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Good Gays: Genre Fiction + LGBT
It can be hard to find queer representation in genre fiction; most books and movies marketed as LGBT+ are romance or social drama, which is valuable, but not my preferred genres. They can also be sad or hard to watch, and sometimes you just want something that isn't going to emotionally challenge you. So I'm making a list of fiction I enjoyed that also have good representation. Purely by chance I stumbled onto a couple good fantasy/scifi novels that included or even revolved around gay characters, and this year I'm actively trying to read more diverse books, so I thought I'd make a list of the quality books I've found so far. And why stop at books?
You don't need to be gay to enjoy these, in fact I'd recommend them to everyone! Because it's important to normalize LGBT in media and IRL, and learn to empathize and relate to gay characters just like we can empathize and relate to straight characters. Plus these books, games and movies are good, okay! I just want to share good books with people.
I've personally read, seen, or played and recommended, so I can vouch for their quality. Feel free to leave suggestions!
At least one character is LGBT within the work itself: Sexuality and gender don't have to be the focus, but no Dumbledore is gay nonsense, put it in the book!
No harmful tropes: There may still be some questionable things, especially since many harmful stereotypes and tropes are a result of portrayal throughout all media and not always individual instances. But I'll try to avoid recommending any "bury your gays" or "evil, sex-obsessed bisexual" or similar. Feel free to discuss if you think I've missed or misinterpreted something.
I'll also make a note if the work is diverse in other ways, which I'm always looking out for.
Happy reading~
You don't need to be gay to enjoy these, in fact I'd recommend them to everyone! Because it's important to normalize LGBT in media and IRL, and learn to empathize and relate to gay characters just like we can empathize and relate to straight characters. Plus these books, games and movies are good, okay! I just want to share good books with people.
Criteria:
I've personally read, seen, or played and recommended, so I can vouch for their quality. Feel free to leave suggestions!
At least one character is LGBT within the work itself: Sexuality and gender don't have to be the focus, but no Dumbledore is gay nonsense, put it in the book!
No harmful tropes: There may still be some questionable things, especially since many harmful stereotypes and tropes are a result of portrayal throughout all media and not always individual instances. But I'll try to avoid recommending any "bury your gays" or "evil, sex-obsessed bisexual" or similar. Feel free to discuss if you think I've missed or misinterpreted something.
I'll also make a note if the work is diverse in other ways, which I'm always looking out for.
Happy reading~
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Books
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Alternative history/very mild steampunk thriller
LGBT: Main character & love interest
+ Autism spectrum main character
"Ghosts have always been cruel to Loxley Fiddleback, especially the spirit of her only friend, alive only hours before. Loxley isn't equipped to solve a murder: she lives near the bottom of a cutthroat, strip-mined metropolis known as "The Hole," suffers from crippling anxiety and doesn't cotton to strangers. Worse still, she's haunted. She inherited her ability to see spirits from the women of her family, but the dead see her, too. Ghosts are drawn to her like a bright fire, and their lightest touch leaves her with painful wounds."
Genre: Alternative history/very mild steampunk thriller
LGBT: Main character & love interest
+ Autism spectrum main character
"Ghosts have always been cruel to Loxley Fiddleback, especially the spirit of her only friend, alive only hours before. Loxley isn't equipped to solve a murder: she lives near the bottom of a cutthroat, strip-mined metropolis known as "The Hole," suffers from crippling anxiety and doesn't cotton to strangers. Worse still, she's haunted. She inherited her ability to see spirits from the women of her family, but the dead see her, too. Ghosts are drawn to her like a bright fire, and their lightest touch leaves her with painful wounds."
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Scifi fantasy adventure
LGBT: Main character & love interest
+ Racially diverse cast
+ LGBT Author
"Poison never lies.
Tali was once one of the seven martyrs of the forgotten compass. She barely escaped that life with her body and soul intact.
Now she has a new life as a poison eater in the city of Enthait. Here she is hailed as one of the city's protectors. No one knows her history. No one has asked about her past. She's been here so long that Enthait is her home now, these are her people. She loves them and they her.
But in the Ninth World, the past is a living, breathing thing. And when it hunts you down, you can run. You can fight. Or you can die."
Genre: Scifi fantasy adventure
LGBT: Main character & love interest
+ Racially diverse cast
+ LGBT Author
"Poison never lies.
Tali was once one of the seven martyrs of the forgotten compass. She barely escaped that life with her body and soul intact.
Now she has a new life as a poison eater in the city of Enthait. Here she is hailed as one of the city's protectors. No one knows her history. No one has asked about her past. She's been here so long that Enthait is her home now, these are her people. She loves them and they her.
