New in February: Joseph Cassara, Saundra Mitchell, Jeffrey C. Stewart, and Karin Kallmaker

Author: Edit Team

February 4, 2018

Rejoice! This month brings fresh new LGBTQ books to add to your reading list!

Named by Band of Thebes and The Millions as one of the most anticipated novels of 2018, Joseph Cassara’s The House of Impossible Beauties (Ecco) explores the Harlem ball scene of the 1980’s and 90’s.

From the publisher:

It’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ball scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, new to ball culture, and has a yearning inside of her to help create family for those without. When she falls in love with Hector, a beautiful young man who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, the two decide to form the House of Xtravaganza, the first-ever all-Latino house in the Harlem ball circuit. But when Hector dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must bear the responsibility of tending to their house alone.

As mother of the house, Angel recruits Venus, a whip-fast trans girl who dreams of finding a rich man to take care of her; Juanito, a quiet boy who loves fabrics and design; and Daniel, a butch queen who accidentally saves Venus’s life. The Xtravaganzas must learn to navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them. All are ambitious, resilient, and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences.

Told in a voice that brims with wit, rage, tenderness, and fierce yearning, The House of Impossible Beauties is a tragic story of love, family, and the dynamism of the human spirit.

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages (Harlequin Teen) by Saundra Mitchell continues the trend of biography anthologies with this collection aimed at queer teens.

From the publisher:

Take a journey through time and genres and discover a past where queer figures live, love and shape the world around them. Seventeen of the best young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens.

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

Out this month is The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke (Oxford University Press), a new biography of one of the key figures of the Harlem Renaissance.

From the publisher:

Jeffrey C. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance, based on the extant primary sources of his life and on interviews with those who knew him personally.

[…]

Stewart explores both Locke’s professional and private life, including his relationships with his mother, his friends, and his white patrons, as well as his lifelong search for love as a gay man.

Bingo Love (Image Comics) is a new graphic novel by Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, and Joy San that tells the story of two women who reunite after decades apart.

From the publisher:

When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-’60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage.

And speaking of love, don’t forget to check out the new romance titles below by Karin Kallmaker, Emily King, and PJ Trebelhorn!

As always, if we missed an author or book, or if you have a book coming out next month, please email us.

Fiction

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara, Ecco
The Origin of Doubt by Nathan Alling Long, Press 53
Some Hell by Patrick Nathan, Graywolf Press
Winter Kept Us Warm by Anne Raeff, Counterpoint

Nonfiction

Go the Way Your Blood Beats: On Truth, Bisexuality and Desire by Michael Amherst, Repeater
Lasting Love At Last: The Gay Guide to Relationships by Amari Ice, Difference Press
Neo-/Victorian Biographilia and James Miranda Barry: A Study in Transgender and Transgenre by Ann Heilmann, Palgrave Macmillan
The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook: Skills for Navigating Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression by Anneliese Singh, New Harbinger Publications
The Queer Fantasies of the American Family Sitcom by Tison Pugh, Rutgers University Press
TRANS: Exploring Gender Identity and Gender Dysphoria by Az Hakeem, Trigger Press
The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America by Isaac Butler & Dan Kols, Bloomsbury USA

LGBT Studies

Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters edited by Dwight B. Billings &‎ Ann E. Kingsolver, University Press of Kentucky
Bisexuality: Theories, Research, and Recommendations for the Invisible Sexuality edited by D. Joye Swan &‎ Shani Habibi, Springer
The Erotics of History: An Atlantic African Example by Donald L. Donham, University of California Press
Gay Men, Identity, and Social Media: A Culture of Participatory Reluctance by Elija Cassidy, Routledge
Gender Reckonings: New Social Theory and Research by James W. Messerschmidt,‎ Michael A. Messner,‎ Raewyn Connell, &‎ Patricia Yancey Martin, NYU Press
Hollinghurst, Camp and Closet by Serkan Ertin, Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Male Bodies and Sexual Difference: A Proposal for a Feminist Corporeo-ethics by Ovidiu Anemtoaicei, Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Psychic Bisexuality: A British-French Dialogue by Rosine Jozef Perelberg, Routledge
Queer Maghrebi French: Language, Temporalities, Transfiliations by Denis M. Provencher, Liverpool University Press
Researching Sex and Sexualities by Andrea Cornwall,‎ Charlotte Morris,‎ Paul Boyce,‎ Hannah Frith,‎ Laura Harvey, &‎ Yingying Huang, Zed Books
Transgender Cops: The Intersection of Gender and Sexuality Expectations in Police Cultures by Heather Panter, Routledge
Transgender Sex Work and Society by Larry Nuttbrock, Harrington Park Press
Understanding Trans Health: Discourse, Power and Possibility by Ruth Pearce, Policy Press

Young Adult and Children’s Literature

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages by Saundra Mitchell, Harlequin Teen
All We Can Do Is Wait by Richard Lawson, Razorbill
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson, Simon Pulse
Derailed by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge, Monster House Books
The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith, Margaret K. McElderry Books
Luminosity by Annabelle Jay, Harmony Ink Press
Not Today by MC Lee, Harmony Ink Press
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang, First Second
Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky &‎ Jen Sternick, Duet