National Book Award finalist ‘s MIDDLE SPOON, a humorous exploration of the universal experience of heartbreak, following the disintegration of a queer polyamorous relationship, upending expectations around family life, parenting, and public health, looking at the forces that shape modern romance, to Ibrahim Ahmad at Viking, at auction, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic (world).
Continue reading June 2024 Deal Announcements
See our feature on this book here.
In this exuberant, prize-winning collection, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming characters seek love and connection in hilarious and heartrending stories that reflect the complexity of our current moment.
A nonbinary writer on the eve of top surgery enters into a risky affair during the height of COVID. A lesbian couple enlists a close friend as a sperm donor, plying him with a potent rainbow-colored cocktail. A lonely office worker struggling with their gender identity chaperones their nephew to a trans YouTube convention. And in the depths of a Midwestern winter, a sex-addicted librarian relies on her pet ferrets to help resist a relapse at a wild college fair.
Continue reading Pride Month Spotlight: Short Story Collections
Today on the site I’m delighted to spotlight Joy//Us, an anthology of poetry edited by Cherry Potts and Jeremy Dixon and published by Arachne Press! Here’s a little more about the collection:
Arachne Press has long been a champion of LGBTQ+ writers, but we’ve never before published an anthology of LGBTQ+ poetry. These are joyful poems that celebrate all that is best about our community/ies and lives. This is not an ‘explain it to the straights’ book, this is for us. LGBTQ+ readers can open this book at random and find a moment of poetic queer joy for themselves, however big or small.
The poems in the book find joy in the simplest (or most complex) things. Love, sex, a quiet night in, dancing with friends, nurturing of and from our community, recognition from allies, a welcome from strangers, celebrating our cultural icons… the identity-affirming haircut, the right jeans, books, walking, food, flint-knapping… and political action.
Continue reading Inside an Anthology: Joy//Us ed. by Cherry Potts and Jeremy Dixon
Agatha has always dreamed of the stars. But when a chance encounter introduces her to the Lady of the Hills, Agatha is shocked to learn that a secret magical world lays hidden in the mist-shrouded land next to her village. She finds herself quickly captivated by the Lady, but is the Lady who she appears to be?
As Agatha forms a new friendship with a girl in town, she learns that the Lady is far older and more powerful than she could’ve guessed and that her plans aren’t as innocent as they appear. Will Agatha be able to protect the people she loves from the Lady’s sinister agenda?
Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Stuck in Repeat by Anastasia Lynette, a Sapphic Cozy Murder Mystery releasing in September! Here’s the story:
Being on tour with an alt-punk band isn’t what George expected to be doing at thirty. House, husband, kids, and a steady paying office job is what her mum had expected. George not so much. But being an all-round problem solver, adult-baby-sitter, and a wise “lesbian guru” to curious-but-definitely-straight lead singer, Millie, hadn’t been on her cards either.
Nor is waking up to Millie’s sleeping pout after a drunken night of celebrations.
But George is nothing if not adaptable and if Millie wants to pretend it didn’t happen–it didn’t happen. (George knows all about pretending things didn’t happen!) And they have a tour to finish. Only one more stage. George intends to make sure nothing brings the good times down.
Of course, Millie getting murdered is a blindside.
Reality fractures, an cranky old batty-lady spews curses, and a broken ankle sends George back to the morning-after, waking up once again to that adorable pout, given a second chance to make things right.
Unfortunately, ‘fixing mistakes’ has long been an area George has had difficulties in. (Not that she’d admit it!) And any attempts to save the day seem to result in more deaths, including hers.
Guess she’ll just have to take it again from the top again.
Second thought, put it on repeat.
And here’s the dazzling cover by Dayna!
Follow the author on Smashwords!
Lynette‘s recent dip into the steamy waters of spicy romance comes after a long career writing young adult stories. She feels a bit in Wonderland! When not writing, or working the day job of doom, Lynette enjoys time with her two cats, Coco and Chanel, teasing her partner. and exploring new cafes and judging their coffee.
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron (17th c.)
Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak (18th c.)
The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. (19th c.)
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia (early 20th c.)
My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson (late 20th c.)
Bonus: These are all Adult Realistic fiction, but for historical YA fantasy, check out This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings, out in August (early 20th c.)
