Soft Cryptid Books @softcryptidbooks - Tumblr Blog

HEY FRIENDS DO YOU LIKE QUEER BOOKS

We're officially setting up a Tumblr account (for cough cough other-social-media-having-problems-reasons) though you'll have seen Meredith around at @king-of-katz ♥

We're indie authors that rely heavily on word-of-mouth to get our stories out there, so reblogs and shares are always super helpful.

Check out our full list of books on our site! Here's a few:

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz Genre: Retrofuture sci-fi, romance, asexual homoromantic F/F

A mechanic with a bad case of wanderlust meets a homebound robot stuck in the past. In accepting the things they cannot change and finding the courage to change the ones they can, both of them need to understand what it means to ‘move on’. Tea, AI, and kindness. Soft and warm.

Empty Vessels by Meredith Katz Genre: Paranormal, urban fantasy, romance, M/M/M, polyamorous

A psychic young man knows he has to overcome his anxieties to protect the local monsters from something terrifying lurking in the night. Along the way, he finds romance in unlikely places, between the ghost that keeps him company and the deer-antlered man running the mysterious antique shop. Monster kissing, flirty horned boys, mindscapes, and creepy dolls.

Smoke Signals by Meredith Katz Genre: Urban fantasy, romance, M/M, dragon, billionaire

A harried CSR for a games distributor gets put in charge of the video game collection of a grumpy and self-centered billionaire who is a literal dragon. At least the dragon is cute… in an apex predator sort of way. Includes soft cats, cooking shows, and knitting! Fun and upbeat.

All books available here. Hopefully you'll find your next read! xoxo

#queer books #lgbtq books #books on tumblr #indie books #indie author #nonbinary author #fantasy fiction #romance fiction #queer fiction

stealingpotatoes

im always suuuuper chill when i see that service unavailable page

primeastrolatry

finally getting around to making a post about Angel Eye, the upcoming sequel to my queer adult fantasy novel Cursebreakers!

it's set to release June 3, 2025, and you can preorder it at Bookshop.org or IndiePubs. it's also on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

it's about a 41-year-old professor of magic with bipolar disorder dealing with a medical serial killer. the setting is a gaslampy-Greco-Roman-Venetian-Victorian mélange.

“When a healer begins murdering hospital patients, Professor Adrien Desfourneaux discovers that the threat is far closer to him than he could have imagined. Still recovering from a recent institutionalization and unable to trust his own mind or magic, Adrien is drawn into the witch hunt as suspicion falls upon those closest to him. The city’s inquisitors and witchfinders are losing control, the magicians are growing more and more resentful, and the scars from Adrien’s last brush with disaster refuse to fade. To put an end to the innocent deaths, to keep his dearest friends, and to prove himself worthy of a potential new romance, Adrien is forced to confront his own blind spots before he’s fatally ensnared by the angel of death’s machinations.”

Kirkus Reviews and Independent Book Review gave Cursebreakers starred reviews, and more than a handful of people have let me know that they want to put Adrien Desfourneaux in the microwave etc. etc., so please preorder Angel Eye!

cyarbika

when you're thinking about writing as you fall asleep, and you hear a voice say "that idea is so good you'll surely remember it in the morning," don't listen. that's the devil talking. write that shit down.

softcryptidbooks

while this is completely true, last night i wrote down "four friends with the ability to travel time due to magic butter" so like

you win some you lose some

softcryptidbooks

HEY FRIENDS DO YOU LIKE QUEER BOOKS

We're officially setting up a Tumblr account (for cough cough other-social-media-having-problems-reasons) though you'll have seen Meredith around at @king-of-katz ♥

We're indie authors that rely heavily on word-of-mouth to get our stories out there, so reblogs and shares are always super helpful.

Check out our full list of books on our site! Here's a few:

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz Genre: Retrofuture sci-fi, romance, asexual homoromantic F/F

A mechanic with a bad case of wanderlust meets a homebound robot stuck in the past. In accepting the things they cannot change and finding the courage to change the ones they can, both of them need to understand what it means to ‘move on’. Tea, AI, and kindness. Soft and warm.

Empty Vessels by Meredith Katz Genre: Paranormal, urban fantasy, romance, M/M/M, polyamorous

A psychic young man knows he has to overcome his anxieties to protect the local monsters from something terrifying lurking in the night. Along the way, he finds romance in unlikely places, between the ghost that keeps him company and the deer-antlered man running the mysterious antique shop. Monster kissing, flirty horned boys, mindscapes, and creepy dolls.

Smoke Signals by Meredith Katz Genre: Urban fantasy, romance, M/M, dragon, billionaire

A harried CSR for a games distributor gets put in charge of the video game collection of a grumpy and self-centered billionaire who is a literal dragon. At least the dragon is cute… in an apex predator sort of way. Includes soft cats, cooking shows, and knitting! Fun and upbeat.

