I always think of December as such a month of the cusp. We are looking to the future, but we are also reflecting on the past. We are making plans and hopes for 2023, but this year is still pressing on us.
In that spirit, we have some amazing books in December that encompass this important month so well. The Rust of History features stunning poems by Sotero Rivera Avilés, but an extra special part of this translation is that the translator is his grandson, Lambda Literary Award winner in Transgender Poetry Raquel Salas Rivera. And almost exactly a hundred years after the monumental Bloomsbury Group was formed, Nino Strachey bring us a more comprehensive examination as to how that changed the future for so many young queer people in Young Bloomsbury: The Generation That Redefined Love, Freedom, and Self-Expression in 1920s England.
For many of us, it’s also winter break. If you’re looking for your next read to continue the conversations around queerness, renowned theorist Lee Edleman takes a look at queer theory and what we can learn from our past ideas in Bad Education: Why Queer Theory Teaches Us Nothing. Or if, like me, you are looking to escape in beautiful writing and new worlds, check out Lambda Literary fellow I Know You’re Out There Somewhere by Joe Baumann.
No matter what you read this month, I hope December brings you hope and healing. As usual, if you have a book coming out soon, email us at editor@lambdaliterary.org for consideration in our upcoming lists.
Bio/Memoir
- Plain: A Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood by Mary Alice Hostetter, University of Wisconsin Press
- Thirty-Thousand Steps: A Memoir of Sprinting Toward Life After Loss by Jess Keefe, Prometheus Books
- How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, Little Brown and Company
- Jan Morris: Life from Both Sides by Paul Clements, Scribe Us
- Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood by Cherríe Moraga, Haymarket Books
Fiction
- At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph, Bloomsbury Publishing
- Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman, Flatiron Books*
- Sorrow’s Drive: A Quartet by Michal Alenyikov, Spectrum Books
- Last Night in Brighton by Massoud Hayoun, Darf Publishers
- Tilting Toward the Sun: A Chance to Love by Mario Dell’olio, Black Rose Writing
Nonfiction
- Believable: The Portraits of Lola Flash by Lola Flash, New Press
- Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses by Alex D. Ketchum, Concordia University Press
- To Be Seen: Queer Lives 1900-1950 edited by Mirjam Zadoff and Karolina Kühn, Hirmer Verlag GmbH
- The Transmasculine Guide to Physical Transition: For Trans, Nonbinary, and Other Masculine Folks by Sage Buch, Microcosm Publishing
- Young Bloomsbury: The Generation That Redefined Love, Freedom, and Self-Expression in 1920s England by Nino Strachey, Atria Books
- How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, Little Brown and Company
- Feelin: Creative Practice, Pleasure, and Black Feminist Thought by Bettina Judd, Northwestern University Press
LGBTQ Studies
- Bad Education: Why Queer Theory Teaches Us Nothing by Lee Edelman, Duke University Press
- Drastic Dykes and Accidental Activists: Queer Women in the Urban South by La Shonda Mims, University of North Carolina Press
- Queer Behavior: Scott Burton and Performance Art by David J. Getsy, University of Chicago Press
- The Sexual Politics of Empire: Postcolonial Homophobia in Haiti by Erin L. Durban, University of Illinois Press
- Turning Archival: The Life of the Historical in Queer Studies edited by Daniel Marshall and Zeb Tortoric
Romance
- Camp Lost and Found by Georgia Beers, Bold Strokes Books
- A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson, Berkley Books
- Picture-Perfect Christmas by Charlotte Greene, Bold Strokes Books
- Playing Love’s Refrain by Lesley Davis, Bold Strokes Books
- To Be With You by TJ O’Shea, Bella Books
- Presidential by Lola Keeley, Yiva Publishing
- I Dare You to Love Me by Lori G. Matthews, Bella Books
- Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green, Clarion Books
- Only This Summer by Radclyffe, Bold Strokes Books
Mystery/Thriller
- Last Chance Chicago by Diana Digangi, Bywater Books
- The Little Dog Laughed by Joseph Hansen, Soho Syndicate
- Manny Porter and the Yuletide Murder by D. C. Robeline, Bold Strokes Books
- The Butcher of Berner Street by Alex Reeve, Felony & Mayhem*
- Secrets Typed in Blood: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood, Doubleday Books
- The House That Wasn’t There by Andrew Forrest Baker, April Gloaming Publishing
- Secrets in the Dark by Ceril Campbell, Headline Accent
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
- A Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares, Titan Books*
- Winter’s Moons by Lise MacTague, Bella Books
- Fear Itself by James K. Moran, Lethe Books
- The Ivory Tomb by Melissa Caruso, Orbit
- All The Books of Earth by Ellen Mellor, Samarcand Books
Young Adult Literature
- A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar, HarperCollins
- Acting the Part by Z. R. Ellor, Harperteen
- The Shattered City by Lisa Maxwell, Margaret K. McElderry Books
- This Cursed Crown by Alexandra Overy, Inkyard Press
- Three Queerdos and a Baby by Nina Packebush, YesYes Books
- I Know You’re Out There Somewhere by Joe Baumann, Deep Hearts YA
Children’s/Middle Grade Literature
- Together: A First Conversation about Love Megan by Madison and Jessica Ralli, Rise X Penguin Workshop
- If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich, Wednesday Books
Poetry
- Bimboland by Erin Taylor, Archway Editions
- MOPES by Kenneth Reveiz, Fence Books
- #postdildo by Danielle LaFrance, Talonbooks
- Urbanshee by Siaara Freeman, Button Poetry
- Invisible History: The Collected Poems of Walta Borawski edited by Philip Clark and Michael Bronski, Library of Homosexual Congress
- The Rust of History by Sotero Rivera Avilés, Circumference Books
- Gorgoneion by Casey Rocheteau
Comics/Graphic Novels
- Edmund White’s a Boy’s Own Story: The Graphic Novel by Edmund White, Brian Alessandro, and Michael Carroll, Top Shelf Productions
- The Panic by Neil Kleid, Dark Horse Books
- Sad Girl Space Lizard by Iggy Craig, Silver Sprocket
- The Silent Lord by Otava Heikkilä, Iron Circus Comics
