Gay fiction 2024
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Flyboy follows a young person discovering themself in the midst of a mystical circus, where magic mirrors the journey of self-discovery and acceptance.
4. Chamberland writes: “I don’t think I’ll ever become a person who believes my words mean anything to anyone other than myself … My greatest solace is that this assessment seems to be incorrect.” Indeed.
Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
As Drew raves in her glowing review on Autostraddle, Housemates is “funny and sexy and smart and well-written.
Let’s get into the books!
Comics/Graphic Novels and Memoirs
This slice-of-life graphic novel of queer millennial ennui — the English-language debut of German cartoonist Nino Bulling — is a knock-out.
This is Anne of Green Gables, but make it gay, dark, and gruesome.
Model Home by Rivers Solomon
“Maybe my mother is God, and that’s why nothing I do pleases her”: thus begins Rivers Solomon’s brutal, brilliant, unsettling masterpiece, a haunted house story that upends the horror sub-genre entirely.
Equally emotionally resonant, intellectually thrilling, and darkly humorous, Love the World or Get Killed Trying follows a nearly-30-year-old trans woman as she travels through Europe, “visibly trans and femme,” which Drew emphasizes is key to her experiences. Carrasco’s prose is bold, her characters are rich, and her plotting is intricate.
Clements and Datta expertly balance the two women’s compelling romance with a uniquely terrifying monster that reeks of ancient evil as it emerges from the town’s neighboring caves. The book’s insights into family, parenting, queerness, and cultural identity are as numerous as they are perceptive. In an instant, Tatum’s former life comes flashing back, along with a series of pointed questions: What really happened between her and Domínguez all those years ago?
Parish uses both conventional comics structure and journal entry-style drawings in a playful art style that conveys the book’s gentle and hopeful tone beautifully. It escalates so smoothly and subtly you don’t realize you’re in too deep to climb out until it’s too late. Jhanvi’s slow progression from cynicism and intention to take advantage of these rich white boy idiots to eventual fascination and tenuous acceptance among them is expertly mapped out.
Politically, The Weavers of Alamaxa also shines, in its smart interrogation of collective and personal freedom, democracy, and how all kinds of oppression — and liberation — are linked.
Yoke of Stars by R.B. Lemberg
The transformative powers of story are key to R.B.
Lemberg’s latest novella in their wonderfully unqiue Birdverse series. True Love and Other Impossible Odds is a tender exploration of love in the digital age.
5. From introspective reflections to uplifting tales of adversity, these 12 titles are must-reads for anyone seeking compelling LGBTQ narratives.
1.
For example, I didn’t include The Pairing by Casey McQuiston or All Fours by Miranda July (which I personally loved!) because the latter was nominated for a National Book Award and McQuiston is such a high profile queer romance author that their first book has been made into a movie, with an apparent sequel on the way. This deeply emotional novel promises to continue his tradition of capturing the beauty and complexity of queer love and longing.
Mona of the Manor
by Armistead Maupin
A continuation of the beloved Tales of the City series, Mona of the Manor brings readers back to the heart of queer life in San Francisco. Childhood sexual trauma, racism, and segregation are the real terrors here though, and Solomon skewers them expertly as they explore the complexities of memory, parenting, and sibling relationships.
From the literally and figuratively explosive prologue to the very end, A.G.A.
The plotting is as tight as ever and the world-building continues to soar, as Suri integrates intricate South Asian-inspired cultures and histories into the narrative. It Wasn’t.
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Gretchen Felker-Martin’s follow-up to her acclaimed post-apocalyptic debut, Manhunt, is just as dark and terrifying, with a completely different setting: a 1990s queer conversion camp in the Utah desert.
Got it?
The ensuing story is a delight start to finish.
The fifth installment in Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle fantasy series (may it never end), this book takes a delicious turn for the gothic.