Writing And Rambling And Musing, Oh My!

I have spent a significant portion of my life sick in bed. This means I have read... a lot of fanfiction. I do not want to run the numbers (for my own sanity) but there is a nonzero chance that I have read a greater volume of fanfiction than most of you will in a lifetime (yes, even in a tumblr crowd, where I have some real competition 😆).

For a number of years I was really embarrassed by this because for most of my life, I've fit best with the 'socially elitist nerd' set. You know - the ones who don't care if you make a little less eye contact, as long as your performance of intelligence can make them feel intelligent too. I "passed" there. So more than a decade of constant fluff and rom-com "junk" really felt like something I should be ashamed of.

But I've realized recently what fanfiction (or any free web fiction) really is. It's the author's hopes. It's the author's fears. It's all the things you wouldn't write to publish because they feel too sad, or sinful, or sacred.

Without really thinking about it, I've been drinking from the well of human desire - from fear, and love, and lust. I've been reading your precious wishes for family, or protection, or connection. I've been learning how you dream life could be.

Thank you to every writer whose work I have read or will read someday. Thank you for sharing the most precious parts of your heart, even when you didn't realize what you were doing. To every writer out there - every middle schooler with dreams, every suburban mom wishing her life could be something more. You reached out into the oblivion with the piece of yourself you probably don't even share with those closest. And somewhere in this world, a person noticed. Your dreams and hopes and wishes became a piece of me too.

Pack of Beakers

Goth Beaker

The Beaker snitching and pointing out the photographer

The Beaker that’s about to unload on the photographer

The terminator strut before the ass whooping and you know he’s moving at speed because of the blur

If you talk certain ways about certain characters, I am not going to trust your politics. That doesn't mean I think you're a Bad Person or Evil or whatever, but it means that I am going to assume that you likely have some ideological viewpoints (consciously or unconsciously) that I disagree with.

For example, I don't think anyone is Bad or Evil for liking Draco Malfoy. But when people write Draco Malfoy-friendly fics that lean on/positively portray wizarding versions of white nationalist rhetoric, I'm going to assume those people have some sympathy towards white nationalist ideas, whether they are conscious of them or not.

In the same vein, I don't think anyone is Bad or Evil for disliking a specific Black or female character. But when people talk about Black or female characters certain ways, I'm going to assume that they have some biases (conscious or not) against Black people or women.

To some degree, it doesn't matter if I'm right. I'm not calling specific people out based on perceived ideology; I'm not going out and finding people who I think are Bad or making lists. But when people talk about how they just coincidentally aren't interested in any female character, or all of their favorite characters are white male villains, or they find that Black character just a little too angry, or they think that male character's violent behavior was justified because of something someone else did to them once, I'm going to assume that that reflects their viewpoints about real people, because it's the only thing I have to go off of.

Happy Pride!

I decided to do this post for Pride to help fellow creators. Finding an audience for our creations can prove difficult, especially when we are marginalized artists that don’t fit the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) mold. We creators need to look out for each other so we find an audience.

It is hard to find new titles by queer authors of Color. We can attribute this to the attacks on such authors thanks to certain conservative parties in power and legislative threats. It’s all the more reason why we have to protect these titles and make sure they come out into the world. And we are more than happy to hear your recommendations of which titles felt cathartic for the LGBTQ communities and individuals online. 

If you are queer and scared of the present, please stay alive. We need you out there, living, feeling, and finding your true self and friends. 

2026 Releases

Buy links:

You’ll Never Forget Me by Isha Raya 

Shimmering Lake: Summer Camp Collection I by Laika Wallace 

Journey to the Heartland (Second Edition) by Xiaolong Huang

On Sundays, She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield

The Forest Bleeds by Rachel Kitch

The Perfect Match by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto

The Case of Elmwood Ranch by Deanna Grey

Milk & Mocha Comics Collection: Our Little Moments by Melanie Sie (USA release)

The Covenant We Cut by tzipporah-creates AKA WWC Mod Sci (ongoing webcomic)

Honey Bee and Lemon Balm 1 by Jil Hashikura (USA release)

Perfect Princess By Bambi Nieves, illustrated by Alison Nieves

The Most Magnificent Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Sophie Bass

I Don’t Wish You Well by Jumata Emill

Love, Gods and Sinners by Camille Chong

Lake Life by Tanya Boteju

Good Luck, Babe! by Erin Baldwin

Love Makes Mochi by Stefany Valentine

Adult Books

You’ll Never Forget Me by Isha Raya 

I’ve been trying to study noir. It’s a gritty genre where people rarely get their justice, and cruel people escape the consequences of their actions. We see a 2020s take on Hollywood noir when rising star Dimple Kampoor in a fit of rage pushes her Asian-diaspora actress rival down a flight of stairs in her own house during a party. She didn’t mean to kill Irene, but she can’t admit she’s sorry when offered a great acting role that Irene had won. The rival’s family hires private investigators, believing the fall was no accident; disgraced P.I. Saffi returns to the US to help the investigators. Despite the two women engaging in a high-stakes battle of wits, they also demonstrate a mutual attraction. Saffi promises to deliver the proof when she’s a hundred percent certain after a botched investigation five years ago, but getting to that hundred percent is the rub. Dimple will do anything to keep her acting career, no matter how many bodies ensue. 

