Monthly Archives: August 2022

Deal Announcements

August 2022 Deal Announcements

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Adult Fiction

Marquette University professor of English B. Pladek’s DRY LAND, set at the cusp of America’s involvement in World War I, when a young queer forester discovers an uncanny gift for growing plants, seemingly from nothing, to Dennis Lloyd at University of Wisconsin Press, for publication in fall 2023, by Brenna English-Loeb at Transatlantic Literary Agency (world English).

Mark Waddell’s THE BODY IN THE BACK GARDEN, a queer cozy following a young investigative journalist as he inherits his estranged aunt’s estate in a coastal Canadian village, which includes a dead body behind the house that he is forced to investigate with a very handsome Mountie, to Faith Black Ross at Crooked Lane, for publication in fall 2023, by Melissa Edwards at Stonesong (world).

Ghassan Zeineddine’s DEARBORN, a collection of tragicomic stories that examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan, over several decades, exploring themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, notions of home and belonging, and more, to Elizabeth DeMeo at Tin House Books, for publication in fall 2023.

Emily Hamilton’s THE STARS TOO FONDLY, a debut queer space odyssey—part sci-fi, part sapphic rom-com—following four friends who break into a storied spaceship with a mysterious past and accidentally blast off to a planet lightyears away, with a hologram of the ship’s previous captain as their only guide (and an improbable, impossible love interest); about found family, interdimensional travel, and the galaxy-saving power of love, to Nate Lanman at Voyager, in a very nice deal, at auction, by Roma Panganiban at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

2021 Lambda Literary Fellow Craig Wilse’s PROVIDENCE, pitched as reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith, in which an introverted queer English professor falls for an enigmatic sophomore who lures him into his web of chaos and deceit, to Claire Wachtel at Union Square & Co, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2024, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic (world English).

NYT-bestselling and Lambda Literary Award-winning author TJ Klune’s four original untitled novels about queer love and family, set in curious and enchanting worlds, to Ali Fisher at Tor, in a major deal, in a seven-figure deal, in an exclusive submission, in a four-book deal, by Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency (world English).

Clementine Taylor’s SOMETHING ABOUT HER, following two young women at the University of Edinburgh and the romantic connection that grows between them as they navigate the pressures of school and family, pitched in the vein of Sally Rooney and Emma Cline, to Gabriella Mongelli at Putnam, by Millie Hoskins at United Agents (world).

Korean author Hwang Jungeun and translator Janet Hong’s SAVAGE ALICE, about a tormented drag queen—pitched as a Korean Hedwig—who leaves Seoul and returns to their small countryside hometown and must survive the bullying, marginalization, and tortured life in order to survive; and EVERY YEAR, to Chad Post at Open Letter, in a pre-empt, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in January 2023 and 2024, by Barbara Zitwer at Barbara Zitwer Agency (world English).

Short fiction writer, poet, essayist, and reviewer Jarrod Campbell’s THE REASON I’M HERE, a collection of fictions featuring queer protagonists in their attempts to navigate memories and their consequences, morality, and the silences within relationships; pitched as influenced by Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, and Andrew Holleran, to James Reich at Stalking Horse Press, in a nice deal, for publication in June 2023 (NA and UK).

Pushcart-nominated NYU MFA alum Cleo Qian’s LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO, a debut slipstream short story collection exploring the alienated, technology-mediated lives of young Asian and Asian American women, restless with fear, desire, queer longing, and escapist compulsions, who are far from the dutiful, docile stereotypes, to Alyssa Ogi at Tin House Books, for publication in summer 2023, by Annie Hwang at Ayesha Pande Literary (NA).

Rob Costello’s THE DANCING BEARS: QUEER FABLES FOR THE END TIMES, a collection of eleven dark speculative tales featuring queer characters dealing with queer themes, to Steve Berman at Lethe Press, in an exclusive submission, for publication in March 2024, by Marie Lamba at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (world English).

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award SJ Sindu’s THE GOTH HOUSE EXPERIMENT, a tragicomic collection of character-driven stories ranging from the fantastical to the all-too-real, following an array of loners and artists—a boy with wings, a poet haunted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde, a queer beer brewer, a viral influencer—as they struggle to overcome grief in the wake of divorce, the pandemic, and other significant life changes, to Mark Doten at Soho Press, in an exclusive submission, by Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management (NA).

Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction

Newbery Award Honoree, National Book Award finalist, and two-time Stonewall Award-winning author Kyle Lukoff’s THE GOLEM OF REFUSE, about a Jewish trans youth fighting evil–human and otherwise–with his friends and community, followed by an untitled middle grade novel, to Ellen Cormier at Dial, in a good deal, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Saba Sulaiman at Talcott Notch Literary Services (world).

Young Adult Fiction

Author of THE SKY BLUES and the forthcoming If I See You Again Tomorrow Robbie Couch’s YOU AGAIN, after the death of his best friend leaves him heartbroken and adrift, a gay teen enters an immersive study aimed at boosting his ability to forge bonds with classmates; just as researchers begin to help him form new relationships (and maybe even fall in love), he finds himself wondering if his friend is really gone for good… or if he’s losing his grip on reality, to Alexa Pastor at Simon & Schuster Children’s, in a very nice deal, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds (world English).

M.E. Corey’s OUT OF BLUE COMES GREEN, in which a transgender teen wants what every other teenage boy wants—a girlfriend and a successful rock band—but when a new girl assumes the teen is a boy and asks him out, he accepts without correcting her; what could possibly go wrong?, to Tamara Grasty at Page Street, in a nice deal, for publication in winter 2024, by Tina Schwartz at The Purcell Agency (world).

Alex Dingley’s ANCESTREE, pitched as Crimson Peak meets The Green Knight, a queer YA horror graphic novel in which a young prince finds out the unsavory truth about his royal lineage when he becomes haunted by a dark creature lurking in the woods surrounding his family’s castle, to Michelle Nguyen at Oni Press, with Desiree Rodriguez editing, for publication in 2025, by Britt Siess at Britt Siess Creative Management (world).

Author of the forthcoming titles HAZEL HILL IS GONNA WIN THIS ONE and NOAH FRYE GETS CRUSHED Maggie Horne’s STAY HERE WITH ME, pitched as a cross between SOME GIRLS DO and Netflix’s The Half of It, a queer love story that centers on two best friends (and recent exes, after one of them came out as gay) who find themselves developing feelings for the same girl, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, at auction, for publication in fall 2024, by Claire Friedman at Inkwell Management (NA).

Author of the forthcoming FUNERAL GIRL Emma K. Ohland’s HERE GOES NOTHING, pitched as a femme queer update of Much Ado About Nothing that finds across-the-street neighbors endlessly feuding and just maybe falling in love, sparking questions for one about her asexual identity, her place in their friend group, and her plans for the future, to Amy Fitzgerald at Carolrhoda Lab, for publication in fall 2024, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Louangie Bou-Montes’s debut DON’T FEAR THE REAPER, pitched as CEMETERY BOYS meets UNDEAD GIRL GANG, in which the 16-year-old, Afro-Latinx son of the local mortician accidentally reanimates the dead body of the boy he had more than friendly feelings for and has to uncover the truth about his family’s necromantic abilities to keep him alive for good, to Carolina Ortiz at Harper Children’s, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2024, by Saritza Hernandez at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Non-Fiction

Educator in the kink and queer communities Lee Harrington’s BECOME YOUR OWN BELOVED: A GUIDE TO DELIGHTING IN SELF-CONNECTION, sharing how readers can ease the pain of loneliness, heal longtime emotional wounds, and celebrate themselves as complete beings in and of themselves, embracing an all-inclusive approach to appeal to readers of any gender, age, race, sexual orientation, economic status, and disability, to Elena Vega at Twin Flame, for publication in February 2023 (world).

BDSM educator, Lambda Literary fellow, creator of the Image Comics series SFSX, and host of the eponymous podcast Tina Horn’s WHY ARE PEOPLE INTO THAT, a queer feminist exploration of kink, blending cultural criticism and personal narrative to examine how we conceptualize sex, pleasure, gender, fantasy, and power—and how we can reimagine those concepts for a more liberated future, to Carrie Napolitano at Hachette Books, by Sarah Bolling at The Gernert Company (NA).

Photographer Julie Rae Powers ed.’s QUEERING APPALACHIA’S VISUAL HISTORY, an anthology of contemporary images and writing by artists currently living in or from Appalachia who identify as queer, to Abby Freeland at University Press of Kentucky, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2024.