But in the Ninth World, the past is a living, breathing thing. And when it hunts you down, you can run. You can fight. Or you can die."
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Dark occult scifi heist
LGBT: Side character & love interest
"Two million dollars...
It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.
The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.
Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister."
Genre: Dark occult scifi heist
LGBT: Side character & love interest
"Two million dollars...
It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.
The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.
Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister."
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Five-years-in-the-future scifi, lowkey drama
LGBT: One character of a rotating ensemble cast
+ Culturally diverse cast
"In an age of space exploration, we search to find ourselves.
In four years, aerospace giant Prime Space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen Kane, Yoshihiro Tanaka, and Sergei Kuznetsov must prove they’re the crew for the historic voyage by spending seventeen months in the most realistic simulation ever created. Constantly observed by Prime Space’s team of "Obbers," Helen, Yoshi, and Sergei must appear ever in control. But as their surreal pantomime progresses, each soon realizes that the complications of inner space are no less fraught than those of outer space. The borders between what is real and unreal begin to blur, and each astronaut is forced to confront demons past and present, even as they struggle to navigate their increasingly claustrophobic quarters—and each other.
Astonishingly imaginative, tenderly comedic, and unerringly wise, The Wanderers explores the differences between those who go and those who stay, telling a story about the desire behind all exploration: the longing for discovery and the great search to understand the human heart."
Genre: Five-years-in-the-future scifi, lowkey drama
LGBT: One character of a rotating ensemble cast
+ Culturally diverse cast
"In an age of space exploration, we search to find ourselves.
In four years, aerospace giant Prime Space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen Kane, Yoshihiro Tanaka, and Sergei Kuznetsov must prove they’re the crew for the historic voyage by spending seventeen months in the most realistic simulation ever created. Constantly observed by Prime Space’s team of "Obbers," Helen, Yoshi, and Sergei must appear ever in control. But as their surreal pantomime progresses, each soon realizes that the complications of inner space are no less fraught than those of outer space. The borders between what is real and unreal begin to blur, and each astronaut is forced to confront demons past and present, even as they struggle to navigate their increasingly claustrophobic quarters—and each other.
Astonishingly imaginative, tenderly comedic, and unerringly wise, The Wanderers explores the differences between those who go and those who stay, telling a story about the desire behind all exploration: the longing for discovery and the great search to understand the human heart."
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Movies
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Games
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Gothic/Universal horror, point and click adventure
LGBT: The player character and other primary character
"Belladonna is a gothic adventure game, twisted and dark. Take the role of a corpse girl rising from the dead in an abandoned laboratory, and unravel the mysteries concerning your own death and reanimation.
After the death of their young child, doctor Wolfram von Trauerschloss and his wife Belladonna are left to deal with the tragedy however they are able. The doctor launches into a dark obsession, devoting his life to the quest of conquering death. The madness spreads and Belladonna is soon dragged into the despair, but the tale takes surprising turns as the dead are brought back to life and the living are not to be trusted.
The game explores various themes, such as the role of villains and heroes, moral value systems and different kinds of horror. It’s a point-and-click adventure, and it will ask you to read longer texts which are inspired in style by Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. This game is not scary in the way in which a Hollywood horror flick is scary, but it is certainly no child’s play. The story goes into an eerie place beyond life and death, and puts you into the mind of the unliving creatures and their worldviews."
Genre: Gothic/Universal horror, point and click adventure
LGBT: The player character and other primary character
"Belladonna is a gothic adventure game, twisted and dark. Take the role of a corpse girl rising from the dead in an abandoned laboratory, and unravel the mysteries concerning your own death and reanimation.
After the death of their young child, doctor Wolfram von Trauerschloss and his wife Belladonna are left to deal with the tragedy however they are able. The doctor launches into a dark obsession, devoting his life to the quest of conquering death. The madness spreads and Belladonna is soon dragged into the despair, but the tale takes surprising turns as the dead are brought back to life and the living are not to be trusted.
The game explores various themes, such as the role of villains and heroes, moral value systems and different kinds of horror. It’s a point-and-click adventure, and it will ask you to read longer texts which are inspired in style by Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. This game is not scary in the way in which a Hollywood horror flick is scary, but it is certainly no child’s play. The story goes into an eerie place beyond life and death, and puts you into the mind of the unliving creatures and their worldviews."
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Reading List
Some books that I know have LGBT+ content in some way, but I haven't read yet. Feel free to leave suggestions or warnings!
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