Aquamarine


Carol Anshaw - 1992
    From there, Anshaw intricately traces three possible paths for Jesse, spinning exhilarating variations on the themes of lost love and parallel lives unlived. Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina, writes, "I found myself wishing I could buy a dozen copies and start a discussion group, just so I'd be able to debate all the questions this astonishing novel provokes." A Reader's Guide is available.

Kidnapping The Princess


Yuriko Hime
    She's a supermodel by day and a kidnapper extraordinaire at night. When she took Princess Talia from the castle one night, the whole country was sent into chaos. Princess Talia was the only successor to the throne, and her absence baffled the kingdom. Nobody knew that Cybele was the culprit, and no one would be able to guess her reason for it. Only she knew. Watch Cybele, both our hero and villain for the story as she struggles to fulfill her wishes while trying to keep her feelings for the Princess in check.

Maybe the Moon


Armistead Maupin - 1992
    All of 31 inches tall, Cady is a true survivor in a town where -- as she says -- "you can die of encouragement." Her early starring role as a lovable elf in an immensely popular American film proved a major disappointment, since moviegoers never saw the face behind the stifling rubber suit she was required to wear. Now, after a decade of hollow promises from the Industry, she is reduced to performing at birthday parties and bat mitzvahs as she waits for the miracle that will finally make her a star.In a series of mordantly funny journal entries, Maupin tracks his spunky heroine across the saffron-hazed wasteland of Los Angeles -- from her all-too-infrequent meetings with agents and studio moguls to her regular harrowing encounters with small children, large dogs and human ignorance. Then one day a lanky piano player saunters into Cady's life, unleashing heady new emotions, and she finds herself going for broke, shooting the moon with a scheme so harebrained and daring that it just might succeed. Her accomplice in the venture is her best friend, Jeff, a gay waiter who sees Cady's struggle for visibility as a natural extension of his own war against the Hollywood Closet.As clear-eyed as it is charming, Maybe the Moon is a modern parable about the mythology of the movies and the toll it exacts from it participants on both sides of the screen. It is a work that speaks to the resilience of the human spirit from a perspective rarely found in literature.

Unboxed


Non Pratt - 2016
    In previous years, they had put together a time capsule about their best summer with a friend who was dying. Now that their friend has passed, they reunite to open the box.

Because They Wanted To: Stories


Mary Gaitskill - 1997
    From the author of Bad Behavior comes a new compilation of clever and cutting-edge stories propelling readers into a world of men and women where the ways of desire are sometimes distasteful and complex.Tiny, smiling daddy --Because they wanted to --Orchid --The blanket --Comfort --The girl on the plane --The dentist --Kiss and tell --The wrong thing Turgor --Respect --Processing --Stuff

The Salt Roads


Nalo Hopkinson - 2004
    Jeanne Duval, the ginger-colored entertainer, struggles with her lover poet Charles Baudelaire...Mer, plantation slave and doctor, both hungers for and dreads liberation...and Thais, a dark-skinned beauty from Alexandria, is impelled to seek a glorious revelation-as Ezili, a being born of hope, unites them all. Interweaving acts of brutality with passionate unions of spirit and flesh, this is a narrative that shocks, entertains, and dazzles-from an award-winning writer who dares to redefine the art of storytelling.A Nebula Award nominee -- A Locus Magazine recommended book

The Kappa Child


Hiromi Goto - 2001
    Their father, moved by an incredible dream of optimism, decides to migrate from the lush green fields of British Columbia to Alberta. There, he is determined to deny the hard-pan limitations of the prairie and to grow rice. Despite a dearth of both water and love, the family discovers, through sorrow and fear, the green kiss of the Kappa Child, a mythical creature who blesses those who can imagine its magic... James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award for Science Fiction and Commonwealth Writers' Prize Winner, 2001Sunburst Award Nomination for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, 2002

Hello, Groin


Beth Goobie - 2006
    And for Dylan herself. If only her English class had been studying a normal, run-of-the-mill, mundane book like Lord of the Flies instead of Foxfire things wouldn't have gotten so twisted. Then the world wouldn't have gone into such a massive funk. And then Dylan wouldn't have had to face her deepest fear and the way she was letting it run her life.Hello, Groin presents a compelling, realistic and refreshing look at teen sexuality and one girl's struggle to make the difficult choices that face her.

The Illusionist


Françoise Mallet-Joris - 1951
    Within days, she is captivated by Tamara, a Russian émigré whose arts of enchantment include lingering kisses, sudden dismissals, and savage, rapturous reunions. As long as she submits to Tamara, Hélène is permitted to stay near her: reading forbidden novels, meeting Tamara’s bohemian friends, and learning more 'refinements of depravity' than the gossiping matrons of her provincial French town could imagine existed.

Detransition, Baby


Torrey Peters - 2021
    She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Trumpet


Jackie Kay - 1998
    Besieged by the press, his widow Millie flees to a remote Scottish village, where she seeks solace in memories of their marriage. The reminiscences of those who knew Joss Moody render a moving portrait of a shared life founded on an intricate lie, one that preserved a rare, unconditional love.

Robins in the Night


Dajo Jago - 2015
     They talk of his valiant deeds, of his courageous feats, of his noble exploits. They talk of how this man, this single man, stole from the rich and gave to the poor. They speak of his merry men, and of his bow and arrow, and his green tunic. They speak of him in hushed, reverent tones. They speak of him in loud, exuberant chants. They speak of him in story books. The legends are, as is to be expected, fundamentally wrong. Set in Knottwood, a small city in an alternate timeline Earth, this is the story of a transgender woman named Marian Stoke.

Cool for You


Eileen Myles - 2000
    The New York Times Book Review said the author has "an exquisite sense of the borderline where people hide or are transformed according to luck or will---undramatically rich writing." Dorothy Allison said, "Eileen Myles is a genius!"

Sugar Summer


Hannah Moskowitz - 2020
    That is, until she crashes a staff party and meets Mara, the older, gorgeous, and acid-tongued dance instructor with very little patience for people with Sugar's amount of privilege and supposed heterosexuality. But Mara's dance partner, Tristan, is getting top surgery and can't perform, and she needs a way to replace him without anyone noticing. Guess who's the only volunteer?Learning to look, dress, and, especially, dance like a boy means a lot of time with Mara, listening to her, arguing with her...touching her, and suddenly Sugar's feeling things she thought were just in those sappy songs they have to dance to. But falling for a girl, especially one who doesn't particularly seem to like her, was not in Sugar's summer plans. What's a girl to do?SUGAR SUMMER is a lesbian retelling of the '80s classic DIRTY DANCING, like you've never seen it before.

The Mercies


Kiran Millwood Hargrave - 2020
    Twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Northern town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God and flooded with a mighty evil. As Maren and Ursa are pushed together and are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1620 witch trials, The Mercies is a feminist story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.