An open hardcover book with the center pages curved into a heart
Book Reviews, books, Life

A Long Overdue Update

K.A. Doore

🎶 Here we go, here we go, here we go again 🎶

First off: I’m hot at work on the 2026 queer SFF books list. It’s turning out to be a doozy—we’re well over 180 queer books and I’ve only just reached September—but I anticipate having it out sometime in October this time around.

So if that’s the only reason you read this blog, welp: there you go. You’re welcome.

There’ve been… quite a few changes in the Doore-verse since we last checked in. I finished catastrophe!WIP and queried it. Then I wrote a whole ‘nother book about vampires and gators and hemophobia and queried that. I attended Sirens Conference in New Haven, CT, my first writing/books conference in, oh gosh, four years? It was great, and just the sort of reminder of what I love about books and publishing and the people involved that I needed.

(Speaking of Sirens, they’ll be back in 2027 and I can’t effuse enough about how great of a conference this is. Lots of people who like books just spending a few days together, talking about books.)

And good timing, because shortly thereafter, I signed with a new agent. We’ve been busy at work these past few months and I have so many exciting things in the pipeline. Plus cool new ideas that I’m busy writing into reality. Of course, with publishing everything is slow and nothing is guaranteed, so take all that with a grain of breath and don’t hold your salt.

…wait, that’s not how it goes.

And that’s not the only big news around here. I’ve also—after a lot of hesitation, talking it through, wringing my hands, listing out every worst case scenario—decided to take a few years off from day-jobbing. I’ve been juggling the equivalent of two full time jobs for years now and it’s taken its toll.

I’ve been pretty transparent about writing while balancing a dayjob and young kids, so I wanted to be transparent when that changed. Balancing the three has meant a lot of early mornings, tears, and sacrifices, and honestly—I wasn’t doing a good job of balancing it at all. Stepping back lets me spend more time with my family, reclaim my health, as well as let my wife focus on her career during a very critical time (buy me a coffee sometime and maybe I’ll get into it, phew).

As a side effect, that means more time for the queer SFF books list, more time for shouting about books in general, and, yes, more time for writing. So yay: maybe you’ll hear more from me.

It has also meant more time for reading, so for the first time since last January, let’s do a quick What has Kai been reading?

The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang
I finished reading this on the plane back from a summer trip. This was a good one to read all at once; I’d actually started it a few months ago, but I couldn’t immediately figure out where it was going, so I found myself reaching for other books instead. But then I committed on the plane and damn. I absolutely loved the way linguistics/language is so important to the plot, and how the MC clings to naivety and idealism, only to finally be forced to face reality—and expose it. This book (novella, really) has a slow but inevitable momentum and is best read all at once.

The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell
I’ve always enjoyed John’s dark whimsy, and I’ll always be glad to read more of it. Thankfully, this was more of it. He’s a writer I can trust to be inclusive, and not only that seems to be doing that Golden Age SFF thing of writing towards the future/society he wants to see. So while there are Evil People and Evil Societies, the one we spend our time in is full of kindness, care, compassion, and people coming together.

Garrodigh, our three-headed dragon and protagonist, is hilarious, and there were several bits I was in tears about, and several times I had to share a line with my wife, because it’s just exactly my kind of humor. It’s a fast, fun, book, and doesn’t shy away from horrible things, but Everything’s Gonna be Okay. Which, you know, you can’t always trust a book to deliver you safely to an end, and I appreciate I can trust John to do that.

The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton
One of those books I’d been hearing about for a while, with good reason. I struggled to really sum this one up after I finished it, because it’s many things. It’s layered and tangled worldbuilding, it’s a flawed MC who thinks they’re Hot Stuff, it’s really good and delicious prose, it’s clever characterization, it’s pain and joy and not quite fun, not really, more angry and insistent. But what it really is, is indulgent.

Indulgent in its prose, indulgent in its characters, indulgent in its worldbuilding, indulgent in its plot—to the point where I almost put it down, truthfully, because it felt like it was going nowhere and our MC was just going to spin in tighter and tighter self-destructive circles until at the end of an exceptionally indulgent chapter, everything changed. The characters were likewise indulgent, with their whims, their wishes, and their ambitions (or lack thereof).