All books available here. Hopefully you'll find your next read! xoxo

battyaboutbooksreviews

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in October 2024 🌈

🌈 Good afternoon, my bookish bats! Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Happy reading!

❓What was the last queer book you read?

[ Release dates may have changed. List below! ]

lgbtqreads

hello! i’m looking for queer taiwanese recs. any genre (notes of a crocodile by qiu miaojin got me thinking about it but i read various genres), and doesn’t necessarily have to be set in taiwan (could be taiwanese diaspora, sff in a taiwan-inspired country). thanks for your help!

You got it! (You can always find these under Taiwanese here: https://lgbtqreads.com/representation/nationality-tribal-affiliation/)

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

A Milky Way Home by Hsinju Chen

Ghost Town by Kevin Chen

Solo Dance by Li Kotomi

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu (Chinese-Japanese-Taiwanese-Vietnamese)

Ruse by Cindy Pon (second in a duology but only this one has a queer lead)

The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei

Taiwanese Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi

plaguedocboi

I hate the “open floor plan” that everyone is obsessed with in houses now. I want nooks and crannies and bizarre floor plans. I don’t need to be able to see what someone is doing on the other side of the house. I want places to hide and lurk and dwell in the shadows. I am the beast who awaits in the labyrinth

ash-and-books

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb:

High heat. Low stakes. Sharp steel. The cozy, low stakes of Legends & Lattes meets the scorching bodyguard fantasy of Jennifer L. Armentrout's From Blood and Ash in this enemies-to-lovers romance where, yes, the swords do cross.

A USA Today bestseller! An Indie Next pick A LibraryReads Hall of Fame pick A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024

Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. Sword-challenge at the ceremony could destroy all hope of restoring his family's wealth, something that Matti has been trying—and failing—to do for the past ten years.

What he can afford, unfortunately, is part-time con artist and full-time charming menace Luca Piere.

Luca, for his part, is trying to reinvent himself in a new city. All he wants to do is make some easy money and try to forget the crime he committed in his hometown. He didn't plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible—and inconveniently handsome—wool merchant like Matti.

However, neither Matti's business troubles nor Luca himself are quite what they seem. As the days count down to Matti's wedding, the two of them become entangled in the intrigue and sabotage that have brought Matti's house to the brink of ruin. And when Luca's secrets threaten to drive a blade through their growing alliance, both Matti and Luca will have to answer the question: how many lies are you prepared to strip away, when the truth could mean losing everything you want?

"There's nothing in fantasy or queer romance that Marske can't do."—Sarah Rees Brennan

Review:

When you need to hire a swordsman to fight a duel in case someone challenges you on you're wedding day the last thing you expect is to fall for him. Mattinesh Jay is the dutiful heir to a struggling house, and has tried everything to keep his family's wool business afloat... and his latest attempt is to marry another heir to a rich house, yet one of her suitors is determined to duel Matt on his wedding day and since he has zero swordsmanship skills he sets out to hire a bodyguard to fight the duel should it arise. Cue Luca, the guy who kind of conned Matt the previous night at a bar and who is on the run from his own family, yet he offers a trade: he'll fight for Matt and teach him sword fighting skills and in exchange Matt will not blackmail him. Yet the more time Matt and Luca spend together training and getting to know one another, the more the chemistry between them begins to grow... yet Luca's lies are going to catch up to him and Matt will have to choose between following his duty and marrying someone he doesn't love or following his heart and going after the man who's tumbled into his life. This was a fairly easy and fun read, it's got low stakes but a fun arc to follow and the romance was nice. It's a good time and one I'd absolutely recommend for anyone looking for a romance with low stakes.

Release Date: October 8,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Bramble for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

ghostssmoke

Omen

aroaessidhe

aro & ace books: parents or parent figures/mentors

in some of these the parent/mentor relationship is central, in some it's just one aspect!

Sailing By Orion's Star - 3 aroace MCs, one is a mentor figure to the other two (& parent figure to other kids)

A Promise Broken - MC is an aroace man who's adopted his niece

Of The Wild - MC is ace, and adoptive parent of a bunch of fey kids

Màgòdiz - one of the 6 MCs is an aroace person who's a parent/mentor to a bunch of kids

Bang Bang Bohdisattva - two MCs, one is an ace man who's a parent/mentor figure to the other

Kaikeyi - MC is an aroace woman and mother

The Thread That Binds - aroace MCs with demi/greyaro mentor figures

Fallen Thorns - aroace MC with an older aroace mentor figure

Breasts and Eggs - MC is an ace woman questioning asexuality & motherhood/donor conception

An Accident of Stars - secondary MC is aromantic and a mother

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester - MC's dad is aroace

Seeing Colour (in Everything Under The Moon) - aro MC and older aro relative/mentor figure

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

autumnsaesthetics

Cozy Queer Books 🍁

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldtree

Can't Spell Treason Without tea by Rebecca Thorne

The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill

A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Silver In The Wood by Emily Tesh

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

The Watchmaker of Filligree Street by Natasha Pulley

helenkordart

For October, I decided to challenge myself to draw as many couples from some of my favourite romances as possible, and I surprised myself by finishing 18 whole paintings! I will post them in three batches, but you can see them all on my twitter here! This is part 2 out of 3!

