Tag Archives: OKPsyche

New Releases: September 2023

Forget I Told You This by Hilary Zaid (1st)

Amy Black, a queer single mother and an aspiring artist in love with calligraphy, dreams of a coveted artist’s residency at the world’s largest social media company, Q. One ink-black October night, when the power is out in the hills of Oakland, California, a stranger asks Amy to transcribe a love letter for him. When the stranger suddenly disappears, Amy’s search for the letter’s recipient leads her straight to Q and the most beautiful illuminated manuscript she has ever seen, the Codex Argentus, hidden away in Q’s Library of Books That Don’t Exist—and to a group of data privacy vigilantes who want her to burn Q to the ground.

Amy’s curiosity becomes her salvation, as she’s drawn closer and closer to the secret societies and crackpot philosophers that haunt the city’s abandoned warehouses and defunct train depots. All of it leads to an opportunity of a lifetime: an artist’s residency deep in the holographic halls of Q headquarters. It’s a dream come true—so long as she follows Q’s rules.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

The Mossheart’s Promise by Rebecca Mix (5th)

The mold takes all.

Twelve-year-old fairy Canary Mossheart knows this better than most. A few years ago, the mold took her papa, and even her famous, former-chosen-one Gran never found a cure. So when Ary’s beloved mama falls ill, Ary decides it’sĀ taken enough. Armed with only a bucket and a prayer, she sneaks out to find a magical, underground lake whose healing waters are straight out of Gran’s adventures.

But when Ary gets there, the lake’s bone dry, and instead of healing waters, she finds a terrifying secret:Ā Her entire world is actually trapped inside a giant terrarium—one they were meant to leave centuries ago. Worse, GranĀ knewĀ and hid the truth,Ā dooming Ary and her generation to a dying, rotting world.

Now, allied with only her doomsday-obsessed frenemy, a timid pill bug, and a particularly grumpy newt, Ary has one week to unravel the clues and find a way out of the terrarium—or they’ll be trapped for good.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

DeephavenĀ by Ethan M. Aldridge (5th)

When Guinevere ā€œNevā€ Tallow receives an acceptance letter to the exclusive Deephaven Academy, they know it’s the fresh start that they’ve been looking for.

But things are strange from the moment they arrive—the house itself seems to breathe, students whisper secrets in dark corridors, and the entire east wing of the academy is locked away for reasons no one wants to explain. And Nev knows something ragged stalks the shadowy corridors, something that sobs quietly and scratches at the walls, waiting to be released.

With the help of another first-year student, Nev takes it upon themselves to unravel the mysteries hidden in Deephaven’s halls. But will they risk their fresh start to bring the academy’s secret to light?

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline (5th)

Mary Lennox didn’t think about death until the day it knocked politely on her bedroom door and invited itself in. When a terrible accident leaves her orphaned at fifteen, she is sent to the wilderness of the Georgian Bay to live with an uncle she’s never met.

At first the impassive, calculating girl believes this new manor will be just like the one she left in Toronto: cold, isolating, and anything but cheerful, where staff is treated as staff andĀ neverĀ like family. But as she slowly allows her heart to open like the first blooms of spring, Mary comes to find that this strange place and its strange people―most of whom are Indigenous self-named ā€œhalfbreedsā€ā€•may be what she can finally call home.

Then one night Mary discovers Olive, her cousin who has been hidden away in an attic room for years due to a ā€œnervous condition.ā€ The girls become fast friends, and Mary wonders why this big-hearted girl is being kept out of sight and fed medicine that only makes her feel sicker. When Olive’s domineering stepmother returns to the manor, it soon becomes clear that something sinister is going on.

With the help of a charming, intoxicatingly vivacious Metis girl named Sophie, Mary begins digging further into family secrets both wonderful and horrifying to figure out how to free Olive. And some of the answers may lie within the walls of a hidden, overgrown and long-forgotten garden the girls stumble upon while wandering the wilds…

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Every Star that Falls by Michael Thomas Ford (5th)

This is the sequel to Suicide Notes

Jeff spent forty-five days in the psych ward of a hospital after a suicide attempt. Now that he’s home and has accepted that he’s gay, he’s ready to reenter his life feeling stronger and more comfortable being his true self than ever before.

But it’s hard to come back to an old life when you have a new perspective on it. Returning to school is complicated, and his mother’s anxiety isn’t helping. Jeff will also have to figure out how to reconnect with his best friend, Allie, whose boyfriend he kissed before he went to the hospital. To make things even more complicated, a fellow patient from the ward suddenly appears at school, which brings up all kinds of mixed emotions for Jeff.

Luckily, he’s got new friends from a local community center for queer youths to help him through it all. And some may turn out to be more than just friends…

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Straight Expectations by Callum McSwiggan (5th)

If you were granted one wish, what would it be?

Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out and proud. But every time he looks around his small school, he sees straight couples everywhere. It’s everything he’s ever wanted for himself, but there are few queer boys to choose from. When his frustrations get the better of him, he lashes out at his best friend, Dean, and wishes he had what everyone else has. And he wishes they’d never been friends.

Max gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up to find his wish has come true—his feelings for boys have vanished, and so has Dean. And he got exactly what he wanted… a girlfriend. With his school life turned upside down and his relationship with his family in tatters, Max sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the love story he thought he’d never have.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Fly With Me by Andie Burke (5th)

A one-way ticket to love or a bumpy ride ahead?

Flying-phobic ER nurse Olive Murphy is still gripping the armrest from her first-ever take-off when the pilot announces an in-flight medical emergency. Olive leaps into action and saves a life, but ends up getting stuck in the airport hours away from the marathon she’s running in honor of her brother. Luckily for her, Stella Soriano, the stunning type A copilot, offers to give her a ride.

After the two spend a magical day together, Stella makes a surprising request: Will Olive be her fake girlfriend?

A video of Olive saving a life has gone viral and started generating big sales for Stella’s airline. Stella sees their union as the perfect opportunity to get to the boys’ club executives at her company who keep overlooking her for a long-deserved promotion. Realizing this arrangement could help her too, Olive dives into memorizing Stella’s comically comprehensive three-ring-binder guide to fake dating. As the two grow closer, what’s supposed to be a ruse feels more and more real. Could this be the romantic ride of their lives, or an epic crash and burn?

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson (5th)

A queer revisionist retelling of the story of Hercules, for fans ofĀ The Song of Achilles,Ā A Thousand ShipsĀ andĀ Ariadne.

This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures… everyone’s favorite hero, right?

Well, it’s not.

This is the story of everyone else:

  • Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere)
  • Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends)
  • Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage)
  • Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (He never asked for the job)
  • His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims

It’s time to hear their stories.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Wound by Oksana Vasyakina (5th)

From one of Russia’s most exciting new voices,Ā WoundĀ follows a young lesbianĀ poet on a journey from Moscow to her hometown in Siberia, where she hasĀ promised to bury her mother’s ashes. Woven throughout this fascinatingĀ travel narrative are harrowing and at times sublime memories of her childhoodĀ and her sexual and artistic awakening. As she carefully documents her grief andĀ interrogatesĀ her past, the narrator of Oksana Vasyakina’s autobiographical novelĀ meditates on queerness, death, and love and finds new words for understanding herĀ relationship with her mother, her country, her sexuality, and her identity as an artist.

A sensual, whip-smart account of the complicated dynamics of queer life inĀ present-day Siberia and Moscow,Ā WoundĀ is also in conversation with feministĀ thinkersĀ and artists, including Susan Sontag, Louise Bourgeois, and MoniqueĀ Wittig, locatingĀ Vasyakina’s work in a rich and exciting international literary tradition.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee (5th)

Elisheva Cohen has just returned to Brooklyn after almost a decade. The wounds of abandoning the Orthodox community that raised her, then shunned her because of her substance abuse, are still painful. But when she gets an amazing opportunity to study photography with art legend Wyatt Cole, Ely is willing to take the leap.

On her first night back in town, Ely goes out to the infamous queer club Revel for a celebratory night of dancing. Ely is swept off her feet and into bed by a gorgeous man who looks like James Dean, but with a thick Carolina accent. The next morning, Ely wakes up alone and rushes off to attend her first photography class, reminiscing on the best one-night stand of her life. She doesn’t even know his name. That is, until Wyatt Cole shows up for class—and Ely realizes that the man she just spent an intimate and steamy night with is her teacher.

Everyone in the art world is obsessed with Wyatt Cole. He’s immensely talented and his notoriously reclusive personal life makes him all the more compelling. But there’s a reason why his past is hard for him to publicize. After coming out as transgender, Wyatt was dishonorably discharged from the military and disowned by his family. From then on he committed to sobriety and channeled his pain into his flourishing art career. While Ely and Wyatt’s relationship started out on a physical level, their similar struggles spark a much deeper connection. The chemistry is undeniable, but their new relationship as teacher and student means desperately wanting what they can’t have.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

The Otherwoods by Justine Pucella Winans (12th)

The Otherwoods is calling. And it won’t be ignored.

Some would call River Rydell a ā€˜chosen one’: born with the ability to see monsters and travel to a terrifying spirit world called The Otherwoods, they have all the makings of a hero. But River just calls themself unlucky. After all, it’s not like anyone actually believes River can see these things-or that anyone even believes monsters exist in the first place. So the way River sees it, it’s better to keep their head down and ignore anything Otherwoods related.

But The Otherwoods won’t be ignored any longer.

When River’s only friend (and crush) Avery is kidnapped and dragged into The Otherwoods by monsters, River has no choice but to confront the world they’ve seen only in their nightmares-but reality turns out be more horrifying than they could have ever imagined. With only their cat for protection and a wayward teen spirit as their guide, River must face the monsters of The Otherwoods and their own fears to save Avery and become the hero they were (unfortunately) destined to be.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

The Lonely Book by Meg Grehan (12th)

Every morning, when Annie’s moms open up their bookshop, there’s a pile of books on the counter, waiting for the right reader to come and find them.