The story establishes itself as LGBTQ noir in a racist Hollywood with double standards against women. No good person wins in this story, and we know that from the outset. It is fun to read though, and delivers on the noir promise. The “dead dove: do not eat” labels are very clear, however, and this time the dead dove has a red carpet.  

Shimmering Lake: Summer Camp Collection I by Laika Wallace

Shapeshifters, vampires and werewolves are too absurd for some families, but not for the ones featured here. A bullied child with a narcissistic mother gets bitten by what looks like an injured wolf, and the decision empowers him, while another is determined to photograph what they call a frogcruncher. Pride parades show promises of friends banding together despite a few insensitive remarks, and vampires debating the power of LED versus the sun. 

Be prepared that plenty of stories occupy these 530 pages. It’s a long time investment, but fun and going by fast. 

Journey to the Heartland by Xiaolong Huang (Second Edition, originally published in 2023)

Content warning: This story covers grooming, parental abuse, and child sexual abuse.

Oy, what a hard story. And yet a necessary one, as a boy named Hanwei endures an abusive father who beats him for crimes like not brushing his teeth. Neighbors gossip about how Gaoming Zhu brings men home and how cute they are, embarrassing Hanwei and his mother Rulan. Rulan never loses her temper, but she also refuses to accept needless blame when Gaoming rails at her. Hanwei starts emulating her as a teenager, protecting his mother from Gaoming’s abuse. Gaoming then leaves when Hanwei is seventeen; a situation that should freak them both out becomes liberation. 

A grown-up Hanwei explores his sexuality in California after a grad school program accepts him in Los Angeles. Though Rulan remains reticent, reminding Hanwei how his father hurt them all, she listens when he cites statistics of same-sex behavior and attends Pride with him. Settling in a new country brings its own woes, however; Rulan can’t speak English when she attends Hanwei’s doctoral graduation ceremony while wondering if he’s emulating his father, and immigration law along with systematic homophobia dog Hanwei’s partners. Bankers also screw up the US economy, adding only more woes. 

On Sundays, She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield (reprint; first published in 2020)

A sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut novel, about a woman who escapes into the uncanny woods of southern Georgia and must contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself.

When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own. Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, she blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer. But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline. Written by a Black lesbian author, with a Black lesbian lead.

The Forest Bleeds by Rachel Kitch (Oct 13)

A dark academia horror novel about a group of PhD scholars held hostage by a billionaire in his remote mansion in the Appalachian mountains, who must use their combined knowledge of bioengineering and occult spellcraft to save themselves. A very eerie, claustrophobic and grotesque horror thriller, great commentary against big-pharma and unethical research in biomedical research–it's just refreshing to see dark academia that is centred around STEM disciplines for once!

The horror fantasy elements are inspired by both Appalachian as well as South-East Asian folklore. It's also quite a visceral study of exploitation of racialized labor, and the marginalization of Asian-American women in academia. Saige Chambers, the protagonist, is a disabled bisexual woman of Thai descent, and her love interest is an Indian-American lesbian!

The Perfect Match by Adiba Jaigirdar

Dina is done. She's burnt out after years in corporate London and now is working in her family's struggling Bangladeshi restaurant. The last thing she expects is to be roped into coaching a football team of disadvantaged amateur players–or to say yes.

Maya is back. She could have had a brilliant career, but it all went wrong. Now she's back home, back in her childhood bedroom. Her only escape is agreeing to coach her old secondary school's team.

It doesn't take long for them to bump into each other again and for as long as anyone can remember, Dina and Maya were rivals. But will the very game that tore them apart bring them back together?

The adult debut of popular Bangladeshi-Irish YA author Adiba Jaigirdar (The Henna Wars, Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating), this is an enemies-to-lovers, angsty queer sports romance set in London, featuring Bengali bisexual and sapphic leads.

