Queer Reads for We Need Diverse Books Day

[duckprintspress]

April 3rd was We Need Diverse Books Day. We’re slightly behind, schedule-wise, but we DO need diverse books, and we figured: better late than never! We asked our rec list contributors to give us one of their favorite queer books staring a person of color, and to give us a sentence or three review for the book! Below are their answers…

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz; rec by Anonymous #1: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is the coming-of-age story that treats it’s characters with a great deal of love and respect. Dante and Ari feel entirely real, their struggles relatable and touching.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera; rec by S. J. Ralston: A Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx has a summer internship with a white feminist author in Portland. A coming-of-age story that focuses on the power of queer Black and Brown women. The narrator’s voice is strong, clear, and at times poetically beautiful.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez; rec by Shadaras: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is a gorgeous stand-alone mythic fantasy novel with lush prose that moves through perspective and tone with ease. It weaves a story about two young men—a disillusioned prince and a one-armed soldier—rescuing the Moon from where she’d been entrapped for decades by the emperor, framed by a generations-later youth learning this tale.

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu; rec by Anonymous #2: Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu follows Xie Lian, a prince turned vagrant who, after 800 years, ascends to godhood for a third time (as a god of junk and scrap collecting) and Hua Cheng, an enigmatic ghost king whose power and menace are rivalled only by his desperation to finally give Xie Lian a happy ending. It’s a nested narrative structured in a really interesting way, where each arc reveals more of what happened over the 800 years of Xie Lian’s long and troubled life while also exploring how his choices come back to haunt him in the present. The supporting cast is fascinating, the themes of how hard it is to do the right thing are especially resonant right now, and I’m still messed up about the Black Water arc.

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds; rec by Shannon: It’s the first book that really captured (for me) the feeling of nearing adulthood and realizing you can decide what kind of adult you want to be, how nuanced and flawed people are, and how difficult learning to navigate all of that can be. And I’m a sucker for queer stories in the South.

Little Mushroom by Shisi (Yi Shi Si Zhou); rec by Nina Waters: Little Mushroom by Yi Shi Si Zhou is the story of a sentient mushroom who has lost his spore and goes searching through a post-apocalyptic dystopian near future in order to get it back. It’s the story of a state-sanctioned mass murderer he meets when he reaches a human city. And yes, it’s a BL about a sentient mushroom and a state-sanctioned mass murderer falling in love. But. It’s also a cutting look at what it means to be “human”; and it’s an insightful gaze at how far we’ll go to protect ourselves, our communities, and our worlds; and it’s a tragedy about the importance of hope – and that hope is ultimately rewarded. An Zhe is just a little mushroom. And his story is so. fucking. good.

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; rec by Adrian Harley: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a wonderful genre-blender. On the fantasy side, a world-class violinist has made a deal with the devil; on the sci-fi side, an intergalactic starship captain hides her identity and runs a donut shop with her family. The book is all about the power of music, food, and love, and it’s warming and joyful without tipping over into cloying.

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland; rec by Shea Sullivan: Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland is the story of Laura, a young, queer, Black mage in the 1930s who is forced by circumstance to work for the government in a segregated group of Black mages. This group supports the future of magic, Mechomancy, which has always been powered by death: first, the death of Black people, and now, the old death of oil fuel. This story is an unflinching look at the realities of America’s roots in enslavement, genocide, and theft, and is also an incredible story of found family, the power of community, and the true responsibility of power. The worldbuilding is deft and deep, and sets the stage for a rich, layered, coming-of-age, coming-to-power story that gives no easy answers, but delivers hope in abundance.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo; rec by E. C.: I am yet again gonna recommend the works of Malinda Lo, especially Last Night at the Telegraph Club, a touching, well-researched and well-footnoted sapphic coming-of-age story. It follows a Chinese-American high schooler in 1950s San Francisco as she struggles to reconcile the (often conflicting) expectations of her family, community, and country with her own goals and desires.

Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao; rec by Linnea Peterson: Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao is a sapphic adult romance about a biracial transfemme grad student named Mira who needs new housing after leaving an abusive relationship and winds up moving in with a Chinese American butch lesbian electrician named Isabel who she meets at a club. The book explores Mira’s trauma and self-worth struggles left over from her previous relationship, Isabel’s grief and eldest daughter issues following the death of one of her sisters, and both blue-collar and academic labor rights, since Isabel is a union member who has previously salted a non-union shop, and Mira is part of the effort to unionize her fellow grad students.

Our Goodreads book list is full of way more diverse queer books we recommend, so check it out!

See something you just gotta own? Check out the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop/page to grab a copy for your shelf!

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