Maybe Some New Reads for the New Year

The Best Queer Books of 2024, According to All the Lists

Here are the queer books mentioned on the most Best Books of 2024 lists, from graphic novels to literary fiction, romance, fantasy, and more.

Danika Ellis Dec 31, 2024

During the “Best Books of the Year” season, I’ve been going through and picking out which queer books get featured on the biggest lists. My plan was to mash all this information together into a Frankensteined spreadsheet and then share with you the queer books included on the most “best of” lists. Luckily, I was saved a step, because LitHub already made an Ultimate Best Books of 2024 List that includes best-of lists from 39 outlets. I just went through that and pulled out the queer books.

I am limited to the books I recognize, so please let me know if I missed any! As far as I could tell, though, here are the nine queer books mentioned on the most Best Books of 2024 lists, from horror graphic novels to literary fiction to historical sports romance to poetry, biography, fantasy, and more.

If you’ve been paying attention to the best of lists at all, I bet you can guess which titles are tied at #1. Regardless, this makes for a great reading list if you want to catch up on the best queer books that came out in 2024 that you may have missed!

#5 (Tied), Mentioned on Five Lists

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book 2 by Emil Ferris

We finally have the sequel to this celebrated graphic novel, and it was worth the wait. Intricately etched with full, exciting pages and a bold story, it picks up where the last left off: Karen, a young monster, is investigating her neighbor’s murder in the Uptown apartment where she’s grown up. But the secrets she’s discovered aren’t the ones she was looking for, and in this book, she’ll have to fight hard to avoid coming apart at the seams. This bold coming-of-age tale about queerness, difference, family, and the city of Chicago is impactful, emotional, and bold, and I was both overjoyed and very sad to see the story of Karen Reyes come to its conclusion. —Leah Rachel von Essen

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

This award-winning book follows siblings Greta and Valdin as they contend with an eccentric, multiracial family, queerness, and just trying to figure it all out. Valdin is doing superficially well after having been dumped by his boyfriend a year ago—his colleagues are only occasionally weird about his Maaori heritage, and he has intermittent sad sex with a friend—when work sends him from New Zealand to Argentina, where his ex is. Meanwhile, Greta has her own bubbling sadness. She’s experiencing unrequited pining, and her family is in a state made even more perplexing by her brother’s sudden, secretive move to South America. —Erica Ezeifedi

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

In this M/M historical baseball romance, Mark is a reporter in the 1960s who’s stuck interviewing the obnoxious New York shortstop for his whole first season. Eddie is having a tough enough time on the team, so he’s also reluctant, but neither of them is exactly given a choice. Mark is still mourning the death of his partner, the one no one knew about. He’s vowed never to have a secret relationship again—but now Mark and Eddie are falling for each other…

#4, Mentioned on Six Lists

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

If you’re looking for a dry, birth-to-death, “here’s an accounting of the events of this person’s life” biography, this book is not for you. If you’re looking for a biographical poem, a multilayered close read of Audre Lorde’s poetry, a book that centers her relationships, an exploration of the ongoing legacy of her liberation work, an ode to complexity and nuance—then you’re going to want to run to this astounding, prismatic work of nonfiction. —Laura Sackton

#3 (Tied), Mentioned on Seven Lists

Bluff: Poems by Danez Smith

Danez Smith is a must-read poet who has been recommended in countless Book Riot lists. This is their newest, and I’ll let the publisher’s description summarize it: “Bluff is a kind of manifesto about artistic resilience, even when time and will can seem fleeting, when the places we most love—those given and made—are burning. In this soaring collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage, and imagination to envision futures that seem possible.”

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Like a lot of fantasy lovers, I’ve read my fair share of King Arthur-related novels. So many of them take themselves very seriously, portraying these majestic and austere knights as the fierce protectors of the land. But Grossman’s version of Camelot is different. It’s funny, delightfully ridiculous in so many ways. Like his take on magical schools in the magicians, The Bright Sword pokes fun at stories of Arthurian legend as much as it also celebrates it. But we, the readers, are in on the joke, understanding that this story is in conversation with the many previous tales of King Arthur and his knights.

If you’re looking for a humorous yet simultaneously heartfelt, funny, and queer-inclusive story from the world of Camelot, The Bright Sword may be the pick for you. —Kendra Winchester

#2, Mentioned on 11 Lists

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

Alan Hollinghurst is the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty, The Swimming-Pool Library, and many other acclaimed novels. Our Evenings is about Dave, a mixed-race queer child who receives a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school and experiences the opportunities and cruelties of this turn of fate. We follow him from the 1960s through his coming of age, including first love affairs, a career on stage, and a late-in-life marriage.

