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The Gilda Stories: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition

Jewelle Gomez

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

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Recommended by Reese Witherspoon's Book Club!

Voted One of Book Riot's Most Influential Queer Books & Horror Novels of All Time!

Before Buffy, before Twilight, before Octavia Butler’s Fledgling, there was The Gilda Stories, Jewelle Gomez’s sexy vampire novel. This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who “shares the blood” by two women there, Gilda spends the next two hundred years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.

“The Gilda Stories is groundbreaking not just for the wild lives it portrays, but for how it portrays them—communally, unapologetically, roaming fiercely over space and time.” —Emma Donoghue, author of Room

“Jewelle Gomez sees right into the heart. This is a book to give to those you want most to find their own strength.” —Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out Of Carolina

Jewelle Gomez is a writer, activist, and the author of many books including Forty-Three Septembers, Don't Explain, The Lipstick Papers, Flamingoes and Bears, and Oral Tradition. The Gilda Stories was the recipient of two Lambda Literary Awards and was adapted for the stage by the Urban Bush Women theater company in thirteen United States cities.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs was named one of UTNE Reader's 50 Visionaries Transforming the World, a Reproductive Reality Check Shero, a Black Woman Rising nominee, and was awarded one of the first-ever “Too Sexy for 501c3” trophies. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

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Posts about this title from Wanderland Reads

Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Apr 7 2025

Queer Books by Indigenous Authors

📚✨ Let's get into this list of Indigenous queer books! These stories not only celebrate diverse identities but also challenge cultural narratives and promote understanding. By reading these voices, we honor their experiences and enrich our own perspectives.

Let's uplift and amplify Indigenous queer narratives together! ❤️🌈

No one is illegal on stolen land. I post this from Mánu: Yį Įsuwą (Catawba) Territory and Lumbee Land

#IndigenousLiterature #QueerVoices #BookRecommendations #Queerlit #readtherainbow #wanderlandreads

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Jun 19 2025

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Hi there party people and disco dancers,\ \ Happy Juneteenth to those who celebrate! We don’t have this in the UK (I celebrate Trinidad Emancipation Day in August), but I wanted to share some books by Black American authors anyway.\ \ Here are 3 Black US books I rarely see on social media:\ \ Love in the Age of Dragons by Fatima R. Henson\ \ \ \ In this YA post apocalyptic novel, the world has been overrun by dragons, and humans have fled underground. A Black teenage girl is determined to save her sick mentor, and so braves a trip to the surface to find medicine…\ \ This is a lot more about survival and inter-personal drama than it is about dragons, as most of the action takes place underground, but it’s a great, tense read. Perfect for post-apocalyptic sci fi fans.\ \ A Heart to Hold by Sula Sullivan\ \ \ \ In this Snow White retelling, a curvy brewer with seven brothers meets and falls for a non-binary newcomer to the town, naked Apple. But they may be hiding a secret.\ \ This is so sweet! A cosy fantasy novella set in an all-Black fantasy world with elements of the American South.\ \ The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez\ \ \ \ This is a lesbian novel about a woman who escapes slavery, gets turned into a vampire and then lives the next 200 years determined to build lasting friendships and safe Black, queer communities amidst the turmoil of a changing world. Written in the 80s, it’s a brilliant book that swept me away when I read it a few years ago.\ \ With love,\ \ Disco x\ \ Join for free or login

Diverse Discoveries: Happy Juneteenth!

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Wanderland Reads\ \ Sayer\ \ • Apr 7 2025

Queer Books by Indigenous Authors

Let's uplift and amplify Indigenous queer narratives together! ❤️🌈

No one is illegal on stolen land. I post this from Mánu: Yį Įsuwą (Catawba) Territory and Lumbee Land

#IndigenousLiterature #QueerVoices #BookRecommendations #Queerlit #readtherainbow #wanderlandreads

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Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 11 2025

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Black Books I Rarely See Recommended on TikTok

Have you read any of these? #booktok #blackbooktok #blackbooks #blackbooktoker #blackhistorymonth

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Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 11 2025

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12 Black Fantasy Book Recommendations

Repost for BHM! Books listed: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko The Black God’s Drums by P.Djeli Clark Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron The Monsters We Defy by L. Penelope Legendborn by Tracy Deonn The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson The Final Strife by Saara el-Arifi Faebound by Saara el-Arifi Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye (only one I haven’t read yet!) #booktok #blackbooktok #blackbooks #fantasy #blackhistorymonth

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Sapph-Lit\ \ Nina\ \ • Feb 10 2025

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Happy Black History Month from Sapph-Lit 💗

Remember that Black history is also American history, it doesn’t stop & start in just one month. These books are for every month of every year! Read up, open your purse, and buy titles you’re interested in from indie bookstores 🫡✨

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