Find your next diverse read! #2 (WWC Reader Publications)
We asked you to tell us about your publications, and here they are!
These are the eleven (11) books submitted to us, written by Writing With Color readers.
Book Titles
Always Darkest
Commonwealth
Faerie Rising: The First Book of Binding
Fate (The St. Cloud Chronicles)
A Hero’s Tale
Less than Three
Moonrise
Not So Stories Anthology
OPEN: A Tale of Love, Mermaids, Bassists, & Creepy Dudes
The Path to Dawn
To Whom it Doesn’t Concern
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Book Descriptions
Title: Always Darkest
Author: Jess and Keith Flaherty | @demonsrunlit
Series: Yes
Buy: Amazon
Premise:
Supernatural meets Good Omens with a dash of romance and divine chaos. Ben wants a vacation away from Hell, but Mal reveals a path to redemption instead. On the run from Heaven and Hell, a demon becomes a hero.
Themes/Elements: Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
MC Race/Ethnicity:
White
Other Characters: White
Other Diversity: LQBTQAI+, Religion
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Title: Commonwealth (Patreon series)
Author: Adam Lee
Series: No
Buy: Patreon
Premise: In a near-future U.S. that’s become a hyper-capitalist dystopia of inequality and climate change, a small band of dreamers fight to bring back the vanished era when people worked together and helped each other.
Themes/Elements: Individualism vs. mutuality, capitalism vs. socialism
MC Race/Ethnicity: Biracial black/white
Other Characters: Latino (Mexican), Jewish, Japanese/Chinese
Other Diversity: Economic and environmental justice, sexism and pregnancy discrimination
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Title: Faerie Rising: The First Book of Binding
Author: A. E. Lowan | @aelowan (multiple authors)
Series: Yes
Buy: Amazon
Premise:
Winter Mulcahy is the last wizard in the city of Seahaven, WA and all that stands between the fractious preternatural population and total chaos. Holding the city together by the skin of her teeth, the blood of her friends, and an addiction to stimulants that is slowly killing her, the young wizard is approached by a pair of sidhe lords. They claim that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a sidhe prince, and that they are on a mission to rescue the boy.
Winter must investigate this fugitive to get to the truth of the kidnapping, discover the cause of the surges of wild magic tearing open rifts between realms across her city, and navigate the deadly waters of preternatural politics before Seahaven both figuratively and literally rips itself apart.
Themes/Elements: Addiction, redemption, found families
MC Race/Ethnicity: (multiple POVS)
- Young black hero just coming into his powers
- Teenage wizard who proves that weight won’t slow her down
- Physician at the breaking point who is addicted to stimulants
- Two bisexual men in a dance of attraction (one survivor of childhood sexual assault)
- Young trans man who will play a larger role in the second book
- Gay Viking vampire king and his lover.
- Afro-Latina wolf queen
- Afro-Latino Lion King
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Title: FATE
Author: Jade Stewart | @j-a-stewart
Series: Yes
Buy: Amazon
Premise: FATE is a YA fantasy novel about a teenage girl from the Bronx who realizes there’s more to her new home in Buffalo, and herself, than meets the eye.
Themes/Elements: Urban fantasy, magic/wizards, werewolves, vampires, benefits of hard work, fate, moving to a new city, romance, revenge
MC Race/Ethnicity: African-American
Other Characters: Japanese, Jamaican-American and Romanian (mixed race), & American
Other Diversity/Topics: Anti-bullying, high school, friendship
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Title: A Hero’s Tale
Author: J. Stern | @theactualjstern
Series: No
Buy: Amazon
Premise: Sam Garrett is determined to be a normal kid in spite of his superpowers, only to have his resolve questioned when his powers are exposed to the world and he becomes the target of a powered villain determined to remove all powered from the world.
Themes/Elements:
coming of age, superhero
MC Race/Ethnicity: African American
Other Characters: Black, mixed race Philipino and Mexican, Greek
Other Diversity: queer characters of color (bisexual and trans), queer characters, disability (Deaf), mental illness (PTSD, anxiety), gender parity of characters
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Title: Less than Three
Author: Téa Belog | @transannabeth
Series: No
Buy: Amazon | Books2Read | Goodreads
Premise: Ren has been in love with his best friend for the past three years, Calliope has spent most of her life dancing, and Ingrid plans to start over in college, to go beyond what held her back in high school. Less Than Three is a collection of three short stories about a group of friends. Together, they shoulder their way through romance, all-nighters, and the occasional dragon.
Themes/Elements: Romance, friendship, coming of age, mental illness, and college
MC Race/Ethnicity: Japanese and Black (Calliope and Ingrid respectively, individual POVs)
Other Characters: Indian, Vietnamese, and white
Other Diversity: LGBTQIA+ (trans and nonbinary characters, gay characters), depression
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Title: Moonrise (interactive novel)
Author: Natalie Cannon
Series: No
Buy: Choice of Games
Premise: You’re here. You’re queer. You’re a werewolf. Who will you kiss under the moonlight?
Themes/Elements: queer femme werewolves, fighting for humanity or giving into the beast, romance, aligning with the tradition of the Masquerade or breaking free with the desperate Rogues, found family
MC Race/Ethnicity: Intentionally left up to player interpretation
Other Characters: Black, Japanese, Mexican, Jewish
Other Diversity: Lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, polyamorous, aromantic, trans, nonbinary gender options and/or characters. Amputee character. Mental illness mention
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Title: Not So Stories Anthology
Author: Multiple authors of colour
Series: No
Buy: Goodreads
Premise: Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories was a timeless classic. It is also deeply rooted in British colonialism. Not So Stories attempts to redress the balance, bringing together new and established writers of colour from around the world to take the Just So Stories back; giving voices to cultures that were long deprived them.
Themes/Elements: Fantasy, ghost stories, fairy tales.
MC Race/Ethnicity: Various
Other Diversity: LGBTQIA+ characters
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Title: OPEN: A Tale of Love, Mermaids, Bassists, & Creepy Dudes
Author: Emilie Nantel | @emilienantel
Series: No
Buy: Emilie Nantel
Premise: A queer, polyamorous romcom for millennials, OPEN: A Tale of Love, Mermaids, Bassists, & Creepy Dudes is the story of Amy, bi, 25, in an open relationship, navigating the ups – dating gorgeous people – and downs – trying to avoid creeps – of the Montreal dating scene, when she falls in love with a hot bassist. This was not part of the plan.
Themes/Elements: Queer found family, polyamorous relationship, friendship breakups
MC Race/Ethnicity: White
Other Characters: Black endgame love interest; half Filipina/half White best friend
Other Diversity: Polyamory, bisexual MC, a cast all across the LGBTQIA+ community, MC is fat and has anxiety.
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Title: The Path to Dawn
Author: Miri Castor | @miricastor
Series: Yes
Buy: Amazon
Premise: Opal Charm is still grieving the loss of her brother when she meets a mysterious student in her class. Through their budding friendship, Opal discovers she has special powers, powers that brother once had. But she must learn how to wield them before an evil force destroys all that she loves.
Themes/Elements: PoC kids/teens with superpowers, platonic relationships, family ties, light and darkness
MC Race/Ethnicity: Black
Other Characters: Filipino
Other Diversity: LGBTQIA+ (Book 2) & depression
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Title: To Whom it Doesn’t Concern
Author: Wisdom A. Yarborough
Series: No
Buy: Amazon | Goodreads
Premise: (TW Suicide)
A kid at Mortimer’s school has thrown himself off the roof. Everyone is freaking out, and trying to deal with the situation, while Mortimer wants this all to just pass as quickly as possible. It wasn’t like he was close to the kid who died, so there’s no reason to be concerned, or to even care? …Right?
Themes/Elements: Dealing with loss/grief, Suicide/Depression/Mental Health & Healing
MC Race/Ethnicity: White
Other Characters: Topher, the love interest, is Pakistani-American. Mortimer’s ex girlfriend is black.
Other Diversity: Topher is Canonically Pansexual, Mortimer realizes he’s bisexual throughout the story, Many characters suffer with depression, and depression/suicide/suicidal thoughts are a huge part of the themes of the story, and coping with those feelings.
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Read the first book share here: Find your next diverse read #1
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WWC Reader Publications - Winter 2019/2020
