Four Queer Books You Might Not Have Heard Of (Yet!)

Finding good queer books can be difficult, especially if you're someone like me who is not the biggest fan of the romance genre. As we're in the midst of a romance boom, "diverse recs" tend to follow the same formula. However, I believe that it's important for that not to be the extent of popular LGBTQ+ literature. Queer people are falling in love, and those stories are good to share, but queer people should get to their their stories in other genres too.

In the spirit of pride month (which Austin celebrates in August, so I'm not late), here are four queer book recommendations that you may not have heard of before but I really loved. If you're in the business of diversifying your bookshelves, I hope you find a good starting point here.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead by Emily Austin (Literary Fiction)

This stream-of-consciousness style book won't appeal to every reader, but I found it to be a unique and engaging way to look at loneliness and mental illness. Twenty-something, lesbian, atheist Gilda is morbidly anxious and trying really hard to hold herself together. Desperate, she heads off to what she thinks is free therapy at a Catholic church. Instead, she's greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she's there for a job interview. Gilda abruptly and accidentally gets the job, where she becomes obsessed with the increasingly-mysterious death of the woman who worked in her position before.

The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye (Hamlet Retelling)

I'm a big fan of Hamlet (both the play and the character), so I may be biased here. But this modern retelling gives a new life to the classic story that I really enjoyed. It focuses on three main characters: Ben, the self-destructive and anxiety-ridden heir to a struggling Broadway theater, Horatio, the lovesick but otherwise-levelheaded best friend, and Lia, the flighty florist with a past she'd rather forget. The King of Infinite Space is by no means a perfect book, but I loved it and couldn't recommend it enough for those who also embrace a more sympathetic reading of Hamlet.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (Horror, Literary Fiction)

If you loved those slightly-horrifying and incredibly strange short stories that you used to read in high school English class, you would love this book. It is weird and haunting and honestly a little confusing, but in a good way. It's like if "The Metamorphosis" meats "The Haunting of Bly Manor" (the TV show). Miri thinks she's finally gotten her wife, Leah, back from her far-too-long deep sea voyage. Except something is off about Leah. Whatever happened down there has changed her, and Miri can feel her slipping away.

The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin (Literary Fiction)

I read this book as part of the Amazon First Reads program this January, and I was really shocked by how much I enjoyed it. It follows Belle, who was the star of a dance reality TV show 14 years ago. Now, at 26, she's been off the air for many years and trying her best to lay low and avoid being recognized. Until production reaches out to ask her to film a reunion with the other girls. She decides to do it — if people are going to be talking about that finale anyway, Belle better get her side of the story out there. This book is a fascinating look at the impact of reality television on the contestants and the difference in what happened in real life versus what is shown to the audience.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings (Feminist Dystopian)

In a world where witches are thought to be real, any suspicious or unconventional behavior from women — and especially Black women — is thought to be witchcraft. Jo's mom went missing 14 years ago, and most people believe it's because she was a witch, and Jo is ready to move on. Now she's reaching the required marriage age and feels no interest in getting married. So when she receives weird instructions leftover from her mom's will, she decides to go forward and see what will happen. This dystopian book feels just like one of the classics, and while the pacing may have been weird in a few places, the overall story was really heartwarming and interesting.