The Pride Parade of Books
Welcome to this year’s Pride Parade of Books! To mark Pride Month, this is a small sample of some of the wonderful LGBTQ+ books out there. If you can, please support these authors and spread the word about LGBTQ+ literature. Our stories matter. Let’s make sure they are told.
Livid Skies by SI Clarke
A fresh start, a queer social liberal dream, and a planet that wants to kill you.
With Earth in the throes of a devastating pandemic, autistic scientist Devon and her fellow colonists face the momentous task of establishing a new society on Mars. The colony’s 150 women and 10 men must overcome their differences to create a lasting community.
But things aren’t always what they seem and maybe the colonists aren’t as alone as they thought…
The City of Dust Omnibus by Vaz Anzai
Alice has discovered a Prostibot that has become self-aware. Laila, a mysterious Saudi Arabian woman, has escaped an event known as “The Opaque”.
A new serial killer has surfaced in Dust. Women’s bodies have begun to appear in alleyways, their arms crossed and skin cut from their backs to form wings.
Deep beneath the city, a darkness is preparing its armies to swarm the streets. Dust has been warned. The Nightfallen are here.
Prewrath and Rapture by TJ Dallas
Four years ago, Harry’s first act of Humility sent her hurtling to the deepest recesses of the dream world. When Death gives her the chance to save her family, her second act will prove infinitely worse. When Persephone arrives at the Cardinal, it’s time for Harry to keep her end of the deal. But it isn’t Pride, or even Humility, that Persephone wants; it’s Wrath. Emilia must join ranks with four forces of evil that long predate the Seven Deadly Sins; Death, Pestilence, War, and Famine. Emilia’s ruthless volcano has lain dormant for centuries, but a hidden agenda and a betrayal could tip her over the edge, causing an eruption felt throughout the very fabric of time and space.
Retrospect – The Hidden Life of Mac Scott by AJ Hutchinson-Forton
Retrospect – The Hidden Life of Mac Scott is the story of a lesbian woman who returns home after two years missing, covered in scars, with no memory of what happen to her and fearful of the physical touch she so desperately craves. Through perilous twists and turns, returning shards of memories and finding unexpected love, Mac grows in strength and begins investigating her own disappearance in the quest to seek retribution against those that still hunt her. This is a thriller story with some steamy moments, where the protagonist is a strong lesbian woman. Her sexuality throughout the narrative is obvious but never mentioned or justified, just like it isn’t in heterosexual lead stories – it just is. It is the first part in a trilogy, part two is being edited as we speak.
The Seventh of December by Garrick Jones
As bombs rain down over London during the Blitz, Major Tommy Haupner negotiates the rubble-filled streets of Bloomsbury on his way to perform at a socialite party. The explosive event of the evening is not his virtuosic violin playing, but the ‘almost-blond’ American who not only insults him, but then steals his heart.
The Seventh of December follows a few months in the lives of two Intelligence agents in the early part of World War Two. Set against the backdrop of war-torn occupied Europe, Tommy and his American lover, Henry Reiter, forge a committed relationship that is intertwined with intrigues which threaten the integrity of the British Royal Family and the stability of a Nation at war.
Neither bombs nor bullets manage to break the bond that these men form in their struggle against Nazism and the powers of evil.
Eye of the Beholder by Thomas Grant Bruso
In the middle of a psychic session with Madame Petri, David hears a ghostly voice calling his name. But he is not sure if it’s the elderly fortune-teller exaggerating the reading or bizarre grumblings coming from a mysterious old man in a painting hanging in the psychic’s foyer.
When Madame Petri disappears in a ball of flames, David rushes home, terrified. From that moment on, David and his policeman boyfriend, Zane, find themselves trying to solve the series of murders and mayhem that begin to haunt David.
Duck Feet by Ely Percy
Duck Feet is a coming-of-age novel which begins in the Autumn of 2001 and ends in the Summer of 2007. It follows the lives of working-class school girl, Kirsty Campbell, and her friends as they go from first through to sixth year at the fictional high school Renfrew Grammar dealing with things like bullying, exam pressure, sexuality and teen pregnancy.
