Jayna Ostler

Happy Pride! Enjoy this book rec list of fiction books with LGBTQ+ and Black representation, written by Black authors! Goodreads and Bookshop.org links and text version of the list below the cut.

Some of these books involve some pretty heavy content, be careful to check content warnings! 

For those of you out there who feel stuck or hesitant to start writing again. 

Best of luck, 

no one:

me: here’s a flow chart of 41 lgbtq+ book recommendations, have fun!

Since it’s the beginning of Pride Month, I thought I’d share some of my favourite LGBT+ books!

I know there are a lot of lists going around like this already but a lot of the ones I’ve seen were very heavy on the “G” and not the other aspects of our wonderful initialism. So I’ve foregone some of the popular books with LGBT+ characters to shine more light on others. 

I’ve labelled my recs with what kind of queers are included and I’ve put an asterisk (*) next to the ones I’ve read :) Books are sorted alphabetically by author surname.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (wlw characters, one lesbian, one pansexual) *

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (wlw characters, one bisexual, one undecided, mlm supporting characters) *

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (wlw characters) 

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (mlm main character) *

Tithe by Holly Black (lesbian supporting character,) *

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (wlw main characters) *

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (bisexual boy main character)

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Browne (wlw characters) 

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (mlm characters, trans main character) 

Jess, Chunk and the Road Trip to Infinity by Kristen Elizabeth Clark (trans main character) 

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert (wlw characters, one bisexual, mental health themes) *

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova (wlw main character)

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (wlw characters) 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth (wlw characters)

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira (wlw characters, tw: sexual abuse) *

Ida by Alison Evans (wlw main characters, trans and nonbinary supporting characters) *

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody (asexual character) 

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman (mlm main character) *

George by Alex Gino (trans main character) *

The Flywheel (aka Get It Together, Delilah) by Erin Gough (wlw characters) 

Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall (mlm characters, one gay, one bisexual) *

The Last Beginning by Lauren James (wlw main characters) *

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (asexual wlw main character) 

Run by Kody Keplinger (wlw character) 

Ask the Passengers by AS King (wlw characters) *

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (wlw characters) *

Hold Still by Nina LaCour (wlw characters, tw: suicide)

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (wlw main characters) *

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan (wlw characters, mlm characters) *

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (mlm main characters) *

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (numerous mlm characters, at least one trans) *

The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan (mlm main characters) *

Ash by Malinda Lo (wlw characters) *

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (asexual main character, trans supporting character) *

Vanilla by Billy Merrell (numerous mlm characters, one asexual)

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller (genderfluid main character) 

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell (numerous LGBT+ characters) 

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (bisexual main character) 

Release by Patrick Ness (mlm characters) 

Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee (heteroromantic asexual main character) 

Solitaire by Alice Oseman (mlm supporting characters, one gay, one bisexual) * see also: the Heartstopper webcomic

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (bisexual girl MC, mlm main characters, one gay, one demisexual) *

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman (mlm main characters, one gay and trans, one bisexual) *

Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan (genderfluid character in books 2&3, main character is suspected pansexual) *

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (trans main character)

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (mlm characters, mental health themes) 

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (mlm characters) 

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie (wlw characters) 

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley (wlw characters) *

Queens of Geek by Jenn Wilde (wlw characters) *

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens anthology (multiple LGBT+ characters) * 

Proud: Stories, Poetry and Art on the Theme of Pride anthology (multiple LGBT+ characters) * 

Far From the Tree by Robin Benway (wlw characters) * 

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here by Erin Gough (wlw characters) *

Every Day trilogy by David Levithan (genderfluid character) *

Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman (mlm characters, mental health themes) * 

The Brilliant Death

The Lost Coast

Once and Future (co-written with her partner, Cory McCarthy).

Not sure of the specific rep in each book, but here’s what I know 100%:

Echo After Echo has wlw rep, & a wlw POC main character

The Lost Coast has wlw rep

Happy Pride~!

New designs going up on my Redbubble shop~! This year, let’s remember that queer doesn’t have an age barrier. We come in all ages, and that means queer children deserve media representation as us adults.

redbubble | ko-fi | patreon

Mobile users: all of these links will take you to my blog. Links going directly to my pages are in my header! Thank you!)

I’m a very lazy person. I know my characters well, but every time I try to fill out a proper character sheet, I either get distracted or simply never finish them.

SO!

