POSTED MAY 29 2025
MORALLY GRAY LESBIANS
CW: Mentions of suicide, homophobia, murder
Why do we love Disaster Lesbians?
Blame Obscenity Laws. In the US, they haunted every area of entertainment. Queer characters were allowed - ONLY if they suffered. Happy endings promoted mental disease! A positive Queer sex scene was bad as pornography! (Yes. Really)
Within these limits rose the Lesbian Pulp Novels of the 50's and 60's. Cheap paperbacks, published too fast for every title to be banned (though many were). They were filled with prowling temptresses, alcohol, and sex. Of course, this was still the McCarthy Era. Most torrid affairs still ended in disavowing of Evil Homosexual Ways. Or suicide. Wow, did these bastards LOVE a suicide.
Even so - Queer folk read these books. Were even the most devoted audience. Perhaps for the first time, they found their own feelings and worries reflected back.. Characters who shared deeply private feelings. Yes, most stories ended badly. Scraps of representation were better than nothing. The shocking tales of vice and seduction let to more readers. Which led to more books. Slowly, slowly, the Lesbians began to grow into more genres. Even earn Happy Endings.
Still, with all genres open, there's such a thrill to Sapphic Criminals. A 'bad woman' hooks us. Not because they kiss other women, but because they smuggle opium, pull off magic heists, and feed people to a cannibal plant. ACTUAL crimes. The Lesbian Pulp has evolved.
Will the Lesbians get away with it? The fact we don't KNOW is the best part of all.
So, for your consideration:
Some of our favorite Morally "Gay" reads ~
HORROR
FANTASY
THRILLER
SOURCES
"Lesbian Pulp 1950s - 60s: A Sign of the Times: Forced Compromises from Publishers and the Sacrifices of Lesbian Pulp Fiction Authors" by Alexia Jackson (2022)
"Obscenity Laws" from The Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection at Mount Saint Vincent University
"The 1950's Context" from The Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection at Mount Saint Vincent University
POSTED APRIL 2025
READ LESS WHITE DUDES
(Full disclosure: We are AFAB White, and acknowledge this privilege.)
In 2021, we took on a personal reading challenge.
NO CIS WHITE STRAIGHT MALE AUTHORS
FOR A YEAR
Not because such authors are automatically 'bad,' but because because Publishing is SO WHITE and Male Dominated, especially at the executive levels. BIPOC authors are published less overall. Queer authors are paid less than Straight counterparts. Publishing does not represent how the world really is. Instead, like so many other systems, it pushes the view of White Patriarchy.
Only reading from the Dominant point of view warps us. There's shit we can't even SEE until we teach ourselves to LOOK. What?! RACISM in OUR beloved gradeschool books? Also Classism, Slavery, and Fat-Shaming?! Oh. And that was just ONE. What else did we miss?!
We needed to fix the imbalance.
That year felt like throwing open a shack door and finding a mansion. Suddenly rooms and rooms of books appeared. New authors brushing out the cobwebs. Repainting our favorite realms. Corridors branched, leading us to new identities (Nonbinary, Disabled, Demisexual) and names (Akwaeke Emezi, bell hooks, Stephen Graham Jones, Xiran Jay Zhao).
Four years later? We're still holding to this goal. We spent the beginning of our reading life with that warped window. We'd like to spend the rest exploring.
SOURCES
1 Lee and Low Diversity Baseline Study 2019
2 "Just How White Is the Book Industry?" by Richard Jean So and Gus Wezerek
3 "Discrimination in the Publishing Industry?" by Tin Cheuk Leung and Koleman S. Strumpf
4 "Innocence Betrayed: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Deep Roots of White Supremacy" by Donald Yacovone
POSTED MARCH 19 2025
LET'S GO!!!
From March 21st - 31st, join us and the community in reading, sharing, and sending all the love to Trans stories! You can get more info and sign up here!
Titles we absolutely will not stop yelling about:
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POSTED MARCH 4 2025
VERY HEAVY BOOKS
to NOT throw at your local Bigot!
Gentle Readers, we are a RESPONSIBLE business! We would NEVER suggest some VERY HEAVY Queer Books to throw at bigots! In fact, here is a list of such books. So you can be sure to NOT do that. Safety first!
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Weight: 1.28 lbs (a basketball)
Definitely do not throw at:
Fascists with weak ankles
James Baldwin: Early Novels & Stories - James Baldwin
Weight: 1.39 lbs (a bottle of ketchup)
Definitely do not throw at:
Homophobes
The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde
Weight: 1.45 lb (A high-heeled shoe)
Definitely do not throw at:
Republicans whinging about drag queens
My Favorite Thing is Monsters - Emil Ferris
Weight: 3.1 lbs (A steam iron)
Definitely do not throw at:
Anti-Vaxxers
Heartstopper Collection #1-4 box set - Alice Osman
Weight: 7.05 lbs (A Persian cat)
Definitely do not throw at:
Transphobes deadnaming children
February 20, 2025
Black Books for
Black History Month
Black History Month
We expect our esteemed readers are ALWAYS seeking Black Authors and Stories. Here's some particular loves.
The City We Became
N.K. Jemisin
Genre: Cosmic Horror, Fantasy
Length: A chonk
Good for: People who like Pacific Rim
A "Finding your Queer Crew Before The Apocalypse Does" narrative. THEN they fight CITY-EATING RACIST ELDRITCH HORRORS.
My Dear Henry
Kalynn Bayron
Genre: Retelling, Sci Fi, Historical Fiction
Length: Decent
Good for: People who like messy Meet-Cutes
Queer Black remix of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, following two promising medical students. Did you ever think Henry and Jekyll should kiss? THEY SHOULD? Yes good. Also, Hyde is not a monster. At all. Heartbreaking, incredible, still thinking about it.
Pet
Akwaeke Emezi
Genre: YA, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy
Length: Short
Good for: People who need some hope
Short, beautiful, soul-wrenching. There will always be monsters. May there always be people like Jam and Pet to hunt them.