Queer Books Database

  The QB Database is a free, public, searchable database listing queer representation in books. It works similar to goodreads in that it tells you information about books; it does not provide links to free copies. Please check with your local libraries, e-reading apps, and/or the publishers to find a copy!  

[qbdatabase]

Book bans are on the rise across the US, but even if you want to go read and buy as many books with LGBT+ representation as you can get your greedy little hands on--it's hard to know what you don't know :/

The Queer Books Database lists over 3,500+ fiction and non-fiction titles in a google docs spreadsheet that lets you search by representation, or just by age, genre, year published, and more. It doesn't just track LGBT+ rep but also tags for people of color, disability, mental health, neurodivergence, fat rep, older characters, and religion!

You can use the database to search for:

multiple identities at once--find rep for a schizophrenic asexual lesbian, an autistic black boy, or a non-binary soldier with tinnitus

age appropriate books--search for children's books, junior chapter books, teen titles, and YA

non-fiction education--this includes biographies and memoirs, self-help, mental health, sexual education, LGBT+ history, legal resources, and affirming spiritual texts

trope/setting/time period--get a list of ghostly paranormals, queer fiction set in africa, gay regency romances, enemies-to-lovers, dark academia, and tons more!

Using the database, supporting my patreon, or buying me a ko-fi also really helps out the autistic transgender librarian who put this all together during the pandemic! Please share and reblog if you can~

[qbdatabase]

The Faceless Thing We Adore by Hester Steel

Lemon, poppy seed, sun-warmed sand. These visions convince Aoife to quit her job, leave her manipulative boyfriend, and escape to the isolated shores of the Farmstead commune. There, among its charismatic and hedonistic residents, Aoife finds everything she’s been missing ... but darkness underpins her airy new life as rot spreads across the island ...

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow

Luca Laine Thomas lives on a cursed island. To the outside world, Parris is an exclusive, idyllic escape accessible only to the one percent. There’s nothing idyllic about its history, though, scattered with the unsolved deaths of young women—but Luca can't ignore them. Not when the curse killed her best friend three years ago.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Conversion Therapy Dropout by Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez

Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez was an invisible architect behind evangelical Christianity's digital empire, crafting messages of belonging for some of the most influential megachurches, all while secretly questioning his own place within the faith.In a desperate attempt to "fix" himself, he turned to conversion therapy, spending eight years trying to pray the gay away.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Out of Bounds by A. J. Truman

For college jock Cliff, crushing it on the court is all that matters--until he discovers his brother's smooth-talking best friend is also on campus. Brennan's transfer to Browerton was an escape from a bad relationship. But when he offers to help Cliff with a class project, art lessons give way to sizzling sexual tension ...

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Girls Like Us by Jennifer Dugan

Ruby and Morgan fell for each other during their senior year of high school, and now, almost a year later, they're fighting to keep their spark alive. Morgan is on a track scholarship at a university several hours away, while Ruby stayed in her hometown for the automotive engineering program at a local community college.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

The Rule of Three by Sara Cate

Julian Kade hates everyone. But when a power outage traps him in a Paris elevator with sharp-tongued chef Freya Kapoor and charming street-fighter Archer Wilde, an unexpected spark ignites between them. By the end of the twelve hours that follow, they’ve shared their darkest desires … and formed a bond none of them could have expected.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

John of John by Douglas Stuart

From the Booker-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo comes a vivid, moving, and beautifully crafted novel following a young man returning to his Hebridean island home, a portrait of a close-knit community and a fraying family, of a father’s expectations and a son’s desires.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

A Quick & Easy Guide to Consent by Isabella Rotman

How do you tell someone you want to do stuff with them? How do you ask if they want to do stuff with you? How do you know what stuff you want to do with each other? Enter: Sargeant Yes Means Yes from the Consent Cavalry, a beacon of clarity in a minefield of questions.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Opting Out by Maia Kobabe; Lucky Srikumar

As Saachi starts her period and has to sit through the puberty lessons in school, she grows increasingly detached from her physical self. She doesn't want her body to change. What if she doesn't feel like a girl -- or quite like a boy, either? Couldn't she just opt out of both genders? Does that exist?

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Bat Boy by Christina Lee

With a baseball scholarship to Easton University, my life is pretty golden--except in the romance department. Until Kellan Crawford walks onto the field as the team’s newest bat boy, and just like that, I’m crushing on a guy for the first time in my life. Too bad he’s the coach’s son and officially off-limits.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

Meet Gilda. She cannot stop thinking about death. Desperate for relief from her anxious mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local church and finds herself abruptly hired to replace the deceased receptionist Grace--despite being queer and an atheist.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[qbdatabase]

Redwood and Ponytail by K. A. Holt

Kate and Tam meet, and both of their worlds tip sideways. At first, Tam figures Kate is your stereotypical cheerleader; Kate sees Tam as another tall jock. But the more they keep running into each other, the more they surprise each other. It's complicated. Except it's not.

View the full summary and rep info on Wordpress!

[transbookoftheday]

Care Of by Ivan E. Coyote

Beloved storyteller Ivan Coyote returns with their most intimate and moving book yet.

