Ennis Rook Bashe

A siren song of queerness, disability, and myth, these poems reinvent love, life, and death. BEAUTIFUL MALADY is an exploration of pain, weaving speculative poems about fairy tales, folklore, fantasy, and the supernatural with the reality of chronic illness and disability. Ennis Rook Bashe deftly creates a world where the broken body is beautiful.

In a world where a country of dragon-riders is at war with their fascist neighbors, Sely and their red dragon Llyr are one of only two rider and dragon pairs who have the ability to control the element of water. The other rider with a water dragon, Andreas, is the most magnetic, irritating, unpredictable person that Sely has ever known. Xe’s infuriatingly beautiful, too. And the two of them have nothing in common... except how they walk back to the paddocks together every afternoon, mentor younger students together, work together to take care of their dragons, playfully argue about academics, and look after each other when times are tough. Llyr has recently mated with another dragon in secret. Sely doesn’t know who, but they know it couldn’t be Andreas’s pink dragon Periwinkle. Anyone except Andreas, because Llyr knows exactly how they feel about xer. Except even Sely isn’t too sure what their complicated feelings for Andreas truly are. Then an enemy scouting party sets fire to the forest- and Sely, Andreas, and their dragons are sent on a high-stakes mission together... Featuring two nonbinary leads who can't admit they like each other, mutual pining, and adorable dragons matchmaking!

Vessel is a monster living in a dimension-hopping dungeon where his only solace is mercy-killing human prisoners. When one of these prisoners leaves Vessel a diary about his life as a monster hunter, Vessel imagines a new future for himself and takes on a human identity in an attempt to survive. Rescued by married monster hunters, Rhys and Sera, Vessel quickly finds himself overwhelmed by his secret, by the demands of pretending to be human, and by the intensity of falling unexpectedly in love with the pair. But if Rhys and Sera find out the truth, Vessel knows heartbreak won't be the the worst thing he'll face.... This book features a trans character in a setting where being trans is no big deal, badass disabled monster hunters, an enormous gruff swordsman who would do anything for his adorable bard, a back brace that doubles as armor, and a soft bisexual eldritch abomination learning what love really is. Please note, this book contains discussions of assault, cissexism, body horror, and violence