The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto

An all-new, standalone sci-fi heist thriller about a bored hacker named Malia, who is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician, only to find herself up against a code she might not be able to crack. This novel is part of a series of generally connected “lesbian heist” stories, each featuring an all-lesbian and trans cast, set in the Kepler space station–basically a futuristic Hawai'i. While I preferred the first novel in the series, Hammajang Luck, I also thought that the cyberpunk thriller plotline in this one was more interesting and impactful, using popular tropes like sentient AI systems and evil clones to criticize gentrification, unethical data surveillance and the many exploitative practices of big-tech companies. Malia is a Black lesbian, and Yamamoto is a Native Hawaiian and multiracial lesbian author.

The Case of Elmwood Ranch by Deanna Grey (Release date: July 15) 

A Black bi4bi sapphic indie romance between a legacy paranormal investigator and a loner horse rancher, set on a haunted ranch.

Octavia doesn't believe in ghosts, but she can't deny something's wrong with the land she's sunk her entire savings into.

Rae Jones is in the business of ending nightmares. She comes from a long line of paranormal investigators. One of four, she's set herself apart from the Jones sisters by making their legacy into a commercial success. After years of enjoying said success, she's hit a wall. Whether it's burnout or a full-blown existential crisis, she doesn't know. One guaranteed way to avoid a downward spiral? Take every interesting job she can get. And that includes one from a very stand-offish, non-believing rancher who thinks she's a scam artist.

I read Grey's sapphic romance Outdrawn last year; it was the sweetest story, so I'm definitely excited for this.

Speaking of BIPOC sapphic romances:

Tanya Boteju also has a Christmas romcom coming up: Setting the Stage for Christmas (Oct 13, pretty rare to find a festive lesbian romance with non-white leads), and Zakiya N. Jamal has a Black sapphic sports romance coming up: Two Can Play That Game (Nov. 17).

Graphic Novels and Webcomics

Milk & Mocha Comics Collection: Our Little Moments by Melanie Sie

The title characters aren’t explicitly labeled as queer, given they are mascots for an international messaging service LINE. Milk and Mocha live together, however, ordering food and sharing their sleeping space. They enjoy the little moments together, from playing video games together to vibing. Love doesn’t mean being happy together all the time, but it can mean putting in the work to not let little conflicts become big ones. Also, these two are so CUTE.  

The Covenant We Cut by tzipporah-creates

One of our WWC mods (Mod Sci) created this one! Content warning: This story covers mental illness and the parental abuse that results from it.

We see a queer Jewish adaptation of Tanakh (Sh'muel Aleph (Samuel I) 20:1-20:42). Caught between his lover David’s safety and his father King Shaul’s suspicion of David, Yonatan comes up with a plan to assess the danger. However, things quickly go awry at the New Moon banquet when his father finds out. You can tell how much Yonatan and David love each other and what Yonatan will risk to prevent losing him. The coloring adds to the tension while the two meet in secret. 

The webcomic comes in two languages: an English translation from Everett Fox (more text) and the original Biblical Hebrew (less text).

Children’s Picture Books

Perfect Princess by Bambi Nieves, illustrated by Alison Nieves

I knew this story would be good when Princess Amina winces when giving knights hi-fives but being too polite to offer constructive feedback. Her childhood friend Keiran opposes how Amina has come out of the closet, expressing it with a spell that sends her far from home. Amina has to find her way back without her cosmetics, sword, or silverware. A blue rabbit agrees, joining her and a tiny dragon on the long walk home. Amina has to accept her lack of perfection when not having silverware for a snack or a sword to handle enchanted townspeople. Likewise, Keiran has to accept that his friend has become her real self and watch what his magic does. 

The Most Magnificent Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Sophie Bass

This book is more LGBTQ+ coded than LGBTQ, but it does the job with internal validation and positive affirmations. Plus, if you have a toddler with doting parents, they will love hearing how magnificent they are; I can verify this courtesy of a video call with some younger family members. Babies have big egos, and they need to sustain them as they grow older. 

Manga

Honey Bee & Lemon Balm 1 by Jil Hashikura

I was on the fence about this manga because the situation seems contrived at first: a yakuza in a nighttime district gets a job at a flower shop following a stint in prison -- where he took the fall for some superiors -- and getting booted from his old gang. Kaoru Mitsuya tries to be tough but starts falling for the owner, 

The manga went from standard romance to great writing when we meet Yuichiro’s siblings -- and one very clearly defies gender roles. You can see a family that cares about each other but doesn’t know how to communicate their concerns, with Yuichiro working 24/7 and refusing to take care of his health and his siblings forcing him to rest.  

