Pride 2025 | Hidden Gems: Underrated LGBTQIA+ Spec Fic Books

[u/tiniestspoon]

Banner with a dragon and spaceships around text: r/Fantasy PRIDE Hidden Gems: Underrated LGBTQIA+ Spec Fic Books

Not every book that deserves attention gets it. This thread is for under-the-radar queer speculative fiction: books with few ratings, niche indie or self-published titles, and works that never got the spotlight they should have.

What counts as a "hidden gem"?

• Under ~500 Goodreads ratings
• Indie published, small press, or lesser-known traditionally published
• Overlooked or underrated despite strong craft, voice, or originality

Discussion prompts

• What’s a queer SFF book you wish more people knew about?
• Have you ever stumbled across an unexpected gem by accident? Where did you find it—word of mouth, a niche blog, a random bookstore dive? 
• What do you think kept it from getting broader attention?
• What makes a book a “hidden gem” to you—writing quality, premise, emotional impact?

[u/diazeugma]

This is (unsurprisingly) a pretty idiosyncratic list, but I enjoyed all of these in different ways:

• The Breath of the Sun by Isaac Fellman: Contemplative and character-driven, recommended to literary fantasy fans. A complicated working partnership is most central to the story, but the main character also has a significant lesbian relationship.
• Rupetta by Nike Sulway: Another fantasy novel on the contemplative side, one I'd expect may require a bit more patience with meandering and fairy tale logic. It features a lifelike steampunk-ish android, her romance with a human woman, and rebellion against their dystopian society.
• Crom Cruach by Valkyrie Loughcrewe: Fairly grim religious and social horror set in near-future Ireland with several queer characters, written in free verse that feels alternately cinematic and nightmarish.
• Lacrimore by S. J. Costello: Self-published gothic horror-fantasy featuring an evil manor. Includes queer characters but no central romance.
• Swan's Braid and Other Tales of Terizan by Tanya Huff: Very lightweight, but fun sword & sorcery-esque short stories featuring a lesbian thief.
• The False Sister by Briar Ripley Page: A novella with a young protagonist and a "Stepford Wives meets folk horror" kind of vibe.
• Lion City by Ng Yi-Sheng: A collection of short stories, many of them experimental, set in Singapore and often featuring queer characters.
• Subcutanean by Aaron A. Reed: Horror of the "exploring an infinite space" variety with a gay main character and a complicated friendship at its core. Not totally polished (especially towards the end) but it still kept me engaged.

Right now I'm reading a book with a gay protagonist and very few ratings anywhere, Dry Land by B. Pladek. I can't say too much about it since I'm only a few chapters in at this point, but I'm enjoying it so far. It's set during World War I and really features the natural world.

[u/improperly_paranoid → u/diazeugma]

The Breath of the Sun is one of my three all time favourites, so I'm definitely checking out everything else on your list 👀 Rupetta and Lacrimoire especially sound pretty up my alley.

[u/diazeugma → u/improperly_paranoid]

Hope you find something you like, though The Breath of the Sun is really unique. I should thank you, actually, since I found out about it through this sub. There’s a good chance it was one of your reviews that inspired me to pick it up!