BOOKS
realise is more than she first appears… Sceptre is expecting big things from this title.
A M Strickland In the Ravenous Dark Hodder & Stoughton, 18th May, £14.99, 9781529370461 A dark fantasy from the author of Beyond the Back Door, In the Ravenous Dark is the story of a pansexual “bloodmage” who teams up with an undead spirit to start a rebellion between the living and the dead. Contains a pansexual love triangle.
Category Spotlight LGBTQ+ Publishing
national media condemns it as one of the most homophobic places in the US. Laskey’s novel was a big hit stateside. It’s warm and witty, and shows how people can change. The paperback is released in time for Christmas.
Fantasy fiction
Sebastien de Castell Fall of the Argosi Hot Key Books, 14th October, £14.99, 9781471410581 From the author of the successful Greatcoat swashbuckling adult fantasy series comes a second sequel to the Spellslinger fantasy series, with a focus on wit, philosophy and extraordi- nary characters. Fans of the Dark Tower will enjoy.
Jon Ransom The Whale Tattoo Muswell Press, March 2022, £9.99, 9781838340124 A story of a man who is inspired to go back to the home he walked out on two years ago, after a beached sperm whale triggers an awareness of his own mortality. But going back to those he loved is not easy. Muswell Press does a great job supporting new LGBTQ+ talent like Ransom.
Thomas Olde Heuve Echo Hodder & Stoughton, Feb 2022, £16.99, 9781529331776 From the author of Hex, Echo is the tale of the curse put on a climber as he scales the imposing Mount Maudit, and how his boyfriend Sam deals with the consequences and the choices he must make to lift the curse.
Akshaya Raman The Ivory Key Hot Key Books, January 2022, £13.82, 978035846833 Début Indian-inspired fantasy novel from Raman about four Royal siblings, each of whom has their own secrets and agenda. They are all battling to find the Ivory Key, which will unlock a new source of magic for their kingdom.
YA Fiction
author Rainbow Rowell, which centres a sweet gay couple in a meaningful relationship at the heart of its story. This book ties things up, which will be a blessing and a sadness for the series’ multitudes of fans.
girl called Emma. The two embark on an adventure and find out that rules are made to be broken, and friendship is everything.
Robin, from the smash-hit TV programme “Stranger Things”. Robin, desperate to be herself, believes she can’t be in America and plans to escape to Europe? Does she? Can she? Find out.
Chad Lucas Thanks a Lot, Universe Abrams, 24th June, £11.99, 9781419751028 A moving story for young and older LGBTQ+ folk about two young teenag- ers, one nervous and anxious, the other more confident and popular. Will Ezra become a shoulder for Brian to cry on, or will he out him? An impressive début.
Margaret Wood Fresh Abrams, 3rd August, £12.99, 9781419748134 For those aged 14+ this is the story of Elliot, a young woman who is trying to find out what she wants from life in her first year of university. Described as funny, tender and poignant, it explores her first forays into sex, so be warned.
Jean Kyoung Frazier Pizza Girl HQ, 24th June, £8.99, 9780008356446 Lauded as a moving and unforgettable story, Pizza Girl tells the story of an 18-year-old delivery girl who, pregnant from her boyfriend, meets and becomes obsessed with Jenny, a customer with a young son. Named a Vogue, Refinery29, Esquire and Marie Claire book of the year, this is released in paperback in June.
Celia Laskey Under the Rainbow HQ, 9th December, £8.99, 9780008481025 The story of a “queer taskforce” sent to a small town in Kansas, after the
18 30th April 2021
Becky Chambers The Galaxy and the Ground Within Wayfarers 4 Hodder Paperbacks, 28th October, £18.99, 9781473647688 The final instalment of the bestselling, critically acclaimed Wayfarer’s series. After multiple award nominations for this fantasy series, Hodder says it is expecting a number-one hit for the latest from Californian Becky Chambers.
Natasha Hgan Girls of Fate and Fury Hodder & Stoughton, 2nd November, £16.99, 9781529342642 The epic lesbian romance story of Lei and Wren reaches a crescendo in this final book of the New York Times-bestselling series, one of the few commercial hits which proudly showcases a lesbian love story at its heart. This will be supported heavily by both its US and UK publishers.
Simon James Green You’re the One That I Want Scholastic, 3rd June, £7.99, 9780702303654
Billed as
One to Watch
“Bridget Jones meets
‘Booksmart’—
with gay teenage boys”, this is the latest YA book from the delightful Simon James Green, who has built up a significant fanbase for his sparky books for teenage gay boys (Noah Can’t Even and Noah Could Never), as well as his great picture books.
Lee Bacon
Imaginary with illustrations by Katy Wu Abrams, 12th October, £12.99, 9781419746642 As I wrote about in Straight Jacket, being a young LGBTQ+ person is often so traumatic that many of us escape to fantasy worlds to escape. This story is about 11-year- old Zach: he does just that with his imaginary friend, who helps him to cope with the harsh reality of being him.
Alastair Chisholm ADAM 2 Nosy Crow, 5th August, £7.99, 9781788006101 A story about a robot locked in a basement who wakes up to find there has been global war between humans and robots. One of the characters, Linden, is identified as non-binary from the beginning, which Adam 2 struggles with at first, but slowly gets the hang of. And if he can do it…
Isaac Fitzsimons The Passing Playbook PRH Children’s, 3rd June, £7.99, 9780241401286 Fifteen-year-old trans man Spencer begins at a new school, where no-one knows his gender identity. As he falls in love with a fellow pupil, the sports coach threatens to out him, leading to a decision about whether to come out or not… American author Fitzsimons spent time growing up in the UK.
Kacen Callender Felix Ever After Faber, 18th May, £7.99, 9780571368013 Paperback release of the hugely acclaimed book about a young trans man who is “dead named” by an anonymous transpho- bic student, and forced to begin new relationships which challenge every- thing he knows. Callender won the 2020 US National Book Award for young people’s literature, and is a star of the future.
Kacen Callender Hurricane Child Scholastic, 3rd June, £6.99, 9780702310218 Winner of the Stonewall Book Award and the Lamda Literary Award for LGBT+ books, this is the groundbreaking story of Caroline, a young Black girl born during a hurricane on the US Virgin Islands, and her quest to find her mother. Out in June in paperback.
Gabriela Martins Like a Love Song Underlined, 3rd August, £7.99, 9780593382073 A fun-sounding début novel about a Latina popstar, Natalie, who is set up with a fake boyfriend after a messy break-up damages her public image. In a world where it’s hard to be who you are, can Natalie reclaim her voice and truly sing? We shall see!
Rainbow Rowell Any Way the Wind Blows Macmillan Children’s Books, £12.99, 9781529039900
One to Watch
The finale to the Simon Snow series from the
immensely popular New York Times-bestselling
Lee Bacon The Last Human Abrams, 31st August, £6.99, 9781419746970 Set in a world where humans are extinct, things seem better now for robots like 12-year-old XR_935—no pollution, no selfishness—until she meets a young human
A R Capetta Stranger Things: Rebel Robin RH Children’s, 29th June, £13.99, 9780593375563 This is intriguing: the backstory of one of the fans’ favourite characters,
Jeff Zentner In the Wild Night Andersen Press, 10th August, £7.99, 9781839130847 Latest by the award- winning writer of YA hit Serpent King. Cash has an opioid addiction and a boyfriend who dreams of getting the two of them out of Tennessee and into school in Connecticut. A story of grief, young love,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
