The Annual Pride Storybundle
The annual Pride Storybundle is in full swing — many thanks for Catherine Lundoff for taking over most of the curation this year, and to Jason Chen for letting us make this an annual event. When I started this five years ago, I was thinking of it as a one-off. I had co-edited Lethe Press’s annual lesbian SF/F anthology, Daughters of Russ, and been struck by the number of stories we had to consider — and I knew we had missed some. Storybundle, with its focus on smaller presses and opening doors for newer voices, seemed to be an ideal place to promote the full range of LGBT+ writing, and if we could do it in June for Pride, that would be an ideal time to get a little extra attention. Jason said he thought it was a great idea, and the first Pride Storybundle launched in 2017. That year, we included only fantasy novels, so the next year, I proposed an SF-only bundle for Pride, intending to balance things out. That was successful, too, and it seemed a shame to end things there. Catherine Lundoff was good enough to come on board as co-curator the next year, and to take over entirely in 2020, when I had serious deadlines in June, and this year her curation has been invaluable. It was Catherine who suggested our related charity, Rainbow Railroad, and I’m grateful to her for calling my attention to them. We’ve made it five years, and I hope to keep going a while longer!
Once again, we’ve got some amazing stories, with five books in the main bundle and a generous eleven in the bonus, for a total of sixteen if you spring for the bonus. One of the best things about doing these bundles has been not just discovering writers who were new to me, but being reminded just how many writers are out there who are producing intelligent, nuanced, exciting queer writing.
You’ll find some newer writers (and new works) as well as some older ones, and a mix of novels, novellas, and short story collections. There’s science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, urban fantasy, and more, all with a strong queer perspective. There are diverse characters, an equally diverse range of styles — these stories celebrate queerness in all its forms, and shows off some of the best writers working today.
Storybundle has always allowed its patrons to donate part of their payment to a related charity, and this year we’re again supporting the Rainbow Railroad, a group helping LGBTQI+ people escape state-sponsored violence worldwide. I hope that if the bundle appeals you’ll consider chipping in — it’s a gift that can save a life.