Here’s the books these arts from from, in order:

On a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins

The Pursuit of… by Courtney Milan

True Pretenses by Rose Lerner

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

catbrarian

a solid visual representation of me in a bookstore

depsidase

bloodlessheirbyjacques

ok half way through legends & lattes and it's such a cozy read??? just wanna curl in a cozy blanket and sip the rest like a steaming cup of bean water

bloodlessheirbyjacques

finished it last night and it was a freakin breath of fresh air as I make my way through epic fantasies. A perfect place of respite.

bloodlessheirbyjacques

if anyone has any other cozy fantasy recs hit me up

crimsonshadetress

They say Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brando Sando counts as one, and i felt it kinda like that too. Also many recommends:

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett.

Travis Baldree’s prequel to L&L, Bookshops and Bonedust.

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwarter

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

This is some I heard are nice and want to get to sometimes, but haven’t read any of it myself. Only Tress.

bloodlessheirbyjacques

Bookshops and Bonedust actually just became available on my Libby (I had it on hold for a while) so I'll absolutely dig into that asap. I'll def try to give Tress another try and I'll add the rest to my TBR!

Tho I would also recommend @/ashen-crest's books if you also want a rec, timi! (I have a physical of The Stray Spirit by them so I've been eying that for a while and will def start it soon but I've heard so much praise for it as a cost fantasy!)

ashen-crest

THE TIME HAS COME TO RECOMMEND MY FRIENDS' BOOKS

(I mean, like, yeah, I've got my own books, too)

🌿 The Stray Spirit: higher-stakes cozy fantasy about a bard with a forest spirit trapped in his lute. Regency vibes, M/F exes to lovers, forest spirit magic.

💜 A Rival Most Vial: rival potioneers must work together on a joint commission. M/M rivals to lovers, DnD NPC vibes, big emphasis on found family. (also has an audiobook!)

but, more importantly, I have friends who write cozy fantasy as well!

I'm definitely going to miss people/books in this list, but here goes, off the top of my head:

💖 Queer Historical Cozy Fantasy Romance

Breeze Spells & Bridegrooms by S.O. Callahan and Sarah Wallace (M/M Regency w/ fae; absolutely adorable)

Oak King Holly King by Sebastian Nothwell (M/M Victorian, partially set in the fae world; please note, this one is darker, but I still believe it's cozy)

(S.O. Callahan and Sarah Wallace also write their own separate series, I recommend checking out those as well! Sebastian also writes a mix of M/M and F/F, all historical.)

🌟 Contemporary Queer Cozy Fantasy

Phantom & Rook by Noah Hawthorne (an immortal and a witch meet for the second time- but the witch doesn't remember; M/M)

Kit and Basie by Tess Carletta (an immortal falls in love with the man buying his house; M/M)

Coffee Milk and Spider Silk by Coyote M Edwards (drider opens a cafe; non-romance)

⚔️ Cozy High Fantasy

Drinks & Sinkholes by S. Usher Evans - tavern worker solves problems & mysteries in her little town of Pigsend (series, non-romance)

Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault - cozy fantasy mixed with DnD questing, with focus on platonic bonds (series)

I know a lot of this leans toward M/M romance- please pile on if you have non-romance, F/F, or nonbinary recs, or just anything else you'd like to recommend!

skygemspeaks

Cosy Sci-Fi:

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

The long way to a small angry planet, first book in Wayfarer by Becky Chambers

A Psalm for the Wild-Built and its sequel A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

Cosy Fantasy:

An Adventure Brewing, first book in Beers and Beards by Jolly Jupiter

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, first book in Tomes & Tea by Rebecca Thorne

Cursed Cocktails, first book in Tales of Aedrea by SL Rowland

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (this one is more cosy adjacent I'd say but still a very good book and very healing for me, just be aware ymmv)

The Hands of the Emperor, first book in the Nine Realms by Victoria Goddard

Cosy Fantasy Graphic Novels:

The Moth Keeper by Kay O'Niell

The Tea Dragon Society, first book in the Tea Dragon Trilogy by Kay O'Niell

lgbtqreads

Do you have any book recs that are similar to "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers?

I have not found a lot of cozy sci-fi, assuming that's what you mean to be looking for! But Becky Chambers has the Wayfarers series as well, and try The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz.

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