From Horrible Histories TV writer, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch The unputdownable first novel in a new series for fans of Freya Marske, Genevieve Cogman, Good Omens, and Our Flag Means Death A queer historical fantasy romcom adventure set in an alternate world, peppered with real events and fun characters from our history, as well as imagining a […]
Fynest Reads: To Cage a God
To Cage a God combines two things that fascinate me: Russian history and mythology. The book’s backdrop of a brewing people’s revolt against a magically gifted upper class evokes some parallels to the real-world tensions surrounding the decline of the Russian empire and the House of Romanov. However, the story also explores themes around the […]
Touch-Me-Not: Ian Humphreys
Touch-Me-Not Ian Humphreys this flower doesn’t belong on the canal hiding in an airless tunnel where no-one goes before dark rooted to a thin layer of dirt head bowed butter bloom an open mouth that faint smell of sherbet when someone passes it brushes a thigh springs back against the wall careful just one […]
He Who Drowned the World: Shelley Parker-Chan
Asian Australian former international development adviser who worked on human rights, gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights in Southeast Asia, Shelley Parker-Chan couldn’t find what they were looking for in existing fantasy – queerness, or the big, character-driven emotional arcs that you find in romance – so they decided to write their own. He Who Drowned the […]
Fynest Reads: This Arab Is Queer
An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers, Edited by Elias Jahshan. This edition’s Fynest Read is a ground-breaking anthology of LGBTQ+ Arab writing, featuring the compelling and courageous memoirs of eighteen queer Arab writers – some internationally bestselling, others using pseudonyms. Here, we find heart-warming connections and moments of celebration alongside essays exploring the challenges of […]
The Old Haunts By Allan Radcliffe
A HEARTFELT AND NOSTALGIC NOVELLA ABOUT GRIEF, SENSE OF SELF AND HOME. Recently bereaved Jamie is staying at a rural steading in the heart of Scotland with his actor boyfriend Alex. The sudden loss of both of Jamie’s parents hangs like a shadow over the trip. In his grief, Jamie finds himself sifting through bittersweet […]
The First Bright Thing
Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like […]
Fynest Reads: Pluto Press
This edition’s Fynests reads were provided by Pluto Press, a radical political publishing house founded in 1969. As one of the world’s oldest radical publishers, Pluto’s focus remains making timely interventions in contemporary struggles. “Though our collective outlook has developed over time, we proudly identify as anti-capitalist, internationalist and politically independent.” They recommended two great […]
An Empowering New Picture Book My Brother George
By Zoey and Kelly Allen Illustrated by Tara O’Brien Molly’s brother George tells funny jokes and has the best laugh! When they are together, they have all sorts of adventures, whether that’s on the beach, climbing trees or snuggling on the sofa at home. Sometimes other children laugh at George and don’t understand that his […]
Freya Marske: A Dream for All of Us
“Perhaps among those who took to the greenwood in old time there had been two men like himself — two. At times he entertained the dream. Two men can defy the world.” EM Forster, Maurice A confession: initially, this article was meant to be about my research into the real queer history of the Edwardian […]