I made this! A silly, simple character sheet in which you only have to check boxes to get to know your dear puppet character. Use to your heart’s content, and if you’re going to repost, please credit! Enjoy~

For the needs of Rising Queens, I had to create an army. Since I’m an accountant and have never served in the military nor lived sometime between 1650 and 1820… I knew nothing about how to do that, so I researched, not a lot, but enough I think to give some tips and directions to anyone planning to do the same crazy thing.

Let’s get started. Please note this is for fantasy writers, a number of elements do not apply to modern or futuristic armies. (words with a * are translated in French at the end, because I’m a little chauvinist)

1. How big is your army ?

So, if your army is a professional army, in clear if soldiers are soldiers all year long and paid for it, the size of your army is limited. Mostly because resources are not infinite, and your army depends on the rest of the population to be fed. This rule would also apply for mercenaries, as your nation must still be able to pay them.

In consequence, its size should not be more than 1% of the population. This number was true in the past, and is still true today. And 1% is the upper limit, it assumes your nation is able to collect taxes efficiently!! If it’s not, your army must be smaller, or your nation will go bankrupt.

If your army is not professional, then the problem is a little different: your soldiers are no longer working all year long. The question is how big can your army be during x time? The longer the war/conflict lasts, the smaller your army will be, as your resources are limited and you need people to tend to the land. Or you can have a big starving army, your choice (or a starving population… or both…). After some research, it happens that number is 7% of the population for a period of 90 days (which was the length of a campaign season).

2. Support

So, yes, your soldiers are soldiering, or at least a part of them is… the rest is working as support, they are the spine of your army, without them everything could crumble. Without them you don’t have supplies, or meals, or doctors, or clothes, or payslips or…

Among the various support departments in military, we will first start with one that probably was the biggest: Supplies (aka Furir*). They originally were in charge of housing and food for men and animals, but over time they came to be in charge of all supplies, including their logistics. In the French Navy, they once were in charge of payslips. Without them, you don’t have food, but you also don’t have uniforms, weapons, or munitions…

While we are here, let’s note that most armies, while away from home, survived through plunder of the land around them. Which is great if you’re not staying in the same place too long, and if your enemy does not decide to burn everything left behind. Mercenaries, who were not paid by their employer, also plundered the land of their employer as a form of revenge.

The Postal Service* is like a web, they have a presence everywhere in the military organisation (including schools, jails, navy…). Not only do they make sure the letters are sent to the right person, but they also take care of censoring the letters of the soldiers. This is a job that require discretion as you might end up in the confidence of secrets that do not concern you nor the public.

The War Commissaries* are in charge of the administration of the army, which includes: finances, human resources, audit and control, law assistance, accounting. In some cases, Furir and Postal Services are also incorporated under their supervision.

One of the support functions we probably don’t think much about are the surgeons. Doctors, especially, surgeons were a priority on a battlefield. Mostly they acted after the battle, but they also took care of the soldiers all year long in a professional army. Military hospitals were created, some of them were used as medical schools too, and not all of them were situated in a military base. I haven’t been able to find if any ancient military hospital was opened to the public, but I personally don’t see why not. Generally each company (about 100 men) had one surgeon.

I will not discuss soldier being soldier, if you want more information on this, I will leave some links at the end of this article, please refer to it.

3. Army or Not ?

Some people, depending of your organisation, of your country, may be considered part of your army, even though their role is unrelated to the protection of the country against foreign forces, such as: police, spies, customs…

It really depends on how you see your organisation as a whole, and also who pay who, or what Minister these people depend from. For example, the police might be paid directly by the city thanks to local taxes, while customs are under the supervision of the Finance Minister, and spies answer directly to the Crown. Or you can incorporate them in your army.

4. Equipment

The main question in regards to equipment is who provides what. There have been times, when each soldier was expected to procure themselves their own equipment: armor and weapons, horse, sometimes even food. You could tell a soldier's social background with just a look. 

In some cases, the obligation to procure one’s own equipment was attached to citizenship. Only citizens were required by law to serve in the army, and to be citizen you were required to have a given level of revenues.

At all times, heavier weapons (for siege, and later canons) were provided by the State or the lords.

5. Hierarchy

There are two main type of hierarchies: hierarchical (or traditional) and flat. My partner could tell you all about the advantages and disadvantages of both in details (and how mixed/new models exist), but for our purposes let’s keep it simple.

