Archives de catégorie : LGBTQ+

NO BOY SUMMER d’Amy Spalding

Lydia and her younger sister Penny make a pact to avoid boy drama for the summer—but Lydia can’t help looking for a loophole when she falls for a cute girl.

NO BOY SUMMER
by Amy Spalding
Amulet Books/Abrams, April 2023
(via KT Literary)

Lydia Jones and her younger sister Penny have had it with boy drama. Last year was marred by relationship disasters for both of them, threatening Lydia’s standing with her school’s theater tech club and Penny’s perfect GPA. Penny has, naturally, diagnosed the problem and prescribed a drastic solution: a summer off from boys.
Lydia and Penny decide to stay with their Aunt Grace and her boyfriend Oscar in Los Angeles while their parents are off on a European cruise. Penny follows her future-business-school dreams with an internship at Oscar’s office, and Lydia gets a part-time job at Grace’s neighborhood coffeeshop, Grounds Control.
Even when they spent hours, days, weeks dissecting their various boy drama, Lydia’s never felt this connected to her sister before, and it makes her wonder what else in her life could be different. She finds herself drawn to a group of friends she meets through her Grounds Control coworker, Margaret, as well as an intriguing customer, Fran, an aspiring filmmaker and—while not the first girl Lydia finds herself attracted to—the first girl who has mutual feelings for her. But she’s not breaking her pledge to Penny, right? That was just about boys. Even though in her heart Lydia knows she’s bending the rules, she hasn’t had a connection with anyone as strong as her connection with Fran, so she thinks it can’t be wrong. And Penny won’t mind as long as she’s happy . . . Right?

“Buoyant and genuinely funny. A love letter to summer friends, summer girls, and the city of Los Angeles.”―Rainbow Rowell, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Scattered Showers

“Lydia’s relationship validates the bisexual experience through an enjoyable romance. This body- and sex-positive story will hold readers’ interest until it eventually reaches its satisfying conclusion. A cute, queer romance plus a sweet exploration of the special bond between sisters.”―Kirkus Reviews

Amy Spalding is the author of several novels, including Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys), The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles), and We Used to Be Friends, which Becky Albertalli called “complex, earnest, and unflinching.” She lives in Los Angeles.

IDLEWILD de James Frankie Thomas

A darkly funny and much gayer imagining of the classic prep school novel, IDLEWILD will appeal to readers of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.

IDLEWILD
by James Frankie Thomas
Overlook/Abrams, Fall 2023
(via Frances Goldin Literary)

Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan. Students call their teachers by their first names, there are no grades or awards, and every day begins with 20 minutes of contemplative silence. It is during one of those moments of worship that two airplanes hit the World Trade Center.
For two Idlewild outcasts, 9/11 serves as the first day of an intense, 18-month friendship. Fay is a prickly, aloof rich kid who is obsessed with gay men; Nell is a shy, sensitive scholarship student who is obsessed with Fay. The two of them bond fiercely over being the only two openly queer kids at Idlewild. But, as they rehearse for the school’s production of Othello, they notice two sexually ambiguous boys, Theo and Christopher, who are potential candidates for their exclusive Invert Society (née Gay-Straight Alliance). The pairs become mirrors of one another’s desires, anxieties, and loneliness. Their devotion to one another becomes an obsession, driving them to do things that they’ll regret for the rest of their lives.
Looking back on these events as adults, Fay and Nell, who haven’t spoken to each other in fifteen years, are haunted by shame over their Idlewild days. From alternating perspectives, they wonder if they could have done anything to save their friendship, or if it was meant to remain an artifact that couldn’t have existed outside of Idlewild’s walls.

James Frankie Thomas holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Their fiction has been published in the Paris Review online, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and The Toast, among other publications. One of these essays is included in the anthology We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, and another was adapted into a PBS NewsHour segment.

THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER de Maya MacGregor

In this queer contemporary YA mystery, a nonbinary autistic teen realizes they must not only solve a 30-year-old mystery but also face the demons lurking in their past in order to live a satisfying life.

THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER
by Maya MacGregor
Boyds, Mills & Kane/Astra, May 2022
(via KT Literary)

Sam Sylvester has long collected stories of half-lived lives—of kids who died before they turned nineteen. Sam was almost one of those kids. Now, as Sam’s own nineteenth birthday approaches, their recent near-death experience haunts them. They’re certain they don’t have much time left. . . .
But Sam’s life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, their next-door neighbor. Yet the past keeps roaring back—in Sam’s memories and in the form of a thirty-year-old suspicious death that took place in Sam’s new home. Sam can’t resist trying to find out more about the kid who died and who now seems to guide their investigation. When Sam starts receiving threatening notes, they know they’re on the path to uncovering a murderer. But are they digging through the past or digging their own future grave?
THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER explores healing in the aftermath of trauma and the fullness of queer joy.