But one day, there’s a book nobody comes for. Nobody ever comes, and each day the book gets lonelier, and the bookshop becomes an unhappy place. Who can the book be for, and why don’t they come?

Eventually, the book finds the reader who needs it: Annie’s sister, Charlotte. Charlotte asks the family to call her Charlie now, and to use ā€˜they/them’ pronouns.

The bookshop cheers up. Customers start buying books again.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

The Borrow a Boyfriend ClubĀ by Page Powars (12th)

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by [Page Powars]Noah Byrd is the perfect boy. At least, that’s what he needs to convince his new classmates of to prove his gender. His plan? Join the school’s illustrious (and secret) Borrow a Boyfriend Club, whose members rent themselves out for dates. Once he’s accepted among the bros, the ā€œslip-upsā€ end.

But Noah’s interview is a flop. Desperate, he strikes a deal with the club’s prickly but attractive president, Asher. Noah will help them win an annual talent show—and in return, he’ll get a second shot to demonstrate his boyfriend skills in a series of tests that include romancing Asher himself.

If Noah can’t bring home the win, his best chance to prove that he’s man enough is gone. Yet even if he succeeds, he still loses . . . because the most important rule of the Borrow a Boyfriend Club is simple: no real boyfriends (or girlfriends) allowed.

And as long as the club remains standing as high as Asher’s man bun, Noah and Asher can never explore their growing feelings for one another.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson (12th)

Over-achievement isn’t a bad word—for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her side?

Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart—but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl.

People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl—and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants.

When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt—and how much they need each other to hold it all together.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien (12th)

Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.

When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year—Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat’s closest friend—turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they’d thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet.

Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they’re drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass (12th)

Dearie and Cole are two popular (but sort of hated) queen bee boys of Stone Grove High School. But when the famed Mr. Sandman (a serial killer from the seventies) returns to their town—killing a fellow member of Queer Club and brutally hurting another—their whole lives change.

And when suspicion falls on Cole, Dearie and Cole will have to do whatever it takes to uncover the real killer, before they and the rest of Queer Club are hunted down. But they’re not getting away from the killer without a fight.

Along the way, their investigation leads them to face the deeper forces trying to tear their friendship apart, and the dark truth of Dearie’s relationship with his ex. When the world is stacked against them, and everyone is a possible suspect, can Dearie and Cole take down Mr. Sandman before it’s too late?

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes (12th)

Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Pines, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter.

When Eleanor gets her letter, she knows she’s freed from her hardscrabble life by the sea, in a country ravaged by climate disaster. But despite the Meadows’ luminous facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, it keeps dark secrets.

Four years later, Eleanor and her friends seem free of the Meadows, changed but not in the ways they expected. Eleanor is an adjudicator, ensuring her former classmates don’t stray from the lives they’ve been conditioned to live.

But Eleanor can’t escape her past, or thoughts of the girl she once loved. Because Rose isn’t here anymore.Ā And as secrets emerge that force Eleanor to grapple with her history, she must wage a dangerous battle for her own identity and for the full truth of what happened to the girl she lost, knowing if she’s not careful, Rose’s fate could be her own.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

Monstrous by Jessica Lewis (12th)

Don’t go outside past dark. Come straight home after church. And above all—never, ever, go into Red Wood.

These are the rules Latavia’s aunt tells her as soon as she arrives in Sanctum, Alabama for the summer. Weird, but Latavia isn’t here to solve any scary small town mysteries; she’s here for six weeks and six weeks only, and then she’s off to college and won’t look back. Still, Sanctum has its perks—mainly, the cute girl who works at the local ice cream shop.

But Latavia can’t ignore how strange her aunt’s tiny town is. The residents are suspicious of her and at times hostile, and it’s clear she’s some kind of outsider. That’s proven when Latavia is dragged out of her house in the dead of night, into the forbidden Red Wood, and presented as a human sacrifice to an ancient monster.

Latavia won’t be eaten without a fight. She’ll do whatever she has to do to survive—even if that includes making a deal with the monster, endangering her crush and family, and even risk turning into a monster herself.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

Ryan and Avery by David Levithan (12th)

When a blue-haired boy (Ryan) meets a pink-haired boy (Avery) at a dance–a queer prom–both feel an inexplicable but powerful connection. Follow them through their first ten dates as they bridge their initial shyness and fall in love–through snowstorms, groundings, meeting parents (Avery’s) and not (Ryan’s), cast parties, heartbreak, and every day and date in between.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

What Stalks Among UsĀ by Sarah Hollowell (September 12th)

Best friends and high school seniors Sadie and Logan make their first mistake when they ditch their end-of-year field trip to the amusement park in favor of exploring some old, forgotten backroads. The last thing they expect to come across is a giant, abandoned corn maze.

But with a whole day of playing hooking unspooling before them, they make their second mistake. Or perhaps their third? Maybe even their fourth. Because Sadie and Logan have definitely entered this maze before. And again before that.

When they stumble on the corpses in the maze, identical to them in every way (if you can ignore the stab and gunshot wounds)–from their clothes to their hidden scars to their dyed hair, to that one missing tooth–they quickly realize they’ve not only entered this maze before, they’ve died in it too. A lot. And no matter what they try, they can’t figure out what—orĀ who—is hunting them.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu (12th)

Hayden Lichfield’s life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish:Ā Avenge me…

With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz (12th)

Daniel Rosenberg and Liyah Cohen-Jackson’s last conversation―fourteen years ago at summer camp―ended their friendship. Until they find themselves seated next to each other on a plane, and bitterly pick up right where they left off. At least they can go their separate ways again after landing…

That is, until Daniel’s marketing firm gets hired by the Chicago museum where Liyah works as a junior curator, and they’re forced to collaborate with potential career changing promotions on the line.

With every meeting and post-work social gathering with colleagues, the tension (and chemistry) between Daniel and Liyah builds until they’re forced to confront why they broke apart years ago at camp. But as they find comfort in their shared experiences as Jews of color and fumble towards friendship, can they ignore their growing feelings for each other?

With sexy charm and undeniable wit, Rachel Runya Katz’s sparkling debut,Ā Thank You For Sharing, proves that if you’re open to love, anything is possible.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

OKPsyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro (12th)

Okpsyche - Deniro, Anya JohannaAn unnamed trans woman is looking for a sense of belonging, a better relationship with her son, and friends that aren’t imaginary in this playful and aching short novel. As she navigates the many worlds she belongs to she wrestles with her many anxieties and fears about the world around her. Her son and ex live in another state. Companion robots are popping up. Environmental disasters are being outsourced from the coast to the Midwest. And at any time anyone anywhere might turn out to be a new friend or an enemy.

In this stunning short novel, a trans woman slowly builds her confidence as she wends her way through the real and imagined worries, fears, and weirdness of adulthood, parenthood, and selfhood in the contemporary world.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Small Beer Press

Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura (12th)

Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic and disgraced ex-physician, has discovered a conspiracy. Someone is inflicting magical comas on the inhabitants of the massive city of Astrum, and no one knows how or why. Caught between a faction of scheming magical academics and an explosive schism in the ranks of the Astrum’s power-hungry military, Adrien is swallowed by the growing chaos. Alongside Gennady, an unruly, damaged young soldier, and Malise, a brilliant healer and Adrien’s best friend, Adrien searches for a way to stop the spreading curse before the city implodes. He must survive his own bipolar disorder, his self-destructive tendencies, and his entanglement with the man who doesn’t love him back.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

You, Again by Kate Goldbeck (12th)

When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.

A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs, andĀ neverĀ sleeps over after hooking up. Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: Take the culinary world by storm, find The One, and make her breakfast in his spotless kitchen. They have absolutely nothing in common…except that they happen to be sleeping with the same woman.

Ari and Josh never expect their paths to crossĀ again. But years later, as they’re both reeling from ego-bruising breakups, a chance encounter leads to a surprising connection: friendship. Turns out, spending time with your former nemesis is fun when you’re too sad to hate each other—and too sad for hate sex.

As friends-without-benefits, they find comfort in late night Netflix binges, swiping through each other’s online dating profiles, and bickering across boroughs. It’s better than romance. Until one night, the unspoken boundaries of their platonic relationship begin to blur…

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey (12th)

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by [Trip Galey]Below Covent Garden lies the Under Market, where anything and everything has a price: a lover’s first blush, a month of honesty, five minutes of strength, a wisp of luck and fortune. As a child, Deri was sold to one of the most powerful merchants of the Under Market as a human apprentice. Now, after seventeen years of servitude and stealing his master’s secrets, Deri spots a chance to buy not only his freedom but his place amongst the Under Market’s elite.

A runaway princess escapes to the market, looking to sell her destiny. Deri knows an opportunity when he sees it and makes the bargain of the century. If Deri can sell it on, he’ll be made for life, but if he’s caught with the goods, it will cost him his freedom forever. Now that Deri has met a charming and distractingly handsome young man, and persuaded him that three dates are a suitable price for his advice and guidance, Deri realises he has more to lose than ever.

News of the princess spreads quickly and with the royal enforcers closing in, Deri finds himself the centre of his master’s unwanted attention. He’ll have to pull out all the stops to outmanoeuvre the Master Merchant, save the man he loves, make a name for himself, and possibly change the destiny of London forever.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (12th)

This is the fourth book in the Singing Hills Cycle

Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle Book 4) by [Nghi Vo]The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass–and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

This Spells Disaster by Tori Anne Martin (12th)

Potion maker and self-proclaimed ā€œmessy witchā€ Morgan Greenwood is sure she was hexed at birth. Not only did she drunkenly offer to fake date the woman of her dreams during the biennial New England Witches’ festival, but Rory Sandler, spellcasting champion and brilliant elemental witch–for reasons known only to the Goddess–accepted. It’s like every good luck spell Morgan ever cast came through at once, and it doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict this charade will end with a broken heart.

