Any litrpg in the list?

~ ipsita ✦ wrote: "Really looking forward to reading some queer mystery books. Any recommendations??"

Solstice by Eli Easton & R.J. Scott

Beyond Any Experience was so good that as soon as I had finished it, I read it again.

Wow! That is one powerful statement about a book!Bren wrote: "Beyond Any Experience was so good that as soon as I had finished it, I read it again."

Keramia wrote: "I wish there were more categories than just fiction/memoirs. General nonfiction? YA? Children's? Thrillers? Horror? Fantasy?"

There are some horrors lumped in with general fiction, but I'm quite put out at the lack of non-fiction besides memoirs. It really feels like it wasn't really thought out or put together with care. The lack of YA/teen/children's queer lit is especially worrying, since I feel those are the demographics who would benefit the most

Ayo wrote: "It’s genuinely upsetting to not see any asexual representation on these types of lists🥲. That said it’s nice to see QPOC and mlm writing by mlm representation so there’s that."

I haven't read it yet, only ordered it for the YA collection at my library, but "Wren Martin Ruins it All" seems like it'll be a fun read with an asexual protagonist navigating dating and falling in love

Alca wrote: "Any litrpg in the list?"

Great question/request. I had to go to Reddit to find any LGBTQLIT-RPG recs. Forgot I had read one of them:
Sufficiently Advanced Magic
Life in the North
A Rebel Rises
There's probably plenty more not collected in book format yet, check Royal Road?.

No effort put in at all... why are are there only 2 categories? no middle grade, graphic novels, no fantasy ... also no idea what kind of rep it is ... disappointing

I would add 'Gwen & Art Are Not in Love' by Lex Croucher - a YA medieval rom-com.

Grit: A collection of poetry by Silas Denver Melvin
I'd recommend this book to those who enjoy poetry about the queer experience.

No Armistead Maupin, Rita Mae Brown or Truman Capote? Okay, Truman didn't write (much) about queer folk but he was one. I take it if it's older than 20 years it doesn't count?

A big yes to Slum Boy by Juano Diaz. I would also like to give my support to Sam Kerr 🏳️‍🌈 especially at the moment with injury and other issues. Her books are fantastic My Football Journal

Check out Against All Odds by Nicky J Mason too.

ok I"m sure these are amazing but they're all like....such sad vibes like could we get some like sweet romances or fun queer books in here too pls???? also where is the ace rep???

there are so so many books that sound interesting! i read and loved Our Wives Under the Sea and i might actually reread it since it's short. one of my favorites that wasn't on this list is Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating which is a really fun YA sapphic romance! i love everything I've read from that author.

i would love to hear some recommendations for other queer horror-lite books for someone who's new to horror (and kind of a weenie about the genre haha). also would love some queer sci-fi, since i didn't see much on this list! also also would love books with nonbinary, genderqueer, and/or gender nonconforming characters - as a nonbinary person, i really don't see much of this represented in fiction.

Sunny wrote: "ok I"m sure these are amazing but they're all like....such sad vibes like could we get some like sweet romances or fun queer books in here too pls???? also where is the ace rep???"

How about Paladin's Hope by T Kingfisher or The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

~ ipsita ✦ wrote: "Really looking forward to reading some queer mystery books. Any recommendations??"

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen is fantastic. I also love Kristen Lepionka's Roxane Weary series, which is about a PI. If you like cozies, try Zac Bissonette's A Killer in Costumes and Misha Popp's slightly speculative Pies Over Guys series.

When's humility month?

Anthony wrote: "When's humility month?"

This month.

Stacey wrote: "Are we getting more lists for pride month for specific genres? I don't care for "coming of age" "literary fiction" contemporary etc. There's like three fantasy picks on here, no mystery picks."

For mystery, try Death in the Spires by KJ Charles. So good!

BEST!!!!

