Tag Archives: David R. Slayton

March 2024 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Rosiee Thor and Kat Hillis‘s THE DEAD & BREAKFAST, a cozy mystery about two vampires who open a small town B&B and must prove their innocence when the local mayor shows up dead in their garden with something that looks suspiciously like puncture marks on his neck, to Michelle Vega at Berkley, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Saba Sulaiman at Talcott Notch Literary Services for Thor and Carrie Pestritto at Laura Dail Literary Agency for Hillis (world).

Continue reading March 2024 Deal Announcements

Queer Book Sale Roundup – July 7, 2023

eBooks

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (m/m YA sci-fi, $1.99)

Running with Lions by Julian Winters (m/m YA contemporary romance, $1.99)

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai (Sapphic adult fantasy, $1.99)

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (queer epic fantasy, $1.99)

Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer (f/f contemporary sports romance, $1.99)

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (portal fantasy, $1.99)

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall (m/m historical romance, $1.99)

Girlfriend Material by Katia Rose (f/f contemporary romance, $2.49)

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (asexual m/f YA romance, $2.99)

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Sapphic literary historical, $2.99)

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (lesbian romantic contemporary, $2.99)

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (f/f YA Dystopian, $3.99)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (lesbian literary horror, $3.99)

Audiobooks

Swearing Off Stars by Danielle Wong (Sapphic historical, $1.99)

At Midnight ed. by Dahlia Adler (YA anthology with a number of queer and trans stories, $2.99)

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman (Sapphic historical mystery, $2.99)

White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton (gay fantasy, $2.99)

Just Married? by Natasha West (f/f rom-com, $2.99)

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie (asexual f/f YA rom-com, $3.99)

Sweethand by N.G. Peltier (bisexual m/f romance, $3.99)

Criminal Intentions by Cole McCade (romantic suspense, $3.99)

Liar City by Allie Therin (gay historical paranormal mystery, $3.99)

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis (contemporary gay YA, $4.99)

Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming (bisexual celebrity memoir, $4.99)

This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves (bisexual contemporary YA, $5.99)

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (historical m/m romance, $5.99)

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles (historical m/m romance, $5.99)

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes (lesbian contemporary YA, $6.99)

The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett (f/f contemporary romance, $6.99)

The Long Run by James Acker (m/m contemporary YA romance, $7.99)

Amazon links are affiliate; using them to purchase earns a small percentage of income for the site. 

New Releases: October 18, 2022

Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne

In this funny, feminist, and queer middle grade debut, seventh-grader Hazel Hill is too busy for friends. No, really. She needs to focus on winning the school-wide speech competition over her nemesis, the popular and smart Ella Quinn, after last year’s embarrassing Hyperbole/Hyperbowl mishap that cost her first place. But when Hazel discovers Ella is being harassed by golden boy Tyler Harris, she has to choose between winning and doing the right thing. No one would believe that a nice boy like Tyler would harass and intimidate a nice girl like Ella, but Hazel knows the truth—and she’s determined to prove it.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | Libro.fm

Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken by Nita Tyndall

Berlin, 1938

It is the summer before World War II begins, but Charlotte Kraus doesn’t know it yet. All she knows is the zing of electricity she feels every time her best friend, Angelika Haas, grabs her hand. Charlie would follow Geli anywhere—which is how she finds herself at an underground club one Friday night, dancing to contraband American jazz and swing music, suddenly feeling that anything might be possible.

Under the oppressive shadow of the Nazi regime, returning to the club is a risk. But Charlie does, unable to resist the allure of sharing a secret with the girl she can’t stop thinking about, or the thrill of disobeying the Party’s rules. Soon the Swingjugend movement becomes more than a simple escape. It’s a place where Charlie and her friends find acceptance, freedom, and camaraderie among others who are determined not to sit on the sidelines of history.

Increasingly terrified by the tightening vise of Hitler’s power, Charlie is drawn to larger and larger acts of resistance—even as Geli, the daughter of a senior Party officer, begins to pull away. But resisting the Nazis is a dangerous proposition, and the war will test what Charlie is willing to risk at the expense of her family, her friends, and the girl she loves.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Deadbeat Druid by David R. Slayton

This is the third book in the Adam Binder series.

The living cannot be allowed to infect the dead.

Adam Binder has lost what matters most to him. Having finally learned the true identity of the warlock preying on his family, what was supposed to be a final confrontation with the fiend instead became a trap that sent Vic into the realm of the dead, where none living are meant to be. Bound by debt, oath, and love, Adam blazes his own trail into the underworld to get Vic back and to end the threat of the warlock once and for all.

But the road to hell is paved with more than good intentions. Demons are hungry and ghosts are relentless. What awaits Adam in the underworld is nothing he is prepared to face. If that weren’t enough, Adam has one more thing he must do if he and Vic are to return to world of the living: find the lost heart of Death herself.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things by Maya Prasad

The Singh sisters grew up helping their father navigate the bustle of the Songbird Inn. Nestled on dreamy and drizzly Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest, the inn’s always been warm and cozy and filled with interesting guests―the perfect home. But things are about to heat up now that the Songbird has been named the Most Romantic Inn in America.

