Wilder Girls by Rory Power
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
The Darkness Greeted Her by Christina Ferko
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion
Tag Archives: Courtney Gould
Deal Announcements: July 2025
Adult Fiction
writing as Autumn K. England’s FIELD GUIDE FOR THE FORMERLY VILLAINOUS, a cozy fantasy in which a non-binary former minion to the realm’s recently defeated Big Bad searches for a fresh start in a Stardew Valley-esque farming community, to Mary Altman at Poisoned Pen Press, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2026, by Eric Smith while at P.S. Literary Agency (world).
New Releases: December 2024
Robin’s Worlds by Rainie Oet (text) and Mathias Ball (illustration) (3rd)
A nonbinary child is whisked off on a spellbinding adventure for their birthday in this dazzling tale of friendship, community, and self-love.
It’s Robin’s eighth birthday and it seems like everyone has forgotten. But things take a sudden turn when the Cat-Headed Wanderer shows up and sweeps Robin away to a magical party in a fantastical treehouse. It’s a joyful celebration full of song, dance, and newfound friends, but Robin soon realizes there’s another reason they’ve been brought there. To uncover that reason, all Robin needs to do is walk through the half-open door in the back—but what lies beyond?
Fave Five: YA About Ghosts and/or Ghost Hunters, Part I
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Violet Ghosts by Leah Thomas
Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters
Fave Five: New Queer YA Horror, 2024 Edition
Yeah, so there are eight; sue me. It’s a great year for queer YA Horror!
So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews
The Dark We Know by Wen-Yi Lee
Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker
Trespass Against Us by Leon Kemp
They Thought They Buried Us by NoNieqa Ramos
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown
Inside an Anthology: The House Where Death Lives ed. by Alex Brown
Today on the site we’re taking a peek inside The House Where Death Lives ed. by Alex Brown, a Speculative YA Fiction anthology that just released yesterday from Page Street! Here’s the gist:
A dance to the death. A girl who’s just as monstrous as H.H. Holmes. A hallway that’s constantly changing―and hungry. All of these stories exist in the same place―within the frame of a particular house that isn’t bound by the laws of time and space.
Following in the footsteps of dark/horror-filled YA anthologies like His Hideous Heart and Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, and Netflix’s ground-breaking adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, this YA speculative fiction anthology explores how the permanence of a home can become a space of transition and change for both the inhabitants and the creatures who haunt them.
Each story in the anthology will focus on a different room in the house and feature unique takes on monsters from a wide array of cultural traditions. Whether it’s a demonic Trickster, a water-loving Rusalka, or a horrifying, baby-imitating Tiyanak, there’s bound to be something sinister lurking in the shadows.
And here’s an inside look at some of the stories!
“Good Morning, Georgia” by Courtney Gould
In “Good Morning, Georgia,” we follow a teen girl named Leah who has been grounded to her attic bedroom for days when she finds that there is an entity in her vanity mirror. There were lots of fun things I wanted to try with the story – playing with perspective, trying to craft a compelling romance in only a few thousand words, taking a swing at haunted houses (which, shockingly, I haven’t done before). But I also wanted to discuss something that crops up in a lot of my work, which is the specificity of lesbian loneliness. Leah is incredibly, painfully lonely, stuck in a house that is somewhat suspended in time and place, and when she begins communicating with “Georgia” the entity (who may or may not be another teen girl) through her mirror, Leah becomes incredibly attached not just to Georgia, but to the feeling of connection with another person. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time isolating myself and communicating solely with online friendships, and as I wrote “Good Morning, Georgia,” the dynamic between Leah and Georgia began to feel very familiar to me. I hope readers identify with Leah’s story, and that the feeling of loneliness and isolation can be something that helps us find community.
