Rainbow Crate and K.D. Edwards, author of The Tarot Sequence, have teamed up on our very first special edition!
InNovember 2022, Rainbow Crate will release an exclusive, limited-run hardcover edition of THE EIDOLON, a tie-in adventure starring Max, Quinn, and Anna from THE HOURGLASS THRONE that’s never been seen before.
Information about this edition: ☀️First limited run of 1,000 units ☀️Exclusive Hardcover edition ☀️Hand-signed bookplates by KD Edwards ☀️Exclusive cover art by @oblivionsdream with gold foiling ☀️Exclusive endpaper art with artists to be announced ☀️Stenciled edges ☀️Foiling on the naked hardcover ☀️Forward by the author ☀️Series glossary ☀️Content warnings ☀️A map of New Atlantis
This is a PREORDER and is expected to ship in November 2022. You can place your preorders by going to the link below!
In the epic conclusion to K.D. Edwards’ first blockbuster trilogy in The Tarot Sequenceseries, readers followed Rune on a race against time as an age-old threat rose to threaten the city of New Atlantis. Now, for the first time, we present to you what really happened to Max, Quinn, and Anna in the Hourglass Throne’s base of operation, a sprawling underground ghost trap known as The Eidolon.
The Eidolon is the first in a brand-new collection of stories called The Tarot Accounts. Set in the same universe as The Tarot Sequence, these new stories will be told through the various points-of-view of Rune’s found family. In partnership with Rainbow Crate, the world’s largest queer subscription box service, The Eidolon will be available in print exclusively here, in a limited-edition hardcover containing unique artwork, a series glossary, a map of New Atlantis, and so much more! Hurry to place your preorder now, as the first edition is limited to 1000 copies worldwide. This book is not part of our normal monthly subscription and must be purchased separately.
The EidolonExclusive Hardcover Edition is available for $24.99 + shipping and is expected to ship around November 2022.
but there is the happiness he promised, too. he loves me without being in love with me and that’s all i can ask of him. i don’t even need to hear him say it to believe it
I’m on my second Casey McQuiston novel and the protagonists really do go
Wow my friend is so hot. They keep sending me love songs and saying they want to see me. They’re gay and I’m the most useless bisexual, and they pinned me to the wall and kissed me and all but what if they don’t actually like me?
Somebody else says they look at me with undisguised eroticism & love but I think it’s an exaggeration. I think about my friend so much that it’s fucking with my ability to complete basic tasks. Last week they told me they couldn’t live without me but it’s probably platonic.
I dreamt about us making love. My friend sent me another message saying they are longing for my touch and GOD me too. I’d tell them I love them but what if they don’t return my feelings?
They kissed me passionately again and it had such incredible homoerotic tension but I was probably misreading the situation. They’re the most exquisite creature I’ve ever seen & I can’t stop thinking about their lips. They said that I—
In the wake of JK once more being a total jk, here’s a (non-exhaustive) thread of works by Black trans writers.
Don’t Call Us Dead - Danez Smith, poetry about Black masculinity, police brutality, gender and queerness. Probably the best book of poetry I’ve ever read. Smith has several collections available and you should read them all.
The Deep - Rivers Solomon, a speculative fiction novella about the descendants of murdered slave women. Themes of trauma and memory. Really beautiful writing. Their sci-fi novel An Unkindness of Ghosts is equally unmissable.
Redefining Realness - Janet Mock, the memoir of Mock’s childhood and adolescence as a trans woman before she transitioned. Mock’s second memoir, Surpassing Certainty, focuses on her life in her twenties.
Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender, a YA novel about a teenage trans boy (at the start of the book), Felix, as he further questions his identity, tries to find love, and works on his artistic future. Everything that makes YA novels great.
Reacquainted with Life - KOKUMO, a debut about Black trans womanhood and the power of her voice and body. This work is so hard to describe. Ferocious? Lively? Witty? Completely different to literally any poetry I’ve ever read? All of the above and more.
Mannish Tongues - jay dodd, a poetry collection about Black youth, queerness, religion, family, and gender. I hate how pretentious the word ‘visceral’ is, but it’s pretty accurate here. dodd’s collection The Black Condition ft. Narcissus is also phenomenal.
