Merry meet!

Partake in the chaos that is my dash.

[demgozellegs]

Amor Matris

[kvothes]

a good thread

[elumish]

I agree with all of this. But! I think it is also important to recognize that there are subgenres where it is significantly harder to find certain things, and it's actively unhelpful to readers to pretend that you can just find whatever type of book you want to read if you just know how to look for it, especially if you are sticking to trad publishing.

It is possible to find both sapphic SFF and M/M fantasy. It is significantly harder to find, say, aro urban fantasy. Or trans romantic suspense. Or intersex mystery.

A lot of the advice above only really works for trad published or popular books and for identities/subgenres/content that aren't too niche.

So here's some advice if the advice above isn't working for you (either because you can't find books with what you want or because the books you are finding don't end up being the vibe you want), from someone who reads a few hundred books a year:

Find websites or lists dedicated to the specific thing you are looking for. They will generally have more variety and will post you to examples that don't show up in regular rec lists. (ex: aro book recs, ace book recs, intersex #ownvoices database, sapphic books). Goodreads lists can (sometimes) also be your friend.

Get comfortable reading self-published and small press books. Trad publishing has its blind spots.

Check Reddit for recommendations

Start figuring out what it is specifically that you like and then start making your searches more specific. This can be subgenre (if you want urban fantasy, you're rarely going to find it just searching "fantasy"), tropes, plot devices, vibes, etc.

Look at the "readers also bought" on Goodreads/Amazon, similar books on Storygraph, etc. if you read a book you like. Even if you don't end up reading the one you click on, it can show you similar authors (similar to looking at the blurb on a cover), especially because far fewer books have blurbs now.

Check out the Literature Map for similar authors.

[nipple-brains]

Another fantastic resource is @queerliblib !!

They have lists on Libby with very specific topics and will answer questions on Tumblr about recs for people after very niche stuff and almost always have a starting point for someone!

[netherworldpost]

"does it have to be queer"

yes, next question, unless the next question is "why", in which case I am pulling the lever

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Could it be more queer?

[netherworldpost]

(To my personal assistant) Increase the sea salted wolverine’s budget

[fluorescentbrains]

seeing straight men be disgusted by booktok smut recommenders has actually radicalized me to the side of booktok smut recommenders. girls your taste may be atrocious but i will never disparage you for exposing mainstream discourse to the concept of soaking through your underwear. spent my whole life listening to men talk about penises it’s about time they get jumpscared by women talking about pussy in crude detail on social media. go forth and goon my warriors

[insomniac-arrest]

I work at a bookstore and hearing one of my male coworkers call smutty romantasy "the downfall of society" because it's "literally just porn" radicalized me

Men have an entire industry. Entire industries dedicated to their sexualities. Let women have fantasy sex. there's not even a camera crew involved.

[furiousfurious]

Left this in the notes

[insomniac-arrest]

😂

[goodattellinglies]

[brightlotusmoon]

[prismatic-bell]

My feelings on the badly-written werewolf porn or whatever are best summed up by a paraphrase of Voltaire:

"I disagree utterly with what you say read, and I will defend to the death your right to say read it."

[fartyrobbins]

Uh i sure hope there's not

[cassiesart]

He's just doing his job

[tony-stark-ing]

It’s Time Traveler Tony! You can only reblog him once a year!

[pangur-and-grim]

I hope the neighbours don’t mind him watching

[pangur-and-grim]

my neighbour had a friend over, and the friend started shouting "LOOK! LOOK! THAT CAT IS CLIMBING THE FENCE! OVER THERE!" and my neighbour was just like "yeah....... it does that."

[hexmaniacmareen]

Who couldve seen this coming

[cannibalcaprine]

i feel like we don't appreciate these days how much the twin towers sucked, like, design-wise

they were contemporarily hated for just being these giant grey monoliths

like there probably could've been an easier way to get rid of them, but they probably needed to go either way

[tgirl-subway-the-dark-ages]

crying at this. the curb is brutalist. the sidewalk is brutalist. house made of concrete bricks is brutalist. lmao??