“The Phantom’s Waltz” by Rosiee Thor
I’ve always been drawn to the inherent sadness and longing in horror, so with “The Phantom’s Waltz” I wanted to explore the story from the monster’s point of view. The phantom in my story is tethered to the ballroom by an agreement she made with her dance teacher, cursed to haunt the steps of anyone who dances there until she can trick a mortal into taking her place. She’s determined never to inflict her fate on anyone else, but when a teenage girl keeps coming back to practice with her in the ballroom night after night, she’s faced with the choice between a blossoming love with a mortal girl or her own freedom. I drew heavily from my own experiences in a competitive dance environment and the way that the pursuit of perfection can destroy people’s lives and relationships when writing this story. I also wanted to explore the sapphic conundrum of “do I want to be her or do I want her” with a bit of a devil’s bargain in the mix. Dance has always been a big part of my life, but it’s also been a complete horror show at times, so bringing a little queer haunting to the world of dance felt natural–it’s Jojo Siwa’s world and we’re all just dancers in it.
“Let’s Play A Game” by Shelly Page
In “Let’s Play A Game” the main character, Jayde, is having a rough summer. Her parents are going through a divorce, and her girlfriend has been missing for months. Jayde can’t remember the circumstances surrounding her girlfriend’s disappearance or decide which parent she wants to live with. Everything is uncertain. The only sure thing in Jayde’s life is the old house across the street and the voice calling to her from inside. When she finally explores the house, she meets a trickster fae who wants to play a game, but this is no ordinary game. It’s a game that uncovers the memories Jayde has lost, brings to light her fears of being boring, of being used, and ultimately, of not being enough. At its heart, my story is about the expectations put on us by our parents, partners, and peers, and finding the courage to break out of that mold, sometimes with the help of an unlikely friend (or, should I say, fae?).
“What Lies in Silence” by Justine Pucella Winans
My horror story, “What Lies in Silence” came from a place of deep grief and a complicated love of music. All through my childhood, my hero was my nonno–a true Renaissance man, who taught himself a variety of instruments and dug his own cellars for the wine he crafted and sculpted his own fountain from cement. He always supported my writing, the singing I was too afraid to do in front of others, and loved that I was an artist. I lost him before I got to share my writing with the world, because I got to share who I was with the world and with him. This story allowed me to explore that devastation and that love through my protagonist, Luce, a nonbinary teen who comes across a terrifying and vengeful strega in the music room of their house. Expanding upon lore and legend from my own family, I crafted a monster who preys on the lonely and the silent, a manifestation of how I felt when I didn’t have a voice, when the only thing I heard in the music I once loved was the vacuum sound of loss. I hope this story, while creeping readers out, will also show teens that grief may never leave us, it may always be there, lurking and striking at unexpected moments, but that the ones we love are never completely lost, and that despite everything, we live on.
“In Deep” by C.L. McCollum
Home has always included the outdoors for me, and since I grew up swimming in ponds and creeks, adding a swimming hole to our creepy property just made sense. And bringing in a gorgeous (if sinister) mystery girl swimming there for my MC? Well, that’s a little bit of wish fulfillment, I won’t lie. Still, there’s something about murky water and things hidden beneath the surface that resonates with my queer life as a bi girl: there have always been those people both in and out of our queer community who will take advantage of the ambiguity of bi and pan folks. Keeping the secrets of our own heartbreaks can feel like drowning, and I think that’s what I hoped to show with Reece.
“The Shoe” by Alex Brown
As “The Shoe,” begins, Davina is left heartbroken on her front porch after a failed promposal. Dav is convinced that she’ll be alone forever–until a mysterious girl speaks to her from the shadows. Dav and her new friend get to know each other and find that there’s the possibility of something more. If Dav wants to find love, she’ll have to get over the idea of perfection that she’s forced on her new friend. As “The Shoe” progresses, we learn that Dav’s new friend is a manananggal–a monster from Filipino folklore that’s missing her legs–and that she’s the monster in one of the stories Dav’s nanay used to tell her. While Dav is frightened of the truth at first, she learns that the stories she grew up with contained warnings for the wrong people. And that, sometimes, the monsters we’re taught to fear are the ones we need the most.