Will to Speak by Ren J Dorian
Non-binary GT isn’t content with the hand he’s been dealt in life. But he has a dream: to hear his own voice on the radio. Things aren’t quite going his way when he finds himself on a long and lonely walk. It turns out that a mysterious stranger has plans for him – he wants GT to replace him in the future. Once he is whisked away, trapped inside a rocketing time machine, GT must learn to cope with the extreme uncertainty. He gets presented with a decimated humanity and a beautiful Emalyn. (GT’s pronouns are they/them or he/him.)
Love Him Hate Him by Chris Bedell
Connor is out. Liam is the secretly gay football player. And they must navigate a secret relationship while working together to solve the murder of Liam’s sister. But the truth about Evelyn’s murder hits closer to home than Liam and Connor ever imagined. And what they do after knowing the identity of Evelyn’s killer is another question altogether.
Caged Time by Erik S. Meyers
In 1930s New York, David Tarniss leads a quiet life as a cab driver—too quiet—In reality he is hiding a dark secret, his homosexuality, something for which he will pay dearly due to the unique circumstances of the time.
Based on the author’s interpretation of a family tragedy, Caged Time is an attempt to explain how society can mold who you are and significantly impact your life. Most of the characters are Jewish, bringing another insightful angle to the events.
The Crystal Eye by Blake R. Wolfe
Dusk is days away from being sold to the highest bidder. After ten years in the salt mines, the noble who owns him is ready to make a profit and Dusk has to deal with the consequences. The day before the trader arrives he comes across an uncharted cave. Delving inside he finds the crystallized remains of a dragon, a creature not seen in more than a thousand years. Compelled by a strange power, he plucks the crystal from the dragon’s eye, stowing it away in his boot. The next day his caravan is attacked. Dusk takes his chance to make a daring escape and finds himself in the unforgiving wilds of the empire. Knowing he’ll be hunted, he strikes off west, heading for the border. Unknowingly he has begun to turn the hands of fate as a shadow draws ever closer, making the road perilous.
Australia’s Son by Garrick Jones
A wrongly delivered letter sparks a chain of events that threaten the life of Edward Murray, “Australia’s Son”, the most renowned operatic baritone of his day. It is 1902, and Edward has just returned to the Metropole Hotel after a performance of La Bohème at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, when the manager phones his apartment to tell him the police have arrived with bad news.
Edward, and his vaudeville performer brother, Theodore, are shocked to hear that Edward’s dresser, the brothers’ oldest friend from childhood, has been found dead, stabbed in the back, in Edward’s recently vacated dressing room.
Following a sequence of gruesome killings, Edward and the detective assigned to protect him, Chief Constable Andrew Bolton, are lured into a trap by a man whose agenda is not only personal, but driven by a deranged mind.
These Words Are True and Faithful by Eugene Galt
Sam Overton is a young lawyer with a brilliant future at one of the city’s leading law firms. After he and older police officer Ernie Butler have chance meetings at the courthouse complex and then at a leather bar, the two become lovers, and Ernie, who is experienced in the local gay leather scene as a Dominant, guides Sam in exploring his submissive nature. They become inseparable and appear set to live happily and kinkily ever after, until a seemingly innocent event upends everything that they think they know about each other, the nature of their relationship, and themselves.
Hotel Queens by Lee Winter
What happens when fire meets ice? Over one night at a Vegas bar, two hotel executives meet, flirt, and challenge each other—having no clue they’re rivals. Icy Amelia Duxton thrives on control, truth, and efficiency. She wants the Mayfair Palace—a deal that could make her CEO in her family’s hotel empire. Fiery, chaotic Kai Fisher is renowned for ambitious deals. Her sights are on snatching Mayfair Palace from the hated Duxtons. But when everything falls apart, how can either woman win—especially when they’ve met their match?
A lesbian romance as layered and clever as its characters.
Return of the Mantra by Susie Williamson
Blood Gift Chronicles is a fantasy series featuring queer women protagonists. Return of the Mantra (Book One) is a young woman’s search for justice and her own identity, a fight back against oppression to restore the natural world. The sequel, The Warder, was released in March 2021.