#1 (Tied), Mentioned on 21 Lists

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

It’s always nice when one of the biggest literary fiction titles of the year is queer. This is a bestseller that comes highly recommended by authors like Tommy Orange, Lauren Groff, John Green, Clint Smith, and more. It follows Cyrus, a twentysomething queer poet who has been numbing his pain with drugs and alcohol. His mother was killed when her plane was shot down over Tehran in a senseless act of violence by the U.S. military. His father recently died of a heart attack. As he becomes sober, Cyrus goes looking for meaning, and he finds it by researching martyrs. When he hears about an artist dying of cancer in an exhibition at a museum, he is determined to meet her.

All Fours by Miranda July

In The New York Times Notable list, they categorize this literary fiction title with a bisexual main character as “Sexy Perimenopause Fiction” and recommend it for fans of Big Swiss by Jen Beagin. The top 10 list describes it as “the talk of every group text — at least every group text composed of women over 40” and “the first great perimenopause novel.”

California bans schools from forcing teachers to ‘out’ LGBTQ students

https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2024/12/30/california-bans-schools-from-forcing-teachers-to-out-lgbtq-students

This is good news and shows why so many are moving into California and out of places like Florida. Students should feel free from fear while learning. They also should feel free to be their authentic self in a supportive atmosphere. School is a time to learn about the world, other people, subjects, and about one’s self. And not all kids have safe supportive homes. Hugs.

———————————————————————————————————–

Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

/

CalMatters

Supporters of transgender rights gathered at the Capitol during a press conference on March 17, 2022.

Amid a flurry of recent school board policies aimed at the rights of transgender students, California passed a new law in July that prevents schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student identifies as LGBTQ.

The new law, AB 1955, came in response to a handful of school boards adopting policies that require teachers and other school staff to notify parents if a student identifies as a gender other than what’s on their school records.

“Teachers can still talk to their parents,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Monday in which he touted a new plan to improve career opportunities for adults. “What they can’t do is fire a teacher for not being a snitch. I don’t think teachers should be gender police.”

LGBTQ advocates said that “forced outing” policies, such as those adopted in Chino, Temecula and a dozen other districts, infringe on students’ privacy and could potentially harm students whose parents disapprove of their identity.

The state sued to stop Chino’s policy, and most districts either scrapped their policies, tweaked the language or put them on hold.

This act “could not be more timely or necessary, and LGBTQ+ students across California can breathe a sigh of relief,” Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, wrote. “LGBTQ+ youth can now have these important family conversations when they are ready and in ways that strengthen the relationship between parent and child, not as a result of extremist politicians intruding into the parent-child relationship.”

‘The battle continues’

Opponents of the new law said that parental notification policies actually strengthen ties between students and parents, and schools should not withhold information on such important matters. Even though a parental notification measure that would have applied to all schools failed to qualify for the ballot, opponents vowed to keep fighting.

“This (law) doesn’t clarify anything. And nothing prevents individual teachers from bringing the issue up with parents,” said Roseville school board member Jonathan Zachreson, an organizer of the failed ballot measure and whose district was among those that passed parental notification policies. “So the battle continues.”

The new law also requires the state Department of Education to update its LGBTQ resources and encourage school districts to offer counseling, support groups, clubs, anti-bullying policies and other measures to support LGBTQ students and their families. Schools would have to pay for those services with their existing funding.

“I don’t think teachers should be gender police.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom

LGBTQ young people are particularly vulnerable on school campuses. In a recent survey of 18,000 LGBTQ young people nationwide, nearly half said they had been bullied in the past year, and 10% said they had attempted suicide. Those whose schools supported LGBTQ rights were less likely to suffer from mental health challenges.

Even if the new law sparks a backlash in more conservative areas of the state, California was right to move forward with it, especially as some states push ahead with their own parental notification policies, said USC education professor Morgan Polikoff.

“Will everyone like this law? Certainly not. Will it lead to conflict? There is no doubt,” Polikoff said. “But I am hopeful this will be good for the queer kids in California’s schools and will point the way toward similar efforts in other states.”

CalMatters’ Adam Echelman contributed to this story.

https://twitter.com/TimesofSanDiego/status/1871295918814658661

Women Doing Good Things

Nice Time: MacKenzie Scott Pissing Off Elon Musk With The Billions For The DEIs And Abortions by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Making right-wing chuds real mad is icing on the cake! Read on Substack

Billionaires are mostly despicable Montgomery-Burns type people. But then there’s MacKenzie Scott, one of the few ultra-rich who doesn’t deserve to get tarred and feathered in the coming revolution! She’s the third-wealthiest woman in the United States, 38th in the world, and has now given away $19.25 billion (with a B!) in 2,524 charitable gifts, with a focus on racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, democracy, and climate change.

