Forums » Smalltalk » Pride Literature (Books n stuff)

Editing my post because it was a massive reminder of things no longer present Everytime unopened the thread 😅

Hi friends,

Heads up, the mod team has permanently banned Yesugei for regurgitating anti-trans propogandist talking points. This isn't our first red flag, but it is our final one.

So sorry about that, please enjoy the rest of Pride Month.

It's really good, if a bit sad at times. I've outgrown most of its messy characters, as I prefer less abusive relationships and complicated feelings in my reading nowadays (not in my writing tho ) so I would enjoy much less if I were to read it again, but I loved it the first time!

Not to promote myself, but...I am queer and write queer books, so it feels appropriate here.

My most recent one is a new edition of the very first book I published, Ignited, a sapphic (wlw) urban fantasy. I rewrote several chunks, added new content, and redid the cover. It has 18+ content in it so due keep that in mind.

Some recommendations I have that are not my own books are:

Rosemary and Iron if you like spicy mlm vampire shenanigans (18+)

Home Field Advantage for some YA wlw cheerleader/football player goodness.

ALWAYS promote yourself!

One book I enjoyed quite a bit is called Legends and Lattes. It's set in a D&D type fantasy world and is about an orc who has decided to stop her mercenary work and open up a coffee shop, in a world where very few people even know what coffee is.
I'm not reeeally sure if it counts as pride literature; there is a sapphic romantic subplot involving the protagonist, but it isn't really prominent (a good thing, in my opinion, since I don't like romance-heavy stories but still love some representation.)
It's an overall cozy story, with some conflict but nothing super dark or heavy, and lots of enjoyable characters
Honestly most of the books I've read with LGBTQ+ representation haven't been all that great, so I can't think of anything else to recommend at the moment. I'll edit this or post again if or when I remember more, and am excited to check out some of the things listed here I really want to find books with good trans and/or nonbinary rep but without much romance, so if anyone has recommendations for that specifically, I'd be glad to hear them

Speaking of TTRPGs....

THIRSTY SWORD LESBIANS from Evil Hat Productions. "Oh look that one guy was mad and he's now missed out my delightful wlw / le$bean friendly
post!!!!!! Womp womp..."

omg queer books, absolutely!! Let me give some recommendations!!

- Most Ardently - a cute pride and prejudice retelling that's trans m/m
- Pet - has queer characters but it's not the focus, it's short and the story is incredible speculative fiction
- if you are a fan of ATLA, the Kyoshi books!! she has a girlfriend, it's great
- The Jasmine Throne - it's an ongoing trilogy, w/w main characters, and the worldbuilding, the magic system, it's amazing
- anything by Adiba Jaigirdar, she writes sapphic romcoms, sweet and nice reads!
- Lakelore - a great book with nb and neurodivergent protagonists
- Cinderella is Dead - w/w retelling
- Cemetery Boys - urban fantasy-ish with ghosts, trans rep and m/m, but such a lovely romance
- This Is How You Lose the Time War - THE sapphic sci-fi, short and incredible, written in the form of letters
- Legendborn - also an ongoing modern fantasy trilogy, has a love triangle that is actually queer and a triangle lol, Arthurian legend retelling, overal incredible world and writing and plot
- for fellow star wars fans, the High Republic books are full of all kinds of LGBTQ+ characters, it's incredible (and took me by surprise ngl)

oh hey, I've read Cemetery Boys! it wasn't my favourite, but it was pretty good and I can definitely recommend it to those who find the premise interesting.
the protagonist is a trans boy and he does face transphobia throughout the story, in case this would make anyone too uncomfortable to want to read it; I know those who have faced that kind of thing in real life would sometimes prefer not to read about it.
I think there is, or will be, a sequel; I don't remember the release date so I'm not sure if it already came out or not.
EDIT: briefly googling told me the sequel is supposed to come out this fall

wait sorry I just remembered the Great Gatsby retelling I read last year called Self-Made Boys; Nick and Gatsby are both trans men and there is both mlm and sapphic representation. I had a weird Great Gatsby phase (admittedly it mostly stemmed from an inside joke) and had always liked the idea of Gatsby being trans, so I was overly excited to find this book and I thought it was pretty good! the story is overall the sameish but more queerified, and with a few bigger changes that I won't mention for spoiler reasons.

great points about the triggers, the storygraph (i think it's both a website and an app) has a very detailed section of trigger warnings and content for all of the books there in their database

Mishmash of replying to most people.

I did start reading Eon, that was suggested on the first page of comments, and I kinda like it, so I'll probably stick with it for now, v interesting.


*Scribbles frantically* Watching the thread go from a couple of suggestions to a ton is so exciting (AS IF my TBR list needed any help in numbers.)

I think LEgends and Latte's a podcast that I have saved on Spotify but never listened too (Right it's a DnD podcast?) Idk how related they are but I'll definitely go back and listen in.


Cryptic, I LOVE Gatsby, I have to find that retelling and look into it, I always had the thought that Nick was in it for Gatsby, and it was just very much an unrequited love all around (With Gatsby and Daisy never being together either) (I mean come on, the man wrote a book about him ) But I wasn't a fan of required reading in school, But when I reread it later in college it was my life for a minute ha!

And a lot of Wixiany's mentions of LGBT+ retelling's are going to end me too.

UGh the best thread in RPR you can't change my mind, thanks.

I don't know anything about the podcast and haven't heard of it until now, so I'm not sure if it's related to the book or not. I'll have to check that out though, and find out :0

No I'm definitely crazy... I thought it was a DND podcast but now I'm oy finding book reviews 💀💀 😅😅 oops.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.....


Am I hearing that perhaps we should have an extremely gay and totally glamorous Gatsby RP?!?!

The Great Gaytsby... The Great Gatsbi... The Great Gatsenby... the possibilities are endless

Ahhhh a wild glamfab party of the ages at gatsbi's

I'd expire the moment the invitation was opened... Well there is no invitation but there is for me I'd be most like Nick of course. The quiet one that observed everyone enough to write their biography and still falls in love with the man least suitable for him.

Someone humble me I'm too much into my delusions on this fine Saturday.

Sorry, I think this is the wrong place to discourage fantastic and romantic drama and delusions.

I'm inviting you all to the Gatsby Summer Soiree event post!!!!


https://www.rprepository.com/community/forums/topic/112569?page=1#post-6077006

so like I know I said I don't usually like romance-centric books but uhhhh... sometimes I just need the cuteness... anyway, I read this and it was adorable would recommend to those who like that kind of thing

---

I also recently read The Weight of the Stars. it includes a sapphic romance plus some queer side-characters. it's basically modern day but also kind of sci-fi? but only lowkey, I don't know if it counts. it's about a girl whose mother went to space when the girl was only a baby, on a journey that was planned to never return, and every day the girl waits on her roof to try to catch radio signals her mother and her crew send back from space. and it's about another girl who tries to befriend the first one, which is difficult to do and it's a whole Situation.
it deals with a lot of potentially triggering topics which I wasn't really expecting, but it was a really good book overall and all the talk about space and time gave me a little existential crisis...
the romance isn't minor, but not major either? enemies to friends to lovers I guess, but it was advertised as a romance in the synopsis so it's not a spoiler or anything.