Every week, Lethe posts a list of ten books on a theme compiled from suggestions by our readers, editors and authors. The list is neither exhaustive, didactic, or ranked, and while there are undoubtedly countless books you've missed off, perhaps you'll find a few new ones here to discover for yourself. 

It's getting to that time of the year when everyone's compiling their list of the year, and Lethe's no different. We asked a bunch of our authors and editors to recommend an LGBTQ title they've read this year (not necessarily published in 2015, although the majority of the list is...)
​

Queers Destroy Science Fiction/Horror/Fantasy edited by Seanan McGuire/Wendy N. Wagner/Christopher Barzak

Continuing the outstanding work of last year's Women Destroy.. series, 2015 saw the queers take over the asylum with three special issues from Lightspeed, Nightmare and Fantasy magazine. Each issues featured reprint fiction, essays, art and original fiction from a range of authors both established and new, including Chuck Palahniuk, John Chu, Chaz Brenchley, Alyssa Wong, Kai Ashante Wilson, Catherynne M. Valente, and several authors who also have Lethe titles, including Richard Bowes, Lee Thomas, Matthew Bright and Chaz Brenchley.

Recommended by: Steve Berman

Speak My Language and Other Stories edited by Torsten Højer

A truly enormous collection of short stories from a diverse collection of LGBT writers. The stories are eclectic and brilliant, and it's pretty much the essential purchase of 2015 for even the most casual reader of queer fiction.

The collection features too many authors to mention, including Neil Bartlett, Patrick Gale, Paul Magrs, Felice Picano, Lawrence Schimel, Michael Carroll and many others... 

Recommended by: Matthew Bright

Blood Storm by Steven Harper

A rousing adventure tale with Norse influences, the ensemble cast features a gay couple who assist a half-troll, an Orc and a former slave as they deal with injustice, sexism, slavery and deadly enemies as they search for the long lost art of the shape, which would allow the half-troll Danr to become fully human. 
​
Recommended by: Traci Castleberry/Evey Brett

Just Three Words by Melissa Brayden

Accountant Samantha Ennis craves order and structure. As the bookkeeper at the boutique advertising agency she owns with her three best friends, it’s her job to apply logic to the chaos. When one of those best friends, laid back Hunter Blair, moves in to share her loft apartment, Sam’s carefully organized world is thrown wildly askew.

​Nathan 'Burgoine calls it "a great continuation of her romantic trilogy: funny, a bi character, and she's hysterical with dialog. Other than that, the folks above have mentioned most of the authors or books I'd suggest."

Recommended by: 'Nathan Burgoine. Read his full review.

The One That Got Away by Carol Rosenfield

After years of hand-holding demanding brides, b.d. knows what love can do to sane people. Fortified by doses of drag queen wisdom from her boss, Eduardo, b.d. tackles unrequited love and lust, dyke drama, and being in a relationship without having a date for New Year's Eve in this romp about queer life in New York City.

Jerry says: "a brilliant debut from a very funny writer."

Read the full Out In Print review.

(The One That Got Away was *also* recommended by Nathan Burgoine and Ron Suresha. Basically, everyone recommended it. You should probably go read it immediately.)

Every week, Lethe posts a list of ten books on a theme compiled from suggestions by our readers, editors and authors. The list is neither exhaustive, didactic, or ranked, and while there are undoubtedly countless books you've missed off, perhaps you'll find a few new ones here to discover for yourself. 

The holidays - if the adverts are to be believed - are all about family, but sometimes for those who fall into the queer spectrum, this might not be as easy or as comfortable as for everyone else around us. For many of us, we have built our own families around us with much-loved friend - groups that provide us support, love and validation. In his Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin coined the term 'logical family' (as distinct from 'biological'.) Here are our picks for books that depict gay friendship in all its glory - whether it be to push away the looming family holiday which either comes with or without family, or just because you fancy reading a damn good book.

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

Well... this list couldn't even begin with Maupin, could it? Maupin coined the phrase 'logical family' -- as distinct from 'biological family' -- and places it in the mouth of the den mother Anna Madrigal, referring to his diverse constellation of characters across the Tales of City series. The message that 'found family' can be more powerful than 'real family' is never clearer than in Michael Tolliver Lives, when Michael Tolliver is forced to choose between attending the deathbeds of either his mother, or Anna Madrigal.

A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham

A novel preoccupied with the complex relationship between a male-male-female trio of friends who become lovers, A Home At The End of the World delicately untangles the complications of establishing a family that loves and supports itself with its own special set of rules. The trio walk back and forth across the line between lover and friend across the spread of the story, but at its heart is the strength of the 'found family' the three create for themselves. 