This is also another entry into the subgenre I’m calling Moon Wrong (yes, Fifth Season is a fine entry in the subgenre) and I’m keen on reading the next book in the series (trilogy?) just released this summer because a) are we fixing Moon Wrong? and b) where do you go from that ending?

Thrall by Rebecca Mahoney
See, finding books like this is part of the reason I keep creating the queer SFF books list. Lesbian vampires in the mountains of Tennessee? I don’t need to know anymore, sign me up. Except it’s not quite lesbian vampires, as our MC remains a pre-vampire thrall for the majority of the plot. That said, her love interest is still a muscular gal on the archery team with impeccable aim and their arc is delightful.

I picked this book up on Saturday, meant to finish reading another book first, decided to just skim the first chapter on Monday night.. and finished it two days later. This is both a great vampire book and somehow so much more: it’s vampires on a secluded college campus, yes; it’s lesbians, yes; it’s fighting for a life when you’ve so long been denied one, been in service to others, yes; and it’s the careless cruelty of chance.

It’s also vampires with teeth while also somehow still being fun and sexy; vampires that are still terrifying and old soul vampires who are Just Fucking Tired. I loved the questions about who you are when life changes, and if you can still be the same person and if that even matters—if you still deserve to live and love and thrive.

That’s it for fiction, but I also listened to The AI Con by Emily Bender which is one of those Reaffirming Things I Already Knew while also Teaching Me New Infuriating Shit kind of books. It might have kicked off my current WIP, and now I’m also listening to More Everything Forever by Adam Becker, another takedown of the AI hypetrain and the techbros profiting from it.

That was fun. Let’s do it again in September!

books

2025 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

K.A. Doore

Welcome to the 2025 list of queer adult science-fiction and fantasy books!

If you’re new to this dance, this list and the ones before (see: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019) are my answer to every, “Where are all the queer/LGBTQIA/QUILTBAG adult fantasy and science-fiction books?”

The list is sorted by publication month. When possible, I included the specific queer rep, along with any side characters. “Queer” here is used as the inclusive umbrella term for anyone on the LGBTQIA+/QUILTBAG spectrum. The representation on this list is gleaned from reviews, readers, and the authors themselves and, even though I try my best to get it right, sometimes I get it wrong. I only include books published with a publisher, who are distributed on more than one platform, and had pub dates, as I have to draw the line somewhere or risk being overwhelmed.

Additions and changes can be found in a change-log at the end of this post.

And with all that said, on to the queer books!

Continue reading “2025 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books” →

Cup of tea on a white saucer against soft linens
Life

Mid-Spring Check-In

K.A. Doore

I’d meant to get back to sharing updates here on a regular basis and I suppose once per season can be considered regular. I’ve been busy, using every extra minute that’s not parenting or dayjobbing or generally trying to stay sane on finishing and then editing catastrophe!WIP.

Oh hey, how’s that going? Let’s check in on the progress of this Half-Life meets D&D horror fantasy (sci-fi? [def queer]), now with 50% fewer plot holes, 80% more consistency, and 100% snappy chapter titles:

Working Title: catastrophe!WIP

111,233 / 110,000 words

What’s that? It’s done? And off to beta readers already? And I still don’t hate it? Hahah, success!

In other versions of success, I’ve also been keeping up with my reading. Here are some of the books I’ve read and loved since last time (January):

Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson
I flew through Madson’s REBORN EMPIRE series so I knew going in I was going to love this, yet somehow I was still not prepared! Three POVs balanced perfectly with a wonderfully original setting would have been enough of a sell for me and yet somehow Madson also weaves in several intriguing political plots and wild plant magic. Plus worldbuilding that’s so exquisitely layered without being overwhelming that still hints to long history, several deep and varied cultures, and a simmering tension between them all? Basically, everything I love about fantasy somehow in one book. I am waiting (im)patiently for the sequel, which I will likely devour just as fast.