Or is the magic between them real? As Morgan and Rory prepare to fool everyone at the festival, their relationship starts to feel a whole lot less fake–right until Morgan realizes she might have screwed up the common relaxation potion she made for Rory and given her a love potion instead, breaking one of the most sacred Witch Council Laws.

To fulfill her promise to Rory, Morgan must somehow keep playing pretend while under the watchful eyes of Rory’s family and legion of fans. But to break the love potion, she’llĀ alsoĀ have to prove how incompatible she and Rory really are. For a screwup like her, ruining their relationship should be easy–except every day, Morgan is becoming more bewitched by Rory herself.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

The Free People’s VillageĀ by Sim Kern (12th)

In an alternate 2020 timeline, Al Gore won the 2000 election and declared a War on Climate Change rather than a War on Terror. For twenty years, Democrats have controlled all three branches of government, enacting carbon-cutting schemes that never made it to a vote in our world. Green infrastructure projects have transformed U.S. cities into lush paradises (for the wealthy, white neighborhoods, at least), and the Bureau of Carbon Regulation levies carbon taxes on every financial transaction.

English teacher by day, Maddie Ryan spends her nights and weekends as the rhythm guitarist of Bunny Bloodlust, a queer punk band living in a warehouse-turned-venue called ā€œThe Labā€ in Houston’s Eighth Ward. When Maddie learns that the Eighth Ward is to be sacrificed for a new electromagnetic hyperway out to the wealthy, white suburbs, she joins ā€œSave the Eighth,ā€ a Black-led organizing movement fighting for the neighborhood. At first, she’s only focused on keeping her band together and getting closer to Red, their reckless and enigmatic lead guitarist. But working with Save the Eighth forces Maddie to reckon with the harm she has already done to the neighborhood—both as a resident of the gentrifying Lab and as a white teacher in a predominantly Black school.

When police respond to Save the Eighth protests with violence, the Lab becomes the epicenter of ā€œThe Free People’s Villageā€ā€”an occupation that promises to be the birthplace of an anti-capitalist revolution. As the movement spreads across the U.S., Maddie dreams of a queer, liberated future with Red. But the Village is beset on all sides—by infighting, police brutality, corporate-owned media, and rising ecofascism. Maddie’s found family is increasingly at risk from state violence, and she must decide if she’s willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of justice.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas (12th)

Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan. Students call their teachers by their first names, there are no grades, and every day begins with 20 minutes of contemplative silence in the Meetinghouse. It is during one of those meetings that an airplane hits the Twin Towers.

For two Idlewild outcasts, 9/11 serves as the first day of an intense, 18-month friendship. Fay is prickly, aloof, and obsessed with gay men; Nell is shy, sensitive, and obsessed with Fay. The two of them bond fiercely and spend all their waking hours giddily parsing their environment for homoerotic subtext. Then, during rehearsals for the fall play, they notice two sexually ambiguous boys who are potential candidates for their exclusive Invert Society. The pairs become mirrors of one another and drive each other to make choices that they’ll regret for the rest of their lives.

Looking back on these events as adults, the estranged Fay and Nell trace that fateful school year, recalling backstage theater department intrigue, antiwar demonstrations, smutty fanfic written over AIM and a shared dial-up connection–and the spectacular cascade of mistakes, miscommunications, and betrayals that would ultimately tear the two of them apart.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner (12th)

Godkiller by [Hannah Kaner]Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world—but after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays ā€œgodkillersā€ to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child’s soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can’t kill it without ending the girl’s life too.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in NYC by Elyssa Maxx Goodman (12th)

From the lush feather boas that adorned early female impersonators, to the sequined lip syncs of barroom queens, to the drag kings that have us laughing in stitches, drag has played a vital role in the creative life of New York City. But the evolution of drag in the city—as an art form, a community, and a mode of liberation—has never before been fully chronicled.

Now, for the first time, journalist and drag historian Elyssa Goodman unearths the dramatic, provocative untold story of drag in New York City in all its glistening glory. Readers duck beneath the velvet ropes of Harlem Renaissance balls, examine drag’s crucial role in the Stonewall Uprising, trace its influence on disco and punk rock as well as its unifying power during the AIDS crisis and 9/11, culminating in the era ofĀ RuPaul’sĀ Drag Race.

Informed by meticulous research and archival work, as well as original interviews with high-profile performers,Ā Glitter and ConcreteĀ is a significant contribution to queer history and an essential read for anyone curious about the story that echoes beneath the heels.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

In the Ring by Sierra Isley (15th)

Rose Berman is losing her mind. At least, that’s what everyone at school seems to think. Plagued by panic attacks that started after her mother’s death, Rose is the target of frequent teasing and rumors. But when the star quarterback takes a joke too far, the school’s tattooed, cigarette-smoking time bomb — Elliott King — steps in and punches him in the face. Rose’s therapist recommends she try out a sport to manage her anxiety. She can’t help but think of Elliott – maybe if she could punch like him, she’d feel safer and stronger.

She sticks out like a sore thumb at the boxing gym, but she soon finds power in the sport and a reprieve from her panic attacks. As their worlds intertwine, Rose and Elliott are forced to face their most daunting opponent outside the Ring: their growing feelings for each other.

But Midtown Ring isn’t just a gym. As Rose falls deeper into the world of boxing, she learns Midtown is a front for a late-night, underground fight club where Elliott King is the headliner. Surrounded by violence and destruction, Rose’s anxiety begins to spiral. She starts hallucinating, just like her mother did before her death, leaving her to wonder if everyone at school might be right. If her newfound physical strength can’t keep her grounded in reality, she may be doomed to walk the same path as her mom.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā Little Shop of Stories

How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok (19th)

A year ago, beloved cheerleader Stella Blackthorn vanished without a trace. Devastated, her younger sister, Iris, launched her own investigation, but all she managed to do was scare off the police’s only lead and earn a stern warning: Once she turns eighteen, more meddling means prison-level consequences.

Then, a year later, the unthinkable happens. Iris’s ex-girlfriend, Heather, goes missing, too—just after dropping the polarizing last episode of her true crime podcast all about Iris’s sister. This time, nothing will stop Iris and her amateur sleuthing agency from solving these disappearances.

But with a suspicious detective watching her every move, an enemy-turned-friend-turned-maybe-more to contend with, and only thirty days until she turns eighteen, it’s a race against the clock for Iris to solve the most dangerous case of her life.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney (September 19th)

This is the third and final book in the Nightmare-verse

Alice and her crew are doing their best to recover from the last boss battle, but some of them keep having these. . . dreams: visions of a dark past―and an even darker future. Sadly, the evil in Wonderland may not be as defeated as they’d hoped.

Attacked by Nightmares unlike any they’ve ever seen, Alice will have to step between the coming darkness and the mortal world once more. But this time is different. This time, the monsters aren’t waiting for her on the other side of the Veil.

They’re in her own back yard.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (19th)

A sapphic enemies-to-lovers retelling ofĀ Jekyll & Hyde, this dark academia thriller follows two roommates who must solve an infamous cold case of serial murders on their campus after an arcane ritual gone wrong prompts another death.

Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous unsolved North Tower murders at the elite Carvell Academy of the Arts, forcing the school to close its doors.
​
Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless freshman Lottie Fitzwilliam is determined to find out what really happened. But when her beautiful but standoffish roommate, Alice Wolfe, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual in a book hidden in Carvell’s library, the North Tower claims another victim. Is there a killer among them . . . or worse,Ā withinĀ them?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (19th)

Cleat Cute: A Novel by [Meryl Wilsner]Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t―a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā Amazon

A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles (19th)

Major Rufus d’Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, master of a remote Norman manor on the edge of the infamous Romney Marsh. There he’s beset on all sides, his position contested both by his greedy uncle and by Luke Doomsday, son of a notorious smuggling clan.

The earl and the smuggler should be natural enemies, but cocksure, enragingly competent Luke is a trained secretary and expert schemer—exactly the sort of man Rufus needs by his side. Before long, Luke becomes an unexpected ally…and the lover Rufus had never hoped to find.

But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he’s desperate to keep hidden even from the lord he can’t resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, master and man find themselves forced to decide whose side they’re really on…and what they’re willing to do for love.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Alex Wise vs. the End of the World by Terry J. Benton-Walker (26th)

Cover of Alex Wise vs. the End of the World coverAlex Wise feels like his world is ending. His best friend, Loren, is leaving town for the summer, his former friend and maybe sort of crush Sky hasn’t spoken to him since he ditched Alex on first day of sixth grade, and now his mom is sending him and his annoying younger sister, Mags, on a cruise with the dad who abandoned them. And, as if things couldn’t get worse, a creepy shadow monster may or may not be stalking him.

But none of this could prepare Alex for theĀ actualĀ end of the world. Too bad that is exactly what’s coming, after the definitely-real Shadow ManĀ kidnaps Mags and she is possessed by the ancient spirit of Death—one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Luckily (depending on who you ask), Alex is possessed as well by a powerful god who imbues Alex with their powers in an effort to stop the Horsemen…if he can figure out how to use them. So begins an epic battle between good and evil: Alex, Loren, a grumpy demi-god, and Alex’s fourth grade teacher vs. Death, Pestilence, Famine, War, and the waves of chaos and destruction they bring to LA and soon the rest of the globe. Just your average summer vacation.

