A woman that longs for more outside the labels of “mother” and “wife”, a devil-worshipping goddess that falls in love with her archenemy, a young man who truly has yet to discover himself beyond his relationship status and career goals, and a key player in the criminal underworld who falls for a friend amidst a large drug deal.
Refreshingly dynamic, diversely eccentric and compelling protagonists are featured in this exciting all-genre list of LGBTQIA+ must-reads (or shall we say, a must-listens)!
From the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table, comes an anthology of gender-bent, race-bent, LGBTQIA+ inclusive retellings. Featuring stories by a collection of widely-known authors, set in Gilded Age Chicago, ’80s New York, twenty-first century Singapore, and space; there are lesbian lady knights, Arthur and Merlin reborn in the modern era and more. The stories in Sword Stone Table will bring fresh life to beloved myths and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in their favorite legends.
In From Bad to Cursed, wild child Isidora Avramov is a thrill chaser, adept demon summoner, with a dream to become a fashion designer. When someone starts sabotaging the celebrations leading to Beltane festival, resulting in a member of the rival Thorn family getting badly hurt— immediately everyone is suspicious of the Avramovs. To clear the Avramov name, Issa agrees to serve as a co-investigator, helping her archenemy Rowan Thorn. As the unlikely duo follow a perplexing trail of clues to a stunning conclusion, Issa and Rowan discover how little they really know each other… and stumble upon a maddening attraction that becomes harder to ignore by the day.
In Like a House on Fire, Merit has begun to feel like a stranger in her own life. She loves her husband and sons, but she desperately needs something more than sippy cups and monthly sex. She returns to her career where a brilliant and beautiful Danish architect named Jane decides to give her a shot. As the two work together, their relationship becomes a true friendship. In Jane, Merit sees the possibility of what a woman could be. And Jane sees Merit as the whole person that she is. As Merit starts to open her mind to the idea of more—more of a partner, more of a match, more out of love—she begins to question: What if the love of her life isn’t the man she married. What if it’s Jane?.
Sedating Elaine is an exuberant dark comedy about love, grief, sex, guilt, and one woman’s harebrained scheme to tranquilize her voraciously amorous girlfriend for a few days so that she might pay off her drug dealer, make soup, and finally get some peace and quiet. Frances was not looking for a relationship when she met Elaine in a bar. But somehow (with a steady stream of beer and weed) Elaine ended up in Frances’s bed and never left. Given no choice to reason with sex-crazed out of control Elaine, she makes the obvious decision: She will have to sedate her.
Med school dropout Lena is desperate for a job to help her parents, who are approaching bankruptcy after her father was injured and laid off nearly simultaneously. So when she is offered a position, working for one of Boston’s most elite families she knows she must accept it—no matter how bizarre the interview or how vague the job description. Lena discovers the more sinister side of the family, as she works overtime at their lavish parties, helping to hide their self-destructive tendencies…and trying not to fall for the alluring Audrey. Tripping Arcadia is a shocking tale with an unforgettable protagonist that explores the sacrifices we must make to get by in today’s world, and the intoxicating, dangerous power of wealth.
In First Time for Everything, Danny Scudd always dreamed of escaping the small-town life, moving to London, and becoming a journalist. After five years in the city, his world is flipped upside down when he realizes his partner has not been faithful. In fact, Tobbs claims they were never operating under the “heteronormative paradigm” of monogamy to begin with. Newly single and with nowhere to live, Danny moves in with his best friend, Jacob, a flamboyant nonbinary artist whom he’s known since childhood, and their eccentric group of friends living in an East London “commune.” What follows is a colorful voyage of discovery through modern queer life, dating, work, and lots of therapy. Upon realizing just how little he knows about himself and his sexuality, Danny careens from one questionable decision (and man) to another, relying on his inscrutable new therapist to help him face the demons he’s spent his entire life trying to repress.
In Iron Annie, we’re introduced to Aoife, a bona fide player in Dundalk’s criminal underworld. Aoife’s cool under pressure except when it comes to Annie, who is a quite compelling. When Aoife’s friend and associate, the Rat King, approaches her about off-loading ten kilos of stolen coke, he specifically tells her to keep Annie out of it. But Aoife doesn’t want to do the job without Annie, so she lands on an idea. Annie has contacts in the UK, and sure it’d be better to get the coke as far away from Dundalk as possible. At first, everything goes to plan. But when Annie decides she’d like to stay in the UK, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything, and finds her whole world turned upside down.
Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she’s just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she’s landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.