Here is a drawing of both systems:

The bigger your army is, the less likely your hierarchy will be flat, for the very simple reason that your general in chief (or king, or whatever their actual title is) cannot be everywhere at once and has to delegate their power to keep the whole system working. In fact, at some point, the higher men in the hierarchy become strategists and/or administrators. Furthermore, if the official leader of your army is indeed the king, they might still need to delegate as 1) they are running a kingdom, and might need the time for something else, 2) they are very bad at leading an army (not everybody can be Frederic II or Napoleon…).

Next thing to determine is the numbers of levels in your hierarchy. I would advise to keep it as simple as possible. As an example, in Rising Queens, my army has 7 levels of hierarchy (including the soldiers without rank). Each rank correspond to an unity (i.e. company, regiment…). I merely added some nuances to distinguish some Navy ranks: a General and an Admiral have the same rank, but the later serves in the Navy.

If you want to get an idea of what ranking system you can implement, I would suggest you hit Wikipedia, as they have the organisations of a few armies listed. Just never forget reality is always more complex than fiction.

6. Magic

If you have magic in your universe, consider how it changes war strategy and organisation.

And since someone wrote extensively on the subject, allow me to redirect you to @warsofasoiaf post, right here.

Don’t hesitate to drop me a message for questions, clarifications or comments :)

Some Useful Links

On Demography

Medieval Demography made easy (French version only, as it seems the original version is no longer online…)

Notes on Medieval Population Geography

Medieval WorldBuilding Mega-Tutorial (includes info about army, and many other details)

On Armies and fighting

@transcriptroopers is a great resource about the life of modern soldiers.

@writenavy for anything related to Navy, both ancient and modern.

@howtofightwrite advices for anything regarding fighting, in nearly any context.

Medieval Warfare

Writing a War

Vocabulary - French translations

Furir - Fourrière (du mot fourrage)

Postal service - Vaguemestre

Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.

Free music that you can KEEP on FREEGAL

It can be hard to remember how to properly address your noble or royal characters when writing a fantasy court. Here is a quick guide:

1. King/Queen:

Usually addressed as either “Your Grace” or “Your Majesty”. Consort (married to a ruler and not reigning in their own right) can be addressed the same. Sire or Madam can be used also.

2. Prince/Princess:

They are addressed as “Your Highness”. They are NEVER addressed the same as a King or Queen

3. Duke/Duchess:

These are addressed with “Your Grace”. This was a common term also used by royalty before Henry VIII got to big for his codpiece.

4. Earl (Count)/Countess:

Are almost never referred as the “Earl of Narnia” but “Lord Narnia”.

5. Lord/Lady:

An easy one. They are called “My Lord” or “My Lady”.

6. Emperor/Empress:

These may be equal to a King/Queen for status but the have a grander title. They are only addressed as “Your Imperial Highness/Majesty”

More often than not I’ll crack into a sprawling fantasy series and, while I appreciate the luscious descriptions of furniture, landscapes, and clothing, all I’m focused on is that I don’t actually know how this world works. I only know what it looks like.  

Including some functionality to your universe can add to immersion and give your reader a strong foundation on which to build their mental model of your universe. 

You certainly don’t need to use all of these questions! In fact, I recommend against that, as all of these certainly won’t make it into your final draft. I personally find that starting my worldbuilding off with 5 to 10 functional questions helps pave the way for glittery and elaborate aesthetic development later on.

How is the healthcare funded in your world?

How does healthcare functionally differ between the wealthy and the poor? (i.e. can only the wealthy go to hospitals? do poor families often have to rely on back-alley procedures?)

Where are health centers (i.e. hospitals, small clinics, etc.) organized in your cities?

Does it differ in smaller towns?

How does this affect people’s ability to get healthcare?

Is healthcare magical, and if it is, how does that affect the healthcare system? 

If healing is instantaneous, how does that affect people’s views on injury, illness, and chronic ailments?

If you have both magical and physical healthcare, which one is deemed superior and how does that affect society? 

What illnesses are common in your world? 

How does this affect daily life? 

What do the people in your world think illnesses are? 

Is it a miasma theory? 

Humor theory? 

Demons? 

Do they know about biological viruses and bacteria? 

How does this affect healthcare?

How do people get water? 

Is the water sanitary and if not, how do they sanitize it?

How does agriculture work? 

Is it large corporations or individual farms?

What sort of agricultural technology exists in your world and how does it affect food production?

Are farmers wealthy or poor?