Alex is more used to being left behind than leading the way, but now he’s the only one who can save his sister—and the world. That is, if he can unlock his new powers and and see himself as the hero he is.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

The Problem with Gravity by Michelle Mohrweis (26th)

Autistic seventh-grader Maggie Weir loves spacecraft, but aerospace engineering isn’t the only thing that gives her butterflies: she’s got a secret crush on an eighth grader—the amazing, baton-twirling Tatum Jones. And they’ve just teamed up for an engineering contest! It might be the perfect chance for Maggie to tell Tatum how she feels, except . . .

Tatum is focused on outshining her genius twin brother, and Maggie’s forgetfulness isn’t making a great impression. Still, there’s something about the quirky girl with a messy backpack that sets Tatum’s heart aflutter. But before they can finish designing a low-gravity cabinet, Maggie reveals that her dad wants to move to Houston.

Now, Maggie must choose: Does she follow her dad and her dreams of NASA? Or does she stay with her mom to be near Tatum? If the stars are meant to align between these two, they’ll both have to fully realize their feelings for each other before Maggie leaves forever.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson (26th)

The Rusel family is famous throughout Enderlain as breeders of enchanted horses, but their prestige is no match for their rising debts. To save her family’s ranch, Mikira Rusel is left with only one option: enter the Illinir, a cutthroat, cross-country horserace known for its high death rate as much as its flashy prize money.

To have any chance of success, she’ll have to recruit Arielle Kadar, an unlicensed enchanter who creates golems in place of enchanted animals, and Damien Adair, a lord in the midst of a succession battle. Both her accomplices have reasons of their own to help Mikira – and their own blood feuds to avenge.

In a world as dangerous as this, will hidden agendas and conflicting desires butcher their chances of winning the Illinir. . . or will another rider’s dagger?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda Hall (26th)

This is a companion toĀ The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

By sinking a fleet of Imperial Warships, the Pirate Supreme and their resistance fighters have struck a massive blow against the Emperor. Now allies from across the empire are readying themselves, hoping against hope to bring about the end of the conquerors’ rule and the rebirth of the Sea. But trust and truth are hard to come by in this complex world of mermaids, spies, warriors, and aristocrats. Who will Genevieve—lavishly dressed but washed up, half-dead, on the Wariuta island shore—turn out to be? Is warrior Koa’s kindness toward her admirable, or is his sister Kaia’s sharp suspicion wiser? And back in the capital, will pirate-spy Alfie really betray the Imperials who have shown him affection, especially when a duplicitous senator reveals xe would like nothing better?

Meanwhile, the Sea is losing more and more of herself as her daughters continue to be brutally hunted, and the Empire continues to expand through profits made from their blood. The threads of time, a web of schemes, shifting loyalties, and blossoming identities converge in Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s companion to The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, as unlikely young allies work to forge a new and better world.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Mall Goth by Kate Leth (text, art), Diana Sousa (coloring), and Robin Crank (lettering) (26th)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with MeĀ gets a Y2K twist in this coming-of-age young adult graphic novel from acclaimed comic artist Kate Leth about a 2000s goth teen whose favorite part of her new town is the mall.

Liv Holme is not exactly thrilled to be moving to a new town with her mother. After all, high school can be brutal, even more so when you’re a fifteen-year-old, bisexual goth. But Liv is determined to be who she is, bullies or not. Still, being the new kid and the only out student brings her a lot of unwelcome attention, and Liv flounders in her search for community. The only person who makes time for her is one of teachers, but Liv isn’t sure how to feel about the way he behaves toward her.

Thankfully, she’s found the perfect escape: the mall. Under its fluorescent lights, Liv feels far away from her parents’ strained marriage and the peers who don’t understand her. Amid the bright storefronts, food court smell, and anonymous shoppers, Liv is safely one of the crowd and can enjoy the feeling of calling the shots in her own life for once.

With the help of her suburban refuge, Liv sets off on a journey of self-acceptance and learns to navigate the ups and downs of high school and to recognize true friendship.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie (26th)

Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who shaped her from a petty thief and lowlife hacker into a promising con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from her slick fashion sense to her unfailing ability to plan under pressure. Together with Bea, a fearless driver who never walks away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s infuriatingly mercurial rival who can sweet-talk the galaxy into spinning around her finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists, massive payoffs, and never,Ā everĀ getting caught.

Well, until now.

Getting caught is one thing. Getting tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god is a problem this team has never faced before. Aboard theĀ JusticeĀ is a world stitched together from the galaxy’s sinners—some fighting for survival, some struggling to build a civilized society, and some sacrificing everything to worship the AI at the heart of the ship.

TheĀ Justice’s all-seeing eyes are fixed on its newest acquisitions, Murdock in particular. It has use for a hacker—if it can wrest her devotion away from Hark. And Murdock’s faith is already fractured. To escape theĀ Justice’s madness, they need a plan, and Hark might not be up to the task.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

People Collide by Isle McElroy (26th)

When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have he and his wife traded bodies but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. What follows is Eli’s search across Europe to America for his missing wife—and a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender and embodied experience.

As Eli comes closer to finding Elizabeth—while learning to exist in her body—he begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isn’t. Will their new marriage wither completely in each other’s bodies? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Happy Trans Day of Visibility 2023!

It’s Trans Day of Visibility, and we’re celebrating (as we celebrate everything) with a whole bunch of great trans books! As always, this post only includes titles that were not included in full in past posts, but definitely check those out for even more trans lit goodness!

Books to Buy Now

Dear Mothman by Robin Gow

61783806. sy475 Halfway through sixth grade, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Lewis was adventurous and curious, always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names. After his death, lonely and yearning for someone who could understand him like Lewis once did, Noah starts writing letters to Mothman, wondering if he would understand how Noah feels and also looking for evidence of Mothman’s existence in the vast woods surrounding his small Poconos town. Noah becomes determined to make his science fair project about Mothman, despite his teachers and parents urging him to make a project about something ā€œreal.ā€

Meanwhile, as Noah tries to find Mothman, Noah also starts to make friends with a group of girls in his grade, Hanna, Molly, and Alice, with whom he’d been friendly, but never close to. Now, they welcome him, and he starts to open up to each of them, especially Hanna, who Noah has a crush on. But as strange things start to happen and Noah becomes sure of Mothman’s existence, his parents and teachers don’t believe him. Noah decides it’s up to him to risk everything, trek into the woods, and find Mothman himself.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Camp QUILTBAG by Nicole Melleby and A.J. Sass

57737479Twelve-year-old Abigail (she/her/hers) is so excited to spend her summer at Camp QUILTBAG, an inclusive retreat for queer and trans kids. She can’t wait to find a community where she can be herself—and, she hopes, admit her crush on Laura Dern to kids who will understand.

Thirteen-year-old Kai (e/em/eir) is not as excited. E just wants to hang out with eir best friend and eir parkour team. And e definitely does not want to think about the incident that left eir arm in a sling—the incident that also made Kai’s parents determined to send em somewhere e can feel like emself.

After a bit of a rocky start at camp, Abigail and Kai make a pact to help each other find their footing, all while navigating crushes, their queer identities, and a competition pitting cabin against cabin.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson

Eleven-year-old Simon and his siblings, Talia and Rose, are staying the week at Nanaleen’s century-old house. This time, though, it’s not their usual summer vacation trip. In fact, everything’s different. It’s fall, not summer. Mom and Dad are staying behind to have a ā€œtalk.ā€ And Nanaleen’s house smells weird, plus she keeps forgetting things. And these aren’t the only things getting under Simon’s skin: He’s the only one who knows that his name is Simon, and that he and him pronouns are starting to feel right. But he’s not ready to add to the changes that are already in motion in his family.

To make matters worse, Simon keeps hearing a scratching in the walls, and shadows are beginning to build in the corners. He can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply wrong…and he’s determined to get to the bottom of it—which means launching a ghost hunt, with or without his sisters’ help. When Simon discovers the hidden story of his great-aunt Brie, he realizes that Brie’s life might hold answers to some of his worries. Is Brie’s ghost haunting the old O’Hagan house? And will Simon’s search for ghosts turn up more secrets than he ever expected?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Always the Almost by Edward Underhill

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Miles Jacobson has two New Year’s resolutions: 1) win back his ex-boyfriend (and star of the football team) Shane McIntyre, and 2) finally beat his slimy arch-nemesis at the Midwest’s biggest classical piano competition. But that’s not going to be so easy. For one thing, Shane broke up with Miles two weeks after Miles came out as trans, and now Shane’s stubbornly ignoring him, even when they literally bump into each other. Plus, Miles’ new, slightly terrifying piano teacher keeps telling him that he’s playing like he ā€œdoesn’t know who he isā€ā€”whatever that means.

Then Miles meets the new boy in town, Eric Mendez, a proudly queer cartoonist from Seattle who asks his pronouns, cares about art as much as he does—and makes his stomach flutter. Not what he needs to be focusing on right now. But after Eric and Miles pretend to date so they can score an invite to a couples-only Valentine’s party, the ruse turns real with a kiss…which is also definitely not in the plan. Why does Eric like him so much, anyway? It’s not like he’s cool or confident or comfortable in his own skin. He’s not even good enough at piano to get his fellow competitors to respect him…especially now, as Miles. Nothing’s ever been as easy for him as for other people—other boys. He’s only ever been almost enough.

So why, when he’s with Eric, does it feel like the only person he’s ever really not been enough for…is himself?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

El Diablo is in the details in this Latinx pirate fantasy starring a transmasculine nonbinary teen with a mission of revenge, redemption, and revolution.

On Mar León-de la Rosa’s 16th birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn’t enough to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father and now el Diablo has come to collect his payment: the soul of Mar’s father and the entire crew of their ship.

