This book has been on my radar for a while, because I saw it on a lot of lists of books by nonbinary authors, or fantasy book with trans characters, good historical queer fantasy and so on. It begins in the city of Chengbee, the capital city of an empire controlled by The Protectorate, a dictator willing to put down riots with violence. The Protectorate owes a debt to the Head Abbot of the monastery of the city for a political favor. The Head Abbot requests that one of her children come study at the monastery, intending to teach the child and possibly educate them to be a future head abbot. Instead of giving him one of her grown children, the Protectorate gets pregnant planning to give the Abbot a new infant instead. This plan goes awry from the start when she unexpectedly has twins. The story follows these two children, who begin their education at age six. The story gives us glimpses of their lives at different ages, skipping years at a time in between. I really enjoyed the tension filled but profound relationship between the siblings Mokoya and Akeha and the gender confirmation rituals of this world. I wondered however about the decision to format the book almost like a series of short stories. Why not just flesh it out into a full length novel instead? Despite this, I definitely plan to keep reading the series, I want to see more from this author.

This is a weird but delightful comic. It follows August Crimp, who has a secret superhero identity as Dragman. When he is wearing women's clothes he can fly, and he fights crime with his side-kick Dog Girl. Or he did, until he retired, got married, and had a kid. But now more than ever the world is in need of saving, because an inventor has developed a device that can remove people's souls and store them on small disks. People without souls continue living- sort of. But they have no joy, no personality, no opinions, and often no will to live. In addition to this, trans women are being targeted by a serial killer. August is drawn out of retirement and into the case, which is complicated, as he has never revealed his secret identity to his wife. Drawn a loose, sketchy style, this story is told in a mix of color comics for present-day scenes, monotone comics for flash-back scenes, excerpts from "officially licenced character comics" and sections of prose that describe the most violent incidents without any illustrations. I've never read anything quite like this before, but it worked for me!

This slim text is unbelievably rich. I read it in just a few days but it really deserves to be lingered over- I have a library copy that I can't return because of the Covid-virus closed library system, so I might wait a few weeks and just read it again. McBee is a trans man, a survivor of childhood sexual assault and a journalist who became interested in the question of why men fight. He pitched a story on the topic to Quartz magazine, and then spent the next five months training for a charity boxing match in Madison Square Garden to investigate the subject. This book traces that five month journey, and also dips into other glimpses of his life- the death of his mother; meeting his future wife; the birth of his brother's first child; encountering his abuser as an adult. McBee finds the world of charity boxers a space of camaraderie and tenderness, where men face fears and joyfully celebrate violence. He weaves many quotes and pieces of research throughout the text, studies of marriage, gender, race, boyhood, homophobia, identity, masculinity, and male friendships.

This comic is stellar! It is- *chef's kiss* -everything I want out of a middle grade book which has both queer and trans characters and also magic and mystery. I've been a fan of Kat Leyh since the Super Pancakes days. This new book is such a wonderful continuation of the themes that drew me to her work in the very beginning! The art is so pleasing, all of the characters hits a sweet spot between realism and cartoon that makes me curl my toes with with pleasure. Snapdragon (Snap for short) is a latchkey kid, an oddball with a love of horror movies and no real friends. Her single mom is very loving but is often away at night classes. When her dog goes missing, Snap thinks to go look in the house of the town's rumored witch's house... a spooky cabin surrounded by brambles and full of bones. But the witch isn't quite what she appears, and when Snap reappears at her door with a box full of orphaned raccoon babies a friendship begins to develop between them. Little do they know that bonds of history, family and enchantment tie them together in ways no one could have predicted.

This is an emotional and poignant story of coming out as trans in a conservative family and town. I think it's really well told, the only reason I gave it a low star rating is that I have a hard time reading about queer people who experienced such damaging and toxic experiences of religion. For some, reading this book will be deeply cathartic; for me, it was deeply sad.

