for queerfolk, whether we’re talking through the lens of panicked othering of anyone different (who must, then, be soulless monsters!) or just because so many queer people are the first to look at outcast monsters and be like, “That’s hot.”

I mean come on. Carmilla? There’s some major sapphic bite happening there. It’s not subtext. It’s just text.

Sorry, where was I? Vampires! Right. I, too, have delved into the writing of the queer vampire with Luc, a French Canadian vampire who is one of the three protagonists in Triad Blood (and the rest of the trilogy). Contemporary urban fantasy is full of awesome vampire types, and I have two more suggestions for you today…

Suggestions with bite, even.

First off, if you never thought to combine sororities and fraternities with blood-sucking demonic creatures of the night but wished you had, I have good news for you: Rebekah Weatherspoon was on the case years ago, and you now have three awesome books ahead of you, starting with Better off Red.

Weatherspoon’s world building is awesome, the characters sink their teeth in and don’t let go (I know, I know, sorry), and Ginger’s path from “I’m just here to get my education, damnit!” to “Sorry, the sexy lady is a what-now?” to “Yeah, okay, I want this!” is fantastic, and all against the backdrop of a freaking sorority. Like, I cannot tell you how much of an uphill climb an author has getting me to want to care about a fraternity or a sorority setting. Turns out the answer is vampires.

And, when you’re done, hop on right into Blacker than Blue and Soul to Keep. You’re welcome!

Every sorority has its secrets…

And college freshman Ginger Carmichael couldn’t care less. She has more important things on her mind, like maintaining her perfect GPA. No matter how much she can’t stand the idea of the cliques and the matching colors, there’s something about the girls of Alpha Beta Omega—their beauty, confidence, and unapologetic sexuality—that draws Ginger in. But once initiation begins, Ginger finds that her pledge is more than a bond of sisterhood, it’s a lifelong pact to serve six bloodthirsty demons with a lot more than nutritional needs.

Despite her fears, Ginger falls hard for the immortal queen of this nest, and as the semester draws to a close, she sees that protecting her family from the secret of her forbidden love is much harder than studying for finals.

Next up, we go down-under to Sydney. Now, if you’ve been around here long, you know I don’t often visit horror-like or horror-adjacent reading because I am a giant wuss. That said, I make exceptions whenever Christian Baines puts out a new book, and that’s because of his Arcadia Trust series, which began with The Beast Without.

First off, you don’t get to call Reylan a vampire to his face. He’s a Blood Shade, thankyouvery much, and that’s just one of the components of Baines’s world building I love so much in these books: it’s not just that we get to see a place that rarely gets the contemporary fantasy treatment, it’s that he takes most of the staple beings of the genre, and gives them a unique twist or two. They’re still vampires and werewolves and the like, but they’re also Baines’s vampires and werewolves.

The series is currently four books strong, too, continuing with The Orchard of Flesh (that title!), Sins of the Son, and the newly released Tears in Time (and to answer the question does “Tears” mean tears as in ‘from the eyes’ or tears as in ‘rips’? Yes.)

Reylan is everything a Sydney vampire aspires to be: wealthy, handsome and independent, carefully feeding off companions plucked from the gay bars of Oxford Street.

When one of those companions is killed by Jorgas, a hot-headed young werewolf prowling his streets, Reylan reluctantly puts his cherished lifestyle of blood and boys on hold to help a mysterious alliance of supernatural beings track down the beast. It can’t be that hard… not when Jorgas keeps coming after him. But there’s more to this werewolf than a body count and a bad attitude.

As their relationship grows deeper and more twisted, Reylan tastes Jorgas’ blood, reawakening desires the vampire had thought long dead. And what evolves between them may be far more dangerous than some rival predator in the dark…

Any good queer vampire books bitten you of late? Let me know!

Proximity Pride!

I’ve mentioned before how much I love how tropey romance is—if you like a particular set-up, you’ll have a shorthand to finding many variations thereof—and another favourite when it comes to romance for me is the Forced Proximity romance. That’s where two people find themselves in the same spot, and they don’t really have much choice in the matter. Sometimes that’s as specific as “there’s only one bed!”—which I played with in my own queer holiday romance, Felix Navidad, but often it’s just two people stuck somewhere for reasons (weather, airport delays, you name it) and realizing they’ve clicked.

