My Queer Summer Reading List (With a Dash of Video Games)
Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games (3rd Edition) Author: Tracy Fullerton
As someone with very little experience making games, this is supposed to be a very good starting point!
Accessible to people without previous programming experience
The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design Authors: Flint dille & John Zuur Platten
This book, like the previous one, is supposed to be very helpful for someone just starting to make games!
Plus, it should help my stories and my own storytelling ability transition from being based in short story/literary practice to a more game-centric lens
Her Body and Other Parties Author: Carmen Maria machado
I’ve already read “The Husband Stitch,” and it was amazing! I can’t wait to read more of Machado’s work!
Stories are imbued with a feminist, queer sensibility while being in the speculative fiction genre – great reference for me to look back on in my own work!
Difficult Women Author: Roxane gay
The stories I’ve read so far by Gay have been fantastic, so I can’t wait to tackle this whole book myself!
Comprised of multiple narratives about different types of women – wide ranging in content, brutal narratives (good reference for darker stories)
Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy From transgender Writers EDITORS: CAt Fitzpatrick & Casey Plett
I feel constantly disappointed that transgender literature and authors are so undervalued and not represented in the mainstream or the literary world as a whole (even in the queer literature class I took), so I was so happy to discover this collection!
Speculative fiction from transgender authors – mixes the fantastical with questions of queerness and identity
Invaluable research for looking into writing on gender identity
SAlt Fish Girl AUthor: Larissa Lai
Apparently a story based in Chinese mythology about a woman who is a shapeshifter who has a female lover? And there’s cyborgs??? This sounds AWESOME
Queer intersectional narrative surrounded in multiple levels of myth and other speculative elements
Love Beyond Body, Space, & Time EDITOR: Hope Nicholson
A collection of indigenous authors about indigenous characters in LGBT science fiction narratives – exploration of indigenous voices
Look at queerness from indigenous viewpoints and identities with a genre fiction perspective
Release Author: Patrick Ness
Same author of “A Monster Calls,” so I got super excited to see another work by him!
Narrative surrounds two situations: one day in the life of a troubled gay teen and the ghost of murdered girl who has been resurrected
Interesting speculative/supernatural look into two stories that supposedly have parallels
Little & Lion Author: Brandy Colbert
Narrative about a bisexual girl of color who falls for the same girl as her white stepbrother, who is dealing with bipolar disorder
Tackles sexuality, mental health, and racial issues – good for stories tackling intersectional concepts and identities
Peter Darling Author: Austin Chant
A new take on the Peter Pan myth where Peter is an adult trans man who has developed an attraction to Captain Hook? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP
Trans speculative fiction retelling a classic fairy tale – look into how to transform old stories into explorations of identity
They Both Die at the End Author: Adam Silvera
Not a lot of the stories I could find (at least in speculative fiction) had a bisexual character who identified as male, so I was happy to see that this supposedly features one!
Exploration of an identity often ignored – see a bisexual narrative that doesn’t only revolve around a bi woman
My Solo Exchange Diary Author: Nagata kabi
“My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness” was sooooo good, so I’ve been looking forward to this sequel sooooo much!
Great exploration on the author’s true story revolving around her lesbian identity, mental health, and journey to creating manga