When Mar is miraculously rescued by the sole remaining pirate crew in the Caribbean, el Diablo returns to give them a choice: give up your soul to save your father by the Harvest Moon or never see him again. The task is impossible–Mar refuses to make a bargain and there’s no way their magic is any match for el Diablo. Then, Mar finds the most unlikely allies: Bas, an infuriatingly arrogant and handsome pirate — and the captain’s son; and Dami, a genderfluid demonio whose motives are never quite clear. For the first time in their life, Mar may have the courage to use their magic. It could be their only redemption — or it could mean certain death.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla

61232299. sy475 Seventeen-year-old Gael is used to keeping to himself. Though his best friend convinces him to attend a meeting of Plus, a support group for LGBTQIA+ teens, Gael doesn’t plan on sharing much. Where would he even start?

Between supporting his mother through her bouts of depression, dealing with his estranged father, and navigating senior year as a transgender boy at a conservative Tennessean high school, his life is a lot to unload on strangers.

But after meeting easygoing Declan, Gael is welcomed into a new circle of friends who make him want to open up. As Gael’s friendship with Declan develops into something more, he finds himself caught between his mother’s worsening mental health and his father’s attempts to reconnect.

After tragedy strikes, Gael must decide if he can risk letting the walls around his heart down and fully opening up to those who care for him.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

New York City, 1922.Ā NicolĆ”s Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Wisconsin, has no interest in the city’s glamor. Going to New York is all about establishing himself as a young professional, which could set up his future—and his life as a man—and benefit his family.

Nick rents a small house in West Egg from his 18-year-old cousin, Daisy Fabrega, who lives in fashionable East Egg near her wealthy fiancĆ©, Tom—and Nick is shocked to find that his cousin now goes by Daisy Fay, has erased all signs of her Latina heritage, and now passes seamlessly as white.

Nick’s neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious young man named Jay Gatsby, whose castle-like mansion is the stage for parties so extravagant that they both dazzle and terrify Nick. At one of these parties, Nick learns that the spectacle is all for the benefit of impressing a girl from Jay’s past—Daisy. And he learns something else: Jay is also transgender.

As Nick is pulled deeper into the glittery culture of decadence, he spends more time with Jay, aiming to help his new friend reconnect with his lost love. But Nick’s feelings grow more complicated when he finds himself falling hard for Jay’s openness, idealism, and unfounded faith in the American Dream.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound

World Running Down by Al Hess

A book cover consisting of an oil painting of the Utah salt flats with a blue sky fading into a warm sunset, with long sunset-lit clouds; mountains in the distance behind a silhouetted art deco cityscape; in the foreground is a rusty red VW van with a mounted gun, and a male couple sitting on top of the van. The title says WORLD RUNNING DOWN in art deco font; Al Hess, with a small Angry Robot logo in the bottom right corner Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City – a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric.

Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer – an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine’s always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the ā€œmerchandiseā€, they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives.

The prize is tempting, but carrying out the job would go against everything Valentine stands for, and would threaten the fragile found family that’s kept him alive so far. He’ll need to decide whether to risk his own dream in order to give the AI a chance to live theirs.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Pack of Her Own by Elena Abbott

Pack of Her OwnNatalie Donovan jumps at a friend’s offer to stay in the family cabin for a month—she desperately needs the chance to get away from, and get over, her messy breakup. She doesn’t count on the owner of the local diner making her heart pound and her body desperate to be touched.

Wren Carne is a lone wolf. As an Alpha shifter, she has no pack and maintains her territory without causing drama, just the way she likes it. When she checks on the girl staying in a local cabin, she’s not expecting her wolf to identify the human as her One True Mate.

As fallout from their pasts encroaches upon the sleepy town of Terabend, Wren must decide if she wants a pack of her own, while Natalie worries that her secret—she’s transgender—might be too much for Wren.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Warrior of Hearts by Beau van Dalen

Warrior Of Hearts - Book 1: ONLINE by [Beau Van Dalen]At the age of twenty-one, Alex Winters has already repaid his student loans, gotten his own apartment, and become officially recognized as a rising artist to watch out for in the character design field. Everything is perfect, except it’s not, because Alex is miserable.

To distract himself, Alex signs up to become a moderator for his favorite video game. He figures it shouldn’t be too hard. He just has to answer a few questions, and that’ll be that. But life loves proving Alex wrong. Because the first message he receives is: [she’s not breathing, and I don’t know what to do, because when my mate’s parents get home they’re just gonna find this girl on the floor and I know we don’t know each other but you’re the only one I can count on right now so please help me.]

Now, Alex is stuck chatting with David—an equally depressed medical student, who’s coincidentally also the king of unhealthy coping mechanisms. When Alex realizes David also hates himself to a point of no return, what started off as an online joke slowly blooms into a genuine friendship between the two. So, it’s all nice and wholesome. Mostly. Until Alex falls in love. Then, it gets complicated.

Buy it: Amazon

The Call Out: A Novel in Rhyme by Cat Fitzpatrick

The Call-Out: A Novel in Rhyme - Fitzpatrick, CatAashvi, Kate, Bette, Keiko, Gaia, and Day are six queer, mostly trans women surviving and thriving in Brooklyn. Visiting all the fixtures of fashionable 21st century queer society–picnics, literary readings, health conferences, drag shows, punk houses, community accountability processes, Grindr hookups–The Call-OutĀ also engages with pressing questions around economic precarity, sexual consent, racism in queer spaces, and feminist theory, in the service of asking what it takes to build, or destroy, a marginalized community.

A novel written in verse,Ā The Call-OutĀ recalls the Russian literary classic Eugene Onegin, but instead of 19th century Russian aristocrats crudely solved their disagreements with pistols, the participants in this rhyming drama have developed a more refined weapon, the online call-out, a cancel-culture staple. In this passionate tangle of modern relationships, where a barbed tweet can be as dangerous as the narrator’s bon-mots, Cat Fitzpatrick has fashioned a modern novel of manners that gives readers access to a vibrant cultural underground.

Buy it: Bookshop | AmazonĀ 

Heart Haunt Havoc by FreydĆ­s Moon

Heart, Haunt, Havoc by [FreydĆ­s Moon]When lonely transgender exorcist Colin Hart finds himself challenged by an unruly haunted house in Gideon, Colorado, he’s kept awake by ghosts, demons, ghouls, and the handsome nonbinary owner of the house, Bishop MartĆ­nez.

Unlike the simple hauntings Colin is accustomed to, Bishop’s house is a living beacon, attracting a plethora of inhuman creatures, including a vengeful wolf-headed spirit who might be the key to quieting their sleepless nights.

But as a heartbreaking mystery unravels, Colin comes face-to-face with the past Bishop tried to bury, opens a closet full of bloody skeletons, and trips into an accidental romance.

As paranormally skilled as Colin might be, this particular haunting may be too messy for him to handle…

Buy it: Amazon

A Milky Way Home by Hsinju Chen

(Yen-Chen in transmasc.)

A Milky Way Home (Clover Hill Romance Book 6) by [Hsinju Chen]Yen-Chen Chang is tired of the big corporate world. After quitting his high-paying software engineer job in Seattle, he’s desperate to move back to Taipei to figure out the next stage of his career. When his best friend invites him to visit Clover Hill as the last stop before going home, he gladly welcomes the opportunity to see the town they love.

Florence Hong-Lam Ho is passionate about her shih tzu mix Milk Puff, music composition, and teaching children piano. She is not trusting of strangers, especially those from outside of Clover Hill. When a tourist reaches for the last piece of fĆØnghuĆ”ng sÅ« at Wong’s Corner Store at the same time as she does, she hopes to never see this person again, even if her dog loves him already.

But when Yen-Chen and Florence keep running into each other—once, literally—they strike up a reluctant friendship. Is their growing connection written in the stars, or will Yen-Chen still leave Clover Hill for good?

Buy it: Amazon

Books to Preorder

A Zookeeper’s Guide to Dating by Roan Rosser and Ian M. Keller (April 4, 2023)

A Zookeeper's Guide to Dating (The T-Guides: A Transgender MM Romance Series) by [Roan Rosser, Ian M. Keller]Wallflower janitor Emily has dreamed of being a zookeeper their entire life. But they’ve been passed over again and again for promotion. Asked out by a gay man who thinks they’re named ā€˜Emil,’ they feel happy for the first time in forever.

Jeremi is outgoing, friendly, driven… and his forgetfulness has lost him more boyfriends than he can count. When he meets an adorable twink at the zoo, Jeremi vows: this time will be different.

Their first date tanks.

Jeremi tries to salvage things by offering to be Emil’s job coach, yet he can’t help but want to be more than just friends.

As Emil’s egg cracks and their self-confidence grows, Emil yearns for more from Jeremi. Yet they worry they’re not what Jeremi is looking for…

Is their relationship doomed to die in captivity?

Buy it: Amazon

Any Other City by Hazel Jane Plante (April 16, 2023)

63105496Any Other CityĀ is a two-sided fictional memoir by Tracy St. Cyr, who helms the beloved indie rock band Static Saints. Side A is a snapshot of her life from 1993, when Tracy arrives in a labyrinthine city as a fledgling artist and unexpectedly falls in with a clutch of trans women, including the iconoclastic visual artist Sadie Tang.

Side B finds Tracy, now a semi-famous musician, in the same strange city in 2019, healing from a traumatic event through songwriting, queer kinship, and sexual pleasure. While writing her memoir, Tracy perceives how the past reverberates into the present, how a body is a time machine, how there’s power in refusing to dust the past with powdered sugar, and how seedlings begin to slowly grow in empty spaces after things have been broken open.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Joy, to the World by Kai Shappley and Lisa Bunker (May 9, 2023)

Joy, a twelve-year-old trans girl, just moved to Texas with her mother and older brother. Her family has accepted Joy as the girl she is early in her transition, with little fuss, leaving Joy to explore her love of sports, competition, teamwork, school spirit, and worship.