But what’ll happen when the thing that’s got them staying in one place together is over?

Well, it’s romance. So you know what’s coming—this is why romance is such a comfort read, to be clear, and another reason to adore it—but it’s the journey that matters.

So, today for my Pride Month theme, I bring you some proximity romances…

First up is a romance that puts Proximity Romance alongside a cooking show background (eee!), rivals-to-lovers (eee!), and grumpy-and-sunshing (EEE!) and honestly, if I keep listing all the tropey goodness in Adriana Herrera’s Mangos and Mistletoe, I’ll probably start deafening bats, so I’ll stop.

The set-up is pretty simple: two women are partnered for a bake-off style show where the contestants are amateur-and-professional pairings, and while they’d both like to win, the stakes are exceptionally high for one of them, which leads her to being… let’s say, inflexible.

Now, it’s also a Herrera book, so you’re getting lots of spice along with those sweet baked goods, but if you’re looking for a holiday romance with both, look no further…

Kiskeya Burgos left the tropical beaches of the Dominican Republic with a lot to prove. As a pastry chef on the come up, when she arrives in Scotland, she has one goal in mind: win the Holiday Baking Challenge. Winning is her opportunity to prove to her family, her former boss, and most importantly herself, she can make it in the culinary world. Kiskeya will stop at nothing to win, that is, if she can keep her eyes on the prize and off her infuriating teammate’s perfect lips.

Sully Morales, home cooking hustler, and self-proclaimed baking brujita lands in Scotland on a quest to find her purpose after spending years as her family’s caregiver. But now, with her home life back on track, it’s time for Sully to get reacquainted with her greatest love, baking. Winning the Holiday Baking Challenge is a no brainer if she can convince her grumpy AF baking partner that they make a great team both in and out of the kitchen before an unexpected betrayal ends their chance to attain culinary competition glory.

If you’re more the reader on the sweet side, and you want a big ol’ cuddly fella to root for, then Hank Edwards has you covered with Snowflakes and Song Lyrics. Here the set-up is adorable: big ol’ Will is stuck in a hotel where his heat won’t turn off—and even though it’s cold and snowing out, it’s way too hot in the room—so he cracks a window, and hears singing? Who’d be outside singing in the snow? Well, turns out it’s his favourite country and music star, trying to write a holiday song of his own, and he’s stuck, judging by how he keeps repeating and trailing off.

Will, being a shy fella, listens and watches, but also has ideas for the lyrics, and takes to leaving them out on the country singer’s balcony where he saw him, and… well. This one should get the full on Hallmark Movie treatment, is what I’m saying. Like, I re-read this one yearly because of how much I freaking love the snuggly, snow-and-song, oh-look-holiday-magic of it all.

It even has a perfectly written snarky and over-the-top best friend giving Will advice over his computer screen.

A hotel room with an overactive heater. A rising star struggling to write a Christmas song. Song lyrics written in secret.

Will Johnson is shocked to discover his hotel room window overlooks the courtyard patio of one of his favorite gay singers, Rex Garland. Even more amazing, Rex seems interested in Will too.

When Will overhears Rex struggling to write an original Christmas song, he is struck by a flash of inspiration and drafts an anonymous note with song lyrics. Will is sure nothing will come of it, but the Christmas magic swirling amidst all the snow in upstate New York is about to change both their lives forever.

This funny, sweet, and heart-warming love story about a boy-next-door and the celebrity of his dreams is set in the Williamsville Inn world.

Hit me with your favourite proximity romances! (Or, hey, books you think should be movies by now, damnit!) Really, just tell me what you’re reading and loving and it’s fine. Happy Pride!

Faux Pride!

One of my favourite things about being a writer of queer romance is how romance has tropes to play with, and among those tropes a favourite has long been the fake relationship, or “the fauxmance.” When I say I like this trope, I mean I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to go there, and dove in with Faux Ho Ho (doubling down with the holiday romance trope, and I’ll note quite often I see the fauxmance paired with holidays, but not always, as you’ll see below).