Nidhi has everything planned out―until a storm brings a wayward tree crashing into her life one autumn . . . and along with it, an intriguing construction worker and a yearning for her motherland. Suddenly, she’s questioning everything she thought she wanted.

Avani can’t sit still. If she does, her grief for Pop, their dad’s late husband, will overwhelm her. So she keeps moving as much as she can, planning an elaborate Winter Ball in Pop’s memory. Until a blizzard traps her in a barn with the boy she accidentally stood up and has been actively avoiding ever since.

Sirisha loves seeing the world through her camera, but her shyness prevents her from stepping out from behind the lens. Talking to girls is such a struggle! When a pretty actress comes to the Songbird with her theater troupe, spring has sprung for Sirisha―if only she can find the words.

Rani is a hopeless romantic through and through. After gently nudging her sisters to open their hearts, she is convinced it’s finally her turn to find love. When two potential suitors float in on a summer breeze, Rani is swept up in grandeur to match her wildest Bollywood dreams. But which boy is the one she’s meant to be with?

Ultimately, the magic of the Songbird Inn leads the tight-knit Singh sisters to new passions and breathtaking kisses―and to unearth the truest versions of themselves.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn’t have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.

Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America.

But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.

With cinematic sweep and tender observation, Sacha Lamb presents a totally original drama about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Henry Hamlet’s Heart by Rhiannon Wilde

Henry Hamlet doesn’t know what he wants after school ends. It’s his last semester of high school, and all he’s sure of is his uncanny ability to make situations awkward. Luckily, he can always hide behind his enigmatic best friend, Len. They’ve been friends since forever, but Len is mysterious and Henry is clumsy, and Len is a heartthrob and Henry is a neurotic mess. Somehow it’s always worked.

That is, until Henry falls in love. Hard. How do you date your best friend?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen

Check out the trailer here.

When you’re a cop in 1952 and your colleagues bust you in a raid on a gay bar, your career options become extremely limited. Former San Francisco Police Inspector Evander Mills’ retirement plan is to drink until his money is gone, then pitch himself into the bay. Until a widow sits down next to Andy at the bar and offers him a private gig―find out what happened to her wife.

Persuaded to take the case, Andy accompanies the widow to Lavender House, the family seat of recently deceased Irene Lamontaine, head of the Lamontaine Soap empire. At this secluded estate, where none of the residents, or the staff, need to hide their identities, Andy finds a bewitching freedom.

He also immediately finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death was only the beginning. The gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world, and it turns out that not even a soap empire can keep everyone clean.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar

In this heartrending, lyrical debut work of fiction, Fatimah Asghar traces the intense bond of three orphaned siblings who, after their parents die, are left to raise one another. The youngest, Kausar, grapples with the incomprehensible loss of her parents as she also charts out her own understanding of gender; Aisha, the middle sister, spars with her “crybaby” younger sibling as she desperately tries to hold on to her sense of family in an impossible situation; and Noreen, the eldest, does her best in the role of sister-mother while also trying to create a life for herself, on her own terms.

As Kausar grows up, she must contend with the collision of her private and public worlds, and choose whether to remain in the life of love, sorrow, and codependency she’s known or carve out a new path for herself. When We Were Sisters tenderly examines the bonds and fractures of sisterhood, names the perils of being three Muslim American girls alone against the world, and ultimately illustrates how those who’ve lost everything might still make homes in each other.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz

“Her immediate concern was money.” So begins the first story in Manuel Muñoz’s dazzling new collection. In it, Delfina has moved from Texas to California’s Central Valley with her husband and small son, and her isolation and desperation force her to take a risk that ends in profound betrayal.

These exquisite stories are mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns that surround Fresno. With an unflinching hand, Muñoz depicts the Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers who put food on our tables but are regularly and ruthlessly rounded up by the migra, as well as the quotidian struggles and immense challenges faced by their families. The messy and sometimes violent realities navigated by his characters―straight and gay, immigrant and American-born, young and old―are tempered by moments of surprising, tender care: Two young women meet on a bus to Los Angeles to retrieve husbands who must find their way back from the border after being deported; a gay couple plans a housewarming party that reveals buried class tensions; a teenage mother slips out to a carnival where she encounters the father of her child; the foreman of a crew of fruit pickers finds a dead body and is subsequently―perhaps literally―haunted.

In The Consequences, obligation can shape, support, and sometimes derail us.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Three’s a Crowd by Kate Gavin

For Zoe Tyler, adulting sucks. First big job, student loan payments, and an apartment to maintain with little help from her often-absent boyfriend, Jake. Throw in a half-sister of Jake’s that she never knew about and it’s a wonder she’s holding it together.

When Paige Newbanks shows up unannounced at her half-brother’s apartment, she’s not only desperate for a place to stay, but desperate to get to know the brother she hasn’t seen since she was five.

Zoe sets aside her frustrations with Jake, inviting Paige to stay with them for as long as she needs. But when Jake misses yet another night out with Zoe and he suggests she take Paige instead, Zoe and Paige are drawn toward each other in an unexpected way.

Will Zoe and Paige jeopardize their respective relationships with Jake in order to see what a relationship with each other could be?

