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carsonsbackwardscap · 4 months

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What's the word again?

GIF by @storiesofsvu2-0

Alex Blake (x reader?) Summary: Alex finds out asexuality is a thing! Word Count: 1.818

author's note: asexual!Alex is my new roman empire. first time writting Alex so I'd really like to read your thoughts! not a lot of romance this time, but ther is some fluff. Alex and reader are sweet and I enjoyed writting this so there might be a ch2 idk.

What’s the word again?

Alex knows how to socialize. She’d learned the rules a long time ago; catalogued and memorized the expected behavior to each specific social situation as she handcrafted her own guidebook to human interactions. Some things changed here and there over the years, but mostly she did fine. Alex Blake knows how to socialize.

That doesn’t mean she has to like it.

She especially dislikes it when it comes to teenagers. Something about that particular age group always has her on edge, as if she’s about to get caught on a lie anytime. She’s not quite sure what she would be lying about, though.

Arguably, social interactions weren’t her strong suit, but she did just fine most of the time. Being so good with words certainly helped. The fact that she stopped caring so much about what other people thought of her helped even better.

She could hold her own with people her age, most of them having grown up on the same social environment and signing off on the same silent agreements of social interactions she unwillingly did. Kids could be unpredictable, but they had a genuine and straight to the point attitude she found easy to bond with, always enjoying her time with the tinny humans who had yet to learn all the unnecessary red tape. But teenagers? She had a tough time being around teenagers when she was one of them.

And it seems it didn’t get any easier now.

Which is why she was currently standing in an empty bathroom, staring blankly at her reflection as she tried to drown out the sounds of the party going on outside.

The university she was teaching at since she left the bureau had organized a week of immersion in the college experience to last year high school students of all over the state. For a week, they were no longer high school kids, but college students. Which might have been a great experience for them, but for Alex? Not so much. This farewell party marks the end of what had to have been the most overwhelming week of her career as a professor.

At least it’s almost over… She thought as she washed her hands one last time before heading back, a task that would’ve been a little bit easier to accomplish if a certain psychology professor had managed to show up on time for once.

Not that Alex had any right being upset about it, she hadn’t exactly told Y/N how important her company was, that she provided a source of safety and familiarity crucial to surviving gatherings like this one. Y/N knew the week had been less than pleasant for Alex, but she didn’t realize her presence had been the one thing keeping Alex afloat on more than one occasion.

“Figured I would find you here…” The teasing but gentle words pulled her from her thoughts.

“Punctual as ever, I see.” She shot back with an amused glint in her eyes, Y/N’s mere presence already brightening her mood.

“Please, you can’t make an entrance if you arrive before everybody else.” As Alex chuckled, Y/N held out her hand. “C’mon, assuming you’ve been here since the start, only about half an hour longer and we can ditch.”

They made their way back to the party and closer to the table filled with snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. As Y/N poured them both a glass of orange juice, Alex whispered, “You don’t have to leave just because I want to, I know you enjoy having them around.”

“Even I have had my fill.” Y/N puts on her most over the top grimace. Alex doesn’t buy it for a second. “But, yeah, they’re pretty fun.”

“How has any of this been fun to you?”

“They are teenagers!” She gestures excitedly to the room. “They are a whole subculture on their own. Then there are subcultures within the subculture…”

“Nerd.” Alex teases, if only to spare her from how cute Y/N looks when she’s starts rambling.

“Said the linguistic professor.”

“Fair enough.”

“It did surprise me that you don’t like them. Sure, to me they’re an endless source of entertainment, but I thought you’d be at least interested. I mean, if you pay attention, you can see it’s almost as if each group has its own vocabulary…”

“Yes, and I understand not one of them.” Alex lets out a nervous laugh as she remembers the countless times she’d felt lost among her temporary students. “I feel really old saying that.”

“You should.” Y/N deadpanned, earning a harmless slap on her shoulder as Alex rolled her eyes and redirected her attention to the group of high school students they were supposed to be interacting with.

Y/N wasn’t wrong, though. Alex did find the diverse ways the teens talk to and about each other rather interesting. It’s just… she would appreciate it a lot better with she didn’t have to participate. A particular incident has been hunting her thoughts for the past couple of days, and it just happened Y/N was one of the best – and only – people she could talk about it with.

