15 Must-Read New Queer Books Out in October 2024

Out October 8, 2024

You might recognize Freya Marske from the Last Binding Series (starting with A Marvellous Light). This low fantasy bodyguard romance is about Matti, who has hired a swordsman to be his best man for his arranged marriage. Otherwise, a sword challenge at his wedding could upend his plans for securing his family’s financial stability. All he can afford, though, is con artist Luca. In the lead-up to the wedding, they are drawn into the intrigue and sabotage that put Matti’s family in danger of ruin, and Luca’s secrets come out. The reviews say this is both “deliciously cozy and blisteringly hot.”

Out October 15, 2024

Cozy fantasy fans will want to pick up this hopeful story about a grieving witch at a magical arboretum. Saika has lost her connection to her powers ever since her sister died. Now, she’s been offered a job as a caretaker at a magical arboretum by the cardigan-wearing mythical beast named Frank. She’s secretly using a fragment of a star to cast the spells needed for her job. Slowly, she grows closer to the menagerie of staff members — including cherubs, elves, and half-witches — and begins to heal through community.

Out October 1, 2024

From the author of the Singing Hills Cycle, Chosen and the Beautiful, and Siren Queen, among others, comes a new standalone fantasy book about a demon, an angel, and a city. Vitrine is a demon who has, for generations, nurtured the city of Azril into a dazzling, riotous, and hedonistic place. Then, the angels descend and destroy it all. In her rage and grief, Vitrine captures one of the angels and curses them to be bound to her. Unexpectedly, as she mourns her dead and begins to rebuild, she and the angel grow closer. Then war threatens to raze the city once again, and Vitrine and her angel have to decide whether it’s worth saving. This is supposed to be a beautifully written story about grief and resilience as well as a queer love story. I have a feeling this book is going to be some readers’ new obsession: there’s something about an angel and demon queer love story!

Out October 1, 2024

After achieving long-distance space travel, Home worlds discovered something unsettling: a graveyard of dead civilizations, all leveled by some mysterious cataclysmic event that could come for them next. Scout is an Archivist who searches the remains of these civilizations for anything useful, like salvageable technology. During an excavation, they find a thousands-year-old message from an alien who witnessed it, and now they have to race to save what’s left of the universe — along with their brother as well as their cat, Pumpkin.

Out October 15, 2024

I promised you horror, and here’s a trans gothic horror novel that has been getting a ton of buzz. In the beach town of Cape Morning, trans woman Ivory Sloan finds a body while out for a morning swim. The body is Cabrina Brite, a trans daughter of a local politician. Ivory feels haunted by this discovery (literally), so she investigates the death, which leads to her and her friends discovering more unsettling paranormal occurrences. The reviews say this is a chilling story that’s also about “feminist rage, queer love, and trans resistance.”

Out October 1, 2024

I talk about this one in-depth on today’s episode of the All the Books podcast, but the short version is that this is a queer, trans haunted house story that is more about the aftermath of being haunted — and real-life horrors — than it is about the setting. Check out the content warnings, including child sexual abuse, before picking this one up, but it’s a powerfully written, unsettling, and unforgettable read that I cannot get out of my head.

Out October 29, 2024

Andrew and Thomas bond over their shared love of twisted fairytale stories, which Andrew writes endlessly. But then Thomas begins acting strangely, showing up with blood on his clothes. Andrew discovers he’s been battling monsters at night, the same monsters that Andrew invented in his stories and Thomas drew. The two of them battle every night to stop the monsters from hurting anyone else, which brings them even closer, into an obsessive, toxic relationship. But the monsters are getting stronger, and Andrew begins to wonder if they only way to stop them is to kill their creator.

Out October 1, 2024

Here’s another one you can hear about on All the Books! Jasmine Garza has been haunted for years by a ghost determined to ruin her life. At her new school, she joins the GSA and makes friends with Bea and Jorge, soon learning that they call the GSA the Gay Supernatural Alliance, and they want to help her with her haunting. This is a book about ghosts, but it’s not very scary, so it’s perfect for middle grade readers who aren’t big horror fans. Instead, it’s about grief and the relationships between Jasmine and her friends and family. This has a ton of queer characters, including everyone in the GSA (naturally) as well as Jasmine’s Mami, her aunt, and a nonbinary teacher.

Out October 1, 2024

Finally, this coffee table book explores drag in 15 countries across the world, from France to Japan to Brazil. This “deep dive into drag’s meteoric rise to the mainstream” is accompanied by historical and contemporary photographs, and it includes a foreword by Canada’s Drag Race judge Brooke Lynn Hytes.