Buy it: Amazon

Rooting for You by Roz Alexander

Botanist Fisch’s life in Clover Hill is small. Getting physical distance from her tense relationship with her mother was supposed to give her room to breathe. Instead, she’s created a new cage for herself, spending most of her time isolated and working on other people’s projects instead of her own dreams. Admitting she’s lonely is the first step. Doing something about it seems much harder.

When traveling photojournalist Jaeeun Kupperman comes to town, it’s a wake-up call like no other. Jaeeun’s hot, talented, sweet, and the proud cat parent of one perfect angel named Dan. Faster than Dan can take down a dandelion, the two butch women are mutually smitten. But the sun is setting as both of them search for their next assignments and Fisch realizes it’s past time to branch out just as Jaeeun considers planting roots.

They might both be eager to sow the seeds of love, but will they be brave enough to keep it growing? Or will Jaeeun leave Fisch in her rearview mirror when the golden hour is over?

Buy it: Amazon

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.

But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his own impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s vicious fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread.

But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Helen House by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Right before meeting her girlfriend Amber’s parents for the first time, the unnamed narrator of Helen House learns that she and her partner share a similar trauma: both of their sisters are dead. As the narrator wonders what else Amber has been hiding, she struggles with her own secret–using sex as a coping mechanism–as well as confusion and guilt over whether she really cares about Amber, or if she’s only using her for sex. When they arrive at the parents’ rural upstate home, a quaint but awkward first meeting unravels into a nightmare in which the narrator finds herself stranded in a family’s decades-long mourning ritual.

Buy it: Burrow Press

This Arab is Queer ed. by Elias Jahshan

This ground-breaking anthology features the searingly honest and moving memoirs of eighteen queer Arab writers – some internationally bestselling, others using pseudonyms. Here, we find heart-warming connections and moments of celebration, alongside essays exploring the challenges of being LGBTQ+ and Arab.

From a military base in the Gulf to whispers between lovers caught between the bedsheets; and from a concert in Cairo where the rainbow flag was raised to a crowd of thousands, to making it hap-pen as a drag queen in exile, this collection celebrates the true colours of a rich, vibrant Arab queer experience.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Life in Every Breath: Ester Blenda by Fatima Bremmer

Born in 1891 in Stockholm, Ester Blenda Nordström defied stereotypes from an early age. She wore trousers, smoked a pipe, and rode motorbikes, much to the chagrin of her esteemed family. As a young woman, she captivated the public as Sweden’s first investigative journalist.

Ester’s real passion was uncovering the truth, which she did by inhabiting the lives of others. Under an assumed identity, she toiled as a Swedish milkmaid on a farm, lived for six months with the indigenous Scandinavian Sami people, and journeyed to America alongside poor emigrants aspiring to a better life. She saved villages from starvation during the Finnish Civil War and joined an expedition to study volcanoes in Siberia. Her groundbreaking reports were received by a spellbound audience and would change journalism forever.

But just as Ester’s star was rising, her forbidden love affair with a woman ended in heartbreak—and her powerful voice was silenced. Her spectacular adventures and untamed spirit belied an inner turmoil that came to define the later years of her life—until, at the very end, when she was reunited with the great love of her life and died by her side.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

March 2022 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate Eliot Duncan’s PONYBOY, about trans masculinity, addiction, sex, family, self-destruction, and the pains—and inevitable joy—of becoming, documenting the narrator’s spiral into and out of his body, and set in Paris, Berlin, and the Midwest, to Mo Crist at Norton, by Ian Bonaparte and PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit (NA)

CJ Connor’s BOARD TO DEATH, the first in a queer cozy mystery series featuring a 30-something professor-turned-board game shop proprietor who juggles keeping his father’s Salt Lake City-based board game shop alive, a budding romance with the handsome florist next door, and a murder that threatens the game shop’s livelihood, to Elizabeth Trout at Kensington, in a two-book deal, by Jessica Faust at BookEnds.

Kat Caliteri‘s debut BOYSTOWN HEARTBREAKERS, in which a Chicago hairstylist has only three things to his name: a pair of $1,200 shears, a Boystown studio apartment, and a list of men who’ve broken his heart written on his closet wall; will this friends-to-lovers romance end in a happily ever after?, to Alexandria Brown at Rising Action, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2024.

Recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Edmund White‘s THE HUMBLE LOVER, about a rich older man who falls in love with a young star in the New York City Ballet and becomes something between his patron, friend, and lover, to Daniel Loedel at Bloomsbury, for publication in 2023, by Bill Clegg at The Clegg Agency (world English).

Author of THE GOLDEN SEASON Madeline Kay Sneed’s THE BEST DAY OF OUR LIVES, pitched for fans of Maggie Shipstead’s SEATING ARRANGEMENTS, a layered family drama starring an ensemble cast set at a big, splashy Texas wedding over the course of a weekend, in which a member of the wedding party is forced to reconnect—explosively—with her ex-wife, throwing several other relationships into chaos as a result, to Brittany Lavery at Graydon House, for publication in winter 2024, by Amy Elizabeth Bishop at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world English).