FROM THE LETHE VAULTS:
The Mariposa Club by Rigoberto Gonzalez

Finding your own identity amongst a band of like-minded friends is a familiar theme in Young Adult fiction, and The Mariposa Club memorably explores this area within a close group of friends who identify as LGBT. A sweet but powerful story of the bond between friends granting the strength to overcome adversity, The Mariposa Club was also on our list of 'gay YA books for someone who just came out'.

Buy The Mariposa Club here.

Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally

Okay, so we're cheating a bit: the next two titles are actually play scripts. Later adapted into a film, Love! Valour! Compassion! tells the story of eight gay friends who spend three weekends of a summer together in a summer home. For all the tensions, rivalries and insecurities that are rife amongst the group, the play turns on the bond between them as they weather relationships, AIDs concerns, infidelities and soul-searching.

The Boys In The Band by Mart Crowley

A potentially controversial entry on the list, The Boys in the Band is more famously known as a film, though it was adapted from an off-Broadway play by playwright Crowley. Although with a modern eye the story can be seen as a time-capsule of self-loathing, there is undeniably a bond between the characters in the play. As dysfunction as a biological family perhaps, but found family nonetheless.

FROM THE LETHE VAULTS:
BearCity: The Novel by Lawrence Ferber

Based on the award-winning movie, BearCity follows the funny, romantic and often dramatic adventures of a tight-knit pack of bears, cubs and friends in New York City. Found-family friendships amongst LGBTQ people is one thing, but it can be argued that the bond is even deeper for the characters of BearCIty, who belong to an oft-ignored subculture within the LGBT world. A sweet, funny and occasionally filthy book. (Plus, look out for the follow-up film BearCity 2 and the upcoming BearCity 3.)

Never The Bride by Paul Magrs

A borderline entry on the list, but one we couldn't resist because we love the series so much. Never The Bride introduces the trio of Brenda (the Bride of Frankenstein), Effie (the witch next door) and Robert (the queer fella who works at the mysterious hotel) and together they investigate supernatural goings-on in Whitby. The frothy 'chintzpunk' exterior is built on a strong and endearing core friendship between the group that, whilst it only includes one explicitly LGBTQ character, is queer to the core in its banding together of the ultimate outsiders, and in later books in the series the group expands to include Robert's faintly alien boyfriend (as well as a whole bunch of other characters.)

Every week, Lethe posts a list of ten books on a theme compiled from suggestions by our readers, editors and authors. The list is neither exhaustive, didactic, or ranked, and while there are undoubtedly countless books you've missed off, perhaps you'll find a few new ones here to discover for yourself. 

Coming out - whether smooth or traumatic - is a massive turning point in someone's life, and there's nothing like a good story (be it film, tv or literature) to help you through it. A surprisingly common question we're asked for recommendations is 'my teenage niece/nephew/friend/acquaintance has just come out - what would you recommend they read?', and with the holidays fast approaching, a gift idea might be just the thing. This week's list: the best gay YA books for someone who just came out.

This Book Is Gay by James Dawson

Pretty much 2015 - and any year's - essential reading for the recently out young adult, This Book Is Gay is frank, informative, funny, unpatronising and hopeful. Plus it's already in some hot water with right-wing parent groups, and that's practically a stamp of approval in our book...

And while you're at it, you could do worse than checking out the rest of Dawson's catalogue of work...

Boy Meets Boy / How They Met & Other Stories by David Levithan

​You couldn't have a list aimed at QUILTBAG teen readers without having David Levithan on it. Boy Meets Boy is the gold standard of the genre, set in an ideal world where gay relationships are universally accepted and the star quarterback is also a drag queen. But for our money, How They Met - a diverse selection of short stories featuring LGBT protagonists, is our favourite.

FROM THE LETHE VAULTS:
Red Caps by Steve Berman

Steve Berman's Vintage frequents many a list of best gay books, and Red Caps continues his sterling storytelling of queer youth with a collection of fantastical short stories all of which feature gay protagonists. Talking about the collection, he says he set out to create stories in which the sexuality of the character is both front-and-centre but a non-issue in the story, and there are precious few other YA collections that treat the subject as such. Plus, the collection is beautifully illustrated throughout.

Buy Red Caps here.