House of Our Queer: Healing, Reframing, and Reclaiming Your Spiritual Practice

^Great queer spirituality book, if you're looking to do some reclaiming. I'm biased since I published it, but it's very good!

Kellen wrote: "... i would love to hear some recommendations for other queer horror-lite books for someone who's new to horror (and kind of a weenie about the genre haha). ..."

For this, I'd recommend Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. It's post-apocalyptic religious horror centering around a cast of queer characters. It includes numerous trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and other gender noncomforming characters as part of the main cast. It is a YA novel, but it's definitely a mature read with more in common with adult literature than other YA.

For sci-fi recs, I'd recommend The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. It's marketed as a cutesy YA gay romcom, but it's more sci-fi than romance. I haven't read it myself, but I've heard from many close friends that it's quite good.

Other great books that i think would be fantastic for pride month is "Mr. Loverman" by Bernardine Evaristo, "Orlando" by Virginia Woolf and "Interview with the vampire" by Anne Rice

To those who are focussing on asexual representation. You’re missing a much larger issue. Why does Goodreads have no LGBTQ+ …. category all year long? They have subcategories within AA, POC & API (not LGBTQ+…. however) but not even a general category for us. I’ll bet Amazon could tell them exactly how we rank as book buyers, and I’m sure it’s as high as any other segment of the public. How about it, GR?

~ ipsita ✦ wrote: "Really looking forward to reading some queer mystery books. Any recommendations??"


Just finished Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica. Lesbian rep, full of twists and turns. Best mystery I've read so far this year

Hello Sharon, another amazing list ;)

I will read "The House in the Cerulean Sea" by T.J. Klune, I have a copy of this book. It is a YA/Queer/Fantasy/Magic Realism book, it seems very interesting.

Heydave wrote: "To those who are focussing on asexual representation. You’re missing a much larger issue. Why does Goodreads have no LGBTQ+ …. category all year long? They have subcategories within AA, POC & API (..."

Virtue signalling? What does AA stand for, Asian American or something?

~ ipsita ✦ wrote: "Really looking forward to reading some queer mystery books. Any recommendations??"

Murder on Castaway Island, by Alicia Gael

Kellen wrote: "there are so so many books that sound interesting! i read and loved Our Wives Under the Sea and i might actually reread it since it's short. one of my favorites that wasn't on this ..."

Hi! I can rec some queer horror/sci-fi for you! I'm afraid I can't really judge the scary levels of the horror, since I don't read a lot of it, myself, and when I do I tend to hit a squick limit on gore instead of getting scared.

For horror: What Moves the Dead (nonbinary rep, and Kingfisher's horror has always seemed pretty light to me), The Salt Grows Heavy (I'm fairly sure this was nb rep as well? It's been a while since I've read it, but it's very good if you can get over the insane vocabulary choices), Camp Damascus (This one squicked me out a little bit, but it was really good if you can handle a little gross body horror, gay/lesbian rep +bonus autistic rep!), The Woods All Black (trans rep, I haven't actually read this one yet, but it's on deck and I'm very excited to get to it).

For Sci-Fi: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (nonbinary MC, the coziest sf you'll ever read about burnout and human nature, one of my absolute favorites of all time, and the author's other books are very queer, cozy sf as well), Finna (nb and queer rep, the better Horrorstor), Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth (queer speculative fiction short story collection, a very joyful read), Light from Uncommon Stars (trans and lesbian rep, an absolutely wacky sff-fantasy blend and accurate violin facts!), Rosalind's Siblings (another queer short story collection, this time focusing on honoring scientists marginalized because of their gender).

One LGBTQ+ memoir book I can't recommend enough is "Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman" by Abby Stein. Abby is such a fascinating person, she was raised in a Hasidic community and abandoned her community to come out and live as a transgender woman. I don't normally read memoirs/autobiographies, but this book I devoured!

I’d recommend A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (sci-fi) for this list as well.