Alex Brown is a Locus Award finalist and a queer Filipino American writer who loves rooting for the Final Girl—especially if she’s a monster. Alex’s YA Horror Comedy debut, Damned If You Do, was a Junior Library Gold Standard Selection and was also placed on Taysha’s Reading List. Alex is the co-editor of Night of the Living Queers and the editor of The House Where Death Lives, a YA Horror anthology that also received the JLG Gold Standard distinction. Alex is also a literary agent and lives in the San Francisco area with her partner and their three chaotic cats.
Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: July-December 2024
A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman (July 2nd)
When Cal Ware wins a scholarship to an elite New England boarding school, he’s thrilled to leave his past behind. Back home in Mississippi, he was the poor, queer kid who never fit in. But at Essex Academy, he’ll be able to reinvent himself. Or so he hopes…
But at Essex, Cal’s classmates only see his cheap clothes and old iPhone. They mock his accent, and can’t believe he’s never left the country, or heard of The Hamptons. Cal, at his breaking point, is about to give up and return to Mississippi when he learns about a secret society on campus — the key to becoming Essex royalty.
Cal knows he’s not exactly secret society material, but to his surprise, he finds an unlikely champion in the handsome, charismatic, and slightly dangerous Luke Kim. As they get swept up in the mystery and glamour of the Rush process, Cal finds himself falling in love for the first time.
But as the initiation rituals grow riskier — and increasingly nefarious — Cal must decide how far he’s willing to go, and how much of himself he’s willing to sacrifice, to save everything and everyone he cherishes most. Because nothing at Essex — not even Cal’s first love — is quite what it seems.
Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: July-December 2024
Happy Lesbian Visibility Day 2024!
Happy Lesbian Visibility Day 2024! We’re celebrating with these lesbian protagonists, and you can too! For more recs, check out past years’ posts!
Young Adult
We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller
Jordan Elliott is a fat, nerdy lesbian, and the first junior to be named editor in chief of the school newspaper. Okay, that last part hasn’t happened yet, but it will. It’s positive thinking that has gotten Jordan this far. Ever since Mackenzie West, her friend-turned-enemy, humiliated her at the start of freshman year, Jordan has thrown herself into journalism and kept her eyes trained on the future.
So it’s a total blow when Jordan discovers that she not only didn’t get the editor in chief spot, but she’s been assigned the volleyball beat instead. And who is the star and newly crowned captain of the volleyball team? Mackenzie West. But words are Jordan’s weapon, and she has some ideas about how to exact a long-awaited revenge on her nemesis. Then things get murky when forced time together has Mack and Jordan falling back into their friendship, and into something more. And when Mack confesses the real reason she turned on Jordan freshman year, it has Jordan questioning everything—past, present, and future.
If Jordan lets her guard down and Mack in, will she get everything she wants, or will she be humiliated all over again?
YA eBooks on Sale for Under $4
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The Star Host by F.T. Lukens
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Camino Club by Kevin Craig
Grrrls on the Side by Carrie Pack
All Out ed. by Saundra Mitchell
If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzales
Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by L.C. Rosen
And They Lived… by Steven Salvatore
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
Want to win one? Leave a comment below about which title you’d like to enter for a chance to win one on Kindle! (Valid only where the sales are.)
New Releases: June 20, 2023
Ode to My First Car by Robin Gow
It’s a few months before senior year and Claire Kemp, a closeted bisexual, is finally starting to admit she might be falling in love with her best friend, Sophia, who she’s known since they were four.
Trying to pay off the fine from the crash that totals Lars, her beloved car, Claire takes a job at the local nursing home up the street from her house. There she meets Lena, an eighty-eight-year-old lesbian woman who tells her stories about what it was like growing up gay in the 1950s and ’60s.
