Booksology If you’re interested, I’ve also included all the weird YA books that were featured in the opening round. Now onto the final round of strange books!
fiction:
Martyr! Written by Kaveh Akbar (also included in his debut novel)
It’s always nice when one of the year’s biggest literary novel titles is a queer one. This is a bestseller highly recommended by authors such as Tommy Orange, Lauren Groff, John Green, and Clint Smith. The film follows Cyrus, a queer poet in his 20s who has numbed his pain with drugs and alcohol. His mother died when her plane was shot down over Tehran in an act of senseless violence by the US military. His father recently died of a heart attack. Once sober, Silas begins searching for meaning and finds it by examining the martyrs. When he hears that an artist died of cancer at an art museum exhibition, he decides to meet her. —Danica Ellis
Fantasy:
“Lost Stories” by Meg Schaefer
inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lost Stories The story follows two boys who once went missing in the woods of West Virginia. Now, 15 years later, one is living as an artist with no memory of what happened in the six months since she disappeared, and the other is working as a missing persons investigator to help missing children. . Rafe has kept Jeremy a secret for years about what happened to them all those years ago in a magical land full of surprises and danger. But now that another girl has gone missing, the two must reunite and confront their shared past as they step into the magical land once again. —Rachel Brittain
Horror:
We Lived Here by Marcus Kleewer (also included in his debut novel)
The story begins casually. A young woman and her long-time partner buy a house and plan to repair and rebuild it. One night, the doorbell rang. The man is said to have grown up in this house and would like to show his family around. Eve lets them in…and soon finds it impossible to get rid of them. As the night progresses, a creeping sense of dread grows and things slowly but violently go off track. Will Eve lose? Overreaction? Have you wandered into another dimension? It was scary, but I made it to the end, and I still don’t know. —Steph Orteri
Also in this category: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
Debut novel:
Voyage of the Cursed by Francis White
It’s a romantic mystery that’s been trending all over TikTok since its release in the UK, and now it’s available in the US as well. It’s a lot of fun and fun, so I’m grateful. This is a magical murder mystery set on a cruise ship carrying the Emperor of Concordia and his 12 heirs from each state. Each of the heirs has a special secret magic unique to them, with the exception of Ganymede Pisero, the disappointment of the family. This is too bad, because when someone on the ship starts murdering the magical heir, Ganymede has no way to protect himself, and there is little chance of discovering the murderer without magical help. Will he be able to solve the problem on his own before it’s too late? —Liberty Hardy
Greta and Valdin Rebecca K. Reilly
This award-winning book follows siblings Greta and Vardin, a quirky, multiracial family grappling with queerness and trying to make sense of it all. On the surface, things are going well for Vardin after being dumped by his boyfriend a year ago – his coworkers only occasionally say weird things about his Maori heritage, and he’s a friend. They have sad sex intermittently–he has been transferred from New Zealand to Argentina for work reasons, and his ex-girlfriend is there. Meanwhile, Greta is dealing with her own growing grief. She is experiencing unrequited grief, and her brother’s sudden and secret emigration to South America further confuses her family. —Erica Eseifedi
Young adult fantasy:
CG Drews “Don’t go into the forest”
Andrew and Thomas bond over their shared love of the twisted fairy tales that Andrew continues to write. But then Thomas starts acting strange and shows up with blood on his clothes. Andrew finds himself fighting monsters at night. It was the same monster that Andrew had invented in the story and Thomas had drawn. The two fight nightly to stop the monster from hurting others, which brings them even closer together into an obsessive and toxic relationship. But the monsters grow stronger, and Andrew begins to wonder if the only way to stop them is to kill their creator. —Danica Ellis
Young adult novels:
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Rex Croucher
Princess Gwendoline and the future lord Arthur are engaged for life, but neither is happy about it. They are given a summer to bond in Camelot before their wedding. Gwen soon witnesses Art kissing a boy, and Art learns that Gwen is hiding a secret crush on a female knight. They realize that they can put aside their hatred for each other and instead work together to get what they want. However, they will encounter a lot of confusion on the way. —Susie Dumond
Where the sleeping girl lies by Farida Obike-Imide
After the success of Ace of Spades, Farida Obike-Imide returned to UK-based Dark Academia. This time, we followed Sade Hussein, who is starting his third year of high school at a prestigious boarding school. But then her roommate Elizabeth goes missing and people suspect Thad is involved in it. Later, another student is found dead. As she tries to clear her name, she discovers that something very strange is going on at the Alfred Nobel Academy.
Products in this category: Heartstopper: Volume 5 by Alice Orsman
Memoir:
“The House of Hidden Meanings” by RuPaul
RuPaul had already made a name for himself as a leading drag queen and entertainer before his first movie episode. drag race. But since the show began, he has become more of an icon and helped usher in a new era of drag. Here he reveals a more intimate side of himself, detailing his life growing up as a queer black boy in California, his punk days in Atlanta and New York, and how he found self-acceptance. There is. —Erica Eseifedi
And one more thing: This is a very small new releases week, but as a bonus for All Access members, we’re highlighting five interesting queer books coming out this week.
