Recs if you like Notes from a Regicide...

Reading suggestions for the Trans Rights Readathon! (Any year of course). Books with trans characters of any label (or any non-cis gender identity) by trans/non-cis authors. I have not read all the books in this list. Feel free to name your fave books by trans authors in the comments!

Books that have been shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. I compiled this list because the criteria (and Le Guin's works) resonate with me:

"The Prize will be given to a writer whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work, including but not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world."

Nominees for the Ursula K Le Guin Prize for for Fiction, awarded since 2022 for imaginative fiction. (Mostly I have made this because they're always really great picks and I want to work my way through all of them.)

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!)

The shortlist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize in 2026

There's nothing quite like a great audiobook recording. Here are some of our favorites! (This is a list made by the rec list contributors at Duck Prints Press)

Carl Engle-Laird is a senior editor at Tor. Many of my favorite books I discovered were edited by him while reading the acknowledgements, so I'm making a point of searching his name once a year to find which new beautiful authors he found. Looking for crowdsourcing ✨️

Pulled from Reactor Magazine's (Tor.com) announcement. See the article for a list of short stories as well.

Works not in database: We Begin Where Infinity Ends - Somto Ihezue The Tin Man's Ghost - Ray Nayler The Millay Illusion - Sarah Pinsker When He Calls Your Name - Catherynne M. Valente The Twenty-One Second God - Peter Watts Night & Day - ed. Ellen Datlow Starling House - Alix E. Harrow (ILLUSTRATED EDITION, ILLUS. BY ROVINA CAI) Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene Volumes 1-3 (graphic adaptation)

Note: The Revelation Space Collection by Alastair Reynolds is actually for volumes 1 & 2

lgbtqia+ stories heavy on the t tbh I love you today!

In her words, this prize is for "realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now." Usually these books are all amazing, so I wanted a place where I can see all of them. Hopefully this helps someone else too :)

I've challenged myself to read all the shortlisted books for this year's prize before October 21st when they announce the winner!