As Claire spends more time with Lena and grows more confident of her identity, another girl, Pen, comes into the picture, and Claire is caught between two loves–one familiar and well-worn, the other new and untested.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould
Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She finds herself unable to stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, clamoring for a time when things were normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail with the words Come and find me, pointing to a town called Backravel, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers.
But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona it’s clear that there’s something off about the town. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by the town’s gleaming treatment center high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and the only people who seem to know more than they’re letting on is the town’s enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery.
As the sisters search for answers about their mother, Beck and Avery become more drawn together, and their unexpected connection brings up emotions Beck has buried since her mother’s death. Beck is desperate to hold onto the way things used to be, and when she starts losing herself in Backravel and its connection to her mother, will there be a way for Beck to pull herself out?
In her sophomore novel Courtney Gould draws readers into the haunting town of Backravel and explores grief, the weight of not letting go of the past, first love, and the bonds between sisters, mothers and daughters.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.
But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis
To say sixteen-year-old Audre doesn’t fit in would be the understatement of the century. She’s a city kid who’s found herself in a rural town. The only girl at school who’d rather kiss a girl than a boy. Not to mention that the whole town believes there’s a secret Satanic cult conducting rituals in the nearby woods–and Audre is a born skeptic.
When the preacher’s daughter and Audre’s secret crush, Elle, goes missing on Halloween weekend, the town is quick to point fingers–in Audre’s direction. While they harass Audre’s family for being newcomers and nonbelievers, Audre realizes she might be the only person here who can find her friend.
The deeper she goes, though, the weirder it gets. What happened to Elle–and is the evil this town is hiding really what Audre thinks it is?
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
Does Love Always Win? by Diane Billas
Sam “Shorty” Daniels has a plan for her senior year, but her romantic life being a hot mess was not part of the agenda. Shorty quickly discovers she’s not attracted to her newest boyfriend and fellow marching band member Zack, despite her many hours of daydreaming of what it would be like to date him. Their previous flirting had been so intense that those feelings have to come back again, right?
When Shorty’s asked to show the snarky new girl around high school, Shorty’s instantly intrigued by Kristy’s wit, and they bond over their love of writing. They quickly become inseparable, and Shorty has a breakthrough moment realizing why none of her other relationships worked out.
Just as Shorty is about to break up with Zack, her bitter ex-boyfriend Bryan threatens to out her to the entire school and Shorty’s conservative parents. Will Shorty be able to overcome Bryan’s ridiculous blackmail scheme and get her dream girl?
Buy it: Amazon
Mage and the Endless Unknown by SJ Miller
Peek through the leaves, beyond the clouded mountains, and you will find a garden with a strange attendant and an even stranger purpose. A young mage, asleep in a meadow, wakes to delights and fanciful spells that open a door to unknown wonder. Then, they eagerly step through to find only horror and death. There is no swashbuckling adventure in store; this world means them cold and deadly harm, and they’ll need all their resilience, wit, and magic to push it back.
Gaze through fascinating silent windows into a terrifying dimension and follow the wordless Mage and their companions as they travel a shadowy fantastical land of monsters. Will they survive this endlessly curious mystery, or will the unforgiving darkness swallow them whole?
Buy it: Amazon
Old Enough by Haley Jakobson
Savannah “Sav” Henry is almost the person she wants to be, or at least she’s getting closer. It’s the second semester of her sophomore year. She’s finally come out as bisexual, is making friends with the other queers in her dorm, and has just about recovered from her disastrous first queer “situationship.” She is cautiously optimistic that her life is about to begin.
But when she learns that Izzie, her best friend from childhood, has gotten engaged, Sav faces a crisis of confidence. Things with Izzie haven’t been the same since what happened between Sav and Izzie’s older brother when they were sixteen. Now, with the wedding around the corner, Sav is forced to reckon with trauma she thought she could put behind her.
