Horse shifter Nick has one rule: never trust a witch.
Nick has devoted his life to making his saloon a safe haven for the feral familiars of New York. So when a brutal killer slaughters a feral under his protection, Nick has no choice but to try and catch the murderer. Even if that means bonding with a handsome Irish witch.
Officer Jamie MacDougal came back from the war in Cuba missing part of a leg and most of his heart. After his former lover becomes one of the killer’s victims, Jamie will do anything to solve the case.
Nick comes to Jamie with a proposal: after making a temporary bond, they will work together to stop the murders. Once the killer is caught, they walk away and never see one another again.
It sounds simple enough. But the passion that flares between the two men won’t be so easily extinguished. And if Nick can’t learn to trust his witch, he stands to lose everything—including his life.
Sequel to: Hexbreaker, Hexmaker
Representation Includes
- MLM protagonist (Nick)
- Disabled MLM protagonist (Jamie) – partial leg amputee
Content Warnings
violence, on page police brutality and intimidationAwards
- Nominated for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award
Reviews
Where to Find
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Live fast, die young.
Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown.
When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It’s adventure she wants – and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death.
It’s time to take a walk on the wyld side.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonist (Tam)
Content Warnings
Violence, murder, death of a family member, drug addiction, self-harm (discussions and depiction), discussion of previous sexual abuse, emotionally abusive parentsAwards
-
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (2018)
-
Reddit r/fantasy Stabby Award for Best Novel (2018)
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BookNest Award for Best Traditionally Published Novel (2018)
Reviews
Where to Find
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The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father’s pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he’s been asked to join the League – the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he’s gay.
But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League.
To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he’ll have to come to terms with his father’s past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be.
Representation Includes
- Gay protagonist (Thom)
Content Warnings
homophobia, misogynyAwards
- Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children’s/Young Adult (2007)
- Gaylactic Spectrum Award Nominee for Best Novel (2008)
- The Inky Awards Nominee for Silver Inky (2008)
Reviews
Where to Find
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A novel written in cyberspace, Nearly Roadkill is an Infobahn erotic thriller without any boundaries – virtual, sexual, legal, or otherwise. What-appears-to-be Boy meets what-appears-to-be Girl. But their world is the Net, where any persona – and any gender – can be created. They pose as a host of different personalities, switching identities and genders as quickly as they create passwords. Named Scratch and Winc, these two genderless beings cybersurf into the various worlds on the Net as they fight government intervention on this final frontier.
Representation Includes
- Non-binary transfeminine protagonist (Winc)
- Sapphic cis woman experimenting with gender presentation (Scratch)
- Both use ze/hir pronouns
Content Warnings
Many explicit cybersex scenes; other content warnings needed.Awards
- Longlisted for Otherwise Award
Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- First published 1996
- Original title: Nearly Roadkill: An Infobahn Erotic Adventure
- ISBN13: 9781852424183
1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.
Representation Includes
- MLM protagonist
Content Warnings
racism, misogyny, bomb threats, implied abuse.Awards
- Shortlisted for the Gaylatic Spectrum Award
Reviews
Where to Find
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What would the future look like if we weren’t so hung up on putting people into boxes and instead empowered each other to reach for the stars? Take a ride with us as we explore a future where trans and nonbinary people are the heroes.
In worlds where bicycle rides bring luck, a minotaur needs a bicycle, and werewolves stalk the post-apocalyptic landscape, nobody has time to question gender. Whatever your identity you’ll enjoy these stories that are both thought-provoking and fun adventures.
Featuring brand-new stories from Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda Literary Award-winning author Charlie Jane Anders, Ava Kelly, Juliet Kemp, Rafi Kleiman, Tucker Lieberman, Nathan Alling Long, Ether Nepenthes, and Nebula-nominated M. Darusha Wehm. Also featuring debut stories from Diana Lane and Marcus Woodman.
Representation Includes
- Transgender and non-binary protagonists
Content Warnings
Help grow this entry by commenting below or emailing queersffbooks@theillustratedpage.net.Awards
- Nominated for the Lambda Award.
Reviews
- D.N. Bryn’s review
- More reviews from queer reviewers needed.
Where to Find
Details
- Full title: Trans-Galactic Bike Ride: Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories of Transgender and Nonbinary Adventurers
- Edited by Lydia Rogue
- Published December 8th 2020 by Microcosm Publishing
- ISBN-13: 978-1621065081
A mermaid’s supernatural beauty serves one purpose: to lure a sailor to his death.