“This captivating story centers a memorable, relatable protagonist surrounded by a lovable ensemble cast. The central mystery is gripping and fast-paced, but the book never fails to give all the characters motivations and backstories, making even the tertiary characters feel lived-in enough to be believable…A thrilling debut featuring lovable and well-developed characters. » —Kirkus, starred review

“Sam’s intimate developing relationships and outwardly bright future provide respite and optimism, even as they battle internal fears for the future. Equal parts delicate and devastating, MacGregor’s thought-provoking prose, evocative settings, and vividly characterized cast combine to provide a hopeful look at survival and closure.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Maya MacGregor is a writer, singer, and artist. They sing and write in Gàidhlig and in English. You can find their bilingual work on tor.com, in Steall magazine (summer 2020), and Uncanny magazine, with poetry in Poets’ Republic and elsewhere. They sing with the Glasgow Gaelic Musical Association, the Alba Choir, and Fuaran. THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER is their first young adult novel.

GRAND SLAM ROMANCE de Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous

A queer graphic novel where the balls are fast, the smooches are spicy, and the girls . . . magical.

GRAND SLAM ROMANCE
Book 1
by Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous
Abrams ComicArts, May 2023

In this queer graphic novel that’s equal parts romance, softball, and magical girl drama, Mickey Monsoon and Astra Maxima are best friends . . . and maybe more. That is, until Astra unceremoniously dumps Mickey to become a softball wunderkind at a private girl’s school in Switzerland. Years later, Mickey is the hotshot pitcher for the Belle City Broads, and their team is poised to sweep the league this season. But Micky is thrown off their game when Astra shows up to catch for the Gaiety Gals, the Broads’ fiercest rival. Astra is flirty, arrogant, and reckless on the field—everything the rule-abiding Mickey hates.
Astra thinks Mickey’s cute and wants to fool around, even despite their rocky history and the trail of jilted softballers that Astra leaves in her wake. Too bad the only thing Mickey wants is vengeance for their broken heart and wounded pride! But even they have to admit—Astra is a certified babe. And that’s not all: Astra isn’t just a softball superstar, she’s a full-fledged magical girl.
The only way for Mickey to defeat Astra is to betray the Broads and join the Danger Dames, a secret elite team, and start dating Astra’s ex! OK, that last bit wasn’t part of the plan . . . Mickey’s rapidly getting in too deep, but is she just in trouble or is she actually in love? Full of wet mitts, hard hits, and a bevy of softball-playing babes, Grand Slam Romance: Book 1 is a flawless home run that is sure to knock readers out of the park.

Ollie Hicks is a Black British comics creator and editor who lives in the UK and has Jamaican heritage. They have a PhD in comics studies—focused on 20th-century British and American girls’ comics—from the University of Dundee, which is gently gathering dust. They like to write funny gay stories with their funny gay wife, Emma Oosterhous. Grand Slam Romance is their debut graphic novel. 
Emma Oosterhous is a cartoonist, animal enthusiast, and lesbian from Colorado. In 2018, she earned a Marshall Scholarship and then an MDes in comics and graphic novels from the University of Dundee. She now lives in the UK, where she makes comics with her wife, Ollie Hicks. Grand Slam Romance is her debut graphic novel

SOME STRANGE MUSIC DRAWS ME IN de Griffin Hansbury

A gorgeous novel about what it means to be a flawed and forgivable human being amidst constantly changing social norms.

SOME STRANGE MUSIC DRAWS ME IN
by Griffin Hansbury
W.W. Norton, Fall 2023
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

In the summer of 1984, teenage Mel becomes entranced with the trans woman who appears in her blue-collar American town. Through the world-expanding time she spends with the woman, Sylvia, and the changes of adolescence, Mel soon discovers she is not the girl she thought she was—in fact, she might not be a girl at all. In the wake of this revelation, Mel navigates gender, sexuality, and an intense friendship with her childhood best friend in a hostile time and place for both girls and queers.
Moving back and forth to 2019, Mel has become Max, a middle-aged trans man. He returns to his hometown in the wake of his mother’s death, still reeling from his own politically-incorrect, gender-related scandal at his workplace, and bearing the burden of guilt from that pivotal teenage summer. As he reunites with his wayward older sister, spends time with his preteen great-niece and reckons with his past, Max works to come to terms with what it means to be a flawed and forgivable human being amidst constantly changing social norms.

Griffin Hansbury is the acclaimed author of Vanishing New York (Dey Street, 2017), based on the celebrated blog written under the pen name Jeremiah Moss. As Hansbury he is the author of The Nostalgist, a novel, and Day For Night, a collection of poems. A two-time NYFA fellow, his writing has appeared in n+1, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and online for The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The Village Voice, Salon, and The New York Review of Books.