Playwright Jeffrey Richards’s WE ARE ONLY GHOSTS, a psychological novel with LGBTQ+ themes about a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, who after the war, finds his way to New York City, where two decades later he is confronted by the man who was both his tormentor and his savior, to John Scognamiglio at Kensington, for publication in spring 2024, by Matthew Carnicelli at Carnicelli Literary Management (world).

Carlyn Greenwald‘s SIZZLE REEL, a love triangle rom-com following an aspiring cinematographer and talent manager’s assistant who, after coming out as bi at 23, finds herself attracted to an ambiguously gay A-list actress who takes an interest in her career, complicating her already-complex friendship with her suave, nonbinary lesbian best friend, to Caitlin Landuyt at Vintage, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2023, by Janine Kamouh at William Morris Endeavor (NA).

University of Memphis professor and author of the story collection QUANTUM CONVENTION Eric Schlich’s ELI HARPO’S ADVENTURE TO THE AFTERLIFE, a coming-of-age story about a boy raised to believe he briefly went to heaven, whose religious doubts and questions about his sexuality start to emerge at the worst possible time—on his family’s road trip to Bible World to see the new attraction based on his near-death experience, to Abby Muller at Algonquin, by Rachel Ludwig at David Black Literary Agency (world).

Lesbian comic artist Ren Strapp’s HOW COULD YOU?, in which a group of college women must navigate platonic and romantic love through heartbreak, matchmaking, and a semester abroad, to Jasmine Amiri at Oni Press, in a nice deal, for publication in 2024, by Stephanie Winter at P.S. Literary Agency (world).

Co-editor of the Cambridge University Press Elements in Crime Narratives Series and Lambda Literary Award Finalist Margot Douaihy’s debut SCORCHED CROSS, the first in a series of hardboiled-inspired queer whodunits following a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, who puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test after her convent becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, leading her down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets during the end of a sweltering New Orleans summer, to Gillian Flynn Books, in a pre-empt.

Artist, filmmaker, and poet Navid Sinaki’s MEDUSA OF THE ROSES, an Iranian noir steeped in Persian and Greek mythology that follows a queer petty thief and morbid romantic in a feverish search for answers and revenge after his boyfriend disappears, to Katie Raissian at Grove/Atlantic, by Mariah Stovall at Trellis Literary Management (NA).

DEPART, DEPART! author Sim Kern’s REAL SUGAR IS HARD TO FIND, a collection of stories exploring intersections of climate change, identity, reproductive justice, queerness, and family trauma, charting a path from climate despair toward resilience and revolutionary optimism, to Justine Norton-Kertson at Android, in a nice deal, for publication in August 2022 (world English).

David R. Slayton’s TO CATCH A GEEK, pitched in the vein of FANGIRL meets RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, in which a man wants to reboot his favorite sci-fi show but the creator’s embittered son stands in his way; when the son plots to use his reboot to show the world who his father really was, he learns that being a geek isn’t a bad thing while he learns that meeting your heroes sometimes is, to Tera Cuskaden at Crazy Maple Studio, for publication in winter 2023, by Lesley Sabga at The Seymour Agency (world).

Poet Natasha Siegel‘s debut SOLOMON’S CROWN, pitched in the vein of Madeline Miller’s THE SONG OF ACHILLES, a queer, alt-history reimagining of two medieval kings, Richard the Lionheart and Philip Augustus, who fall into a forbidden affair and must choose between betraying one another for the sake of their legacies, or following their hearts, to Jesse Shuman at Bantam Dell, in a two-book deal, by Tara Gilbert at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (world English).

Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction

Jazz Taylor‘s STARTING FROM SCRATCH, about a girl whose new stepsister throws off her carefully crafted coping mechanisms, takes over her favorite activities and friends, and moves in with a cat even though she is scared of them—leaving her to figure out how to deal with a copycat sister and a stubbornly affectionate feline in their new blended home, to Olivia Valcarce at Scholastic, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2023, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world).

Author-illustrator Elijah Forbes’s debut ANONG AND THE RIBBON SKIRT, a middle-grade graphic novel featuring a Two-Spirit nonbinary child who sets out to create and wear a ribbon skirt—a piece of clothing typically worn by women in the Anishinaabe tradition—at an upcoming powwow, to Cassandra Pelham Fulton at Graphix, for publication in fall 2024, by Nicole Geiger at Full Circle Literary (world).

Elizabeth Lee at Penguin Workshop has bought, in an exclusive submission, Playbook for Imperfect Planets by debut author Erin Becker. This contemporary, dual-POV middle grade novel is an enemies-to-first-crushes story following two 13-year-old girls whose fierce rivalry on the soccer field is complicated by their burgeoning feelings for each other. Publication is scheduled for summer 2024; Joanna Volpe and Abigail Donoghue at New Leaf Literary & Media negotiated the deal for world English rights.

Young Adult Fiction

Justin Arnold’s WICKED LITTLE THINGS, a campy horror in which a recently outed teen discovers he is a witch and returns to his small hometown to solve the murder of his cousin; in order to catch the rabbit-faced killer, he reluctantly joins a coven of fashion-forward mean girls and gets up close and personal with a werewolf, all while learning to embrace his power, to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2022 (world English).

