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June’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books

Suzi Garcia
New In List
7 min read
And it's that time of year again! As the rainbow paraphernalia officially hits Target and everyone under the (at times sweltering) sun begins prepping their floats and their costumes, so do the shelves of your local bookstores' queer section creak under the weight of all the new titles released just in time for Pride. This June's list features an excellent selection of compelling and urgent queer writing across every genre! From Lambda Fellow Katie Jean Shrinkle's atmospheric and haunting new thriller cowritten with Jessica Alexander, to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Hull's wistful coming-of-age memoir; from Norman Erikson Pasaribu's whimsical short stories to Elliot Page's bold and buzzy memoir; June is sure to rouse you from your reading slump and lengthen your TBR. Read More

Silvera’s Prequel The First to Die Holds a Story for All Ages

Molly Catherine Turner
Reviews
3 min read
“Once upon a time, I wrote a fairy tale…It’s about a young man whose heart is dying.” Silvera first released They Both Die at the End in 2017, but thanks to the book trending on TikTok in 2020, the novel hit the bestseller list for the first time years after its publication. Five years after the first novel’s release, Silvera’s prequel, The First to Die at the End, hit shelves. The magic trick New York Times bestselling author Adam Silvera pulls off with his Death-Cast series is inherent in the novels’ titles. While both titles specifically give away the central plot and ending, Silvera still takes readers on a journey of love and life that will have them hoping for anything but the inevitable outcome.  Read More

Miah Jeffra takes on Corruption in American Gospel

Cassandra Whitaker
Reviews
6 min read
Miah Jeffra's American Gospel (Black Lawrence Press, $ 26.95) questions the idea of the American dream in a braided novel that weaves together how race, sexuality, gender, and class are affected when a developer begins displacing a neighborhood in a bid to make an amusement park. The novel is told in three voices, Peter Cryer, a queer mixed-race teenager navigating love and desire; Ruth Anne, his Irish Appalachian mother living in fear of domestic abuse by her estranged partner; and Thomas, a teacher and brother at the private Catholic school where Peter attends on scholarship. The three perspectives reveal an America struggling to find itself in the wake of commercialism, addiction, and toxicity. In each case, powerlessness leads to violence; this overarching theme of Gospel spans gender, sexuality, race, and class, as nearly every character or institution is affected by conditions created by white-collar corruption. Read More

May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books

Suzi Garcia
New In List
5 min read
May means the start of freedom for so many of us. No school, no teaching-- even summer Fridays! But for us who are still 9-5ing it, we remember what the smell of cut grass meant to us as kids: reading in the park, or long visits to the library. And we have just the books to scratch that itch! This list is full of exciting and intriguing writing, including a memoir by the Inaugural J. Michael Samuel Prize, Jobert Abueva; new YA from Lammy winner Abdi Nazemian; and new books from Lammy finalists Stephanie Adams-Santos and Nicole Melleby Read More

Puns & Sex Clubs: A Review of The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick

Roz Milner
Reviews
4 min read
Queer life in New York City has always lent itself well to poets. From established voices like Eileen Myles to newer ones like Kay Gabriel or Maggie Milliner, the rhythms and dynamics of life lend themselves well to verse. And now Cat Fitzpatrick, an editor, co-publisher of LittlePuss Press and poet, has gently satirized the Brooklyn queer scene in her new book The Call-Out, available now from Seven Stories Press. Read More

Real Good Twists: A Review of Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford.

Nick Havey
Reviews
7 min read
For the same reason that I like slashers— they could realistically happen if you forgive superhuman strength in the case of some of the killers in the Scream franchise and are primarily driven by interpersonal drama— I enjoy thrillers. Books that seek to shock and surprise. When done well, these books take plausible scenarios like a missing wife, the discovery of a lost and forgotten body, or the scintillating reveal of a seemingly good person who did a bad thing and turn them into an emotional rollercoaster. And Kelly J. Ford does a thriller right.  Read More

Moments of Disruption and Recognition: A Review of Mary Lynn Reed’s Phantom Advances

Alyssa Greene
Reviews
5 min read
In the title story of Phantom Advances, Mary Lynn Reed’s debut short story collection, the teenage narrator looks at her mother through the viewfinder of a manual camera as her mother drives. They’ve just gone to the narrator’s grandparents to ask for help, because her mother, a habitual liar, has lost another job; they’re returning home with money. But though the narrator’s finger clicks the shutter and the machine tries to advance the film, the camera isn’t loaded — there will be no record of this moment. Read More

Read This! Excerpt from American Gospel by Miah Jeffra

Suzi Garcia
Excerpts
6 min read
Prelude: February These men will not matter in the end, but the story begins with them, in a boardroom, in a hush. They all knew itwas a hush because they could hear it, the audible pause in wait, the music rest, the preparation for the pounding notes of new decision. A photograph would pick up no hesitation,...

February’s Most Anticipated

Suzi Garcia
New In List
4 min read
February is the shortest month, but it’s packed full of new books. Two of my favorite established writers, Camonghne Felix and Carl Phillips, have new books out, and there are also some amazing debuts by Lambda Literary Fellows Lamya H and Katie Jean Shinkle. Take some time out to focus on yourself and read some amazing new writing to center yourself. Read More