Spooky season is in full swing, and with the falling leaves come many new queer books being published this month! Sit back with your pumpkin spice latte and enjoy this list of our most anticipated October releases.
On the 3rd, you can read Pluralities by Ari Silver, a slipstream sci-fi with non-binary, transmasc, and aromantic representation.
"Wait—rewind. I was still a girl back then, before the universes converged."
Guided by premonitions and a fateful car ride, a burned-out retail worker stumbles into the grand exit from womanhood. Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so far away, an alien prince goes rogue with his sentient spaceship, seeking purpose in the great glimmering void. As the two of them come together in a fusion of body and mind, they must reckon with their assigned identities. Tender, witty, and daring, Pluralities is a slipstream-meets-space-adventure story honoring the long and turbulent journey into gender euphoria.
The Dinner Lady Detectives are back on the 5th in A Frightfully Fatal Affair by Hannah Hendy, which is a cosy crime featuring lesbian main characters. Read our interview with Hannah here to learn more about the series!
Cloaked strangers and danger abound...
Margery and Clementine Butcher-Baker are coming to the end of another busy half term as dinner ladies at Summerview Secondary school. The school is abuzz with chatter about the upcoming break, the local harvest festival, and the fact that maths teacher, Mr Weaver, hasn't turned up to work in days.
When the pair embark on an evening walk in the woods and discover Mr Weaver's body in the woods, with a mysterious symbol painted above his body, something suspicious is clearly afoot. As the nights grow darker and the mysterious symbols continue to appear around Dewstow, the Dinner Lady Detectives are pulled deeper into the case. Can they solve the mystery as deceit and chaos reigns, or will their killer pull off another deadly trick?
The third book in Hayley Anderton's Last Girls on Earth series releases on the 8th October. Greed is a YA dystopian featuring lesbian, asexual, and bisexual identities! Learn more about Hayley in our interview here.
A citizen.
An assassin.
A weapon.
Only the strongest will survive.
In the midst of country-wide collapse, a new city is emerging, but Raven is beginning to understand that being free of one government doesn't ensure her safety. Crushed under the weight of a disturbingly corrupt council, she begins to question how much control she really has.
Riley thought she had left the life of a killer behind, but as she hits a new low, the only way to line her pockets and save her friends is to take up a knife again. With the past haunting her every move, will she have what it takes to be a ruthless assassin?
Karissa is about to take on the mission she has prepared all of her life for - ridding Britain of Inferiors and taking back the land. But lies begin to unfold and she is about to see that some of the truth may have been withheld from her.
On the 10th, grab Δάιος: A Call Me Icarus Novel by Andromeda Ruins, a dark fantasy featuring a queer autistic trans MC, an agender character, and POC representation, with gender non-conforming characters.
A tragedy following Icarus as he takes a look behind the curtain of the Elysian Program and sees the disgusting framework that he was disillusioned to. Now the only thing on his mind is bringing down the program and the entire ATLAS corporation. Will he be able to when the world seems set against him?
Also on the 10th is Elena Abbott's Mate of Her Own, a paranormal romance with bi and non-binary main characters and a trans side character.
Heather McKenna has no idea how to be a werewolf. Her wolf might be free from its cursed cage but has shut the door between the two of them, leaving Heather still reeling from the emptiness. When Heather discovers her mother is in the hospital, she is certain that closure from the person who cursed her in the first place will settle her wolf’s grudge and is quick to pack a bag.
V Raines sees the problems with werewolf society all around them. Despite being a nonbinary outcast in their own pack, they still have the responsibilities of being the Alpha’s only child. When their father attempts to pair them off with a dominant male pack member, V is all but ready to abandon their pack. When V is called to the hospital to take care of a possible rogue shifter, they aren’t ready for the consequences of finding their true mate in Heather. V’s all in as Heather worries she’s not wolf enough to stand between V’s intense pack and her true mate. Fate just made their lives a lot more difficult.
Journey to the past on the 15th with Marianne Ratcliffe's historical lesbian romance, A Lady to Treasure.
Louisa Silverton is the daughter of a wealthy American businessman, brought up to believe a healthy profit is the only route to happiness. With the family company over-leveraged and in need of a capital injection, she travels to England to find a rich husband.
The Honourable Miss Sarah Davenport has no time for romance. The family estate of Kenilborough is mired in debt and only she can save it. Unconventional and outspoken, Sarah is dismayed that somebody as intelligent and attractive as Louisa is willing to sacrifice herself for financial gain.
As Louisa pursues her campaign, Sarah realises her objections to the project run deeper than mere principles. At the same time, Louisa finds herself captivated by Sarah's independent spirit. Yet to indulge their unexpected passion would surely mean the ruin of both their families. Bound by duty, will they ever be free to follow their hearts?