Writer and performer Ivan Coyote has spent decades on the road, telling stories around the world. For years, Ivan has kept a file of the most special communications received from readers and audience members—letters, Facebook messages, emails, soggy handwritten notes tucked under the windshield wiper of their truck after a gig. Then came Spring, 2020, and, like artists everywhere, Coyote was grounded by the pandemic, all their planned events cancelled. The energy of a live audience, a performer’s lifeblood, was suddenly gone. But with this loss came an opportunity for a different kind of connection. Those letters that had long piled up could finally begin to be answered.

Care Of combines the most powerful of these letters with Ivan’s responses, creating a body of correspondence of startling intimacy, breathtaking beauty, and heartbreaking honesty and openness. Taken together, they become an affirming and joyous reflection on many of the themes central to Coyote’s celebrated work—compassion and empathy, family fragility, non-binary and Trans identity, and the unending beauty of simply being alive, a giant love letter to the idea of human connection, and the power of truly listening to each other. 

[thisqueerlove]

Queer Books by Asian and Pacific Islander Authors 🏳‍🌈📚

Happy AAPI Month!

I didn’t have as much time to this put one together as I decided to do it pretty last minute but I hope someone will still find a book they’ll enjoy!

Read and support Asian authors and creators all year round.

Fantasy: 🏳‍🌈🔮

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman

The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang

Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li

Muneera and the Moon by Sonia Sulaiman

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Siren Queen by by Nghi Vo

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Mooncakes by Wendy Xu

Guardian: Zhen Hun by Priest

A Coffee Shop In an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee

The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Jade City by Fonda Lee

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

A Clash of Steel by C.B. Lee

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera.

Sci-Fi:🏳‍🌈👽

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The L.O.V.E Club by Lio Min

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

The Stars Change by Mary Anne Mohanraj

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon He Lee

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach

Hammajang Luck by Makena Yamamoto

In The Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Le

Horror:🏳‍🌈☠️

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tan

They Bloom At Night by Trang Thanh Tan

Chlorine by Jade Song

The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Brook Tsai

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

How We End by L.M. Juniper

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

The Devourers by Indra Das

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

The Dark Becomes Her by Judy I. Lin

Dawn’s Cozy Horror Corner by Dawn Chen

Night of the Living Queers by Shelly Page & Alex Brown

Romance:🏳‍🌈❤

Love Points to You by Alice Lin

Love In Focus by Lyla Lee

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

Love Makes Mochi by Stefany Valentine

Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen

Like Water Catching Fire by EM Lindsey

When Tara met Farah by Farah Pammi

It's Not Like It's a Secret by Misa Sugiura

The Other Man by Farhad J Dadyburjor

You've Found Oliver by Dustin Thao

When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao

All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim

Single Player by Tara Tai

Contemporary:🏳‍🌈📖

The Perfect Match by Adiba Jaigirdar

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

The Skin and It's Girl by Sarah Cypher

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

Guapa by Saleem Haddad

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee

This Feat of a Life by Holden So & Cynthia So

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

Baby Drag Queen by C.A. Tanaka

Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabrina Khan

I'll Be The One by Lyla Lee

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

Historical:🏳‍🌈📜

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lại

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

The Chosen and The Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

Where There’s Room For Us by Hayley Kiyoko

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong

The Gardens of Yes and No by Kae So Bu

The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella

[queerasfact]

Happy birthday to trans pioneer Michael Dillon!

Michael was born on 1 May in England in 1915.

While working nights at a Bristol garage during the Blitz, Michael began reading texts on medicine, and endocrinology. In 1946 he published Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology which argued that an individual should have the final say over what medical treatment they underwent to affirm their gender identity. That same decade, he himself became the first trans man to undergo a phalloplasty, and later went on to become the first white European to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

We have a podcast on Michael if you’d like to learn more about his incredible life!

[duckprintspress]

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with 22 Great Queer Reads!

May is wrapping up, and with the end of May comes the end of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. There are so so so many great books coming out by AAPI authors starring AAPI characters, and so – here’s a list of some of our favorites! All of these are either BY AAPI authors, have AAPI main characters, or – in most cases – both! The contributors to this list are: Shadaras, Tris Lawrence, Nina Waters, D.V. Morse, Terra P. Waters, theirprofoundbond, Annabeth Lynch and an anonymous contributor.

Not Your Sidekick (Sidekick Squad series) by C.B. Lee

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

“Eldest Daughter Seeks Her Wife” by N. C. Farrell from She Wears the Midnight Crown

Babel by R.F. Kuang

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie

Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love by Mira Ong Chua

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Away With the Fairies by Annabeth Lynch

Meal by Blue Delliquanti & Soleil Ho

Firebird by Sunmi

After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

Iron Widow (Iron Widow series) by Xiran Jay Zhao

The Problem with Wishes by Annabeth Lynch

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Hold Me (Cyclone series) by Courtney Milan

Sea Change by Gina Chung

Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee

See a book you can’t live without? You can buy it through our Bookshop.org affiliate shop!

You can view this list, and all our other lists, as shelves on Goodreads.