[cue-jay]

[dogposts]

work distractions

[gayhockeyshow]

Hey…. Hey… Characters covered in blood, okay? You remember characters covered in blood?? You used to love characters covered in blood

[eroscestlavie]

We rly need to bring back the term “acquaintance” like into regular and frequent use. So many high drama community squabbles and feelings of betrayal could be avoided if people just admitted there’s a step between “stranger” and a full on friend whose friendship you have a commitment to continuing and fostering. Like sometimes you’re just aquatinted with someone and you might decide you don’t like them after getting to know them a bit better…that’s very normal

[prideling]

I keep thinking about the fact that Eridians seem so much stronger and sturdier than humans, so what humans-are-space-orcs thing could Grace even do that would freak Rocky out... and then I remembered humans are persistence predators.

So picture some years in the future when the xenonite suits are so safe that Grace's class can now take field trips into his biodome. Rocky's there because this is a big moment for everyone involved and also he just loves listening to Grace in his element. One of the more mischievous kids tries to sneak off from the group and there are plenty of chaperones but Grace is the first to notice.

His posture changes, goes focused but loose in a way Rocky's never seen before as he peels of from the crowd. Rocky just stands there, stunned, as he watches his sweet, gangly, goofy, clumsy blob of a friend turn into a hunter. Grace circles around the pebble, slightly crouched, head turned and honed in, arms loose to the sides, and maybe the little one notices and does that nervously excited giggle-squeal thing kids do when they're being chased and tries to get away, but Grace expertly corrals them. He doesn't even have to run for it, he just pens the kid in, lunges-

And takes the little pebble by the claw to lead them safely back to their peers. And just like that he's Grace again, smiling and joking and tripping over his improvised shoelaces. Rocky hasn't been scared of Grace since first contact. Have you seen the guy? ... but for a second there his instincts were telling him to run.

[kabber]

something i really liked about project hail mary is that Rocky and Grace are both equally out of their depth and about as competent as the other. theyre both the smart one. theyre both total dumbasses. neither knows whats going on. they both think the other is an idiot baby. they both admire the other's intelligence so much.

[lunalovesangst]

I've read a lot of fics and posts about Rocky imitating some of Grace's body language or phrases, but I haven't seen nearly ENOUGH about Grace being the one to copy Rocky.

Grace tapping or stomping twice to signal a question.

Grace doing the jazz hands.

Grace doing that thing when Rocky is counting that he uses his fingers (even if Grace isn't actually counting with them, he picks up the gesture)

Give me Grace being a weirdo and walking on all fours like Rocky. Rocky thinks it's hilarious how slow he is like that.

Give me Grace subconsciously copying random noises Rocky makes (not the words, but his equivalents to "ooohhh"s and "ahhhh"s and "hmmmm"s) because if there's something I've noticed about humans, it's that if we spend long enough with someone, we start mimicking each other. Hell, even with animals it happens! You've ever noticed that cat owners have entire meow-ing conversations with their cats? With dogs it happens too. Or that when parrots do their bobbing dances, a lot of us start copying that? And their chirping too. I like that a lot. I'd like to see Grace doing that.

[revlynn-rabosa]

It's always "hail Mary, full of Grace" and never "Eva, the first woman, whose sins cast humanity away from Eden (but humanity found it's place out there)".

Anyway, Eva Stratt, you did everything correctly, you made the wrong choice, humanity is alive because of your determination, the most woman ever. They coul never make me pin your morals down as 'good' or 'bad'.

[verenakauer]

This moment is so dear to me I want to cry. First of, Grace is so gentle with him? Something something kindness literally saves the world (two worlds, in this case). Also, you just KNOW that Grace is that teacher in whose classroom the kids go to cry when they feel like the whole world has turned against them.

But secondly, "I'm a science human"! Because yeah. None of them is the other's weird alien dog. None of them is the "smart one" (or rather, they both are). They can't do this without each other. They complement each other. They need each other to succeed, there's no other way. That's the whole point! Cooperation! Connection! Working together!

Hope core at its finest.

I love them, your honor.