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Rainbow Reading: Lifting Queers, Listen Up! New Sapphic Romance Set in a Gym Is Coming

A book in faded colors of the rainbow is open, and the words RAINBOW READING are on top of it.
illustration by A. Andrews

Hey hello, friends!

After the romance read-a-thon, my fiction brain has been really fried, so I’ve retreated back into the loving arms of my nonfiction TBR — so much weird, wonderful, genre-hybridizing nature writing (prepare to be sick of me this June when queer Black birder Christian Cooper releases his awesome memoir Better Living Through Birding), so many profound and expansive essay collections, and the like! Particularly with the grim news coming out of my home state of Tennessee, I’ve found particular courage in the work of folks documenting the vibrancy of queer life in the South: Real Queer America, Diary of a Misfit, the anthology Y’all Means All, and in particular Neema Avashia’s memoir from last year, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place have all been highlights.

This week also marks the run of this year’s AWP conference in Seattle. I won’t be there, but so many other friendly Autostraddle faces will be, and there is a truly delicious lineup of events both during the conference and off-site to celebrate rad queer literature. I hope you’re all having an amazing time! This evening, the Rumpus will be running a sapphic literature event featuring OUR VERY OWN KAYLA, plus Kristen Arnett, Allegra Hyde, and Ariel Delgado Dixon — gonna be a dreamy time!! (Hi, Kayla here! I also wanted to plug the event I’m helping co-host on Friday! It’s going to be a combination reading, short film screening, and DANCE PARTY at the Seattle Film Forum. More deets here, it’s free, and masks required! Okay, back to Yashwina!)

Okiedokie, let’s make like boots and scoot. This week on Rainbow Reading, we’ve got:


Shelf Care: Reviews, Essays, and other Things of Note

More GAY-WP fun for y’all!

Your Driver Is Waitingis a rip-roaring story of family — blood and chosen — fighting to survive under capitalism, and saying fuck you to anyone who choose their own comfort and safety over the comfort and safety of others.” – Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya onYour Driver Is Waiting

Autocorrect: Books content from the last couple weeks at Autostraddle!

Another rad couple weeks on the books beat – we’ve got:

Plus, A+ members can enjoy the book club conversation with M. Crane about I Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself here!


Someone pleeeeeeeeease help make this anthology a reality, I burn, I pine, I perish—

That’s all she wrote, folks! If you’re a queer writer, particularly an early-career queer writer: I’d love to hear about the cool things you’re up to so that I can share links to your published essays, book reviews, short stories, poems, and longform features on LGBTQ+ topics! Please email me links for consideration at [email protected] with the subject line “Rainbow Reading Submission” — I’m an avid browser-tab-collector, and I especially want to hear from you if you’ve just landed your first publication or first major byline.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Yashwina

Yashwina Canter is a reader, writer, and dyke putting down roots in Portland, Oregon. You can find her online at @yashwinacanter.

Yashwina has written 53 articles for us.

3 Comments

  1. I’d forgotten about the new Cat Sebastian – thanks for the reminder!

    And I have a book to hype that combines goblin-core with cozy fantasy! Which is very niche, but if this niche appeals to you, I think you’ll enjoy it.

    Shipwrecked: Being a tale of true love, magic, and goats by Juniper Butterworth.

    Here’s my review from StoryGraph and Goodreads

    4.5 stars – B+/A-
    Goblin-core meets cozy fantasy! The Sapphic fantasy romance between two goblins (a pirate and a principle goatherd) that I didn’t know I needed. The world building and character development is compelling. Also deeply weird. And with more emotional depth than I was expecting from a low-stakes fantasy novella about goblins falling in love.

    It’s also a little sexier than I was expecting from the cover and blurb – there’s some goblin sex (involving their tusks and tails) and a surprise threesome with a magical sea creature (with tentacles).

    It’s an indie author and it looks like it’s only available on Amazon. And maybe digital only. I also noticed some typos.

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