The Lavender Showcase is a blog dedicated to reblogging stories written by LGBT writers. The current goal of this blog is to create an archive of sorts and to act as a space for people to find LGBT authors. In the future, I hope to host events and build a directory through this blog.
If you would like to have your work reblogged, please read through these guidelines and the FAQ! It’s super simple to get reblogged so please make sure you’re following the guidelines correctly. The guidelines are there for readers to find your works.
I will not be publishing works on behalf of anyone. I am only reblogging already published stories.
If you’re looking for something specific to read, you can check out the tags page! And while you’re here, don’t forget to show writers some love! Reblog their works, send them a nice ask, give them a follow!
If you are a queer writer and would like to be part of our simple directory, you can look at that here. If you would like to check out the current directory, it is on this page.
Check out Call for Submissions to see if there are any current events or projects coming up that you can participate in.
We are also hosting a new online book club for lgbt reads! You can find information under Lavender Book Club.
It's Pride! And it's summer! So if you're looking for a reading challenge this year, look no further than Queer Summer Bingo!
This year, I'm actually really excited because we have a Grand Prize! If you get a bingo, you get put in a drawing for a $25(USD) gift card to Bookshop.org (if you live outside the US/UK and you win, we can work something else out!)
All submissions must be entered before September 1st (EST) in this Google Form. If you cannot access the Google Form for whatever reason, please DM me!
Here are the rules if you are submitting for the prize:
Get any Bingo in any direction
One book counts for only one square (i.e. if you read a classic novel by a lesbian author, you cannot mark both the lesbian square and the classic square. You must choose one.)
One card is good for one entry only. If you get bingo three different ways, your name is only placed in the drawing once.
Free Space means you can read a queer book of your choosing
All books you read must be queer
Only books finished between June 1st-August 31st may count
This is based on an honor system and your own interpretation of what these categories mean. You do not have to provide titles of the books that you read (though, if you'd like to share, I would love to see it!)
If you have any questions, please DM this blog or send in an ask. I am more than happy to talk about the challenge or recommend any queer books to anyone who needs a suggestions!
If you are interested in recommending books to our book club or would like to answer a couple of questions of what you like it read, fill out this form!
We have book announcements for April-June for Lavender Book Club!
April 19: Loveless by Alice Oseman
May 17: The Deep by River Solomon
June 21: D'Vaugn & Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
The Lavender Book Club is a casual, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
Join us in June with D'Vaughn & Kris Plan a Wedding!
D’Vaughn and Kris have six weeks to plan their dream wedding.
Their whole relationship is fake.
Instant I Do could be Kris Zavala’s big break. She’s right on the cusp of really making it as an influencer, so a stint on reality TV is the perfect chance to elevate her brand. And $100,000 wouldn’t hurt, either.
D’Vaughn Miller is just trying to break out of her shell. She’s sort of neglected to come out to her mom for years, so a big splashy fake wedding is just the excuse she needs.
All they have to do is convince their friends and family they’re getting married in six weeks. If anyone guesses they’re not for real, they’re out. Selling their chemistry on camera is surprisingly easy, and it’s still there when no one else is watching, which is an unexpected bonus. Winning this competition is going to be a piece of wedding cake.
But each week of the competition brings new challenges, and soon the prize money’s not the only thing at stake. A reality show isn’t the best place to create a solid foundation, and their fake wedding might just derail their relationship before it even starts.
We have book announcements for April-June for Lavender Book Club!
April 19: Loveless by Alice Oseman
May 17: The Deep by River Solomon
June 21: D'Vaugn & Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
The Lavender Book Club is a casual, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
Updating the list of my favorite butches in (mostly) fantasy
I really liked this list from CL Clark of recent SFF with butches and I think it's worth a look. I remember this was some of my hesitation, years ago, about writing sapphic - the first wave of it in mainstream SFF felt like a lot of unthreatening femme4femme, which of course is an important part of the ecosystem, but it felt like that was all that publishers were letting through, and I just didn't have any of those stories in me.
I once tried to list recent SFF butches unprepared on a panel, and after Gideon, The Unspoken Name and The Unbroken I just... ran out (there are others, some of that's on me).
Things are different now! I got zero pushback or pressure to make either En or Tamol femme! But not so different that a list isn't useful.
We have book announcements for April-June for Lavender Book Club!
April 19: Loveless by Alice Oseman
May 17: The Deep by River Solomon
June 21: D'Vaugn & Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
The Lavender Book Club is a casual, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
February's suggested read is Maurice by E.M. Forster. Our February meeting will be February 15th.
Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and Cambridge, and into his father's firm. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in almost every way―except that he is homosexual.
Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately after Howards End, and not published until 1971, Maurice was ahead of its time in its theme and in its affirmation that love between men can be happy. "Happiness," Forster wrote, "is its keynote.…In Maurice I tried to create a character who was completely unlike myself or what I supposed myself to be: someone handsome, healthy, bodily attractive, mentally torpid, not a bad businessman and rather a snob. Into this mixture I dropped an ingredient that puzzles him, wakes him up, torments him and finally saves him."
March's suggested read is Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell. Our March meeting will be March 15th.
Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by impolite monster hunters, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.
Badly hurt by the hunters, Shesheshen’s nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human. Homily is kind and would make a great co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young can devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, Shesheshen realizes that eating her girlfriend isn’t an option.
Just as Shesheshen’s about to confess her identity, Homily reveals something else: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?
Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, so now she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As Shesheshen’s hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, the bigger challenge remains: learning how to build a life with, rather than in, the woman she loves.
The Lavender Book Club is a chill, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
January's Suggest Read: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
January's suggest read for book club is Young Mungo. Our next meeting will be January 18th. Join us next month to discuss this book or any other queer book you've been reading!
A national bestseller, acclaimed as one of the best books of the year by NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Time, and Amazon, and named a Top 10 Book of the Year by the Washington Post, Young Mungo is a brilliantly constructed and deeply moving story of queer love and working-class families by the Booker Prize–winning author of Shuggie Bain.
Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars—Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic—and they should be sworn enemies. Yet against all odds, they fall in love as they find sanctuary and dream of escape in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. But when Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a remote loch with two strange men, he will need all his strength and courage to find his way back to a place where he and James might still have a future.
The Lavender Book Club is a chill, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
Note: I promise I will be so much better at running this blog and book club in 2026! I just finished grad school, and I have determined to spend more time around here!
October's Suggest Read: Her Body and Other Parties
Our next meeting will be October 19th!
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
The Lavender Book Club is a chill, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
If you're looking for a LGBT reading challenge for the summer, look no further! Text-version of bingo chart below.
These are a combo of prompts of books to read and just new reading habits you can try like reading before bed, outside, etc. From now until August 31st, work through this bingo sheet and see what kind of queer books you can read!
How do I participate? Simply download this image (or track your reading however you prefer) and start reading queer books based on the prompts in the boxes. You can do it on your own, with friends, or send in progress to the blog or our discord (you can find the invite link on our book club posts or ask for in a DM or ask!)
How do I win? Just like any bingo card, you need 5 across, down, or diagonal! If you want a shout-out, you can send your finished card in to me, and I'll put it on the blog!
What do I win? I had initially wanted to have some prizes life a e-gift card to bookshop.org or a partner with a queer artist or two to provide discount codes to an online store. Maybe in the future, I can offer something like that when I have more time and money to spare on a small gift card! This summer, your prize is just reading more queer books!
Free space. You can use this space as either a true free space (you don't have to read anything for it and just mark the spot as soon as you download the card) or as a chance to read a book that doesn't fit in with any other prompts. Or you can even use it as a spot to make your own prompt!
Can one book count for multiple spots? It's up to you! Make this challenge as realistic as possible for yourself. Some of us read slow! Some of us can read a book in a day. Do what you can. It's a challenge for yourself.
Do audiobooks count? Yes. Of course. I even made a special spot for it.
What if I can't find a good book to read or don't know what will fit the prompt? You can come to me! I can recommend queer books for this challenge or direct you to lists of books online. My DMs and inbox are open. You can even mark it down as a spot on the card!
What if I don't get bingo before the end of August? You can keep going! Or you can be done! You can do whatever you want forever. You're always more than welcome to continue to working on this year-round and send in updates to me! What am I going to say? "Oh you're reading books in the wrong season." No!
I'm not queer. Can I still participate? Yes! If you're cishet and want to read more queer books, you're welcome to join us! Everyone is welcome here.
If you have any questions or just wanna chat about books, you can DM or send in an ask to this blog! If you want to post your progress on your own blog, you can @ me, too. The discord will also be open for any convo!
Have a good time reading!
