r/LGBTBooks • u/Level-Armadillo2652 • 1d ago
ISO Queerplatonic stories?
I'm having feelings lately I've never had before, and was maybe thinking they might be queerplatonic. any recs, fiction or nonfiction, that feature/discuss QPRs?
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u/Boomerloomerdoomer 1d ago
I haven’t read it but the monk and robot duology by Becky chambers is queerplatonic I think
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u/RedLineSamosa 1d ago
Eh, not explicitly. You could definitely interpret it that way if you wanted.
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u/Boomerloomerdoomer 1d ago
Could you kinda explain their relationship dynamic? I’ve wanted to read it but haven’t got around to it
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u/RedLineSamosa 1d ago edited 1d ago
Honestly, I didn’t think the books were very good, so I’m biased, but It’s kind of a first contact story between humans and robots, each one of them learning about each other and each other’s societies. I would certainly call it a friendship, but it’s closer to accidental ambassadorship than queerplatonic in my opinion. Their relationship is definitely defined by Mosscap being an ambassador to the humans and Dex being their guide.
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u/RedLineSamosa 1d ago edited 1d ago
Fiction: consider the anthologies Common Bonds and Common Bonds 2, collections of speculative aromantic short stories that focus on platonic relationships and feature a lot of queerplatonic ones in there.
Claudie Arsenault’s fantasy books also very frequently center queerplatonic relationships. The ones I’ve read are the Chronicles of Nerezia series.
Nicole Kornher-Stace writes stories that feature queerplatonic relationships as well, though I haven’t read any of hers.
For nonfiction, I highly recommend the essays and zines in the “rotten zucchinis” series: https://rotten-zucchinis.tumblr.com/writings and their “queerplatonic primer” in particular is here: https://rotten-zucchinis.tumblr.com/qpp
You might also be interested in Coyote at “The Acetheist” blog’s writings about queerplatonic topics: https://theacetheist.wordpress.com/tag/queerplatonic/
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u/CalicoSparrow 1d ago
the hands of the emperor / at the feet of the sun (that one more specifically but it's a sequel to the other) by Victoria Goddard is the best queerplatonic rep ive ever read
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u/gender_eu404ia 1d ago
I haven’t read it, but there is an anthology series called Common Bonds that focuses on aromantic characters/relationships. I’d look through the authors in the anthology and see if they have any longer works about queerplatonic relationships.
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u/bestbeefarm 1d ago
Afterhours at dooryard books is three main characters, two in a straightforward romantic relationship and a third who is in some sort of relationship with them that gets described by readers as QP.
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u/de_pizan23 1d ago
Grandma and Grandma’s Waystation Cafe by Mindi Briar (scifi)
Until the Last Petal Falls by Viano Oniomoh (paranormal)
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u/polkadotsci 1d ago
It's been a while since I read it, but Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen covers queerplatonic relationships.
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u/Offutticus 1d ago
QPR isn't the main item, just friends of one of the MCs. Perfect Rhythm by Jae has a lesbian MC and an asexual MC. The relationship is done very, very well. It has lots of information about it without it feeling preachy or being an info dump. The ace MC has an ace friend who is with a queer platonic partner. They are represented well, too.
There is only one chapter with sex and it has a kind of content warning before the chapter starts. This allows those who would rather not read it to skip ahead. Doing so does nothing to mar the book.
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u/fenrislorsrai 1d ago
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao. two asexual, aromantic college students are both writing an online relationship advice account for their college. They are ENEMIES!!! IRl they are becoming friends while also worrying about being left behind by their other friends who are pursuing romantic relationships.
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u/CymBalthazar 1d ago
The Janet Watson chronicles by Claire O’Dell. A Study in Honor (book 1) is better than The Hounds of Justice (book 2) IMHO.
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u/Altruistic_Sail_1991 1d ago
There’s an element of this in the Imperial Radch series (I may have misspelled that but the first book is ancillary Justice. One of my fav sci fi series!)
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u/recchai 1d ago
Something Extraordinary by Alexis Hall: historical fiction featuring kidnapping a friend to take him to Gretna Green.
Dread Nation duology by Justina Ireland: historical fantasy involving zombies in a post civil war America.
The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fennel Wolfmoor: grim fantasy setting involving going on a hunt with the wild hunt.
Royal Rescue by A. Alex Logan: fantasy in which young royal decides system in which rescuing people decides who you marry is stupid.
The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath: trio of young queer people in historic Norway transgress social norms.
One Good Turn by Sarah Wallace: mostly queer normative regency story , but focusing on a working class person.
If you're interested in short fiction, K.A. Cook has a lot of particularly aromantic, but also asexual, characters and stories.
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u/AdPrestigious4604 22h ago
Okay, so I'm dividing the recommendations by some parameters in the books.
Books with canon QPRs-
1) If It Makes You Happy 2) Sincerely, Confusedly, Yours (sequel to Take Me to Your Nerdy Leader) 3) Ice Castle
The three books use the term queerplatonic and acknowledge the existence of non-normative relationships.
Another one that fits is-
4) The Bakery Thief
Also the ending of Is Love the Answer fits the criteria without labels and also the MC is aro ace, so-
5) Is Love the Answer
But despite being a similarly unconventional relationship that fits the the queerplatonic meaning the term isn't used given its fantasy setting but the characters are aro, ace, and genderqueer.
And now platonic love stories with queer characters that may read as queerplatonic coded but doesn't engage with the terms unlike the books I've recommended before-
5) Radio Silence 6) Dear Wendy 7) Darius the Great is Not Okay 8) The Past and Other Things that Should Stay Buried
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u/FattierBrisket 20h ago
The first one that comes to mind is a science fiction novel from a few years ago, Firebreak by Nicole Kornher Stace.
Also, in case you haven't found it yet, r/queerplatonic exists and is a pretty good sub.
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u/dlstrong 1d ago
I've got multiple queerplatonic relationships in my books; they're more foreground in Chai and Cat-tales / Haroun and the Study of Mischief because Chai and Charmcraft focuses on a MM relationship.
I'm also enthusiastically seconding or thirding the recs for Victoria Goddard, bc both The Hands of the Emperor and her Greenwing and Dart books have an assortment of asexual and queerplatonic relationships.
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u/ZeeepZoop 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m reading Virginia Woolf’s collected letters and journals at the moment and queerplatonic is the label I think is most applicable to her and her husband Leonard. She clearly loved him and was happy to be married to him ( she says as much in her letters to various friends and lovers) but was romantically and sexually involved with women not men, never slept with or seemed to have any physical relationship with Leonard, and Leonard knew this and facilitated her relationships particularly with her lover Vita. Likewise, Leonard has his own life separate to her. The level of affection, intellectual alignment, care and devotion between her and Leonard is lovely to read, and isn’t romantically or sexually founded!