Pet - Akwaeke Emezi, a YA novel about a Black trans teenage girl and having to confront the existence of monsters. Emezi also has an acclaimed adult novel out, Freshwater, and I believe their new adult novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, is out in August 2020.
trigger - Venus Selenite, poetry about being Black, trans, queer, and unapologetic. This one is hard to get hold of, but worth it if you can. Selenite also co-edited and is featured in Nameless Woman, an anthology of writing by trans women of colour.
Surge - Jay Bernard, a poetry collection written in response to the 1981 fire at New Cross Road, as well as Grenfell Tower and the Windrush Scandal. Bernard is one of those poets who can use 10 words to say more than most of us can in 1,000.
Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color - ed. Venus Selenite, Ellyn Peña and Jamie Berrout, this one includes several stories by Black trans women and is, as a body of work, completely invaluable. The stories here range from semi-autobiographical and romance to sci-fi and speculative fiction.
You can also financially support Black trans people through donating to organisations such as thisandthese.
Important addendum: I tried incredibly hard to find published works by Black trans women, because trans women are the focus of JK Rowling’s tweets and indeed an overwhelming amount of violence and bigotry in general, but I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that Black trans women are enormously discriminated against by the publishing industry, and are routinely denied a platform for their work and their voices. Literally, when you Google ‘black trans woman author’, you just get Janet Mock’s author page. I think all of the books by Black trans women in the list above, with the exception of Janet Mock, are self/indie pub.
I have trawled through online indie and radical publishing magazines, message boards, and nearly 100 lists of ‘trans authors you must read now!’ and I would charitably say that about 1% of people featured in such lists are Black trans women. Obviously, Black trans women are writing, but the lack of available platform for their work is a huge barrier to their voices being heard. If anyone else has recommendations for work by Black trans women, whether it’s a physical book, an online chapbook, an Insta account of poetry, or anything else, pleaseadd it, because there must be so much more than I’ve managed to find.
An unlucky vampire from the wrong side of town. A monster hunter with a golden voice. A man-eater on the loose. A unique, refreshing, and unconventional urban fantasy and paranormal romance about what happens when supernatural opposites attract.
I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review
Dorian and Cash are best friends, roommates, and coworkers. Despite their significant differences - Dorian is a vampire and Cash is a human who hunts monsters - they’ve grown to care about each and they make a good team, hunting down killer monsters at the behest of the Devereux Police Department. However, their easy camaraderie is upset when their friendship veers from platonic to romantic. Add to the mix a serial killer with a taste for human flesh, and Dorian and Cash’s careful balancing act is thrown for a loop as both men struggle to decide if they should make a move and risk their current status quo or remain in the friend zone.
Leather and Lace presents two compelling main characters and fleshes out their relationship through well timed narrative flashbacks. Dorian and Cash are polar opposites, with Dorian coming from a past filled with betrayal and upheaval, and Cash from a nurturing family of female hunters. Dorian has flair and loves to wear makeup and crop tops, masking his deeper issues and severe anxiety. Cash maintains an easy going demeanor but is searching for someone who appreciates all of him, including his deep love of Stevie Nicks and karaoke.
At its heart, Leather and Lace is about the relationship between Cash and Dorian but it also has a gruesome serial killer plot and an intriguing urban fantasy world populated by humans and supernatural creatures like vampires, werewolves, and shifters of all types. This book will definitely appeal to fans of shows like Supernatural and urban fantasy book series like White Trash Warlock and the Mercy Thompson series.
Random things I loved in the series: Dorian’s emotional support Chihuahua (her name is Dominique and Dorian dresses her in very cute sweaters and sparkly collars), the way supernatural creatures have evolved (vampires eat food and go out in the sun), Cash is Mexican-American, southern setting, werebadgers, all the soft karaoke moments, Dorian looks like a waif but is fulling capable of holding his man down!, the slow dance, the fact that the author openly acknowledges that Dorian and Cash are inspired by Cas and Dean. I’m really looking forward to the next book!
so i saw a dream the other week that i finished writing the book i’m currently working on and it ended up being about 41k words and i got so sad because it was smaller than i imagined and cried myself awake…
…so anyway, i reached 40k words yesterday while writing that book and i’m not even halfway done
I thought I’d post this here as well just for those following me on this platform!