Fake relationships please me when we’re talking queer romance because of the opposite side of the coin in reality—I love that it turns an oft-lived and beyond-awful reality for many queer people (pretending not to be together, either circumstantially or chronically) into the opposite (pretending to be together), and then doubles down by adding feelings.

I mean. Yes. Please.

So, today, let’s talk about two of my favourite fake relationship queer romance reads…

Some Fauxmance Reading for Pride!

I cannot imagine beginning this topic without including Rebekah Weatherspoon’s “Xeni.” I. Freaking. Loved. This. Book. Two bisexual leads put in the position of needing to marry to inherit—it’s got the whole “in the will it states you need to be married if you want to inherit” trope in there, too, yes, and it’s awesome—and so Xeni and a big burly bear of a Scotsman decide they’ll do the legal minimum requirement…

…oh, and maybe also have some great sex, why not?

I listened to this one on audiobook, actually, and it was a blast. But I’ve re-read it a few times in e-print as well and I just never get tired of Xeni, her friends, or the whole group of found and biological family surrounding everyone. Also, bisexual leads just existing. More of that, please!

She just wanted to claim her inheritance. What she got was a husband…

Xeni Everly-Wilkins has ten days to clean out her recently departed aunt’s massive colonial in Upstate New York. With the feud between her mom and her sisters still raging even in death, she knows this will be no easy task, but when the will is read Xeni quickly discovers the decades old drama between the former R&B singers is just the tip of the iceberg.

The secrets, lies, and a crap ton of cash spilled on her lawyer’s conference room table all come with terms and conditions. Xeni must marry before she can claim the estate that will set her up for life and her aunt has just the groom in mind. The ruggedly handsome and deliciously thicc Scotsman who showed up at her aunt’s memorial, bagpipes at the ready.

When his dear friend and mentor Sable Everly passed away, Mason McInroy knew she would leave a sizable hole in his heart. He never imagined she’d leave him more than enough money to settle the debt that’s keeping him from returning home to Scotland. He also never imagined that Sable would use her dying breaths to play match-maker, trapping Mason and her beautiful niece in a marriage scheme that comes with more complications than either of them need.

With no choice but to say I do, the unlikely pair try to make the best of a messy situation. They had no plans to actually fall in love.

Next up, A Convenient Arrangement by Aurora Rey and Jaime Clevenger. This one takes a fauxmance in a sapphic direction, and then adds in the idea of cuffing. (If you don’t know what cuffing is, don’t worry! It’s not about handcuffs, or at least, only metaphorically, in the same vein as “hooking up” or “getting hitched.” Cuffing means hooking up with someone, but the idea of “Cuffing Season” is doing so with a time-limit: Thanksgiving, the holidays, maybe all the way to Valentine’s Day.

In this book, we’ve got a journalist and a single-mom who decide to cuff up for the holidays. For the journalist, it’s her shot at a bigger byline and a larger readership and—also—something a bit more serious and deeper than she’s usually given to work with. For the single mom and academic, it’s some fun, no-strings-attached, and a chance to spend time with a great woman—and also to have a date for a string of academic events and maybe land some upward motion in her career.

Oh, and as with every Rey book I’ve read, it scorches.

Cuffing season has come for lesbians.

Jess Archer, digital journalist for the internet’s hottest lesbian media platform, has been assigned to research cuffing, from an up close and personal perspective. She’s not sure it’s really her thing, but the assignment gives her the chance to write something more substantial than her usual fluff pieces. All she needs now is a willing lesbian.

For Cody Dawson, signing up for Jess’s project is a no-brainer. She gets to date an interesting woman, enjoy her company, and not disrupt the tidy life she’s built for her son. Everything’s perfect until she starts falling for Jess. When she realizes she’s heart-deep in the feelings she’s agreed not to have, their convenient arrangement becomes anything but.

What about you? Got a favourite pair of fakers who end up realizing fake is just a foundation for not-so-fake-after-all? Let me know!

Tabletop Tuesday — Hero Pride!