The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger

Adult authors writing high school with any sense of authenticity is notoriously difficult (we're looking at you, Glee) but The Geography Club is an early cornerstone of of LGBT YA, telling the story of a school's first LGBT club led by Russel Middlebrook (the protagonist of a continuing series of novels.) We've got all the essential ingredients: the uniting of the outsiders for survival and acceptance, the strengthening and testing of friendships and the personal journey of self-discovery and sexuality. Plus, there was a 2014 movie featuring a whole host of familiar faces.

FROM THE LETHE VAULTS:
Cub by Jeff Mann
It's easy to imagine that the coming-out story of every young adult revolves around the usual high-school stories and settings, but there are many more stories in the world to be told. Just listen to Out In Print's review: "It's a book for those boys out there who have discovered that they are different from many of their friends, but who also feel the division within the subculture they thought they could identify with. Cub lets them feel there's room at the table for them." And, as OutSmart says, "Finally, a young-adult romance that features Bears and their friends."

Buy Cub here.

Hear Us Out! by Nancy Garden

At its best, coming out enters you into a community of LGBT people ready to give support and joy, and like any community, it has its stories -- stories about the long history of the community and the people that have gone before you. Hear Us Out! tells the story of each decade from the 1950s, describing exactly what it has meant to be young and gay in America in the last sixty years.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Saenz

A break-out YA novel of 2014, Saenz's novel tells the story of two unlikely friends, Aristotle - an angry teen with a brother in prison - and Dante - a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. The novel is lauded by critics who praise it for everything from it's "tender, honest exploration of identity and sexuality", to its "authentic teen and Latino dialogue" and its core friendship that "widens and twists like a river, revealing truths about how hard love is, how family supports us, and how painfully deep you have to go to uncover an authentic self."

How Beautiful The Ordinary edited by Michael Cart

The central question of our adolescence is always the defining of our own identities, and this collection tackles that question head on, with twelve stories from a range of well-known writers - including David Levithan, Gregory Maguire, Margo Lanagan, Emma Donoghue and Ariel Schrag - that spin a diverse set of stories taking in the LGBT experience with subtlety and vigour.

Every Sunday, Lethe brings you a list of books on a theme compiled from suggestions from its readers, its editors and its authors. This list is neither exhaustive, didactic or ordered, and while there are no doubt numerous books left off it, hopefully there are also a number of new books here for you to discover.

As this is our first of such lists, we'll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, as a clever lady once said) with Gay Lit 101, or the essential books for any reader of gay literature.

The Dancer From The Dance, Andrew Holleran
Set in Pre-AIDs 1970s Fire Island, Holleran's novel pokes at the dark heart of the party, and has been described as 'the golden era of gay liberation's greatest chronicle.'

Orange Are Not The Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson
If this line is thin on lesbian fiction, at least it includes the always-excellent Winterson. From the same era as A Boy's Own Story, Oranges' protagonist comes of age amidst a complex relationship with her mother, and her church.

Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin​
​On the surface simply a novel about a gay romance in Paris, Giovanni's Room maintains it's place in the pantheon of gay literature thanks to its subtle examination of gay identity in a hostile world.

Naked Lunch, William Borroughs
A well-earned place for 'queer and weird', Naked Lunch melds hard-boiled into the hinterlands of strangeness, with protagonists drifting in and our of heroin-laced visions.

From the Lethe vaults:
It would be inflated of us to suggest that any of Lethe's titles belong in the pantheon of essential gay lit, but if we could lay money...

Bitter Waters by Chaz Brenchley is an exemplary example of gay and fantastical fiction. No wonder it won a Lambda Literary Award (like many of the above books mentioned). Chaz Brenchley is a born storyteller and there is not a single tale in this collection that will not inspire the imagination of gay readers.

I Knew Him by Erastes - If Patricia Highsmith were still writing today and tackled a British Historical this novel would not be far off from what she would achieve. Rich with the flavor of the time and complicated by a Wildean sociopath who believes he does terrible deeds out of love, this novel will thrill and delight readers.

Hard by Wayne Hoffman offers an immersive read into the 1980s, a time when AIDS was at the height of its terror--"The Plague Years." Hoffman does not shy away from characters who seek pleasure during this time and also seek the truth and justice against the homophobia and self-interests that let the disease spread.

Promises, Promises by LJ Baker gives lesbian readers all the wit and wonders of a Terry Prachett tale with the romance between women that will leave them smiling and content. Few stories have as much heart as this humorous fantasy.

Shadow Man by Melissa Scott is not an easy book. If you loved LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness then you are ready to tackle this complex science fiction novel which features seven gender brought about by technology that makes space travel feasible. But few books ever dared so much to break down the illusion of binary gender. Another Lambda Literary Winner.