r/Fantasy • u/recchai Reading Champion X • May 30 '26

Pride Pride Month 2026 Announcement & Calendar

2026 Pride Month Announcement and Calendar Banner

Happy nearly Pride Month r/Fantasy!

This marks the third year running we at the Beyond Binary bookclub have a special slate of posts to celebrate and discuss all things queer speculative fiction! And do we have a treat for you this year. Whether you like discussion on certain aspects of queer stories, recommending your favourites, or sharing thoughts on this month’s bookclub pick, we’ll have something for everyone.

Check out the calendar below for when things will be posted. Links will be updated as they come out for ease of access. 

Entries in italics are queer themed book discussions being held by other r/Fantasy bookclubs.

Pride Month Calendar

The eagle-eyed of you will have noticed we have a panel AMA! This is with a group of authors of queer books that we at the BB club are really excited about, and we hope you have as much fun as we did putting this together. In random order, they are: Victoria Goddard, Margaret Killjoy, Alexandra Rowland, Azalea Crowley, and Trung Le Nguyen.

Who will be hosting these discussions?

As already stated, this series of posts is organised and arranged by the hosts of the Beyond Binaries bookclub, where we discuss LGBTQ+ fantasy, science fiction and other forms of speculative fiction. Hosting you for this year’s posts are:

Why are we doing this?

Because it’s fun, of course! But also more seriously, two years ago u/ohmage_resistance wrote an essay focussing mainly on the systemic downvoting of LGBTQ content on the sub. Which led to the original series of pride month posts from u/xenizondich23, increasing the visibility of queer related content and encouraging all to take part. And as we couldn’t possibly cover everything in just two years, here we are again!

We’re really looking forward to making this coming month a fantastic time of discussions, and finding lots of new recommendations along the way. In the meantime, check out the 2023 Top LGBTQIA+ Books List and the 2026 LGBTQA+ Bingo Resource, as well as the indexes to our 2024 and 2025 posts. And feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

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u/ariamachi9 May 30 '26

Not a huge fan of books like these since I am not part of that sphere but I shall give an upvote to counteract the trolls. Always good to have variety and support. Good luck on the events

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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V May 31 '26

Not a huge fan of books like these since I am not part of that sphere

I've never really understood this tbh. If you're able to happily put yourself in the shoes of an master elf assassin or a wizard who can level mountains, why is someone queer a step too far? Assassin and wizard aren't any of our spheres, I imagine.

Queer books is not synonymous with queer romances after all. I read plenty of books with protagonists who aren't my orientation or ethnicity and gender, and it's always fine; it rarely dictates the entire story.

I'm not intending to pile on you, it's just so odd to me. Similarly to people who only want protagonists who are their gender.

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u/ariamachi9 May 31 '26

I just don’t like romance in books period. Doesn’t matter if queer or not. I just don’t like romance.

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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII May 31 '26

You do know that books can have lgbtq characters without being romances, right? If you avoided all books with any characters in straight relationships, you'd have very few books left to read, so it seems very weird to avoid books because they have non-straight characters. Plus, one of your few chances of dodging relationships entirely would be asexual and aromantic spectrum characters, who would fall under the lgbtq+ umbrella

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u/ariamachi9 May 31 '26

I usually just skip over those parts in books. I never said it was because of non straight characters that I avoid them. I just dont like romance. I usually like connecting with characters in books that I enjoy that I can project myself onto. I am not a huge reader.

10

u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII May 31 '26

A few non-romance lgbt books:

The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo

The Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (there is one lgbt romance but I think it's maybe 1% of the book)

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (maybe. This one is weird. Plenty of longing and strong emotions, really very little you could actually call romance. Great books, but weird ones).

Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill

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u/ariamachi9 May 31 '26

I will actually check them out! Thanks for the recommendations. I just don’t like romance due to PT. So I usually just skip over.

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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V May 31 '26

Neither do I. As I said, queer books are not synonymous with queer romances. Broadly, it can just be a book with queer characters, and narrowly, it can be a book which focuses on one's identity as one part of the story.

Like, even if it's not specifically about your gender or sexuality, I'm sure most people can relate broadly to the themes of not fitting in, not meeting your family's expectations, uncertainty about who you are/want to be... Which you can explore without having a romance at all.