Young Adult Literature

I Don’t Wish You Well by Jumata Emill 

True crime can hit or miss for me; in this case, the hit comes from a fair-play mystery. College student and amateur podcaster Pryce gets a lead on a seemingly closed case. Five football players were murdered, ostensibly by a gay classmate they drugged and assaulted. One witness, however, has stated for years that the ostensible serial killer had an alibi. Pryce thinks he can expand on the story after recording the witness’s story, especially when finding out other witnesses are still alive.

Love, Gods and Sinners by Camille Chong

Harper and Tia are roommates, and interns at the same tech company. They clash, they fight, they flirt. And, under cover of night, the two of them adopt secret identities and head out on missions across the city for their respective magical clans. Tia is the beautiful descendant of the Moon Goddess, and Harper is secretly Raven, the leader-in-waiting of the feared and villainous Foxes. When each is tasked by their clan to kill the other, a deceitful game of cat-and-mouse begins. And Harper and Tia will start to understand that the concepts of right and wrong can be just as complicated–and dangerous–as falling in love.

Set in an alternate futuristic world, where descendants of ancient magical clans don secret identities and battle on the streets of Singapore, this debut novel, the first in a planned duology, is a glittering, action-packed urban fantasy, with an enemies-to-lovers romance at its heart. Singaporean author, Asian lesbian and bisexual leads.

Lake Life by Tanya Boteju

A charming sapphic summer romance with environmental activism themes, about two teens who agree to fake-date when stuck together in a quirky, scenic lake town. Written by a Sri Lankan-Canadian author, and featuring an interracial sapphic romance.

Good Luck, Babe! by Erin Baldwin

Reality TV enthusiasts Noelle and Yumi spent a decade attached at the hip—until one ill-fated night (and one awkward kiss) ended their friendship. After a year of no contact, fate throws the girls back together when they’re offered a last-minute spot on their favorite race-around-the-world reality show.

It’s a chance to put their superfan status to the test, a dream come true. Except for a few snags: it’s an all-couples season, filming starts in two days, and Noelle hasn’t spoken to her “girlfriend” in a year. But she already has plans to use the prize money on her ailing father’s medical expenses, and she would do anything for him—including fake dating her ex-bestie on national television. This sapphic YA romcom is written by a Filipino-American author, and features Filipino sapphic leads. 

Love Makes Mochi by Stefany Valentine

A cute sapphic YA romance between a goth fashion designer and a tattoo artist. Written by a Taiwanese-American author, featuring Asian-American and Japanese lesbian leads.

Lilyn Jeong is living her best life—in Tokyo! She gets to learn from the legendary yet notoriously terrifying tailor Mrs. Matsumoto. Getting a glowing recommendation from her could be Lilyn’s ticket into her dream fashion school.

So when the latter is tasked with designing an entire collection, panic sets in. She has only weeks to figure out how to mix her goth aesthetic with traditional Japanese style. Thankfully, Mrs. Matsumoto’s rebellious, tattooed, rainbow-haired daughter Yua offers to help. But going on cozy dates with this cute girl is way easier than sewing yukatas. Can Lilyn find a path forward in fashion and love? Or will she watch as everything falls apart at the seams?

Keep reading to see our recommended 2025 releases!

I don't check my ao3 stats much anymore, but today, for some reason, I did and saw that a fic I wrote in three hours and posted almost entirely unedited has almost twice as many kudos as a fic that took me five whole months to write, writing every day for 2-3 hours.

Twice as many for literally 1% of the effort.

Hits/Kudos/Comments tell you how timely your work is, how it hits on exactly what someone was looking for in that moment, and how easily consumable it is. If you're writing longer fics, or it has plot that isn't just a ship, engagement is going to be like pulling teeth. Even people who have every intention to read it may keep pushing it lower on the TBR for easier stuff; even people who love your writing may never have the spoons to support you in that way.

You are the only person who can truly judge the quality of your work. The tastes of others will only be a reflection of their own state of mind and opinions. You know how long it took, you know how far you've come. YOU KNOW the type of writer you have grown into.

Writing for me is tremendously organic. I put two characters in a room and see how they circle one another, where their curiosities take them, and a LOT of what I write gets cut, because it all doesn't belong in the story, but it's always relatively unpredictable, no matter how well I know my characters.

People's reactions to things are unpredictable. People's behaviors in situations are even more so. I've gotten to parts of my story where the character's just like, no. Nope no. And I have to find a more organic way to get the same result that the plot requires.

So, for those of you who have mastered the planning piece of the chaos that is writing (and I have seen outlines that have details like, they talk about this, and they react like this, in this way, which BLOW MY MIND), how do you do it? Does it ever feel like you're forcing your will on the characters? Do they ever fight back?