But when she is told she’s off the cheerleading team, Joy wants to fight for her right to cheer. As her battle with the school board picks up momentum, Joy attracts support from kids all around the country . . . she even gets the attention of her hero, trans activist Kai Shappley.

Inspired by Kai’s own life, Joy, to the World is a timely story of living life to the fullest, celebrating and centering trans joy, courage, and resilience.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Bang Bang Bodhisattva by Aubrey Wood (May 9, 2023)

Someone wants trans girl hacker-for-hire Kiera Umehara in prison or dead—but for what? Failing to fix their smart toilet?

It’s 2032 and we live in the worst cyberpunk future. Kiera is gigging her ass off to keep the lights on, but her polycule’s social score is so dismal they’re about to lose their crib. That’s why she’s out here chasing cheaters with Angel Herrera, a luddite P.I. who thinks this isĀ The Big Sleep.Ā Then the latest job cuts too deep—hired to locate Herrera’s ex-best friend (who’s also Kiera’s pro bono attorney), they find him murdered instead. Their only lead: a stick of Nag Champa incense dropped at the scene.

Next thing Kiera knows, her new crush turns up missing—sansĀ a hand (the real one, not the cybernetic), and there’s the familiar stink of sandalwood across the apartment. Two crimes, two sticks of incense, Kiera framed for both. She told Herrera to lose her number, but now the old man might be her only way out of this bullshit…

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore (May 16, 2023)

Venom & VowKeep your enemy closer.

Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother.

Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana.

Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect.

Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy.

Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person.
Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade.

And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Transmogrify! ed. by g. haron-davis (May 16, 2023)

Transmogrify

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. InĀ Transmogrify!, you’ll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.

Featuring stories from:

  • AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy
  • g. haron davis
  • Mason Deaver
  • Jonathan Lenore Kastin
  • Emery Lee
  • Saundra Mitchell
  • Cam Montgomery
  • Ash Nouveau
  • Sonora Reyes
  • Renee Reynolds
  • Dove Salvatierra
  • Ayida Shonibar
  • Francesca Tacchi
  • Nik Traxler

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Roux for Two by Aurora Rey (May 16, 2023)

Roux for TwoWhen her celebrity chef boss is taken down in a sexual harassment scandal, Chelsea Boudreaux’s dream of getting her own cooking show comes true. Her hometown of Duchesne, Louisiana, provides the perfect backdrop for her modern takes on traditional Cajun fare. Vindicating herself to the mother who never believed in her is icing on the cake.

Bryce Cormier never left Duchesne and has no regrets, except that falling in love as a trans guy in a tiny town is easier said than done. When Chelsea comes home after more than a decade away, Bryce thinks he may have found the perfect woman. At least until Chelsea’s burgeoning celebrity spills over and turns his world upside down.

It turns out love is like a good gumbo—what seems simple is complex, and the best results require a bit of courage. And like all the recipes say… First, you make a roux.

Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound

A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar by Harry Nicholas (May 18, 2023)

‘On the bookshelves, there was plenty of stuff on being gay, and much needed, joyous accounts of what it is to be trans, but nothing really that encapsulates what is it to be both – to exist in the hazy terrain between.’

After his relationship with his girlfriend of 5 years ended, Harry realised he was a single adult for the first time – not only that, but a single, transmasculine and newly out gay man.

Despite knowing it was the right decision, the reality of his new situation was terrifying. How could he be a gay man, when he was still learning what it was to be a man? Would the gay community embrace him or reject him? What would gay sex be like? And most importantly, would finding love again be possible?

In this raw, intimate and unflinchingly honest book, we follow Harry as he navigates the sometimes fraught and contradictory worlds of contemporary gay culture as a trans gay man, from Grindr, dating and gay bars, to saunas, sex and ultimately, falling in love. Harry’s brave and uplifting journey will show you there is joy in finding who you are.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Remain Silent by Robyn Gigl (May 23, 2023)

This is the third book in the Erin McCabe series

Erin McCabe’s years as a criminal defense attorney have prepared her for almost anything, except being on the opposite side of the interrogation table. A new client—a successful financial adviser—was found stabbed to death on the beach near his palatial Jersey Shore home. The time of death is estimated to be during Erin’s one and only consultation with him, during which he revealed that he was secretly transgender. As the last person to see him alive, Erin’s now the prime suspect.

If the evidence were simply circumstantial, Erin is sure she and her law partner, Duane Swisher, could prevail. But there are entanglements that can’t be easily explained, and connections to powerful unscrupulous politicians who hold a lot of grudges. While the investigation unfolds, Erin and Duane are called on to represent a mother charged with abducting her child—a hot-button case that has both private and public implications for Erin.

As she battles one prosecutor who wants to see her charged with murder, and another determined to send her to jail for refusing to divulge her client’s location, Erin also faces a devastating family tragedy. With her career and her relationship on the line, and her life being targeted by a desperate nemesis, there has never been more at stake—or fewer places to turn . . .

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Chef’s Choice by TJ Alexander (May 30, 2023)

When Luna O’Shea is unceremoniously fired from her frustrating office job, she tries to count her blessings: she’s a proud trans woman who has plenty of friends, a wonderful roommate, and a good life in New York City. But blessings don’t pay the bills.

Enter Jean-Pierre, a laissez-faire trans man and the heir to a huge culinary empire—which he’ll only inheritĀ ifĀ he can jump through all the hoops his celebrity chef grandfather has placed in his path. First hoop: he needs a girlfriend, a role that Luna is happy to play…for the right price. She’s got rent to pay, after all! Second hoop: they both need to learn how to cook a series of elaborate, world-renowned family recipes to prove that Jean-Pierre is a worthy heir. Admittedly, Luna doesn’t even know how to crack an egg, but she’s not going to let that—or any pesky feelings for Jean-Pierre—stop her.

Buy it:Ā The Ripped BodiceĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound

Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero (May 30, 2023)

As a young femme growing up in Manila in the 1990s, Geena Rocero endured shouts ofĀ bakla, bakla!, a Filipino taunt aimed at her feminine sway, whenever she left the little universe of herĀ eskinita. Eventually she found her place in trans pageants, events as widely attended and culturally significant as a national sport, going to high school by day and competing by night.Ā When her competitors denigrated her with the nickname ā€œhorse barbie,ā€ due to her statuesque physique, tumbling hair, long neck, and dark skin, she leaned into the epithet, stepping onto stage with an undeniable charisma—part equine and all fashion.Ā By seventeen, she was the Philippines’ most prominent and highest-earning trans pageant queen.

When she moved to the United States, Geena was able to change her name and gender marker on her documents, which wasn’t—and still isn’t—possible for trans people in the Philippines. But legal recognition didn’t come with any guarantee of safety. In order to survive, Geena went stealth and hid her trans identity, gaining one type of freedom and truth at the expense of another.Ā For a while, it worked. Within a few years she’d become an in-demand model, appearing in music videos, billboards, and magazine campaigns, and was hailed as the epitome of feminine beauty. But as her star rose, her sense of self eroded. She craved acceptance as her authentic self, yet had to remain eternally vigilant in order to protect her dream career.Ā The tenuous, high-stakes double life finally led Geena to a breaking point when she had to decide how to reclaim the power of Horse Barbie once and for all: radiant, head held high, and unabashedly herself.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

She Persisted: Rachel Levine by Lisa Bunker (June 6, 2023)

As the first openly transgender government official to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation, the firstĀ openly transgender four-star officer in uniform service, and the first femaleĀ four-star admiral in the commissioned corps, Rachel Levine faced many obstacles throughout her life. But she persisted through them all and showed kids of all genders that they can succeed in their dreams too.

In this chapter book biography by critically acclaimed author Lisa Bunker, readers learn about the amazing life of Rachel Levine–and how she persisted.

Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and a list of ways that readers can follow in Rachel Levine’s footsteps and make a difference!Ā A perfect choice for kids who love learning and teachers who want to bring inspiring women into their curriculum.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky (June 6, 2023)

63249715Newly-out trans artist’s assistant Sammie is invited to an old friend’s bachelor weekend in El Campo, a hedonistic wonderland of a city floating in the Atlantic Ocean’s international waters—think Las Vegas with even fewer rules. Though they have not identified as a man for over a year, Sammie’s college buddies haven’t quite gotten the message—as evidenced by their formerly closest friend Adam asking them to be his ā€œbest man.ā€

Arriving at the swanky hotel, Sammie immediately questions their decision to come. Bad enough that they have to suffer through a torrent of passive-aggressive comments from the groom’s pals—all met with zero pushpack from supposed “nice guy” Adam. But also, they seem to be the only one who’s noticed the mysterious cult that’s also staying at the hotel, and is ritually dismembering guests and demanding fealty to their bloodthirsty god.

Part satire, part horror, Boys WeekendĀ explores what it’s like to exist as a transfemme person in a man’s world, the difficulty of maintaining friendships through transition, and the more cult-like effects of masculinity, ā€œhustleā€ culture, and capitalism—all through the vibrant lens of a surreal, scary, and immensely imaginative romp.

Buy it: Bookshop |Ā Amazon

Pageboy by Elliot Page (June 6, 2023)

ā€œCan I kiss you?ā€ It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.

With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare.

As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do, until enough was enough. Full of behind the scenes details and intimate interrogations on sex, love, trauma, and Hollywood, Pageboy is the story of a life pushed to the brink. But at its core, this beautifully written, winding journey of what it means to untangle ourselves from the expectations of others is an ode to stepping into who we truly are with defiance, strength, and joy.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson (June 13, 2023)

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.

