stevehughwestenra
Trans horror and fantasy author - The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle, The Wings of Ashtaroth, & The Barbarian at Dream's End. Academic with a PhD in monsters and the monstrous! Words New Edge Sword and Sorcery!
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stevehughwestenra created a list
3h
SPFBO XI Finalists
by stevehughwestenra
//
8 books
All ten finalists from SPFBOXI!(Self-published Fantasy Blog Off).
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
3h
The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist
Ben A. Barres
Ben Barres was known for his groundbreaking scientific work and for his groundbreaking advocacy for gender equality in science. In this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres (born Barbara Barres in 1954) describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments--from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his experiences as a female student at MIT in the 1970s to his female-to-male transition in his forties, to his scientific work and role as teacher and mentor at Stanford. Barres recounts his early life--his interest in science, first manifested as a fascination with the mad scientist in Superman; his academic successes; and his gender confusion. Barres felt even as a very young child that he was assigned the wrong gender. After years of being acutely uncomfortable in his own skin, Barres transitioned from female to male. As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. This led him to become an advocate for gender equality in science.
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stevehughwestenra commented on Loyaute's review of The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist
3h
š±Ebook
This was an interesting read, though a bit shorter and more shallow than I was expecting. It was certainly written by a scientist: the text was succinct, orderly, direct, and---in my opinion---emotionally guarded (detached might be the best word).
This autobiography was essentially split into two sections, Barres's life and scientific discoveries. The section focusing on Barres was interesting but I struggled to connect with his perspective on being transgender, which seemed to be deeply rooted in a white, binary viewpoint, often equating gender and sex. The section focusing on neuroscience was also interesting to me, though very science heavy with a surprising amount of jargon. I don't think I would've enjoyed reading it if I hadn't spent time working in a neurobiology lab. This definitely felt like an autobiography written for other scientists rather than a general readership.
All in all, I was a bit disappointed by this because I had different expectations about what this book would be (I'm also not a big autobiography reader or enjoyer in general, to be honest). I don't feel like I learned anything new from this or that it expanded my social/academic perspectives in any meaningful ways.
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stevehughwestenra started reading...
4d
Kiss of the Fur Queen
Tomson Highway
Born into a magical Cree world in snowy northern Manitoba, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis are all too soon torn from their family and thrust into the hostile world of a Catholic residential school. Their language is forbidden, their names are changed to Jeremiah and Gabriel, and both boys are abused by priests.
As young men, estranged from their own people and alienated from the culture imposed upon them, the Okimasis brothers fight to survive. Wherever they go, the Fur Queen--a wily, shape-shifting trickster--watches over them with a protective eye. For Jeremiah and Gabriel are destined to be artists. Through music and dance they soar.
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stevehughwestenra started reading...
1w
Hell Followed With Us
Andrew Joseph White
Prepare to die. His kingdom is near.
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised himāthe fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the worldās population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult canāt get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALCās leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benjiās darkest secret: the cultās bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nickās termsā¦until he discovers the ALCās mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.
A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.
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stevehughwestenra finished a book
1w
Coal Gets In Your Veins
Cat Rector
Penny Harbour was once a booming coal mining town, full of industry and possibility. But jobs like that come at a price. Accidents. Cave-ins. Explosions. The residents fed the ground with their blood, and coal dust settled inside them. Eventually, the world moved on from coal. The mines closed, the jobs left, and the grief stayed rooted in the people.
Laurel is trying to carve out a decent life in what remains of the town. Her family has lived in the Harbour for generations. Sheās seen the best and worst it has to offer. But no matter what she wants for herself, her husband's boot is still on her neck. Sheās survived him for two decades, and she's just about out of reasons to stay.
Just up the hill, Spencer is wading through his eternity mourning the deaths of his great loves. Penny Harbour is his own personal purgatory. Heās a queer vampire in a dying, conservative rural community, and everyoneās blood is full of grit and ashes. Itās the perfect place to slip into isolation and punish himself for all heās lost.
But Penny Harbour has a life all its own. Children with a penchant for lighting fires. Unmarked graves when mines used to be. Traditions built to lift each other out of grief. Personal hells that live behind closed doors. And when the town sinks its teeth into someone, it would sooner rip their throat out than let them go.