She and her small team seek out nonprofits operating in communities facing high food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital. And then she gives away the money with no strings attached. Which is unusual in philanthropy! Also unusual, she’s pretty quiet about it. She has a web site that shows what she has donated to, but there’s no MacKenzie Scott ribbon cuttings, or buildings with her name on them when she drops a check. She donates, then she dips. And she plans to “keep at it until the safe is empty.”

Scott’s given to community centers, the ACLU, historically Black colleges and universities, food banks, Planned Parenthood, YMCAs, dance theaters, Native American groups, legal aid centers, to paying off medical debt, legal funds for transgender people. It is truly an inspiring list!

You may be wondering how she got there! Then-MacKenzie Tuttle went to Princeton and studied under Toni Morrison, then got a job working at the hedge fund D. E. Shaw. Where, in 1993, she met Jeff Bezos, a 30-year-old with thinning hair. But she liked his laugh, and he liked that she was resourceful. “The number-one criterion was that I wanted a woman who could get me out of a Third World prison,” he once said.

And even though she was just 23, MacKenzie was that kind of can-do woman! They married, and there would be no Amazon without her. They moved to Seattle, where she helped Jeff get the company off the ground from their garage. She wrote Amazon’s business plan, did the company’s accounting and toted its early orders to the UPS Store in their minivan, while also raising their four kids, and writing novels. She won an American Book Award for her first one, The Testing of Luther Albright, which she wrote in the bathroom for 10 years in between everything else she was doing.

All seemed happy in the Bezos marriage for 25 years, until 2019, when the National Enquirer tracked Jeff and his (also married) ladyfriend Lauren Sánchez “across five states and 40,000 miles, tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and ‘quality time’ in hidden love nests.” They even somehow got his personal texts and shirtless bathroom photos, which seems potentially not legal. And then, according to Jeff, AMI content officer Dylan Howard tried to blackmail and extort him. (You may remember that creep from the Trump trial, as the broker of catching and killing tales of Trump’s affairs, or from catch/killing stories about Harvey Weinstein.)

And Jeff refused to play ball with the Enquirer. The story came out, and MacKenzie and Jeff announced their separation, as did Sánchez and her husband, Patrick Whitesell. And MacKenzie got 400 million Amazon shares in the divorce, which she has been selling and donating to charities ever since. But don’t worry, she’s still got about $32 billion left to make do with!

Anyway, now Bezos and Sánchez are reportedly getting married this weekend in Aspen. Mazel tov! Bezos been living flashy, with a $500 million yacht, buoyant fiancee, and apparently imposing his Trump-sympathies onto his newspaper.

And MacKenzie’s been living more quietly! She changed her last name to Scott, and married one of her children’s teachers (though they have since divorced). Otherwise, she’s been laying low, though she’s been known to sometimes gal-pal around with Melinda French Gates, Bill’s ex, who has pledged $1 billion over the next two years to US nonprofits working in women’s health. I’ll bet those two have a lot of fun!

All of this lady-giving mightily pisses off Elon Musk, who has a charitable foundation with zero employees, that for three years has failed to distribute even the 5 percent minimum required to be eligible for a tax deduction, putting him potentially in hot water with the IRS, OOPS.

Musk bitched in March that “super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse” could contribute to the decline of Western civilization, and more recently Xitted that Scott’s contributions were “concerning.” Which rather just draws more attention to those ladies’ good works, in contrast to what a shit person Elon is, unable to donate a wooden nickel unless it might benefit himself, somehow, and fucking over his exes in whatever way possible.

We call this “divorced dad energy” and he is rich in it for sure.

After his snotty comment, MacKenzie Scott gave away another $600 million, the end.

[Yield Giving/ Wired/ Vogue/ Medium/ New York Times archive link]

The Pure Hypocrisy of Anti-Trans Christian Nationalists

This is an incredibly informative post on how to understand and deal with Christian apologetics anti-trans disinformation and lies. I started following this young person when he first left his church and faith doing videos on how the anti-science he was taught all his life in his church schools was incorrect and wrong. Now he exposes how Frank Turek got his breasts reduced in the Navy because it did not look male enough to him … yet he doesn’t feel that had anything to do with gender. The hypocrisy hits you hard in the face, but Frank can not see it, because he is paid not to. The video also talks about the Littman study and the Cass report in a small section. The video also talks a small amount on how the right / religious people frame their talking points to get sympathy for their views by pretending to save the innocent victims. If there is any doubt I support trans people 100% let that end. Trans rights are human rights. Trans women are simply women, trans men are men. I look forward to the day we don’t need to use the word trans, just as I do the day when we can call same sex marriage just marriage. As I think it was Spock in Star Trek who said a difference that makes no difference is no difference. Hugs

Some grand thoughts from Rev. Ed Trevors. I really wish I could think / reason as he does. Hugs

More cult of tRump maga hate, bigotry, and stupid. They specialize in it.

