Tag Archives: Off the Record

New Releases

New Releases: May 18th, 2021

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Picture Books

Daddy & Dada by Ryan Brockington and Isaac Webster, illustrated by Lauren May

Hi, I’m Rumi.
Some of my friends have one mom and one dad.
Some have one mom or one dad.
I have two dads. Daddy and Dada.

Daddy sings songs with me. Dada reads me stories.
Every family is different.
And that’s pretty cool.This sweet, open-hearted book began as a love letter from authors Ryan Brockington and Isaac Webster to their daughter—and became a joyous celebration of love, family, and acceptance for all to read and share.

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Young Adult

It Goes Like This by Miel Moreland

Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to think their friendship was unbreakable. After all, they’ve been though a lot together, including the astronomical rise of Moonlight Overthrow, the world-famous queer pop band they formed in middle school, never expecting to headline anything bigger than the county fair.

But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teens’ band, their friendship, and Eva and Celeste’s starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Gina and Celeste step further into the spotlight, Steph disappears completely, and Eva, heartbroken, takes refuge as a songwriter and secret online fangirl…of her own band. That is, until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, they’ll discover whether growing up always means growing apart.

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Off the Record by Camryn Garrett

Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this.

Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head.

One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will?

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Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

Morgan, an elite track athlete, is forced to transfer high schools late in her senior year after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic school’s code of conduct. There, she meets Ruby, who has two hobbies: tinkering with her baby blue 1970 Ford Torino and competing in local beauty pageants, the latter to live out the dreams of her overbearing mother. The two are drawn to each other and can’t deny their growing feelings. But while Morgan–out and proud, and determined to have a fresh start–doesn’t want to have to keep their budding relationship a secret, Ruby isn’t ready to come out yet. With each girl on a different path toward living her truth, can they go the distance together?

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May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor

Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, won’t let coming out as a transgender boy ruin his senior year. Instead of bowing to the bigots and outdate school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise—and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend, Lukas for the title of Homecoming King?

Lukas Rivers, football star and head of the Homecoming Committee, is just trying to find order in his life after his older brother’s funeral and the loss long-term girlfriend—who turned out to be a boy. But when Jeremy threatens to break his heart and steal his crown, Lukas kick starts a plot to sabotage Jeremy’s campaign.

When both boys take their rivalry too far, the dance is on the verge of being canceled. To save Homecoming, they’ll have to face the hurt they’re both hiding—and the lingering butterflies they can’t deny.

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In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

In Thanopolis, those gifted with magic are assigned undead spirits to guard them―and control them. Ever since Rovan’s father died trying to keep her from this fate, she’s hidden her magic. But when she accidentally reveals her powers, she’s bound to a spirit and thrust into a world of palace intrigue and deception.

Desperate to escape, Rovan finds herself falling for two people she can’t fully trust: Lydea, a beguiling, rebellious princess; and Ivrilos, the handsome spirit with the ability to control Rovan, body and soul.

Together, they uncover a secret that will destroy Thanopolis. To save them all, Rovan will have to start a rebellion in both the mortal world and the underworld, and find a way to trust the princess and spirit battling for her heart―if she doesn’t betray them first.

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Fence: Disarmed by Sarah Rees Brennan

The boys of Kings Row are off to a training camp in Europe! Surrounded impressive scenery and even more impressive European fencing teams, underdog Nicholas can’t help but feel out of place. With the help of a local legend, though, he and the rest of the team finds it within themselves to face superior fencers, ex-boyfriends, expulsion, and even Nicholas’s golden-boy, secret half-brother, the infamous Jesse Coste. Will Aiden and Harvard end up together, though? En garde!

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Adult

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Jonah Keller moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a successful playwright, but, for the time being, lives in a rundown sublet in Bushwick, working extra hours at a restaurant only to barely make rent. When he stumbles upon a photo of Richard Shriver—the glamorous Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and quite possibly the stepping stone to the fame he craves—Jonah orchestrates their meeting. The two begin a hungry, passionate affair.

When summer arrives, Richard invites his young lover for a spell at his sprawling estate in the Hamptons. A tall iron fence surrounds the idyllic compound where Richard and a few of his close artist friends entertain, have lavish dinners, and—Jonah can’t help but notice—employ a waitstaff of young, attractive gay men, many of whom sport ugly bruises. Soon, Jonah is cast out of Richard’s good graces and a sinister underlay begins to emerge. As a series of transgressions lead inexorably to a violent climax, Jonah hurtles toward a decisive revenge that will shape the rest of his life.

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Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.

Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory.  Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.

Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.

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Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome

53968494. sy475 Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut. Brian’s recounting of his experiences—in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory—reveal a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help to soothe his hurt, young psyche, usually to uproarious and devastating effect. A no-nonsense mother and broken father play crucial roles in our misfit’s origin story. But it is Brian’s voice in the retelling that shows the true depth of vulnerability for young Black boys that is often quietly near to bursting at the seams.