Full list of bingo prompts under cut:
Column one from top down:
A Classic, Adult Fiction, Horror, Recommendation from @lavendershowcase, Young Adult, Fantasy
Column two from top down:
Set in a city you've never visited, Author from your home state, Historical-Fiction, Indie, Read on lunch break, Read outside,
Column three from top down:
A book you've left unfinished, Juvenile Fiction, Has been adapted into a movie, Free Space, Science-Fiction, Short Story
Column four from top down:
Banned book, Read before bed, Graphic Novel, Set before you were born, Non-fiction, Neurodivergent Main Character
Column Five from top down:
Romance, Trans Main Character, Check it out from the library, Picture book, Listen to an audiobook, BIPOC Main Character
The og card is 6x5 instead of 5x5, so there's no way to get a diagonal bingo. I didn't look at the card close enough before I uploaded it, and that's my bad. I've learned my lesson to proof-read better before uploading stuff to this blog. But hey, year one of doing this. And it's free.
You can still work on the og card if you want a funky card, but if you want a 5x5 card, I made one this morning. I deleted the bottom row and swapped out some spaces above that.
Full list of bingo prompts under the cut:
Column one from top down:
A Classic, Adult Fiction, Nero-divergent MC, Rec from The Lavender Showcase, Young Adult
Column two from top down:
Set in a city you’ve never visited, Author from your home state, Historical-Fiction, Indie, Fantasy
Column three from top down:
A book you’ve left unfinished, Juvenile Fiction, Free Space, Has been adapted into a movie, Short Story
Column four from top down:
Banned book, Read before bed, Graphic Novel, Set before you were born, Non-fiction
Column Five from top down:
BIPOC MC, Trans Main Character, Check it out from the library, Picture book, Listen to an audiobook
@ anyone posting/reblogging/liking the video of Lil Nas X's mental health crisis: Delete the post, please keep your speculations about him absuing drugs to yourself, do not interact with any media outlet that's sensationalizing/humiliating a young queer black man at a very difficult time in his life.
Please leave encouraging comments on his social media instead. Lil Nas X has an instagram and as far as i'm aware he MIGHT still have a twt acct.
Let's address that he was forced to the ground by police officers. He's apparently still in police custody currently (when I first posted this, he was) He'll be out eventually, hopefully very soon in the near future
Call out the LA police for their unnecessary and harsh methods.
Please folks, let's remember to give him the privacy and respect that he deserves, just like every other human being does. Nas deserves to heal and recover, try to show your support for him <3
[EDIT] I fixed some MAJOR grammar issues and a few typos, I posted this at 1am yesterday :p
Consider donating to charities such as:
The Trevor Project: A charity focused on suicide prevention efforts for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning(LGBTQ) youth.
http://thetrevorproject.org/
The Black mental health alliance
The Okra Project:
Due to a multitude of circumstances — not living near a grocery store with a large selection, not living in a space with adequate kitchen facilities, or not being paid enough to afford top-notch ingredients — transgender and nonbinary people (especially those of color) often lack the resources to cook fresh, healthy meals.
The Okra Project bridges the gap by sending Black transgender chefs to houses to provide professionally-prepared meals to Black transgender folks experiencing food insecurity
"National Park Service removed several references to transgender people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument[...]
Journalist Erin Reed reported earlier this week that multiple references to bisexuality had been deleted from the home page and “history and culture” section for the monument, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City that marked a pivotal point in the movement for LGBTQ rights."(Source)
Learn about transgender and bisexual people from queer history.
U.S. dismantles USAID memorial honoring Bangladeshi LGBTQ rights activist
Read about his story.
Most book ban requests are coming from organizations & officials. They’re targeting LGBTQ+ authors.
Read banned queer books.
Queer history is being erased in front of our eyes. Resistance can look different for everyone, but right now learning, reading, and preserving queer history is vital. It isn't light work. It can be emotionally challenging, practically difficult, and it almost always recquires community engagement.
What you don't protect can be taken. What you don't value will be lost.
Learn queer history. Help share queer history. Resist however you can.
It's International Non-Binary People's Day! There are so many more enby books than what I've gathered here, but this should definitely be a good start.
September's Suggested Read: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Our next meeting will be Sunday, September 21st. Join us to talk about our suggested reading or any other queer fiction you've been reading!
In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality.
David is a young American expatriate who has just proposed marriage to his girlfriend, Hella. While she is away on a trip, David meets a bartender named Giovanni to whom he is drawn in spite of himself. Soon the two are spending the night in Giovanni’s curtainless room, which he keeps dark to protect their privacy. But Hella’s return to Paris brings the affair to a crisis, one that rapidly spirals into tragedy.
David struggles for self-knowledge during one long, dark night—“the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life.” With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a deeply moving story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
The Lavender Book Club is a chill, queer, online book club run through text chat on Discord and through this blog. If you’re interested in joining the server, the link is here*. Follow this blog for updates on the club and our other activities!
*If you have a problem with the link, DM or send in an ask for a new invite!
The Lavender Showcase @lavendershowcase - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