“If you’re done judging me…” She sees Y/N mouthing a never, but just rolls her eyes and keeps going, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

She pauses for a second, not sure how to word the question properly. She’s curious but doesn’t want to overstep. Maybe she should have just googled it. Y/N is the kind of person one can ask pretty much anything to, as long as it’s in good faith, she never takes offense. It’s one of the things Alex loves about her. That and how Y/N always knows when to prompt her further and when to wait and give her some time, as she’s doing right now, quietly sipping on her drink as Alex gathers her thoughts.

“Do you know anything about asexuality?” Y/N nods and Alex thinks she might need to give her some context. “I overheard some of the kids talking about it and I am curious as I don’t think I ever heard of it before and I’m pretty familiar with sexual diversity…”

“Yeah, it’s a slightly smaller group within the LGBT+ community. There are nuances to it, but the definition is pretty straight forward, I guess, it’s the lack of sexual attraction to other people.”

She had figured out that much, being a linguistic and all. She doesn’t need a dictionary. She is not sure what she needs. She needs to talk about it, needs to understand. She needs to know what it is about that word that has her feeling like her word is about to crumble.

Alex knows her frustration is misplaced, though, so she tries to communicate better.

“Could you explain it to me a little better? How does that work?”

“Are you asking the psychology professor or the LGBT advocate?” Y/N smiles at her and she feels a bit of tension leave her body.

“Both?” She smiles right back.

“Well… Let’s start with what you already know. Think of asexuality as something separated from homo, bi, hetero… as in it’s not exactly about who you feel attracted to, but about how much or how often. An asexual person would experience less or no sexual attraction regardless of gender. They could feel no sexual attraction at all, they could feel some sexual attraction depending on the context or they could even feel a lot of sexual attraction just not often. Am I making sense?”

“In theory…” The answer slips past her lips without much thought, Y/N looks at her questioning and Alex tries to come up with a better one. “I just didn’t know this was a thing that happened.”

Y/N just hums in agreement.

Isn’t that how everyone feels? It’s what she really means to ask. She is not ready for that answer, even if she already knows it.

Silence falls over them again, but this time the thoughts running around Alex’s mind are darker. The conversation somehow leading her to what felt like a lifetime ago, when she’d first discovered that there were girls who liked girls and that she’d been spending way too much time admiring her best friend’s beautiful eyes. The feeling somehow so similar and yet so different. Terrifying in a whole new way.

“It’s okay, you can ask. It’s you and me.” Y/N’s gentle reassurance snaped her out of that train of thought.

“Is it a condition? As in a psychological disorder?” She didn’t know what answer scared her more.

“No. I mean, it could be resulting of trauma, sure, but then most of our sexual preferences are, to some extent.”

“Fair enough” Alex felt her body relax once again as she decided that the time for spiraling out would come later, now was time for answers. “Psychological explanation, please.”

“Good old sublimation, I suppose. Libido being channeled somewhere else.”

“Simple like that?”

“Simple like that.”

Alex nods and doesn’t say anything for a while. They stand shoulder to shoulder in comfortable silence watching the crowd.

“Has it been half an hour yet?”

She doesn’t miss how Y/N failed to check the clock.

“Yeah. Let’s get you home.”

The ride to Alex’s house was a short and quite one, Alex lost in thoughts as she looked out the window and Y/N more than happy to let her be, well aware there was something deeper about Alex’s “curiosity”.

“Could they fall in love?”

“Of course. Sexual and romantic attraction are two completely different aspects of the human experience. They can be correlated but aren’t necessarily.”

Alex nodded and hummed contemplatively, before turning her head to look at Y/N and giving her a smile.

“If we can have sex with people we don’t love, we can love people we don’t have sex with.” She shrugged. “I just always assumed we all felt the same thing, you know?”

Sensing Alex was in a better mood, Y/N jokes, “I mean, think about it, you go months without seeing your husband and you’re fine. I go one week without sex and I’m crawling up the walls.” Her expression of horror against the very idea making Alex laugh. “We are all different, some of us just like to have words for it.”

Alex is linguistics professor.

Y/N parked in front of Alex’s house and turned to look at her.

“I have a few articles I could send you that might help you understand it all a bit better. Some online blogs as well, could be nice to have a more personal perspective.”

“I would like that, thank you.”

“I’m also here to talk. About anything. Anytime.”

Alex chuckled. Y/N knew her way too well in such a short time.

“Send me those links, will you?” She winked at Y/N, who just shook her head and smiled at Alex’s stubbornness.

Alex all but ran over to her door. She had a lot of reading to do.