Sharp, funny, provocative, and joyous, Juno Dawson’s sequel reimagines everything you think you knew about her coven and her witches in a story that spans continents and dives deep into the roots of England and its witchcraft. Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo are fierce, angry, sexy, warm–and absolutely unapologetic as they fight for what they believe in, all in the name of sisterhood.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Transitioning Home by Heather K O’Malley (June 13, 2023)

Transitioning Home - O'Malley, Heather KThomas Simmons nearly died when a rocket-propelled grenade threw him ass over teakettle while flanking insurgents in Mosul, ending his military career. Recovery’s rough and gives him all the time in the world to face the question he’s avoided all his life: Why does he feel jealous of women?

The more Thomas searches, the closer he comes to an answer: gender dysphoria.

Seeking therapy as a road through his confusion, Thomas embarks on an unexpected journey as Emily is born. Emily’s route to self-acceptance, love with another woman, and community are only some of the challenges that began the day her world exploded.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Tar Hollow Trans: Essays ed. by Stacy Jane Grover (June 20, 2023)

ā€œI’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.ā€

Raised in southeast Ohio, Stacy Jane Grover would not describe her upbringing as ā€œAppalachian.ā€ 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.

InĀ Tar Hollow Trans, Grover explores her transgender experience through common Appalachian cultural traditions. In ā€œDead Furrows,ā€ 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. ā€œHomeplaceā€ 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

Begin Transmission: the Trans Allegories of The Matrix by Tilly Bridges (June 27, 2023)

Begin Transmission: The trans allegories of The Matrix (hardback)Trans woman and screenwriter Tilly Bridges takes you through the trans allegories of the Matrix franchise, with deep dives intoĀ The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Animatrix, The Matrix Revolutions, andĀ The Matrix Resurrections, tracking one person’s transition journey – from Thomas Anderson, to Neo… to Trinity.

Each movie’s allegory is deeply layered, building from movie to movie, and speaks to a different aspect of trans existence. You’ll learn how color is used to convey more thanĀ you realize, how Neo’s psyche is personified in the people around him, how no other mass media franchise speaks as truly, deeply, and honestly to the trans experience, and exactly why these moviesĀ are beloved and vital to the trans community (and their cis allies).

Free your mind, and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee (September 5, 2023)

Elisheva Cohen has just returned to Brooklyn after almost a decade. The wounds of abandoning the Orthodox community that raised her, then shunned her because of her substance abuse, are still painful. But when she gets an amazing opportunity to study photography with art legend Wyatt Cole, Ely is willing to take the leap.

On her first night back in town, Ely goes out to the infamous queer club Revel for a celebratory night of dancing. Ely is swept off her feet and into bed by a gorgeous man who looks like James Dean, but with a thick Carolina accent. The next morning, Ely wakes up alone and rushes off to attend her first photography class, reminiscing on the best one-night stand of her life. She doesn’t even know his name. That is, until Wyatt Cole shows up for class—and Ely realizes that the man she just spent an intimate and steamy night with is her teacher.

Everyone in the art world is obsessed with Wyatt Cole. He’s immensely talented and his notoriously reclusive personal life makes him all the more compelling. But there’s a reason why his past is hard for him to publicize. After coming out as transgender, Wyatt was dishonorably discharged from the military and disowned by his family. From then on he committed to sobriety and channeled his pain into his flourishing art career. While Ely and Wyatt’s relationship started out on a physical level, their similar struggles spark a much deeper connection. The chemistry is undeniable, but their new relationship as teacher and student means desperately wanting what they can’t have.

Buy it: Bookshop | AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound

The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White (September 5, 2023)

Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Paige O’Brien (September 12, 2023)

Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.

When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year—Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat’s closest friend—turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they’d thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet.

Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they’re drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Borrow a Boyfriend ClubĀ by Page Powars (September 12, 2023)

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by [Page Powars]Noah Byrd is the perfect boy. At least, that’s what he needs to convince his new classmates of to prove his gender. His plan? Join the school’s illustrious (and secret) Borrow a Boyfriend Club, whose members rent themselves out for dates. Once he’s accepted among the bros, the ā€œslip-upsā€ end.

But Noah’s interview is a flop. Desperate, he strikes a deal with the club’s prickly but attractive president, Asher. Noah will help them win an annual talent show—and in return, he’ll get a second shot to demonstrate his boyfriend skills in a series of tests that include romancing Asher himself.

If Noah can’t bring home the win, his best chance to prove that he’s man enough is gone. Yet even if he succeeds, he still loses . . . because the most important rule of the Borrow a Boyfriend Club is simple: no real boyfriends (or girlfriends) allowed.

And as long as the club remains standing as high as Asher’s man bun, Noah and Asher can never explore their growing feelings for one another.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

OKPsyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro (September 12, 2023)

Okpsyche - Deniro, Anya JohannaAn unnamed trans woman is looking for a sense of belonging, a better relationship with her son, and friends that aren’t imaginary in this playful and aching short novel. As she navigates the many worlds she belongs to she wrestles with her many anxieties and fears about the world around her. Her son and ex live in another state. Companion robots are popping up. Environmental disasters are being outsourced from the coast to the Midwest. And at any time anyone anywhere might turn out to be a new friend or an enemy.

In this stunning short novel, a trans woman slowly builds her confidence as she wends her way through the real and imagined worries, fears, and weirdness of adulthood, parenthood, and selfhood in the contemporary world.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Small Beer Press

How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve (October 3, 2023)

How to Get Over the End of the World: A Novel by [Hal Schrieve]James Goldman, self-described neurotic goth gay transsexual stoner, is a senior in high school, and fully over it. He mostly ignores his classes at Cow Pie High, instead focusing on fundraising for the near-bankrupt local LGBTQ+ youth support group, Compton House, and attending punk shows with his friend-crush Ian and best friend Opal. But when James falls in love with Orsino, a homeschooled trans boy with telepathic powers and visions of the future, he wonders if the scope of what he believes possible is too small. Orsino, meanwhile, hopes that in James he has finally found someone who will be able to share the apocalyptic visions he has had to keep to himself, and better understand the powers they hold.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt (October 10, 2023)

When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As the media descends like vultures, Frankie tries to cope with the carnage: binge-drinking, fucking strangers, pushing away her friends. Then, she meets Vanya. Mysterious, beautiful, terrifying Vanya.

The two hit it off immediately, but as their relationship intensifies, so too does Frankie’s feeling that Vanya is hiding something from her. When Vanya’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, Frankie starts digging, and unearths a sinister, depraved conspiracy, the roots of which go deeper than she ever imagined.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Corpses, Fools, and Monsters: An Examination of Trans Images in Cinema by Willow Maclay and Caden Gardner (October 10, 2023)

There have been trans images in cinema for over a century — very often bad cultural objects and very often inspired by the cultural zeitgeist, from Christine Jorgensen to Candy Darling to a guest on The Jerry Springer Show. But now, trans cinema as a movement is slowly emerging from the margins to create a new film language, often in reaction to these historical trans film images that cast the trans body in abject form; a corpse, a foolish joke, a tragic martyr, or even a monster.

Corpses, Fools, and Monsters is a new radical history of these trans film images, and an exploration of the political possibilities of the new trans cinema movement. Analysing the work of trans cinema directors Isabel Sandoval, Silas Howard, and the Wachowski Sisters, it also discusses the trans film image in everything from pre-talkie films and Ed Wood B-movies to Oscar-winners, body horror and slashers.

Going beyond reassessing notable films, performances, and portrayals, Corpses, Fools, and Monsters instead brings to light films and artists not given their due, along with highlighting filmmakers who are bringing trans cinema out of the margins in the twenty-first century.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

No One Left But You by Tash McAdam (November 7, 2023)

No One Left But You by [Tash McAdam]BEFORE. Newly out trans guy Max is having a hard time in school. Things have been tough since his summer romance, Danny, turned into his bully. This year, his plan is to keep his head down and graduate. All that changes when new It-girl Gloss moves to town. No one understands why perfect, polished Gloss is so interested in an introverted skater kid, but Max blooms in the hothouse of her attention. Caught between romance and obsession, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her on his side.

AFTER. Haircuts, makeovers, drugs, parties. It’s all fun and games until someone gets killed at a rager gone terribly wrong. Max refuses to believe that Gloss did it. But if not Gloss, who? Desperate to figure out truth in the wake of tragedy, Max veers dangerously close to being implicated—and his own memories of that awful night are fuzzy.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon (November 28, 2023)

Godly Heathens: A Novel (The Ouroboros Book 1) by [H.E. Edgmon]Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers’ queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn.

But even Enzo doesn’t know about Gem’s dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence that have always felt too real. So how the hell does Willa Mae Hardy? The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions, and seems to know things about them they’ve never told anyone else.

When Gem is attacked by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves their life and finally offers some answers. She and Gem are reincarnated gods who’ve known and loved each other across lifetimes. But Gem – or at least who Gem used to be – hasn’t always been the most benevolent deity. They’ve made a lot of enemies in the pantheon—enemies who, like the Goddess of Death, will keep coming.

It’s a good thing they’ve still got Enzo. But as worlds collide and the past catches up with the present, Gem will discover that everyone has something to hide.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander (December 5, 2023)

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. He can only hope he’ll survive his boisterous, loving, but often misguided family and hide the fact that his dream of comedy success has become a nightmare.

Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his forties, Nick’s world revolves around his father, his daughter, and his job. But even a busy life can’t keep him from being intrigued by the reappearance of Eli.

Against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas, the two must decide whether to leave the past in the past…or move on together.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa (January 16, 2024)

London, 1812. Oliver Bennet feels trapped. Not just by the endless corsets, petticoats and skirts he’s forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society’s expectations. The world—and the vast majority of his family and friends—think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone’s wife.

But Oliver can’t bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family’s home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It’s during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to “Elizabeth” at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart. And not to mention incredibly attractive.