Queer gender-swapped Macbeth retelling,Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Lillah Lawson and Lauren Emily Whalen, is out on the 17th. Read all about it in our interview here!
When Duff O’Brien moves to Hiawassee, Georgia after a traumatic experience in her Michigan hometown, she’s looking to finish high school with her head down and work at her beloved granny’s barbeque joint. Enter classmate Marian “Mac” Shepherd: ambitious, rough around the edges, and devoted to Duff immediately. The two best friends pick up instruments and along with their new pal, recently-disgraced golden girl Quincy Banks, form The Scottish Play, the hardest-rocking all-female band North Georgia has ever seen.
Five years later, The Scottish Play is living and playing together in Athens, Georgia, getting all the gigs they can with the help of their rhythm guitarist Rosalyn “Ross” Smith and their manager, legendary record executive and father figure Ian Duncan. When the women meet the handsome and enigmatic Lawrence MacLaren at local hot spot The Grit, it’s love at first sight for Marian—and Lawrence envisions even bigger and better things for his new girlfriend’s band. But when Ian mysteriously drops dead, and teetotaler Quincy succumbs to a drug overdose soon after, Duff and Ross begin to suspect that Mac and Lawrence may be involved. Does this have anything to do with the prophecies from The Hecks, a wickedly handsome male trio of Hiawassee witches—one of whom Duff is now dating? And as the band journeys to Scotland’s historic Glamis Castle for the show of a lifetime, Duff wonders if she ever really knew her best friend Mac at all—and more urgently, is she next?
More lesbians on the 17th with Kelly Farmer's It's a Fabulous Life! This one is a contemporary holiday rom-com with drag queens.
Perfect for fans of Alison Cochrun and Ashley Herring Blake, this sapphic retelling of It’s a Wonderful Life will make the yuletide gay.
After years of putting aside her dreams of travel and adventure, Bailey George is ready to leave Lanford Falls and her responsibilities behind on a long-awaited vacation to New York City. But when the volunteer who took over her leadership position for the town’s Winter Wonderfest has a medical emergency, Bailey finds herself stuck in Lanford Falls. She gets roped into reassuming her old role, not wanting to let the town or her friends and family down.
Staying home seems slightly less terrible when Bailey runs into her high school crush, Maria Hatcher. A kiss they shared years ago in the town’s mistletoe grove was a life-defining moment for them both. Maria quickly offers to pitch in and help with Winter Wonderfest. Her sunny disposition and holiday cheer perk up Bailey’s grinchy feelings about everything.
However, one disaster after another snowball on the day of the festival. Bailey’s frustration boils over, and she ends up on the town’s old wooden bridge. There, she meets fabulous drag queen Clara Angel. Bailey declares that she wishes she hadn’t been born in this Christmas-obsessed, suffocating small town. With a little of the magic Clara possesses, she shows Bailey how wrong she is about Lanford Falls and her place in it. And that with a little hope and some true holiday spirit, there is a way to attain all her dreams.
The much anticipated sequel of The Murder Next Door by Sarah Bell is published on the 21st. Deeds and Words follows a much-loved and highly charismatic sapphic crime-solving couple in 1910s Leeds, in the midst of the suffragettes!
June 1913
Leeds, England.
When a man is shot dead in an alleyway and a suffragette arrested for the crime, Louisa Knight and Ada Chapman are once more pulled into a case that hits too close to home. It’s not long before they're mired in both the investigation and their local branch of the WSPU.
Amongst the suffragettes, they'll find dedicated women fighting to secure the vote through whatever means necessary, but also missing money, blackmail threats, and an unexpected familial connection.
As questions arise and doubts surface, they not only have to face a difficult investigation, but a reckoning with their part in the suffrage movement.
Also on the 21st is Aimee Donnellan's The Collection Awakens, a fantasy mystery/adventure, featuring a sapphic protagonist, with a trans woman and a non-binary individual also as main characters.
A mysterious collection sits in the mountains, beckoning all who seek the unique and magical.
Reverie seeks a sword, token of a legacy. But something in the Collection has woken up, a dark magic seeking to inflict maximum pain, both physical and emotional.
Between the evil goose, the weirdo with the dragon eye, and a grumpy old lady… this is going to be a tricky one.
On the 22nd, you can read Open Wound by Shane Blackheart, a horror featuring the following representation: other specified dissociative disorder (OSDD/plural), nonbinary, trans man, gray asexuality, trans M/cis M/cis M polycule, sex & kink-positive aces, and a disabled and chronically ill MC. Read our interview with Shane here!
After the angel that threatened his life, Sean faced his frightening alter, Vexis, who haunted his dreams. With the help of Byleth, Zagan, and Darokin, he thinks his troubles are finally behind him. Little does he know that PTSD is a beast lying dormant in waiting to emerge. It ends up influencing everything, including the way he perceives reality.
