47 LGBTQ+ sci-fi/fantasy books to add to your TBR
 Featuring space operas, dystopian futures, supernatural romance, sapphic retellings, and more, this list has something for every SFF fan looking for LGBTQ+ stories.
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Read these if: You'd like to travel to Asia without leaving your couch  Credit: Bari Tessler Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn: In this art mystery, 16-year-old Violet's trip to Japan with her father takes a dangerous turn when her father's client's Van Gogh art goes missing. Until they can find it, their lives are at risk. This YA novel is perfect for fans of mysteries and fast-paced adventures.
K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee: Candace Park is determined to pursue her K-Pop star dreams, but when she snags at a spot at a trainee program and travels to Seoul, attaining her goals is not as easy as she imagined. She must learn to speak Korean fluently while learning the rules of the industry, and not dating — even though there's a certain boy who's caught her eye. Can Candance stay the course? Or will all her sacrifices have been in vain?
Heiress Apparently by Diana Ma: Gemma Huang's big acting break takes her to Beijing where she's filming for the summer. Strangely, she keeps getting recognized and is even stopped by the paparazzi at the airport — but she's no celebrity. She soon discovers that she looks like a famous Chinese socialite, and there's more to the resemblance than meets the eye.
Loveboat Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen: When Ever Wong's parents discover that she'd rather be a professional dancer than a doctor, they send her from Ohio to Taiwan to learn Mandarin for the summer. There, she finds herself among high achieving Chinese kids and away from her parents eagle-eyed supervision. Contrary to her parents' ideas, the kids at the program are more interested in starting romantic relationships than studying. Ever quickly begins to adjust, but how much freedom is too much freedom?
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins: Jasmine is getting dragged to India by her mother during the monsoon season — very different from the summer she envisioned. Plus, she's leaving behind her best friend (and secret crush), Steve and the business they run together. Jasmine and her mother volunteer at the orphanage where her mother stayed for a time, but it's only after befriending their cook, Danita, that Jasmine begins to see how she can make a difference.
The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf: In 1969 Malaysia, as the Chinese war with the Malays, 16-year-old Melati Ahmad is separated from her mother. She'll need the help of a Chinese boy and plenty of courage to reunite with her mother in a city aflame.
(Read more: 17 Young Adult Books Set In Asia That You're Going To Love)  It's June, and in case you missed it: The BuzzFeed Book Club is reading The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade. It's a wholehearted, radiant, and darkly funny exploration of family, faith, and forgiveness — and you can check out an excerpt here.
Over in the Facebook group, we'll be posting discussion threads throughout the month, following this schedule:
June 1-10: Part One June 11-20: Part Two – p. 254 (ends on "I'd be remiss If I didn't hold her to the same high standards as everyone else.") June 21-30: p. 255 ("When Yolanda can't sleep...") – end
We asked Kirstin to share a little bit about how the book came to be. Here's what she had to say:
The Five Wounds began as a short story in my collection Night at the Fiestas. Amadeo, an unemployed alcoholic and absent father, lives with his mother in a village in northern New Mexico. When he is given the role of Jesus in the town's Good Friday Passion procession, he's certain that this is his chance to transform his life — until his pregnant 15-year-old daughter Angel shows up on his doorstep and announces that she's moving in and upends his plans for easy redemption.
The story ends with an epiphany: Amadeo, determined to give the performance of his life, asks to be actually crucified, and from his vantage point on the cross, he sees his daughter clearly for the first time, sees her need and his responsibility toward her. He understands that true transformation will come only from changing his relationship to Angel.
After the story was first published, my editor asked if I'd ever considered extending the story into a novel. No way! I responded. The story was finished, I'd moved on, and why does everyone want a novel?
Two years passed, during which I worked on what I thought were new stories and new characters. But one morning, as I sifted through some half-formed drafts, I realized that several involved the same constellation of characters: a woman and her codependent adult son and his estranged daughter. All at once I recognized Yolanda, Amadeo, and Angel. Whoa, I thought, maybe I am working on a novel.
Was the story's final epiphany really enough to make Amadeo change? I wondered. What happens the next day, when he wakes up in his same old bedroom with bandaged hands, and Angel soon to give birth? And I wondered about Angel's perspective on the family, and how this bright, funny, vulnerable teenager manages new motherhood.
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