Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
I’ll Pretend You’re Mine by Tashie Bhuiyan
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado
Fave Five: Contemporary YA Set in NYC Starring QTPoC
Fave Five: New Queer Cozy Fantasy, 2025 Edition
Yes, a 2026 edition will be coming imminently. Just catching up!
The Ink Witch by Steph Cherrywell (MG)
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa V. Kelley
A Tale of Mirth & Magic by Kristen Vale
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan
Exclusive Cover Reveal: Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver
Today on the site, I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver, the third in a series of anthologies starring aromantic main characters! The editors have written up their own intro to present a Kickstarter campaign, so I’ll let them take it away!
Common Bonds strikes a third time with a new volume of speculative short stories and poetry featuring aromantic characters. After a flood of incredible stories in their submission pile, the Common Bonds team decided to build not one, but two glorious anthologies of platonic, aromantic love.
In Common Bonds 3, you will find marine biologists getting trapped in a bubble of magic, a necromancer reviving their toxic ex from the dead, lifebonds with sirens, dreamwitches trapped in a cursed murder town and so much more.
We are very excited to introduce you to the marvellous works within, but in order to do so we need to raise the funds to pay our authors the money they deserve. This is what our BackerKit crowdfunding campaign is for: pay authors, cover artist, and the shipping and printing of initial copies.
And now, our new Common Bonds cover!
Common Bonds 3’s cover is from Hugo-Awards winning Laya Rose. As with previous covers, we have two friends sharing in an activity—but this time we’ve moved into winter and a hot warm drink.
Follow the campaign to help us make this new installment a reality!
Fave Five: LGBTQ Merfolk, Part III
For Part II (with a link to Part I), click here.
The Siren’s Kiss by Leslie Vedder (YA)
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis
Endless Blue Beneath by Shannon K English
A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves
New Releases: May 5, 2026
Children’s
Willi Ninja: Vogue Legend by Joy Michael Ellison and Nabi H. Ali
Kicking off a picture book series of LGBTQ+ biographies is this inspiring story of the incomparable dancer Willi Ninja, Grandfather of Vogue and star of the film Paris Is Burning.
When little Willi Leake watched karate movies with his mother in their cozy Queens apartment, he’d slice the air with his arms like swords. He’d swish his hips like the models he saw in magazines and copy ancient pharaohs’ poses from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Bursting with energy, Willi would strut his way down the street, and his mother would tell him not to mind the puzzled looks he’d get. When she took him to the Apollo Theater to watch ballerinas twirling, Willi allowed himself to dream—and the more he dreamed, the more he danced. With an accessible text and dynamic illustrations, Joy Michael Ellison and Nabi H. Ali trace Willi’s path against the odds as he brings his signature moves to the dance style known as vogue and finds his spotlight at the Harlem drag balls where a performer known as Willi Ninja is born. Providing context, community, and comprehension of queer and trans culture for young history buffs, the lively narrative is followed by back matter delving into more details about Willi Ninja and what life was like during his time.
Fave Five: New Queer Sci-Fi Novels, 2026 Edition
Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto
Earthly Playing Field by Radhika Singh
What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie
Bonus: These are all Adult, but in YA, check out If All the Stars Go Dark by S.G. Prince and The Celestial Seas by T.A. Chan
April 2026 Deal Announcements
Adult
‘s SKATING THE LINE, a sapphic hockey rom-com about two rival university hockey stars-turned-teammates who find out they may have more chemistry off the ice than on it, pitched for fans of HEATED RIVALRY, CLEAT CUTE, and Ashley Herring Blake, to Grace Vainisi at Avon Impulse, and to Mikaela Roasa at Harper Canada, in a significant deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in March 2027, by Maddy Belton at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency (NA).
Fave Five: Trans M/M YA SFF
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
To Our Untamed Core by Sonido Reyes
Flyboy by Kasey LeBlanc
Bonus: These all have trans MCs, but for one with a cis MC and trans LI, check out The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson
Happy (Upcoming) Lesbian Visibility Day 2026!
Middle Grade
When You’re Brave Enough by Rebecca Bendheim
Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.
At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.
Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.
But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she’s brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Black Pearl Books | Book People | Barnes & Noble
Continue reading Happy (Upcoming) Lesbian Visibility Day 2026!
Fave Five: Queer Takes on Hamlet
Tragic by Dana Mele and Valentina Pinti (YA GN)
Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick
The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu
Rottenheart by Kat Dunn
Bonus: These are all novels, but for a short story, check out “Elsinore” by Patrice Caldwell in That Way Madness Lies, ed. by Dahlia Adler