Performer, co-executive producer of HBOMax’s Legendary, and member of the House of Xtravaganza Sydney Baloue’s UNDENIABLE: A HISTORY OF VOGUING, BALLROOM AND HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (AND THE WORLD), the untold history of ballroom—a transformative social space of competition, experiment, and creativity in gender, sexuality, and culture—a driving force in the Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ community and, eventually, of profound influence to wider American society, as told through the intimate story of how voguing helped the author to realize and embrace his identity as a transgender man, to Angela Ledgerwood at Sugar23, with Libby Burton at Crown editing, at auction, by Alice Whitwham at The Cheney Agency (NA).

Inside an Anthology

Inside an Anthology: Queer Weird West Tales ed. by Julie Bozza

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Today on the site, we’re saying howdy to Queer Weird West Tales ed. by Julie Bozza, which releases tomorrow!

Frontiers have always attracted the Other – where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know.

Authors include: Julie Bozza, J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Miguel Flores, Adele Gardner, Roy Gray, KC Grifant, Peter Hackney, Bryn Hammond, Narrelle M Harris, Justin Warren Jackson, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Angus McIntyre, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, and Dawn Vogel.

Per editor Julie Bozza, “In this edition of LGBTQ Reads’ “Inside An Anthology,” ten of the contributors to Queer Weird West Tales share insights into their choices of character, weirdness, and setting, and why this mix of themes is so intriguing.”

“Magic Casements” by Julie Bozza (editor)

I think this combination of Queer, Weird and West/Frontier works so well because all three elements resist – or are at odds with – the “norm”. Whatever that is! My friends and I have been saying “Normality is a dead concept” for decades now, but I think that is part of the charm of these genres, whether written together or separately. There is something that goes against the grain in all of us; there are social and cultural expectations that we all chafe against at times, to say the least. Which I think is at least partly why we identify with or at least enjoy reading about outsiders.

Maybe we are all the Other.

“Rumblings” by Roy Gray

The inspiration for my story was reading a book, The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time by J. Richard Gott. His description of a jinni, a sort of time loop – and in particular the information jinni – was one of the ideas that meshed with speculation about climate change, supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts and how our descendants might cope with the fallout of such.

“Handguns” by J.A. Bryson

I love the Weird West combination, the sort of miso and maple syrup of it, and have experimented a good bit of late writing Wild West Fairylands. There’s unexpectedness and umami so-to-speak, tropes to embrace and subvert. I love it. As for the queerness, that’s  just the icing on the proverbial cake (pardon the mixed metaphor/flavor palates).

I very much enjoyed reading Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, which was steampunk but with a wild west flair and Sarah Gailey’s Upright Women Wanted, which was pulp western near future. I wanted to riff off these in my own work, and you know, lean into the weird.

“Twin-Sun Bayou” by Peter Hackney

My inspiration was not actually all that deep, at least not for this story. Very simply, I wanted to write a story about an out there romance in an out there place; one that would challenge some of the simpler tropes we often associate with things like space adventures and science fiction. Honestly, the very first thing that came into my head was the image of my characters sitting side by side on deck chairs, wearing matching straw hats and fishing as the sun(s) went down.

“A Truce with Evil” by Bryn Hammond

In my story I have a contrast of cultural values between competition and cooperation. That had its seed in a fascinating book I read years ago, Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought by Daniel P. Todes. It’s about 19th-century Russian scientists’ reception of the competition theme in Darwin. The ‘struggle for existence’, animal with animal, was a key concept for evolutionists in England and France, but in Russia did not translate well or tally with the observations of naturalists. Darwin had observed animals in populous places and warm climates, whereas in the cold spaces of Russia’s non-European hinterland, the usual struggle animals faced was against conditions, not each other. Pyotr Kropotkin is famous as an anarchist but was also a forerunner to the study of emotions and the beginnings of ethics in animals. His Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) has a host of examples of the sociability of animals, cooperation across species, as witnessed in the vast landscapes of Siberia.

I meshed that with the ideas around evil in my story. I’ve wanted to explore the cultural relativity of evil ever since I wrote a sentence in my novel Against Walls: “We’re defined by our definition of evil.”