#alex blake #criminal minds #alex blake x reader #alex blake fanfiction #alex blake headcanon #asexual alex blake just makes sense #ed tries to writte #trying to get over writers block please help #ace!alex

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ucflibrary · 5 years

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Ready to fly your flag?

Pride Month has arrived! While every day is a time to be proud of your identity and orientation, June is that extra special time for boldly celebrating with and for the LGBTQIA community (yes, there are more than lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender in the queer community). June was chosen to honor the Stonewall Riots which happened in 1969. Like other celebratory months, LGBT Pride Month started as a weeklong series of events and expanded into a full month of festivities.

In honor of Pride Month, UCF Library faculty and staff suggested books, movies and music from the UCF collection that represent a wide array of queer authors and characters. Additional events at UCF in June include “UCF Remembers” which is a week-long series of events to commemorate the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in 2016.

Click on the Keep Reading link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the 30 titles by or about people in the LGBTQIA community suggested by UCF Library employees. These, and additional titles, are also on the Featured Bookshelf display on the second (main) floor next to the bank of two elevators.

(A)sexual directed by Angela Tucker Facing a sex obsessed culture, a mountain of stereotypes and misconceptions, and a lack of social or scientific research, asexuals - people who experience no sexual attraction - struggle to claim their identity. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

A Florida Enchantment directed by Sidney Drew A young woman discovers a seed that can make women act like men and men act like women. She decides to take one, then slips one to her maid and another to her fiancé. The fun begins. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

A Place at the Table: The gay individual in American society by Bruce Bawers At the Lincoln Memorial, on the eve of his inauguration as president, Bill Clinton expressed his hope for a nation in which every American would have "a place at the table." For Bruce Bawer, that vision will become reality only when every gay man and woman becomes a full member of the American family. His book is a passionate plea that we recognize, and celebrate, our common backgrounds and common values - our common humanity. Suggested by Missy Murphey, Research & Information Services

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship -- like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor -- April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world -- everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires -- and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. Suggested by Andrew Hackler, Circulation

Babel-17 by Samuel R Delany Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy’s deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack. For the first time, Babel-17 is published as the author intended with the short novel Empire Star, the tale of Comet Jo, a simple-minded teen thrust into a complex galaxy when he’s entrusted to carry a vital message to a distant world. Spellbinding and smart, both novels are testimony to Delany’s vast and singular talent. Suggested by Mary Lee Gladding, Circulation

Black Wings Beating by Alex London The people of Uztar have long looked to the sky with hope and wonder. Nothing in their world is more revered than the birds of prey and no one more honored than the falconers who call them to their fists. Brysen strives to be a great falconer--while his twin sister, Kylee, rejects her ancient gifts for the sport and wishes to be free of falconry. She's nearly made it out, too, but a war is rolling toward their home in the Six Villages, and no bird or falconer will be safe. Together the twins must journey into the treacherous mountains to trap the Ghost Eagle, the greatest of the Uztari birds and a solitary killer. Brysen goes for the boy he loves and the glory he's long craved, and Kylee to atone for her past and to protect her brother's future. But both are hunted by those who seek one thing: power. Suggested by Mary Lee Gladding, Circulation

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin Giovanni's Room traces one man's struggle with his sexual identity. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself confronting secret desires that jeopardize the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured as he oscillates between the two. Now a classic of gay literature, Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality. Examining the agonizing mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined yet beautifully restrained narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight. Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake Mara and Owen are as close as twins can get, so when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn't know what to think. Can her brother really be guilty of such a violent act? Torn between her family and her sense of right and wrong, Mara feels lost, and it doesn’t help that things are strained with her ex-girlfriend, Charlie. As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie come together in the aftermath of this terrible crime, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits into her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley Sixteen-year-old Solomon has agoraphobia. He hasn't left his house in 3 years. Ambitious Lisa is desperate to get into a top-tier psychology program. And so when Lisa learns about Solomon, she decides to befriend him, cure him, and then write about it for her college application. To earn Solomon's trust, she introduces him to her boyfriend Clark, and starts to reveal her own secrets. But what started as an experiment leads to a real friendship, with all three growing close. But when the truth comes out, what erupts could destroy them all. Funny and heartwarming, Highly Illogical Behavior is a fascinating exploration of what makes us tick, and how the connections between us may be the most important things of all. Suggested by Rich Gause, Research & Information Services

