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As Jess Plummer discusses in her history of vampires in comics, our bloodsucking f(r)iends were verboten for quite some time. They and other supernatural creatures, like werewolves and zombies, were deemed too gruesome for children’s wee brains to handle. (Nowadays, our self-appointed moral guardians have decided to “protect” the kids from even scarier things, like human rights and queer people.) Given this squeamishness, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the earliest example in this article is from the 1980s....

This is a true story. When An American Marriage by Tayari Jones first came out, my book club discussed it. I was the one who suggested the book for my book club, actually. I read the book. I loved it. I was excited about discussing it with my book club friends. Then I got called into work last minute and I wasn’t able to go to the meeting. So I never got to talk about An American Marriage with anyone else, and that’s bothered me for a while....

Of course, everyone will be anticipating weekly drops from the big publishers like Marvel and DC Comics but there are some dope indie comics that are releasing in September as well. There are even some successful indie projects that were picked up by publishers like Scout Comics and Dark Horse. It was hard to pick only 10 comics because I’m excited by quite a few comics like Image’s Ant #1, Image’s Killadelphia #17, Marvel’s Ironman #12 (and I’m not even reading Ironman but the cover is sick AF) and VIZ Media’s Mao....

Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë are three Victorian authors with whom you’re probably already somewhat familiar. You probably know Charlotte Brontë and her novel Jane Eyre. And yes, you’ve definitely heard of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Perhaps you’ve perused Anne Brontë’s works, like Agnes Grey. Heck, you might even know about their artist brother Branwell Brontë. But the Brontë family’s life was so rich and fascinating that there’s probably plenty about literature’s most interesting family that you don’t yet know....

Nine of these free books are also translated works, and I know I’ve been working on reading more books in translation, so this is a great opportunity to try some new authors and voices. I don’t know about you, but I’m about to download every single one of these for my library. You can download them for free until April 24, 2021, so run, don’t walk! Looking for more works in translation?...

Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love Julián is a Mermaid, is a perfect, magical, and beautiful book. I couldn’t love it more if I tried and I believe it should be on the bookshelf of every child in these United States. Julián is a little boy in love with mermaids. He wants to be one, he dresses up as one, and on one special day, his abuela shows him where to find them....

As stated on their website, Libro.fm “encourages more people to read while supporting local, independent bookstores.” They share their profits with their independent bookstore partners. So instead of supporting large corporations with your audiobook purchases, you can support your local bookstore. Libro.fm offers a monthly subscription, which gives you a credit for one audiobook per month and discounts on other titles. You can also give a subscription or specific audiobook titles to others, making it the perfect gift for all occasions....

If reading this resonates with your soul (there should be book-shaped fireworks going off in your head), then no worries: here are ten resources to help you keep track of upcoming YA books. – GIPHY 1. Book Riot Lists Luckily for all of us, writers at Book Riot often publish lists of new YA books. One such source of goodness is editor Kelly Jensen. Check out two of her most recent roundups for July–September and October–December new YA releases....

As we all adapt to a new “normal” in the face of global lockdowns, it’s only natural that many of us might be feeling anxious. There’s a lot to worry about, after all, including the possibility of losing our loved ones or of becoming ill ourselves. Some are concerned about job and housing security; others aren’t faring well in newfound loneliness. Many cannot help but wonder when this will all end; and what will be forever changed when it does....

Poetry can be a wonderful medium to live your truth in this heteronormative world. Here are some glorious queer poets performing this cathartic form of self expression. Also check out 14 Gorgeous Poems Written And Performed By Poets Of Color and Gothic Poems: 16 Creators Embrace The Somber Side Of Art. “My straight friends tease mebecause all my best friendsare my ex loves, but a wise heart told meit’s the most tender partof queerness—how we’ve all lost so much family when we find people we call family, we’ll do almost anything to not let go....

Gillian Flynn has published three fantastic thrillers and, in my view, sharpened her craft for building tension with each successive novel. Flynn demonstrated her aptitude for leading up to a shocking ending in her first book, Sharp Objects. Next she constructed two compelling timelines in Dark Places that intersect at the exact right moment. And then she pulled several punches with the impactful and attention-demanding marriage story of Gone Girl....

This list highlights 11 nonfiction books about Victorian crime and the legendary criminals who were among the era’s most infamous celebrities. Read a few of these, grab a time machine, and then you, too, can do crime like a Victorian. (Writer’s Note: Nonfiction about the Victorian era is dominated by white authors, and so is this list. Hopefully this will change soon. It would be great to read about this wide-ranging topic from a non-white perspective!...

For this article, I consulted Dr. David Dittman, who has a PhD in Computer Science with a focus on machine learning applications and biology (1). He also teaches data analytics, data visualization, and machine learning, and therefore we are picking books with an instructional component. Machine learning is done through computers, so some knowledge of programming may be required. The most common programming languages are R and Python. If you’d like to learn more about basic programming and languages, check out our article on 21 Computer Science Books (2)....

With trans rights under attack in the U.S. — and marriage equality edging closer to the chopping block — we owe it to ourselves as readers to do the best we can by queer and trans people of all ages. Now, more than ever, it’s time to throw our money and muscle behind queer and trans authors — particularly those who are less well known, and therefore have less career security....

Below I’ve listed some excellent Asian and AAPI historical fiction for middle grade readers. Not only do these titles make history come alive, but they also bridge gaps between cultures and help diverse readers understand their own family’s backstory in their countries of origin. Sometimes the backstory involves war or political instability. In those cases, it can be a tough but life-changing realization when a young reader makes that connection with their family or their people’s history for the first time....

That’s where these queer memoirs come in. It’s nice to hear that you are not alone, echoing through the years and across pages. And let me say that again: you are not alone. Someone has had experiences like yours, someone has felt the same way as you. These books confirm that. When the loneliness starts to get a little heavy, when you start to see women in your yellow wallpaper, when your experiences are starting to feel like they’re being cookie cuttered, pick one of these up: queer memoirs from individuals from multiple parts of the queer identity and various backgrounds....

The fact is that nearly eight years have gone by since the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,was published. That’s a long time to go without a series that grabs your attention and makes you feel like you’re a part of a whole other world. While I’m not sure that any series will ever capture our imaginations in quite the same way, we here at the Riot put together a little list of books and series that have helped us fill the Hagrid-sized hole in our hearts....

It’s just a game – Never Have I Ever… But what if you had? What if it was something so bad, so shameful, you’d do anything to keep it a secret? What if your worst enemy knew – and was determined to expose you? How far would you go to protect yourself? Amy is about to find out that in this game, even winning can be deadly. Never Have I Ever pits Amy against Roux in a game of cat and mouse as each fights to maintain the lives that mean everything to them....

Once upon a time, authors like Ann Allen Shockley and E. Lynn Harris offered insightful looks into the Black queer experience of their day, sometimes letting their characters fall in love, always making them fight for their right to express that love and keep it. Sometimes, that last bit didn’t happen, other times it did — at least until the sequel. As the decades passed, and romance became a bigger machine under both the traditional and independent umbrellas, we got tiny hints of romance here and there featuring queer Black characters, especially when it comes to actual BLACK Black romance — romance in which everyone involved is Black, instead of interracial romance....

Sylvia Plath is one of the most celebrated voices in 20th century American literature. She published two works in her lifetime. Her debut poetry collection was 1960’s The Colossus and Other Poems. The other, her novel The Bell Jar, has become a staple in English literature curricula. She died by suicide in 1963 at age 30. Plath’s second volume of poetry, Ariel, published posthumously and edited by her estranged husband Ted Hughes, received wide acclaim....