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We've Always Been Queer

The podcast is Books That Burn because the original idea was "books that burn you", discussing fictional depictions of trauma. It's also an intentional reminder of the pile of burning books, you know the photo I mean, the one from WWII. It's a pile of books about queerness, gender, and sexuality. Just in case you don't know, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Science) was headed by Magnus Hirschfeld.  It was a resource for gay, intersex, and transgender people, both of knowledge and medical help. It also helped the community with addiction treatment and contraception. It wasn't perfect and some of the ideas they had seem out of date now, the ones we know about anyway. But they were trying to make queer people's lives better, and they were a community resource at a time when people really needed it. Which is all the time, we always need these accesses. And the Nazis burned the whole library. It took days, they had to drag the books ou
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The Fall That Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

Cassiel has given up the family tradition of demon hunting, leaving behind her sacred angelic duty and fated sword. What she can’t leave behind are the scars. To cope, she spends her days immersed in work, pouring all her attention into New Haven Books, her small bookstore and anchor in the new world she’s carved for herself. But the past hasn’t let go of Cassiel yet. When a succubus named Avitue arrives to claim her angel-touched soul, Cassiel’s old hunter instincts flare, forcing her to choose between old knowledge and her truth. What should be a fatal seduction becomes a bargain neither woman expects. As they grow closer, Avitue is surprised to find her own pain reflected in Cassiel, a nephilim deemed fallen by her own family’s standards. By choosing trust, they reveal the lies that bind them. Falling for each other begins a path towards healing. But exorcising the effects of trauma is harder than naming it, and to explore the unfettered possibility Avitue represents, Cassiel must find a way to reclaim and redefine her angelic heritage.

COVER ARTIST: Fay Lane (design)
PUBLISHER: Water Sign Books
YEAR: 2023
LENGTH: 309 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Romance
RECOMMENDED: Yes

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Secondary Character(s).

THE FALL THAT SAVED US is a heartfelt and tender sapphic romance between a nephilim and a succubus, dealing with toxic family and how hard it is to start over when pain is familiar.

This is set up to get at least one sequel, but the story told here is very satisfying even if nothing else follows it. Cassiel and Avitue are a great couple, figuring out how to get past the baggage of their pasts and the demands of their present in order to have any shot at building a future. 

The main storyline deals with the romance between Cass and Avitue. Their relationship has several outside forces who would detest their relationship and try to destroy them if they're discovered to be colluding instead of in opposition. Learning to love one another advances both storylines, putting Cass against her family and Avitue against her fellow demons, though Cass's family are more relevant to this particular story. There's also a strong and complicated bond between Cass and one of her siblings, complicating her willingness to entirely sever ties with her family, if it's even possible.

I enjoyed this and I'm interested in reading the promised sequel.

Moderate CW for sexual content, emotional abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, blood, violence, injury detail, self harm.

Minor CW for alcohol, fire, eating disorder, body shaming, gore, murder, death.

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A Black woman in glowing white robes and a long dagger in her hand falls as she reaches towards a Black woman with horns and blue wings in a red dress.


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