Cleverly framed around Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool,” the iconic and loving ode to Black boyhood, Punch Me Up to the Gods is at once playful, poignant, and wholly original. Broome’s writing brims with swagger and sensitivity, bringing an exquisite and fresh voice to ongoing cultural conversations about Blackness in America.

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Fat and Queer: an Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies ed. by Bruce Owens Grimm, Miguel M. Morales, and Tiff Joshua TJ Ferentini (21st)

We’re here. We’re queer. We’re fat.

This one-of-a-kind collection of prose and poetry radically explores the intersection of fat and queer identities, showcasing new, emerging and established queer and trans writers from around the world.

Celebrating fat and queer bodies and lives, this book challenges negative and damaging representations of queer and fat bodies and offers readers ways to reclaim their bodies, providing stories of support, inspiration and empowerment.

In writing that is intimate, luminous and emotionally raw, this anthology is a testament to the diversity and power of fat queer voices and experiences, and they deserve to be heard.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon US | B&N | IndieBound | UBC Press | Amazon FR| Bokus

The Beekeeper by Bev Prescott (21st)

52124053. sy475 Nora Riendeau is a hard-charging attorney on the cusp of achieving the capstone of her career. When she collapses during a high-profile case, her doctor orders her to take time off. Reluctantly, Nora realizes that this rare opportunity will allow her to reconnect with her aunt Midge, who has turned to beekeeping to save her farm in Maine. While she’s there, Nora becomes friends with a mysterious beekeeper name Avril and reconnects with her old girlfriend, Johanna.

When a powerful storm ravages the community, the four women join forces to help the town rebuild. Despite this newfound energy and sense of belonging, Nora is soon compelled to return to her legal career in Boston. But, it doesn’t take long for her to begin questioning the decision because she can’t seem to shake herself free the bees and their passion for home and life.

Nora knows she needs to make some hard choices―about her career in Boston, about her feelings for Midge, Johanna, and Avril, and about her desire to care for the bees. For Nora, critical thinking is second nature, and so it becomes abundantly clear that the only question that matters is whether her truest passion lies in an adrenaline-filled Boston courtroom, or with the amazing women at Aunt Midge’s apiary.

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Deal Announcements

July 2020 Book Deal Announcements

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Adult

Ashley Herring Blake‘s DELILAH GREEN DOESN’T CARE, an #ownvoices queer romantic comedy, about a woman who begrudgingly returns to her hometown for her estranged stepsister’s wedding; when she crosses paths with a former mean girl from her childhood, old wounds and old feelings reignite, to Angela Kim at Berkley, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2022, by Rebecca Podos at Rees Literary Agency (world).

Brooklyn College MFA and NYU Law School graduate Jane Pek‘s THE VERIFIERS, which examines how today’s technology shapes our choices, introducing an overly imaginative reader of mystery novels who lands her dream job at an “online-dating detective agency,” then finds herself solving a real-life murder with sinister societal implications, while keeping the fact that she dates girls from her matchmaking mother, to Anna Kaufman at Vintage, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2022, by Julie Barer at The Book Group (NA).

Jen Hinst-White‘s JOBS FOR GIRLS WITH ARTISTIC FLAIR, a LGBTQ coming-of-age story pitched as THE CACTUS meets PIZZA GIRL, about a young woman in 1980s Long Island who chases her dream of becoming a tattooist despite her social anxiety, an unreliable family, and an industry hostile to women artists, to Jeramie Orton at Pamela Dorman Books, in a pre-empt, for publication in summer 2022, by Chad Luibl at Janklow & Nesbit (world).

C.L. Clark‘s THE UNBROKEN, a North Africa-inspired queer epic fantasy following a soldier accused of murder who is saved from execution when a dethroned princess decides to take her on as a spy, while grappling with a crumbling empire and their unexpected bond, to Brit Hvide at Orbit, in an exclusive submission, in a three-book deal, by Mary C. Moore at Kimberley Cameron & Associates (world).

Oregon Literary Arts Fellow and Mills MFA graduate Emme Lund‘s THE BOY WITH A BIRD IN HIS CHEST, pitched as the desperate longing of THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER meets queer coming-of-age about the secrets we carry, the ways we try to stay safe, and growing up having to hide what makes you lovable to the world and to yourself, to Melanie Iglesias Perez at Atria, at auction, for publication in spring 2022, by Cassie Mannes Murray at Howland Literary (world).

Actor Paul Mendez‘s RAINBOW MILK, a coming-of-age story that follows a nineteen-year-old Jamaican-British man, who goes from isolated fast food server in the Black Country to sex worker and burgeoning artist in London as he grapples with his racial and sexual identities against the backdrop of his Jehovah’s Witness upbringing and the legacy of the Windrush generation, to Margo Shickmanter at Doubleday, for publication in summer 2021, by Helena Doree at Little Brown UK (NA).

Author of LOVE ON THE HUDSON KD Fisher’s THE SECRET INGREDIENT, in which two very different female chefs in small-town Maine find a way into each other’s hearts and families, to Kerri Buckley at Carina Press Adores, for publication in November 2020, by Claire Draper at The Bent Agency (world).