Keramia wrote: "I wish there were more categories than just fiction/memoirs. General nonfiction? YA? Children's? Thrillers? Horror? Fantasy?"

For scifi, I just read This is How You Lose the Time War and it was excellent. Post-apocalyptic fantasy, I would cite Hell Followed With Us because it was my favorite book of last year. Queen of the Conquered feels like ace rep, but I'm not 100% on that -- Callender does a lot of really good BIPOC representations in their fiction. I'd also point to Hurricane Child in their bibliography, which I would call fantasy realism, but it is MG. I've had another scifi, On the Edge of Gone on my TBR for ages. Hoping to pick it up this month. Legends & Lattes is kitschy, but cute -- very D&D fantasy if you're into that. Oh, and certainly this list wouldn't be complete without the sapphic Gideon the Ninth, which is the start of the wildest science fantasy series of all time.

Also, Becky Chambers writes a lot of queer-coded books. Basically recommend her whole bibliography -- lot of solarpunk, lot of scifi. And I DO NOT recommend David Levithan despite him being widely recommended for YA. The trans rep in his books is dodgy at best and damaging at worst.

Maxwell wrote: "Keramia wrote: "I wish there were more categories than just fiction/memoirs. General nonfiction? YA? Children's? Thrillers? Horror? Fantasy?"

For scifi, I just read [book:This is How You Lose the ..."

I'd like to add authors you'd be better off avoiding if you don't want any harmful representation, like John Boyne and Lisa Williamson.

I’d also add SARAHLAND by Sam Cohen.

i recently read “the girl from the sea” and “bloom”, they were really fun and cute. respectively they are wlw and mlm stories, i recommend you all to check them out

^ oh and they are graphic novels

no specific genres or categories makes this very hard to trawl through

Law wrote: "Heydave wrote: "To those who are focussing on asexual representation. You’re missing a much larger issue. Why does Goodreads have no LGBTQ+ …. category all year long? They have subcategories within..."

African-Americans,
People of Color, Asians & Pacific Islanders

Here are some gay mysteries, all but one are one book in a series. I’ve picked titles in the middle of their series, but you can start at the beginning. A few of these (with asterisks) can verge on horror--well, they had me nervous. You’ll probably see these are male authors. I’ll be honest, aside from Josh Lanyon and a few others, I just don’t read enough of women mystery authors’ work to be able to make recommendations. But I have read the full series of every one below.

Revision of Justice* Wilson, John Morgan
The Voxlightner Scandal (BJ Vinson Mystery #6) Travis, Don
Fire Watching (DS Adam Tyler #1) ½* Thomas, Russ
Lies With Man (Henry Rios Mystery 8) Nava, Michael
The Blind Tiger: Hidden Gotham #2 Holcombe, Chris
Deja Vieux: A Michel Doucette & Sassy Jones Mystery ½* Lennon, David
Gumshoe Gorilla Hartman, Keith
The Bright Lands: A Novel * Fram, John
The Slow Road to Hell (Elders Edge Mystery #2) Atherton, Grant

The following authors have created more than one series,
in fact these may not be their best best known:

The Seventh of December: The Czarina's Necklace Jones, Garrick
It Takes Two (A Caloosa Club Mystery) Mackle, Eliot
Willow Man * Inman, John
Campbell Curse (D.S.Billings Mystery #4) Bosman, Olivier
The Foreign Affair (The Delingpole Mysteries #3) Dawson, David C.
Royal Street Reveillon (Scotty Bradley Mystery) Herren, Greg
Fresh Kill — Jimmy McSwain Files #6 Carpenter, Adam
Crooked Colonel (Nick & Carter Adventure #1) Butterfield, Frank W.
Nobody Rides For Free: Angus Green #2 Plakcy, Neil S.
Late Fees: A Pinx Video Mystery #3 Thornton, Marshall

Ayo wrote: "Saint Alea wrote: "Ayo wrote: "It’s genuinely upsetting to not see any asexual representation on these types of lists🥲. That said it’s nice to see QPOC and mlm writing by mlm representation so ther..."