House of Dusk by Deva Fagan
This one was an ARC – it comes out in August. A high fantasy that initially gave me Redwall vibes, since the protagonist is a former soldier who now spends her days in an Abbey’s garden. And like in Redwall, her horrible past isn’t really past and the monsters she’d rather avoid eventually come to mess things up. I loved that this book had an older female protagonist who actually acted and felt like she was older, as we don’t get as much of those in fantasy these days. Wise and scarred by her wisdom, all she wants to do is erase that past; but of course its that past that will end up saving her.
There are also gods, undead, creepy corpse brides, and fire magic, which all come together in a satisfying way. Check this one out in August!

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler
Also an ARC, but out in May. Sequel to How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying which last year was the most fun I’d had reading a book in way too long, and the follow-up/conclusion did not disappoint. A typical portal fantasy with a twist: the protagonist isn’t just genre-savvy, she’s stuck in a time-loop and learns from her mistakes. Whereas the first book leans heavily on its RPG/gaming roots, the sequel explodes more typical genre tropes. I don’t know what else to say without spoiling both, but they’re a fun, refreshing, occasionally raunchy, definitely irreverent read.

What have you been reading lately? Any faves?

Life

This Is a Post About Bread

K.A. Doore

I have successfully made bread multiple times this January, despite being a self-described failure at bread in the past. And now I can teach you, too, how to bake a simple loaf of bread. Just follow these easy instructions and you’ll be well on your way to maintaining a semblance of sanity making tasty bread.

First, stop getting your news from social media. Install a browser extension that hides images of the incoming administration and changes his name to something hilarious, like Authoritarian Gingerbread Man or President Ball of Hair and Dust Mites Clogging Your Vacuum, so you have a brief moment of levity before moving on from whatever horrible doom that sentence was leading to.

What are you going to idly scroll through now, though, when you need a brain break? What about a bread forum, where people share their recent loaves and their expertise around baking? They have a novel-length FAQ that takes you several days to fully read, but hey, now you know about autolyse.

You also now know that every bread starts with the same four basic components:

  • Flour
  • Water
  • Yeast
  • Salt

    • You learn about the “no knead” technique, which is really just letting the water and flour rest after mixing so that certain enzymes break down the gluten in the flour and do half the kneading work for you. This is autolyse in action.

    You find a pretty basic recipe to start with:
    4 1/2 to 5 cups (540g to 600g) Bread Flour
    1 2/3 cups (380g) water, lukewarm (90°F to 110°F)
    2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
    2 1/2 teaspoons (15g) table salt

    In a large bowl, mix together the bread flour, water, and yeast until it starts to come together. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap, set a timer for 20min, and try not to scroll Reddit or TikTok or Whatever Your Social Media of Choice is. In fact, take this time to un-install those apps from your phone.

    Try not to think about the dozens of executive orders issued in those first days that will disrupt and dismantle the country you’ve struggled all your life to improve, through voting and protesting, through talking to your neighbors and family, through donations, through your writing, through the simple act of being an informed citizen. Don’t look up an analysis on the ways this will hurt people, regardless of who they voted for. Try not to catastrophize about the climate, the projection that in the next 50 years, it will no longer freeze where you live. Try not to worry about your children’s futures under authoritarian rule. Try not to—

    Oh look, it’s been 20 minutes.

    Now here’s the tricky part: kneading the dough. There are as many ways to knead dough as there are bakers, but after watching a video where a nice middle-aged lady shows you her method, you think you can do it.

    Dust a clean surface with flour, roll the dough out of the bowl onto that surface, and begin stretching and folding the dough. You’ll want to smack it around and alleviate some of the fear and anger bubbling in your chest, but resist: the dough needs a gentle hand, not an abusive one. Kindness is needed now in this moment, more than ever.

    For the dough, of course. Of course.

    You’re looking for a smooth consistency, for the dough to come together and eat off all the sticky bits of itself it initially left on your palms and fingers. A properly-kneaded dough cleans up after itself, leaves the surfaces it has touched clean. A properly-kneaded dough is like any responsible enjoyer of nature: pack in what you pack out.

    A properly-kneaded dough has more civility than some folks you could name.

    When the dough is ready, it’ll dimple where you poke it and stretch for a little bit before tearing. Do not poke it too roughly, do not stretch it too far. The dough will rise for you if you are gentle.