As Oliver is able to spend more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares begin to hope that his dream of love and life as a man to be possible. But suitors are growing bolder—and even threatening—and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: Settle for safety, security, and a life of pretending to be something he’s not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly, honestly his own.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin (January 30, 2024)

A motley crew of kidnapped kids try to stay true to themselves while serving time in a conversion camp from hell.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Books to Add to Your TBR

July 2022 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Author of THE DUKE UNDONE Joanna Lowell‘s A SHORE THING, in which a transmasculine artist falls for a renowned cis woman botanist as they compete in a shoreside bicycle race in this beach-set Victorian romance, to Kate Seaver at Berkley, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Tara Gelsomino at One Track Literary Agency (world).

Two-time Hugo Award finalist Chuck Tingle‘s CAMP DAMASCUS, in which a group of queer friends begin to realize their memories of surviving a hellish gay conversion therapy camp have been stolen from them; and a second standalone novel, BURY YOUR GAYS, to Kelly Lonesome at Nightfire, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in July 2023 and summer 2024, by DongWon Song at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).

Author of CHEF’S KISS TJ Alexander‘s SECOND CHANCES IN NEW PORT STEPHEN, in which a down-on-his-luck, early-40s trans comedian begrudgingly returns to his outlandish Floridian hometown for the first time in decades, only to run into his high school ex-boyfriend, who’s inexplicably gotten hotter with time and soon throws into question where nostalgia ends and where moving on begins, to Lara Jones at Emily Bestler Books, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in December 2023, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Lambda Award-winning author of SKYE FALLING Mia McKenzie’s DORIS STEELE, a comic novel about a pious, small-town teenager who travels to Atlanta in 1960 to get an abortion and finds herself smack in the middle of the civil rights movement and the secret lives of queer Black people, ultimately discovering the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend, to Caitlin McKenna at Random House, by Alexa Stark at Writers House (world).

Columbia MFA alum and Lambda Literary inaugural fellow Douglas Jones’s PRIME REAL ESTATE, set in Atlanta as the 1996 Olympics loom, following two Black men confronting their roles in displacing Black residents to make way for the Opening ceremony while coming to terms with their own sexuality, to Yahdon Israel at Simon & Schuster, in a pre-empt, by Haley Heidemann at William Morris Endeavor.

Author of CITY OF A THOUSAND FEELINGS Anya Johanna DeNiro‘s OKPSYCHE, a surreal short novel from the perspective of a trans woman navigating dystopia, anxiety, and motherhood, to Kelly Link at Small Beer Press, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2023 (world).

Andrew Wilmot’s WITHERED, in which a nonbinary student moves to a small, haunted town after reaching a low point with their mental health, to Terese Mason Pierre at ECW Press, with Jennifer Albert editing, by Kelvin Kong at K2 Literary (world).

Lambda Award-winning author of FLAMER and the Little Elliot picture books Mike Curato‘s GAYSIANS, a humorous graphic novel about an ensemble of queer Asian American friends in 2000s Seattle as they carve out space for themselves and navigate friendships, relationships, racism, and transphobia, to Betsy Gleick and Mae Zhang McCauley at Algonquin, at auction, by Brenda Bowen at The Book Group (world).

T M Payne‘s regional police procedural series set in Liverpool, following a tortured and authentic detective with a strong moral compass, who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, to Victoria Haslam at Thomas & Mercer, in a three-book deal, for publication in March 2024, October 2024, and March 2025, by Broo Doherty at DHH Literary (world English).

Fulbright scholar Mary Liza Hartong’s HOT CHICKEN, pitched as Schitt’s Creek meets Dumplin’, a Southern novel about a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt who returns to her small Tennessee hometown for her father’s funeral and picks up work at a hot chicken shack, where she falls in love with another young woman and has to find a way forward for herself, her feisty mother, and her new love, to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow, in a nice deal, for publication in winter/spring 2024, by Janna Bonikowski at The Knight Agency (world English).

Pitch Wars mentee KT Hoffman‘s THE KEYSTONE COMBINATION, pitched as Red, White & Royal Blue meets Ted Lasso, a rom-com about what happens when the first openly trans professional baseball player in history is forced to share the infield with his arch nemesis—a standoffish, super-talented, and inconveniently gorgeous player, to Katy Nishimoto at Dial Press, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Allison Hunter at Trellis Literary Management (NA).

Asha Thanki’s A THOUSAND TIMES BEFORE, a queer literary speculative novel tracing three generations of mothers and daughters—spanning from the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan through to contemporary Brooklyn—who are connected by an ancient tapestry through which they inherit all the memories of their foremothers, to Nidhi Pugalia at Viking, at auction, by Stephanie Delman and Danya Kukafka at Trellis Literary Management (NA).

Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction

Middle school English teacher and GrubStreet Novel Incubator graduate Karen Wilfrid’s JUST LIZZIE, about an eighth grader whose study of asexual reproduction in science class leads her to understand her own asexual identity as she embarks on a journey toward self-discovery and self-advocacy, to Lily Kessinger at Clarion, at auction, for publication in fall 2023, by Lauren Scovel at Laura Gross Literary Agency (NA).

Rainie Oet’s THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, a picture book about a nonbinary child who is swept off to their surprise birthday party full of dreamlike creatures and magical, poignant moments, illustrated by Mathias Ball, to Susan Dobinick at Astra, for publication in spring 2024, by Abigail Frank at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates for the author, and by Natascha Morris at The Tobias Literary Agency for the illustrator (world).

Stonewall and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize award winning creator Harry Woodgate‘s GRANDAD’S PRIDE, a sequel to Grandad’s Camper, this time honoring the past and celebrating the future with a Pride parade, to Sue Buswell at Andersen Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in April 2023, by Alice Sutherland-Hawes at ASH Literary (world).

Young Adult Fiction

Elisa Bonnin‘s EXILES OF ELLERY WEST, a dark academia YA novel following a queer Filipino-American girl who returns as a probationary student to the acclaimed Ellery Academy of Magic, only to find her past—an accident involving dark magic that caused the death of her best friend—is far from behind her, and teams up with the other probationary classmates to prevent more deaths, even if it risks having her magic sealed away forever, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, for publication in spring 2024, by Natalie Lakosil and Antoinette Van Sluytman at Irene Goodman Agency (world).

Cecilia Vinesse‘s THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, following a bisexual film club nerd’s attempts to make her ex jealous by pretending to date his new girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend, who happens to be her ultra-cool next-door neighbor; as she gets deeper into the charade, she realizes why “fake dating” is such a tried-and-true movie trope—and that her heart’s in danger of being broken again, to Alyssa Miele at Quill Tree, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency (NA).

Literary agent Lee Paige O’Brien’s A HUNDRED VICIOUS TURNS and an untitled sequel in The Broken Tower series, following the nonbinary heir to a powerful magical bloodline with the unsettling ability to find doorways that no one else can see, who finds themself drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse at an elite magic university when a malevolent force follows them back through the passages, to Emily Daluga at Amulet, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2023, by Jordan Hamessley at New Leaf Literary & Media (world English).

Laura Steven’s THE SOCIETY FOR SOULLESS GIRLS, a dark contemporary thriller with a supernatural twist pitched as a sapphic retelling of Jekyll & Hyde set at a haunted university, which follows two roommates who must solve an infamous cold case of serial murders on campus after an arcane soul-splitting ritual gone wrong prompts another death, to Hannah Hill at Delacorte, for publication in fall 2023, by Juliette Clark at Farshore (US). (Note: this book has already been released in the UK.)

Danish cartoonist Jam Aden‘s LOVE, MISHA, pitched as A Goofy Movie meets Spirited Away, about a nonbinary teen and their mother who, during a contentious road trip, take a wrong turn that lands them in the realm of the spirits, where they are surrounded by trickster spirits who aren’t so keen on human trespassers, with no obvious way out, to Samia Fakih at First Second, for publication in spring 2025, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).

NYT-bestselling author of CEMETERY BOYS Aiden Thomas‘s CEMETERY BOYS 2, a sequel told from Julian’s point-of-view, pitched as The Sixth Sense meets Final Destination, when a monster starts creating malingo spirits in East L.A., to Holly West at Feiwel and Friends, in a good deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2024, by Jennifer March Soloway at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).

Non-Fiction

Transgender writer Stacy Jane Grover‘s TAR HOLLOW TRANS, a debut collection of personal essays that tracks the author’s attempts and ultimate failure to write themselves into a recognizable transgender, Appalachian identity, to Abby Freeland at University Press of Kentucky, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2023.

Appalachian bookseller and cofounder of Atlas Books Davis Shoulders’s QUEER COMMUNION: APPALACHIAN QUEERS & RELIGION, a collection of essays that examines how Queer individuals reimagine their relationship to spiritual communities and religious institutions, to Abby Freeland at University Press of Kentucky, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2024.

Ed Emcee Dr. Anthony Keith Jr’s HOW THE BOOGEYMAN BECAME A POET, a YA memoir-in-verse tracing the author’s journey from being a closeted-gay Black high school teenager battling against poverty, racism, White supremacy, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds unexpected freedom in poetry; and KNUCKLEHEAD, a poetry collection which takes the form of a tender love letter from an openly gay Black man to Black men and boys everywhere, to Ben Rosenthal at Katherine Tegen Books, in a significant deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2024 and winter 2025, by Annie Hwang at Ayesha Pande Literary (NA).

Queer artist with ADHD and creator of the Instagram account @blessthemessy Jess Bird’s BLESS THE MESSY, an illustrated personal development book that speaks candidly about inclusivity, acceptance, and radical self-love, and inspires readers to reframe chaos and mess as tools for growth and change, to Veronica Alvarado at Simon Element, in a pre-empt, by Kate Woodrow at Present Perfect (world English).