The Massacre is supposed to bring peace to Eriana Kwai. Every year, the island sends its warriors to battle these hostile sea demons. Every year, the warriors fail to return. Desperate for survival, the island must decide on a new strategy. Now, the fate of Eriana Kwai lies in the hands of twenty battle-trained girls and their resistance to a mermaid’s allure.
Eighteen-year-old Meela has already lost her brother to the Massacre, and she has lived with a secret that’s haunted her since childhood. For any hope of survival, she must overcome the demons of her past and become a ruthless mermaid killer.
For the first time, Eriana Kwai’s Massacre warriors are female, and Meela must fight for her people’s freedom on the Pacific Ocean’s deadliest battleground.
Representation Includes
- The main character is sapphic and Indigenous from a fictional Northwestern Pacific Island
Content Warnings
gore, death, torture, animal death, abuseAwards
- Won the Best Indie Book Award
Reviews
Where to Find
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Hadriana in All My Dreams, winner of the prestigious Prix Renaudot, takes place primarily during Carnival in 1938 in the Haitian village of Jacmel. A beautiful young French woman, Hadriana, is about to marry a Haitian boy from a prominent family. But on the morning of the wedding, Hadriana drinks a mysterious potion and collapses at the altar. Transformed into a zombie, her wedding becomes her funeral. She is buried by the town, revived by an evil sorcerer, and then disappears into popular legend.
Set against a backdrop of magic and eroticism, and recounted with delirious humor, the novel raises universal questions about race and sexuality. The reader comes away enchanted by the marvelous reality of Haiti’s Vodou culture and convinced of Depestre’s lusty claim that all beings–even the undead ones–have a right to happiness and true love.
From the introduction by Edwidge Danticat:
Despestre offers us the kind of tale we rarely get in the hundreds of zombie stories featuring Haitians, stories set both inside and outside of Haiti. In Hadriana in All My Dreams we get both langaj–the secret language of Haitian Vodou–as well as the type of descriptive, elegiac, erotic, and satirical language, and the artistic license needed to create this most nuanced and powerful novel.
Representation Includes
- Female central character who expresses attraction regardless of gender, and has sexual experiences with women and men
Content Warnings
Very sexual, with frequent and in-depth depictions of sex and rape; Sexual assault and sexual violence; death of queer characterAwards
- Winner of the Prix Renaudot
Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- Originally published in French in 1988
- Original title: Hadriana dans tous mes rêves
- Translated into English in 2017 by Kaima L. Glover
- ISBN13: 9781617755552
Wasp’s job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-lost ghost of his partner and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They’re chosen. They’re special. Or so they’ve been told for four hundred years.
Archivist Wasp fears she is not the chosen one, that she won’t survive the trip to the underworld, that the brutal life she has escaped might be better than where she is going. There is only one way to find out.
Representation Includes
- Aro-ace protagonist
Content Warnings
Scene where protagonist forces herself to vomit; contemplates suicide multiple times; child abuse; suffocation; dog death; tortureAwards
- Locus Award nominee
- Andre Norton Award finalist
Reviews
- Quartzen’s review
- The Illustrated Page’s review
- Liz Bourke’s review
- Christine Sandquist’s review
- Aentee’s review
Where to Find
Details
- Published May 5th 2015 by Big Mouth House (first published April 13th 2015)
- Paperback ISBN13: 9781618730978
Integrating both Maori myth and New Zealand reality, The Bone People became the most successful novel in New Zealand publishing history when it appeared in 1984.
In a tower on the New Zealand sea lives Kerewin Holmes: part Maori, part European, asexual and aromantic, an artist estranged from her art, a woman in exile from her family. One night her solitude is disrupted by a visitor–a speechless, mercurial boy named Simon, who tries to steal from her and then repays her with his most precious possession. As Kerewin succumbs to Simon’s feral charm, she also falls under the spell of his Maori foster father Joe, who rescued the boy from a shipwreck and now treats him with an unsettling mixture of tenderness and brutality. Out of this unorthodox trinity Keri Hulme has created what is at once a mystery, a love story, and an ambitious exploration of the zone where indigenous and European New Zealand meet, clash, and sometimes merge.
Winner of both a Booker Prize and Pegasus Prize for Literature, The Bone People is a work of unfettered wordplay and mesmerizing emotional complexity.
Representation Includes
- Aromantic asexual mixed-race Maori/white protagonist
Content Warnings
Child abuse and violence against a child by a major character; child neglect; alcoholismAwards
- Booker Prize
- Pegasus Prize for Literature
- Ockham New Zealand Book Award
Reviews
- Ace Reads’s review
- Louise’s review
- redbeardace’s review and Tabitha at Asexuality in Fiction’s reply
Where to Find
Details
- First published 1984 by Spiral Press
- ISBN13: 9780140089226