    Let it rise for 30min to an hour, depending on the temperature. It should double in size.

    While it rises, write down three actionable things you can do. Volunteer in your community. Donate to your local food bank. Reach out to friends and acquaintances just to let them know you remember them, they haven’t been forgotten, that they matter. If you have privilege – if you’re straight or cis or white or male – brainstorm ways you can use that privilege to protect others. Check out Americans of Conscience for up-to-date actionable items without the panic or hyperbole.

    Once you have a list and the dough has doubled in size, you’ll gently push on it to release the air bubbles. Previous instructions used to include punching the dough, but accumulated wisdom suggests that a turning and folding strategy makes for a stronger structure that will better hold together when the dough meets the heat of the oven.

    Now it’s time to let the dough proof again, for another 30min to an hour. During this time you can begin washing up, or you can listen to a podcast about native bees, or you read the Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States Office of Strategic Services.

    Gather the dough one last time, plop it onto a parchment-paper covered baking sheet or a baking stone, then fold it into the shape you prefer: round or oval or elongated.

    Pre-heat the oven to 475F. If you have a cast-iron pan, place it on your bottom rack; any sort of baking pan will do if you don’t have a cast-iron pan. Bring at least one cup of water to a boil.

    After your dough has rested in its final shape for at least fifteen minutes, slide it carefully into the oven, then add the boiling water to the pan and quickly shut the door. The steam will initially stop a crust from forming on the dough and allow it to rise even further than if it had been restricted by the crust. This rise is called oven spring, and it’s the result of a dozen interactions between yeast and gluten and water and dough and time and hope and once the dough is in the oven, all you can do is wait and see if everything turns out okay.

    Turn the oven down to 425 and bake for 20-24min.

    Resist the urge to check your phone and see what’s happened in the last few minutes. Let yourself rest as you let the dough rest. Drink some water. Pick up that book you’ve been neglecting. Or go back to the bread forum and read about how dutch ovens are pretty much essential to bread baking and then wonder if you need one, too.

    When the timer goes off, check first that the crust is a golden brown color before removing from the oven. If needed, you can bake for an additional few minutes.

    Remove the bread and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Slice into it after only 2 minutes because you’re impatient and can’t wait. Let a bit of butter melt into the warm piece of bread you’re holding, take a bite, and marvel in what a little patience and kindness can achieve.

    Share your bread with your family. Bake an extra loaf for a friend. Bring a loaf to your neighbor and ask them about their day.

    And tomorrow, instead of doom-scrolling, you’ll join the sourdough forum. Repeat as needed for the next 4 to 10 years.

    Cup of tea on a white saucer against soft linens
    Work In Progress, Writing

    Mid-January Check-In

    K.A. Doore

    *casually blows off the dust on this blog* How’s it going, y’all?

    I’ve been decrying the dearth of blogs once more, only to remember that: hey, I’m part of the problem. I used to blog a bit more here and elseweb, but life became busier and I became convinced whatever I had to say wasn’t worth saying. I’m not so sure the truth has changed on either of those fronts, but I’d love to pick up the practice again.

    For 2025, I set myself a daily practice of nibbles in lieu of any large goals or grand resolutions. Just little things I can do every day that slowly nibble away at a larger cheese–I mean, goal. One of those nibbles has been writing, and so far I have only missed one day, and that due to a plumbing emergency (don’t ask — just picture red-tinged water bubbling up between the floorboards and the alarmed squeals of small children). Despite sometimes only writing a meager 23 words, I’ve surpassed 9k this month. Sure, it’s for this weird little story that will likely never see the light of another’s eyes and remain hidden beneath the other forgotten files on my harddrive, but I’m having fun writing for the first time in easily two years and I actually believe I can finish this.

    And who knows, maybe the act of finishing something will be enough to break whatever this weird writing curse has befallen me (don’t ask — just picture red-tinged water bubbling up between my fingers). For now, let’s designate this one catastrophe!WIP, to helpfully differentiate it from catacombs!WIP and cannibal!WIP, my other two on-again off-again projects. I passed the 70k mark yesterday and foresee it being around 100/110k total, a lot like TPA.

