Fairly Queer Books | 8 of My Favorite Queer Stories
8 of My Favorite Queer Stories
Happy summer solstice! ☀️ Here's a list of my favorite queer stories ranging from manga, short story collections, fantasy, and comics.
Each of these recommendations have either made me feel seen personally or has inspired me as an artist and writer. I added some short blurbs next to each one briefly describing when I read the comic/book and why it's made it to this list. Longer reviews live over on storygraph. If any of these are your favs (or you totally hate one) let me know in the comments!
You can click on any of these books tagged on the post below and check out my bookshop.org page to support me and grab a copy of any of these titles. <3
Special thank you to my new subscribers here on Bindery. I have tons of posts & videos planned for this space. I hope you enjoyed this post, I'll catch you on the next one!
Mid July Media Roundup
Hii I hope you enjoy this roundup of all the media I've been consuming lately. I've linked all these works as well as the best way to support these creators/writers/scholars/artists below. Within just 2 weeks I've seen so much incredible work, these are just the few that resonated the most !
Books/Comics: These are my current reads & the webcomic I've been into lately. Munnu is a non fiction graphic novel set in Kashmir. It’s been incredibly eye opening and I will be doing a dedicated review! The webcomic on the side titled Shot and Chaser is currently updating and ongoing, you can see my very excited notes above when I discovered it existed. The other two are book club reads! If you'd like to read & discuss Terminal 3 and /or The Jasmine Throne check out the book club announcement in my last post !
Content: Shot and Chaser
Support creator: Patreon
Essays/Poems: These are the essays and poems that I've been reading lately. Noor's work in archiving lesbian literature has been inspiring and amazing to witness! Check out the article on autostraddle.
Meanwhile on substack both Fariha Roisin & Hala Alyan have started a back and forth poetic conversation that will be a weekly series featured on both of their pages. It's been heartwrenching and quite beautiful to read. I definitely recommend checking it out.
Content: The Revolution Will be Archived , A Poetic Conversation
Support creator: Noor Aldayeh, Fariha Roisin, Hala Alyan
Video Essays/Podcasts: (@princess_weekes) I absolutely love a good deep dive into a topic I'm kind of aware of but that I've I've never looked into deeply. I don't read mainstream western romance (if it’s romantic in nature then it’s really only comics, manga (japanese), manhua (chinese), or manhwa (korean) for me), but I'm always down to listen to any and all monster romance discussions & discourse. There's always a much larger conversation to be had when something that was previously ridiculed suddenly becomes popular. Definitely worth the watch, it is much more of an academic video essay and full of really interesting sources!
Content: Why We Fall For Monsters
Support creator: Patreon
(@The_Red_Nation) This specific episode of the red nation podcast was so cathartic and timely. I listened to it the day it came out and I'm honestly still thinking about it. It may have been the only recent discussion that has grounded me in a really long time. I’d definitely recommend it to combat that feeling of hopeless these days.
Content: Red Power Hour - Drowing is a good way to go
Support creator: Support The Red Nation
(@mamalimaaa) New fav podcast! I've been learning a lot about Baloch culture, language, and traditions for a substack essay I've been working on and I've generally noticed there is a lot of misinformation out there. Finding Halima's podcast & show has been so heartwarming and educational. Please follow her on all platforms and support her work.
Content: Baloch Cha Series
Support creator: Follow Halima Hossinzehi
Virtual Classroom/Workshops: I attended a writing workshop with Bushra Rehman !! This was a pretty surreal moment for 2 main reasons 1) I literally love her writing and my first exclusive video on bindery is me geeking out about her book. 2) I haven't been in a writing workshop in 4 years. It was so cathartic. I have been avoiding the subject of grief for a really long time and this brought a lot to the surface! I’ll be journaling about this for weeks. The ticket & book sales raised over $300 for the PCRF which is honestly incredible. I love authors that are engaged & meeting the current social climate by using their skills & resources for Palestine. I got a signed copy at the end of the class & ofc a cute pic with the author ♡
Support writer: Bushra Rehman
On July 5th, 1962 Algeria declared their independence after 132 years of French colonialism. This virtual open classroom features scholars from Haiti, Palestine, Puerto Rico, and Vietnam coming together to put that struggle against colonial powers into a Palestinian perspective. Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi is a Palestinian educator who taught this class at SFSU until it was banned. I wasn’t able to take it during my time at SFSU and I’m glad to see this open classroom style come around in response to such blatant censorship. Watch this if you want to learn more, and definitely take out a notebook.
Content: The Wretched of the Earth Talk Back: Vietnam, Algeria, Spirit of '68 & Decolonizing The Curriculum
It’s been hard to focus on reading or watching tv these days, but I find that consuming various forms of media that exercise different parts of my brain has been way more stimulating these days.
I’ll do another one of these at the end of August when I’m back from a social media hiatus.
If you’d like to support me further while I’m gone, consider buying one of the books I’ve linked below (I get a portion of the commission), upgrading your tier, or leaving me a tip on kofi ♡
See you soon !