Books

By: Anita Kelly (Author), 2022, Paperback

How long, exactly, had June been coming to Moonie’s for the sole purpose of pining after the bartender?

Long enough to know, probably, that there was no good reason for Mal Edwards, a bastion of stability and good sense, to see any kind of future with June anyway. Was it even fair to express feelings to a woman like that when June was barely around, on the road more than she wasn’t?

But as another Pride weekend approaches, June’s fiftieth birthday and the eventual end of her long-haul trucking days loom in her mind, nestled against the memories of Moonie’s nights gone by where it felt like June and Mal came close—close to something happening, something real. Until June would inevitably chicken out, and retreat once again to life on the road.

It’s time for June to finally figure out her next act. And if she’s not brave enough to ask Mal Edwards to be part of it, she doesn’t deserve her, anyway.

After all. If you can’t tell a butch you love her during Pride, when the hell can you?

By: Dr. Robin DiAngelo (Author), Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword), 2018, Paperback

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

By: Helen Oyeyemi, 2014, Paperback

There’s something strange about the Silver family house in the closed-off town of Dover, England. Grand and cavernous with hidden passages and buried secrets, it’s been home to four generations of Silver women—Anna, Jennifer, Lily, and now Miranda, who has lived in the house with her twin brother, Eliot, ever since their father converted it to a bed-and-breakfast. The Silver women have always had a strong connection, a pull over one another that reaches across time and space, and when Lily, Miranda’s mother, passes away suddenly while on a trip abroad, Miranda begins suffering strange ailments. An eating disorder starves her. She begins hearing voices. When she brings a friend home, Dover’s hostility toward outsiders physically manifests within the four walls of the Silver house, and the lives of everyone inside are irrevocably changed. At once an unforgettable mystery and a meditation on race, nationality, and family legacies, White is for Witching is a boldly original, terrifying, and elegant novel by a prodigious talent.

By: Judith Butler (Author), 2025, Paperback

National Bestseller. Named a Best Book of 2024 by NPR, Harper’s Bazaar, W, and Esquire.

“A profoundly urgent intervention.” ―Naomi Klein

“A timely must-read for anyone actively invested in reimagining collective futurity.” ―Claudia Rankine

From a global icon, a bold, essential account of how a fear of gender is fueling reactionary politics around the world.

Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose iconic book Gender Trouble redefined how we think about gender and sexuality, confronts the attacks on “gender” that have become central to right-wing movements today. Global networks have formed “anti–gender ideology movements” that are dedicated to circulating a fantasy that gender is a dangerous, perhaps diabolical, threat to families, local cultures, civilization―and even “man” himself. Inflamed by the rhetoric of public figures, this movement has sought to nullify reproductive justice, undermine protections against sexual and gender violence, and strip trans and queer people of their rights to pursue a life without fear of violence.

The aim of Who’s Afraid of Gender? is not to offer a new theory of gender but to examine how “gender” has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and trans-exclusionary feminists. In their vital, courageous new book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of “gender” collects and displaces anxieties and fears of destruction. Operating in tandem with deceptive accounts of “critical race theory” and xenophobic panics about migration, the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, and leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation.

An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of our moment, Who’s Afraid of Gender?is a bold call to refuse the alliance with authoritarian movements and to make a broad coalition with all those whose struggle for equality is linked with fighting injustice. Imagining new possibilities for both freedom and solidarity, Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless―a book whose verve and rigor only they could deliver.

By: Everina Maxwell (Author), 2021, Paperback

A Sunday Times Bestseller!
A 2022 Alex Award Winner!

“Sparks fly” (NPR) in Everina Maxwell’s gut-wrenching and romantic space opera debut.

Prince Kiem, a famously disappointing minor royal and the Emperor's least favorite grandchild, has been called upon to be useful for once. He's commanded to fulfill an obligation of marriage to the representative of the Empire's newest and most rebellious vassal planet. His future husband, Count Jainan, is a widower and murder suspect.

Neither wants to be wed, but with a conspiracy unfolding around them and the fate of the empire at stake they will have to navigate the thorns and barbs of court intrigue, the machinations of war, and the long shadows of Jainan's past, and they'll have to do it together.

So begins a legendary love story amid the stars.

Like Ancillary Justice meets Red, White and Royal Blue, Winter’s Orbit is perfect for fans of Lois McMaster Bujold.

“High-pitched noises escaped me; I shouted, more than once, 'Now kiss!' ... in a world so relentlessly uncertain, there’s a powerfully simple pleasure in the experience of a promise kept.” ―The New York Times Book Review

By: Katherine May (Author), Hardcover, 2020

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 

“Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear but haven't known how to name.” —Krista Tippett, On Being

“Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself. . . . This is truly a beautiful book.” —Elizabeth Gilbert  

"Proves that there is grace in letting go, stepping back and giving yourself time to repair in the dark...May is a clear-eyed observer and her language is steady, honest and accurate—capturing the sense, the beauty and the latent power of our resting landscapes." —Wall Street Journal

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, this is an intimate, revelatory exploration of the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

By: Erin Baldwin (Author), 2024, Hardcover

"A masterclass of a sapphic rom-com. Filled with hate-to-love perfection, swoony moments, and off-the-charts chemistry." -Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl

All's fair in love and Color War.

Juliette doesn't hate Priya Pendley.

At least, not in the way teen movies say she should hate the hot popular girl. They don't do cat fights, love triangles, or betrayal. To survive their intertwined small town lives, they’ve agreed to a truce. They complete group projects without fighting, never gossip to mutual friends, and stand on opposite sides of photos so it’s easy to crop each other out.

Priya seems to have everything during the school year—social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans—and Juliette is at peace with that. Because Juliette has the summer, and the one place she never feels like “too much”: Fogridge Sleepaway Camp.