Okay, so when I blog on Tuesdays, I try to stick to some gaming nerdery, and when I decided I’d attempt to post a couple of recommendations for Pride Month every day, the intersection of the two gave me a chuckle. I mean, last year, I made up a whole superhero team based on the original Pride flag, and I do want to get back to that, bringing them into the current day.

My debut novel was Light, which as as much a love-letter to the X-Men as it was to Pride. My favourite comic book heroes as a kid were the X-Men because of the obvious allegory: they were individuals who were born different to parents not at all like them, and hated and feared because they were different. I mean… hey.

So. Day four of Pride Month, let’s talk super-heroics (and also TTRPGs, if I can swing both).

Sure I can.

First, let’s talk a queer superhero novel I freaking adored, Sacred Band. Joseph D. Carriker Jr. came up with a world where a series of eruptions activated superpowers in various individuals across the globe decades ago, and drops us into the present day fallout thereof. Carriker walks a fine line in this one between showing us a world that’s gotten jaded and the power of hope—and the power of action, especially the action of a group of queer folk banding together to do something right, even when it’s considered illegal.

I mean, it’s Pride Month. You didn’t think I’d make it through without reminding you to throw bricks, no?

A facet of this book I really loved was how the superheroes involved do face off against some world-stage issues, while zipping around and dealing with local troubles as well. Carriker’s world lives and breathes, and the characters are awesome, flawed people with awesome powers. (Oh, and for my Mutants and Masterminds nerds, you can get all the characters statted out for your game, too, at that link. So, win-win.)

The golden age of heroes is decades past. Society at large found it could not condone vigilantism. Now metahumans are just citizens — albeit citizens with incredible talents — who are assisted in living “normal” lives by the government.

Magnetically-empowered college student Rusty Adamson may have been a child during that glorious age of superheroics, but he vividly remembers the deeds of his idol, Sentinel. Sentinel used his incredible powers to save lives and right wrongs — until losing the man he loved and being publicly outed caused him to disappear from public life. When Rusty’s gay friend Kosma goes missing in Ukraine, Rusty realizes there is still a place for superheroes, and sets out to bring Sentinel out of the shadows to help find his friend.

But the disappearance of Kosma is one small move in a staggering global plot against queer youth. In the modern world, a team of supers may seem old-fashioned, but the battle against the sinister forces targeting the LGBTQ+ world may require some incredible reinforcements. 

Now, I said I was an X-Men fan, but I’m going to go out of character here and dive on over to the DC side for this next suggestion, which is You Brought Me the Ocean, by Alex Sanchez (and illustrated by Julia Maroh). I confess to knowing very little about Aquaman and Aqualad beyond what I saw of them in Young Justice (which I adored) but this book sort of grabbed my wee heart and wouldn’t let go.

At the core, this is a lovely story about a nascent super-hero and gay kid and a kind of double-whammy coming-out he’s dealing with. Also, parents doing their best and not always getting it right, friendships evolving, and—of course—a first kiss. It’s a lot to juggle, but somehow this one balances all the moving parts with an end result of being completely damned charming.

Jake Hyde doesn’t swim—not since his father drowned. Luckily, he lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, which is in the middle of the desert, yet he yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown for a college on the coast. But his best friend, Maria, wants nothing more than to make a home in the desert, and Jake’s mother encourages him to always play it safe.

There’s nothing “safe” about Jake’s future—not when he’s attracted to Kenny Liu, swim team captain and rebel against conformity. And certainly not when he secretly applies to Miami University. Jake’s life begins to outpace his small town’s namesake, which doesn’t make it any easier to come out to his mom, or Maria, or the world. 

But Jake is full of secrets, including the strange blue markings on his skin that glow when in contact with water. What power will he find when he searches for his identity, and will he turn his back to the current or dive headfirst into the waves? 

What are your favourite queer superheroes? Let me know. Also let me know if you’d be interested in more Pride March, as I only got the superheroes to 1997, when a new group was going to pick up the mantle of their superhero group. Maybe I can do another team…

Chosen Pride!

Okay, it will likely surprise no one that I have a thing for chosen family themed queer stories. I mean, one glance at Handmade Holidays and you know I am all about the group of castoffs finding and making their own future. Nick and the gang literally call themselves the Misfit Toys, after all.

