Recs if you like A Half-Built Garden...

Need a gift for your extremist family member, but they already have a red baseball cap AND a Don't Tread on Me shirt? Were you told "Don't bring up politics at family dinner" and need some safe books to discuss instead? Well we have a full menu for you to choose from! Each just for fun book comes with our guarantee: No real world political messages under the 100% fictional plot! 😉 (Taking Recommendations!)

This is NOT for books featuring trans or nonbinary protagonists in worlds with gender systems that mimic modern real-world ones. This is for books like Left Hand of Darkness or the Imperial Radch series, where the setting has an invented system of gender and/or sex, or of assigning gender/sex. I'm including interesting-to-me matriarchies (so, not ones that are just our patriarchy but gender-swapped) and gender systems that include male and female but have other genders/sexes too.

Suggestions are extremely welcome!

Queer sci-fi 💫 (Not always in space, I think I've covered most sci-fi subgenres)

Books to help us imagine the future we're growing towards

A woman's place is in the revolution. Featuring magical/gifted women who disobey the powers that be and rage against the machine.

a book collection dedicated to the future, a future in which the bounds of what we know to be possible bloom into flowers. gender norms and science rules don't know what's coming!

(reccs very welcome!!)

Sci-fi books that I feel are hopeful and have a cozy, often slice-of-life vibe. Some of these could also fall under the solar punk category.

Note: I have not read all of these (and some I’ve dnfed/disliked) but I wanted to include all the cozy sci fi that I know of.

Do you feel like you've read everything there is to read? Or get annoyed that the same books are on all the rec lists? Well, here are some more obscure masterpieces!

Some of the covers are terrible - especially among the older or self-pubbed books; there's a few YA in here; and some that are science fantasy rather than 'pure' sci fi. But trust me: they're all EXCELLENT. (And if you already love a bunch of these, let's be friends!)

Gimme those space operas, science fiction babes, and interstellar bounty hunters

This week is Jewish Book Week! To celebrate, we compiled a list of our favorite books with queer Jewish characters. Also includes queer books by Jewish authors that don't necessarily include obvious Jewish representation. (This list is presented by Duck Prints Press, the indie publisher focused on publishing queer art and stories by queer creators! A group of us collaborate to make these recommendations.)

Fiction that imagines US or post-US futures within the next ~100 years with major societal changes and themes including war, revolution, decolonization, climate change, balkanization, collapse, etc. Suggestions welcome

Books of the polyamorous sort. Haven't read all of them so I could be wrong on some. Some of these are set in non-monogamous cultures even if the protagonists themselves are not engaging in romance or polyamory.

Big thanks to AthenatheStorier who often finds and recommends these books through instagram or tiktok videos!

Also if you're a lover of polyamorous stories of any kind/medium, let me know. I want to co-write a collaborative analysis of polyamorous stories and you could help!

Books that feel like a warm hug and leave us feeling hopeful and whimsical, a little light amidst the dark. For the days we cannot have any more reality but instead need a cup of fluffy dreams and a pick-me-up and some optimism for the future

A lil collection of books that envisions collective futures that are vibrant with life, as well as the actions, policies, and technologies that make them real. A good mixture of fiction and non-fiction!

All solarpunk should be anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and anti-imperialist.

“It was the garden that came first, heaven trailing in its wake” — Olivia Laing

Add your recs in the comments! 💚

Jewish characters written by Jewish authors that engage with Jewish themes, history, and culture. (no Daniel Deronda here!)