Welcome to the month of March. Whether you’re still processing the events of March 2020 or not, a new moment is here and we’re living in it.
This time last year was very different, to say the least. We were just learning to social distance and adjusting to stay-at-home orders. We thought, or hoped, the pandemic would be over in a few weeks. But here we are, a full year later.
Looking back at the past year, it’s hard to go into March with high spirits. But I think we can still cultivate some small moments of self-reflection, joy, and adventure. With this month comes so much promise. We’re entering Spring; warmer weather, a later sunset, and budding plants await us. It’s a time for Pisces and Aries to shine. And, as always, there’s new LGBTQ literature.
Investigate your own concept of “home” in the new anthology Home Is Where You Queer Your Heart edited by Arisa White, Miah Jeffra, and Monique Mero-William. The collection explores the question, how can “queer writers negotiate their feelings of home when their nation has further precluded them from a place of comfort?”
Read Hari Ziyad’s memoir, Black Boy Out of Time; the author lyrically reflects on their past and unpacks their complicated childhood history. This memoir investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given.
Explore Sarahland by Sam Cohen. This comedic collection of short stories all center around a “Sarah,” whether she be a wayward college student or a fan-fiction loving, romantic obsessive. The collection provides a search for self within every story, showing there is more to life than our own personal narratives.
Dive into a hidden history with Elon Green’s Last Call. This is the true story of the Last Call Killer who preyed upon the gay community in New York City. The book entails the decades-long chase to find him while celebrating the resilience and vibrancy of the LGBTQ community.
Critique the historical representation of queer figures with Kevin Kantor in Please Come Off-Book. These poems imagine a braver future that gives queer voices agency over their own stories, and reshape theatrical canon through a queer lens.
Be thrilled by a thriller with She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard. Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, the novel features two young girls whose summer of love is threatened by crimes overtaking their town. Set in a rebel art scene, this psychological drama is laced with themes of love and power.
Navigate ideas of lust and desire with Michael Lowenthal’s Sex With Strangers. This collection of short stories features a cast of queer and straight characters whose libidinous adventures often lead them into perilous entanglements.
As always, if our list is missing an author or a book, or if you have a book coming out next month, please email us.
Bio/Memoir
- A History of Scars by Laura Lee, Atria Books
- Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir by Hari Ziyad, Little a
- Getting Back Up: A Story of Resilience, Self-Acceptance, and Success by Harma Hartouni, Harma Group
- Getting It Together by Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, & Jenny D. Fine, Image Comics
- Girlhood by Melissa Febos, Bloomsbury Publishing
- Northern Light: Power Land, and the Memory of Water by Kazim Ali, Milkweed Editions
- Red Rock Baby Candy by Shira Spector, Fantagraphics Books
- Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss, Philomel Books
- Small Courage: A Queer Memoir of Finding Love and Conceiving Family by Jane Byers, Caitlin Press
- Three Dads and a Baby: Adventures in Modern Parenting by Ian Jenkins, MD, Cleis Press
- When Dogs Heal: Powerful Stories of People Living with HIV and the Dogs That Saved Them edited by Jesse Friedin, Robert Garofalo, & Zach Stafford, Zest Books
Fiction
- Bedside Matters by Richard Alther, Rare Bird Books
- Hidden Path by Elena Fortún, Swan Isle Press
- Justine by Forsyth Harmon, Tin House Books
- Love Like Light: Plays and Performance Texts by Daniel Alexander Jones, 53rd State Press
- Luckmonkey by Alysia Constantine, Interlude Press
- Once Before Sunset by David Deutsch, Madville Publishing
- The Recent East by Thomas Grattan, MCD
- Sarahland by Sam Cohen, Grand Central Publishing
- Sex With Strangers by Michael Lowenthal, University of Wisconsin Press
- The Tender Grave by Sheri Reynolds, Bywater Books
Nonfiction
- An Open Secret: The Family Story of Robert and John Gregg Allerton by Nicholas L. Syrett, University of Chicago Press
- Eleanor in the Village: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Search for Freedom and Identity in New York’s Greenwich Village by Jan Jarboe Russell, Scribner Book Company
- Francis Bacon: Revelations by Mark Stevens & Annalyn Swan, Knopf Publishing Group
- I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Mannie Murphy, Fantagraphics Books
- Last Call by Elon Green, Macmillan
- The Pronoun Lowdown: Demystifying and Celebrating Gender Diversity by Nevo Zisin, Smith Street Books
- Queer Cocktails: Cocktail Recipes Celebrating Gay Icons and Queer Culture by Lewis Laney, Dog N Bone
- Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
- Untold: Defining Moments of the Uprooted edited by Gabrielle Deonath & Kamini Ramdeen, Mango and Marigold Press
LGBTQ Studies
- African Literature in the Digital Age: Class and Sexual Politics in New Writing from Nigeria and Kenya by Shola Adenekan, James Currey
- American Paraliterature and Other Theories to Hijack Communication by Blake Stricklin, Anthem Press
- The Autistic Trans Guide to Life by Yenn Perkins & Wenn B. Lawson, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