Oregon Officials Get “Brown Round-Up” Letters [VIDEO]

Texas Bill Would Make State Immune From Federal Laws

Trump Threatens Multiple Countries In Nasty Xmas Post

Trump Is Closely Monitoring Inauguration Donations

Toyota To Donate $1M To Trump Inauguration Fund

Trump Inauguration Fund Likely To Top $150 Million

WaPo Snarks: How To Have A Very “Trumpy Christmas”

Trump To Charge $100,000 To Pray With Him At Event

Tuberville: Xmas Is Back Thanks To Glorious Leader

Cultists Want To Shut Down Fake News Watchdog

Florida AG Passes The Buck On Prosecuting Matt Gaetz

Trump’s HUD Pick Opposes All Anti-Poverty Programs

FL May Again Reject Federal Funding For Hungry Kids

Felon-Elect: I’ll “Vigorously Pursue” Federal Executions

Florida GOP Chair: Matt Gaetz Still Has Future In Politics

I Learned A Thing Last Night

I’ve always wondered if somebody gave such performances, but had never heard of them before I read this. It makes my equality-driven heart happy.

The First Reality Competition Series for Drag Kings Is Officially Seeking Audition Tapes

Comedian and drag king Murray Hill will host King of Drag, the first-of-its-kind series.

By Mathew Rodriguez December 17, 2024

Finally, some news that’s not a drag.

Somebody Somewhere actor and veteran comedian Murray Hill is set to host a drag king reality competition series, The King of Drag, which will air on the LGBTQ+ streaming service Revry this spring, Variety reports. Tucked into Variety’s announcement was the application to be on the show, for which the deadline is January 5.

The King of Drag bills itself as the first drag king competition series. Kings looking to earn a spot on the show’s inaugural cast will have to submit a wealth of material, all of which is outlined on the audition site. Potential cast must submit five photos of their top drag looks, videos of themselves in and out of drag, and a reel of previous drag performances. Finally, auditioning kings are asked to submit a resume of their performance work in drag and film themselves lip-syncing to a song or medley that shows off their “drag essence.”

King of Drag, according to the audition site, “will expansively represent drag while promoting inclusion, authentic self-expression, and diverse gender identities including trans masc, cisgender women, non-binary and more.”

Aside from the audition materials, kings who want to compete on the series must also answer a slate of questions that probe deeper into their drag personae, personal views, and craft, including whether they design their own costumes, how comfortable they would feel being open about themselves on national television, who they count among their entertainer inspirations, and — very practically — how long it takes them to get in drag.

Series host Hill just wrapped up his work on Somebody Somewhere, the acclaimed — and extremely queer — HBO series about friends as family. The six-episode series is looking to cast eight kings.

“I’m so excited to be working with Revry as the host of ‘King of Drag,’” Hill told Variety.” “I started performing in 1995, so it’s long overdue for the kings to take center stage. This vibrant community deserves to be in the spotlight, and I’ll be their biggest hype man.”

According to a press release from Revry, the show will incorporate challenges that are unlike other drag competition shows, including an emphasis on comedy, unconventional performances, and “timely commentary on masculinity. “

Drag kings have long fought for the same kind of cultural recognition that their queen counterparts enjoy; in today’s media landscape that does include time on a reality competition series. While the behemoth of the format — RuPaul’s Drag Race and its spin-offs — has started to incorporate a more diverse set of queens, including trans queens and cis female queens such as Victoria Scone and Maddy Morphosis, the show has always emphasized a feminine drag aesthetic. Other shows, such as The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula have welcomed drag kings, with Landon Cider triumphing in the show’s third season.

How To Make Your Yuletide Extremely Gay, For Jesus by Evan Hurst

It’s the reason for the season! Read on Substack

Snippet (this is so very good, and a bit long, with videos, etc. embedded as well. I know it has blue language; also, it skews Christian, but there’s a point-not proselytization, but Representation-it’s encouragement for all to be who we are):

Flamy Grant, Spencer LaJoye and Crys Matthews, three of the artists on the Make The Yuletide Gay tour. (Courtesy Flamy Grant’s Insta)

Is the world still burning down? Is President Elon Musk shutting down the government, and are his pets Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson completely powerless to stop it?