On top of it all, Sav can’t stop thinking about Wes from her Gender Studies class—sweet, funny Wes, with their long eyelashes and green backpack. There’s something different here—with Wes and with her new friends (who delight in teasing her about this face-burning crush); it feels, terrifyingly, like they might truly see her in a way no one has before.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz
Kelly Doyle’s new life in Philadelphia has turned into a nightmare: She’s friendless and jobless, and the lockdown has her trapped in a tiny apartment with the man she gave up everything for, who’s just called off their wedding. The only bright spot in her life is her newly rekindled friendship with her childhood friend, Sabrina—now a glamorous bestselling author with a handsome, high-powered husband.
When they offer Kelly an escape hatch, volunteering the spare room of their remote Virginia mansion, she jumps at the chance to run away from her old life. There, she finds she loves living with them…and, much to her surprise, that she’s falling for both her enchanting hosts. Even more shocking: They say they share Kelly’s feelings and want to open up their marriage for her.
At first, the arrangement is blissful. But as their relationship deepens, Kelly begins to notice the cracks. The stories about their romantic past keep changing, and the more details she uncovers, the more things don’t add up. It’s only a matter of time before Kelly discovers the terrifying truth: They’ve done all this before…and the last woman is missing. Cut off from the world and in way over her head, Kelly must risk everything to uncover the couple’s secrets—before she becomes their next guest to disappear.
Can’t Let Her Go by Kianna Alexander
Peaches Monroe and Jamie Hunt are core members of their Texas friend squad and have so much in common. They’re successful at their careers in personal care. They take Austin’s “Keep It Weird” vibe to heart, each leaning into their own unique talents and sense of style. And they’re both ready to go on to even bigger things. Is pushing past the boundaries of friendship into something deeper one of them? The red-hot fantasy is there…but so is real life.
Jamie’s college dreams will take her far from her hometown. She’s already road-tripping to possibilities from San Antonio to Houston. And Peaches has obligations of her own. Not only is she planning to expand her business, but she’s taking care of her family after her mother’s passing, leaving her overwhelmed and under pressure.
No matter how perfect Jamie and Peaches are for each other, is this the right time for romance? Finding their true selves comes first. Only then can they hope to pursue a future of lasting love—together.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson
This is the sequel to Her Majesty’s Royal Coven
Niamh Kelly is dead. Her troubled twin, Ciara, now masquerades as the benevolent witch as Her Majesty’s Royal Coven prepares to crown her High Preistess.
Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can’t remember what she’s done–but if she wants to survive, she must fool Niamh’s adopted family and friends; the coven; and the murky Shadow Cabinet–a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.
On the other end of the continent, Leonie Jackman is in search of Hale, rumored to be seeking a dark object of ultimate power somehow connected to the upper echelons of the British government. If the witches can’t figure out Hale’s machinations, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger–along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.
The Infinite Miles by Hannah Fergesen
To save the future, she must return to the beginning
Three years after her best friend Peggy went missing, Harper Starling is lost. Lost in her dead-end job, lost in her grief. All she has are regrets and reruns of her favorite science fiction show, Infinite Voyage.
Then Peggy returns and demands to be taken to the Argonaut, the fictional main character of Infinite Voyage. But the Argonaut is just that … fictional. Until the TV hero himself appears and spirits Harper away from her former best friend. Traveling through time, he explains that Peggy used to travel with him but is now under the thrall of an alien enemy known as the Incarnate — one that has destroyed countless solar systems.
Then he leaves Harper in 1971.
Stranded in the past, Harper must find a way to end the Incarnate’s thrall … without the help of the Argonaut. But the cosmos are nothing like the technicolor stars of the TV show she loves, and if Harper can’t find it in herself to believe — in the Argonaut, in Peggy, and most of all, in herself — she’ll be the Incarnate’s next casualty, along with the rest of the universe.
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.
Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna
We never remember the dead girls. We never forget the killers.