Part romantic vampire horror, part rural Atlantic Canadian memorial pyre, Coal Gets In Your Veins is a novel about generational trauma and what it will do to keep its claws in you.
ā
This book is part of a queer paranormal horror series with romantic themes and handles heavy, complicated topics such as generational trauma, spousal abuse, grief, and cheating. A full list of trigger warnings can be found on Catās website.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
The Language of Roses
Heather Rose Jones
A Beauty. A Beast. A Curse. This is not the story you know.
Join author Heather Rose Jones on a new and magical journey into the heart of a familiar fairytale. Meet Alys, eldest daughter of a merchant, a merchant who foolishly plucks a rose from a briar as he flees from the home of a terrifying fay Beast and his seemingly icy sister. Now Alys must pay the price to save his life and allow the Beast, the once handsome Philippe, to pay court to her.
But Alys has never fallen in love with anyone; how can she love a Beast? The fairy Peronelle, waiting in the woods to see the culmination of her curse, is sure that she will fail. Yet, if she does, Philippeās sister Grace and her beloved Eglantine, trapped in an enchanted briar in the garden, will pay a terrible price. Unless Alys can find another wayā¦
This is the third volume of the Queen of Swords Press Mini Series.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
Pieces of Home
Becca Neil
All heād ever wanted was to go home.Ryan Davis has lived in hell for the last fifteen years. Kidnapped at age eight, then beaten, broken, and forced into silence, Rye managed to exist, to survive. When a chance phone call gives him an opportunity to escape, he takes it. But escape doesnāt mean safety, and freedom doesnāt mean happiness. And even if he can manage to find home, the pieces of what used to be may never fit back together.Jacob Wright has adapted. In fact, Jake would probably say he loves his lifeāliving in a beautiful home on a secluded beach on the Northern California coast. It wasnāt the life heād planned. But accidents happen. And an accident was what stole his livelihood and limited his mobility six years ago. Heās happy now, if not still living carefully, avoiding things that used to make him happier.When Rye shows up on Jakeās beach, lost, fearful, and on the verge of death, Jake has to become a caretaker for a man who canāt seem to speak, and Rye has to put his trust in a stranger to survive. An unexpected and tenuous friendship grows, forming a deep bond full of possibilities that neither of them had imagined.But even as they start to recognize whatās in their hearts, the past seems intent on reminding them both how truly broken they are . . .Pieces of Home is a slow burn, hurt/comfort MM romance that focuses on the growth of a deep friendship and how two broken men find each other, help each other, and heal each other. Itās a story of strangers to friends to lovers, featuring a small town setting, forced proximity, PTSD/cPTSD trauma and healing, demi rep, and a hard-fought happily-ever-after.Content kidnapping (of a minor); verbal and physical abuse (off page but referenced), including that of a minor; cPTSD; PTSD; trauma-induced selective mutism; trauma-induced dissociative amnesia; life-threatening injury (off page but referenced) resulting in chronic pain (shown on page); death of a side character (off page); death of a parent (in the past, referenced); references to drinking and smoking. See inside preview for additional content warnings.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
Little Thieves (Little Thieves, #1)
Margaret Owen
Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl...
Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother's love--and she's on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele's dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja's otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back... by stealing Gisele's life for herself.
The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed.
Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele's sinister fiancƩ, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja's tail, she'll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
The Flame That Sings: Eternal Library Book 3
Cedar McCloud
Fire speaks in song. At the tender age of sixteen, Aeronwy Silverdream married the spirit of the great volcano, Mount CinĆ”ed. But the mantle of Flamekeeper is a heavy one, and the cult known as the Fellowship of the Ardent is an unkind place to grow up for an autistic child. Itās only when Aeronwy runs away to the modern capital of Caspora City and the Eternal Library that e finds freedom to be emselfāwith the help of new friends Siobhan, Inyene, and especially Mairead Moonsea.Years later, Aeronwy becomes apprenticed to Illuminator Catrina Rosefall, a quirky artist and former circus actor who is determined to help Aeronwy face eir past. Their personalities couldnāt be more different, but friction starts fires, and isnāt fire what Aeronwy needs the most right now? Throw in an ancestor spirit with an unfinished story, confusion over what "romance" really means, and an increasingly toxic best-friendship, and what started as a spark threatens to blaze out of control.Creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin, and death is necessary in order to be reborn. As the Flame of Ashes, Aeronwy knows this, but after a life of lies and deception, how does one relearn how to recognize the truth?For readers who - Found family- Entirely queer cast of characters, including many aro & ace-spectrum- Autistic narrator & AuDHD love interest- Queernorm society- Two aro-spectrum leads figuring out their romance- Polyamory and neopronouns- Magical art, writing, & traditional crafting- Fantasy 1980s setting- Intergenerational mentor/student friendship- Trauma healing- BIG LIBRARY
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
The Modern Mythos Anomaly (The Modern Mythos, #1)
Juniper Lake Fitzgerald
"Memory's haunt conjures the most arrant of ghosts..."