So, given it’s Pride Month, and I’m doing my wee trek through some of my favourite queer books this month, I thought today I’d chat up some awesome queer books I freaking adore that are built on that foundation of finding a fellow Misfit or two and making that choice.

Let’s talk chosen and found families, enduring queer friendships, and maybe pull off a heist and/or save the world, shall we?

Okay, this nine-book novella series is three books in so far, but try to imagine, if you will, a fantasy world road-trip (in a sentient wagon, of course) where it turns out the only thing that might save the world is begun with five words, an immediate connection of loyalty and friendship, and a shared resolve to ride-or-die to something better. This is queer fantasy series grounds an awesome narrative on a foundation centering aromantic relationships, asexuality, and gender beyond the binaries, including agender.

And I’m still underselling this. Just trust me. Nab yourself a copy of Claudie Arseneault’s Awakenings and enjoy the (sentient wagon) ride. And as I said, there are nine in total to come, of which the next two are already available, Flooded Secrets and The Sea Spirit Festival.

Your story is my story…

As the city’s eternal apprentice, Horace has never found a clan to belong to. E has joined Trenaze’s guards with hopes to finally earn eir place during eir trial day at the Great Market—that is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city’s protective dome. Armed with a sword and too little training, Horace doubts in eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the shards with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.

From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company, Horace is ready to follow this elf as they seek the forest that haunts their dreams, and answers to the confounding events at the Market. Their story is eir story, and e is willing to confront the dangers of the road to hear their laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.

Awakenings is the first of nine novellas in a fantasy adventure blending cozy fantasy vibes and D&D style side-questing, imbued with an aspec-focused queernormative world and strong platonic bonds.

Now, if you prefer your sentient modes of transport to be high-tech instead of magic, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. If you’ve been around my page for a while, you’ve definitely heard me talk about Stephen Graham King’s Maverick Heart Cycle before, starting with Soul’s Blood, but I happen to know we’ve got more to look forward to.

The heart of the Maverick Heart Cycle to me is how deftly Stephen Graham King handles his worldbuilding—an entire galaxy, mind you—but does it almost one character at a time. And as Vrick (that’d be the sentient spaceship), Lexa-Blue, Keene, Ember, and more character come into mutual orbit of each other, their group consistently becomes more than the sum of its parts, and okay, maybe a heist, some ne’er-do-welling, and look, sometimes things are going to explode no matter what you do, okay?

Soul’s Blood starts off the cycle, followed by Gatecrasher, A Congress of Ships, and Ghost Light Burn. Nab ’em. Trust.

Equal parts troubleshooters and troublemakers, Keene and Lexa-Blue, along with the sentient ship, Maverick Heart, have been known to solve a problem or two. For the right price, that is.

Even so, they aren’t prepared for a summons from a love Keene thought long past. Daevin Adisi is now the Technarch of Brighter Light, one of the greatest corporate colony states in the Galactum, which is on the brink of war with Sotari, descendants of a people changed by nanogenetic experimentation. Seeking only to live a quiet, simple life free of the technology they blame for the worst part of their history, Sotari has struggled to co-exist with Brighter Light, which to them represents the worst of their own history.

And now, the uneasy truce has finally crumbled. In his last-ditch attempt to save their world, Daevin has called upon Keene to help him finally bring peace.

We’ve been at this for three days now, so you know what comes next. You tell me: hit me with your favourite queer found and chosen families!

Hi-Lo Pride!

A couple of days ago, I got to send in my manuscript for my second queer Hi-Lo YA, and I am very excited about that. It’s called Dogs Don’t Break Hearts—at least so far—and after writing Stuck With You, I’d been excited to get back to Hi-Lo again.

What’s a Hi-Lo? School Library Journal has your back if—like me—you’d gone years before hearing the term. “Hi-lo (high-interest, low readability) books are designed to engage struggling readers by exploring complex, age-appropriate themes at a lower reading level.” (Also, they said awesome things about Stuck With You, and gave me my very first starred review, so really, I think SLJ is pretty sweet.)