    I guess it’s a Real WIP now. To that end, maybe I’ll hearken back to my pre-publication roots and do a little progress tracker for this Half-Life meets D&D horror fantasy, now with decommissioned rail systems, survivor’s guilt, and fun explosives.

    Working Title: catastrophe!WIP

    71019 / 100000 words

    My other daily nibble is catching up on all the books I’ve missed over the past 5 years being intentional about reading every day. I actually started this nibble back in August and it’s reaped rewards a dozen times over, but I wanted to continue it into 2025. It’s too easy to let the day slip away with work and necessary tasks and children’s needs, which is why I initially set out to read as soon as I woke up in the morning. That has slipped recently, and I’ve noticed my reading has slipped along with it. So back to the daily nibble, even if it’s just one page.

    This year I’ve already finished reading one book, Metal from Heaven by August Clarke. A vibrant, violent, and at times hallucinatory fantasy about workers’ rights, the slipperiness of utopia, and the sacrifices revenge demands. This book is an overall exemplar of all that’s amazing coming out of the fantasy genre right now, timely in a way that’s also timeless. I’ve already seen it mentioned as a contender for numerous awards lists and it’s absolutely deserving of the buzz.

    So yeah: starting the year off right, I’d say.

    books

    2024 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

    K.A. Doore

    Welcome to my list of queer adult science-fiction and fantasy books published in 2024!

    If you’re new to this dance, this list and the ones before (see: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019) – are my answer to every, “Where are all the queer/LGBTQIA/QUILTBAG adult fantasy and science-fiction books?”

    I’ve been answering this question for quite a few years now. I almost stopped this year; creating and curating lists like this is time-consuming and there’s always the guilt when somebook falls through the cracks. I took a several-months-long hiatus from the list during the first half of the year when life became too much, seriously considered being done entirely during the second half of the year because wow, we’ve made so much progress since I first started tracking queer books in 2019, and then… November came, and with it, the U.S. election.

    And I realized maybe we hadn’t come so far, after all.

    The list is sorted by publication month. When possible, I included the specific queer rep, along with any side characters. “Queer” here is used as the inclusive umbrella term for anyone on the LGBTQIA+/QUILTBAG spectrum. The representation on this list is gleaned from reviews, readers, and the authors themselves and, even though I try my best to get it right, sometimes I get it wrong. I also only include books published with a publisher, who are distributed on more than one platform, and had pub dates, as I have to draw the line somewhere or risk being overwhelmed.

    Additions and changes can be found in a change-log at the end of this post.

    Continue reading “2024 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books” →

    Life, Uncategorized

    2023

    K.A. Doore

    First off, 2023 was a much better year in the Doore household than 2022. Last year was the year COVID finally caught up to us, resulting in multiple months of recurrent illness and a general feeling of blah. I had to cancel my physical attendance at the Chicago WorldCon, which I’d been dearly looking forward to, and the writing project I’d been working on since 2020 (hah) just dragged on and on and I felt like I’d never finish it. Plus, the parenting anthology that had also been conceived of in 2020 kept having hiccup after hiccup and nothing seemed to go right.

    But where 2022 was a year of slog and disappointments, a year where I felt ever more disconnected from my writing and the broader community, 2023 has been a complete turn-around.

    Which feels paradoxical, considering Twitter continued its downhill trajectory throughout the beginning of 2023, culminating in such a terrible — and toxic — user experience that I ditched the platform entirely by June. Enough other writers and readers had jumped ship by then that it was well worth it to let Twitter go. But, on the converse side, folks have congregated largely on BlueSky, largely on Discord, largely else-web, and while I miss having one place to find them all, there’s something newly invigorating about all these smaller, more lively communities. There’s less doom and gloom and more conversation.

    On that community side, I was also incredibly fortunate to get to go on a mini writing retreat in November with some other authors. Six of us converged for a weekend in chilly Minneapolis to write and chat and write and eat and write and just be. It was everything I needed rolled into a few days: not just time to write and think away from the pressures of parenting and dayjob, but time spent around other creatives, friends. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again until I’m blue in the face, but the writing community is the real joy of publishing.

