Books by Non Binary Writers – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Miss Major Speaks, by Miss Major Griffin Gracy and Toshio Meronek

My Black lady hand holds up a paperback copy of Miss Major Speaks. The cover depicts Miss Major at her most glamorous, sometime in the 1960s. The book is held up in front of a row of laundromat washing machines. Gotta get those pages in whenever you can, right?

(Buy this book here.) It’s always weird when someone tries to use demographic as an emblem, rather than a descriptor of experience. It’s reductive and robs us of genuine relationships and the understanding our own history(because like it or not, marginalized history is everyone’s history.) It makes small, unremarkable people too big in our minds,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Miss Major Speaks, by Miss Major Griffin Gracy and Toshio Meronek”

[REVIEW]The Free People’s Village, by Sim Kern

The bright orange cover of the hardback edition of The Free People's Village, depicting a punk rocker hitting a robot dog with a baseball bat, sits on a blonde wooden table on top of a booksleeve printed with 1940s Black debutantes.

[Buy this book here.] whew This is a BOOK, y’all. The year is 2020, and COVID-19 doesn’t exist. In 2000, Al Gore became president, declaring a War on Climate Change and ushering in 20 years of Democrat control. Infrastructure is totally green, and carbon taxes keep it that way. Sounds great, right? NOPE. Instead ofContinue reading “[REVIEW]The Free People’s Village, by Sim Kern”

[REVIEW] Wild Spaces, by S. L. Coney

A Black woman's hand holds the cover of Wild Spaces up in front of trees and fallen leaves. The cover depicts a boy and his dog in silhouette, walking in twilight surrounded by tentacles.

(Buy this book here.) This debut horror novella was a very nice surprise. In the double magics of pre-internet childhood and coastal South Carolina, an eleven-year old boy, his biologist father and his pretty, secretive mother have their peaceful beachfront cottage life disturbed when the boy’s grandfather shows up one day. Nothing’s quite right aboutContinue reading “[REVIEW] Wild Spaces, by S. L. Coney”

[REVIEW] Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe

The paperback book Gender Queer is held up in between two evergreen trees. A cluster of daffodil blossoms peek up over the top of the cover in the space between the trees. Big symbolism here. Photography 101 game proper

(Buy this book here.) I’m back after a bit of unexpected hiatus. It’s Pride Month, and while I read queer stories whenever I want and not just in certain months, I think now is a good time to talk about this book. (I do have a sensitivity issue/unpopular opinion about some things in these pages,Continue reading “[REVIEW] Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe”

[Review]A Quick And Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns, by Tristan Jimerson and Archie Bongiovanni

A Quick and Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns lies on a wooden kitchen table in front of a white bowl heaped with delicious egg noodles and veg.

(Buy this book here) This book is exactly what the title says it is. Archie and their cis friend Tristan put together a quick and simple graphic novel explaining what they/them pronouns are, how they’re used, and why we should use them. They take a really empathetic, gracious approach to this, with sections aimed atContinue reading “[Review]A Quick And Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns, by Tristan Jimerson and Archie Bongiovanni”

[REVIEW] Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds up a black e-reader in front of a leafy green plant inside a sunny cafe. The reader displays the black and white cover of Cemetary Boys, which shows two cartoon-style Latinx teen boys standing back to back with Santa Muerta rising above them in the background.

(Buy it on Bookshop here.) What’s in the sociocultural water inspiring all these queer YA ghost stories lately? Yadriel is a brujo, born into a powerful family of Latinx witches in East LA. The problem is, no-one believes him. Yads is also a gay trans boy and his community’s magic is gendered–therefore everyone insists he’sContinue reading “[REVIEW] Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas”

[REVIEW] Girls of Might And Magic, An Anthology by Diverse Books With Magic

PHOTO ID: Black and white e-cover of Girls of Might and Magic displayed on a black Kindle. The device is on a wooden table, resting on a strip of red volcanic rocks and another strip of grass.

(This book is only available on Amazon, and y’all know how I feel about that. Still, as an indie, it gets the rare link-to-Amazon special–find it HERE.) Does anyone remember when it was “weird” for women to read fantasy? I distinctly remember getting into an argument with a total stranger who walked up and startedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Girls of Might And Magic, An Anthology by Diverse Books With Magic”