I was a precocious reader as a queerling, but as a queerling I also didn’t bump into books about kids like me. That wasn’t because queer YA books didn’t exist when I was a queerling, mind you. They did. But gatekeepers abounded, and the never-ending “but queerness is an adult topic!” lie—yes, that’s a damaging, bigoted lie—meant I didn’t get to learn they existed until I was a bookseller working my first bookstore job.

One of the reasons I wanted to write queer YA in the first place was to add more titles for queerlings to bump into. When I learned about Hi-Lo, thanks to Paul Coccia (see below), I was all-in. Because, again, all queerlings should get to see themselves in books, and that includes Hi-Lo books.

So, today for Pride Month, let’s talk about some queer Hi-Lo books!

Some Hi-Lo Reading for Pride

I mentioned Paul Coccia as being kind enough to be my entry point into learning about Hi-Lo, and when I heard him talk about it, I dove in and read Cub. Cub is a rare queer YA book in that our protagonist is, y’know, a cub—a young bear, in the queer vernacular sense—and his self-image and self-confidence are a big part of the story. Set against a cooking competition where Theo (the cub in question) is competing, Cub does a fantastic job of showing off some of the perils of the queer community right alongside some of the unique strengths, and I loved it. The second I finished Cub, I knew I wanted to write a hi-lo, too. (Oh, and Cub isn’t Coccia’s only Hi-Lo—he’s also written The Player, I Got You Babe, and Leon Levels Up; the former middle-grade about a kid wanting to do a Sonny-and-Cher routine for his school activity fair, the latter a really cool VR-game adventure where the main character finds himself stuck in a game.)

In the gay community, a young, husky man is known as a “cub,” seventeen-year-old Theo fits the definition perfectly, but he is very self-conscious about his body.

So when his best friend signs him up for a cooking competition at Heat, the city’s newest trendy restaurant, Theo is nervous. He’s confident in his baking ability and dreams of opening his own bakery one day, but he’s not a chef, and he hates being in the spotlight.

As Theo survives round after round, he gains the admiration of both the audience and the restaurant owner, a sexy celebrity chef known as KCC. When the owner makes it clear he is more interested in what Theo might do outside the kitchen, Theo has to decide how far he is willing to go to launch his career.

A week or so ago, I also picked up another Hi-Lo, Losing Hit Points, by Kristopher Mielke, and oh my gods am I adoring their book. First off: Dungeons and Dragons. Second: Gaming store. Third: Second-chance romance. I’m also really enjoying the underlining of queer-people-screwing-up-and-owning-up-to-it, as that’s a theme I don’t see explored a whole lot. One of the things around queerness and our lack of inheritability to the whole culture thereof is how easy it is for us to screw up with each other. Mielke is handling this so deftly, and their story is all the stronger for it. I’ll gush more when I finish, but in the meanwhile, the game-sessions vs. real-life balance has me enjoying two stories at the same time.

After Rumour came out as trans, Journey—her best friend—dropped her. When a D&D game brings them face-to-face, Journey must confront their shame and their suppressed romantic feelings.

Losing Hit Points is a nerdy queer romance book set against the backdrop of a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game. A romantic story filled with goblins, adventure, and the healing power of admitting our mistakes.

Equal parts touching and laugh-out-loud funny, trans teen Journey has the chance to play an epic game of Dungeons & Dragons. Surprise encounters are common in D&D but what they don’t expect is to reconnect with an ex-friend who they still love and have wronged in the past.

Kristopher Mielke’s newest novel melds the fun of the popular fantasy role-playing game with a touching plot about admitting one’s mistakes and making up for the past, while looking ahead towards a brighter future — together.

I hope I’ve piqued your interest in considering some Hi-Lo for the queerlings in your life (or, hey, none of us are too old to read YA, and like I said, I freaking love reading these). What was the first queer YA you read and loved? I’d love to hear about it.

A (Short) Happy Pride!

Hey all! Happy Pride Month! Even though Ottawa does its Pride Week and the parade in August—more on that another day—this month always brings me a mix of joy, mostly born of queer visibility and discussion, and also sometimes a wee bit of anxiety, also mostly born of queer visibility and discussion, but let’s start off the way we mean to end, eh?

