Un/Common Ground


Arielle Pierce - 2014
    Escaping a repressive country, he has come to Saratoga Springs to attend university. Jamal’s freedom, however, is an illusion, for even thousands of miles away from his homophobic father, he dares not act on the feelings he has for the local barista. Matt feels like his life has stalled out. His dreams of being an artist are being sucked away by the reality of life, and now he works in a coffee shop and wishes things could be different. When Jamal receives news that a gay friend back home has been hurt in a hate crime, he flees his apartment, oblivious to the rapidly worsening weather. A blizzard strands him at the local coffeeshop, where Matt, the man he’s been pining over for three long years, happens to be working. Helping an elderly neighbor home through the storm is enough to break the ice, but is their growing attraction enough to convince Jamal to break faith with his family back home? As Jamal and Matt struggle to find some common ground, the cultural differences between them work to pull them apart. Torn between his family and his heart, Jamal is faced with a choice: break free of his family’s expectations, or lose his chance to find happiness with Matt.

Always Human


Ari North - 2015
    Now reformatted for a print edition in sponsorship with GLAAD, Always Human is a beautifully drawn graphic novel about a developing relationship between two young women in a near-future, soft sci-fi setting. Always Human is drawn in a manga-influenced style and with an incredible color palette that leaps off the page!In the near-future, people use technology to give the illusion of all kinds of body modifications—but some people have “Egan’s Syndrome,” a highly sensitive immune system that rejects these “mods” and are unable to use them. Those who are affected maintain a “natural” appearance, reliant on cosmetics and hair dye at most to help them play with their looks.  Sunati is attracted to Austen the first time she sees her and is drawn to what she assumes is Austen’s bravery and confidence to live life unmodded. When Sunati learns the truth, she’s still attracted to Austen and asks her on a date. Gradually, their relationship unfolds as they deal with friends, family, and the emotional conflicts that come with every romance. Together, they will learn and grow in a story that reminds us no matter how technology evolves, we will remain . . . always human. Rendered in beautiful detail and an extraordinary color palette, Always Human is a sweet love story told in a gentle sci-fi setting by a queer woman cartoonist, Ari North.

If It Ain't Love


Tamara Allen - 2011
    In the darkest days of the Great Depression, New York Times reporter Whit Stoddard has lost the heart to do his job and lives a lonely hand-to-mouth existence with little hope of recovery, until he meets Peter, a man in even greater need of new hope.

Patience & Esther: An Edwardian Romance


Sarah Winifred Searle - 2021
    When she starts her employment in formal service on the grounds of an opulent country manor, she has no idea that her own personal revolution is about to begin. Selfless, dutiful, and just a touch naive, she takes to both her place as a parlor maid and to her new roommate, the bookish and progressive lady’s maid, Esther. In another time, the two women would have kept one another’s company forever in their little attic bedroom, living out their days in the employ of a Lord. But it’s now the dawn of a new age. The expanding empire has brought with it not only plundered wealth, but worldliness and new ideas. Suffragists agitate in the street, idle-rich bohemians challenge sexual mores, and Patience and Esther slowly come to realize the world is wider and full of more adventure and opportunity than they ever imagined . . . so long as they find the will to seize it.Sensual, sweet, and beautifully illustrated, PATIENCE & ESTHER is a steamy period romance and an inspirational erotic journey across the epic sweep of history, from the end of a gilded age to the start of an uncharted future.

Mooncakes


Suzanne Walker - 2019
    She works at her grandmothers' bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

Coming Back


Jessi Zabarsky - 2022
     Preet is magic.Valissa is not.Everyone in their village has magic in their bones, and Preet is the strongest of them all. Without any power of her own, how can Valissa ever be worthy of Preet's love? When their home is attacked, Valissa has a chance to prove herself, but that means leaving Preet behind. On her own for the first time Preet breaks the village's most sacred laws, and is rejected from the only home she's ever known and sent into a new world.Divided by different paths, insecurities, and distance, will Valissa and Preet be able to find their way back to each other?A beautiful story of two young women who are so focused on proving they're meant to be together that they end up hurting each other in the process. This gorgeous graphic novel is an LGTBQ+ romance about young love and how it can grow into something strong no matter what obstacles get in the way.

Drunk Text


seventhswan - 2011
    The most pressing is a text message that says: "God, my ass hurts. I can't even sit down properly. Cheers to you. Coffee @ 1?"

Becoming


Jeanne Reames - 2019
     Before he became known as Alexander the Great, he was Alexandros, the teenage son of the king of Makedon. Rather than living a life of luxury, as prince he has to be better and learn faster than his peers, tackling problems without any help. One such problem involves his increasingly complicated feelings for his new companion, Hephaistion. When Alexandros and Hephaistion go to study under the philosopher Aristoteles, their evolving relationship becomes even harder to navigate. Strength, competition, and status define one’s fate in their world—a world that seems to have little room for the tenderness growing between them. Alexandros is expected to command, not to crave the warmth of friendship with an equal. In a kingdom where his shrewd mother and sister are deemed inferior for their sex, and his love for Hephaistion could be seen as submission to an older boy, Alexandros longs to be a human being when everyone but Hephaistion just wants him to be a king. Word count: 92,000; page count: 282