Dunham's short but powerful debut memoir covers the year in which they finally decided to start taking testosterone and do top surgery, after a lifetime of struggling with intense dysphoria and mental illness. Prior to the beginning of the narrative shown here, Durham had already been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and generalized anxiety. They lay bare their failed attempts at self-definition through desire and worship of others, a string of passionate romances that bleed into each other, often twisted with jealousy and fear. Durham's life seems unmoored by responsibilities, as neither jobs or school commitments are mentioned between a trip to India, time spent in their parents house on the East Coast, their shared queer apartment in Los Angeles, and road trips up to the Bay Area. I always enjoy recognizing places I know in memoir, and I was delighted to read a scene that took place on a Northern California beach I also visited and loved as a child. It was hard not to compare Durham's gender evolution to my own, and be grateful for the comparative quietness and gentleness of my own journey.

I loved this book! I don't think it's a stretch to call it 2019's version of Dykes To Watch Out For. It so perfectly captures a queer friend group in our own era- I felt like I knew the characters already, and many queer readers will probably feel it was written about their own community. Many of these strips were serialized on Autostraddle (and can still be found there: https://www.autostraddle.com/?s=grease+bats) but there's a generous helping of new content for the print book. Snap it up, or gift it to your favorite disaster queer :D

This is an unabashedly queer, silly, sweet sports series. Charlie is a new transfer student at the Georgia O'Keefe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics. She is extremely surprised to find a group of ambitious oddballs trying to start up a basketball team. The ringleader is Olivia, a bubbly extrovert, who begins a campaign to recruit Charlie... and maybe also to ask her on a date. I went to a series of small, weird, artsy schools so I was especially delighted by the smallness and weirdness of the Georgia O'Keefe College. Campus clubs include a coven, a D&D group, a cooking club called Endless Pastabilities, an acapella group, and so on. The art is very charming, full of bright colors and visual humor. My one complaint is that this trade volume only collects the first 4 single issues- in my opinion a trade volume should have 6 issues, but this was a choice presumably made by the publisher, not the author. I look forward to what's coming in book 2.

I finished this in about three days of fast, delighted reading. It's a fantasy novel that succeeds in weaving together a very small, intimate human drama with an ages-long battle of gods. The lead human character is Eolo, the aid to Mawat, the Heir to the Raven's Lease (which is both a political leadership position and voluntary human sacrifice role). The lead god character, who narrates the story, is The Strength and Patience of the Hill. Eolo and Mawat have returned from the front lines of their country's defense to the capital city because they have had a message that the Raven God's Instrument (it's physical body) is near death. Mawat expects to arrive in time for the death of the earthly Raven, his father's suicide and funeral, and his own accession to the position of Lease. Instead, he finds that his father has mysteriously disappeared and his uncle has taken on the duties of Raven's Lease. Eolo is drawn into an investigation of the mystery, while the Strength and Patience of the Hill attempts to communicate it's own history and motives with him. I always withhold my judgement (and my excitement) when a fantasy or sci-fi author I love tries their hand at a book outside their usual genre. Ann Leckie knocked this one out of the park. I think it might be my favorite of her books yet, which is saying a lot, because I adore the others too. She's so good at writing gender-nonconforming characters! This book has a trans character who's plot arc has nothing to do with being trans, a subtle queer romance, a genderless god, and a strikingly good story!

Freddy is a queer teen, in love with the hot, cool, unfaithful Laura Dean. Their on-again-off-again relationship keeps Freddy tied to an emotional roller coaster. Her friends don't understand why she keeps forgiving Laura and going back after every thoughtless cruelty. I've read quite a few books about unfortunate crushes, but it's rare to read one about the consequences of following through on one. The book is narrated by a series of emails Freddy writes to agony aunt Anna Vice, and eventually, by the relationship consultant's response. This gives us a peek into Freddy's internal monologue but also leaves spaces for quiet pages on which Freddy moves through her school and work routine with unknown feelings. The book covers quite a span of time, several months, during which Freddy meets a few interesting older queer friends but drifts away from her best high school friend Doodle, a shy technophobe and D&D nerd. It takes Freddy a long time to realize that something really serious is going on with Doodle, but this ends up being the shock to the system she needs in order to break out of her own toxic cycles. The art in this book is off the wall. It's so beautiful and SO detailed. I wasn't previously familiar with the artist; I hope she enjoyed the process of working on this book because every now and then I'd stop to admire a page and get overwhelmed by thinking about how long it probably took to draw. I'm heading in the opposite direction in most of my work lately, trying to include only as many details as a needed to get my point across; these pages feel indulgent and luxurious in comparison. The paneling choices and page layouts are a delight as well; a lot of really unique and thoughtful choices.