Python is a drifter, a vampire living his eternal life on the road and liking it that way. Beholden to nothing and certainly to no one.
But such a lifestyle doesnāt come without creating enemies. Most notably, a pesky vampire hunter he can't seem to shake.
When he stumbles upon a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods, Python sees the perfect escape and a place to hide.
But what he didnāt expect was for someone to be homeā¦
When recluse warlock Calystoās peaceful life is upended by the arrival of a chaotic disaster in the form of a loudmouthed vampire, he and his teleporting house become the target of the hunter, too.
Calysto knows itās all Pythonās fault that heās in this mess. That is, until Calysto makes a mistake, and in his hurry to flee transports them over one hundred years into the past.
Confronted with lives they both had hoped to forget, not to mention the memories they most definitely did, Calysto and Python must try to put aside their many differences and increasingly complicated feelings to learn to work together. Or else they risk being stuck in the past -- and with each other -- forever.
This is an adult book with themes that are not suitable for minors. Content warnings are included before the title page, available for view within the sample.
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Post from the Coal Gets In Your Veins forum
1w
stevehughwestenra commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
1w
Round 2: Community-voted Quests, inspired by Lists (6/15/2026)
Last quarter, we trialed a new way to create Quests. Lists were nominated by Pagebound Royalty, the entire community voted, and 3 Quests inspired by 3 winning Lists were created.
Itās time to do it again š How this will work:
- Royalty members can nominate a List (their own or any community List) that would make a great starting point for a Quest. Royalty members will receive a notification today with a link to a form to fill out by EOD June 23rd to nominate. The form will include context about what makes for a great Quest. Folks who join Royalty through June 23rd will receive an email with a link to the form.
- The entire Pagebound community will then vote on which nominated Lists will inspire Quests. Everyone will receive a notification on June 24th with a link to vote.
- The creators of 3 winning Lists will be emailed and can accept/reject.
- If they accept, we will create a Quest inspired by their List, adapting the title & book list if necessary to fit Quest guidelines (for example, if a List has 20 books, we will reduce it to 15 for a Side Quest; if a List includes all 7 books of a series, we would put book 1).
We will be introducing another avenue to Quest creation in the fall: community-voted User of the Month (exact language TBD). The entire PB community can nominate a user they believe embodies PB values. The user with the most nominations will be awarded a badge and the ability to create 1 Quest.
The community-voted List winners and future Users of the Month will be listed as the Quest creator, and for Main Quests, this means theyāll be able to add new releases over time (capped at 100 books). The evergreen nature of Main Quests ensures their relevancy for many years to come, but of course, thatās a big commitment to ask of a Quest creator, so Jennifer & I are always available to take over curation if the original creator becomes inactive.
Looking forward to seeing the wonderful Lists that get nominated!
Jennifer & Lucy
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stevehughwestenra started reading...
1w
Coal Gets In Your Veins
Cat Rector
Penny Harbour was once a booming coal mining town, full of industry and possibility. But jobs like that come at a price. Accidents. Cave-ins. Explosions. The residents fed the ground with their blood, and coal dust settled inside them. Eventually, the world moved on from coal. The mines closed, the jobs left, and the grief stayed rooted in the people.
Laurel is trying to carve out a decent life in what remains of the town. Her family has lived in the Harbour for generations. Sheās seen the best and worst it has to offer. But no matter what she wants for herself, her husband's boot is still on her neck. Sheās survived him for two decades, and she's just about out of reasons to stay.
Just up the hill, Spencer is wading through his eternity mourning the deaths of his great loves. Penny Harbour is his own personal purgatory. Heās a queer vampire in a dying, conservative rural community, and everyoneās blood is full of grit and ashes. Itās the perfect place to slip into isolation and punish himself for all heās lost.
