Hello and welcome to the November 2026 edition of the Queer Lit Review! This month we have two lesbians finding each other in space, a queer love letter to Frankenstein, and a series of biographical essays from comedian Taylor Tomlinson.
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Happy Reading!
Title/Author: As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers
Reviewer: Tali
Summary: The isolated, inhospitable colony world of Fortune depends on ice mined by spaceborne animals called rorquals. When Cora, a rorqual pilot, begins to develop “mindbleed” from her connection to her rorqual, she turns to black-market botanist Signy for medication. The two women end up forging a relationship that will change both their lives in the present and lead them to a future of domestic bliss far away from Fortune.
Genre: Science fiction, “hopepunk”
Format: eBook
Length: 480 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Lesbian main characters and gay male and nonbinary side characters.
Content Warnings: Character death, mentions of animal cruelty.
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Mostly solid, workman-like prose, with occasional overly purple flourishes.
Ratio of Sex/Plot: One very brief sex scene and several instances of sensual intimacy and flirting. Mostly focused on plot, but romance is a core element.
Would I Recommend: Yes—for the right reader.
Personal Thoughts: Becky Chambers is known as a pioneer of “hopepunk,” a subgenre of “cozy” sci-fi and fantasy focusing on positivity, kindness, and community in the face of adversity. Though the setting of Fortune is far from cozy — it’s a barren, barely-survivable planet that rains acid and ash — the characters’ persistent plucky optimism, mutual caring, and curiosity nevertheless bring that signature hopepunk warmth to As You Wake, Break the Shell. Like Chambers’ previous work, I found that As You Wake, Break the Shell rides the line between heartstring-tugging and life-affirming on the one hand, and twee and cloying on the other, with mostly successful results.
While Chambers’ writing has always featured intriguing relationships between humans and non-human entities (aliens, robots, or artificial intelligence), As You Wake, Break the Shell presents her most mature and grounded look at a human relationship yet: in the romance between Cora and Signy. I found their love story to be finely observed and evocative, both in depicting the feelings of meeting the person you know you will marry, and of being married to that person and growing older with them. It was an excellent portrayal of lesbian love, domesticity, and marriage that formed a strong emotional core for the narrative. (Fans of Chambers’ human/non-human relationships will also appreciate the complex bond between Cora and her rorqual, Colibri, which is moving, if not always convincing.)
As You Wake, Break the Shell also brings depth and thoughtfulness on the level of ideas. Chambers explores intriguing scientific and political themes — what it means to be severed from one’s native ecosystem, the choices past generations make for us, the balance between resisting or seceding from a flawed society and participating in it — without ever losing her grounding in the characters and relationships that bring her world to life. (That said, there were moments when the worldbuilding felt a little thin. Though Chambers spins an elaborate backstory for how colonists arrived at and survive on Fortune, their culture often feels startlingly 21st-century American. I found myself thinking at a few points that given their odd origins and extreme circumstances, these people should be more alien to us Earthling readers than they actually are.)
In all, As You Wake, Break the Shell is a solid effort that will certainly please Chambers’ existing fans and may serve as an entry point for new readers. It layers interesting sci-fi ideas with a well-written and beautiful human relationship between its two main characters. Its storytelling and cliffhanger ending are sure to have readers on the edge of their seats waiting for the second installment of this duology.
Title/Author: Adam, Mine. by K. Ancrum
Reviewer: Ana
Summary: In this queer and disabled love letter to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor is a 17-year-old prodigy already about to graduate from college. When he realizes that a drunken bet he made — that he could bring the dead back to life — will fail, his solution is to kidnap and kill someone to pretend his alchemy worked. His victim is Elias, an 18-year-old diabetic who also happens to be gay. Elias wakes to find his voice gone, his skin covered in painful scars, and that he’s tethered to the man who took everything from him…and so he sets out to destroy him.
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre/Sub-Genre: Teen Historical Horror-Fantasy
Book Format: Physical; 384 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gay MC, questioning MC
Content Warnings: Suicidal ideation and unsuccessful attempt, non-consensual human experimentation, animal cruelty and death, death and murder (including of a child), period-typical internalized homophobia, ableism, kidnapping, drugging, gore/body horror, fire, needles and medical content, grief, and classism.
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Extremely well-written
Would I Recommend?: Yes; in fact, I think everyone on earth should read this!
Personal thoughts: I had a feeling I would enjoy this book — Frankenstein has been my favorite “classic” for half my life now, and this love letter to the book also has a lot of parallels to my favorite manga, Fullmetal Alchemist — but I didn’t expect to discover a new favorite.
The writing is so, so beautiful in a way that my words can’t do justice to. Ancrum writes incredibly poetically without it feeling forced, unnatural, or pretentious. I found myself rereading chapters multiple times just to bask in how gorgeous her words are. And it’s not just the prose itself; the themes, character development, and full-circle moments are just as exquisite. I love, love, love characters who start out terrible and then learn empathy and kindness. I love this book’s focus on emotions, how they connect us to each other and create intimacy. I love that it rebels against toxic masculinity by letting men feel deeply and cry often. I love how Ancrum emphasizes familial and platonic loves instead of sexual or romantic, and how it in turn made me feel even softer about my own friends and family.
To be honest, some of the marketing made me think it would be a love story between Victor and Elias. It is not. Or rather, any sexual/romantic feelings are left ambiguous. Usually I try to remain as spoiler-free as possible, but I think it’s important that people know this going in so they aren’t disappointed. But never fear: Elias being gay does matter to the plot! He is also diabetic and dyslexic, and learning about how people handled those diagnoses in the 1890s fascinated me.
This book isn’t just for people who enjoy Frankenstein adaptations (although you certainly will if you fall into that group). It’s also for readers who love historical horror, fantastic character development, the artistry of writing, magical realism, or stories that make you feel the entire spectrum of human emotion. It’s for anyone who wants to feel like a better person after the last page.
Title/Author: Actually, Nevermind by Taylor Tomlinson
Reviewer: Laura
Summary: In a series of biographical essays, comedian Taylor Tomlinson shares stories about her childhood, her career, her mental health journey, and her queer identity.
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Subject/Topic: Personal essays
Book Format: Physical book
Length: 286 pages
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written
Would I Recommend?: Yes!
Personal Thoughts: I liked this a lot! Tomlinson is a good writer, and I feel like reading this gave me a full picture of who she is as a person, both good and bad. She comes off as likable while still being very honest, which is tough to accomplish in a memoir. I also feel like celebrity essay books can end up keeping the reader at arm's length instead of really telling the story of the author's life, and that was definitely not the case here. This is a memoir told in essays, not just an essay collection by a public figure.
I already was familiar with Tomlinson's comedy and her work on @midnight, so I don't know if this book would be as enjoyable to someone who didn't know who she was, but I lean towards thinking it would be. Tomlinson covers a broad range of topics with honesty and humor, and I think most people will be able to find at least one aspect of her story that they relate to. Topics she covers include: growing up in a religious household and deconstructing from that, losing a parent young, parental estrangement, finding the right balance of therapy and mental health meds, dealing with poor body image and disordered eating, coming into your sexuality later in life, the importance of her relationship with her siblings, and being single while most of her friends are getting married. She also talks a lot about her career and her path to becoming a successful standup, which will appeal to anyone who (like me) loves a Hollywood memoir.
I read this as a physical book, but I bet the audiobook is fantastic and even funnier since Tomlinson reads it herself, so I recommend checking that out if you decide to give this book a chance!
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