Random Cool Thing: LGBT+ StoryBundle

Here's a cool thing I found: an LGBT+ StoryBundle. You get 5 books for whatever you want to pay, and if you pay at least $15, you get 12 books. Looks like a pretty sweet deal.

I'll confess, my Kindle is loaded with books I've picked up in similar deals, but it doesn't seem like a terrible thing to pay a low price for a bunch of interesting books. Sometimes I find myself revisiting these bundles years later, and winding up pleasantly surprised.

Oooh, and I should mention that there's an opportunity to donate 10% of what you pay to Rainbow Railroad, an organization that's trying to help LGBT people in Chechnya. I've blogged a few times about Dale Cameron Lowry's efforts to raise money for this organization, and I figure, the more the better!

You can see the full list of books here.

As far as how they were selected, Melissa Scott, the curator, writes:

First, no novels in which being queer means you're evil, nor any in which it's a doomed and tragic fate. There are places for the latter, but this is June and Pride Month, and I want to share books that celebrate queerness. I've also decided to focus on small press offerings, as they are more likely to be overlooked than books from the mainstream houses. I've tried to pick newer novels, and to reintroduce some older writers, and in general to include books and writers who you might not have seen yet. Unfortunately, this didn't narrow things down very much at all.

So this looks like fun, especially because I've been having a lot of sleepless nights lately, and I've found that I like to pass that time reading books that don't end tragically.

Also, shout-out to Catherine Lundoff, a Twitter friend, who has two books in this collection! This seems like a great opportunity to get to know her work more (I know I like the work she publishes under her erotica-writing persona, Emily Byrne).

The books I pulled out pictures of are the ones I'd probably be buying this bundle for. Others may surprise me! But I'm really drawn to these interesting covers.

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I do have questions about how fully this bundle earns the designation LGBT+. I can tell from looking that it's not G masquerading as LGBT+ (which is all too common with collections of books, and disappointing to me). There are things here that definitely look like L, that I'd definitely read.

What I can't tell, without a much deeper look, is how well B and T and + are represented. So please be aware of that if this is something you're interested in. (Someday, I'd like to feel confident that when LGBT+ is used, it really does mean a full spectrum of inclusivity. That may be true of this bundle, but I'm just not sure!).

Still, I'll be picking this up. I already own a few of these titles, but they're good, so that suggests the others are, too. Also, the price is low enough that even if I only read a few of these, it'll be worth the bundle.

If you pick this up, let me know what you think! Also, if anyone reading this does know how well the bundle represents B, T, and +, please feel free to let us know in the comments! :D