I have recently been given the opportunity to create a graphic novel series, with the first book set to be published in 2023 by IDW, for an original story that I’ve been developing for a while now with my collaborative partner AJ O. Mason.
KLOUD 9 is a queer space opera focusing on two Asian leads, and surrounded by a BIPOC cast of characters. This story is so special to me, and fills me with so much joy to be working on it. I’m so thankful for the comics medium, because through them, I think many creators have been able to carve space for characters and stories of all types, especially within the sci-fi genre that I feel is lacking in television and film.
If anyone’s interested, I’ll continue to keep updating on this project here (and progress on KLOUD 9 can also be tracked on my other social media platforms!)
When I was young and full of feelings I didn’t know how to share, when I was afraid nobody would understand me, I found a language everybody knows. Sugar, flour, butter. The comfort of a perfect cookie, the joy of a celebration cake, the bittersweet importance of chocolate. I put everything in my heart into my baking. Years later, I lost the one person who I thought would see me and love me for exactly who I am — and the magic started up again. This has always been my way of sharing what I feel. Especially when things get hard.
The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta is a contemporary LGBTQ+ YA with a dash of magical realism as teenage baker Syd realizes crafting food is more about feelings than one might expect. Syd’s creations at work or home aren’t just an outlet or inspire the usual emotions— they’re saturated with them. Concoctions sometimes irresistible and consuming one can make sentiments under the surface rise to the top in Syd and others, having at times very intense effects.
Though I’m older than the target demographic this story is like an expertly flavored recipe with baking, passion, community, culture, and change. One of the cutest parts is also recipes for various baked goods or occasion guides that head each chapter. From simple Breakup Brownies in the beginning to more elaborate Agender Cupcakes, and Today’s Gender or A Big Gay Bakeout days it’s a fun distinctive touch. I decided to try the Get Comfy with Your Great Big Feelings Cookies because the book basically stirred up the same. Syd is a welcome addition to my list of books with agender bisexual characters.
I get big feelings anytime the subject of gender and vaporous clouds come up…
“I have to find a way to help them understand me, even though I don’t really understand them either. Having a gender? Why? Feeling like your body and who you are inside line up all the time? How? Identifying with other folks of your assigned gender as a kid, when I identified with things like extra-fluffy cumulus clouds and nebulas? What does that even feel like? I get nervous trying to explain myself sometimes. I get tired. I grow sharp edges where I didn’t think I had any. And I definitely get to the point where I just want to bury myself in baking and not deal with any of it.”
Too the Proud Muffin Bakery and its owners, staff and customers make up a diverse and resilient rainbow in the Texas capital. (Special mention to the pansexual drag queen military veteran turned barista, D.C.) Truly there are so many great passages worth marking and quoting. Including some of the cream of the crop of food related analogies I’ve read in a while. For example:
“Sometimes I come up with these little recipes … like, gender recipes. For how I want to look or feel that day.” I might be an agender cupcake, but I have to live in a world where most things have been flavored with gender. Even when I was little, I mixed and played and had fun with those flavors. I showed up to second-grade picture day in a pink skirt with neon yellow suspenders and a blue plaid tie. I made it through most of eighth grade in big unlaced work boots, black tights, and overall shorts. And then there’s my baking uniform: guys’ baggy jeans, a binder or sports bra under a fitted Tshirt and a bright sunny apron.
Or“Our motto is love comes in every flavor.”
Though for as much as I love and do praise this precious book, it’s not potentially without a little distasteful bite. This most prominently involves an event in chapter seven. There are a few things I think need examined when it comes to continuity but also consent. For the spoiler version read over here.
Honestly the entire basis of this book is that Syd does not know how the magical baking exactly works, is controlled, or always uses proper mindfulness when making something. Fundamentally, the whole aspect of magical baking does create moral and ethical questions that infuse the whole novel. The handling of such can and will be debated by readers. (Particularly in the instance I chose to highlight.) But I would still judge The Heartbreak Bakery as a delicious and inspiring LGBTQ+ YA book with an agender main character in a contemporary setting.
