Enigmatic Simplicity

Just a potato most days.

[andrew-garfielld]

Daenerys Targaryen (Daemon's vision) in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S02E08 | "The Queen Who Ever Was"

[cxpture-it-remember-it]

I’m heartbroken😢

[bloodyoceanmary]

TOLKIEN WEEK | Comfort

↳So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil… And that is an encouraging thought.

[greatcateblanchett]

Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár TÁR (2022) directed by Todd Field

[daenerys-targaryen]

Winona Ryder: *exists* the Stranger Things cast: ♥‿♥

[wylanvnneck]

one last stop by casey mcquiston

she can’t believe jane had the nerve, the audacity, to become the one thing august can’t resist: a mystery.

[buildinggsr]

Sara’s poker face.

[immortalspacelesbian]

the hashtag oh my god

[bob-belcher]

IMAGINE ME & YOU (2005) dir. Ol Parker

[jortoise]

EVERY YEAR Casey McQuiston will write a silly little book and for the first 50 pages I’ll be like “oh I am going to be normal about this” and then I’ll stay up til 4 am on a school night reading the rest of it in on sitting. I even have the audacity to be surprised each time

[rivenonpluto]

there’s nothing quite like the silence that follows after finishing a book.

[marthajefferson]

JURASSIC PARK REUNION Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum for Vanity Fair

[itberice]

[coolcurrybooks-deactivated20230]

All of these books are queer, but they all have back blurbs that don’t say they’re queer. While this can be a pain if I’m scouting for queer SFF, it can come in handy for people in a situation where they don’t want to be reading queer books openly. 

Please do note that I don’t have hard copies of the books on hand so it’s possible that an author quote or something mentions one being queer (I feel like this isn’t super likely, but I don’t want to rule it out). Some might also have author biographies mentioning that the author is queer. Also, some may be shelved as LGBT on Goodreads or categorized as queer on Amazon. So if you’re planning on asking for any of these as holiday gifts, I would suggest going to the Amazon page or where ever your relative is likely to buy it from and double check that it’s something you’d be comfortable with sharing openly. 

I wish I had more pansexual books, but the ones I know of tend to mention queerness in the back description. 

With the exception of The Spy with the Red Balloon, these are all books I have read or are currently reading. If you want to recommend others, feel free to do so in the replies!

You can find my other queer book recommendations here.

Links to the queer books database (or Goodreads if the book hasn’t been added yet) are available below the cut. You can find information on content warnings there.

Keep reading

[snaoisean]

!!!!!! hmmOHmYGOD!!!!!

[aceass1n]

Just gonna…hold onto this

For when I have time to read

[cakegatedisaster]

I go to the library with my grandpa every week and every week I look for queer stories. But I can’t get so many of them because then my grandpa will notice and ask me about them, so thank you so much

[do-what-the-knight-tells-you]

I’d like to tack onto the end of here the

Magic’s Pawn/Magic’s Promise/Magic’s Price trilogy by Mercedes lackey, which is about magical horse companions and valor and wizards and general fantasy themes and tropes… and has a gay protagonist. It is somewhat of its time (it’s actually a little ahead of its time, I would argue) so there is definitely more than his share of tragedy that befalls the protagonist (some serious Content Warnings For this one actually, I’m happy to say more or I’m sure you can find them on Goodreads etc), But this is actually not that atypical of protagonists in the Valdemar series, and I think it proceeds and ends quite well. (Though I may be biased as it’s one of the first and only fantasy books with a queer protagonist that I had available to me as a teen/young adult)

I don’t think the covers suggest anything, and none of the back blurbs indicate that the protagonist is queer either.

Also I’d like to recommend the Night runner series by Lynn flewelling.

There are actually seven books and a short story collection, and the seventh book and the short story collection start to look a lot more visibly queer, the short story collection is literally the like spicy stuff that got cut out of the novels so that they were a lower rating basically….

But certainly the books don’t necessarily give away that the main characters are queer, except the short story collection. The back blurbs of the ones I have to hand will reference both protagonists, but will not indicate that they are together (And indeed they are not until the second book).

This is a sprawling swords and horses type fantasy series where the main characters professions are primarily as nightrunners, slipping into places they’re not supposed to be to steal objects or secrets or save the country, you know. Normal stuff. This is one odd series where I think the stakes actually sort of get lower as the series goes on? And the books become a lot more about just hanging out with the characters and enjoying them. But the first two books in particular have Nice pretty tight plots and good character development. 👌👌

[again, as with OP’s stuff, wherever you list the books you might want to be careful and make sure that they aren’t classed as LGBT on Amazon or in your local bookstore or whatev. But otherwise, they should pass as just swords and horses fantasy novels, and a little older looking and I think less likely to be assumed to be “progressive”.]

[vbartilucci]

Preach, LeVar.