“Bleb Central” by Justin Warren Jackson

My main character is a gay man whose job is to cater to others. He thinks he runs things because he keeps everybody in one piece, literally. Only as the story progresses do we see that there is a larger picture and that what the main character does is just one piece of this. A moral of the story: No one is indispensable, though each of us can play a pivotal role. Especially after an alien invasion.

In my story, the queer characters are no more outsiders than any other human. With all characters equal in this regard, they also have equal agency in transforming their hostile environment into some semblance of home. Ultimately, their effectiveness depends not only on how much effort they put in, but also on how attuned they are to the larger picture.

“Grimwood” by Catherine Lundoff

I’m fascinated by the impact that the spiritualist movement had on both American and British society in the nineteenth century. It was an impetus for the founding of the abolitionist and the women’s suffrage movements: a lot of the female leadership combined their interests or moved from one to the other as they learned to give speeches, organize and be active outside the domestic sphere. I start off with a woman, a lesbian, who’s lost the love of her life and has exhausted what mediums and spiritualists can do for her, so she’s looking for a wilder, older magic.

“A Fearful Symmetry” by Angus McIntyre

My story is set in the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th century. It’s very much a time of transition. So the characters are ‘at home’ in the sense that they can function well in that environment, but  there’s a growing tension between the old and the new. As the frontier increasingly opens up and loggers and miners and city builders move in, it’s creating a very different world.

The North America of my stories isn’t a comfortable place. There’s a dark and eerie side to it, and there really are sasquatches and wendigos and worse in those trackless woods and swamps. No one’s ever really ‘at home’ there. But my protagonists, like the Native people of the region, have learned how to fit in, how not to live at odds with nature, and how to manage those particular dangers. They’re going to have a much harder time coping with the new, rapidly-industrializing America that is coming their way.

“Set in Stone” by Eleanor Musgrove

My story is set on Hadrian’s Wall at the time of its building. This was (arguably!) the edge of the Roman Empire at the time, and for my Roman main characters, it’s where the fairly stable, predictable Empire they’ve always lived in gives way to wild weather and strange peoples. In my story, at least, there’s so much that they don’t know about the world beyond the Wall that they can actually use that to their advantage in some ways!

I chose this particular frontier because when I was younger, my dad was involved in Roman reenactment, so I learned a lot about the Romans on weekends and holidays, usually through visiting castles to watch their displays of marching, weapons, and even mock battles. I was a little worried that this particular frontier might be a bit too distant from other people’s for this anthology, but I’ve since learned that mine is actually not the farthest-flung! I love that we got to include a range of different frontiers, and I’m glad I could add to that variety.

“The Frontier of the Heart” by Sara L. Uckelman

I grew up watching Star Trek, so of course the first thing I think of when I hear “frontier” is “Space: The Final Frontier”.  Even as a child, I remember finding that a perplexing phrase, because surely the frontier moves as it is explored, so how could any frontier be the final one?  That was the inspiration for the story: A far-future space-exploration where every new planet is its own frontier to be explored.  And then, of course, my characters had to face their own personal frontiers, the boundaries they thought they’d never be strong enough to cross.

For more information: https://juliebozza.com/book/queer-weird-west-tales

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60680276-queer-weird-west-tales

Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/u/3kLRAn

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore

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You know when two humans you really like also happen to be married and also happen to have written a book you know is absolutely fantastic before you’ve even read a word? And then you get to reveal its cover?? Such is the case for me, and I am thrilled to be revealing the cover of Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore today, a trans YA fantasy releasing from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan on May 16, 2023! Here’s the story:

Two enemy kingdoms are forced to work together to break a curse in this lush YA fantasy, featuring a transgender prince and a bigender dama/assassin in the lead roles.

Keep your enemy closer.

Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother.
Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana.
Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect.
Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy.

Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person.
Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade.
And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.

Cowritten by married writing team Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore, Venom & Vow is a lush and powerful YA novel about owning your power and becoming who you really are.

And here’s the epic cover, designed by Lindsey Whitt and illustrated by Mx. Morgan!


Preorder: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Anna-Marie McLemore grew up hearing la llorona in the Santa Ana winds and now writes books as queer, Latine, and trans as they are. They are the author of The Weight of Feathers, a 2016 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist; 2017 Stonewall Honor Book When the Moon Was Ours, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature; Wild Beauty, a Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist best book of 2017; Blanca & Roja, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; Dark and Deepest Red, a Winter 2020 Indie Next List title; The Mirror Season, which was also longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, and the forthcoming Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix (September 6, 2022). 

Elliott McLemore is a nonbinary trans guy who comes from mountains and loves trees. As a child, he romped in dresses, fought with plastic swords, and dreamed up his first stories. Between then and now, he has focused on academic and professional writing, research, and advocacy, including work toward adding nonbinary gender markers to California identity documents. Venom & Vow is his debut novel.

Inside an Anthology

Inside an Anthology: Eternally Hers

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Today on the site, we’re joining four bestselling, award-winning Sapphic romance authors for a look inside Eternally Hers, a collection of paranormal romance stories, launching today in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback!

Under a full moon, all creatures will succumb to their fate.

Explore your wildest fantasies with these page-turning lesbian paranormal romances designed to captivate you.

Fated mates.

Destined lovers.

The overwhelming instinct to complete the preordained bond will drive these women to do what they must to satisfy the need to mate.

This collection of sapphic romance tales has something for everyone, from sweet to steamy, to dark and thrilling.

The stories in the compilation are exclusive and can’t be found anywhere else. Don’t wait, this box set will only be available for a limited time before it is gone forever!

Buy it on Amazon

Here are the authors sharing a bit about their stories!

“Hot For Her Bear” by Ariel Marie

Hot for Her Bear is a steamy, bear shifter romance. A forbidden, age gap romance between a human attracted to her best friend’s older sister, what is a girl to do? We’ve all had that one crush we shouldn’t have, but are we brave enough to pursue them? I love writing bear shifters. I’ve always imagined them grumpy and possessive.

I had so much fun writing this story. Our bear shifter is an awkward, grumpy bear who shouldn’t be giving in to the desires of her little sister’s friend, but how can she resist? Fate is involved.

And we all know fate always has her way!

“Cougar Woods” by Tiana Warner

Cougar Woods is a shifter romance with a sassy twist: it’s about cougars who shift into cougars. Like, middle-aged women who are feline shifters. I love an age-gap romance, and I love the idea of a group of confident, sexy, supernatural women. Pair that with a forbidden sapphic romance, and this story was super fun to write! Twenty-year-old Liza heads to the town called Cougar Woods to investigate her twin brother’s disappearance. What she finds is a dark secret—and an irresistible pull toward a mysterious woman named Winter.

“Crimson Desires” by K.L. Bone

Several years ago, I took a trip through the vineyards of Épernay, France. The beauty of the land and the lure of the vines inspired the setting of Crimson Desires. Vampires Suzette and Yelena experience a passionate romance throughout moonlight walks and sultry nights along the vineyards of the French countryside. One a pure-blood vampire, one a human turned, their path to love is a tumultuous liaison of tangled hearts and fated destinies.

Vampires are amongst my favorite paranormal creatures to write, as I have a master’s degree with a focus in vampire literature. I am very excited to have been able to combine my enchantment with the French countryside and my fascination with immortal vampires in the love story of Suzette and Yelena. I hope you enjoy their journey among the French vines.

“Elda’s Zephyr” by Renee Hewett

Elda’s Zephyr is about star-crossed lovers: a vampire falling for a fae… but with a twist! Zeph is fae crossed with wolf shifter, so though she knows she’s supposed to stay away from vampires, her fated mate sense tells her that she belongs with Elda. Zeph’s fae council is convinced that a vampire will drain any fae they can get their hands on, but Zeph is ready to challenge that thinking and prove that true love between light and dark can exist. Zeph believes in her, but Elda doesn’t know if she does. She’s afraid that the vampire darkness inside of her can’t be controlled if she lets herself have a moment of bliss with the fae.

Fave Five, Shopper's Delight

Fave Five: YA Audiobooks with Non-Binary MCs

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All links are Amazon or Libro.fm affiliate.