The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta is available in print and digital (including audio) from Candlewick Press
“And you’ve only ever read stories about people like you, right? You’ve never met one of your
kind before now. Well, except for Beatriz,” she added. “Ain’t that so?”
“Yeah,” Esther answered reluctantly. She sensed a trap coming, but she couldn’t figure out how to step around it.
“All those stories you’ve read,” Amity said softly, pulling her hat back off her eyes by a few degrees. “Who gave ’em to you?”
“The Librarians,” Esther said.
“And who gave ’em to the Librarians?”
Esther thought hard about that one. The things the Librarians brought weren’t subject to the Textbook Approval and Research Council, since they only worked on schoolbooks, and they weren’t subject to the Media Review Committee, since they mostly did film and television. “The Board of Materials Approval?” she guessed.
Amity nodded. “And what do you think that Board wants you to believe about yourself?” She paused, but it wasn’t the kind of pause that wants an answer. “You might not have a happy ending coming to you, Hopalong. But if you come to a bad end, it won’t be on account of what kind of person you fall for. I’ve seen a lot more of the world than you have, and I can tell you upright: I’ve seen as many good ends as bad ones for your kind of heart.”
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey starts off a yarn about a dystopian fascist United States where resources and tech are so consumed by war effort and maintaining hegemony the country’s living standards have reverted to looking like something out of the Old West. In one dusty corner of Arizona, Esther Augustus has run away from a fiancé and the death by hanging of her best friend and more Beatriz at the hand of Esther’s father no less. Stowing herself away with the Librarians, who travel from town to town caring for and dissemination the proper books and other state approved materials, it’s a group of the upright sort of women Esther thinks she needs. And she’s right, about one thing. She’s found her kind of people.
Generally, I like queer westerns, be those takes on the past or speculative futures. Transgressive librarians likewise are golden. Though, Upright Women Wanted if I might use a quaint phrase, as this novella has a seemingly endless supply of them, feels rather like a lick and a promise.
Readers are left flat in the middle of personal and national events. As the latter is given next to no exposition (so many questions), character driven this tale is. Two of the Librarians Leda (from an organized crime family in the Northwest) and Bet (from the military Central Corridor), truth be told in a long-term relationship, by all outside appearances don’t come off seemingly as anything more than Librarians who ride together. Plus turns out a good quality Librarian has parcels that include smuggled materials and people as part of the resistance. Though when it comes to the goods on a guilt-stricken Esther, her dad’s powerful as a Superintendent, the fiancé Silas is little more than a name, Beatriz a memory barely cold in the ground and there’s more life-threatening situations and death to be dealt. Yet, the immediate focusing subject is Esther’s attraction to an Apprentice Librarian Cye (from the manufacturing Northeast that uses child labor). Cye tasked with acclimating Esther on the road has a direct personality, as they also make it clear to Esther:
“I’m they on the road and she in town. You can take time getting used to they on the road, but if you forget about she when we’re in town, you’ll have to learn how to think around a bullet.”
People cope with issues and trauma differently but, Esther’s attraction to Cye coming up at once and permeating even as chatter in certain situations had me so off kilter reading. I further double checked this title’s categories to make sure I hadn’t missed romance mentioned. Not that expecting such a strong element may help much what with the way the pacing is more a stampede.
Of course, there is a connection between death and desire in the text. Esther, the pansexual protagonist, is convinced by all the stories, education, deeds, and principals she knows that there’s only one sort of end for anybody who is somebody different. Breaking out, finding real refuge, yourself and community, those steps towards making a genuine life, and resistance even under long shadows is where the heart of this story really rests. Such is where I bet readers can feel and love this little book and its mere existence (weaknesses though it may have) too.
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey is available in print and digital (including audio) from Tor Books
i’m pretty damn l8 to the party but what can i say folks? this punk’s been too busy adventuring around this dingy town, trying to find the smallest bit of charm in it. i’m really trying to stomach staying here, though maximilian and i have been planning more roadtrips here and there and maybe talking about a possible future outside of arcadia, saving up money, etc.
anyway, enough about this hickhole, on to the actual description of wtf ur looking at right now. these were taken during maxie’s 20th bday last week!! holy hell was it a good fuckin time! rach and i started out by surprising her with this very block-y cake lol. ofc max, being the organized nerd she is already had her own PROPER ass cake prepared (LAMEEE..but cute).
long story short after lots of dancing, chatting and (out of tune) singing, we settled down at my place, where i could smoke in peace since sergeant dickhead and mom were nowhere to be found.
a very mushy but hella enjoyable time indeed, that i defo can’t deny.
Snowsisters is a year old today! It’s won a couple of awards (A Bronze Feathered Quill and the NYC Big Book Award), met our sales goals and, most importantly, introduced us to many young readers who told us how important Soph and Tess’s story was. Thanks to @interludepress, our always-supportive publishers, and to the friends, family, librarians, teachers, parents and grandparents who showed so much support!️
books read in 2017: the seafarer’s kiss by julia ember
Having long-wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.
Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from Loki. But such deals are never as one expects, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.
Let’s talk about the 2nd Edition (while my hair dries)
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When I started work on a collection of my comics it was really important to narrate my process with new work.
I wanted the book to be universal and very easy for any reader, so these new comics/pages are VERY cute:
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I refer to this chibi version of myself as “Dollface Justin.” I was forced to adopt this simpler style after a fairly severe injury that upturned my life for about three years.
I am a MUCH better cartoonist now.
In the 2nd edition I’d work to make my narration as interesting (if not more so) than the collection itself.
A 2nd edition would showcase (easily) 3x the comics in the 1st edition. It may also ruffle some feathers.
While the 1st edition might be considered “candy coated,” I would make a point of speaking up about how Trans people are treated and how—seriously—we’ve suffered enough!
And besides that, for every comic of mine you’ve seen? There’s about ten more you’ve never seen. I intend to COMB my work and showcase VERY personal art.
It will be me at my most vulnerable and I am happy to do this if it helps someone. And I know it will. I know this.
It may be costing more to fill your gas tank or your grocery cart, but we’re dropping the price of upcoming paperbacks! Pre-order Felix Silver, Teaspoons & Witches;Book of DreamsandBorn Andromeda for only $12.99 for the paperback or $6.99 for ebooks!
This weekend, scare up big savings when we take 40% off EVERYTHING at the IP Web Store!
Ebooks, all in-stock print books, merchandise and even pre-orders will all be on sale, so stock up for yourself or beat the supply chain blues by ordering your holiday gifts now!
Valentine Vella - - 7 days of 15 Kindle Vella authors!
Join us today (2/10) at 4 PM PST for a Facebook takeover and visit the giveaway now to enter to win a Valentine’s Day gift box, books, and gift cards! (Giveaway entries go until 2/15)
Nicholas Cox is a sixteen-year-old and an outsider in the fencing world but miraculously he ends up at Kings Row after losing a match to the prodigy fencer Seiji Katayama. What lies ahead of him is a challenging quest to fix his bad technique while learning to be friends with other fencers.
I really loved the drawing style of Johanna the Mad and the straightforward writing style of Pacat let the story flow. I didn’t even realize I was at the end because I kept losing myself in the story. Seiji’s horrible friendship skills and Nicholas’s obsession with trying to beat the best player in the fencing world created a sort of hilarious moments as well as irritating arguments. But that all made the story even better. The other characters in the school were too colourful and from different backgrounds, so there was a sense of mesmerising diversity.
If you’re feeling like reading an lgbtq+ graphic novel after Heartstopper, this one’s worth checking out. I’m madly waiting for the next volume.
Taking a mini break from my thesis to review a few books but this one’s first. After rereading and rewatching Heartstopper, I felt like I was in need of a new graphic novels and this was the perfect choice. Looking forward to reading a few more lgbtq+ books this spring!
I’ve been obsessing about the book and series over on instagram, so why not share them here too. My Heartstopper love started back in 2020 but I rarely read YA novels and graphic novels, so I never thought of sharing too much but oh my I fricking loved the series and how perfect the entire cast is. The tiny changes made it so perfect in the series as well because it fits more to live action. I don’t know how to wait for the second season (if they’re planning and i sure think they do).
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