Author of NEVER KISS YOUR ROOMMATE Philline Harms’s LOVE AND OTHER WICKED THINGS, a witchy, sapphic romance set in a small, magical town, to Rebecca Sands at Wattpad, for publication in spring 2023 (world).

Dale Walls’s debut THE QUEER GIRL IS GOING TO BE OKAY, about a tight-knit group of three queer girls navigating love, friendship, and changes during their senior year of high school in Houston, to Meghan Maria McCullough at Levine Querido, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2023, by Garrett Alwert at Emerald City Literary Agency (world).

Alex Crespo’s SAINT JUNIPER’S FOLLY, a queer Gothic mystery pitched as CEMETERY BOYS meets THE DEVOURING GRAY, in which a straight-laced golden boy and a novice witch team up to rescue a Mexican American teen with a cryptic past who has become trapped inside a haunted mansion in Vermont, to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer of 2023, by Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates (world).

Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore‘s VENOM & VOW, a YA fantasy about a transgender prince doubling for his brother, and a bigender boy assassin/lady-in-waiting, who, thanks to their concealed identities, don’t realize they’re simultaneously falling for and trying to destroy each other, to Kat Brzozowski at Feiwel and Friends, for publication in spring 2023, by Taylor Martindale Kean at Full Circle Literary (NA).

Elle Gonzalez Rose‘s debut CAUGHT IN A BAD FAUXMANCE, a queer, Latinx rom-com pitched as TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE meets Schitt’s Creek, in which an aspiring artist’s winter vacation devolves into hijinks after his family’s affluent long-time rivals challenge them to a bet that could cost his family their beloved lake cabin; but when the enemy’s attractive son comes to him in desperate need of a fake boyfriend, he reluctantly agrees to set aside loathing for love to take down the other family once and for all, to Bria Ragin, Nicola Yoon, and David Yoon at Joy Revolution, for publication in fall 2023, by Uwe Stender at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world).

Claire Winn‘s CITY OF VICIOUS NIGHT, the sequel to CITY OF SHATTERED LIGHT, a queer, female-led cyberpunk adventure, in which an heiress-turned-smuggler and a gunslinger are forced to vie for leadership of an underworld faction after a mysterious hacker turns the city against them; meanwhile, a captured crew member must ally with an old enemy to find his way home, to Meg Gaertner at Flux, for publication in spring 2023, by Cortney Radocaj at Belcastro Agency (world).

Stacey Anthony’s MAKEUP, BREAKUP, an LGBTQ+ contemporary romance in which a self-taught, up-and-coming makeup artist competes against rival influencers—one of whom happens to be their ex—in a cosplay competition to win a scholarship to a prestigious special effects school, to Britny Brooks at Running Press Kids, in a nice deal, for publication in the summer of 2023, by Haley Casey at Creative Media Agency (world English).

Musician Jessamyn Violet‘s SECRET RULES TO BEING A ROCKSTAR, a queer debut about a teenage musician who jumps at a chance to play in her favorite rock band on their upcoming world tour, only to realize her heroes have their own agenda and might be leading her down a dark path, to Peter Carlaftes at Three Rooms Press, with Kat Georges editing, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2023, by Devon Halliday at Transatlantic Literary Agency (world English).

Jason June‘s RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL, in which a gay, femme 16-year-old hopes to enter the Gaybutante Society, a world-renowned organization full of queer tastemakers, and when he’s told by a gay cis classmate that gay guys aren’t attracted to femme gays, he bets he’ll find a boyfriend in time for the Gaybutante Ball, to Megan Ilnitzki at Harper Teen, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Brent Taylor at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world English).

Linda Cheng’s debut YA, GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES (and its sequel), a supernatural sapphic YA horror novel pitched as WILDER GIRLS meets LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI set in the glittering, cut-throat world of Asian pop that follows a disgraced teen idol who comes face to face with a former bandmate and the demons of their shared past when the two enter a competition that devolves into a deadly nightmare, to Kate Meltzer at Roaring Brook Press, at auction, for publication in 2023, by John Cusick at Folio Literary Management/Folio (world).

BETWEEN PERFECT AND REAL author Ray Stoeve‘s THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY, in which two girls (one cis, one trans) decide to emulate romcoms to help each other find love and end up falling for each other, to Maggie Lehrman at Amulet, in a two-book deal, by Lauren Abramo at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world English).

Sarah Van Name‘s THESE BODIES BETWEEN US, pitched as The Craft by way of Nina LaCour, following four friends in a North Carolina beach town who spend their summer learning to become invisible until their newfound powers start to spiral out of control, to Hannah Hill at Delacorte, for publication in spring 2024, by Maria Bell at Sterling Lord Literistic (world English).

Xan van Rooyen‘s MY NAME IS MAGIC, set at a Finnish school for the magically gifted, in which a 15-year-old magically challenged nonbinary student must save their disappearing friends, to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press, in a nice deal, for publication in September 2022, by Lindsay Leggett at The Rights Factory (world English).