Man o’ War by Cory McCarthy, narrated by E.R. Fightmaster

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver, narrated by MW Cartozio Wilson

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller, narrated by Deryn Edwards

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore, narrated by Vico Ortiz and Avi Roque

The One True Me and You by Remi K. England, narrated by Vico Ortiz and Laura Knight Keating

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: In the Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae

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I absolutely adored Courtney Kae’s In the Event of Love, which releases on the 30th from Kensington (you can read my love somewhere on the book, in fact!) so I’m thrilled to be revealing the cover of the next book in the Fern Falls series, In the Case of Heartbreak, a contemporary m/m Romance releasing from Kensington on April 25, 2023! Here’s the story:

When his hometown crush suddenly returns his affections at a seaside celebration, pastry chef Ben Parrish must find a way to pursue his dream of moving his bakery to San Francisco – without losing the love he’s always wanted…

Ben has been baking his grandma’s cinnamon rolls at the family café for years. He’s been quietly in love with Adam Reed, his musician-slash-mechanic neighbor, for just as long. But Ben’s done waiting behind the pastry case. He’s entered a make-or-break competition to show off his own recipes. He’s going to buy his overprotective family out of the business. And he’s going to ask Adam out. TONIGHT.

Except his big plans get punched down before they even half-rise. Soon Ben is dashing down the coast to his grandma’s 80th birthday party on the beach, hiding his broken heart in Maywell Bay, California. Sun, sea, and fresh breezes should blow in something new—except they don’t. They blow in Adam Reed, grinning like a pirate and stealing the show as the musical entertainment hired by Grandma for her big bash. Grandma’s signature Heartbreak Tea is the only remedy, and Grandma’s tea could take the paint off a fence.

But there’s a burn of truth along with the booze in his bottle, and Ben has a decision to make. Can he take the sweetness in front of him, and brave the bitterness that comes after? Or is a little sea salt just what this cinnamon roll needs?

Salty cinnamon rolls? Ew. Ben would never.

And here’s the sweet-and-breezy cover designed by Kris Noble with art by Monika Roe!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | B-A-M | IndieBound | Hudson

Courtney Kae is the author of sweet and steamy romance novels that give her bi little heart great joy. She lives in Southern California with her husband, child, and growing hoard of plants. Find her on Twitter and Instagram at @court_kae and online at CourtneyKaeBooks.com.

 

Fave Five

Fave Five: YA About Queer Boys with Depression

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Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves

We Are the Ants and At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

New Releases

New Releases: August 2022

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Riley Reynolds Crushes Costume Day by Jay Albee (1st)

Note: This is the first book in a new series that has four books releasing on this date.

60403195It’s book week at school, and nonbinary fourth grader Riley and their best friends craft hard for the Dress Like Your Favorite Character Day. Colorful fabric! Paint! Glitter! They are ready to make the biggest and best group costume ever! But most of the other kids are having trouble coming up with costumes. Riley is ready to use their creativity and vision to help as many kids as possible so dress-up day will be a big success!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Continue reading New Releases: August 2022 →

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Skating on Mars by Caroline Huntoon

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Always a delight to get to reveal a great queer Middle Grade cover, and today’s is none other than Skating on Mars by Caroline Huntoon, a nonbinary contemporary MG releasing from Feiwel & Friends on May 30, 2023! Here’s the story:

Life isn’t easy on twelve-year-old Mars. As if seventh grade isn’t hard enough, Mars is also grappling with the recent death of their father and a realization they never got to share with him: they’re nonbinary. But with their skates laced up and the ice under their feet, all of those struggles melt away. When Mars’ triple toe loop draws the attention of a high school hot shot, he dares them to skate as a boy so the two can compete head-to-head. Unable to back down from a challenge, Mars accepts. But as the competition draws near, the struggles of life off the rink start to complicate their performance in the rink, and Mars begins to second guess if there’s a place for them on the ice at all.

And here’s the icetastic cover, illustrated by Violet Tobacco and designed by L. Whitt!

Alt text: The title “Skating on Mars” fills the top half of the image; a young figure skater with short hair, black clothing, and white skates poses with a lightning bolt across their chest; in the ice below the skater’s feet there is a rainbow and the reflection of the skates is black; at the bottom, there is the name “Caroline Huntoon”

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Booksweet (signed copies!)

Caroline Huntoon is an author and educator. They write middle grade fiction across genres. Caroline lives with their feisty child, Winifred, in Ypsilanti, MI. Skating on Mars is their debut novel and will be published on May 30, 2023 by Feiwel and Friends. Find out more about Caroline and their work at CarolineHuntoon.com.