    Community is also how I’ve been able to keep returning to the page, morning after morning, even when so many of those mornings have been interrupted by children or sickness or dayjob. Writing is such an incredibly lonely, isolating job sometimes–here I am, alone, ahead of the sunrise, just me and my words. Which is why something as simple as the 5am Writers Club–a group of writers united only by the fact that we are all awake and writing at 5am, whatever timezone that might be–has been extremely encouraging. Or the sprints I share with my authors’ chat, who cheer me on even if I only manage 20min, 40min, every morning.

    The key to longevity in this business is consistency, and the last few years have been anything but consistent. But with all that support, it’s been easier and even pleasant to keep trying. And slowly, the children are growing, the illnesses ebbing, and I’m able to string a few mornings together, and then a few weeks of mornings, and even 400 words a day adds up eventually.

    Which led to me finishing, if eventually trunking, one project early this year and then completely rewriting and revising a separate project over the summer. That’s two projects done after three solid years of being unable to finish anything. Two projects almost entirely worked on between 5 and 6am most mornings, most weeks, most months.

    I don’t know what 2024 will bring, nor will I dare try to guess. But if I can hope for anything, I’ll hope for two things: my quiet, 5am writing time, and my boisterous, wonderful writing communities. ❤

    books

    2023 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

    K.A. Doore

    Welcome to my ongoing and somewhat-regularly updated list of queer adult science-fiction and fantasy books published in 2023!

    If you haven’t been around for my previous lists, this list and the ones before (see: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019) – are my answer to every, “Where is all the queer/LGBTQIA/QUILTBAG representation in adult fantasy and science-fiction books?”

    This is now my fifth (!!) year creating and curating this list and I have to admit, this was the most difficult year by far. The downfall of Twitter has made finding queer authors and books even more fraught. A once simple process of literal call and response has become sorting through publisher catalogues, review sites, individual author blogs, and what feels like thirty separate social media sites. That coupled with ongoing delays and last minute publication date changes has often made me wonder if my time is better spent elsewhere.

    But the current political climate is increasingly antagonistic toward queer existence, especially our trans friends, and with an uptick in book bans, challenges, and publishers’ infuriating acquiescence to anti-queer pressure, as well as the chilling affect on authors and editors from all three, it’s more important than ever to spotlight and celebrate queer books.

    The list is sorted by publication date. When possible, I included the specific queer rep, along with any side characters. “Queer” here is used as the inclusive umbrella term for anyone on the LGBTQIA+/QUILTBAG spectrum. The representation on this list is gleaned from reviews, readers, and the authors themselves and, even though I try my absolute best to get it right, sometimes I do get it wrong.

    Additions and changes can be found in a change-log at the end of this post.

    Now that all of that admin stuff is out of the way:
    Onto the list!

    Continue reading “2023 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books” →

    Good Riddance 2020, but with the 0 crossed out and a 2 scribbled in
    Life

    2022

    K.A. Doore

    First off, happy belated Winter Solstice! The shortest day is past and it only gets brighter from here*.

    Growing up in Florida, the winter solstice held little significance to me — winter days are bright and sunny, so why did I need to celebrate the light’s return? If anything, I celebrated the summer solstice with more gusto, as it meant the overwhelming heat would slowly (s l o w l y) recede.

    Now that I’ve lived up North, I understand that desire for light at a cellular level. The Solstice is an ever-returning promise, a hope that, even as your world gets darker, colder, warmth and sun will return. This too shall pass.

    You can stay literal with it or you can get all metaphorical about it, and the direction I choose largely depends on the year I’ve had. This year? This year, I need the metaphor. I need to know things will get better.

    First, the good: DON’T TOUCH THAT! a science-fiction and fantasy parenting anthology was released as an ebook in November and we have approved the physical proofs for a paperback release early January. I have held the book in my hands and, while this journey from idea in early 2020 to full physical realization in 2023 will have been a long one, I think it’s worth it. These stories are so desperately needed.

    But maybe next time three parents with fulltime kids and dayjobs shouldn’t be left in charge of a Kickstarter. 😅 TBF, none of us could have predicted the pandemic and that threw a wrench in everyone’s lives.