Emmett Nahil and George Williams’s LET ME OUT, a queer horror graphic novel set during the Satanic panic, in which four friends must unravel a conspiracy involving secret government bureaus and strange rituals, while things take a turn for the hellish—literally, to Jasmine Amiri at Oni Press, for publication in 2023, by Tamara Kawar at ICM (world).

Non-Fiction

Dance photographer and journalist duo Yael Malka and Coco Romack‘s QUEER DANCE, a photojournalistic celebration of LGBTQ+ dancers, choreographers, companies, and collectives across the country who are challenging the heteronormative status quo of the dance world, pairing Malka’s images with Romack’s reported essays, to Mirabelle Korn at Chronicle, for publication in spring 2024, by Ayla Zuraw-Friedland at Frances Goldin Literary Agency (world).

Pop culture writer, video-maker, and queer geek extraordinaire Matt Baume‘s untitled book, which traverses the history of sitcoms from the ’60s to the present to tell the story of how subversive queer comedy transformed the American sitcom—and how our favorite sitcoms transformed America, to Robb Pearlman at Smart Pop, by Lauren Abramo at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Filmmaker and cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Curtis Chin‘s EVERYTHING I LEARNED, I LEARNED IN A CHINESE RESTAURANT, about coming of age and coming out, tracing the author’s journey through 1980s Detroit, navigating rising xenophobia, the AIDS epidemic, and the Reagan revolution to find his voice as a writer and activist, set against the backdrop of his family’s popular Chinese restaurant, to Vivian Lee at Little, Brown, in a good deal, at auction, by Sonali Chanchani and Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management (NA).

NYT essayist, poet, and the first out active bisexual NFL player R. K. Russell’s THE YARDS BETWEEN US, which traces his experience discovering his sexuality alongside his career in football as it explores the defining people and moments in his life; a fresh look at masculinity, sexuality, race, sports, and how they intersect, to Jennifer Levesque at Andscape, with Kelli Martin editing, at auction, for publication in fall 2022, by Sarah Bowlin at Aevitas Creative Management (world).

New Releases: October 2020

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Memorial by Bryan Washington (6th)

Benson and Mike are two young guys who live together in Houston. Mike is a Japanese American chef at a Mexican restaurant and Benson’s a Black day care teacher, and they’ve been together for a few years — good years — but now they’re not sure why they’re still a couple. There’s the sex, sure, and the meals Mike cooks for Benson, and, well, they love each other.

But when Mike finds out his estranged father is dying in Osaka just as his acerbic Japanese mother, Mitsuko, arrives in Texas for a visit, Mike picks up and flies across the world to say goodbye. In Japan he undergoes an extraordinary transformation, discovering the truth about his family and his past. Back home, Mitsuko and Benson are stuck living together as unconventional roommates, an absurd domestic situation that ends up meaning more to each of them than they ever could have predicted. Without Mike’s immediate pull, Benson begins to push outwards, realizing he might just know what he wants out of life and have the goods to get it.

Both men will change in ways that will either make them stronger together, or fracture everything they’ve ever known. And just maybe they’ll all be okay in the end. Memorial is a funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you’re supposed to be, and the limits of love.

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The Camino Club by Kevin Craig (6th)

After getting in trouble with the law, six wayward teens are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes, or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court appointed counselor/guides. When it becomes clear the long walk isn’t really all that much of an option, they set out on a journey that will either make or break who they are and who they are to become.

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (6th)

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

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The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith (6th)

This is the second book in the Hell’s Library series

The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity the muse feel the loss of those stories, and are trying to adjust to their new roles within the Arcane Wing and Library, respectively. But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, Claire realizes that the Library has kept secrets from Hell–and from its own librarians.

Claire and Brevity are immediately at odds in their approach to the ink, and the potential power that it represents has not gone unnoticed. When a representative from the Muses Corps arrives at the Library to advise Brevity, the angel Rami and the erstwhile Hero hunt for answers in other realms. The true nature of the ink could fundamentally alter the afterlife for good or ill, but it entirely depends on who is left to hold the pen.

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Into the Real by Z Brewer (6th)

Three different worlds. Three different Quinns. Who decides which one is real?

The first Brume is a waking nightmare, overrun by literal monsters and cutthroat survivors. For Quinn, who is openly genderqueer, the only bright side is their friendship with Lia—and the hope that there might still be a safe place to live beyond the fog.

The second Brume is a prison with no bars. Forced by her conservative parents to “sort out” their sexuality at Camp Redemption, Quinn must also, secretly, figure out why presenting as female has never felt quite right.

The third Brume is a war zone. For Quinn, who presents as male, leading the Resistance against an authoritarian government is hard, since even the Resistance might not accept them if they knew Quinn’s truth.

As Quinn starts to realize that they might be one person alternating among these three worlds and identities, they wonder: Which world is the real one? Or do they all contain some deeper truth?

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The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif (6th)

This is the sequel to The Athena Protocol

Jessie Archer faced down death to prove her dedication to Athena, the elite organization of female spies she works for. Now she’s back on the team, in time to head to Pakistan to take down the man whose actions spurred Athena’s founders to create the secretive squad. But his connections spread farther than anyone knew, and when a girls’ school in Mumbai is bombed, a shadowy far-right organization reveals itself—and its evil plans to continue attacks.