Vexis was the reason Sean remained in a trauma loop for so long, but something changes within them as they decide to finally work with him; they want to help him heal from trauma after years of prolonging it. Being a sadist who is unable to feel love, it results in a twisted and sexual masochistic relationship that Sean becomes addicted to.
As Vexis takes Sean through various liminal space voids and dark memories — theirs included — they reveal that they are something much more frightening and ancient than an angel or a demon.
Can Vexis really be trusted? Or are they opening Sean's wounds to let something sinister slip inside...
Rosemary & Iron by Dorian Valentine, a dark fantasy MM romance, also releases on the 22nd.
When a ritual to restore Mana goes wrong and sends him into the distant past, Célestin Edevane seeks the help of a strange man inhabiting an even stranger estate in order to prevent the calamity that destroyed Mana. Faced with a fascinating world unlike his own, filled with vampires, fae, witches and old gods and an unexpected love affair...will he even want to return to his time?
On the 23rd, you can read Katy Haye's Hostage, which features a gay romance in a queer-normative world.
He was trained as an assassin, but Kit's no murderer.
Son of a Lindumian noble, Kit has made peace with his fate as soulmate to Sudharain's Prince Talal. Making peace with his home country is harder. Kit's father arrives at court, demanding he stand trial for murder. Kit knows the claim is false. But if this plot doesn't work, what else might Lindumia try in order to destroy him - and Sudharain.
As prince and heir, Talal was raised to always put Sudharain first. But that was before he met his soulmate. Now, he knows he's burn down the world for the man he loves. He wants Kit's home country to be an ally, but if they strike against his beloved soulmate he'll show no mercy.
Don't miss One World by Lyssa Chiavari, a YA sci-fi novel with asexual and demisexual primary rep, and aromantic, non-binary, and lesbian secondary characters out on the 24th.
One choice was all it took to put two worlds in jeopardy—but that choice could be the thing that saves them both.
By choosing to betray the geroi, Nadin saved the lives of her friends in the future, but it may have cost her own. Imprisoned and sentenced to a fate worse than death, her only hope of rescue may lie in trusting the one person her heart tells her to distrust most: Ceilos, her one-time partner and a traitor in his own right. But accepting Ceilos’ help may be the only hope Nadin has of reuniting with Isaak… and saving both Iamos and Mars.
Time is running out. Something is coming, something powerful enough to change the face of the entire solar system. If Nadin and Isaak can’t figure out how to stop it, all of Iamos will be destroyed.
Little do they know that’s been the Liberator’s plan all along…
Lesfic author Jae is back on the 25th with contemporary romance A Purrfect Gift!
A lesbian holiday romance novella featuring a matchmaking cat.
Lena has just moved to a new city with her cat, Scully, so when she finds little gifts on her doorstep every day, she thinks they’re from her neighbors.
Caroline, who lives next door, can’t figure out how her stuff keeps disappearing until she catches a cat in the act of stealing from her. She follows the feline felon home—and meets its cute owner.
Despite Lena’s best efforts, Scully doesn’t seem inclined to give up her life of crime, so she keeps having to go over to Caroline’s to return the loot.
Soon, neither woman minds the cat burglary anymore. Is it possible that her thieving cat gave Lena the purrfect gift for Christmas?
Crime thriller, anyone? Anna Britton's debut, Shot in the Dark, comes out on the 26th and promises a bisexual detective in a straight-facing relationship.
A fatal chase. Dangerous secrets. No answers.
Run.
Moonlight slants through the trees on the ancestral Dunlow estate, where a young woman runs for her life. Gunshots break the silence.
The next morning, the body of seventeen-year-old student Melanie Pirt is found.
DS Gabe Martin is more than ready to take the lead on her first murder case. Determined to prove herself to the cold and mysterious DI Juliet Stern, Gabe can’t afford any distractions – especially not ones that wake her in the night, reminding her of a past she’d rather forget.
Because while Gabe and Juliet have few leads, there are plenty of suspects. And every one of them is lying…
Also on our radar...
The Misfit Mage by M.N. Bennet, out on the 9th | MM fantasy
Being Ace by Madeline Dyer, out on the 10th | an anthology of queer, trans, femme, and disabled stories of asexual cove and connection
Scars of Fire by Raina Nightingale, out on the 10th | queer fantasy
Awakening by Octavia Atlas, out on the 10th | supernatural with gay and pan MMCs
All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters, out on the 17th | YA horror
Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake, out on the 24th | sapphic romance
The Reanimator's Soul by Kara Jorgensen, out on the 24th | MM historical fantasy
Sealed With A Hiss by Eule Grey, out 24th | sapphic fantasy
In The Woods by S.E. Smyth, out 28th | sapphic romance
Sweet Briar by Rowena Andrews, out on the 31st | sapphic fantasy
In The Garden of Echo by H.S. Wolfe, out 31st | erotic horror with t4t villain MCs