Twelve years ago, 18-year-old University of Iowa freshman Abby Hartmann disappeared. Now, Jon Allan Blue, the serial killer suspected of her murder, is about to be executed. Abby’s best friends, Bree and Chelsea, watch as Abby’s memory is unearthed and overshadowed by Blue and his flashier crimes. The friends, estranged in the wake of Abby’s disappearance, and suffering from years of unvoiced resentments, must reunite when a high-profile podcast dedicates its next season to Blue’s murders.
The Longest Summer by Alexandrine Ogundimu
Being queer in a small town? Bad. Your employer believing you stole ten thousand dollars? Worse.
Abboton, IN has kept hard-partying Victor Adewale in the closet for his entire life. So he makes a deal with his stern Nigerian father: Clean up his act, hold down a job, and the dad will pay for him to attend grad school in New York. Easy enough, until $10,000 goes missing from Victor’s Hot Topic-esque mall store under his watch, leaving him the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Victor’s secret ex-boyfriend Kyle sets him up with fellow mallrat Amory. A bisexual love triangle forms when it becomes clear Victor and Kyle aren’t over each other. But as Victor grows increasingly certain that Kyle is responsible for the theft, their relationship gets way more complicated. Desperate, Victor turns to his dangerous friend Henshaw, who offers shady alternative methods of getting the money he needs. But Henshaw’s got secrets of his own that might destroy them all.
Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens
It’s the spring of 1877 and sixteen-year-old Bridget is already disillusioned. She’s exhausted from caring for her ne’er-do-well alcoholic father, but when he’s killed by a snakebite as they cross the Kansas prairie, she knows she has only her wits to keep her alive. She arrives penniless in Dodge City, and, thanks to the allure of her bright red hair and country-girl beauty, is soon recruited to work at the Buffalo Queen, the only brothel in town run by women. Bridget takes to brothel life, appreciating the good food, good pay, and good friendships she forms with her fellow “sporting women.”
Then Spartan Lee, the legendary female gunfighter in the region, rides into town, and Bridget falls in love. Hard. Before long, though, a series of shocking double-crosses shatter the Buffalo Queen’s tenuous peace and safety. Desperate for vengeance and autonomy, Bridget resolves to claim her own destiny.
Mrs. S by K Patrick
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of “matron.” Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.
That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite—an assured, authoritative paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer fades, a choice must be made.
Tar Hollow Trans: Essays ed. by Stacy Jane Grover
“I’ve lived a completely ordinary life, so much that I don’t know how to write a transgender or queer or Appalachian story, because I don’t feel like I’ve lived one. … Though, in searching for ways to write myself in my stories, maybe I can find power in this ordinariness.”
Raised in southeast Ohio, Stacy Jane Grover would not describe her upbringing as “Appalachian.” Appalachia existed farther afield―more rural, more country than the landscape of her hometown.
Grover returned to the places of her childhood to reconcile her identity and experience with the culture and the people who had raised her. She began to reflect on her memories and discovered that group identities like Appalachian and transgender are linked by more than just the stinging brand of social otherness.
In Tar Hollow Trans, Grover explores her transgender experience through common Appalachian cultural traditions. In “Dead Furrows,” a death vigil and funeral leads to an investigation of Appalachian funerary rituals and their failure to help Grover cope with the grief of being denied her transness. “Homeplace” threads family interactions with farm animals and Grover’s coming out journey, illuminating the disturbing parallels between the American Veterinary Association’s guidelines for ethical euthanasia and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s guidelines for transgender care.
Together, her essays write transgender experience into broader cultural narratives beyond transition and interrogate the failures of concepts such as memory, metaphor, heritage, and tradition. Tar Hollow Trans investigates the ways the labels of transgender and Appalachian have been created and understood and reckons with the ways the ever-becoming transgender self, like a stigmatized region, can find new spaces of growth.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound