Tomorrow is the first day of Pride month so we would like to celebrate our books with queer rep (which is… most of them!). If you’re still searching for something to read, you can check out our recent releases in queer horror, fantasy and romance.
Queer horror
There are a few titles of queer horror we have to offer, from a free story to a whole collection.
Of Monsters and Dogs, by Antonija Meznaric
Of Monsters and Dogs is a free short story you can read here, on our site. This sapphic horror story has an opposite of the meet cute—it’s more of a meet with… a lot of blood.
During a completely ordinary night walk with a dog in their park, Danijela suddenly hears a shriek. Rushing to help, she meets a young woman who was attacked by a vicious doghead – a violent creature from local folklore that shouldn’t have been anywhere near their hometown. But it hurt Nana’s dog, so now she’s ready to get some revenge on. And Danijela can’t very well leave her to deal with a dangerous supernatural beast on her own…
CW: animal death (offscreen) and gore.
The Gentleman, by Vesna Kurilic
The Gentleman is a short story in which our geeky narrator enjoys some time on a sci-fi convention. What was supposed to be a fun cosplay show soon turns into a bloody affair when he ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time… the toilets.
Short and fun, this gay steampunk horror romance story is available here.
CW: blood and gore.
What do Nightmares Dream of, by Antonija Meznaric
What do Nightmares Dream of is a sapphic horror comedy novella. Sanja is a tired teacher who finally bought an apartment—a place to call her own, away from her abusive grandmother. She only had to get indebted to the bank for the next thirty years, which turns out not so great when she learns she’s not alone there.
She’s ended up with a supernatural roommate—one hellbent on playing around with her nightmares. In a world that doesn’t believe in magic, it’s up to Sanja to find a way to deal with the creature, before it sucks her dry.
You can expect:
- awkward lesbian flirting
- an exasperate priest (he just wants to do some illegal exorcism, okay)
- creepy imagery
- hunger
- Slavic folklore
- loneliness, depression, anxiety and existential dread.
CW: mention of suicide, mention of child abuse.
This novella is available as an ebook and a paperback.
Mistress of Geese, by Antonija Meznaric
Mistress of Geese is a collection of queer folk horror tales about isolation, loneliness, destructive powers of nature, magic and creatures lurking in the dark.
This collection contains five novelletes, set in remote areas of Croatia, inspired mostly by Croatian/Slavic folklore.
You can expect everything from trans women, lonely sapphics to wlw/mlm solidarity, all of them trying to survive creepy cults with their “old ways”, disturbing events and monsters. You can check blurbs for individual stories here.
CW: everything you could expect from a folk horror; from animal death, gore and violence to body horror.
Get this collection before the geese get to you.
Queer Fantasy Romance
And now on some lighter topics, we also have a few titles for those interested in romance, fantasy and suspense!
Ranger Paraversum is a queer romantic suspense fantasy series set in an alternate World War II aftermath, with some parallel universes, bountiful happy queers, world hopping and murder!
In Johnny’s Girls we meet Lina—an apprentice cartographer who works for a secret society that holds the keys to the multiverse. In her world, fighting has just ended in the City of Rijeka and WW II is finally coming to an end. But before she gets to celebrate, a visitor from another world, another Rijeka, comes looking for her in search of help. Because the visitor, Karol, needs to find out what happened to a missing colleague, but doesn’t trust anyone else with the task than, quite literally, herself—her otherworldly doppelgänger.
Lina follows Karol to a golden version of Rijeka set in a world where the World Wars never happened. Even though everything is shiny, there’s still a darkness lurking below. As the two women team up, they will soon discover there’s more to each other than the surface likeness which the eye can see—making this, unfortunately, a matter for the heart to resolve.
This steamy dieselpunk with vintage lesbians will try to answer a complex question: could you fall in love with someone who looks just like you?
CW: suicide.
Set in the aftermath of Johnny’s Girls, we follow new adventures of Lina and Karol, this time in Lina’s world. In a newly freed Rijeka problems are starting to brew. New governments, new leaders and, on top of it all, a new murder; this time in a very old place filled with some old friends. Tensions, suspense and romance are all tangled in this fast paced LGBTQ+ alternative history murder mystery novel. You can get it here.
Freddie and Ivan go Ice Skating Together is a standalone gay romantic suspense novella, set in an alternative mid-twentieth century, right between Johnny’s Girls and Girls in Black, that can be read and enjoyed without knowledge of the main novels.
Freddie and Ivan went on a holiday retreat, hoping for some romantic fun and a bit of ice skating. They even packed Freddie’s drag armoire, Madame Frederique’s wardrobe, and left Ivan’s mysterious day job at home, trying to distance themselves from the gruesome affair of Freddie’s last party.
But they’re soon interrupted with a very cold murder in the middle of the snow-covered mountain, and end up roped into trying to find out who could’ve done something so awful.
You can find this holigay murder novella here.
If you check something out we’d like to hear from you. Leave us a comment on social media or Goodreads.
Shtriga Books 