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is the author’s manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him. In these essays, he grows from student to teacher, reader to writer, and reckons with his identities as a son, a gay man, a Korean American, an artist, an activist, a lover, and a friend. He examines some of the most formative experiences of his life and the nation’s history, including his father’s death, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, the jobs that supported his writing—Tarot-reading, bookselling, cater-waiting for William F. Buckley—the writing of his first novel, Edinburgh, and the election of Donald Trump. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan In Other Lands is the exhilarating new book from beloved and bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world ― even if it means giving up your phone. Suggested by Katie Burroughs, Administration

Looking for Lorraine: the radiant and radical life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry Lorraine Hansberry, who died in 1965 at age thirty-four, was, by all accounts, a force of nature. She was also one of the most radical, courageous, and prescient artist-intellectuals of the twentieth century--and one of the least understood. Defined largely by her groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry has been hidden in plain sight for decades. Little of her manifold contributions, her associations, her other writing, or her transgressive nature is known. A prolific and probing artist, she also committed herself passionately to political activism. Hansberry's unflinching dedication to social justice brought her under FBI surveillance in the midst of McCarthyism, when she was barely in her twenties. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Make Trouble by John Waters When John Waters delivered his gleefully subversive advice to the graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015, the speech went viral, in part because it was so brilliantly on point about making a living as a creative person. From an icon of popular culture, here is inspiring advice for artists, graduates, and anyone seeking happiness and success on their own terms. Now we all can enjoy his sly wisdom in a manifesto that reminds us, no matter what field we choose, to embrace chaos, be nosy, and defy outdated critics. Suggested by Seth Dwyer, Circulation

Man Into Woman: an authentic record of a change of sex edited by Niels Hoyer This riveting account of the transformation of the Danish painter Einar Wegener into Lili Elbe is a remarkable journey from man to woman. Einar Wegener was a leading artist in late 1920's Paris. One day his wife Grete asked him to dress as a woman to model for a portrait. It was a shattering event which began a struggle between his public male persona and emergent female self, Lili. Einar was forced into living a double life; enjoying a secret hedonist life as Lili, with Grete and a few trusted friends, whilst suffering in public as Einar, driven to despair and almost to suicide. Doctors, unable to understand his condition, dismissed him as hysterical. Lili eventually forced Einar to face the truth of his being - he was, in fact, a woman. This bizarre situation took an extraordinary turn when it was discovered that his body contained primitive female sex organs. There followed a series of dangerous experimental operations and a confrontation with the conventions of the age until Lili was eventually liberated from Einar - a freedom that carried the ultimate price. Compiled fron Lili's own letters and manuscripts, and those of the people who adored her, Man into Woman is the Genesis of the Gender Revolution. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

Next Year, For Sure: a novel by Zoey Leigh Peterson In this moving and enormously entertaining debut novel, longtime romantic partners Kathryn and Chris experiment with an open relationship and reconsider everything they thought they knew about love. After nine years together, Kathryn and Chris have the sort of relationship most would envy. They speak in the shorthand they have invented, complete one another's sentences, and help each other through every daily and existential dilemma. When Chris tells Kathryn about his feelings for Emily, a vivacious young woman he sees often at the Laundromat, Kathryn encourages her boyfriend to pursue this other woman--certain that her bond with Chris is strong enough to weather a little side dalliance. As Kathryn and Chris stumble into polyamory, Next Year, For Sure tracks the tumultuous, revelatory, and often very funny year that follows. When Chris's romance with Emily grows beyond what anyone anticipated, both Chris and Kathryn are invited into Emily's communal home, where Kathryn will discover new romantic possibilities of her own. In the confusions, passions, and upheavals of their new lives, both Kathryn and Chris will be forced to reconsider their past and what they thought they knew about love. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman As Lillian Faderman writes, there are "no constants with regard to lesbianism," except that lesbians prefer women. In this groundbreaking book, she reclaims the history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America, tracing the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from early networks to more recent diverse lifestyles. She draws from journals, unpublished manuscripts, songs, media accounts, novels, medical literature, pop culture artifacts, and oral histories by lesbians of all ages and backgrounds, uncovering a narrative of uncommon depth and originality. Suggested by Missy Murphey, Research & Information Services