- Behavioral Health of Minority Active Duty Service Members by Eunice C. Wong, Sarah O. Meadows, Terry L. Schell, & Elizabeth Roth, RAND Corporation
- Bodies Unbound: Gender-Specific Cancer and Biolegitimacy by Piper Sledge, Rutgers University Press
- Caravaggio (BFI Film Classics) by Leo Bersani & Ulysse Dutoit, British Film Insitute
- Coming Out, Again: Transition Stories by Sabrina Symington, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
- The Cultural Impact of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Why Are We All Gagging? By Cameron Crookston, Intellect (UK)
- The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Bold Type Books
- Ethnicity and Kinship in North American and European Literatures by Silvia Schultermandl & Klaus Rieser, Routledge
- Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement by Charlotte Cooper, Intellect (UK)
- Good White Queers?: Racism and Whiteness in Queer U.S. Comics by Linke Kai, Transcript Publishing
- Home Is Where You Queer Your Heart edited by Arisa White, Miah Jeffra, & Monique Mero-Williams, Foglifter Press
- Kubrick’s Men by Richard Rambuss, Fordham University Press
- Lesbians and White Privilege by Andrea L. Dottolo, Routledge
- Lives That Resist Telling: Migrant and Refugee Lesbians by Eithne Luibhéid, Routledge
- Pediatric Collections: LGBTQ+: Support and Care (Part 1: Combatting Stigma and Discrimination) by America Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics
- Progressive Islam: The Rich Liberal Ideas of the Muslim Faith by Daayiee Abdullah, Mecca Institute Publishing
- Still Straight: Sexual Flexibility Among White Men in Rural America by Tony Silva, New York University Press
- There Is Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart: Mending the World as Jewish Anarchists by Cindy Milstein, AK Press
- Transhistoricizing Claude McKay’s Romance in Marseille by Gary Edward Holcomb & William J. Maxwell, Duke University Press
Romance
- Coming to Life on South High by Lee Patton, Bold Strokes Books
- Confined Desires by Katherine McIntyre, Hot Tree Publishing
- Guarding Evelyn by Erin Zak, Bold Strokes Books
- Knit, Purl, and a Baby and a Girl by Hettie Bell, Carina Adores
- Leaving’s Not the Only Way to Go by Kay Acker, Bella Books
- Love’s Falling Star by B.D. Grayson, Bold Strokes Books
- Love’s Truth by C.A. Popovich, Bold Strokes Books
- Next Exit Home by Dena Blake, Bold Strokes Books
- On the Rocks by Riley Scott, Bella Books
- Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism by Mj Lyons, Microcosm Publishing
- Setting a New Course by Christopher Cheek, 2fm Limited
- Table for Two by Kate Gavin, Bella Books
- What a Tangled Web by Melissa Brayden, Bold Strokes Books
Mystery/Thriller
- Blackout by Marco Carocari, Level Best Books
- By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl, Kensington Publishing Corporation
- Fleur d’Lies by Mj Williams, Bold Strokes Books
- My Friend Natalia by Laura Linstedt, Liveright Publishing Corporation
- Past Grief by Edward J. Leahy, Black Rose Writing
Fantasy/Horror
- Blood Moon by Catherine Lundoff, Queen of Swords Press
- Electra Rex by April C. Griffith, Pride & Company
- Fabulous in Tights by Hal Bodner, Mystique Press
- Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora, Flux
- How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions by Stephanie Andrea Allen, Blf Press LLC
- Judd by J.D. Toombs & Erika Schulze, J.D. Toombs
- Liam’s Doom by Robin Schadel, Cursing Raven Books
- One Man’s Trash by Ryan Vance, Lethe Press
- Monarch by Geonn Cannon, Supposed Crimes, LLC
- Moss Covered Claws by Jonah Barrett, Blue Cactus Press
- The Nightland Express by J.M. Lee, Erewhon
- The Noble and the Nightingale by Barbara Ann Wright, Bold Strokes Books
- The Sigil by Shakeil Kanish & Larissa Mandeville, Three Furies Press, LLC
- Vagrant Queen: A Planet Called Doom by Magdalene Visaggio & Jason Smith, Vault Comics
Young Adult and Children’s Literature
- Bruised by Tanya Boteju, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore, Bloomsbury YA
- Follow Your Arrow by Jessica Verdi, Scholastic Press
- The Hazards of Love by Stan Stanley, Oni Press
- Katy Has Two Grampas by Julie Schanke Lyford & Robert Schanke, Wise Ink
- Perfectly Linus by Camilla Gisslow, Tallberg Forlag
- Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales, Wednesday Books
- Ravage the Dark by Tara Sim, Little, Brown and Company
- Sam Is My Sister by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, Albert Whitman & Company
- She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard, Henry Holt & Company
- What if Wilhelmina by Joseph Belisle, Blair
Poetry
- Active Reception by Noah Ross, Nightboat Books
- Besiege Me by Nicholas Wong, Noemi Press
- Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans, Berkley Books
- The Book of Anna by Joy Ladin, EOAGH Books
- Confluence by Samantha DeFlitch, Broadstone Books
- Creep Love by Michael Walsh, Autumn House Press
- Embouchure by Emilia Philips, University of Akron Press
- The Hammer of Witches by Kelly Rose Pflug-Back, Caitlin Press
- I Am Tired of Being a Dandelion by Zane Frederick, Central Avenue Publishing
- In the Shelter by Pádraig Ó Tuama, Broadleaf Books
- Into The The by Robin Reagler, Backlash Press
- Look Alive by Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, Southeast Missouri State University Press
- Please Come Off-Book by Kevin Kantor, Button Poetry
- Tempest by Ryan Meyer, Ryan Meyer
- Transversal by Urayoán Noel, University of Arizona Press
- Who’s Your Daddy? by Arisa White, Augury Books