Children’s/YA

Author of ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED Sophie Gonzales and author of THE LOVE INTEREST Cale Dietrich‘s OFF THE RECORD, following two boys in America’s biggest boy band who fall for each other while on their first sold-out European tour, and are forced to keep their relationship a secret by their record label, but slowly realize those in charge have no intention of letting them announce their relationship to the world—ever, to Sylvan Creekmore at Wednesday Books, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2021, by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds (world).

Author of DEPOSING NATHAN Zack Smedley‘s TONIGHT WE RULE THE WORLD, a coming-of-age novel about a boy whose senior year is upended when school officials learn he was sexually assaulted by another student; exploring identity, sexuality, and self-worth and following the implosion among the boy’s school, peers, parents, and girlfriend, to Lauren Knowles at Page Street, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2021, by Allison Remcheck at Stimola Literary Studio (world).

Gabe Cole Novoa’s THE WICKED BARGAIN, the #OwnVoices YA fantasy follows a trans masculine Latinx teen pirate hiding magical abilities who, after a deal with the devil comes to a violent end, is rescued by the Caribbean’s sole remaining pirate crew, but with the Spanish armada hunting the last of the pirates down, the magic they’ve been keeping secret may be their only redemption—or it could mean certain death, to Jenna Lettice at Random House Children’s, for publication in fall 2022, by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency (world).

Mariama Lockington’s FOREVER IS NOW, a novel-in-verse about an agoraphobic teenager who must find a way to boldly step outside herself for the sake of her relationships and community, to Joy Peskin at Farrar, Straus Children’s, in a two-book deal, by Jane Dystel at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Author of WHITE ROSE Kip Wilson’s THE MOST DAZZLING GIRL IN BERLIN, a historical novel-in-verse about an orphan who finds family, love, and her voice in a queer nightclub during the last days of the Weimar Republic in Berlin, 1932, to Margaret Raymo at Versify, for publication in spring 2022, by Roseanne Wells at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (NA).

Illustrators of the forthcoming WEIRDO Jessica Wibowo and Jacinta Wibowo‘s LUNAR BOY, in which a boy from the moon deals with culture shock, familial struggles, and first crushes when his mother suddenly marries and moves them to Earth, to Carolina Ortiz at Harper Alley, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2023, by Britt Siess at Martin Literary Management (world English).

Betsy Cornwell‘s READER, I MURDERED HIM, a tale of female agency, queer romance, and revenge in which a girl becomes a teenage vigilante who roams Victorian England using her privilege and power to protect other young women from abusive Gothic heroes, to Lynne Polvino at Clarion, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2021, by Sara Crowe at Pippin Properties (NA).

Non-Fiction

Winner of two gold medals and the World Cup Briana Scurry and Wayne Coffey, with a foreword by Robin Roberts‘s MY GREATEST SAVE, a memoir of Scurry’s role as the fierce goalkeeper for the 1999ers, the legendary U.S. Women’s national team, where she broke barriers as the first Black female player, the first to come out openly as gay, and one of the first to advocate for equal pay, until a career-ending concussion sent her into years of despair and she had to make the greatest save of all, to Jamison Stoltz at Abrams Press, by Susan Canavan at Waxman Literary Agency (world).

Lambda Literary nonfiction fellow Nikkya Hargrove‘s MAMA: A BLACK, QUEER WOMAN’S JOURNEY TO MOTHERHOOD, describing how growing up visiting her mother in prison affected her own choices in life and how, when her mother died of heart disease at the age of 42 after a lifelong battle with crack cocaine, she adopted her baby brother, determined to create the kind of family she never had; about motherhood and identity, as told by a Black gay woman married to a Sri Lankan American woman parenting twin girls and raising their adopted son together, to Amy Gash at Algonquin, at auction, for publication in fall 2022, by Stacey Glick at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Authors of THE GAY AGENDA and owners of the Ash + Chess stationery store Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham’s THE QUEER TAROT and THE GAY AGENDA AGENDA, an illustrated guidebook and deck that seeks to serve as an outlet for members of the LGBTQ+ community who want to connect with the tarot in a more personalized way, celebrating their identities, including non-binary, trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, and more, with all races and cultures, abilities, and body types represented and celebrated; also, an agenda highlighting the most important historical moments, figures, and places in the gay community, to Shannon Connors Fabricant at Running Press, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Meg Thompson at Thompson Literary Agency (world).

Contributor to Ploughshares, The Rumpus, and Longreads Edgar Gomez’s HIGH-RISK HOMOSEXUAL, a debut memoir about coming-of-age in a culture that values machismo, following the author from his uncle’s cockfighting ring in Nicaragua to the queer spaces where he discovered the joy of being gay and Latino, including Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a drag queen convention in Los Angeles, and the doctor’s office where he was diagnosed a “high-risk homosexual,” to Sarah Lyn Rogers at Soft Skull, for publication in fall 2021, by Danielle Bukowski at Sterling Lord Literistic (world).