Set in distant but familiar lands, the series explores queer women storylines against different social backdrops. Other themes in the series include wildlife and the environment, exploitation and social injustice, coming of age, love, magic, animism, dragons and being true to oneself.
The Stone in My Pocket by Matthew Keeley
“Powerfully evokes all of the emotions you want when you read a good novel.” – The Indiependent
A poignant coming-of-age story following a teenage journey into mediumship, independence, 90s pop culture, and a new millennium. The Stone in My Pocket is an engaging chronicle of adolescence; a tender family drama; and a supernatural mystery, exploring the passage to self-acceptance and how it feels to be different.
The Jasmine Steele Mystery Series by Kimberly Amato
Kimberly Amato’s complete Jasmine Steele detective series is made-to-order for fans of hard-boiled police procedurals and badass female sleuths! Those who can’t get enough of the exciting new wave of hard-boiled women sleuths will love Amato’s take-no-prisoners style, her unflinching attention to harrowing detail, and her tough-as-nails but soft-hearted detective.
Lovers of traditional mysteries will appreciate the web of fierce loyalty tempered with fearful caution that links Jazz’s tiny but hardy support system—both at work and at home. In every tale, Amato manages to mix all the excitement of an action thriller with the swirling emotions of a mainstream psychological novel.
Queer Folk Tales by Kevin Walker
In this collection of delightful, empowering and often magical tales, Kevin Walker creates and adapts a host of stories for the LGBTQ+ community and all readers of well-crafted short stories. These sometimes traditional and sometimes modern tales show queer people that they belong not only in today’s world, but also in a storytelling tradition going back centuries, if not millennia. This is a wonderful collection, aimed mainly at grown- up readers to enjoy and continue to tell for years to come, introducing characters who are romantic, brave, mysterious or fantastical- but always authentic.
One Man’s Trash by Ryan Vance
A courier chases an impossible connection across a city that doesn’t exist. A full-body transplant leads to kinship in the weights room and endurance on the dancefloor. A restaurant critic meets his match in a tale of telepathic tongues. And a put-upon middle-manager dreams of bloody revenge against the puerile Big Babies. Seeking solace in queer lives and landscapes, these fables of loneliness, love and liminality delight in disgust, discover joy in daily junk, and create wild unexpected treasures from the most unusual of leftovers.
Beyond the Closet by Gary James
Beyond the Closet is a semi-autobiographical look at the coming out process of a non-scene gay man at the turn of the new millennium. Following a split with his girlfriend of over seven years, Gary finds himself questioning his sexuality after a colleague comes out.
As the realisation sets in, Gary has to navigate the stormy waters of coming out to those nearest and dearest to him as well as complete strangers. He has to learn what life is like for a non-scene gay man in the Noughties as he falls in love, deals with family problems and finds self-acceptance.
The House with a Thousand Stairs by Garrick Jones
Warrambool: In Gamilaraay, the language of the Kamilaroi peoples of north-western New South Wales, it’s the word for The Milky Way. It’s also the name of Peter Dixon’s homestead and sheep station, situated in the lee of the Liverpool Ranges.
The House With a Thousand Stairs is the story of a young man, scarred both on the inside and the outside, trying to re-establish what once was a prosperous and thriving sheep station with the help of his neighbours and his childhood friend, Frank Hunter, the local Indigenous policeman.
Enveloped by the world of Indigenous spirituality, the Kamilaroi system of animal guides and totems, Peter and Frank discover the true nature of their predestined friendship, one defined by the stars, the ancestral spirits, and Baiame, the Creator God and Sky Father of The Dreaming.
Into the Unknown by Ren J Dorian
It’s over a hundred and fifty years in the future. The Pyrrh have taken over, forcing the remaining descendants of humanity to either cower in shelters or fend for themselves in the outer zones. Three friends enter the scene, fleeing for their lives. They encounter a supposed scientist, a man who has possession of a mysterious time machine. When Aiden swipes the key, new opportunities arise. Perhaps the best escape of all is to the past? But what consequences await? A whole new world opens up for the group of friends, giving them unique opportunities and chances for self-exploration.
The Warder by Susie Williamson
Blood Gift Chronicles is a fantasy series featuring queer women protagonists. Return of the Mantra (Book One) is a young woman’s search for justice and her own identity, a fight back against oppression to restore the natural world. The sequel, The Warder, was released in March 2021.