When someone close to the investigation turns on Athena, Jessie knows that their time to save everyone is nearly up. Once again, she’ll have to risk everything to protect the vulnerable and prove herself.

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The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole (6th)

Eli isn’t just a teenage girl — she’s a made-thing the witches created to hunt down ghosts in the human world. Trained to kill with her seven magical blades, Eli is a flawless machine, a deadly assassin. But when an assignment goes wrong, Eli starts to question everything she was taught about both worlds, the Coven, and her tyrannical witch-mother.

Worried that she’ll be unmade for her mistake, Eli gets caught up with a group of human and witch renegades, and is given the most difficult and dangerous task in the worlds: capture the Heart of the Coven. With the help of two humans, one motorcycle, and a girl who smells like the sea, Eli is going to get answers — and earn her freedom.

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I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan (6th)

In her small town, seventeen year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago, she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again.

At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way. When another little girl goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers, with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much is she willing to reveal about herself in order to uncover the truth? Dee’s about to find out what’s really at stake in unraveling the mystery of the little girls who vanished.

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After Elias by Eddy Boudel Tan (6th)

This is the US/UK release day. The book released in Canada on September 12.

When the airplane piloted by Elias Santos crashes one week before their wedding day, Coen Caraway loses the man he loves and the illusion of happiness he has worked so hard to create. The only thing Elias leaves behind is a recording of his final words, and even Coen is baffled by the cryptic message.

Numb with grief, he takes refuge on the Mexican island that was meant to host their wedding. But as fragments of the past come to the surface in the aftermath of the tragedy, Coen is forced to question everything he thought he knew about Elias and their life together. Beneath his flawed memory lies the truth about Elias — and himself.

From the damp concrete of Vancouver to the spoiled shores of Mexico, After Elias braids the past with the present to tell a story of doubt, regret, and the fear of losing everything.

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Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke (6th)

June, 1993. Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There’s nothing too remarkable about Indianola: it’s run-down, shabby, and sweltering, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast.

Except there is something remarkable. Memories shimmer and change. Lizards whisper riddles under the pecan trees. People disappear as if they never existed. Yesterday keeps coming unspooled, like a video tape. And worst of all, a red-lightning storm from beyond our world may just wipe the whole town off the map, if Claire and her maybe-girlfriend Julie can’t stop it.

Because reality doesn’t apply in Indianola. Indianola is not supposed to exist.

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The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (13th)

Real life isn’t a fairytale.

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through?

Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

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Storm the Earth by Rebecca Kim Wells (13th)

This is the sequel to Shatter the Sky.

Let them burn.

Maren’s world was shattered when her girlfriend Kaia was abducted by the Aurati. After a daring rescue, they’ve finally been reunited, but Maren’s life is still in pieces: Kaia seems more like a stranger than the lover Maren knew back home; Naava, the mother of all dragons, has retreated into seclusion to recover from her wounds, leaving Maren at a loss for how to set the rest of the dragons free; and worst of all, her friend Sev has been captured by the emperor’s Talons.

As a prisoner of Zefed, Sev finds himself entangled in a treacherous game of court politics. With more people joining the rebellion, whispers of a rogue dragon mistress spreading, and escape seeming less likely with each passing day, Sev knows that it won’t be long before the emperor decides to make an example of him. If he’s to survive, he’ll have to strike first—or hope Maren reaches him in time.

With the final battle for Zefed looming, Maren must set aside her fears, draw upon all she’s learned about her dragon touched abilities, and face her destiny once and for all. But when the fighting is over and the smoke clears, who will be left standing?

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This is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi (13th)

Rinn Olivera is finally going to tell her longtime crush AJ that she’s in love with him.

Daniella Korres writes poetry for her own account, but nobody knows it’s her.

Imogen Azar is just trying to make it through the day.

When Rinn, Daniella, and Imogen clock into work at Wild Nights Bookstore on the first day of summer, they’re expecting the hours to drift by the way they always do. Instead, they have to deal with the news that the bookstore is closing. Before the day is out, there’ll be shaved heads, a diva author, and a very large shipment of Air Jordans to contend with.

And it will take all three of them working together if they have any chance to save Wild Nights Bookstore.

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Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald (13th)

Emanuela Ragno always gets what she wants. With her daring mind and socialite schemes, she refuses to be the demure young lady everyone wants her to be. In her most ambitious move yet, she’s about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn’t care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn’t want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she’ll have it all.

But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In the city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has given themselves up for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She’s kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years.

When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back…and kills her. Now Occhia has no one to make their water and no idea how to get more. In a race against time, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the secrets of the watercrea’s magic and find a way to save their people.

No matter what it takes.

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They Never Learn by Layne Fargo (13th)

Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.

Every year, she searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.

Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.

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White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton (13th)

Adam Binder hasn’t spoken to his brother in years, not since Bobby had him committed to a psych ward for hearing voices. When a murderous spirit possesses Bobby’s wife and disrupts the perfect life he’s built away from Oklahoma, he’s forced to ask for his little brother’s help. Adam is happy to escape the trailer park and get the chance to say I told you so, but he arrives in Denver to find the local magicians dead.