    2022 started out promising. It’s hard to feel anything but joy when you can go strawberry-picking in January, when little girls get pink teeth from eating berries and pink hands from the cold. We lost a chicken to the foxes and I had to hurriedly pen them in, but we haven’t lost one since. I was writing, if haltingly – but I had a proper plan to finish this story I’d been working on since 2020 by August. I stopped drinking alcohol in January and stayed dry all year. Cabin Girl was in Pre-K and we were all gearing up for Kindergarten in the fall. We went to the beach and Cabin Girl learned how to swim and we picked blueberries and I ran a 7k and we went to festivals and Baby learned how to walk, then run. I even weaned off my anxiety meds (with the blessing of my doctor). It was getting hotter, but the nights were still cool.

    Then 2020 finally came for us.

    My wife had a conference at the end of June and we struggled with whether she should go. Virologists, right? Of anyone, they’d be vaccinated. They’d wear masks. We were more worried about the flights than the conference, but my wife would wear a tight-fitting, high-grade mask from drop-off to her hotel room and she’d be fine.

    Except someone came to the conference with COVID, didn’t wear a mask, gave a big speech when their spouse was isolating for COVID upstairs in their shared hotel room, and proceeded to give everyone attending a fun little present. Including my wife.

    July 2nd we both tested positive, as did Baby Doore.

    COVID hit like a train. We had chills but no fever, couldn’t go from one room to another without getting winded, and food tasted awful — even coffee. We wore masks around the house and set up an air filter and somehow, Cabin Girl stayed healthy. But even though the worst of COVID only last 48 hours, the fatigue and brain fog persisted.

    I was out of commission for four weeks. I could perform basic chores, do some stuff at work, but every meeting felt like forcing hard cheese through a flour sifter; my brain could only process so much. COVID also wrecked my immune system and in the span of three weeks, I had a cold that became a persistent fever that became pneumonia. My goal of finishing my WIP by the end of August became impossible.

    October, November, life got a little easier, but while I was fully recovered, my wife kept dipping back into periods of fatigue and brain fog, which may or may not be COVID-related. Between that and a certain Baby’s sleep regression, my window to write got squeezed down to a sliver. I made progress, but…

    December is not over yet, so I can’t say for sure how this month will be, but I can certainly say the second half of 2022 sucked. 2020 snuck up behind us and stabbed us all in the back. We’re a lot more cautious — again — and it’s hard to feel hopeful when you’re exhausted and there’s no end in sight.

    But… that’s the point of the Solstice, isn’t it? At least the meaning we’ve collectively created. That even when it’s darker than ever before, the sun will still rise. We will get through this. It will get better. I have to hold that hope close. I have to hope that 2023 will be better. That it will bring its own challenges, but we’ll get through them like we have these.

    May the rest of your 2022 be restful and kind and may we find each other anew in 2023. ❤

    *Only available in the Northern Hemisphere. Happy Summer Solstice to those south of the equator, but now your days get shorter.

    books

    2022 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

    K.A. Doore

    Welcome to my ongoing and somewhat-regularly updated list of queer adult science-fiction and fantasy books published in 2022!

    If you haven’t been around for my previous lists, this list and the ones before (see: 2021, 2020, 2019) – and the ones that will come after – are my answer to every, “Where are all the queer/LGBTQIA/QUILTBAG fantasy and science-fiction adult books?” or, worse, “only Young Adult (YA) has any queer representation.”

    This is my fourth year creating and maintaining this list and even with publication delays, stuck ships, and paper shortages, I’m delighted to share an even bigger list than before. Queer sci-fi and fantasy is here, y’all, and we ain’t going nowhere.

    The list is sorted by publication date. When possible, I included the specific queer rep, along with any side characters. “Queer” here is used as the inclusive umbrella term for anyone on the LGBTQIA+/QUILTBAG spectrum. The representation on this list is gleaned from reviews, readers, and the authors themselves and, even though I try my absolute best to get it right, sometimes I do get it wrong. Additions and changes can be found in a change-log at the end of this post.

    Now that all of that admin stuff is out of the way:

    Onto the list!

    Continue reading “2022 Queer Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy Books” →