Like last year, the Asylum ladies are sharing their top 10 reads of 2021 in a sequence of 3 posts. Today Arina closes the curtain on this spotlight. You’ll notice some of these books weren’t actual 2021 releases, as the only rule we had for our top reads was that we had to have read them in 2021, regardless of their release date. Because it’s never too late to discover a favorite or a genre-behemoth you are just now learning to love.
Today we welcome Matt Doyle to the blog, speaking on out-of-the-box, mixed media writing formats. If you love peeking behind the curtain of a writer’s mind as much as we do, then get comfortable and read the fascinating details about Ailuros, Matt’s upcoming book.
Alas, June comes to an end, another month flew by and we couldn’t have asked the gods for a better post to wrap up an awesome month. If that title didn’t get you then all hope eludes you.
Closing the curtain on Pride Month (though, stay tuned—this isn’t it for Pride Nights!), author Lyra Wolf dives into Loki’s queerness, which she explored in her fantasy series The Nine Worlds Rising.
As we near the end of the month, we look back in gratitude to the authors who’ve made Pride Nights at Queen’s possible. Looking back is as much a part of Pride as looking forward, but in our struggle to build a better future, we make the mistake of shunning the hurtful past, disdaining those who pave the way for our liberation. Often, in our ignorance and fear, we forget them. Today, we remember them.
Pride Nights at Queen’s welcomes Bjørn Larssen, with a fantastic guest post about his experiences of both the past, present, and future of queer.
There’s only one universal truth about Pride: it’s not the same for everyone. It can be joyful, terrifying, messy, none, both, all of the above. Most of all, whatever Pride is to you, it’s yours. And whatever yours is, it’s got a place in the community. Day 5 of Pride Nights at Queen’s is proud to celebrate that, proud to celebrate the people who make our community something immense, something ours. Read what guest Krystle Matar has to share, and don’t forget to check out her awesome new release, Legacy of the Brightwash!
Pride was never about labels nor an obligation to define oneself. In the age of the internet, where everything and everyone is connected and boundaries are more often than not violently trespassed, it is sometimes easy to let ourselves forget that. I hope today’s Pride Nights at Queen’s post, written by author C.M. Caplan, helps you realize the vastness of the queer experience, and somehow inspires you, whether you relate to it or not, to uphold the tenets of Pride: multitude, acceptance —especially— of the unfamiliar, respect.
Video games, anime, and cat boys. Who doesn’t love them? (If you don’t, get outta here! Obviously just kidding but I don’t trust you. Again, kidding. We all deserve to have bad taste once in a while and I respect you for that). Day three of Pride Nights at Queen’s welcomes Brittany M. Willows, author, illustrator, and thus, overall badass. Read our chat to find more about Bloody Spade, Brittany’s upcoming book, and the inspirations behind it.
Day two of Pride Nights at Queen’s is proud (ba dum tss) to present our first interview. Author of intriguing historical fiction, Karen Heenan visits the Asylum to talk about her Tudor Court series, law and sexuality in the 16th century and related research, and, of course, the mischievous but utterly adorable companions/spawns of hell we humans like to call cats.
Today we welcome our first guest authors in the Asylum for PRIDE NIGHTS AT QUEEN’S, Marian L Thorpe and Bjørn Larssen, to talk about writing queer people, courage, but most importantly, the multitude represented by this one word.
Arina reviews Marina Lostetter’s dark fantasy debut that commingles humanity, gods, and monsters. The Helm of Midnight is a thrilling grimdark mystery ripe with questions of morality.