The Witchstone Amulet


Mason Thomas - 2019
    That’s what rugby player Hunter Best’s mother told him before she died. But when Hunter surprises an intruder in his Chicago apartment, he discovers her amulet stolen. Hunter pursues the thief—all the way through a strange vortex. He wakes in a bizarre and violent world, a benighted realm on the threshold of civil war. The queen has become a ruthless tyrant, punishing any who oppose her, weakening the kingdom’s defenses against the brutal Henerans. To survive, Hunter must depend on the man who robbed him, a handsome former spy named Dax, now a leader of the resistance that believes the queen is an imposter—a Heneran disguised by magic… who also looks identical to Hunter’s mother. There’s no love lost between Hunter and Dax, and even if Hunter grudgingly agrees with the resistance, he just wants to reclaim his property and go home. But he might be the only one who can oppose the queen and end her reign of terror.

Would You Like To Be A Family?


koyama - 2021
    Bullied in high school for being gay, he prefers to spend time by himself so he won't get hurt again. When he runs into his bright, friendly coworker Natsui in the supermarket, he's surprised to find out that he's a single father... and even more surprised to be invited to dinner, with no room to decline! Kuma is a good guy, but due to his constant scowl and rough appearance is often dismissed as a deadbeat. When he oversees his friend's older brother break up with his boyfriend, Yagi, Kuma becomes intrigued with this attractive stranger and slowly, his curiosity begins to blossom into a crush. Kodama is a reserved psychology major who is approached by the loud, outgoing Harada when he falls ill on his way home. It turns out the two of them study at the same university, and Harada insists the two become friends. But as they spend more time with one another, Kodama begins to question how he truly feels. Follow three very different relationships in this intimate collection of short Boys Love stories.

The Heart of Thomas


Moto Hagio - 1989
    Fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death immediately after sending a single, brief letter to a schoolmate:To Juli, one last timeThis is my loveThis is the sound of my heartSurely you must understandThus begins the legendary and enigmatic Heart of Thomas, by Moto Hagio. Inspired by Jean Delannoy’s 1964 film, Les Amities Particulieres, The Heart of Thomas was nearly cancelled early in its serialization, in 1974, until Hagio’s first trade paperback, The Poe Clan, Volume 1, sold out in a single day, giving her new series a new lease on life. The result was a story more complex, less accessible, and yet so compelling it can be found near or at the top of any list of classic shojo manga. Translated by manga scholar Matt Thorn and packaged with the same loving attention to detail as Hagio’s Eisner Award nominated A Drunken Dream, The Heart of Thomas is already the most eagerly anticipated manga translation of the new decade.

Devil's Ridge


X. Aratare - 2011
    Desperate times force him and his adoptive family to move to Grandfather Patrick’s house on Devil’s Ridge, a tiny, rural town, that is far more than what it seems.On the Ridge, Aidan finds a world filled with magic, monsters and terrifying beauty. He has discovered his “different life” but it isn’t at all what he expected, and not all of it is good.With most of the townspeople involved in the Clan, a dark cult, and Grandfather Patrick as the Clan’s head, Aidan knows he isn’t just imagining that the whole town is out to get him. When Aidan is lured by an ancient force literally in his own backyard, he is rescued by the mysterious and handsome Asher Vane, who his grandfather calls a “demon”. Is Asher something terrible? More importantly, is Aidan?

The Eye of Ra


Dakota Chase - 2010
    And since the teacher in question is Merlin, refusing isn’t an option for the two boys. Thanks to Merlin’s magic, they’re about to become time travelers.The first piece on their list is the Eye of Ra, a mystical amulet belonging to the young King Tut. Ancient Egypt is nothing like Aston and Grant expected, with its war, disease, and lack of modern technology. To survive, they must befriend King Tut and learn to trust him—and each other. In a primitive world, where death and danger wait around every corner, one thing is clear: revisiting history could cost someone their life.

Lancelot and the King


Sarah Luddington - 2011
    If his king needs him and he is called to the sword, he knows where he must be.His country is threatened, the dark wings of war are gathering and his love... that will just have to wait.The needs of one man’s heart cry for peace, but Lancelot understands what he must do.He will stand shoulder to shoulder with the man he loves and if they survive the battlefields, if they can survive the peace, then maybe, just maybe, a knight and his king can put aside their call to arms and listen to the call of their hearts. The Knights of Camelot series is a reimagining of the Arthurian legends. Each book features two (or more) men in love with one another, steamy encounters, and more. These books are not intended to be read as standalones, so be sure to start at the beginning with Lancelot and the King.

His Favorite, Vol. 1


Suzuki Tanaka - 2008
    To make matters worse, all the girls in his class hate him because Sato, the hottest guy in school, always uses hanging out with him as an excuse to turn them down. Is Yoshida just a convenient excuse or is there something more? Could this odd couple even make things work?!Awkward Yoshida is hated by all the girls in school for his perceived closeness with hot guy Sato, who uses hanging out with Yoshida as an excuse to turn them all down. If Yoshida is merely an excuse, why does Sato taunt him in private about “his favorite”? Is it possible Sato’s feelings run deeper than friendship? And what could he possibly see in the funny-looking Yoshida? Watch Yoshida’s life turn upside down with hilarious results!