It isn’t long before Adam is the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, he’ll have to risk bargaining with powers he’d rather avoid, including his first love, the elf who broke his heart.

The Binder brothers don’t realize that they’re unwitting pawns in a game played by immortals. Death herself wants the spirit’s head, and she’s willing to destroy their family to reap it.

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Dread the Harvest Moon by Sarah Glenn Marsh (13th)

This is the companion to Fear the Drowning Deep.

Three tasks. Two worlds. One deadly queen.

Always follow the rules.

That’s what seventeen-year-old barmaid Liss Corkill does. She’s never cursed or kissed a boy, and until two years ago, when a mythical serpent kidnapped her, she was never late to anything. She knows that if she were like her free-spirited older sister Bridey who sailed to America just before the Great War, her mother would be devastated. Liss is determined to be what everyone expects, even if that means giving up her dreams.

Unless the faeries make you break them.

When Liss accidentally interferes in a fairy queen’s quest for true love, she’s pulled into the vast and dangerous world of Un-Mann, a magical realm as old as the Isle of Man itself. As punishment for her mistake, Liss must complete three tasks for the queen by the night of the Great Harvest Moonlight, the fairies’ biggest yearly celebration.

Or you find something worth dying for.

Liss’s attempts to complete her tasks are met with constant misfortune, as if someone doesn’t want her to win. But she has powerful friends: the town witch, Morag, and her sister’s best friend, Cat, who she’s secretly falling for as they hunt sea monsters by night to protect their home. Sensing a need for inspiration as the final gruesome task draws near, the queen marks Liss’s little sister for death unless Liss succeeds.

Her sister. Her town. Her dreams. If she can’t own who she is and make some new rules, Liss will lose it all.

Buy it: Amazon 

Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass (20th)

Twelve-year-old Ana-Marie Jin, the reigning US Juvenile figure skating champion, is not a frilly dress kind of kid. So, when Ana learns that next season’s program will be princess themed, doubt forms fast. Still, Ana tries to focus on training and putting together a stellar routine worthy of national success.

Once Ana meets Hayden, a transgender boy new to the rink, thoughts about the princess program and gender identity begin to take center stage. And when Hayden mistakes Ana for a boy, Ana doesn’t correct him and finds comfort in this boyish identity when he’s around. As their friendship develops, Ana realizes that it’s tricky juggling two different identities on one slippery sheet of ice. And with a major competition approaching, Ana must decide whether telling everyone the truth is worth risking years of hard work and sacrifice.

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My Heart Underwater by Laurel Flores Fantauzzo (20th)

After Corazon’s mother catches her kissing her older female teacher, Corazon is sent to the Philippines to live with a half brother she barely knows. There she learns more about loss and love than she could have ever imagined.

Corazon Tagubio is an outcast at her Catholic school. She’s attending on scholarship, she keeps to herself, and her crush on her teacher Ms. Holden doesn’t help anything. At home, Cory’s less-than-perfect grades disappoint her mom and dad, who are already working overtime to support her distant half brother in the Philippines.

When an accident leaves her dad comatose, Cory feels like Ms. Holden is the only person who really sees her. But when a crush turns into something more and the secret gets out, Cory is sent to her half brother. She’s not prepared to face a stranger in an unfamiliar place, but she begins to discover how the country that shaped her past might also change her future.

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Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee (20th)

Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint.

One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.

But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics.

What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…

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Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth, ill. by Sara Lautman (20th)

Our story begins in 1902, at The Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, author of a scandalous bestselling memoir that transforms these acolytes into bold rebels. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, a seeming paradise, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered, a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling manner.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” gilded-age institution. Her bestseller inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells, as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

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The Adventures of Isabel by Candas Jane Dorsey (20th)

Rescued from torpor and poverty by the need to help a good friend deal with the murder of her beloved granddaughter, our downsized-social-worker protagonist and her cat, Bunnywit, are jolted into a harsh, street-wise world of sex, lies, and betrayal, to which they respond with irony, wit, intelligence (except for the cat), and tenacity. With judicious use of the Oxford comma, pop culture trivia, common mystery tropes, and a keen eye for deceit, our protagonist swaggers through the mean streets of ― yes, a Canadian city! ― and discovers that what seems at first to be just a grotty little street killing is actually the surface of a grandiose and glittering set of criminal schemes.

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In the City of the Nightmare King by V.S. Santoni (27th)

This is the sequel to I’m a Gay Wizard

Johnny and Alison were your average, miserable high school students until they cast a haywire spell that drew the attention of the Marduk Institute, a secret organization billing itself as a “magic school”; however, things are rarely as they seem . . . With Hunter back from the dead, the Institute takes him down to their underground research facility. Johnny, Alison, and Blake decide that they must infiltrate the facility in order to save Hunter. The odyssey that unfurls begins to unwind the conspiracy at the heart of the Institute, and what they learn may change the course of the Defector’s war against the Institute forever.

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Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard (31st)

Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student.
Sunless Woods is a mindship—and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She’s come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân’s resolute integrity.

When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân’s student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship–and to the devastating secrets they’ve kept from each other.

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