Sorry for not posting much on here recently! Finally saved up for and got a Kobo eBook reader a month back. I have had my nose stuck in it. Umm... A lot.

Also helps to escape from this crazy world some times for my mental health.

If you have good books by #queer, #marginalized, and/or #indigenous authors, please drop them here!

@audrey I also love everything by NK Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor - they are both consistently excellent and their books have great politics. Nalo Hopkinson, also, but sometimes I find their books a bit too grim so I have to be in the right mood. All speculative fiction.

@Tiffany Thank you so much for the recommendations! So many great ones in there to dig into. Exactly what I was hoping for.

I can do a some grim and am a huge scifi fan. Just finished "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar last weekend and loved it. Thought Becky Chambers' monk and robot series was great with the solarpunk vibes.

@audrey Maybe you already know but... Octavia Butler. For example Parable of the Sower or Parable of the Talents.

Edit: best in that order as the second continues from the first

@radicalresilience thanks for the recommendation! I had heard of her, but not added any of her books to the "to read" list. Will look into the two Parable books you mentioned.

@audrey Oh yes, those are great! Have you read Tracey Deonn’s Legendborn? Also excellent. Fantasy. And VE Schwab’s Shades of Magic series got delightfully queer by the end. Also fantasy.

@Tiffany No on both counts, but will add them the to the list! Thanks!

@audrey One of my favourite books is Nevada by Imogen Binnie, which was this very bleak slice-of-life book about... it's kind of hard to explain what without giving too much away, but I feel like it had a lot to say about how we as transgender people share our experiences with others, cis people in particular

I also second the Parable of the Sower. that one was really good!

Oh, and welcome back<3

@anova Thanks for the recommendations and the welcome back! Always nice to come back here to the wonderfully diverse fediverse after dealing with the patriarchal and largely conservative culture of the small town I live in. Hehe

Nevada sounds interesting. I am totally okay with going into books without much foreknowledge.

@audrey
If you're up for a fantasy romance, by this bi author, you might enjoy "In the Mines".

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/in-the-mines

@shaknais Of course! I will add it to the list and check it out! Thanks for the recommendation.

@audrey Melissa Scott: SciFi, and Fantasy (with her partner, who unfortunately is gone now) -- I like a lot of her work, but especially "The Jazz", "Night Sky Mine", and "Point of Hopes". All have queer characters.

@Retreival9096 Sounds like a perfect fit! Thank you so much! Will add those books to my list.

@audrey My goodness. I forgot Octavia Butler! I hope you've found her already, but if not I really liked "Kindred", "Parable of the Sower", and "Dawn". Don't do like I did and read "Wild Seed" right away -- it's the middle of 5 books! Do read it, just start with "Patternmaster".

@Retreival9096 Couple people mentioned her. I have "Parable" on the list now. Will sneak "Patternmaster" on there too. Thanks!

@audrey I had heard of her for quite a while as well and only read one or two short stories as couldn't really afford books for a long time.

Then I got the Parable of the Sower and couldn't put it down its up there with my favourite fiction books of all time.

@audrey Another thing you may or may not know, there is a nice library at https://archive.org/details/inlibrary where you can borrow books on your E-Book reader. You need to make a (free) account, but yeah for me this was a great resource as well.

@radicalresilience That is a game changer! My budget thanks you! I have been waiting for sales or just saving up to buy books. An e-library, fantastic!

@radicalresilience Looks like it is many of the classics. Still good! That reminds me to try and see if there are other library options for more recent books. Thank you!

@audrey

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
non white trans and lesbian stories in a scifi donut LA story
mostly feel good but addresses trans safety at times. my favorite read this year. also look up the Small Beauty novel, my favorite read last year
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250789075/lightfromuncommonstars

@lennby Both of those synopses sound quite interesting. Thank you! I'm particularly looking forward to Small Beauty as a trans person living in a rural town.

@audrey I try to maintain a list of sapphic novels, which are pretty much all written by queer folks, on Bookwyrm (https://bookrastinating.com/list/335/s/sapphic-romance) but don't always manage to keep up with my own reading. The list is open for other people to contribute too, but I don't think anyone has yet.

Several of my favorite authors are trans or nonbinary: Lily Seabrook (romance), April Daniels (superheros), Charlie Jane Anders (SFF), C. L. Polk (historical-ish urban fantasy?), Molly J. Bragg (SFF & superheros).

I too spend a lot of time with my nose in an ereader. It's full of books! 📚

@kg6gfq Yeesss! Thanks for these recommendations. I will definitely keep an eye on your Bookwyrm list. I have an account on there as well, but always forget to keep it updated. Hehe