But her hopes for a few Priya-free weeks are shattered when her rival shows up at Fogridge on move-in day... as her cabinmate, no less. Juliette is determined to enjoy her final summer, even if it means (gag) tolerating her childhood rival, but everything that can go wrong, does.

If Juliette can’t find something to like about her situation—and about Priya—she risks hating the only home she’s ever had, right before she says goodbye to it forever.

By: Jessi Zabarsky (Author), 2020, Paperback, Graphic Novel

Love -- loss -- witches -- this YA fantasy graphic novel has it all! This thoughtful, emotional story will entrance you with its moving story and organic artwork.

Lelek is a witch.

That's all Sanja knows when she meets Lelek in the marketplace. But Lelek is hiding something -- and as her life begins to intersect with Sanja's, all that she's kept to herself starts to come to light.

Secrets, friendship, and magic all come together as Lelek gets closer and closer to uncovering the truth about her past. . . .

Witchlight is a wonderful queer adventure filled with friendship, family, falling in love, and dealing with the hardest bits of your past all along the way.

By: A.G.A. Wilmot (Author), 2024, Paperback

A queer paranormal horror novel in the style of showrunner Mike Flannagan, showing the complex real-life terror inherent in grief and mental illness

After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted — everyone including Quinn, a local girl who has quickly captured Ellis's attention. And Ellis has started to believe what people are saying: they see pulsing veins in their bedroom walls and specters in dark corners of the cellar. Together, Ellis and Quinn dig deep into Black Stone’s past and soon discover that their town, and Ellis’s house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue.

Withered is queer psychological horror, a compelling tale of heartache, loss, and revenge that tackles important issues of mental health in the way that only horror can: by delving deep into them, cracking them open, and exposing their gruesome entrails.

By: Marge Piercy (Author), 1997, Paperback

Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction, Marge Piercy’s landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures—and what it takes to will one or the other into reality. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time speaks to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before.
 
Connie Ramos is a Mexican American woman living on the streets of New York. Once ambitious and proud, she has lost her child, her husband, her dignity—and now they want to take her sanity. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a time of sexual and racial equality, environmental purity, and unprecedented self-actualization. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a society of grotesque exploitation in which the barrier between person and commodity has finally been eroded. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow.
 
Praise for Woman on the Edge of Time
 
“This is one of those rare novels that leave us different people at the end than we were at the beginning. Whether you are reading Marge Piercy’s great work again or for the first time, itwill remind you that we are creating the future with every choice we make.”—Gloria Steinem
 
“An ambitious, unusual novel about the possibilities for moral courage in contemporary society.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“A stunning, even astonishing novel . . . marvelous and compelling.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Connie Ramos’s world is cuttingly real.”—Newsweek
 
“Absorbing and exciting.”—The New York Times Book Review

By: Jennifer Rehor (Author), Julia Schiffman (Author), 

Based on original research from nearly 1,600 women from the kink community, this book takes you on a journey into the motivations, meanings, and benefits of kink, in these women’s own words.

Women and Kink presents a diverse range of personal and intimate stories about life, love, relationships, kink, sex, self-discovery, growth, resilience, community, and more. The book offers insight into the breadth of the kink community, with chapters discussing different aspects of kink and forms of engagement, both individually and within relationships. Filled throughout with personal vignettes and examples, the authors provide commentary, reflection questions, and thought-provoking considerations to readers who are looking to explore a new area of their life.

By exploring personal stories of love, alternative sexualities, and reasons for participating in the "unconventional," the book supports and empowers each reader to build a relationship and life that best suits their needs. It is also an illuminating resource for sex therapists, counselors, and other mental health professionals interested in developing a kink-affirmative practice.

By: Christine Gautreaux (Author) & Shannon Mitchell (Author), 2022, Paperback

Women Connected in Wisdom: A Book of Stories and Resources Rooted in the Eight Dimensions of Wellness is a weaving together of stories, experiences, and resources from a diverse group of women with a depth of knowledge. This volume is a celebration of our different life experiences, racial backgrounds, and generations of wisdom. What we have in common is a shared desire for an equitable and thriving community of collaboration versus competition.

This book was born out of the Women Connected in Wisdom Podcast co-hosted by Shannon Mitchell and Christine Gautreaux. It's a podcast rooted in the eight dimensions of wellness where we get together every week to talk about how to be well in business and life.

How do we take care of ourselves and our communities in the midst of this chaotic world?

This book is for people who are looking for tools and ideas imparted through inspiring, authentic stories to help maintain wellness in all eight dimensions for themselves and their communities. Women Connected in Wisdom takes concepts and personal experiences and offers techniques to put into action #wisdominaction

Written by a distinguished network of 18 experts who are intentional about maintaining wellness and thriving in their work and the world. These authors are delighted to share purposeful resources and personal stories to help others do the same.

Contributing Authors: Sacil Armstrong, Dr. Melissa Bird, Dr. Sheila K. Collins, Verna Darnel, Courtney Dorsey, Felecia Frayall, Christine Gautreaux, Chartisia Griffin, Shannon Ivey, Melody LeBaron, Shannon Mitchell, Dr. Cynthia Phelps, Tracy Reese, Carolyn Renée, SatiMa Ra, Laurel Anne Stark, JoVantreis Tolliver Russell, Shamika Wallace

By: Jack V Parker (Author, Editor), 2024, Paperback

Working Guys is a collection of essays, personal narratives and interviews about the lives of transmasculine sex workers, in our own words. Joyful, traumatic, or somewhere in between, this book preserves nuance and highlights a range of experiences. From selling sex under a female persona to taking advantage of the rise in popularity of trans men in porn, the pieces within provide a snapshot of moments in various transmasculine sex workers' lives.