Books Necessary Whimsy There’s Never Been a Better Time to Celebrate Queer Joy Let’s support LGBTQIA+ stories and creators this Pride Month, and every month… By Lish McBride | Published on June 18, 2026 Cattywampus cover art by Abigail Dela Cruz Comment 0 Share New Share Cattywampus cover art by Abigail Dela Cruz I’ve you’ve read the Necessary Whimsy column before, you know that I consider whimsy to be both a comfort and a weapon. It’s a soft, sparkly rainbow blanket that you can wrap your heart in, and a brick you can throw against hate, injustice, and the seething mass of awful the world chucks at us sometimes. Necessary Whimsy is a Pride parade, full of joy, rainbows, and love, which wouldn’t exist if not for a riot. Comfort and bricks, rainbows and riots, whimsy sustains us in the rough times and soothes us so we can fight again… As it’s Pride, we’re going to focus this month’s whimsy on LGBTQIA+ titles. While you should of course be reading widely and diversely all year, I think it’s worth seizing this opportunity to highlight LGBTQIA+ stories and authors. Why? Well, selfishly, for your own gratification: Think of all of the delicious book morsels you might be missing! Why would you not treat yourself? Don’t you think you deserve it? I do. TREAT YOUR SELF. Selfishness aside, consider doing it for the team. The team here being the authors, booksellers, librarians and book industry folk who work their butts off to bring this fresh queer whimsy to you. If you’ve read this Book Riot article, you might know that queer books and authors could use your support. (For some deeper context, I suggest this post by fabulous author Malinda Lo, whose books I haven’t featured in this column before only because they don’t generally fit into the ‘Whimsy’ category, but she’s immensely talented and you should all read her work.) So read widely, my friends—FOR THE TEAM. But also because you love yourself and you deserve nice things. The following list is non-exhaustive, for sure—it’s just a sampling. I have limited space, and even though I’ve been trying to read All of the Books, I haven’t figured out how to make that happen yet. Which is where you come in. Did I miss one of your favorite LGBTQIA+ stories (whether fiction or TV or anything else)? Recommend them in the comments! It’s good to share, isn’t it? Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland Do you like pirates? Did you get super upset when Our Flag Means Death was cancelled? Then I have good news for you—this book exists. Avra Helvaçi, former intelligence officer turned poet, might have used his extremely good luck to steal something that will absolutely get him killed. Then he immediately panicked and jumped on to a ship…which unfortunately was captured by pirates. Which also, unfortunately, happens to be the ship of Avra’s ex, Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār, who is not happy to see Avra…especially since Avra wrote that song about them. Worse than all of this, Avra feels he might have been replaced in Tev’s heart (or at the very least their bed) by the startling handsome and mysterious Julian. Still, Avra seems to have been cursed by good luck, so maybe this will all turn out for the best? Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell Shesheshen is an amorphous blob with simple goals—hibernate, then eventually find someone she clicks with so she can deposit her eggs in them and co-parent her brood. Who among us, am I right? Unfortunately, her hibernation is rudely interrupted by monster hunters, and even though she builds herself a pretty badass body out of chains, bear traps, and whatever she has lying around, she’s badly injured. Which is bad. But then she’s nursed back to health by Homily. Which is good. At times gross (complimentary) and trauma-filled, this book is also funny, healing, and surprisingly sweet considering the body count. Look, the bottom line is amorphous, shapeshifting blob monsters need love, too. And really, maybe everyone needs to think about what makes a monster a monster, anyway. The Spells We Cast by Jason June Okay, so I have a big ol’ soft spot in my heart for fantasy books with Western elements, and this book delivers fantasy tropes but with cowboy vibes. Plus swoony romance, magic competitions, complicated family relationships, and lassos. LASSOS. I’m always a big nerd for genre blending, and Fantasy + Western is one of my favorites. I mean, this book is not really a Western but… just, there’s cowboy hats! And lassos! Speaking of favorites, The Spells We Cast features one of my most beloved tropes—grumpy/sunshine. Nigel is a delightful ball of sweetness and light, and Orion is a Broody McBrooderson. Some things just go together, like chocolate and peanut butter, you know? Maggie & Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort by Will Taylor Full disclosure here—Will is my friend and I’m horribly biased in his favor. That’s not why I’m including his book here. I’m including it because this book is whimsy made flesh. (That came out creepier than I planned, but I’m going with it.) Maggie has had nothing but her incredibly vivid imagination to keep her company while her best friend, Abby, has been away at camp. When Abby gets home, it’s like she’s still not there, because all she wants to do is talk about camp. And while this book deals with the very real heartbreak of growing apart from your best friend, it also has magically connected pillow forts. A visit from the North American Founding and Allied Forts Alliance (NAFAFA) causes big problems for Maggie and Abby, sending them on a rollicking adventure to fulfill the requirements needed to keep their magical pillow fort going. We could all use a heart-warming pillow fort adventure these days… Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo To paraphrase bookseller Kate at Ballast Books, this is the “cutest zombie book ever.” Which is why I bought this book and why indie booksellers are the greatest and will always be better than algorithms. (A hill I will stubbornly live on.) Delpha McGill has been forbidden from learning magic by her mama, even though it might solve their money problems. Katybird Hearn’s magic is acting strangely, causing her to worry that having XY chromosomes instead of XX is causing issues with a magic that is passed down from mother to daughter. Both of them think that Della’s Mamaw’s family spellbook has the answers, but there’s an age-old family feud standing between them. An argument between them accidentally unleashes a hex that raises up a graveyard full of their ancestors, who aren’t too happy about it. This book is the Power of Friendship, but with zombies, raccoon familiars, and an Appalachian setting. (Honestly, they had me at raccoons.) The Owl House Sometimes your favorite things connect. Nothing has brought me more joy than finding out that the old animation website, homestarrunner.com (Trogdor forever!) is connected to Gravity Falls, one of my favorite cartoons ever, which is connected to The Owl House. If you’re familiar with the first two, but haven’t watched The Owl House, go watch The Owl House. If you’ve not watched any of these things, great, you now have amazing weekend plans! If you have watched them all… have you considered a rewatch? There’s so much to love about The Owl House. It’s deliciously weird and fulfills one of my childhood dreams—to get whisked off to a strange world where I can become a witch and have an adorable demon best friend like King. (Also, I absolutely adore Wendie Malick and she’s great as the voice of Eda Clawthorne.) This was an award-winning show that tragically only got a few seasons, but will live on forever in my (admittedly creepy) heart. Los Espookys It’s kind of hard to really encapsulate Los Espookys as a show. It’s a mostly Spanish-language comedy with subtitles, centered around Renaldo, a horror enthusiast who comes up with a business plan where people can hire his team to create spooky effects for everything from parties to staged exorcisms. While it’s about horror, it’s not scary, but rather an off-kilter, dreamy sort of comedy perpetuated by a top-notch cast. It’s unapologetically quirky and kind—like cracking open Frankenstein monster’s chest only to find a soft heart made of rainbow cotton candy. It’s rare for me to find a show I love that has both a high critic and fan score on Rotton Tomatoes, but Los Espookys managed it. It only ran for two short seasons (twelve episodes in all), so if you’re looking for a quick watch that’s not quite like anything else you’ve ever seen, I highly recommend it.[end-mark] The post There’s Never Been a Better Time to Celebrate Queer Joy appeared first on Reactor.