[mum-hen]

Asexual Book Recs

In honor of Ace Week, I wanted to share my favorite asexual characters in books! This is a bit of a repost from last year, but there are a lot of new additions to this list. Even now, it’s still pretty rate for books to have confirmed ace-spectrum characters, but it’s always a delight when I do find them. It’s so amazing to have representation, and a lot of these books helped me figure out my own sexuality. For all my fellow asexuals and other ace-spectrum folks, I hope you enjoy this list!

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. This was the first book I ever read that had some sort of asexual representation. One of the main characters, Aled, is homoromantic demisexual. Throughout the book, he slowly comes to terms with his demisexuality and his feelings for his friend Daniel. At the time I was reading this, I thought I might be demisexual, so having this representation was really important to me.

Loveless by Alice Oseman. This is probably one of my favorite books! It’s another one by Alice Oseman, who is aro-ace just like the main character Georgia. Georgia is a college freshman who has never been in love or had a crush, but desperately wants a fanfic-level romance. Just for the hell of it, she joins the Pride Society at her university and is sort of mentored by the society president, who is gay-ace. Eventually she comes to terms with her sexuality and realizes that platonic love can be just as wonderful and all-encompassing as romantic and sexual love. I feel like with ace representation in books, not many of them actually focus on the actual coming out/realization phase. Not that there’s a problem with that (your sexuality doesn’t define you), but it is nice to have that token coming out story like so many other parts of the LGBTQ+ community have. This book was incredibly important to me, and actually helped me realize that I’m aro-ace! 

Vicious and Vengeful by Victoria Schwab. Romance is a minimal part of these books, and it turns out that it’s because the main character, Victor Vale, is asexual. When mentioning a girl he knew in college, he says something along the lines of wanting her attention, and even her love, but not her sex. So definitely asexual, probably heteroromantic or biromantic. These are two of my favorite books of all time, just because of how amazing the plot and the characters are, and knowing that Victor is ace just makes me love them even more.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray. Another one of my favorite books of all time! Abel, one of the main characters, is on the ace spectrum. In the first book, he alludes to being somewhere on the ace spectrum. He falls in love with the other main character, Noemi, but since he is a robot his programming only allows him to experience sexual desire after his feelings are reciprocated. In the third book, he is confirmed to be demi-panromantic.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. I read this over the summer and it blew me away! I could write a novel about how amazing this book is, but that’s for another post. It’s about a girl during the Ming Dynasty who disguises herself as her dead brother in order to fulfil his destiny of becoming great. The main character, Zhu Chongba, is genderqueer and asexual. I appreciated that even though she’s very clearly asexual, she still has a loving, sexual relationship with her girlfriend Ma. They’re really great about setting boundaries and communicating their different needs with each other. This book gave me a lot of asexual feels and Gender Thoughts ™, so definitely give it a read!

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. This is a bit of a controversial one, since Kaz Brekker’s sexuality is kind of up for debate. His PTSD and trauma give him a strong aversion to touch, and he’s sex repulsed in most cases. However, there are specific instances where he’s able to feel sexual attraction (see: Inej and Imogen). Therefore, I view Kaz as demisexual, but I think he’s definately somewhere on the grey-ace spectrum. 

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The two main characters, Aziraphale and Crowley, do not have any confirmed sexual or gender identity, and Neil Gaiman has said it’s completely open to interpretation. I, personally, interpreted them as asexual, and a lot of the ace community has claimed them as well. We love our asexual ineffable husbands! 

Dread Nation and Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland. I read this last year and really enjoyed it! In the beginning of the story, I was definitely getting queer vibes from one of the main characters, Katherine, and she turned out to be ace! I have not read the sequel, so I don’t know how much it’s talked about there, but it’s still nice to have that rep. The point of view character for the book, Jane, is also bisexual.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I read this at the beginning of quarantine and immediately fell in love with it. It is a pretty big book, so just make sure you’re fully committed before you decide to read this one! The author has confirmed not one, but two of the main characters to be on the ace spectrum: Tane and Loth. Tane is asexual, and she says that Loth is probably greysexual, but she isn’t 100% sure yet. This book in general is just full of queer characters and was a delight to read, so if you’re looking for queer fantasy characters I would totally recommend it.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. I have not read this book yet, but it’s on my TBR. I started it after reading Priory, but I was too busy to finish it. The main character, Paige, is confirmed to be demisexual, and I think the author said this would be explored more in the following books. Another character, Jaxon, is also asexual.

While I was making this list, I realized that a lot of my favorite books coincidentally have characters on the ace spectrum. Looking back, I can’t believe it took me so long to realize I was ace. I think that’s why it’s so important to have ace rep in books - so people can educate themselves about this and potentially come to terms with their own sexuality.

To all my fellow ace-spectrum folks out there: you are not broken. You are allowed to be proud of who you are. You deserve loving relationships, no matter the forms those relationships may take. Happy ace week to all, and to all a good night!

[beif0ngs]