Or actually, let’s start short.

We all know I love short stories, novellas, anthologies, and collections. Whether I’m listening to them while I walk the doggo, reading them at bedtime, or any other moment where I’m down to read but I want something short, sharp, and awesome, short fiction is my go to.

I also know short fiction doesn’t really get much noise. I mean, I really know this. I released my own collection, Of Echoes Born, six years ago, and I promise I have not learned my lesson because I’ll be releasing another collection this year, but that’s another thing for later. (Was that teasing? It felt like teasing. Ah well. I teased.)

Today? Today let’s talk short stories.

Some Short(s) Reading for Pride

First off, I need to begin with a short story collection that—if you squint at it just right—isn’t, so perhaps if you’re short-story averse, I will hook you by saying Mercedes General, by Jerry L. Wheeler, absolutely fits the bill of a mosaic novel from one character’s point of view

I also feel like that’s not fair, because it’s an incredible collection of linked short fiction and it offers truly moving and damned important glimpses of history through the lens of a gay man of a generation many queerlings just didn’t—and still don’t—get to meet. To put it as simply as possible here, I loved this book. But if you want my full take on it, my review is here.

Mercedes General is a series of linked short stories following the exploits of writer Kent Mortenson and his husband, architect Spencer Michalek as they negotiate a life together from their first meeting as boys. Defying anyone who steps between them, they take on the challenges of growing up a couple—including battles with their families, pedophiles, protestors at their senior prom, and unwanted attention for starting an AIDS hospice during the early part of the epidemic.

“Tender and incisive, Wheeler’s stories meditate on mortality and loss in ways both discomfiting and consolatory. Spanning forty years, Mercedes General is also a queer coming-of-age collection that muses on death and fragility in a manner nothing short of revelatory. Never succumbing to the maudlin or the macabre, Wheeler’s collection charts the painful journey from the uncertainty of adolescence to the hard-earned cynicism of adulthood.” —Brian Alessandro, author of Performer Non Grata, co-writer of Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story: The Graphic Novel, and co-editor of Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs.

“Jerry Wheeler has written something special with Mercedes General. The story moves across decades, following the misadventures of two boys who have the great (mis)fortune to find each other so early in life, perhaps before they’re quite ready, and somehow defy all the odds — bigotry, well-intentioned but clueless relatives, and finally the HIV/AIDS pandemic — to carve out their own little corner of history. Ultimately, the story being told here is one that gay literature has somewhat overlooked, and it’s a story that matters. By turns wise, sad, funny, and raunchy, this is a book well worth reading.” —Marshall Moore, author of Love Is a Poisonous Color, I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing, and The Concrete Sky

Want another? I’ve got another! An anthology that literally just arrived a few days ago that I’m only three stories into but already loving: We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels, & Other Creatures, edited by Rob Costello. You’ve all known me long enough to know I’m not Mr. Horror, but YA horror is just about my level of enjoyment for most things, and come on, a Mothman story by Michael Thomas Ford? HOW CAN I NOT?

An empowering cross-genre YA anthology that explores what it means to be a monster, exclusively highlighting trans and queer authors who offer new tales and perspectives on classic monster stories and tropes. 

Be not afraid! These monsters, creatures, and beasties are not what they appear. We Mostly Come Out at Night is a YA anthology that reclaims the monstrous for the LGBTQA+ community while exploring how there is freedom and power in embracing the things that make you stand out. Each story centers on both original and familiar monsters and creatures—including Mothman, Carabosse, a girl with thirteen shadows, a living house, werebeasts, gorgons, sirens, angels, and many others—and their stories of love, self-acceptance, resilience, and empowerment. This collection is a bold, transformative celebration of queerness and the creatures that (mostly) go bump in the night.

Contributors include editor Rob Costello, Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, Rob Costello, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

It’s my intent this year to do small recommendation, discussion, and/or fun posts for Pride Month to pass the mic and/or make you smile, and I’d love to hear from you about any ol’ thing you’d like, but today I will ask: what’s a queer short story collection or anthology you’ve bumped into of late that you enjoyed?