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Speculative Ficiton

Books For Pride Month. Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender (June 5, 2026)

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Books For Pride Month By Jeff Baker Just in time for Pride Month (which is why I’m posting this early!) I’m selecting several of my favorite LGBT-themed books to dip into for June. And I acknowlege I’ve probably talked about these in this space before. Most of them should be readily available to read online, to order online or find at your new or used bookstore. And the bulk of them are short-story collections or anthologies. (Full disclosure; I know some of these authors and I’m actually mentioned in a story introduction in one of the books!) In no particular … Read more

New Release: The Crows – Glen P. Vecchione

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The Crows - Glen Vecchione

QSFer Glen P. Vecchione has a new queer spec fic book out: The Crows. After stealing a mysterious figurine from the tomb of the peasant Chu-Tzu, a greedy landlord returns to his mansion to find the rooftop covered in crows. Ignoring his servants’ warnings that crows portend danger, the landlord throws a banquet to celebrate his new treasure. But as foretold, disaster strikes, and the figurine is rescued from the ruins of the landlord’s property by a passing scavenger. Flash forward one hundred years. The figurine, known as Xiwangmu, reappears in a New York City antiques store and is purchased … Read more

“Day Million.” Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender. January 13, 2026

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Day Million by Jeff Baker Gender fluidity. A love story. A man and a woman who are not a man and a woman. And this is not in a modern work of fiction but in the 1966 story “Day Million” by the very cisgender Frederik Pohl. “Day Million” is not a story that would be called “groundbreaking” for LGBT fiction but it fits the 1960s in that it broke taboos and norms with frank explorations of gender and phrases like “he doesn’t need the flesh for pleasure…it is the brain that feels; it is the interpretation of (the) impulses that … Read more

New Release: Gear Child – Mark David Campbell

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Gear Child - Mark David Campbell

Mark David Campbell has a new queer YA sci-fantasy book out (gay, lesbian, homonormative) Gear Box book 1: Gear Child. From our beloved teddy bear to our cherished first car, we form deep emotional bonds with inanimate objects. Will AI machines inevitably develop the capacity to love us in return? In a post-apocalyptic world that survives on garbage left over from the Gawd Wars eight generations ago, Sunny Boy, a semi-organic machine initially made to emulate a thirteen-year-old, and later modified as an eighteen-year-old, longs to be loved. His quest to find a family takes him from a farm in Winnipeg … Read more

Jeff Baker: Boogieman In Lavender “Snacking With Panthers.” Oscar Wilde’s Short-Stories. April 2025

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My Well-Worn Copy Of Wilde’s Short-Stories. Snacking With Panthers; The Short-Stories Of Oscar Wilde by Jeff Baker One of my very favorite short stories is Oscar Wilde’s “The Selfish Giant,” which I read as a children’s book in about third grade. The book included most of the text and the story was definitely there. I have since re-read the original many times and it was a few years later (also in Grade School, during those blissful days when a month stretched on for half a year) that I read Wilde’s famous novella “The Canterville Ghost.” That starts off as a … Read more

Review: Project O.R.C.A. – Serena Bishop

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Project O.R.C.A. - Serena J. Bishop

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller LGBTQ+ Category: Lesbian, Non-Binary, Pansexual Reviewer: Sherry, Paranormal Romance Guild Get It On Amazon | B&N About The Book Based on her examination of different neurological procedures, Project O.R.C.A. was the most feasible way to control her telepathy.Kari’s telepathic abilities have made life challenging for her. At eighteen and a recent university graduate, she’s desperate to leave home and work in neuroscience. Will a position at inCog help her explore where her abilities come from and how to better control them? She doesn’t know. But she’s going to find out. A new job, a new life, and … Read more

Looking At A Few Books (Yes, Just Looking!) Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender

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Looking At A Few Books (Yes, Just Looking) by Jeff Baker Not much this month. Just a glance over and recommendation of a few LGBT themed books that have come my way. And full disclosure, I have not actually read all of them, mainly the anthologies I just got in the mail. (I will post links, although I have no affiliation with the books themselves.) First off I just received series editor Charles Payseur’s “We’re Here; the Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2022,” from Neon Hemlock Press. https://www.neonhemlock.com/books This edition edited by Naomi Kanakia and released in 2023. This is the … Read more

For Representation Dial Yukon 2-8209 – Boogieman In Lavender

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This month, two examples of LGBT representation in forgotten places. And I must be intentionally vague about the first one. Fritz Leiber’s short-story “The Two Best Thieves In Lankhmar” (published in 1968) features his classic fantasy swordsmen Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser who are again their own worst enemies as well as best friends. They have acquired a stash of jewels they are trying to sell but things (of course) go awry. Set in Leiber’s fantasy world of Lankhmar the story does feature some LGBT characters but if I revealed more it would give away the story’s surprises, and the … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender. Broken Metropolis. On Beyond Cisgender VIII

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QSF Broken Metropolis; On Beyond Cisgender VII by Jeff Baker AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is the latest installment of this column’s occasional feature “On Beyond Cisgender,” recommending books written by or that feature people beyond the “Old Dead White Cis Hetero Male Literature Canon.” It was suggested by A. M. (Amy) Leibowitz who was lamenting the choices of books for High School reading. I’ve been doing this feature since October of 2018 and it is even more important in an era of censorship and book banning. So, here’s the latest installment.—-jeff Queer-themed anthologies of science fiction and fantasy, while not dominating … Read more

Princess of Shadows: The Girl Who Would Be King – Colin Alexander

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Princess of Shadows: The Girl Who Would Be King - Colin Alexander

Dive into Colin Alexander’s sci-fantasy masterpiece: Princess of Shadows: The Girl Who Would Be King. A princess doesn’t lead an army. Or does she? It is a hard life on a strange world under a red sun that never moves in the heavens, its landscape dotted with the ruins of the Ancients who came from beyond the sky. The Kingdom of the Light, Shadows, and Dark brought stability to this world for generations, but peace is dying as the kingdom crumbles. Rebellion and warfare are rife in the realm, and death in all its brutal forms stalks the land. Aeryn, … Read more