Celebrate People | Pride Month
Joy fills a READINARY life. The thrill, the quickening of the pulse when a book catches your eye—it's intoxicating. Maybe the cover caught your eye with the playful, but darkly disturbing art. Or the writer's name splashed in brash, bold, capital letters across the top of the cover. Did a friend set you up with this book? The local librarian coyly suggested that it might ignite your soul?
Do you have a type? Do cute redheads fill your #tbr list? Maybe gleaming spacecraft, demur Amish women, or sculpted bare torsos? Whatever it is, have you considered swiping right on a different sort of book?
Who do you miss? Instead of swiping left, what if you swiped right instead and challenged your assumptions about your tastes?
It's #pridemonth, a good excuse to check your book lists. Do you include books by trans/genderqueer/non-binary/agender...LGBTQIA+ writers? Books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters that exist in the world of the story (you know, how they do in real life)? Not sure?
As a librarian and a writer, I love resources. One excellent source is Crini's - Book Recs From a Queer Space Witch. In particular, the A -Z of Trans Authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy challenge list. I don't read fast enough to read all of these books this month. That's okay. I'll read at least one, more if time allows.
I'm also sharing the books on the list on my Instagram this month. So many fantastic books to read—I encourage you to check them out to enrich your readinary life.
Best wishes, always — Ryan
If you haven't read my novel Infestation yet, a haunted house in space story with a queer couple, it is available on my site right now—pay what you want. Or you can pick it up retail if you prefer.