Orlando by Virginia Woolf Orlando, a novel loosely based on the life of Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf's lover and friend, is one of Woolf's most playful and tantalizing works. This edition provides readers with a fully collated and annotated text. A substantial introduction charts the birth of the novel in the romance between Woolf and Sackville-West, and the role it played in the evolution and eventual fading of that romance. Extensive explanatory notes reveal the extent to which the novel is embedded in Woolf's knowledge of Sackville-West, her family history and her writings. Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. He became an advocate for gender equality in science, and later in life responded pointedly to Larry Summers's speculation that women were innately unsuited to be scientists. Privileged white men, Barres writes, “miss the basic point that in the face of negative stereotyping, talented women will not be recognized.” At Stanford, Barres made important discoveries about glia, the most numerous cells in the brain, and he describes some of his work. “The most rewarding part of his job,” however, was mentoring young scientists. That, and his advocacy for women and transgender scientists, ensures his legacy. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara A gritty and gorgeous debut that follows a cast of gay and transgender club kids navigating the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s and ’90s, inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary “Paris Is Burning”. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby―whom Nick had idolized at Oxford―and Catherine, who is highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions. As the boom years of the eighties unfold, Nick, an innocent in the world of politics and money, finds his life altered by the rising fortunes of this glamorous family. His two vividly contrasting love affairs, one with a young black clerk and one with a Lebanese millionaire, dramatize the dangers and rewards of his own private pursuit of beauty, a pursuit as compelling to Nick as the desire for power and riches among his friends. Richly textured, emotionally charged, disarmingly comic, this is a major work by one of our finest writers. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut that was named to numerous best of the year lists. When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

The Path to Gay Rights: how activism and coming out changed public opinion by Jeremiah J. Garretson The Path to Gay Rights is the first social science analysis of how and why the LGBTQ movement achieved its most unexpected victory---transforming gay people from a despised group of social deviants into a minority worthy of rights and protections in the eyes of most Americans. The book weaves together a narrative of LGBTQ history with new findings from the field of political psychology to provide an understanding of how social movements affect mass attitudes in the United States and globally. Suggested by Missy Murphey, Research & Information Services

The Polyamorists Next Door: inside multiple-partner relationships and families by Elisabeth Sheff The Polyamorists Next Door introduces polyamorous families, in which people are free to pursue emotional, romantic, and sexual relationships with multiple people at the same time, openly and with support from their partners, sometimes forming multi-partner relationships, or other arrangements that allow for emotional and sexual freedom within the family system. In colorful and moving details, this book explores how polyamorous relationships come to be, grow and change, manage the ins and outs of daily family life, and cope with the challenges they face both within their families and from society at large. Using polyamoristsown words, Dr. Elisabeth Sheff examines polyamorous households and reveals their advantages, disadvantages, and the daily lives of those living in them. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

The Price of Salt by Claire Morgan The Price of Salt is the famous lesbian love story by Patricia Highsmith, written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. The author became notorious due to the story's latent lesbian content and happy ending, the latter having been unprecedented in homosexual fiction. Highsmith recalled that the novel was inspired by a mysterious woman she happened across in a shop and briefly stalked. Because of the happy ending (or at least an ending with the possibility of happiness) which defied the lesbian pulp formula and because of the unconventional characters that defied stereotypes about homosexuality. The book fell out of print but was re-issued and lives on today as a pioneering work of lesbian romance. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword, and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future -- and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Suggested by Rebecca Hawk, Circulation

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall 'As a man loved a woman, that was how I loved...It was good, good, good...' Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parents - a fencer, a horse rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions. The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity when published in 1928. It became an international bestseller, and for decades was the single most famous lesbian novel. It has influenced how love between women is understood, for the twentieth century and beyond. Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson From the author of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes an “equal parts sarcastic and profound” novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Suggested by Rich Gause, Research & Information Services

We Who Are About To... by Joanna Russ Elegant and electric, We Who Are About To... brings us face to face with our basic assumptions about our will to live. While most of the stranded tourists decide to defy the odds and insist on colonizing the planet and creating life, the narrator decides to practice the art of dying. When she is threatened with compulsory reproduction, she defends herself with lethal force. Originally published in 1977, this is one of the most subtle, complex, and exciting science fiction novels ever written about the attempt to survive a hostile alien environment. It is characteristic of Russ’s genius that such a readable novel is also one of her most intellectually intricate. Suggested by Mary Lee Gladding, Circulation

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera Critically acclaimed and bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera combine their talents in this smart, funny, heartfelt collaboration about two very different boys who can’t decide if the universe is pushing them together—or pulling them apart. ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it. BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. Suggested by Rich Gause, Research & Information Services

#lgbtqia+#lgbtq+ pride #featured bookshelf #ucf library #ucflibrary #booklr #reading suggestions

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