As summer draws to a close, it’s time to look ahead to fall and the slate of LGBTQ books coming your way and there are many —including a lot of queer horror, because tis the season!

As a reminder, when you purchase through the Bookshop links below, Autostraddle gets a small kickback, and you’re also supporting indie bookstores through the Bookshop model! Great news all around! Support queer and trans authors, local/indie bookstores, and queer media all in one go! And feel free to shout out any additional books in the comments!

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September 3

All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere by DeMisty D. Bellinger (Short Fiction)

The short stories in this collection include a violinist’s affair, high school theater, and lots of queer love, drama, and trysts. It’s the author’s debut story collection.

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White (YA Thriller)

A trans autistic teen survives an attempted murder but then becomes embroiled in a generational struggle between the poor and their exploiters. The new YA release is set in queer Appalachia.

Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio & Paulina Ganucheau (YA Graphic Novel)

The graphic novel follows teen trans girl Phoebe Zito and her blossoming best friendship with Mackenize Ishikawa as together the friends navigate young girlhood and how to grapple with the expectations of others as to what kinds of girls they’re supposed to be.

The Ghost of You by Michael Gray Bulla (YA)

A trans teen and nonbinary lead singer of a local punk band bond over their shared experience of a cat who is maybe also a ghost. There are themes of grief and familial loss here, as the novel opens with main character Caleb having lost his brother to a drug overdose.

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell (Literary Fiction)

A poet’s life is upended by intense pain and struggles to navigate his shifting relationship to his body and the obstacles of the American healthcare system. As we can expect from Greenwell, this is a complex and beautiful queer love story that tackles art, memory, and more.

We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado (Horror)

Tirado’s adult horror debut follows wives Sol and Alice as they move into a fancy gated community and increasingly become unnerved by the rules and regulations strictly enforced by the Homeowners’ Association. Tirado uses the uncanny and psychological horror to explore themes of systemic racism.

Bad Houses by John Elizabeth Stintzi (Short Fiction)

From the same author of the strange and wonderful novel My Volcano comes a new short fiction collection with a surreal, fabulist edge. Humor and horror are promised in equal measure.

My Lesbian Novel by Renee Gladman (Literary Fiction)

An expansive, experimental, genre-bending new work from Renee Gladman, My Lesbian Novel explores art-making, queerness, philosophy, desire, and identity as an artist. It’s bound to be a complex and curious text.

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September 10

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (Fantasy)

This is the sequel to Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, and it features multiple queer characters in its tale of magic and resistance.

They Thought They Buried Us by Nonieqa Ramos (Horror)

Protagonist Yuiza gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school where she’s one of the only students of color. Strange things start happening at the school, and horror movie-loving Yuiza puts her knowledge of scary movies to use to try to work out exactly what’s going on within the boarding school’s walls.

This Will Be Fun by E. B. Asher (Fantasy)

Billed as an action-adventure romantasy, This Will Be Fun has cozy fantasy vibes about a group of estranged heroes reuniting for the queen of Mythria’s wedding. There’s drama between exes, enchanted swords, and magical Truth or Dare.

This World is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa (Horror Novella)

A slim horror book set in space, This World Is Not Yours is “about a toxic polycule consumed by jealousy and their attempts to survive on a hostile planet.” Toxic polycule space horror! Twist my arm, why don’t ya!

Lucy, Undying by Kiersten White (Gothic Fantasy)

It does seem like a lot of queer vampire fantasy novels are coming out these days (though, imo, vampires are always queer). This one is about Lucy, Dracula’s first victim. It’s set in London in the 21st century, Lucy long undead and trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. She meets and falls in love with a woman named Iris whose family has amassed power via a health empire that runs on a dirty little secret.

Countess by Suzan Palumbo (Fantasy)

Get ready for one hell of a description: Countess is a queer Caribbean and anti-colonial take on Count of Monte Cristo…set in SPACE.

Still Life by Katherine Packert Burke (Literary Fiction)

This novel weaves between the present and recent past in its tales of three intertwined women, two of whom are trans and one of whom is cis. The debut novel includes friendships, romantic relationships, trans mentorships, and relationship dynamics that blur lines. It follows Edith, her ex Tessa, and Val, Edith’s sometimes lover, sometimes trans mentor, sometimes best friend, who is dead at the onset of the novel but who we get to meet in flashback.

Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya Katz (Romance)

Nia has loved her best friend Jade since they were teens, but Jade has always wanted to preserve the friendship over pursuing anything more. The two go through a horrible friendship break up in the aftermath of losing the friend who introduced them to each other in the first place. And years later as adults, they reconnect to go on the southern Jewish history road trip their late friend wanted them to do. If you like second chance romance, it sounds like this one is for you!

Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner (YA Horror)

Two trans teens and exes find themselves fighting for their lives when the locals in an isolated town insist they need to make a sacrifice to an ancient monster.

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September 13

Blessings Beyond the Binary: Transparent and the Queer Jewish Family edited by Nora Rubel and Brett Krutzsch

This book is all about the impact and legacy of the television series Transparent and in particular its look at queer and trans Jewish family life.

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September 15

Miss Southeast by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers (Essays)

Rogers writes about her life as a lesbian growing up in the American South. A poet, Rogers brings lyricism and lush language to her personal narrative writing.

September 17

Frighten the Horses by Oliver Radclyffe (Memoir)

Radclyffe shares his journey from housewife to lesbian to trans masc in this intimate and lovely memoir about finding yourself, coming of age, and coming out.

Spells to Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy (YA Fantasy)

The book follows a witch named Luna and a non-magical girl named Aoife who was raised by an “influencer family” and has therefore lived a very public life. Luna and Aoife meet at low points of their lives and begin dating.

I’ll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow (Romance)

A fake-dating Midwestern lesbian romance, I’ll Get Back to You is about Murphy, a down-on-her-luck lesbian who keeps failing the same college course but meets Ellie, the daughter of her professor. For their own reasons, the two hatch a plan to fake a relationship for a holiday trip at Ellie’s family’s house.

The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean by Ann Rose (Romance)

The protagonist of this rom-com, Amanda Dean, is a certified “bi disaster.” On the eve of her wedding, she finds herself haunted by all the many loves of her past.

Night Owls by A.R. Vishny (YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy)

A paranormal romance that incorporates elements of Jewish folklore, Night Owls features an epic adventure for two estries, owl-shifting female vampires.

Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir by Chase Joynt (Nonfiction)

Writer-filmmaker Joynt weaves together memoir and media criticism in this sprawling work of sharp vignettes.

Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous edited by Gillian Anderson (Anthology)

Anderson’s much-anticipated anthology includes anonymously submitted accounts of women’s sexual desires and fantasies. A range of identities are represented, and in addition to curating the missives, Anderson also introduces them with letters and pens an anonymous account of her own.

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September 24

Everything Glittered by Robin Talley (YA Thriller)

The latest from prolific queer YA writer Talley, Everything Glittered is a historical fiction thriller set during Prohibition about Gertrude, a young queer girl, and her best friends. When Getrude’s mentor, the girls’ young headmistress Mrs. Rose, is murdered, the girls embark on a quest to restore her reputation.

The Lovers by Rebekah Faubion (Romance)

For lovers of tarot and romance, The Lovers chronicles Kit Larson, hired to work an influencer’s fancy boho-chic wedding in Joshua Tree. The wedding planner just so happens to be her high school crush Julia.

The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy (YA Fantasy)

From Feminist Press comes Killjoy’s latest, a YA fantasy novel that sounds magical in more ways than one.

Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt (Graphic Memoir)

Sarah Leavitt turned to making comics as a way to deal with the grief and loss after the death of her partner, Domino in 2020.

Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known by George M Johnson & Charly Palmer (Essays)

This essay collection looks at the Black queer icons of the Harlem Renaissance and was written by the author of the award-winning All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto.

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October 1

Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake (Romance)

Ex-girlfriends wind up stuck in a house together for the holidays in what sounds like a horror story to me but apparently is a romantic-comedy!

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (Fantasy)

Prolific fantasy author Nghi Vo is back with a standalone novel about a demon named Vitrine.

Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick (Romance)

We’ve got more sapphic holiday shenanigans! A popular subgenre for this time of year.

Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London (Fantasy)

There’s a sapphic paranormal affair in this humorous fantasy book in which it turns out the vampire novels the protagonist loves might not be fiction after all.

This Dark Paradise by Erin Luken (YA Fantasy)

A bisexual love triangle courses through this dark fantasy tale.

Salvage: Readings from The Wreck by Dionne Brand (Nonfiction)

From the author of A Map to the Door of No Return, poet and novelist Brand is back with a work of nonfiction examining English and American literature from an anti-imperialist and Black lens.

Scientia Sexualis by various authors (Nonfiction)

This book looks at the work of contemporary feminist and queer artists who make art that engages with science, gender, sexuality, and pleasure.

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October 8

Lucy, Uncensored by Mel and Teghan Hammond (YA)

Trans girl Lucy embarks on a road trip with her best friend Callie to try to explore and attend a theater program at a supposedly LGBTQ friendly elite college that, as far as she knows, has never let in a trans woman before.

I’ll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone (Romance)

Fans of queer holiday romances are getting fed this fall. This one is about Bee Tyler, who escapes the hustle and bustle of San Francisco’s tech world for a holiday getaway with her best friend. Bee does a house-swap via an app and ends up renting her place to Clover, a woman reeling from the loss of her mother and an ended engagement. Clover starts falling for Bee’s sister Beth, and Bee starts falling for Clover’s ex. They both end up with more than they bargained for in this house-swap deal.

Coming Out Like a Porn Star, Second Edition by Jiz Lee (Essays)

Originally publishing in 2015, this updated second edition of essays by adult industry professionals is edited by Jiz Lee and includes essays that grapple with timely topics pertaining to porn and sex work, including deepfakes, AI, and OnlyFans’ impact on the industry.

Country Queers: A Love Letter by Rae Garringer (Nonfiction)

Combining photography, memoir, and oral history, this book chronicles queer and trans experiences in rural parts of the U.S. It’s the culmination of over a decade of DIY oral history work by Garringer.

American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era by Nico Lang (Nonfiction)

A deeply personal and revelatory work of journalism, American Teenager looks at the lives of eight trans and nonbinary teenagers across the country as they experience all the highs and lows of growing up trans in an increasingly hostile world.

Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-nation by Kelly Filreis, Alexis Bard Johnson, et al (Nonfiction)

Science-fiction and the LGBTQ community have long had a special connection, and this book honors and celebrates that by examining the lives of artists, writers, publishers, and early sci-fi enthusiasts in Los Angeles from the late 1930s to the 1960s.

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October 11

Biomythography Bayou by Mel Michelle Lewis (Memoir)

This biomythography eschews conventional memoir writing for something more expansive, more queer. It experiments with form, including praise songs, folk tales, recipes, incantations, and invocations in its narrative set in the author’s home of the Gulf South.

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October 15

Good Dress: Poems by Brittany Rogers (Poetry)

This poetry collection includes place writing on Detroit and a challenging of heteronormativity in its contemplations of pleasure and intimacy. The poems tackle class, home, and Black womanhood.

Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown (YA Horror)

The most important thing about this book, in my opinion, is that its characters attend Olivia Newton-John High.

House of Frank by Kay Synclaire (Fantasy)

About a lonely witch whose magic has been dampened by the grief of losing her sister, House of Frank is about the warmth of love soothing the ache of loss.

Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery (Literary Fiction)

Lavery’s debut novel is set at a women’s hotel in 1960s New York City and follows a colorful cast of characters. Expect the strange and sharp humor that Lavery has long been known for.

Long Time Gone by Hannah Martian (Thriller)

Quinn Cuthridge, a private investigator, returns home to small town Wonderland, Wyoming to investigate the disappearance of her aunt alongside her aunt’s ranch hand Hunter. As they dig up old secrets about a past murder while trying to solve the present mystery, attraction forms between the two women.

All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper (Horror)

In a month full of horror releases, this gothic entry is about Ivory, who discovers the body of murdered girl Cabrina Brite and whose life irreversibly changes as a result, including an actual haunting by Carbina’s ghost.

Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris (Horror)

Like a Frankensteined work of reimagined horror, Strange Beasts combines lore from Dracula as well as Sherlock Holmes to spin its sapphic tale. The daughter of Dracula’s killer teams up with the daughter of Sherlock Holmes! And they start to fall for each other!

Model Home by Rivers Solomon (Horror)

Rivers Solomon uses the haunted house to probe into the history of segregation and racism in the suburbs of the American South and centers a queer family.

It Gets Better… Except When It Gets Worse And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Nicole Maines (Autobiography)

Trans actress and activist Nicole Maines pens a coming-of-age memoir that moves from her childhood in rural Maine to her experiences in Hollywood and beyond.

Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found by Nikkya Hargrove (Memoir)

This memoir follows a Black queer woman who adopts her baby brother after college when their incarcerated mother dies. Themes of addiction, shame, motherhood, and queer family-making permeate the incisive and personal narrative.

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October 22

How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague (Literary Fiction)

A road trip novel with a later-in-life coming out narrative, this novel follows Magda as she embarks on the journey mapped out by her late best friend Sara.

Metal from Heaven by August Clarke (Fantasy)

Here we have a bloody tale of lesbian revenge set in a world fractured by class warfare. Apparently, the vibes are very “be gay do crime.”

The Arizona Triangle by Sydney Graves (mystery)

Hardboiled queer private eye Justine “Jo” Bailen works for an all-female detective agency based in Tucson and is hired to solve the disappearance of her long-estranged best friend from childhood, Rose.

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October 29

Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta (Horror)

Living in a tiny conservative town doesn’t stop Angelina Sicco from hooking up with women and holding court at the local dive bar. But when an ancient evil is awakened, everything changes, and Angelina is thrust into a passionate romance with someone who has returned to town after being away.

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November 5

Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Sci-Fi)

This is quite literally about a MasterChef-like reality cooking competition series…in space.

Queer as Folklore by Sacha Coward (Non-Fiction)

Coward investigates the queer roots and symbols found in myths and folktales across a range of cultures.

All the Painted Stars by Emma Denny (Historical Romance)

Fans of swoony lesbian knights, this one’s for you. It’s set in Oxfordshire 1362 and is about Lily Barden, who disguises herself as a knight in order to free her best friend Johanna from having her hand in marriage auctioned off to the winner of a tournament. Gay shit ensues!

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November 12

The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri (Fantasy)

This trilogy is known for its queer world-building, and this entry is the final installment in the epic tale of the evils of empire that borrows from Indian mythology to imagine something new.

Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar (YA)

Jaigirdar pens a sapphic dual POV romance about Meghna and Rani, former best friends and current rivals. When they realize they’re dating the same guy, they team up to take him down. Along the way, they realize their feelings for each other might be more than platonic. It’s queer brown girl John Tucker Must Die!

Wake Up, Nat & Darcy by Kate Cochrane (Romance)

Lesbian hockey romance ALERT!!!!!

Leap by Simina Popescu (YA Graphic Novel)

Leap is about two young dancers at an elite and conservative performing arts school who are grappling with their sexualities and the intense world of dance.

Dead Girls Don’t Dream by Nino Cipri (YA Horror)

Riley Walcott is murdered when she wanders into the forbidden woods in pursuit of her sister, but she’s resurrected by Madelyn, a young girl who possesses the power of magic but is forbidden from using it by her strict mother.

I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea (YA Horror)

This is the blood-curdling sequel to the monster book I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me.

All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing and the Feminist Fight to End Violence by Emily L. Thuma

Thuma delivers an essential text of anticarceral feminism tracing the movement’s origins in the 1970s. It combines archival research and first-person narratives in its look at the organizers and philosophies that centered criminalized, marginalized women in antiviolence movements.

Time and Tide by J.M Frey (Historical Romance)

Time travel and bisexuality collide in this historical fiction novel about the sole survivor of a crashed plane who’s rescued by a charming captain of an 1805 warship.

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November 19

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso (Fantasy)

Fans of sapphic books that include magic have a lot to look forward to this fall, including this adventure-fantasy book which is kicking off a new series from Caruso.

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November 26

Thanks for Listening by Molly Horan (YA)

There’s a queer ace romance at the heart of this sweet YA coming-of-age novel.