But Penny Harbour has a life all its own. Children with a penchant for lighting fires. Unmarked graves when mines used to be. Traditions built to lift each other out of grief. Personal hells that live behind closed doors. And when the town sinks its teeth into someone, it would sooner rip their throat out than let them go.
Part romantic vampire horror, part rural Atlantic Canadian memorial pyre, Coal Gets In Your Veins is a novel about generational trauma and what it will do to keep its claws in you.
ā
This book is part of a queer paranormal horror series with romantic themes and handles heavy, complicated topics such as generational trauma, spousal abuse, grief, and cheating. A full list of trigger warnings can be found on Catās website.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
1w
Midnight on Beacon Street
Emily Ruth Verona
A suspenseful and entertaining debut thrillerāand love letter to vintage horror moviesāin which a teenager must overcome her own anxiety to protect the two children sheās babysitting when strangers come knocking at the door.
October 1993. One night. One house. One dead body.
When single mom Eleanor Mazinski goes out a for a much-needed date night, she leaves her two young children āsweet, innocent six-year-old Ben and precocious, defiant twelve-year-old Miraā in the capable hands of their sitter, Amy. The quiet seventeen-year-old is good at looking after children, despite her anxiety disorder. She also loves movies, especially horror flicks. Amy likes their predictability; it calms the panic that threatens to overwhelm her.
The evening starts out normally enough, with games, pizza, and dancing. But as darkness falls, events in this quaint suburban New Jersey house take a terrifying turn āunexpected visitors at the door, mysterious phone calls, and by midnight, little Ben is in the kitchen standing in a pool of blood, with a dead body at his feet.
In this dazzling debut novel, Emily Ruth Verona moves back and forth in time, ratcheting up suspense and tension on every page. Chock-full of nods to classic horror films of the seventies and eighties, Midnight on Beacon Street is a gripping thriller full of electrifying twists and a heartwarming tale of fear and devotion that explores our terrors and the lengths weāll go to keep our loved ones safe.
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stevehughwestenra commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
3w
Pride month reads? š³ļøāš
Saw @catlikestoread 's post about everyone's underrated queer books, so I'll ask a slightly different question to mark pride month beginning tomorrow:
What queer books are we reading in the month of June? š š³ļøāš
I think I'm gonna read Madsdotter and Adrastus by Aelina Isaacs, and Bury Your Gays: an Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror. I will probably read more, and just choose depending on mood š„°
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
4w
Want
Gillian Anderson
What do you want, when no one is watching?
What do you want, when the lights are off?
What do you want, when you are anonymous?
When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain. And yet for many reasons ā some complicated, some not ā so many of us don't talk about it. Our deepest, most intimate fears and fantasies remain locked away inside of us, until someone comes along with the key. Here's the key. In this generation-defining book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous letters of hundreds of women from around the world (along with her own anonymous letter). Want reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous.
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stevehughwestenra TBR'd a book
4w
Luminous
Silvia Park
A highly anticipated, sweeping debut set in a unified Korea that tells the story of three estranged siblingsātwo human, one robotāas they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood, perfect for fans of Klara and the Sun and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.In a reunified Korea of the future, robots have been integrated into society as surrogates, servants, children, and even lovers. Though boundaries between bionic and organic frequently blur, these robots are decidedly second-class citizens. Jun and Morgan, two siblings estranged for many years, are haunted by the memory of their lost brother, Yoyo, who was warm, sensitive, and very nearly human. Jun, a war veteran turned detective of the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, becomes consumed by an investigation that reconnects him with his sister Morgan, now a prominent robot designer working for a top firm, who is, embarrassingly, dating one of her creations in secret. On the other side of Seoul in a junkyard filled with abandoned robots, eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scraps looking for robotic parts that might support her failing body. When she discovers a robot boy named Yoyo among the piles of trash, an unlikely bond is formed since Yoyo is so lifelike, heās unlike anything sheās seen before. While Morgan prepares to launch the most advanced robot-boy of her career, Junās investigation sparks a journey through the underbelly of Seoul, unearthing deeper mysteries about the history of their country and their family. The three siblings must find their way back to each other to reckon with their pasts and the future ahead of them in this poignant and remarkable exploration of what it really means to be human.
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