What sort of natural resources does your world/country(ies) have and how are they obtained?

How does this affect the average wealth of the country?

How does this wealth affect the culture? 

What livestock or beasts of burden are most valued? Least valued? Why?

What is considered a luxury good vs. a regular good?

What forms of transportation does your world have?

What classes use what forms of transportation?

How far has the average citizen traveled, given your transportation limitations?

Which cities are the most accessible and which are the least? Why?

How do popular transportation methods change how cities/towns are laid out?

Does your world have public transportation? What is it?

Is there a coming-of-age aspect to travel?

Describe your world’s postal system or whatever equivalent there is. 

Who pays for it? 

How reliable is it? 

Are there emergency methods for transporting information?

How does your world keep time (i.e. watches, sundials, water clock, etc.)?

Does your world have a currency system, barter system, or something else? 

If you have multiple countries, do different currencies have different values across said countries?

How does this affect travel?

Do you have banks in your world and if so, how are they run?

Who owns the banks? Government? Wealthy? How does this affect the economy and/or class system?

How does credit operate in your universe?

Does your world operate more on big corporations or small business? Something in between?

How are workers/labourers treated in your world? 

Are there workers unions and if so, what are common views on unions? 

Describe your tax system. If you don’t have a tax system, explain why and how your world is affected by that. 

Can certain social classes not own property, certain livestock, certain businesses, etc.? Why?

How are business records kept? Are business records kept?

If your world has technology, does your world prioritize developing entertainment tech, communications tech, transportation tech or something else entirely?

What does this say about your world?

How does this affect your economy?

To the closest approximation, what type of government does your world have? 

How are rulers/presidents/nobles put in place? 

How much power does an individual ruler have? 

Is there a veto process? 

If you have multiple countries, do they have different types of rulers?

Describe any large-scale alliances (i.e. countries, factions, etc.) that are present in your world. 

How did they come about and how are they maintained? 

Are they strained or peaceful? 

How does it affect the greater politics of your world?

Describe how wars are fought both internationally and nationally. 

Do methods of war differ between countries/races? 

What about philosophies about war?

If there is a military, what is its hierarchy structure?

How does the military recruit?

Is the military looked upon favourably in your society?

What weapons are used by each country/type of people during warfare, and how does that affect war strategies?

Describe the sentencing system of your world. 

Is your accused innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent?

How are lawbreakers punished? 

If you have prisons, describe how they are organized and run, and who owns them. 

Does differing ownership change how the prisons operate?

What are the major ways in which laws between countries vary? 

Do laws between cities vary? If so, how and why?

How does citizenship work in your world? What rights and privileges do citizens have that others do not? 

Can certain classes or races not become citizens?

Are there certain taboo subjects or opinions that artist/authors/musicians are not allowed to depict (i.e. portraying the official religion in a negative light, explicit sexual material, etc.)? What does this say about your society?

How do people get around these censorship laws?

What is the official hierarchy of duty in your world? (i.e. is family the most important, or patriotism? What about clan?)

How many languages are there in your world, and how many languages share a common origin? 

How many people are multilingual? 

Which language is the most common?

How is multilingualism viewed?

How are different languages viewed? (i.e. is one language ugly/barbaric while another is romantic and sensual?)

Less danger of writing awful purple prose

Friends can survive without constantly being around each other

Friendships are really cute

It’s easier to write healthy friendships

Somebody can be friends with two people without it turning into an annoying “friendship triangle”

Positive female-female friendships are underrepresented

Female-male friendships without romantic undertones are underrepresented outside of children’s books

Most people don’t collapse into irrational heaps of strong emotions whenever they see their friends, which makes it way easier to fight off attacking ninjas

More stories about online friends would be nice

Friends don’t have to be conventionally attractive in order to sell books

If you write a selfless hero, let them get mad at people.

If you write a cold-heated villain, let them cry.

If you write a brokenhearted victim, let them smile again.

If you write a bold leader, let them seek guidance.

If you write a confident genius, let them be wrong, or get stumped once in a while.

If you write a fighter or a warrior, let them lose a battle, but let them win the war.

If you write a character who loses everything, let them find something.

If you write a reluctant hero, give them a reason to join the fight.

If you write a gentle-hearted character who never stops smiling, let that smile fade and tears fall in shadows.

If you write a no one, make them a someone.

If you write a sibling, let them fight and bicker, but know that at the end of the day they’ll always have each other’s back.