crows remember human faces. they remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. and the people who wrong them too. they don’t forget. they tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.
Sometimes I think about making a “novels with queer relationships that are dark and fucked up” rec list for Hannigram folks, but honestly I feel like… some of the books I would put on there would make people run the other way lolol.
Okay, enough people are asking for it so… here it is!
A disclaimer first: part of the reason I was hesitant about doing this is that I don’t want anyone to roast me for not being thorough with content warnings/trigger warnings. I don’t read original fiction in the same way I read fanfic; I prefer to go in with as little information as possible and be surprised. So I’m not the best at cataloguing warnings. There are a couple on this list that come with some really major ones though so I will try to note that. That said, if you need a thorough CW/TW guide for these books, please google around before reading them! There are sites that compile warnings for books and sometimes reviewers on goodreads include this information too. Part of the reason I’m not looking around for those sites and linking them here is that some of them are like… Christian-run with their “warnings” being more about censorship of books by queer people and POC so… yeah. I don’t want to deal with vetting each site and their highly subjective, crowd-sourced warnings system. So again, if you know you are in need of CWs/TWs before reading (which is 100% valid! protect yourself!), please do some internet investigating on these books first.
I’m going to include a link for buying these books from the publisher, but most will be available via library and elsewhere too (like evil Amazon). :)
Do you like dark academia? Ornate prose and atmospheric collegiate settings with a side of murder, queer obsessive relationships that are mutually destructive, class tension between the wealthy and working class, slowly unfolding/pervasive dread? Then get that library request in for These Violent Delights ASAP! When it was released in 2020, the comp titles for this book were “The Secret History meets Call Me By Your Name,” and that’s extremely accurate. And like all of the books I’m listing, it’s a queer text written by a queer author. A little sample to get your motor running: “He had all but pleaded for it, the precision and scalpel-sharp intimacy of Julian’s cruelty. He had needed to remember that they were monstrous together, merciless, twins conjoined at the teeth.” Doesn’t that make your Hannigram heart beat faster?
A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s–a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
This lesbian horror novella is a quick read whose stomach-churning body horror reaches a fever pitch at the end and might have you quaking in the night remembering some of your near misses with online relationships with people who were… just a little red flag-ish in a way you couldn’t quite put your finger on.