What's wrong with Loveless? I'm not ace and I'd genuinely like to know how ace people feel about it and the reasons behind it. I read it and really enjoyed it, and I assumed it was fine because the author is aroace.

fefokolie wrote: "Law wrote: "Does this list include YA? What about middle grade? Goodreads included middle grade books on one of their lists a few days ago."

nina lacour is a YA author and she wrote yerba buena"

Yerba Buena is not a YA book, though. Nina LaCour has written many LGBT+ books for a YA audience, but that isn't one of them.

Ayo wrote: "It’s genuinely upsetting to not see any asexual representation on these types of lists🥲. That said it’s nice to see QPOC and mlm writing by mlm representation so there’s that."

If you don't mind YA, there's an anthology by authors on the ace spectrum where every character is ace :)

Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection

Law wrote: "Swaye wrote: "Law wrote: "This list is so incomprehensive it's disappointing.."

THIS. Not one single wildly popular independently authored sapphic book. Apart from a sparse few gems on the list, I..."

Also disappointed by the inclusion of Klune -_- We have MULTIPLE other books that could be highlighted and deserve some spotlight.

I have some YA recs for anyone looking, though!
Blood Debts (gay mc)
Iron Widow (polyamorous relationship mwm)
The Sunbearer Trials (trans mc)
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure (trans mc)
This Poison Heart (bi/pan mc)
Truthseeker (trans/enby mc)
Infinity Alchemist (trans mc, genderfluid mc, polyamorous relationship)
Darius the Great Is Not Okay (questioning gay mc)
Basil and Oregano (lesbian mc)
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich (lesbian mc)
Adachi and Shimamura Manga, Vol. 1 (lesbian mc)
Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 1 (gay mc)
Dear Wendy (aroace mc)
Love Letters for Joy (disabled panromantic ace mc)
Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection (anthology of ace characters with all ace authors)

So many to read! :)

H.E. Edgmon: The Witch King duology, and the Ouroboros duology (transgender YA)
Aiden Thomas: Cemetary Boys, The Sun Bearer Trials (transgender YA)
Adrienne Tooley: Sweet & Bitter Magic, The Third Daughter (sapphic YA)
Malinda Lo: Last Night at the Telegraph Club (sapphic YA)
Olivie Blake: Masters of Death (Fantasy, different relationships)
Seanan McGuire: The Wayward Children series (Asexual, Sapphic, etc.)
Xiran Jay Zhao: Iron Widow (bisexual, poly YA)
F.T. Lukens Spell Bound (gay YA)
Sarah Penner: The London Seance Society (sapphic fantasy/mystery)
Julie Kagawa: The Shadow of the Fox trilogy (main romance het, side gay romance, YA fantasy)
Rebecca Thorne: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (sapphic, Fantasy)
Garth Nix: Angelmage (side sapphic relationship, YA fantasy), The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (nonbinary [?] MC, YA [?] fantasy)

Also my spooky queer anthology Lavender Speculation!

I guess I'm focused on Sci-Fi/Fantasy/YA/Poetry right now but here's what I'm reading/listening to:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
The Jasmine Throne
Foul Lady Fortune
The House in the Cerulean Sea
She Who Became the Sun
Time Is a Mother
A Psalm for the Wild-Built

The Phoenix Bride and Through the Groves both look interesting.
Also a few older recommendations:
"The Long Firm," by Jake Arnott
The "Actors Guide" books by Rick Copp (fun mysteries)
"Steps Going Down," by Joseph Hansen (sort of Hitchcockian)
"Plot Twist," by Jane Rubino (MC isn't gay 4th in a series)
"A Grave Talent," by Laurie King (MC is gay, first in a series)
"Say Uncle," by Randye Lordon (MC is gay, 4th in a series)

Hopefully can get around reading some of these :)