Set in distant but familiar lands, the series explores queer women storylines against different social backdrops. Other themes in the series include wildlife and the environment, exploitation and social injustice, coming of age, love, magic, animism, dragons and being true to oneself.
Vicky Romeo Plus Joolz by Ely Percy
Vicky Romeo Plus Joolz is a butch-meets-femme rom com novel set in Glasgow in 2001. It’s told from the point-of-view of a twenty-one-year-old working-class butch lesbian and written in the traditional flash-back style of an Italian American gangster movie. VRPJ deals with queer-centric topics such as biphobia, transphobia and coming out to your gay parents as well as universal ones like falling in love, family dynamics and figuring out who you are.
Evolution by MJ Duncan
Life in The Royal Ballet comes with a set of unwritten rules, and no one knows them better than Nina Devereaux. Even in her current role as the Company’s Artistic Director, those expectations still loom menacingly over her life. But when she’s granted the opportunity to bring her revolutionary ballet to stage, the little voice that has always kept her playing by the rules begins to waver as she watches her love letter to the woman who has held her heart for years come to life. She knows better than most that it’s a long road from wanting something to having it, but perhaps this time she’ll finally manage to get it right.
One Aon Fatality by Vanessa Krauss
A chance encounter has the Horizons Corporation realizing that their want to control the weather means accounting for literal forces of nature, gods. By creating the Aons, they plan to use them to chase and destroy these powerful beings. There is a small catch. Their first Aon, Fatality. Being told her only function is to live, die, hunt, kill, she can only want for something better, a world where nature doesn’t bow to man, nor to Horizons.
Ternary by Kristin L. Stamper
Is she human or is she machine? As a cyborg, she’s never been sure of her identity. But when the consciousness of a dead man is accidentally downloaded into her cybernetic brain, she finds herself falling for his still-living spouse and rediscovering her humanity—But are those her feelings or his?
A Marvel of Magick by E. T. Page
A new adventure for those who seek magick… Madden Edwards doesn’t quite fit in at Washington Middleschool, feeling stuck in his ordinary, lackluster existence, but he is about to be transformed and taken on a journey that can only be described as marvelous!
When the few unicorns that remain begin to be hunted by a mysterious dark force in order to carry out an earth-threatening sinister plan, Madden must decide if he will embrace his special gift, which might be the only way to save the entire planet. No pressure.
Unicorns, merfolk, dragosaurs and sorcery all weave together in this heart-warming, coming-of-age tale.
Perfect Twist by T. J. Gristwood
Jackson Doyle, a psychologist living in London is a master of illusion. A man who works hard and plays even harder, juggling two entirely different lives. ‘Jackson’ the Doctor of Psychology and ‘Jax’ the bisexual playboy flits between his two worlds with practised ease until a winning lottery ticket sends him on a new path.
Needing space and time to absorb this sudden change in circumstance, he leaves the city and hires a canal barge in the sleepy village of Honey Street, Wiltshire. A place to escape his usual distractions and a place that leads him straight to Jade, a beautiful unconventional young woman. Captivated by her strong will and free spirit Jax finds himself in unfamiliar territory. As their relationship evolves Jax is forced to face his own demons and fight for what he really wants. A life without secrets.
The Perfect Blend by Terry Purkis
A heart warming, slow burn, late in life romance between two older women.
Georgina co-owns an independent Bristol coffeehouse. Grieving, and trying to keep the business going, she finds out the other half share has been willed to a complete stranger.
Catherine dumped by her boyfriend, jobless, and soon to be homeless, Catherine receives a letter which could solve all her problems.
Georgina would never again date a straight woman but Catherine continually invades her thoughts? Catherine isn’t gay. Yet she feels something for Georgina? Will Georgina let her past control her future? Will Catherine acknowledge a future different to her past?
The Perfect Blend introduces us to the owners and characters who frequent the coffeehouse.
Note: some links are affiliate links, this is to provide tracking and feedback to authors. These are not books that I have worked on but is a free platform for authors of LGBTQ+ books to showcase their work. To take part in future book parades, please get in touch.
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