Is this happening?

Oh dear God.

Who wants to take a well-deserved break from talking about all that shit because Christmas is in five days and fuck it?

Let’s shift gears.

In the wee few months since the inception of this right here Moral High Ground newsletter, we’ve talked about lots of things that fall within the site’s description, about white conservative right-wing Christian fascist men, the Phyllis Schlafly clones who support them, and the extremely weird fears, feelings, emotions and autoerotic Braveheart fantasies that make them The Way That They Are.

Obviously we’ve talked a lot in these weekly Friday newsletters about the election and its horrifying aftermath.

But there’s another element here that I said I wanted to be present in this newsletter from the very first post, no matter if it’s just a little Substack or if it somehow grows into a great big media network.

I said this place is called “The Moral High Ground” because the bigoted, misogynistic assholes standing in the way of everything that’s good and holy are 100 percent certain they are the sole possessors of that high ground. I said that’s a toxic tumor of an idea that is unfortunately still given a shameful amount of weight in our society. You see this any time a corporate media source feels the need to host a hate-mongering bigot from a right-wing Christian group, to give “both sides” of whether LGBTQ+ kids should be allowed to live with dignity, or whether people should be forced to submit their bodies to the state for regular uterus inspections.

And I said that toxic tumor of an idea unfortunately still survives within far too many of us who have personally been abused by the conservative Christian church, or who are still currently enduring its abuse. It can be subconscious, like a vicious disease you think is gone, but then it rears its ugly head when something triggers it, telling LGBTQ people they’re not good enough, that maybe they really are going to hell, telling closeted LGBTQ kids in homeschooling households in East Cowfucker, Kansas, that they will never be able to get out, that Jesus really couldn’t ever love them.

And I said fuck that shit.

I said this isn’t a support group, and it isn’t a Christian website, but it’s a safe place for literally whoever you are, and I want the negation of the toxic messages I was just talking about to be loud and clear, front and center at The Moral High Ground at all fucking times.

And I want to showcase and bring together other people who are doing that work in their own brilliant ways.

So let’s talk about Christmas, Christian music, Christian drag queens, lesbians, non-binary people, and just generally ridiculously brilliant Christian and Christian-adjacent artists who, number one, EXIST — that’s right, LGBTQ kids living in right-wing Christian hell, they EXIST! — and who are out there this holiday season making the yuletide extremely totally fuckin’ gay.

I’m talking about Flamy Grant, Crys Matthews, Jennifer Knapp, Spencer LaJoye and Heather Mae, who have been out on tour this month that’s literally called Make The Yuletide Gay. I got to see them — well, three of them — last Friday night in Memphis, and it was so good, y’all.

If you read Wonkette AKA my day job where I am the managing editor, you may have heard of Flamy Grant. I posted the video above in 2022 in a piece about how a gay wedding was happening at Amy Grant’s house, and how it was pissing off pigfucks like Franklin Graham, AKA the ickiest byproduct of Billy Graham’s participation in the human reproductive process.

I mentioned in my post that my own personal first concert was in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1991, Amy Grant, on the Heart In Motion tour, front row, Baby Baby! (My church youth group really had the hookup on that one, I guess.)

Then in 2023, Flamy Grant started taking over the Gospel and Christian charts, for the best, funniest reason. You see, this dildo-witted MAGA preacher named Sean Feucht was birthing entire full-grown cows because Grant — a Christian drag queen for whom listening to Amy Grant was also quite formative — had collaborated with Derek Webb, who had huge success in the Christian music world back in the day with a band called Caedmon’s Call. (Webb, you might deduce, is also in a bit of a different place these days.)

This was obviously a sign of The Last Days to excitable types like Sean Feucht. Also that loud flamboyant Greg Locke creep. He’s real exercised about Flamy Grant.

So God, being the way God is, thought it’d be funny to use that moment to make sure Grant’s song with Webb and the album it came from went straight to the top of the charts. The Gospel and Christian charts.

AND WHY SHOULDN’T THEY HAVE?

(snip-go read it!)

Something to Read (Book Suggestion)

I put the bit about the book I thought could be of interest beneath. I’ve already read the other Bennet sister book, but my queue is itch for me to add “Sorcery and Small Magics”. The other books are enticing, as well.

Holiday Romance, the Bennet Sisters, & More

Sorcery and Small Magics

Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy is $2.99! I just recommend this one to someone in Smart Bitches After Dark. If you didn’t know, I’m offering up personalized recommendations to subscribers and this one is a slightly cozy, queer, fantasy historical with rivals who are now magically connected after a curse goes wrong.

Desperate to undo the curse binding them to each other, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.

Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them. <snip>