Today on the site, I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Natalie C. Parker’s The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting – a YA adventure billed as John Wick meets Adventures in Babysitting with superpowers, found family, and enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance – releasing January 7, 2025 from Candlewick! (Fun fact: Adventures in Babysitting is the first movie I ever saw in theaters, and Natalie C. Parker wrote one of my favorite books from my author debut class, so this is extra fun on multiple levels!) Here’s the story:
Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are common and varied, no one trusts a bastion—they’re too powerful. Hiding failed to keep Tru’s parents alive, but moments before their murder, Tru’s mom pointed her to Logan Dire, a famed recluse assassin who adopted and trained orphaned Tru. At seventeen, she’s still hiding. Not even her closest friends know her true name or Talent, or that she’s balancing high school with knife and stealth training (while crushing on her BFF’s older sister). When assassins interrupt a mundane babysitting job booked through BountyApp—where lethal hunters find work and babysitters for their kids—Tru flees with a one-year-old strapped to her chest and spiraling questions: Who killed her parents? Whom can she trust? What does it mean to be a bastion? And is it ever OK to kiss a girl who’s trying to hunt you down?
From an award-winning author comes a masterfully plotted thriller that holds character and relationship on a par with action and nail-biting suspense.
And here’s the electric cover, designed by Maria Middleton with art by Jonathan Bartlett!
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million | PRH
Natalie C. Parker is the author and editor of several books for young adults, among them the acclaimed Seafire trilogy. Her work has been included on the NPR Best Books list, the Indie Next List, the TAYSHAS Reading List, and Junior Library Guild selections. Natalie grew up in a Navy family, finding home in coastal cities from Virginia to Japan. Now she lives with her wife on the Kansas prairie. Find her at nataliecparker.com.
Former painter and unreformed rake Kit Griffith is forging a new life in Cornwall, choosing freedom over an identity that didn’t fit. He knew that leaving his Sisterhood of women artists might mean forfeiting artistic community forever. He didn’t realize he would lose his ability to paint altogether. Luckily, he has other talents. Why not devote himself to selling bicycles and trysting with the holidaymakers?
Enter Muriel Pendrake, the feisty New-York-bound botanist who has come to St. Ives to commission Kit for illustrations of British seaweeds. Kit shouldn’t accept Muriel’s offer, but he must enlist her help to prove to an all-male cycling club that women can ride as well as men. And she won’t agree unless he gives her what she wants. Maybe that’s exactly the challenge he needs.
As Kit and Muriel spend their days cycling together, their desire begins to burn with the heat of the summer sun. But are they pedaling toward something impossible? The past is bound to catch up to them, and at the season’s end, their paths will diverge. With only their hearts as guides, Kit and Muriel must decide if they’re willing to race into the unknown for the adventure of a lifetime.
Prince Peregrine couldn’t be happier to be kidnapped by pirates.
Peregrine wasn’t cut out for the restrictive life of a nobleman – he’s hungry for adventure, prone to duelling, and his family refuse to believe he’s any kind of man at all. Despite his royal origins, he has more in common with the outcasts and rebels aboard the Cygnus that anyone onshore.
He just needs to convince the captain of that before his ransom’s paid.
Captain Alastar Macdara knows better than to trust an English prince. He has his hands full keeping his ragged crew together, and the last thing he needs is to be burdened with some foppish dandy—however charming. This particular hostage is more trouble than Alastar planned for: used to getting his own way, as stubborn as Alastar and not afraid to tell him when he’s wrong. But Alastar knows a thing or two about being an outcast, and his honourable streak refuses to let him send Peregrine back to a life of misery.
The ransom might be off, but that doesn’t mean Peregrine is part of the crew. Now he must prove he’s courageous and quick-witted enough to earn his place on the Cygnus before Alastar dumps him at the next safe harbour.
It won’t be easy for Peregrine to prove himself amidst the many dangers of life at sea: navy patrols, sea serpents—and the grim, handsome Alastar. The more time they spend together the more he fears he’s falling for his captain, and honourable or not … a pirate is a pirate.
Can they chart a course to being together, or will Alastar’s secrets and Peregrine’s reckless drive to prove himself steer the Cygnus into perilous waters?
Buy it: Amazon
Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Adult Fiction: July-December 2024
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas
Catch and Cradle by Katia Rose
Out on Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler
Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea M. Cameron
Bonus: These are all full-length novels, but for a novella, check out Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon
