Kris talks about her new book Perfect and her first-ever experience working with a sensitivity reader. Tara shares about vacationing without children, finding a signed copy of one of her favourite books, and the joys of a newly painted house. After a month apart, they have a lot to catch up on! Official Recommendations From Kris: Sense8 (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends the 2015 Netflix series, Sense8. Eight strangers across the globe suffer a traumatic vision that also seemingly connects them to each other. They begin to experience what the others experience and are able to communicate across great distances through their senses. Kris adored the concept and was unable to stop watching. From Tara: Second Verse by Natasha West This week, Tara recommends Natasha West’s Second Verse, a tropetastic sapphic romance that Tara found delightful. It's a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance told in two timelines, with two women who had once experienced an intense connection at the end of high school and parted on disastrous terms, reuniting 20 years later when their children become best friends.  Works/People Discussed Perfect by Kris Bryant A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland Alone (History Channel) Alone Australia (SBS) Twisters (2024) Three Body Problem (Netflix) Cherish by Kris Bryant The Complete Carlisle Series by Roslyn Sinclair In the Dead of Night by Lost_my_soul_in_a_black_hole Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris provides an update on the situation with the feral cats in her neighborhood, including her ongoing campaign to love them (despite their attempts to gently murder her while she sleeps). Tara and Kris take a quick detour to write a book together before diving into the Olympics and then — drum roll — recommendations! Official Recommendations  From Kris: Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black This week, Kris recommends Virginia Black's debut novel, Consecrated Ground. It’s an urban fantasy with a romance, set in a world with witches and vampires, and it just hits. While Kris praises all aspects of this book, the pacing and juggling of the many storylines stood out the most for her. From Tara: The Boyfriend (Netflix) And this week, Tara recommends Japan’s first gay dating show, The Boyfriend (Netflix). Nine young men live together in a house in a small seaside town, dividing their time between working at a coffee truck and... finding true love? Tara loved how gentle the show was in comparison to a lot of Western dating shows, and how it showcased male vulnerability. Read the article that Tara references.  Works/People Discussed Good Girls Guide to Murder (Netflix) House of the Dragon (HBO) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, season nine (Paramount+) Hot Summer by Elle Everhart, narrated by Marisa Calin Stars Collide by Rachel Lacey Informed Consent by Rachel Spangler Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

This week, Tara sits down with Frederick Smith (he/him), author of Tara’s official recommendation from Episode 86, One and Done. Fred talks about his early writing aspirations, the books that inspired him in his youth, his experiences as an author writing about Black gay men, and who he’s reading right now. Works/People Discussed Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris Just as I Am by E. Lynn Harris Denise Hamilton A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee Second Night Stand by Fay Stetz-Waters and Karelia Stetz-Waters Kennedy Ryan Beverly Jenkins Bad Queers Podcast Minority Report Podcast Follow Frederick Smith Website Twitter (X) Facebook Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris and Tara are back from the annual GCLS conference. They're energized, motivated, and… suffering from Covid, in Kris’s case. They talk all about their experiences at the best sleepaway camp for sapphic fiction fans before getting deep into those recommendations.   Official Recommendations From Kris: The Man with 1000 Kids (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends The Man with 1000 Kids, a limited documentary series that tells the real-life story of a Dutch scammer, accused of traveling the world and deceiving mothers into having his babies on a mass scale. Kris came into this series “completely naive” on the fertility industry and found the scale of the man’s crimes and the laws around it horrible, but in a way that also made it a compelling watch. From Tara: Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd This week, Tara recommends Carrie Byrd's debut novel Loser of the Year. Mattie is a Jewish lesbian working at a Catholic school with a morality clause in its contract, which she didn’t notice when she took the job. Shouldn't be a problem except for the soccer coach, Jillian, who starts as an enemy and over time becomes (you guessed it) a lover. Tara loved this one and thinks you will too. Works/People Discussed The Perfect Match (Netflix) Sapphic World Book Club Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) Dimension 20 (Dropout TV) Hot Summer by Elle Everhart, narrated by Marisa Calin A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence by Jess Everlee The Black Bird of Chernobyl by Ann McMan Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Ann McMan about her latest novel, The Black Bird of Chernobyl, how elements were inspired by previous GCLS conferences, and eco-friendly burial options (we promise, it makes sense when you listen). Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Ann McMan's website Trusting Tomorrow by PJ Trebelhorn Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with A.L. Brooks about her latest novel, Make Her Wish Come True  and her experience at the conference. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit A.L. Brooks' website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Kristen Zimmer about her latest novel, Forbidden Girl, and her experience at the conference. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Carrie Byrd about her debut novel, Loser of the Year, and her experience at the conference. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Carrie Byrd's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Nan Campbell about her novella New York is Losing Hope, which is part of the recent Hot Hires collection, her experience at this year's GCLS conference, and her advice for future conference goers. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Nan Campbell's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Alaina Erdell about her novella Two Women, Two Weddings, which is part of the recent Hot Hires collection, as well as her experience at GCLS 2024. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Alaina Erdell's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Erica Lee about her forthcoming novel, A Very Miller-Cooper Life. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Erica Lee's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Morgan Lee Miller about her latest novel, 2024 Romantic Blend Goldie winner The Memories of Marlie Rose, as well as what she loves about attending GCLS conferences. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Morgan Lee Miller's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with Krystina Rivers and Ana Hartnett about their new books The Heart Wants and Comes in Waves, as well as their experience at the conference. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit Kristina Rivers's website Visit Ana Hartnett's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with E. J. Noyes about her latest novel, Loyalty (book 3 in the Halcyion Division series) and her experience at the conference. Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit E. J. Noyes' website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris and Tara chat with K.B. Draper about her latest novel, Southbound and Down, her thoughts on GCLS conferences, and the authors K.B. fangirls over.  Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit K.B. Draper's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara and Kris chat with K. Aten about her latest novel, Paradise Lost and Found, her thoughts on GCLS conferences, and the best places to buy books if you want the most money to go to authors.  Recorded at the 20th annual Golden Crown Literary Society conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Visit K. Aten's website Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Have we got a treat for you! Last week, Kris and Tara talked to a bunch of authors at the Golden Crown Literary Society's 20th annual conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each conversation will be posted individually on this feed throughout the day and in the days to come.  Please bear with the sound quality, because recording at a conference is challenging. We hope you enjoy the conversations as much as they did! Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Cue the fanfare, friends, because Kris is back! She returns with stories of Pride celebrations, galas, plays in New York City, conventions, and gambling. This conversation has it ALL. Official Recommendations From Kris: Turbulence by E. J. Noyes This week, Kris recommends Turbulence by E. J. Noyes. A stockbroker just looking for sex after a breakup has an amazing one-night stand… with the newly hired pilot at her company. Kris found this one "laugh out loud funny" with great characters and exploration of their flaws. It’s also pretty spicy with lots of sex on the page. From Tara: One and Done by Frederick Smith This week, Tara recommends One and Done by Frederick Smith, an opposites-attract m/m romance. One of the men is a university administrator who wants to be the youngest queer Black university president in the US and the other is running the accreditation process at the university. Of course, they only figure this out after clashing at a drag brunch. Tara says this one is sweet, fun, and grounded in reality in ways that make this book special.  Works/People Discussed The Great Gatsby (Musical by Kait Kerrigan) Alone (History Channel) House of the Dragon (HBO) Bridgerton (Netflix) RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, season 9 (Paramount+) Strange Horticulture (Iceberg Interactive) When You Smile by Melissa Brayden Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris is off on assignment this week. What assignment? We have no idea. She just left a note on our windshield that read "Off to do cool shit." Fret not! When the cat’s away, the mice will play. And these mice… are Canadian.  Podcast and personal favourite Amanda returns to the show! If you don’t know Amanda, you can check out her other appearances on the pod here and here. Settle in for talks about various Pride celebrations, anime, water restrictions, and how Tara is confronted by her love of age-gap romances when a character is her exact age. And, we get a poetry reading for the first time in QR history! Official Recommendations From Amanda: A Fate Worse Than Death by Nisha Patel This week, Amanda recommends A Fate Worse Than Death by Nisha Patel. It's a poetry collection that investigates the vulnerabilities and life experiences of navigating a medical system mired in capitalism. Amanda reads a poem at the end of the episode if you want a sense of what to expect. From Tara: A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins This week, Tara recommends A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins. This sapphic romance has a messy friends-to-lovers pairing between a music producer and her best friend, the premiere dancer at a local strip club. Tara praised this book for its fat rep, its kissin’, and how it dives into the sloppy muck of what to do when you sleep with your best friend.  Works/People Discussed Yuri on Ice (MAPPA) Truth and Reconciliation Final Report University of Alberta Free Online Indigenous Canada course 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph The Untamed (Tencent Video) Winter Begonia (iQiyi) Farewell my Concubine (1993) S.C.I. Mystery (Youku) I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix) What We Do in the Shadows (FX) What We Do in the Shadows (2014) Just Kiss Her by Clare Lydon Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Writer), Lisa Sterle (Illustrator) The Worst Ronin by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Writer), Faith Schaffer (Illustrator) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

(tap, tap) Is this thing on? (tap) I think it’s on. Hey everyone. It’s just me, Tara, this week. Kris couldn't join me as usual, so instead of replaying one of our old episodes, we came up with an idea for something smaller. Here are my top five podcasts and an official recommendation. Official Recommendation From Tara: Blood Remains by Cathy Pegau This week, I’m recommending the historical, sapphic, urban fantasy romance Blood Remains by Cathy Pegau. The worldbuilding is robust, inviting us into the syndicated crime scene of 1930s Seattle. It also has found family, which I’m a huge sucker for.  Works/People Discussed Maintenance Phase (Suggested episodes: Snake Oil, The Body Mass Index, Diet Book Deep Dive: Angela Lansbury’s “Positive Moves”) Your Fat Friend If Books Could Kill (Suggested episodes: Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, The 5 Love Languages, The 4-Hour Work Week) A More Civilized Age Better Offline History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Sometimes you drive out into the dark, beyond the city lights, and wonder whether your loved one's intentions are nefarious. Other times you see the northern lights!  This week, a very relieved Kris shares stories of lights in the sky, the benefits of not being murdered, and what it’s like to swim with penguins. And Tara’s here too, more laid back after emerging from a gaming fugue state, with another banger recommendation.  Official Recommendations From Kris: Mary & George (Sky/Starz) This week, Kris recommends the British historical drama Mary & George, which tells the story of a man, his mother, and the King of England they’re intent on seducing. Kris particularly liked this one because of the lengths the characters go to get what they want. From Tara: I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Steam) This week, Tara recommends I Was A Teenage Exocolonist by Northway Games. In this deckbuilding life sim game, you play a settler going through a wormhole to a brand-new world. The story is looped, with the player returning to their arrival point over and over, trying to set right what went wrong in previous loops. It’s queer AF and was the subject of much delight in Tara’s home. Works/People Discussed Queer Liberation Library Christine Williams Jeopardy! (NBC) Survivor (CBS) Catfish (MTV) Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix) Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen & Lydia Wang Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Grab your popcorn, chocolate, or other favourite movie snack, and sit down with Kris for her recommended double feature. Don’t worry! You still have time before the first movie starts.  Kris and Tara discuss two constants in life, Covid and the NFL, before getting into what they’ve been reading and watching lately. Then it’s lights out and no cellphones. We have a strict policy. Official Recommendations From Kris: Blue Jean (2022) & Love Lies Bleeding (2024) This week, Kris recommends two films set in the late 1980s. The first is Blue Jean (2022), a drama about a closeted gym teacher in Britain who has to handle a student threatening to expose her sexuality to the community. The second is the thriller Love Lies Bleeding (2024), about a gym manager who falls in love with a bodybuilder and gets mixed up with her mob father. From Tara: The Summer Love Strategy by Ray Stoeve This week, Tara dips her toe into the YA romance pool to recommend the lovely and warm The Summer Love Strategy by Ray Stoeve. Two best friends are ready to start dating, so they plan a summer's worth of activities to find their first loves. Of course, no one is more surprised than them when it turns out love might be closer than they originally thought. Tara recommends this book to anyone, especially the tweens and teens in your life, because it has no sex, some kissing, and all good vibes. Works/People Discussed Crashing (Channel 4) RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 16 (MTV) Physical 100 Season Two: Underground (Netflix) About that Kiss by Harper Bliss (check out the episode where Tara recommended it) Cabin Fever by Tagan Shepard Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

It’s tax season at Queerly Recommended and Kris and Tara are comparing notes (and stamps!). Kris also talks about her upcoming trip to Earp Division Expo and Tara shares about a recent trip to Vancouver. Official Recommendations From Kris: Maestro (2023) This week, Kris recommends Maestro (2023), the Bradley Cooper-directed feature film about American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. Kris was especially taken by how completely Bradley Cooper disappeared into the role and the emotions of the storytelling.  From Tara: Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt This week, Tara recommends the sapphic romance Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt. It's about how Esha, an American-raised Indian woman, is pressured into learning a special dance for her wedding to a man she's never met and falls for her dance instructor, Billu, instead. Tara adored this book, describing it as an amazing translation of a Bollywood film into a book. You should definitely check out a few Bollywood romance films before reading this one to truly understand the achievement that was made with this book. Works/People Discussed One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston  9-1-1 (Fox) The Resident (Fox) Fallout (Amazon Prime Video) RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 16 (MTV) Blown Away (Makeful/Netflix) Colstead & Andie by Olivia Janae A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland (find out if the ending is happy by opening the spoiler tag on this page) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

This was recorded later on a Tuesday night, so some meds have worn off, some are kicking in, and Kris and Tara get lost in a field of rabbit holes… and recommendations! They answer your questions about cartoon covers in lesfic and the comfort reads they return to repeatedly. Even better? Their recommendations are all brand new lesfic releases. The stars have aligned and you, dear listener, will benefit. Official Recommendations From Kris: Aubrey McFadden is Never Getting Married by Georgia Beers This week, Kris recommends Georgia Beers's new romance, Aubrey McFadden is Never Getting Married, which she describes as a "warm hug of a book." It's structured around the five weddings that Aubrey McFadden has to attend in the presence of the woman who convinced Aubrey's fiance to break off their engagement when she was in her twenties. It’s a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story that’s full of love, weddings, and pretty low angst. From Tara: Houseswap 101 by Jaime Clevenger This week, Tara recommends Houseswap 101 by Jaime Clevenger. Tara loved this book because it gave her the "housebutch" she she never knew she needed. She appreciated the depiction of the early days of someone discovering their bisexuality and it has a cute dog that you definitely wouldn't want to pick up. This is a strong recommendation and it even made it into her Kindle favourites list for easy future rereading. Works/People Discussed While You Were Sleeping (1995) Elf (2003) Too Close to Touch by Georgia Beers Ali Vali Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest The Philadelphia Story (1940) Pride and Prejudice (1995 Mini-Series BBC1) Course of Action by Gun Brooke Truth and Measure by Roslyn Sinclair Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair The Red Files by Lee Winter The Headmistress by Milena McKay The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (AMC) The Resident (Fox) RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV), season 16 RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, season 2 (BBC Three) Physical: 100, season 2 (Netflix) Leather, Lace and Locs by Anne Shade Bloodline by Jenn Alexander Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Tara did a thing! She went to the Sapphic World Book Club's event featuring Lee Winter and is here to spread the good word.  Kris and Tara talk about Facebook reels for a bit. Now that Tara has finished Love is Blind, she and Kris have their own reunion show to discuss the fallout. Spoilers around 14:50 - 30:42. Official Recommendations From Kris: Nyad (2023) This week Kris recommends the 2023 biographical film Nyad. Starring Jodie Foster and Annette Benning, Nyad follows Diana Nyad’s multiple attempts to swim the straits of Florida in the 2010s. Sports movies get us where we live and when they have excellent performances? They get recommended. From Tara: London Ever After by Clare Lydon This week Tara recommends London Ever After by Clare Lydon, the 9th and final book in her London Romance series. Tara appreciated the laughs and the journey of seeing someone become a drag king in this one, describing it as a "lovely, happy" book. Works/People Discussed Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter Sapphic World Book Club The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (AMC) Apples Never Fall (Peacock) Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty The Resident (Fox) RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 16 (MTV) RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, season 2 (BBC Three) Love is Blind, season Six (Netflix) Firebugs by Nino Bulling Cover Story by Rachel Lacey Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Are all cats ice queens? Are all ice queens cats? What if they’re British? Kris’s Alexa wants to weigh in on this very important conversation, too.  We answer a listener question about debut authors that swept us off our feet, making this a recommendation-heavy episode. After this edifying topic, Kris and Tara belly up to a long conversation about the latest season of the trash can that is the latest season of Love is Blind. Official Recommendations From Kris: Nurses (Global/NBC) This week, Kris recommends the Canadian medical drama Nurses (Global/NBC), which follows a group of nurses in a busy downtown Toronto hospital. There’s a lot of death and dying in the show, so watch out for that if you’re squeamish. Otherwise, Kris describes it as a much less angsty Grey’s Anatomy. From Tara: Tempting Olivia by Clare Ashton Tara recommends the contemporary sapphic romance Tempting Olivia by Clare Ashton. An icy, perfectionist lawyer with a secret celebrity crush ends up representing that celebrity during her divorce and, well, you can kind of figure out the rest from there. Tara praises the reality of how the relationship is handled, including how the power dynamics of their professional/client relationship are handled. Tara adored this book so much so that it’s now her favourite Clare Ashton book, toppling the reigning champ, Poppy Jenkins. Run, don't walk. Works/People Discussed Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter The Delicate Things We Make by Milena McKay Compass Rose by Anna Burke Stick McLaughlin: The Prohibition Years by C.F. Frizzell Changing Majors by Ana Hartnett The Red Files by Lee Winter Jericho by Ann McMan The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix) Survivor, Season 46 (CBS) The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (AMC) Love is Blind, Season 6 (Netflix) RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 16 (MTV) RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, Season 3 (BBC Three) Taylor Tomlinson: Have it All (Netflix) Lean in to Love by Catherine Lane Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

CONTENT WARNING: We're excited that Kris’s team won the Super Bowl for the second year in a row. Tragically, as some of you may have heard, the celebratory parade was interrupted by a mass shooting. Kris talks about her experience and feelings about the event. There are no graphic or scary details, but if you want to avoid it, the section is 01:28 - 07:36. Stay safe, everyone. Tara’s reading slumpbuster keeps on chugging with more book recommendations. Kris goes to space (and the library) to get some work done. Reality television, in books and otherwise, is discussed at length.  Official Recommendations From Kris: ISS (2023) This week, Kris recommends the science fiction thriller ISS. Kira Foster is the latest addition to the International Space Station. When nuclear war breaks out on Earth and the key to survival lies in the research aboard the ISS, America and Russia order their respective astronauts to take the station at any cost. From Tara: Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter This week, Tara recommends Vengeance Planning for Amateurs by Lee Winter, which the author described on Facebook as her first "romcom on purpose." Muffin maker Olivia Roberts is tired of being taken advantage of by a series of bad exes and has decided on revenge. The problem is she needs help. When she puts out an ad looking for a henchperson, she gets it in the form of the mysterious Margaret Blackwood, and then we’re off to the races. Tara adored this book and thinks you will too. Works/People Discussed Love is Blind, Season 6 (Netflix) True Detective: Night Country (HBO) RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 16 (MTV) RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, season 2 (BBC Three) Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) Forever by Kris Bryant Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

We've got a packed house this week at ol’ QR HQ. Kris has some big projects out on them lonely roads. Tara’s reading slump seems to have been busted (fingers crossed). We talk card conventions and we answer your questions. Pull up a chair and hang out for a while. Official Recommendations From Kris: Theater Camp (2023) This week, Kris recommends Theater Camp. It's a delightful and heartfelt mockumentary-style comedy about a summer theater camp in New York where the kids are wonderful and the adults are all hot messes. From Tara: How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly This week, Tara recommends How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly, a cozy and queer sports romance. Which sport? Tara doesn’t know. Basketball, maybe?  It features characters from Kelly’s other books but stands alone just fine. Tara adored this book. Works/People Discussed All Things Beautiful by Alaina Erdell The Grammys The Color Purple (2023) True Detective: Night Country (HBO) RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season Sixteen (MTV) Not in the Plan by Dana Hawkins Keep This Off the Record by Arden Joy Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Thorn by Anna Burke The Bear (FX on Hulu) Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris returns from a road trip adventure that pitted her against all kinds of weather. Tara talks about conquering her public speaking fear and announces that she’ll be attending GCLS for the first time this year. For all those planning to attend, you’ll experience the first meet-up between our Queerly Recommended hosts. Shit’s gonna get wild, friends. Official Recommendations From Kris: Joy Ride (2023) This week, Kris recommends Joy Ride, a raunchy, sex-positive comedy about four Asian American friends reconnecting while travelling across China. Kris loved the relationships in this one and found a subplot about transitioning to be respectfully and lovingly handled. From Tara: Limelight by Gun Brooke Tara recommends Limelight by Gun Brooke, a sapphic romance set in a competitive singing reality TV show, with a contestant and one of the show's mentors falling for each other. Tara describes the setting as perfect for driving tension without requiring a third-act break up and she enjoyed the spin on ice queens, too.  Works/People Discussed QR 044 - Jonathan Van Ness Says “Tara 4 Congress!” Chicago Fire (NBC) Love on the Spectrum (ABC TV/Netflix) RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 16 (MTV) Canada’s Drag Race, season 4 (Crave) RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World, season 2 (BBC Three) Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) Fierce Overture by Gun Brooke Course of Action by Gun Brooke Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

After recounting their holidays and discussing the vomiting strategies of families with small children, Kris and Tara start with their new year updates. The first? Kris’s new book, Dreamer, is out. You can check it out here or wherever books are sold. We’ve got some good recommendations this week, folks. Conversation starters, you might say. Official Recommendations From Kris: Good Grief (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends Dan Levy's directorial debut, Good Grief, which recently premiered on Netflix. In addition to directing, Dan Levy writes and acts in this compelling (and sometimes frustrating) film about a man and his friends struggling to come to terms with their grief after his husband dies tragically. Watch this movie with someone because it may not be a perfect movie, but it’s a perfect movie to talk about. You'll thank us later. From Tara: Magdalene Nox by Milena McKay This week, Tara recommends Magdalene Nox by Milena McKay, the companion novel to one of Tara’s all-time favourite romances, The Headmistress. Tara praises its heightened language and how that contributes to creating the vibe of a beautiful fairy tale about two women surrounded by others while still very much alone, as they find companionship in each other. While The Headmistress was written as a standalone novel, Madalene Nox references it without always reproducing the content, making it a little more difficult to read by its own. This is great for you because you get to read both! Works/People Discussed Survivor, Season 45 (CBS) Fool Me Once (Netflix) Canada’s Drag Race (Crave) RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 16 (MTV) Snack vs. Chef (Netflix) Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) The Beat Of Her Heart by Steren_Heart Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Queerly Recommended is three years old! According to physical development guidelines, this podcast should be able to a) ride a tricycle b) climb stairs and c) walk backwards or side to side. Two out of three ain’t bad, and the less we say about emotional development, the better. Speaking of new developments, Kris talks about her new book baby, Dreamer, which is out January 1st from Bold Strokes Books. Kris also has an interesting answer to the time old publishing question, “What comes first, the book or the book cover?” Blow out the candles and make a wish. We hope it’s for…. recommendations!!! Official Recommendations From Kris: Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix) This week, Kris really wanted to recommend another queer Christmas movie, but the selection out there didn’t deliver. It’s very possible a slate of Christmas films were delayed or cancelled due to the writer’s strike. So instead, Kris draws your attention to Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix). It has a bunch of queer people in it, it’s fun, and there are a lot of very hot, very tight bodies on display. And honestly, what’s more Christmasy than that? From Tara: A Flight to Love by Frankie Fyre This week, Tara recommends the novella A Flight to Love by Frankie Fyre. She describes this as “zero-angst” and “utterly Hallmark”. If you’re up for a gentle read about exes rekindling their relationship (plus, some pretty hot airport sex) then check this one out this holiday season. Works/People Discussed Tinsel by Kris Bryant Dreamer by Kris Bryant Leave the World Behind (2023) Elf (2003) Candy Cane Lane (2023) While You Were Sleeping (1995) Obliterated (Netflix) The Great Canadian Baking Show, season 7 (CBC Television) Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio) Heartstopper, Vol. 2 and 3 by Alice Oseman Bottoms (2023) Highlander (1983) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

It’s the holiday season BAYbee! We’re decking those halls. We’re putting up the tree. Kris demands to know how big Tara’s feet are, which leads to a measurement ON AIR. We’ve got bitches stealing Christmas, a bunch of thirsty suitors, and an oddly unprompted promotion for a Secret Santa website. Buckle up. On a more serious note, this week Tara recommends (albeit not queerly) the short documentary film Apostate by Carmel Mikol, which both deals with and leads to a conversation about religious trauma, cults and a bunch of related bad stuff. If you're not down for that, the applicable content is between 31:00 - 40:16. Official Recommendations  From Kris: The Holiday Sitter (2022) A workaholic bachelor gets stuck with his sister’s kids for the holiday season. What a bummer. He’s not cut out for this. His solution involves hiring a guy who is into taking care of the kids…and his heart! Kris describes this as perfectly gentle and the kind of Christmas movie where all the obstacles are believable but totally overcome. It’s a warm hug of a film. Don't you deserve a warm hug? From Tara: Make Her Wish Come True by A.L. Brooks Tara's recommendation is a fauxmance leading to true romance at Christmas. A woman’s kid writes a letter to Santa asking for another mom for Christmas. Turns out Santa thinks the proper present this year is an aspiring journalist who's looking for a story and open to fake dating to get it. And he’s right! Tara notes that despite it having fake dating deception in it, the deceit is dropped fairly early on. So, put down the stress ball, kiddies. It’s time for some romance under the mistletoe.  Works/People Discussed elfster.com The Great British Baking Show (BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4) RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three) Canada’s Drag Race (Crave) The Bitch Who Stole Christmas (2021) Thirsty Suitors (Outerloop Games)  Heartstopper by Alice Oseman A Carol for Karol by Ann Roberts Apostate Spider Man Pointing at Spider Man Meme Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Queerly Recommended is here to celebrate the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike — and also that we'll be covering queer holiday-themed content this year! Labor rights are of the utmost importance and we would have supported the strike as long as it took, but we're excited to bring you Christmas treats next month, too. In addition to talking about the outcome of the strike (there’s a lot of good here, but some troubling portents for the future), Kris talks about good vs bad queer kissing in films. Tara goes on to discuss the benefits of feeling uncomfortable.  Official Recommendations From Kris: Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) This week, Kris dives into the 2023 film Red, White & Royal Blue, the cinematic adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s m/m novel of the same name. It’s a high-powered romance featuring the son of the American president and a British prince. Kris wants you to know that the chemistry is hot, hot, hot, and the cast is out of this world.  From Tara: Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer (Illustrator) Tara recommends the graphic novel, Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer (Illustrator). It’s a fictionalized imagining of how Patricia Highsmith came to write The Price of Salt, aka Carol, and it doesn't shy away from Highsmith's flaws. This story invites us to hold two truths at the same time: The Price of Salt is a foundational text in the sapphic canon that saved an inestimable number of lives and Highsmith held awful views and exhibited ugly behaviors. This exploration of her life and times will leave you with a deeper appreciation of our history and can't be missed. Works/People Discussed Justine Bateman Slams SAG-AFTRA Tentative Deal's AI Provisions (Hollywood Reporter) Black Mirror, Season 6, Episode 1: Joan is Awful (Netflix) Dame Judi Dench Masterfully Does A Shakespeare Sonnet (Graham Norton Show) The Great British Baking Show (BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4) Chicago Fire (NBC) The Morning Show (Apple TV+) Alone (History) RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three) Dropout.tv Dimension 20: The Unsleeping City (Dropout TV) Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023)

This week, Tara and Kris are back! They're also sleepy, busy, and full of recommendations.  Kris is our official correspondent from this year’s Women’s Week in Provincetown. Then, Kris accuses Tara of lying about her height and Tara insists she's not because that inch is REAL.  Kris explores the sweeter side of David Beckham. Tara talks about a comedian’s dreams of ice skating and Whitney Houston. Both discuss how watching so many documentaries has changed them (for the better!). And then, as always… the recommendations. Official Recommendations From Kris: Back to Black (2020) and Reclaiming Amy (2021)  This week, Kris recommends two documentaries about Amy Winehouse, Back to Black (2020) and Reclaiming Amy (2021). Taken separately, they tell conflicting stories that silo Winehouse into images that those creating the documentaries most want to portray. But, the truth is in the cracks, in the similarities and differences between accounts. From Tara: An Acquired Taste by Cheri Ritz (Bella Books) This week, Tara recommends An Acquired Taste by Cheri Ritz, which she describes as the ultimate gentle, cozy, lovely, sapphic romance. Set in a reality competition cooking show, it follows two former acting rivals who are both competing for something different: bragging rights as Celebrity Cook Off Champion. Maybe they'll cook up some love too? (We'll see ourselves out...) Works/People Discussed The Great British Baking Show (BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4) The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC Television) Beckham (2023) (Netflix) Survivor (CBS) Alone (History) Alone Australia (SBS) RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three) I Have Nothing (Crave Original) Baroness von Sketch Show (CBC Television) Handsome podcast Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter on Substack Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Blusky: @queerlyrec.bsky.social TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris went to Women's Week and Tara got knocked over by a couple of vaccines, so no new episode this week.  We didn't want to leave you totally hanging, so we're rerunning one of our faves: last year's conversation with Melissa Brayden, popular author of sapphic romances. We may have recorded it for Valentine's Day, but this is a fun listen any time of year.  We’re talking love this episode, people! Kris, Tara and Melissa compare their fave fictional couples, kisses, and romances that they love to reread. We also find out if Kris has a low bar for kissing in media (Melissa thinks so), Kris thinks out loud about Charlize Theron’s mouth, and Tara recounts her Summer of Steel at the tender age of twelve. Works/People Discussed Chapters: Interactive Stories – App Imagine Me & You (2005) Atomic Blonde (2017) Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Tricky Wisdom by Camryn Eyde And Playing the Role of Herself by K.E. Lane Wynonna Earp (Syfy) The Red Files and Under Your Skin by Lee Winter Star by Danielle Steel Paradise by Judith McNaught Too Close to Touch by Georgia Beers Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran Turn Back Time by Radclyffe Fated Love by Radclyffe Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon Winter Jacket by Eliza Lentzski Leave Yesterday Behind (1978) Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman (CBS) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte All that Matters by Susan X. Meagher Didn’t Stay in Vegas by Chelsea M. Cameron Truth and Measure by Telanu If you want to check out more from Melissa, you can find her on: Twitter: @MelissaBrayden Instagram: @mbraydenbooks Facebook @melissabrayden  Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

This week, Tara and Kris start by celebrating the conclusion of the WGA strike and sending support for SAG-AFTRA in their continued quest for an equitable deal. Looking ahead, they wonder about the future of AI. Tara doesn’t think it’s as bleak as it sounds. Kris disagrees. Luckily we have opinions on survival reality shows to bring us together.  After getting deep into Alone Australia and Survivor, we hear more about RuPaul's Drag Race UK from Tara and then dive headlong into recommendations! Official Recommendations From Kris: Gaga: Five Foot Two (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends the 2017 Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two, which covers a year in the life of Lady Gaga as she works on her fifth studio release album, Joanne. It’s a deeply vulnerable piece according to Kris, examining long standing pain conditions that the artist suffers from. It also details the 51st Super Bowl half-time show where Gaga gave her critically acclaimed appearance. From Tara: Bingo Love by Tee Franklin (Author), Jenn St-Onge (Artist) After comic creator Lawrence Lindell talked about it in our bonus episode with him, Tara picked up one of the books he suggested: Bingo Love. Spoiler: she fell in love with it. Bingo Love is a second-chance romance between two Black women that starts in the 1960s when they meet and become instant best friends at their church's Sunday bingo. Separated once their relationship turns romantic and is discovered, they go on to marry men, have families, and then meet once more sixties at another Sunday bingo when they're in their 60's. It’s a beautiful story about love, second chances, and honestly how many stories like this include Black women? We love to see it. Check it out. Works/People Discussed If Books Could Kill (Podcast) "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?" By Emily M Bender, Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major and Shmargaret Shmitchell Alone Australia (SBS) Survivor (CBS) https://www.tiktok.com/@208sportscards RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC) The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge (Netflix) Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni Black Mirror, Series Three, Episode Four “San Junipero” (Channel Four/Netflix) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

This week, we start with a little update on the Hollywood strikes (still ongoing, no end in sight). This was recorded before Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher decided to go back on strike instead of scabbing, but that doesn't mean our assessment of Bill Maher being a colossal asshole was incorrect. Bill might be a stopped clock that's correct in this moment, but we’re full digital at Queerly Recommended and we know an asshole when we see one. We also talk about Kris’s new work situation, which seems to include nothing but meetings. It’s like that Lion King meme where Mufasa is saying everything the light touches belongs to Simba, except it's meetings. Everything the light touches is meetings. You know what else the light touches? Recommendations. Official Recommendations From Kris: Glow Up, Season Five (Netflix) This isn't the first time that this reality make-up competition show has been queerly recommended (and we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not the last, either). The Netflix show is a delight of diverse contestants, celebrations of art, and in Kris’s words "a good introduction for seeing what a queer world actually looks like."  From Tara: Goodbye Volcano High by KO_OP (Playstation, PC) It’s the senior year of high school, and young Fang has to decide what to do with the rest of their life. The Battle of the Bands is coming, but so are strange reports of a coming meteor. Did we mention that Fang and all her friends are dinosaurs? Tara described this game as a poignant, powerful reflection of our modern moment. Also, the music fucking slaps. Check it out. Works/People Discussed Alone Australia (SBS) RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under (WOW Presents Plus) Alone (History Channel) The Bodyguard Affair by Anna Stone and Hildred Billings I Like to Watch with Trixie and Katya (Youtube) How to Become a Cult Leader (Netflix) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris and Tara sit down with cartoonist Lawrence Lindell to talk about his upcoming graphic novel, Blackward (releases September 26th!). As well as being a self-proclaimed introvert (hard same), Lawrence is an artist and educator, working in many disciplines like comics, music, illustration, and mixed media. His self-published graphic memoir, From Truth With Truth, was nominated for the Believer Book Awards, and the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics in 2020. Together, the three talk about Blackward, the choices that went into it, and what Lawrence is currently reading and recommending. Lawrence recommends: Bingo Love by Tee Franklin When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage. Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni Best friends and chosen family Chris, Elise, Jo, and Alex work hard to keep themselves afloat. Their regular brunches hold them together even as the rest of their lives threaten to fall apart. In an effort to avoid being the oldest gays at the party, the crew decides to put on a new queer event called Grind–specifically for homos in their dirty thirties. Grind is a welcome distraction from their real problems: after a messy divorce, Chris adjusts to being a single parent while struggling to reconnect to their queer community. Elise is caught between feelings for her boss and the career of her dreams. Jo tries to navigate the murky boundaries of being a supportive friend and taking care of her own needs. And Alex is guarding a secret that might change his friendships forever. While navigating exes at work, physical and mental exhaustion, and drinking way, way too much on weekdays, this chosen family proves that being messy doesn’t always go away with age. Rupert Kinnard Rupert Kinnard is a long-time activist and American cartoonist who created the first ongoing gay/lesbian-identified African-American comic-strip characters: the Brown Bomber (a teenage superhero) and Diva Touché Flambé (his ageless lesbian partner). Support & follow our show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Welcome to Queerly Recommended’s Documentary Era! With the writer and actor strikes continuing in Hollywood, Kris and Tara have been digging into a lot of interesting and provoking queer documentaries. Everything’s about eras these days, isn’t it? Tara is living in that kids-going-back-to-school era. Kris is entering a new professional era… and she might even be slipping into her third-person era. It’s wild. Also, Tara gives Kris a big surprise. Official Recommendations From Kris: Wish Me Away (2011)  This week, Kris continues her long line of musical documentary recommendations with Wish Me Away. It tracks the story of Chely Wright, the first major country music singer to come out publicly as queer. Kris describes Chely’s coming out as "a blaze of glory," something the star did intentionally and confidently, despite the negative repercussions. From Tara: Freedom Uncut (2022)  Spurred on by Kris’s Wham! (Netflix) recommendation last episode, Tara recommends the documentary George Michael Freedom Uncut, which follows George Michael's career after Wham!. It paints the star’s life, including his public and private successes and losses, as one defined by a sadness deeply felt, and his legacy of beautiful, timeless music. Works/People Discussed Alone Australia (SBS) Eliza Lentzski’s Winter Jacket Series RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under (WOW Presents Plus) Alone (History Channel) Maintenance Phase Podcast “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

It’s a big ole catchup episode this week. Tara’s back from a botched vacation with tons of recommendations. Kris returns with boat problems and a bunch of excitement about the current state of (checks notes) foot…ball?  They check in on the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, which most recently has taken the second season of A League of Their Own as a casualty (or that's what management claims, anyway). This isn’t going to end anytime soon, folks, but we’re in it for the duration. Official Recommendations From Kris: Wham! (Netflix) This week, Kris brings a recommendation for the music lovers out there: Wham!. This documentary covers the popular band from their childhood friendship in the 1970s through to their megastardom in the 1980s, via archival footage and interviews with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Kris loved it and thinks you will too. From Tara: All Man: The International Male Story Tara's officially recommending the documentary All Man: The International Male Story. It covers the full lifecycle of the highly sought-after, mail-order catalog International Male, from its very beginnings to how it all unravelled. You'll never look at contemporary men's fashion the same way again after watching this one. Works/People Discussed Tagan Shepard A League of Their Own (Amazon Prime) Wynonna Earp (Syfy) Warrior Nun (Netflix) Alone (History) Alone Australia (History) Wytchwood by Alien Trap Games The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge (Netflix) Matteo Lane: The Advice Special (YouTube) Under the Stars with You by Jaime Clevenger Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris, aka "The Road Trip Warrior Audiobook Listener," and Tara have talked many times about their love of audiobooks. The right audiobook is a mix of the right story and the right performer. If you only have one, the project doesn’t work. So, it’s with great joy that we welcome two very special guests this week to talk about all things audiobooks. If you've listened to a sapphic romance in the last 5 years, chances are good you've heard Lori Prince's voice. And if you listen to historical fiction, then you've probably heard Marisa Calin, too. Here’s the other cool thing: Marisa and Lori are married to each other! You know what narrators, readers, and writers also love to do? Laugh. There’s a lot of laughing in this episode, probably because there’s a lot of love here. Love for stories and how they reach out through our headphones, our speakers, or just the page itself, to connect us all together. Like Kris, aka "The Pusher," is fond of saying, “Punch and roll, bitches. Let’s go!” Works/People Discussed SAG-AFTRA strike website WGA Strike Hub Interview with Adam Conover, member of WGA's negotiating committee (A More Civilized Age podcast) "AI is coming for your audiobooks. You’re right to be worried." (Washington Post, August 16, 2023) Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, by Alison Bechdel and Madeleine George (audiobook) My Covid Romance by Gabra Zackman About our guests Lori Prince is an New York City based actor and narrator with over 25 years of acting experience. She has an extensive theatre background from Off-Broadway to some of the country’s top regional theatres and you’ve probably seen her on TV. With over 150 audiobooks on Audible, she has become a go-to Sapphic Romance narrator with two Earphones Awards. Marisa Calin is an Audie, Odyssey, seven-times Audiofile Earphones Award winning and SOVAS nominated audiobook narrator. She’s had an Audible Best Audiobook of the Year, Apple Books Must-Listen audiobooks of the month, starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, and books on YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks of the year list. She's also the author of Between You & Me, a queer YA coming of age novel which was selected for ALA’s Rainbow Book List, and the writer of the film A Million Happy Nows, which won best feature at the first Clexacon conference.  Support & follow our show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Kris celebrates the birth of her new book… baby. Book babies are a thing, right? The book is called Cherish. You should check it out when it drops in September. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, Kris reveals the winning strategy to make it through the survival reality show, Alone. Tara and Kris discuss their troubled history with Mus musculus (the common house mouse), as well as the extent to which they will allow their home to be "hacked." Programming note: the actors and writers unions currently on strike in the United States have asked for podcasts to not review or promote "struck" work, and we at Queerly Recommended stand with union asks. So until the strike ends you’ll be getting fewer movies and scripted TV series from us, and more books, documentaries, video games, etc.  Official Recommendations From Kris: Nothing Compares (2022) This week, Kris recommends the documentary, Nothing Compares, which details Sinead O’Connor's rise and fall in the public sphere, surrounding her infamous appearance on SNL when she ripped up a photo of the Pope. There is a lot to her struggle and her history that Kris didn’t know before this documentary and she wishes she’d paid more attention sooner. Sinead O’Connor was a defiant, powerful, liberatory artist. The world is lesser without her in it. From Tara: Blackward by Lawrence Lindell Rounding it off, Tara recommends the graphic novel, Blackward by Lawrence Lindell, which will be released this September. It’s about a group of black queer people trying to create community for themselves and others like them, and the challenges they face along the way. Blackward is written in African American Vernacular English. If you are not familiar with it, check out this quick primer to better your reading experience of this wonderful book. Works/People Discussed Crush by Ana Hartnett Reichardt Alone (History) Hack My Home (Netflix) The Last of Us (HBO) Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment) Venba (Visai Games) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

It’s been a bit since Kris and Tara sat down together, so there’s a lot of catching up to do! Kris reports back on her experience at the annual GCLS conference, as well as what to expect if you’re a newbie. And Tara’s been on vacation! Well, sorta. Some of it was working. She brings to the podcast tales of her hometown pizza and spending time with some of her many, many cousins. You have a favourite cousin, right? With all the pleasantries done, they dive deep into the oceans of backlogs and recommendations. Release the Kraken…of content! Official Recommendations From Kris: Carol (2015) This week, Kris recommends the 2015 film that got all the sapphics excited: Carol. Having seen it before, Kris’s recollection was that the movie was pretty boring. Thankfully she gave the movie a second chance (to settle a bet, as one does) and….yeah, it’s a completely different movie now. That said, she does have a take that she doesn’t think you’ll see coming.  From Tara: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel This week, Tara recommends Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy. It’s a difficult, challenging, and beautiful book that dives into Bechdel's childhood and her relationship with her father. There are books you read and then there are experiences you have with books. For Tara, this book is an experience. Works/People Discussed Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) Storm Crow Manor Glad Day Bookshop Alone, Season 10 (History) Suits (USA Network) A Lesbian’s Guide to Women by Erica Lee The Delicate Things We Make by Milena McKay (Narrated by Abby Craden) RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, Season Eight (Paramount+) Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus, Seasons 1 + 2 (Cinemax) Hack My Home (Netflix) Siren: Survive the Island (Netflix) The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran The Swashbuckler by Lee Lynch Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Hey folks, Tara here. Kris and I are taking a break this week because I left town for a working vacation just as Kris was heading home from GCLS when we would have normally recorded. So, we’re rerunning one of my favourite interviews from my previous podcast, Les Do Books.  Ann Bannon is a keystone in lesbian literature and the impact of her lesbian pulp Beebo Brinker novels can't be overstated. Her books inspired generations of writers and readers who followed her and her historical perspective is both timeless and vitally important as today’s political landscape grows ever more hostile to LGBTQ people. Works/People Discussed Spring Fire by Vin Packer (Marijane Meaker) Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon Katherine V. Forrest Daughters of Bilitis The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (theatrical production) The Beebo Brinker Omnibus by Ann Bannon (Cleis Press) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Every so often, Kris and Tara put out a call for questions on Twitter. Late this spring, publisher and author Salem West asked about one of the most important topics in queer media: the rise of legislation aimed at criminalising LGBTQ+ books. So, of course they invited Salem to join them, along with John Copenhaver, author of the crime novels Dodging and Burning and The Savage Kind. Together, the four discuss the history of book bannings, the different effects felt by large and independent publishers, and how we can all push back against this tide of discrimination. Works/People Discussed Ann Bannon Marijane Meaker Anyda Marchant Barbara Grier 1984 by George Orwell PEN America's resources about book bans "So, what are agents seeing in the era of book bans?: Book Censorship News, April 21, 2023" by Kelly Jensen (Bitch Media) Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevntion Raphael Lemkin Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

A cliffhanger is resolved! Kris has turned in the ending for her book. Fingers crossed that her editor loves it.  This week, Kris and Tara do some deep dives. They discuss the horrors depicted in the new docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. It’s (hopefully) balanced by Tara’s recommendation of the week, The Ultimatum: Queer Love, and all the speculation, gasps and laughter it’s brought. Tara and Kris get into all the show's drama, so if you haven't watched yet and want to avoid spoilers, stop at 48:30. Content warnings: Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets: Child abuse, religious trauma, sexual abuse (11:45 - 20:45) The Ultimatum: Queer Love: Narcissism and domestic violence 56:04 - 103:43 Official Recommendations From Kris: The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone (Netflix)  This week, Kris recommends the Netflix documentary, The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone. It tracks the story of one transgender teen in Australia as she challenges the laws, affirms her gender, and becomes the adult she always wanted to be. Kris says this is something "everyone, straight or queer, should watch."  From Tara: The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix) A first for Tara, this week she recommends a reality series: Netflix’s The Ultimatum: Queer Love. Five couples are stuck between 'will they or won’t they,' when it comes to getting hitched and they’ve decided to seek trial by television show, instead of pursuing couples counselling. It thrills us, it confuses us, it makes us laugh, but most importantly, according to Tara, "it demands to be discussed with as many people as possible." Works/People Discussed Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (Amazon Prime) Alone, Season Ten (The History Channel) Fast X (2023) Silo (Apple TV+) Ted Lasso, Season Three (Apple TV+) RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, Season 8 (Paramount+) Diablo 4 (Blizzard Entertainment) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) I Like To Watch with Trixie and Katya - Drag Queens Trixie & Katya React to The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Youtube)

As loyal listeners know, Queerly Recommended tends to get recorded on Sundays in the middle of the day. It’s a great time to record. There’s no rush or hurry. There’s plenty of time to make notes. It’s ideal. But, sometimes the ideal is impossible. So, sometimes we record on Monday. You know about our Monday sessions. They’re a bit…different. Well, listeners, welcome to Tuesday! Kris is drinking something called Lemonade and Lavender and Tara is hung over from a provincial election. And that’s before we get to the recommendations. Official Recommendations From Kris: Queer Eye, season 7 (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends the seventh season of Netflix’s hit reality makeover show, Queer Eye. Do we need to describe this? As Kris herself says, you already know what this is. That first episode might be a bit rocky, but the boys and Jonathan are back and ready to deliver. From Tara: Hannah Gadsby’s Something Special (Netflix) And from Tara, we have Hannah Gadsby’s new Netflix comedy special Something Special. Tara adores Gadsby, from the huge mark they made on the comedy world with Nanette (which she describes as "an experience"), to the strong follow-up Douglas. Tara loves Gadsby's intelligence, the structure they bring to their work, and the precision. She also discovers that it’s really hard to review comedy. Works/People Discussed John Edward, psychic medium Jeopardy! Masters (ABC) The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix) Survivor (CBS) RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, Season 8 (Paramount+) Mean Girls (2004) The Princess Diaries (2001) Sister Act (1992) The Final Table (Netflix)

Greetings, stranger! Have you heard tell of this new literary hero? This publishing world pugilist? His very words conjure riches. Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood is his name. Would you like to hear more? Well then, come. Sit! Warm yourself by the fire and listen for a spell. It’s a tale as old as time. A story of anime and sapphic science fiction and…the internet! Official Recommendations From Kris: Queen Charlotte (Netflix) This week, Kris recommends Queen Charlotte, the prequel to creator Shonda Rimes’ Bridgerton. The main plot revolves around Queen Charlotte’s rise to power from a young age, and while that "would be interesting enough," according to Kris, the real gem of the piece is the relationship between the royalty’s secretaries, Brimsley and Reynolds. You know Kris doesn’t recommend anything without chemistry, and these two have it. From Tara: How to Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Some of us are called. Others are chosen. In Tara’s case, she was reminded this week, due to the Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood of it all, that one of her favourite books of all time still exists. How to Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a short novel told in the correspondence of two agents on opposing sides of a millenia-spanning Time War. Through these letters, they fall in love and have to decide if their love means more to them than the cause they’ve dedicated their existence to. Works/People Discussed We’re Here (HBO) - Congrats on the Peabody win, We're Here team!!! Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monáe This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Jeopardy! Masters (ABC) Air (2023) Fear the Walking Dead (AMC) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season Eight (Paramount+) RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (MTV) Queer Eye, Season Seven (Netflix) Strange World (2022) Loop Hero (Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Series X/S) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

Time comes for all of us. Well, most of us. We’re not sure about Kris. This week, we’re out of listener questions and our home lives are… steady? What’s another word for steady? Boring? Uneventful? Regardless, no questions and no personal updates means this episode is a little shorter than usual. Kris talks about the difficulties of watching Euphoria as an adult. Tara suffers alone in the desert of RuPaul's Drag Race as she's dying for All Stars 8 to begin. Official Recommendations From Kris: Anything’s Possible This week, Kris recommends the Billy Porter-directed film, Anything’s Possible (2022). It’s billed as a Gen-Z, coming-of-age movie about a confident trans girl and the boy who decides to make his move in the last year of high school. From Tara: My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame is a manga series about a single dad and his daughter in Tokyo, who are visited by the husband of the father's recently deceased twin brother. It explores casual homophobia as a cultural norm in Japan and shows a different, more connected sense of what family can be when we challenge the idea of "should". Works/People Discussed Sweet Tooth (Netflix) Euphoria (HBO) Survivor (CBS) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season Eight (Paramount+) The Mandalorian (Disney+) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) Hum Tum (2004) Tom of Finland, artist Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee Support local animal shelters by joining Kris's Patreon

This week, we start off by celebrating the Peabody Award nomination for our fave reality documentary show, We’re Here (HBO Max). The show is doing important work and more people need to hear it! From there, things devolve pretty rapidly. It’s a MERS (Monday Evening Recording Sesh), people. You’ve been warned. Kris answers a listener’s question about Tara. Tara gives us her thoughts on the wrap up of this bumpy season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. And despite being an avowed non-spoiler person, Kris runs us through the movie 65, which is about future soldiers… in the past… fighting dinosaurs… and there’s an asteroid. Buckle up, buttercups. We’re going to space! Official Recommendations From Kris: Three Months  This week, Kris brings us the film Three Months (2022). It's about a young gay man finally getting out of high school and into the wider world, only to find out he might have been exposed to HIV. While waiting the three months to learn his test results, various aspects of his life, his future and his past are challenged. From Tara: Workhorse Queen Workhorse Queen (2021) is Tara’s pick this week. It’s a documentary tracking Ed Popil, telemarketing center manager by day and drag queen extraordinaire, Mrs. Kasha Davis, by brunch. It follows the life and career of MKD, exploring the space between those who make it onto RuPaul’s Drag Race and the many, many others who are doing the damn thing day in and day out, without the same accolades or followers. It's a great one. Works/People Discussed We’re Here (HBO) Catfish: The TV Show (MTV) 65 (2023) RuPaul's Drag Race, Season Fifteen (MTV) The Mandalorian (Disney+) Octopath Traveller 2 (Nintendo Switch) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

This week, Tara comes to us from her sickbed. She’s down with Covid and wants us all to stay home when we think we have a cold, because sometimes it's not "just a cold." Kris reveals the classic literary novel she hates and shots are fired at baseball. A listener question also sends them deep down the rabbit hole of their reading and writing histories. Official Recommendations From Kris: Shrinking (Apple TV+) This week, Kris brings us the television series Shrinking. The story follows a therapist dealing with the tragic loss of his partner, as he decides to take a new approach of giving brutal honesty to his clients. From Tara: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe Gender Queer is an autobiographical graphic novel from Maia Kobabe. It dives deep into the experience of growing up with gender dysphoria (and euphoria), asexuality and transness as a nonbinary person. Although this powerful, honest memoir doesn’t end neatly, it gives vital perspective to an identity and experience we need to support and protect now more than ever. Works/People Discussed Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan The Trixie Belden books by Julie Campbell Tatham The Bobbsey Twins books by Laura Lee Hope (pseudonym) The Baby-Sitters Club novels by Ann M. Martin A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler Jane Rule, author And Playing the Role of Herself by K. E. Lane Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan and Salem West The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon Lord of the Flies by William Golding Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Danielle Steel, author LaVyrle Spencer, author Stephen King, author Ted Lasso, Season Three (Apple TV+) American Idol (Fox) Alaska Daily (ABC) RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season Fifteen (MTV) Next in Fashion (Netflix) Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) Suited (2016) The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee  

Come and celebrate with us as Tara announces her new job. Also, Kris finally reveals her age for all of you playing at home. We get advice on book hangovers. The two try to separate the art from the artist with the third season of Ted Lasso (it’s hard, y’all). Then Tara describes her new adventure into the world of Bollywood and Indian cinema. Official Recommendations From Kris: Meeting Millie by Clare Ashton A lot of the early scuttlebutt on this book was around its tagline and the reaction to it. “Can two women, one gay and one straight, be friends forever or does sex get in the way?” It hit a lot of readers and writers the wrong way, but the positive is that Meeting Millie is a great book! Kris adored this past-present, friends-to-lovers romance that just makes you feel good. Check it out. From Tara: A New Life and She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki  Tara has two recommendations this week. The first is a very short video game by Angela He called A New Life, which puts the player in control of a relationship between two women and its possible beginnings, middles and ends. It’s a bittersweet game, because isn’t love just a (hopefully) really long walk to a sad ending? A New Life is beautiful, short, and worth your time. Tara’s second recommendation is the manga She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki is. As Tara says, it's "just what it says on the tin." One woman loves to cook, one woman loves to eat, and between the two a relationship begins. It’s a gentle, lovely, wonderful warm hug of a book, which you might need after playing A New Life. Works/People Discussed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Ted Lasso, Season Three (Apple+) Alaska Daily (ABC) RuPaul's Drag Race, Season Fifteen (MTV) The Romantics (Netflix) 3 Idiots (2009) Bittersweet by Susan Cain Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

You want to know the easiest way to turn Kris and Tara into perpetual recommendation machines? Just ask them to pick one of something. Works every time, including this episode, where we get not just one but two questions asking for their favourite thing. Look at the works discussed list! The first ten are from the first ten minutes! Official Recommendation From Kris: Wolf Pack This week, Kris recommends the Paramount+ teen drama series, Wolf Pack. In the wake of a sudden wildfire, two teenagers encounter a supernatural creature that changes them and their lives forever. The only thing Kris doesn’t like about this show is that the town seems to be simultaneously too big to be a town (is it a city?) and too remote to be anything else. She loved everything else. Check it out. From Tara: I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! Listen. LISTEN. The premise for Tara’s recommendation is super sketchy. She admits that. It’s a love story that starts off with a landlady asking for sex from her female tenant in lieu of payment. But it’s okay, actually, because all is not as it initially appears to be! No, seriously. I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! by Miyako Miyahara is a sapphic manga series that starts shaky but ends wonderfully. It’s tender, it’s sweet, it deals with complicated feelings, and has a twist that recontextualizes everything. And that hand holding scene! *swoon* Works/People Discussed Truth and Measure and Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair The Delicate Things We Make by Milena McKay The Headmistress by Milena McKay Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden The Red Files by Lee Winter Honor Series by Radclyffe And Playing the Role of Herself by K. E. Lane All That Matters by Susan X. Meagher Temptation by Kris Bryant Not Guilty by Brit Ryder Forget Me Not by Kris Bryant Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley The Fixer and Chaos Agent by Lee Winter Veronica Mars (Warner Bros. and Hulu) 1923 (Paramount+) The Perfect Match (Netflix) The Mole (Netflix) RuPaul's Drag Race, Season Fifteen (MTV) People Change by Vivek Shraya The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya White Women by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee  

Tara unveils a brand new hobby and Kris does an endzone dance to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’s Super Bowl win. Then they get down to business (serious face). No, for real. Okay, fine. There's lots of laughing in this one. We hope you have as much listening as we did recording this one. Official Recommendations From Kris: Ghosts (CBS) This week, Kris recommends the American TV series Ghosts. Sam and Jay think they’ve won big by inheriting a country house. Unfortunately the tenants are still around…and they're GHOSTS! After a near death experience that allows Sam to see the ghosts, the living and the dead start to get to know each other and work out centuries-old drama. Sounds like a lot of fun. From Tara: Dating Amber (2020) Tara brings the Irish film Dating Amber (2020) to the table this week. In the podcast, she calls it a platonic romance with two queer kids, Eddie and Amber, who pretend to be dating to escape harassment from their peers about their sexualities. What neither expects is a friendship that pushes them along their respective paths of self-discovery. Works/People Discussed Your Place or Mine (2023) 1923 (Paramount+) Wolf Pack (Paramount+) The Last of Us (HBO) RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 15 (MTV) Cunk on Earth (Netflix) These Thin Lines by Milena McKay Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

What do Kris and Tara talk about off-mic? Vegetables! On-mic, they continue to discuss vegetables, sports, Japanese shows with no angst and tons of food, as well as taking the temperature of the latest season of Drag Race (tepid so far?). With that out of the way, the two dive into THAT EPISODE of THAT SHOW (The Last of Us) and Lee Winter's impossible task of rehabilitating one of her worst villains. Official Recommendations From Kris: The Last of Us Kris comes to us from the post-apocalypse, bearing strawberries of content! The Last of Us (HBO Max) is an adaptation of the PlayStation video game and it currently has a Game of Thrones-like grip on media right now. It’s the story of a fungal infection that destroys the world and a hardened man tasked with transporting the only living person to resist the infection across America. And that living person? She’s a mouthy 14 year old queer girl. From Tara: The Villains Series by Lee Winter (The Fixer and Chaos Agent) Lee Winter never meant to explore the love life and redemption of her villain from The Red Files, but Tara's grateful she did. In this duology (The Fixer and Chaos Agent), Winter asks tangled, thorny, interesting questions about redemption and accountability, while delivering a delicious slow burn romance. Tara loved it. Works/People Discussed Jeopardy! History of the World: Part II (Hulu) Dear Edward (Apple TV+) RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 (MTV) The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (Netflix) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

This week, Kris and Tara are thrilled to welcome two very special guests to the podcast. All the way from We’re Here Season 2, we have Shangela’s drag daughter Amy Rambow and Amy’s son Alex. If you’ve listened to the podcast before, you know we have a special place in our hearts for We’re Here. In this time of increased radicalization and targeting of queer people, We’re Here is one of the most important shows on TV, documenting these shifts, while keeping its message of love front and center. Official Recommendations From Amy: Project Contrast Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper From Alex: Bloom by Kevin Panetta Heartstopper, book series by Alice Oseman Follow Amy & Alex Follow Amy: Instagram Facebook Twitter Follow Alex on Tiktok Follow Watertown Love Instagram Facebook Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee  

Kris and Tara are back from break with an extra long episode. We’ve got listener questions this week and it’s all about reintroductions. Who are we? What are we like? What are we doing on this podcast? Questions are answered! Kris’s new book, Catch, is also out! She discusses reviews and her thoughts on first and third person perspective bias. And, Kris and Tara check in on how their dogs are doing. Kris found something that wasn’t a walnut. Tara felt deep inter-species empathy for her puppy. Also, Tara queerly recommends taking time off work. Welcome to the new year, folks. We’re going places. Official Recommendations From Kris: The Inspection (2022) This week, Kris recommends The Inspection, a film written and directed by Elegance Bratton. It's based on his own real-life experiences as a young man facing homophobia at home and in a Marines boot camp as he struggles to make something of his life. From Tara: Rational Creatures Tara’s big recommendation this week is Rational Creatures, a web series that retells Jane Austen’s Persuasion in the modern day. Tara loves herself some queering of Austen (remember her love of last year, Fire Island?) and this series is one she couldn’t put down. Works/People Discussed The Fixer (The Villains Series #1) by Lee Winter The Red Files (On the Record Book 1) by Lee Winter Close to Home by Rachel Spangler Married At First Sight, Season 10 (Lifetime) The Sopranos (HBO) Bird Box (Netflix) Pentiment (Xbox, Microsoft)) Tara’s Drag Race Minute Validate (Steam, itchio, Nintendo, Xbox) The Hot Ones Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo) Lizzie Bennet Diaries Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

No new episode this week because the holidays borked our recording timing. But! We don't want to leave you totally hanging, so here are our top 5 most downloaded episodes of 2022. If you haven't listened to any of them yet, you should check them out! Mistaking Access for Permission: in this regular episode, we have a segment with sapphic romance superstar author Jae and Sarah Wendell, Smart Bitches Trashy Books co-founder, talking about the all-too prevalent problem of readers sexually harassing authors Milena McKay (and Tara) loves Truth and Measure: what happens when an author and a critic get together to talk about one of their most beloved fanfics turned published novels? SO MUCH SQUEEING. It’s Radclyffe!: this year, we celebrated Pride by talking to lesfic powerhouse Radclyffe about writing and publishing lesbian fiction, why lesbian fiction has always been political, and more Melissa Brayden Has Not Been Frugal With Her Jewels: we rang in Valentine's Day with one of the queens of sapphic romance, comparing our fave fictional couples, kisses, and romances that we love to reread Remember Who the Fuck You Are, with Catie Randazzo & J Chong: we fell in love with the reality cooking competition show The Big Brunch and were delighted to catch up with two of our favourite chefs from the show. Catie and J talk about what it's like representing their communities and answer the all-important question of what kind of bread they think the show's judges are Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

We made it to the end of the year! Not just us here at Queerly Recommended, but you did too! Good for you and good for us. To celebrate, Kris is releasing her latest book, Catch. In this last episode of the year (also the 50th regular episode — can you even?), Tara and Kris deep dive into the importance of We’re Here (HBO Max), the different ways gingerbread houses can work into a romance, and their recent awesome bonus pod with chefs Catie Randazzo and J Chong from The Big Brunch. Happy Holidays, y’all! Official Recommendations From Kris: Under the Christmas Tree (2021) This week, Kris checks out Under the Christmas Tree,  Lifetime’s first movie centering a lesbian couple. It’s sweet. It’s gentle. It’s the story of one woman looking for a tree for her boss and finding it in another woman’s yard. Of course, that’s not all she finds. It’s love. They find love in the yard. Both of them. The tree was a distraction. From Tara: The Christmas Catch by Clare Lydon Tara describes this book as Planes, Trains and Automobiles meets two lesbians who grew up around each other, one of whom had a massive childhood crush on the other. Clare Lydon specializes in lesbian romcoms and this one is a delight, where two women must travel to get to their Christmas plans by any means necessary…all the while falling in love along the way. Works/People Discussed The Big Brunch (HBO Max) The White Lotus (HBO) Wednesday (Netflix) L Word: Generation Q (Showtime) Avatar (2009) Drink Masters (Netflix) We’re Here: Season Three (HBO) The Christmas Setup (2020) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee  

This week, Tara (Butter Tart) Scott and Kris (Midwest Biscuit) Bryant sit down with chefs Catie Randazzo and J Chong from the hit cooking competition reality show, The Big Brunch. They talk about what it was like representing their communities, how real the camaraderie was on the show, family meals, and, most importantly, what kind of bread they think the judges are. If you think Catie and J were great on the show, wait until you hear them on this episode. Follow Catie on Instagram: @chefcatierandazzo Follow J on Instagram: @jchong_eats Catie’s recommendations Sort Of (HBO Max) Willow (Disney+) J’s recommendations Bound (1996) We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

The holiday season is upon us and Kris and Tara come bearing gifts…of recommendations! Seriously, they had to make room this week to fit everything in. Kris regales us with the end of The Walking Dead and the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Tara talks about The Big Brunch (yes, again) and Canada’s own Ryan Reynolds. There’s a bunch of other good stuff before a dive deep into the recommendations. Keep warm, friends. Stay bright. Official Recommendations From Kris: Christmas Mouse by Rachel Spangler It might be tempting to think a story like Christmas Mouse would be easy to write, but it's actually the simple ones that are the toughest to pull off. This city mouse/country mouse romance, with two love interests competing over their perfect visions of Christmas, charms, delights, and warms the heart this holiday season. From Tara: Season of Love by Helena Greer Some books can scare us by how well tailored they are to our specific loves and interests. This is true for Tara and her recommendation, Season of Love. Tara declares this a perfect book and it includes one of her favourite characters of all time, who starts the book dead (ends it dead, too). The writing captivated Tara in how well it balances humour with heart. Content warnings: abusive parent, alcoholism (self and parents), grief, and death. Works/People Discussed The Walking Dead (AMC) Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (2022) (CBS) Manifest (NBC) Spirited (2022) Ryan Reynolds' Governor General Award Video The Big Brunch (HBO Max) RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC) Canada’s Drag Race: Canada Vs. The World (Crave) We’re Here Season Three (HBO) The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC) Andor (Disney+) Rogue One (2016) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

Roslyn Sinclair has committed high crimes against readers' productivity and we are here for it! This episode, Tara is joined by f/f romance author Milena McKay. They gathered to sit in gratitude and fangirl about one of their favourite stories of all time. It began as a Devil Wears Prada fanfic and ended up being rewritten and published as its own original work. Yes, it’s Truth and Measure season, baby! Referred to by Lee Winter as "The Lesfic Bible," Truth and Measure has impacted the lesfic scene in profound ways. Tara and Milena discuss the book's history, including how the #MeToo movement impacted the changes from fic to published work, and all the things the love about both versions. Get ready for major geeking out, friends. Works/People Discussed Truth and Measure, fic version, and all its associated short stories (Archive of Our Own) Truth and Measure & Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair (Ylva Publishing) The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Not Everyone & Pure Shores (Archive of Our Own) The X Ingredient, fic version (Archive of Our Own) The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair (Ylva Publishing) The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley (Ylva Publishing) Once Upon A Time (ABC) The Delicate Things We Make, fic version (Archive of Our Own) The Delicate Things We Make by Milena McKay The Headmistress by Milena McKay The Brutal Truth by Lee Winter (Ylva Publishing) Preorder Milena McKay's next book, These Thin Lines! Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

Are things coming to an end? Nobody knows. Kris and Tara are taking things one step at a time by talking about the (possible?) end of Twitter and what that means for QR going forward (subscribe to our newsletter!). They move on to talk season finales on tv, finales that aren’t finales, finales that are…something else? Fin-allez? Official Recommendations From Kris: Life Partners (2014) Have you heard about the one about the two girls? One’s straight, one’s queer. They’re the best of friends until…the straight one gets into a relationship. You see where this is going, don’t you? The love triangle. The learning that the two friends have been in love the whole time. Classic, right? Actually, not so much. The movie Life Partners deals with the more complicated (and more common) situation where you have to manage the different relationships in your life and the tension that can cause. It’s fun. It’s cute. You’re going to have a good time. From Tara: The Big Brunch (HBO Max) The Big Brunch is Dan Levy’s big project following Schitt’s Creek. It’s a reality cooking show that follows the line of The Great British Baking Show or The Great Canadian Baking Show (which Levy hosted the first two seasons of) where the focus is on the people, the personalities, and not the drama. Works/People Discussed The Handmaid’s Tale - Season Five (Hulu) The Great British Baking Show (BBC) The Walking Dead (AMC) The Good Place (NBC) Scrubs (NBC/ABC) Down to Earth with Zac Efron (Netflix) RuPaul's Drag Race UK Legendary (HBO Max) What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon Maintenance Phase (Podcast) Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey Tricia Hersey on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC) Schitt’s Creek (CBC) Support & follow the show Buy us a Ko-fi Sign up for our newsletter Twitter: @queerlyrec Facebook: @QueerlyRecommended Instagram: @queerlyrecommended Tumblr: @queerlyrecommended TikTok: @queerlyrecommended Get all our links on Linktr.ee

Kris is back with a new book on the horizon and a contest is coming, so stay tuned. Tara is on vacation and loving it. They talk about the faux pas that was GBBO's Mexican Week, plus what they love and don’t love about reality shows. We have fun here. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends the m/m film Bros (2022). While it might be best known as the first gay romantic comedy released by a major studio that features an openly LGBTQ+ principal cast, Kris is delighted that it's also delightfully written and takes place in the queer scene of NYC. You should check it out! And Tara's recommending reality TV, with the vogueing competition show Legendary (HBO Max). Each week, ballroom houses battle down for the chance to win $100,000. It’s fun, informative, and Tara cannot stop talking about it. Works/People Discussed Love is Blind: Season Three (Netflix) Southbound and Down by KB Draper House of the Dragon (HBO) Survivor (CBS) Great British Baking Show (BBC Productions) Drag Race UK (BBC) Wig (2019) Paris is Burning (1990)

This is the problem with recommendations: when you love ’em, you can’t stop talking about ’em.  Thanks to her recommendation in the last episode, Amanda returns to dish and deep dive into Yuri on Ice! Tara devoured the m/m figuring skating romance anime series in a weekend, and this whole episode is dedicated to geeking out about the things they loved about it (and one or two things they didn’t). If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Other works discussed: Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) She-Ra: Princess of Power (Dreamworks) The Owl House (Disney) Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Fire Island (2022) Amanda's Yuri on Ice! fanfic recommendations The airplane fic she mentioned - Same universe, alternate getting-together Pre-canon, identity porn, identity reveal, alternate getting together During the "summer of mutual pining," ie when Viktor was training Yuri in Hasetsu - Dreamy, short Viktor is a single-dad to a younger Yuri Plisetsky Listen to the episode

Kris is away this week, so Tara lit up the Queer Signal and her friend from Toronto, Amanda, showed up. Amanda and Tara talk different Pride events and their own queer journeys, before diving into recommendations. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations Tara describes Purposefully Accidental by G. Benson as an explosion of trope candy. Enemies to lovers? It’s in there. Slow burn? You betcha. Fake relationships? Of course! It follows the story of a famous actress coming back into contact with a childhood friend she once humiliated, who still holds a grudge. A grudge that develops into…romance! Amanda's recommendation is The Untamed (2019), which is a difficult TV series to sum up. It’s a fantasy historical Chinese drama set in a world where cultivators (spiritual warriors) battle evil spirits, demons, and sometimes each other in cross-clan conflict. But really, it’s just the story of two lovely boys who, while queer in the original source material, aren’t allowed to be overtly queer onscreen, due to censorship. That said, it’s still pretty gay and a great story. Works/People Discussed Yuri on Ice (MAPPA) She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan Simon Snow series by Rainbow Rowell RuPaul's Drag Race (Down Under, Secret Celebrity, UK) Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe Dirty Computer (2018) by Janelle Monáe Listen to the episode

This is not your normal episode of Queerly Recommended, friends! This week, we’re bringing you a conversation that Tara had earlier this year with nonbinary truth teller, Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye, Gay of Thrones). In front of a live audience at Benevity's Goodness Matters conference, JVN talks all about authenticity, self-acceptance, and the importance of dualities. Somehow, Tara (just barely) keeps her shit together, especially when he says she should run for Congress. Can a Canadian run for Congress? Please no Ko-fis this week. If you enjoy this episode, make a donation to the Transgender Education Network of Texas. Listen to the episode

Tara talks new hair colours and adding to her tattoo collection. Kris is back from ClexaCon, with stories of creating the perfect author photobomb. We’re not in our twenties anymore, with our back tattoos and art house films. We’re past our thirties (how past? None of your business), which means it’s documentary time, bay-bee! This week, an interesting theme connects a number of the recommendations: how and why people quit competitions. When discussing Glow Up and RuPaul's Drag Race, Tara tells stories of queens and makeup artists who left before they could be kicked off, and in Kris’s official recommendation, she talks about a skateboarder who had to bow out of the Olympics because of misgendering. Was it planned? Not at all. Is it interesting? Let us know on Twitter. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris brings us the Netflix documentary Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story. It’s an inspiring story of one person’s identity and the sport that they love. Kris really dug this one and we think you’ll dig it too. Rounding the bases into home, Tara delivers another Netflix documentary, A Secret Love. Inspired by the recent explosion of Amazon Prime’s A League of Their Own, Tara followed up with this documentary about one of the original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players and her partner, their secret lives, and their changes in older years. It’s a home run, folks. Works/People Discussed ClexaCon GCLS Women’s Week Alone: Frozen (History Channel) Whiplash (2014) House of the Dragon (HBO) Glow Up (Netflix) Sandman (Netflix) Kissed By Her by Chelsea M. Cameron Listen to the episode

By the time you hear Kris say she's looking forward to the upcoming ClexaCon, bemoaning her 9 AM panel and how everyone’ll be hungover… it's already happened. Time is weird, people. Regardless, WHENEVER you’re reading this (hearing this?) you’ll be treated to Tara and Kris passing judgement on the contestants wimping out of Alone: Frozen, all from the comfort of their homes. There’s a bunch more stuff, too, all of it very good. Too much to list, really (there is a list, it’s below). Oh, they pick their favourite Drunk Histories! Come on in. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris hits a home run with her official recommendation of Prime Video’s A League of Their Own. Rather than remaking the 1992 hit movie, this series version shares the stories of queer and/or Black players in the 1940s that couldn't be told 30 years ago. And Tara brings us home with Hulu’s Fire Island. This gay romantic comedy is a contemporary reinterpretation of Pride and Prejudice. It takes place on real world Fire Island, where Noah makes it his weeklong business to get his friend Howie laid…all while a new Mr. Darcy enters the field. Works/People Discussed ClexaCon First Kill (Netflix) based on the short story "First Kill" by V.E. Schwab, from the collection Vampires Never Get Old The Wilds (Amazon Prime Video) Killing Eve (BBC America/AMC) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB/AMC) Lightyear (2022) Alone: Frozen (History Channel) Glow Up (BBC/Netflix) Canada’s Drag Race, RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under, RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper The Sparks Brothers (2021) Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company Drunk History (Comedy Central) Listen to the episode

A lot is going on in this episode! Kris has a book baby coming out. Who does it look like? We’ll find out! Tara reveals how the cosmic calendar and the finite nature of the known universe gave her some peace. They both try their best to fan cast The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and find it surprisingly tough. Kris walks down memory lane with her experiences of Lilith Fair and makes an impassioned argument for its return. To top it off, Kris reveals whether or not she has ever been dumped. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends the Neil Patrick Harris show Uncoupled (Netflix), which follows Neil’s character Michael after he is dumped by his partner on his 50th birthday and his subsequent journey into middle-aged queer dating. Kris loved the focus on queer adults and the particular challenges and opportunities that come with that experience. Tara doesn’t usually gush, but... who are we kidding? She totally does. And this week, she’s gushing about Ann McMan’s Dead Letters From Paradise. It's a historical mystery about a young woman managing the dead letter office Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and how her experiences there widen her world and connect her to the community around her. Tara tentatively describes this as Ann McMan’s best book. Listen to the review then go and pick this up! Works/People Discussed Serendipity by Kris Bryant Fire & Ice by Rachel Spangler Fire on the Ice by Tamsen Parker In Her Court by Tamsen Parker Stranded Hearts (Romance Novellas) by Kris Bryant & Amanda Radley & Emily Smith Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) Blowers & Grafton: Halifax Street Food and Bar (Calgary) Alone and Alone: Frozen (History Channel) Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99 (Netflix) Age of Adaline (2015) Canada’s Drag Race RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under The Anarchists (HBO Max) LuLaRich (Prime Video) Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama Listen to the episode

With COVID behind her, we welcome Tara back to the land of the living (sorry, it’s a bit of a mess right now) and catch up with Kris who is back with Brit Ryder’s award from GCLS (thief!). There’s tons to catch up on! We revisit a tale of sisterly abuse, which Tara claims is the best story she’s ever heard, minus the living-with-trauma bits. For some reason, the evil presence of Subway’s Jared is invoked, but don’t worry, we hold it down with catching up on Drag Race and recommending two, count ’em, two books! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris brings us two-time Goldie Award winner, Changing Majors by Ana Hartnett Reichardt. It’s a story about going off to college, thinking you’ll end up one way and discovering, welp, you're going in a whole different direction. Kris loves the writing on this one, even if it is — gasp — first person present tense. It works, y’know? Tara’s love of ice queens and the rich girl/poor girl trope strikes again with The Delicate Things We Make by Milena McKay. Journalist Jamie lands the assignment of a lifetime when she's tasked with discovering the secret identity behind the elusive artist DeVor. Turns out, she discovers more than what she signed up for when she falls in love with none other than DeVor herself. Tara loves this one, between the tension, mutual obsession, and exploration of ethics and social issues. It’s a hard recommend from one of our two self-described softies. Works/People Discussed The Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) The Great Canadian Baking Show: Season Five (CBC) Alone (History Channel) The Boys (Amazon Prime Video) RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars Season Seven Drag Race Canada Season Three Queer Eye Season Six Queer Eye Germany It Started With a Kiss by Clare Lydon Dead Letters from Paradise by Ann McMan Listen to the episode

Sorry, friends. No episode this week, because Tara got COVID and couldn't record an episode. But, in the most mini of mini-sodes, Tara recommends two things: Self-care The Great Canadian Baking Show (and yes, it has great queer representation!) See you in two weeks! Listen to the episode

The world’s a heavy place right now, so after pleasantries about puppies and tattoos, Kris and Tara sit down to talk about the devastating attack on reproductive rights that is the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. There’s no jokes about this, it just sucks. Know what else is unacceptable? Sexual harassment of authors. Instead of questions this week, Kris and Tara bring on popular lesfic author, Jae, and Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books to talk about some all-too-prevalent problem behaviours that authors face, ranging from inappropriate emails to straight-up stalking. Then, of course, Kris and Tara share their recommendations as always. It might seem trivial in light of everything happening right now, but connecting people with queer media and creators is more crucial than ever. Seeing ourselves in the world is vital to begin changing it — and it fucking needs changing. No Ko-fi link today, friends. Please donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds instead. Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations This week, Kris brings us Transhood, a documentary from 2020. Transhood follows four children through their coming-of-age journeys over five years. Tara brings us a few different pieces of media that tell Tig Notaro’s story. Tara starts with Tig's groundbreaking album Live, then recommends her documentary, Tig, her autobiography I'm Just a Person, and the show One Mississippi. Tig’s health struggles, trauma, recovery and success are expressed beautifully in each, ensuring there's at least one way you can take in her story, no matter your media consumption preferences. Works/People Discussed Jae's post about stalking and harassment  Queer as Folk (Peacock) Umbrella Academy (Netflix) The Last Lavender Sister by Melissa Brayden RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, Season Seven Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend (Netflix) Listen to the episode

There are many key figures in lesbian literature, without whom, we wouldn't have today's rich publishing scene. Radclyffe is one of them. In this episode, Radclyffe shares what inspired her not just to write but to publish lesbian fiction, her thoughts on the industry, why lesbian fiction has always been political, and what she queerly recommends. Happy Pride y’all! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Works/People Discussed Women's Barracks: The Frank Autobiography of a French Girl Soldier by Tereska Torrès Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon The Latecomer by Sarah Aldridge Listen to the episode

Welcome, welcome, one and all to your Queerly Recommended meal of the week! As a little aperitif, we begin with a discussion of the corporatization of Pride. Following this is a starter of listener questions…as well as other questions! Is Kris a people pleaser? Who was the first lesfic author Tara and Kris met? We have a relaxing deconstruction of 80s fashion trends, an out-of-left-field callout on megahit and media darling, This Is Us, and Kris processes her toxic relationship with Survivor. Finally, it's main course time, and we have our official recommendations! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations This week, Kris brings us the comedic drama 4th Man Out, where a working-class car mechanic makes the jump to come out to his best friends and live the life he’s always wanted. Tara’s pick this week is the 1968 documentary, The Queen. If you care about the history of  drag and queer culture, you'll want to watch, as it covers the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest and the contestants involved. It even includes one of the most iconic reads of all time. Works/People Discussed Stranger Things Season Four (Netflix) The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix) The Staircase (HBO Max) Survivor (CBS) RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars Season 7 Heartstopper (Netflix) Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) Grey Gardens (1975) Derry Girls (Channel 4) Paris is Burning (1990) Listen to the episode Check out this clip

Kris and Tara are talking about drugs this episode — specifically, cannabis. They wonder about their parents' experience with Mary Jane and modern technology, before getting into their recs. And the recs? They cover a wide variety (although very few books this time). Lots of good TV and movies out there, especially documentaries. We’re living in a golden age! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations This week, Kris decided to balance all the fluff that she's been bringing with the Patty Jenkins' 2003 directorial debut, Monster. A biographical crime drama, Monster tells the story of Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker who murdered seven of her male clients over the space of two years, and her relationship with the semi-fictionalized lover, Selby Wall. And, it’s been a while since Tara’s recommended a game, but this is a good one. Half-visual novel, half tabletop roleplaying game, Citizen Sleeper puts you in the role of an android with the memories of the human who sold a copy of themselves into corporate slavery. You wake up on an ancient space station, after escaping the company. Each day you manage your precarity by taking jobs, meeting people and making choices. Will you use your energy to help a friend or do something so you can get more food? Only you can decide. Works/People Discussed Kris’s Patreon Raina Telgemeier Same But Different (2019) The Lost City (2022) The Staircase (HBO Max) The Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness podcast: Episode 26 Who Were History’s “Female Husbands”? with Professor Jen Manion Heartstopper (Netflix) Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (2021) Listen to the episode Check out this clip

Context for future historians: the world is currently ON ONE. Things are looking pretty dark right now. But if there's one theme for this week's episode, it's that we've been here before and we will fight again. This week, Kris and Tara go hard. Kris talks about her moving experience supporting queer kids who were targeted by parents at their school. And watch out supporters of Friends, Pretty Woman and Batman (individually or all together, you know who you are), because Kris is coming in hot with some blistering takes on your formative cinema. Tara details her trip from reading Jonathan Van Ness’s new book to digging into the queer history of her hometown and do you know what she finds? We’ve been here before. We’ll do it again. Despite the darkness and the erasure, these books, films, games, and everything that Kris and Tara recommend or talk about on this show are the result of queer lives coming to light. Queer isn’t new. It’s old as bones. None of us is alone. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations Kris’s official recommendation for this week is the British coming-of-age romantic series, Heartstopper, which follows Charlie Spring, a gay schoolboy who falls in love with someone he sits next to in class, Nick Nelson. She (and so many other people) say it's ADORABLE. This week, Tara recommends the 2018 documentary Mapplethorpe, which tracks the Robert Mapplethorpe from his rise to fame in the 1970s to his untimely death in 1989. Mapplethorpe was a photographer best known for his black-and-white photographs and his controversial works that detailed the gay male BDSM subculture of New York City in the late 60s and early 70s. Works/People Discussed Truth and Measure/Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair All That Matters by Susan X Meagher While You Were Sleeping (1995) Luca (2021) Ambulance (2022) The State of Modern Action Films The Batman (2022) Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life by Jonathan Van Ness Womontown | A Kansas City PBS Documentary Listen to the episode Watch this clip

This week opens on one of those eternal questions. No, it’s not "Cake or Death?" It’s something a lot more…I dunno, you’re going to have to listen. Kris and Tara go all over the map in this one. They discuss THAT ENDING of Killing Eve. They pass judgement on store names in Hallmark movies. And, speaking of Hallmark movies, Kris might have to rescind her "No Hallmark" bumper sticker. Also, if you haven’t been listening beyond the outro in previous episodes, maybe now’s a good time to start. :) If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations This week, Kris looks into the abyss of Hallmark and likes what she sees! It’s the movie Love, Classified. Romance novelist Emilia returns to her tiny hometown and into the lives of her adult children, Taylor and Zach. Sure, she says she's there for a book signing arranged at the local book shop, but really, Emilia wants to reconnect with them. Taylor and Zach each explore the possibility of love using a classified app, and Taylor's match with a woman is a pleasant surprise within an overall delightful movie. Go Hallmark! Tara’s recommendation is actually a Kris recommendation, making it a twofer — one that comes with the Queerly Recommended Seal of Approval. Queercore is a documentary that follows the cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities. It includes appearances from Bruce LaBruce, GB Benson, John Waters, Kathleen Hanna, and Peaches. Works/People Discussed Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter Killing Eve (BBC) Walking Dead (AMC) HALO (Paramount Plus) RuPaul’s Drag Race Queer Eye Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness Listen to the episode

We’re running on fumes and getting loopy. Kris is fresh off of a ten-hour drive and Tara has been working all day. You know what that means? That’s right, it’s a Monday night recording sesh. Get ready for the weird, the tired and the queer… recommendations, that is. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends the Netflix drama, Inventing Anna. It's inspired by the story of Russian-born Anna Sorokin, who conned members of New York City's elite into believing she's Anna Delvey, German heiress. By leaning on this (very, very fake) image, she's able to get people to give her hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, goods, and services, towards her goal of opening a club. Tara recommends the delightful f/f romance Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. It follows Delilah Green as she returns home to Bright Falls, Oregon, so she can photograph her estranged stepsister's wedding. A fling with her stepsister's totally proper, single-mom, super-hot best friend might be just the ticket for getting through the festivities. Now they just need to make sure they don't catch any feelings. Works/People Discussed Killing Eve (BBC) Good Sam (CBS) Hotel Queens by Lee Winter Nalini Singh Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max) Gentleman Jack (HBO) I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair Abby Craden Listen to the episode

It’s the run up to awards season! So, in addition to congratulating our friend Brit Ryder for making finalist in the Foreword Indies for Not Guilty, Tara and Kris discuss the Lammy nominations. Next, they dive into an important listener question from Sheena at The Lesbian Review about which movie would they would queer up. Tara and Kris also indulge in the reality world of the Tinder Swindler and Love is Blind and have some takes to share. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon Official Recommendations Kris cheats! She has two official recommendations this week. The first is Normal Heart, the 2014 movie based on the largely autobiographical play of the same name by Larry Kramer, detailing the rise of the AIDS epidemic from 1981-1984. Kris’s second recommendation is Nuclear Family, a documentary mini-series on HBO that follows the lives of two lesbians raising their children and the legal complications that ensue from the sperm donor. Tara didn’t cheat, but she did something else this week: she changed her mind. She had all these notes for one recommendation, but pivots wildly to bring to you the lesbian fiction classic, Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule. There’s a deep history to his book, which revolves around queerness in the mid-20th century against the backdrop of Reno's divorce industry. Works/Authors Discussed Shrill (Hulu) While You Were Sleeping (1995) Ocean’s 8 (2018) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) American Survivor Dog (2022) Spiderman: No Way Home (2021) The Tinder Swindler (Netflix) Love is Blind Season Two (Netflix) The Headmistress audiobook (narrated by Abby Crayden, OMG) The Roads Left Behind Us by Kat Jackson Listen to the episode Check out these clips

There’s a lot of looking back in this episode. Kinda weird how that turns out sometimes. What are we looking back at? Our favourite butch-femme pairings, the age gap romance discussion from the previous episode, and the evergreen Evelyn Hugo discussion. Kris and Tara also pose the impossible question: is Stanley Tucci the Toni Collette of men…OR is Toni Collette the Stanley Tucci of women? If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Get the transcript Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends the film Supernova (2020). Sam and Tusker are traveling across England in their old RV to visit friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have. Kris reflects on how representation doesn’t always have to be happy, that it’s important to showcase the difficult and sad realities of losing someone you love to dementia. Tara recommends Truth and Measure by Roslyn Sinclair. What began life as a 300K word Devil Wears Prada fanfic has been reborn as a superb duology, The Carlisle Series. Jules Moretti is personal assistant to the icy fashion magazine mogul, Vivian Carlisle. Their professional relationship takes an unexpected turn towards romance when Vivian learns she's pregnant and Jules is the one person who has her back. Works/Authors Discussed Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae Spindrift by Anna Burke Jenny Frame Rachel Spangler Radclyffe My Policeman (2022) Mistakes were Made by Meryl Wilsner Killing Eve (BBC) The Walking Dead (AMC) Love is Blind (Netflix) Pieces of Her (Netflix) RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs the World RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Listen to the episode Check out this clip

This week’s episode is a live recording that was part of The Lesbian Review’s Sexy Reads event! Kris and Tara come bearing recommendations. Sexy recommendations. You have questions, we have questions. What is Kris’s safe word? Is live, in-person sex therapy ‘a thing’? People in the chat have the answer! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon. Works Discussed Macho Sluts by Patrick Califia The Night Off by Meghan O’Brien Party Favors by Jaime Clevenger Seasons of Love by Harper Bliss Fire on the Ice by Tamsen Parker In Her Court by Tamsen Parker The Sex Therapist Next Door by Meghan O’Brien Listen to the episode

What stage of the pandemic are you in? We’re not talking waves here — we’re talking clothes. No pants? That’s a given, but what else? When’s the last time you wore a shirt? A proper, honest-to-goodness adult shirt? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Post-pandemic catch-up, Tara and Kris talk about what’s good and continue to plan their post-covid Kansas City tour. Kris also comes out as a Toon Blaster and she doesn’t care who knows it! What’s a Toon Blaster? We have some ideas. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Get the transcript Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June. It's a debut novel that introduces us to a gay teenager who can’t exactly join in with the straight kids in his life about their romantic lives, so instead plans out all the firsts that await him once he graduates. As Kris says, it’s a book for all queers about the excitement and joy of coming out and into a wider community. Tara recommends The Demon Equilibrium by Cathy Pegau. Yes, this book has demons and the lesbians who hunt them. But at its heart, it’s the story of Grace and Maggie, two women who — when together — can harness magical power to fight evil. The story is told in two timelines: the first when Grace and Maggie meet, learn to use their shared power and fall in love, and the second when they reunite after a forced separation and Maggie can’t remember who Grace is. While demon hordes abound, Grace waits to see if her old love will fall in love all over again. Works Discussed Reacher (Amazon Prime) Perilous Obsession by Carsen Taite Toon Blast (Zynga) RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World (BBC Three) Queer Eye (Netflix) Gnosia (Petit Depotto) - Played on Nintendo Switch Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur Listen to the episode

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and we have chosen you (yes, you!) to be our valentine. And the gift we’ve chosen? A very special hangout with f/f romance author extraordinaire Melissa Brayden, who's recently had her story Kiss the Girl turned into a game through the Chapters: Interactive Stories app. We’re talking love this episode, people! In addition to reading your valentines, Kris, Tara and Melissa compare their fave fictional couples, kisses, and romances that they love to reread. We also find out if Kris has a low bar for kissing in media (Melissa thinks so), Kris thinks out loud about Charlize Theron’s mouth, and Tara recounts her Summer of Steel at the tender age of twelve. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Transcript coming soon! Works Discussed Chapters: Interactive Stories - App Imagine Me & You (2005) Atomic Blonde (2017) Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Tricky Wisdom by Camryn Eyde And Playing the Role of Herself by K.E. Lane Wynonna Earp (Syfy) The Red Files and Under Your Skin by Lee Winter Star by Danielle Steel Paradise by Judith McNaught Too Close to Touch by Georgia Beers Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran Turn Back Time by Radclyffe Fated Love by Radclyffe Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon Winter Jacket by Eliza Lentzski Leave Yesterday Behind (1978) Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman (CBS) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte All that Matters by Susan X. Meagher Didn’t Stay in Vegas by Chelsea M. Cameron Truth and Measure by Telanu If you want to check out more from Melissa, you can find her on: Twitter: @MelissaBrayden Instagram: @mbraydenbooks Facebook @melissabrayden Listen to the episode

What can I say? I’m a little disappointed. Tara and Kris start with some teasing about stuff that’s not even in this episode and I’m the show notes! I want to include everything! There’s a whole bunch of stuff that does come up that I can tell you about, though. Kris has a Cujo story (what, you’re surprised?). Somehow Willy Wonka makes an appearance. Kris reminisces about the time Queer Eye came to her town and the pair discuss what it would take for them to get in bed together. It’s less than you'd think! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Get the transcript Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends the Showtime series Yellowjackets. It's the story of a girl’s soccer team in the 1990s that crash lands in the wilderness, only to be rescued 18 months later. What happened in those 18 months? It’s a creepy, tense show that jumps time periods between the crash and the girls in middle age being confronted with the possibility that someone knows the secret of what happened to them. Tara follows with her recommendation for D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins. Kris and D’Vaughn are contestants in a reality show, Instant I Do, where strangers get together and pretend to be getting married in six weeks. They have to convince their families that everything is real, and if anyone suspects, they lose. The problem is that Kris and D’Vaughn catch real feelings in their fake relationship. Works Discussed The Lesbian Review Sexy Reads Event Lez Geek Out!cast episode with Tara Australian Survivor (Castaway Television) Catfish (MTV) RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) Queer Eye (Bravo) You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo The Map to You by Rachel Stockbridge Listen to the episode

It's that time of year again! The latest instalment of The Best Lesbian Erotica series is here, and Kris and Tara are thrilled to be joined by the collection's editor, Sinclair Sexsmith. Together, they discuss why writing queer erotica is a radical and political act, the healing potential of reading erotica that reflects your identity and desires, and the case for expanding the definition of the word "lesbian." Buckle up, friends. It's an important and enlightening conversation. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Get the transcript Works Discussed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater Hurts so Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose by Leigh Cowart About Sinclair Sexsmith Sinclair Sexsmith (they/them) is “the best-known butch erotica writer whose kinky, groundbreaking stories have turned on countless queer women” (AfterEllen), who “is in all the books, wins all the awards, speaks at all the panels and readings, knows all the stuff, and writes for all the places” (Autostraddle). ​Their short story collection, Sweet & Rough: Queer Kink Erotica, was a 2016 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and they are the current editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica series. Find more of their work at sugarbutch.net. Listen to the episode

It’s our first pod of 2022, and Kris and Tara jump straight into the deep end. They talk about Jeopardy! and how Wheel of Fortune is beneath Kris. (Did you know that Kris was almost on Wheel of Fortune? Or the obstacle that blocked her dreams of game show domination forever? Find out!) Also, it should be no surprise that Kris has an Alanis Morissette story. It’s a good time. We have fun here. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Official Recommendations This week, Kris recommends Vigil, a six-part series from BBC One. It revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death onboard a Trident nuclear submarine, which bring the police into conflict with the Navy and British security services. For Gentleman Jack fans, Suranne Jones heads up the investigation with Game of Thrones alum Rose Leslie. Tara rounds out the recommendations with Love and other Disasters by Anita Kelly, a romance about the first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show, who falls for their clumsy competitor. It’s got angst, and it’s that good, good angst. Topics & Works Discussed Amy Schneider Wordle Yellowjackets (Showtime) Jagged (HBO) Tina (HBO) Changing Majors by Anna Harnett Rikeart RuPaul’s Drag Race - Season 14 Willow (1988) Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo Switch) 1 Queen, 5 Queers (Crave) Get the transcript Listen to the episode Check out this clip

Auntie Tara and Aunt Kris welcome you around the fire with their recommendations and yours for the Christmas season. Also, we know this time of year can be especially hard for the queer community, so we want you to know that we’re here for you. If you’re needing a pick-me-up, an urgent recommendation to get you out of a funk, or a cheering section, reach out to us at @queerlyrec on Twitter or email podcast(at)queerlyrecommended(dot)com. You’re not alone. Not now, not ever. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Your recommendations: Tagan Shepherd recommends Single All the Way Cathy Pegau recommends A Muppet Christmas Carol Alyssa Linn Palmer recommends The Christmas Toy Sage recommends Baking Spirits Bright by Bryce Oakley Coffee Achiever recommends The Holiday Kris's recommendations: Single All the Way Christmas at the Ranch Zoe’s Extraordinary Christmas The Christmas Setup Tara's recommendations Silent Night by Lily Seabrooke Faux Ho Ho by Nathan Burgoine Christmas Inn Maine by Chelsea M. Cameron Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera Listen to the episode

There are no listener questions this week, so things get a bit heated. Tara regales us with her story of spite ice cream. Kris weighs in on reality show judging. Then it’s a knock down, drag out brawl with...Happiest Season? Close your ears, gentle listeners, as there is not much love for this movie here. Kris's official recommendation this week is for the Hallmark holiday film Every Time a Bell Rings and Tara recommends the f/f romance Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Works Discussed Neither Present Time by Caren Werlinger Hanna Season Three (Amazon Prime) The Morning Show Season Two (Apple TV) The Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime) RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Canada’s Drag Race Work in Progress (Showtime) The Brutal Truth Truth by Lee Winter Happiest Season (2020) You’ve Got Mail (1998) Listen to the episode Check out these clips

A lot of good questions on the pod this week. Kris details her editing woes, her paradoxical love of editors, and the blessing/curse of being a working writer. Then Tara joins her as they both go deep into how they found lesfic before giving all you angst-lovers out there some gut-wrenching recommendations. Enjoy, we guess? Official recommendations for this week are Beginner’s Bet by Fiona Riley from Kris, and The Headmistress by Milena McKay from Tara. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran Love’s Melody Lost by Radclyffe The Goodmans by Clare Ashton Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden Entangled by Melissa Brayden Dexter (Showtime) The Morning Show (Apple TV) The Great British Baking Show (BBC) QI (BBC) The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (Channel 4) The Demon Equilibrium by Cathy Pegau RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Canada’s Drag Race We’re Here (HBO) Transcript coming soon Listen to the episode

This week we've got something special. Something very, very 2005. It's a commentary track for Imagine Me & You! A lot of people love this movie, but it's also kind of strange. It's a cheating story about a woman who is tempted to leave her husband for a florist who only has one pair of pants. And people are all right with the cheating? (Which we all know is the ultimate lesfic no-no.) It's weird. And did we mention it's also very, very 2005? A Dance Dance Revolution machine even appears at a pivotal point! So sit back, get Imagine Me & You ready, and turn on this track at the same time. Enjoy! If you enjoy this commentary track, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi!

Tara and Kris are back and raring to go. Kris recalls her exploits at Women's Week at Ptown before delving into writerly questions. Tara opens up about her youth, pretending to be an olden-times camp follower. Recommendations are made, laughs are had, and the important question of "Would you rather be a vampire or werewolf?" Is asked...and answered! Official recommendations for this week are The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (narrated by Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan and Robin Miles) and Squad, written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Bold Strokes Books Youtube (Recorded Panels from Women’s Week) Against All Odds by Kris Bryant, Maggie Cummings and M. Ullrich The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: The World Beyond The Great British Baking Show Persona 5: Royal (ATLUS) Mythic Quest (Apple TV) Maintenance Phase (Podcast) The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall Get the transcript Listen to the episode

It's a spooky month, so Tara and Kris are celebrating with a new film commentary! What to do when your hosts don't like horror movies? Snark about The Rocky Horror Picture Show, of course. (Also, Kris was in P-Town when they needed to record the next episode, so it worked out.) Kris and Tara dive into this important, unabashedly queer, classic that might... not be good? Kris discusses losing her Rocky Horror virginity at whatever age she says she is. Tara talks about the patriarchy and her father's favourite song at weddings. Sit back, fire up The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the device of your choice, and hit play on this commentary track. Let's do the time warp AGAAAAAAAIN!

There’s nothing clever to say about twenty-two. It’s even, divisible by eleven. It’s...just there really. By contrast, this episode has substance. Kris and Tara are talking about movies they’d like to see and actors...they have no idea about actors. Kris discusses her P-Town plans and prepares herself for some post-Covid socializing ugly crying. Tara joins in with her thoughts about Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Oh, and Kris reveals a hilarious and stunningly socially awkward moment. It’s *chef kiss* stuff. Official recommendations for this week are The Intervention (2016) from Kris and The Good Place from Tara. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Stick McLaughlin by CF Frizzell The Walking Dead L-Word: Generation Q Season of Love (2019) Everybody’s Talking About Jamie The Headmistress by Milena McKay The Lost Girls by Sonja Hartl Transcript coming soon

Happy 21st! The only thing this podcast can’t do is become president...yet. Kris and Tara cover a lot of ground in this episode. Kris reveals she has a List of Pure Voices after Tara recounts her surprise at hearing Liza Minelli sing during a YouTube rabbit hole sesh. Our hosts give their two cents about their favourite FFBs (Funny Fucking Books). And then there's some disagreement about whether or not Dickinson is for them. Lots of recs today, with the big ones coming in strong. This week Kris brings a movie with possibly the best title ever, Abbie and Ellie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt), and Tara follows with the HBO series We’re Here. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Timeless by Rachel Spangler Off Limits by Vanessa North The U-Haul Diary by KB Draper Demons Shemons and Spirits Smirits by KB Draper Just Jorie by Robin Alexander 31 Books that Made Us LOL from The Lesbian Review Maxxie LaWow: Drag Super-shero Animated Film Funding Campaign The Walking Dead (The Final Season) The L Word: Generation Q The Great British Bake-Off Schitt’s Creek Dickinson Match to Love by Johana Gavez Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall Get the transcript Listen to the episode Check out this clip

Kris is the Cassandra of recommendations. How did we not realize this before? She lays down winners, and Tara? She will not budge. Listen to Kris, Tara! Everybody! Unless you can’t. Because, you know, Cassandra. What were we talking about again? This episode goes some places. For official recommendations Kris brings 2020 film Joe Bell to the table. It’s an important but difficult movie that deals with the painful reality that many queer youth go through every day. To balance it out, Tara brings the exact opposite with About That Kiss by Harper Bliss. Content warning for bullying, harassment and queer youth suicide in the discussion of Joe Bell 32:08 - 41:33. If you're a parent or family member of a queer kiddo and are looking for support, contact your local chapter of PFLAG. And if you are a young, queer person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk (or know one such person), reach out to The Trevor Project. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: A Tip of the Tongue Podcast The Walking Dead (AMC) The L Word: Generation Q He’s All That (Netflix) Cinderella (Amazon) RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars Season Six (Finale) Wild Nights with Emily (2018) Get the transcript Listen to the episode Check out this clip

19. 19 is about getting cocky. It’s about feeling yourself. And what’s more 19 than starting a podcast episode with a round of Fuck, Marry, Kill using the cast of The L Word and expecting you’ll be friends by the end? Kris answers the question of whether she’d write anything outside of lesbian romance. Tara brings the latest game phenom Boyfriend Dungeon to the table to discuss how the rules are different for queer creators. Also, Kris tells the story of how she has tiger blood (or something). Official recommendations this week are Netflix’s The Old Guard, with Kris swooning over Charlize Theron and the rest of her immortal buddies. Tara gushes about Lily Seabrooke’s Fake It, an f/f romance with a trans lead written by a trans author. It’s a fake relationship romance, people! Note: spoilers for the season finale of Alone from 11:07-14:17 If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Alone, Season 8 Finale (History) The Walking Dead (Final Season) The Great British Bake-Off (BBC) The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC) Baroness von Sketch Show (CBC) The L-Word The L-Word: Generation Q RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Season 6 Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games) Dream Daddy (Game Grumps) Get the transcript Listen to the episode Check out these clips

In her twenties, Tara learned in the eulogy of a famous Detroit news anchor that he had an enduring fondness for the "Windsor Ballet." And today is your lucky day, because you’re going to learn about this Canadian cultural institution. You’ve heard about the Calgary Stampede. Now it’s time to go to the ballet. Never let it be said we don’t go places on this podcast. The official recommendations this week are proper bangers. Kris gives a rousing endorsement of the 2020 film Cowboys, about a trans boy fighting for his identity and the troubled father who fights for him. Tara brings out the big guns with Ann Bannon’s groundbreaking Beebo Brinker series. This isn’t the first time Tara has spoken about Ann’s influence in lesfic. After the episode, if you want to learn more about Ann, you can listen to Tara’s 2019 interview with Lynn Ames about why Beebo Brinker is essential reading and the interview with Ann Bannon that Tara references in the podcast: CONTENT WARNING FOR DISCUSSION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD: 31:05 - 32:15. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Glow Up Season Three (Netflix) The L Word: Generation Q Season Two (Showtime) Alone Season Two (History) Jungle Cruise (Disney) Busy Ain’t The Half of It by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar Cruz Just Kids by Patti Smith Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2017) The White Lotus (HBO) Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest Get the transcript Listen to the episode Check out these clips

Kris and Tara had a dispute about Gunpowder Milkshake. Words were said. And now they're watching 2018's Ocean's Eight and delivering a bonus episode commentary track. We start right at 0:00 and go to the end. It's a bit of an experiment. Some chemical courage. Let us know what you think and if you're interested in seeing more. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi!

The episode you’re about to hear was recorded on July 26, 2021. This is important because that day is… a Monday. Normally Kris and Tara record on Sunday evenings, after a long, restful weekend. Monday recordings are different. They’re punchy. They’re silly. They’re… well they’re a bit much, really. You have been warned. With that out of the way, it’s a pretty full episode. Tara shares her experiences with the Calgary Stampede, AKA the totally safe and not a super spreader event that’s been going on for weeks and has a pretty shitty history. Kris regales us with her worst kiss story and it’s delightful. They have some killer recommendations with Kris going through the history of queer athletes with 2017’s Battle of the Sexes. Tara follows up on her reading of Ann McMan’s Covenant from last week, turning it into a full recommendation. CONTENT WARNING FOR DISCUSSION OF FAMILY SEX ABUSE REPRESENTATION IN COVENANT: 1:10:55 – 1:11:50. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Change of Plans by K. J. Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust Summer Strawberry by Melissa Brayden The Goodmans by Claire Ashton Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden Entangled (Tangle Valley #1) by Melissa Brayden The Tricky Series by Camryn Eyde Alone (History) Ted Lasso (Apple TV) Gunpowder Milkshake (Netflix) Ocean’s 8 RuPaul’s Drag Race Cinders of Yesterday by Jen Karner Undercover Madam by JJ Arias Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe

It’s Queerly Recommended’s Sweet Sixteen and we have one question for you: Are you down with the witchy witchy? While you ponder that, listen to Kris and Tara dish about the latest Marvel offerings, tags for fiction, and the romantic utility of the humble tentacle. They revisit last week’s conversation about trans women in lesfic with a terrific list of books that are just waiting for you to dive into. Last but not least, Kris utters a phrase that Tara has Never Heard An Author Say Before. Enjoy! Official recommendations for this week are Under Her Influence by Amanda Radley, presented by Kris, and One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, presented by Tara. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Black Widow (Disney+) The Lesbian Review and its many, many tags Roller Girl by Vanessa North (As you guys mentioned) Knowing Her by Raquel De Leon Second Exposure by Chelsea Cameron The Dreadnaught series by April Daniels Cheer Up (Graphic Novel) by Crystal Frasier Fake It by Lily Seabrooke Alone - Season Two (History) Atypical (Netflix) Fear Street Part One: 1994 and Part Two: 1978 (Netflix) Loki (Disney+) Covenant by Ann McMan Under Her Influence by Amanda Radley One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk  by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain The Queen (Netflix) View the transcript Listen to the episode Check out these clips

It's a big week for Kris and Tara as they talk over their lives, recommendations and schemes. Last week, Kris figured out how to get women by kidnapping and this week she's perfected an approach to winning the reality series Alone. Tara brings the cozy goodness of Stardew Valley and dips into Marvel's Loki. Official recommendations for this week are Love, Victor from Kris and Tara brings us Didn’t Stay in Vegas by Chelsea M. Cameron. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Grace Note's crowdfunding campaign Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits Series Roller Girl by Vanessa North Femme Confidential by Nairne Holtz Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae Handmaid's Tale Stardew Valley Catfish (movie and television show) Alone Change of Plans by K.J. RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season Six Griftlands Black Summer (Netflix) Loki (Disney Plus) View the transcript Check out these clips

It's episode 14! Kris's favourite number 14! We made it, friends! This week, Kris regales us with stories of P-Town and Tara stirs the pot by asking which is gayer: P-Town or Palm Springs, and talking about an article with the best way to cook a cicada. It's a strange adolescence we're having. You know, trying new things, new experiences...but cicadas? For official recommendations, Kris brings us Life in Death by M. Ullrich (Bold Strokes Books) and Tara cheats by saying she's recommending one book (Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price), only to sneak in two more (F*ck No! by Sarah Knight and Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski). We have a format, Tara! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya Backcast by Ann McMan Stick McLaughlin: The Prohibition Years by CF Frizzell Sarah the Illstrumentalist Measure of Devotion by CF Frizzell Handmaid's Tale Alone (Second Season) How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole Stardew Valley Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier Tara's list of 14 f/f books to read this summer (Lambda Literary) A Breathless Place by Harper Bliss In the Distance There is Light by Harper Bliss The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Get this episode's transcript Listen to the full episode Check out these clips

Welcome back loyal listeners! Queerly Recommended is now a teenager and we're feeling all kinds of things. Kris and Tara start off with an extremely strong stance on annuals vs. perennials and it just...goes from there. And that recent Autostraddle quiz about which job you'd have in a lesbian romance? Well, they answer it on the air, for... science? For official recommendations this week, Kris and Tara are both back with media they were just getting into last time: Tara comes in with Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters and Kris shares why everyone should watch the Pride docuseries from Hulu. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Drunk Lesfic Truth and Measure by Telanu (aka Roslyn Sinclair) SpacedMuch’s Not Everyone and the follow up Pure Shores (no, we're not even linking to it, that's how salty Tara still is about that story) Rae D. Magdon’s The Best Entertainment Handmaid’s Tale Ragnarok (Netflix) How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole Get this episode's transcript Listen to the full episode Check out these clips

It's episode 12! Queerly Recommended is officially old enough for vaccines and to celebrate, Kris and Tara share the origin stories of the podcast and a certain nom de guerre. Then, things turn to the professional as Amanda Radley mails in with an answer to that Audible question from the last episode. Kris (or, rather, Brit Ryder) pimps her new book Not Guilty and discusses the novella that launched it, Shameless. Eventually, Tara and Kris remember to share their recommendations and this week it's a real catch. Kris delights in Netflix's Someone Great and Tara does a glow up with Netflix and BBC's...Glow Up (It sounded better in our head. Enjoy!) If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Amanda Radley Drunk Lesfic (available through Kris's Patreon) Shameless and Not Guilty by Brit Ryder Pride (Hulu) Handmaid's Tale and Cruel Summer (still) Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Someone Great (Netflix) Glow Up (Netflix) Transcript coming soon!

The vaccination rate of the podcast continues to improve as Tara discovers the sole benefit of being in her 40s. Kris, forever young, welcomes her with grace and aplomb. Seriously, though, if you can get vaccinated, you should. What else? Oh yeah, the podcast. Kris and Tara muse over coffees loved and lost, the fiery appeal of the iciest of queens and yes, dear listeners, they even answer some of your questions. For official recommendations this week, we have f/f romance, The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley from Tara and Kris brings home the queer film The Thing About Harry. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler 52 Best Thawing The Ice Queen Books from The Lesbian Review Stow Away (Netflix) The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) Cruel Summer (Freeform) RuPaul's Drag Race - US, Australia Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur The Thing About Harry (2020) The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley Get this episode's transcript Listen to the full episode Check out these clips

In this week’s episode of Queerly Recommended, Kris and Tara answer your questions before wading out into the weeds of bank security questions, rank betrayal by a trusted sister (trusted no more), the emotional ending of Wynonna Earp and their preferred audiobook read speed. The big recommendations this week are Pretend It’s a City (Netflix) from Tara and Summerland (Netflix) from Kris. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Wynonna Earp Shameless Ted Lasso (Apple TV) Thunder Force (Netflix) High School by Tegan and Sara The Lesbian Period Drama Sketch by SNL Get this episode's transcript Listen to the full episode Check out these clips

This is what happens when you record on a Monday. Hello, friends! Things get a bit punchy this week on Queerly Recommended. Kris and Tara start off by recommending…vaccines! You should get’em if you can. Then they’re back in fighting form and solving a murder. Or plotting one? Listen, if you ask silly questions, you get silly answers. For official recommendations, Kris brings us the film Boy Meets Girl from 2014 and Tara delights over rock documentary The Go-Go’s. And that’s just officially. Unofficially, they recommend a buttload more. We're not going to quantify buttload for you. We’re all adults here. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Barbara Ann Wright (author) D. Jackson Leigh (author) KB Draper (author) Merry Shannon (Legends of Ithyria series) Heather Rose Jones (Alpennia series, starts with Daughter of Mystery) Fruit of the Golden Vine by Sophia French The One (Netflix) Walking Dead Finale Ted Lasso (Apple TV) Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch) All I Ever Wanted: A Rock n’ Roll Memoir by Kathy Valentine Get this episode's transcript

Did we stutter? No! This week, Tara and Kris are joined by lesfic luminary Georgia Beers. Together, they talk about Georgia’s recommendations for queer media, what she wants to see more of and how sites like Does the Dog Die help viewers navigate the painful tropes associated with queer media. Somewhere in there, they cast a future Jane Bond and contemplate what a queer Taken would look like. Topping it off, Georgia gives us a peek behind the curtain at her books coming this year, The Secret Poet and The Swizzle Stick Romances. The wait is over. Enjoy! If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Boys Don’t Cry (movie) Happiest Season (movie) The Old Guard (Netflix) Imagine Me and You (movie) Single All The Way (Netflix) Summerland (movie) Vita & Virginia (movie) Melissa Brayden (author) Rachel Spangler (author) Kristan Higgins (author) Jill Shalvis (author) Ann Padgett (author) The World to Come (movie) Portrait of a Lady On Fire (movie) Gentleman Jack (tv series) Fleabag (tv series) Get this episode's transcript

You’ve met Thirsty Kris, but could we interest you in meeting…Baby Tara? This week, our fearless hosts reach that point in every podcaster’s life where you Google and read things up on sites while you’re recording. Don’t worry, they’re not looking for recommendations. They’re full to brimming with them. Tara discusses the video game Children of Morta before standing behind her queer recommendation for the week, Nottingham but Anna Burke. And after Kris’ foray into Netflix’s The One, she shares that SHE WAS RIGHT and Dickinson (Apple TV) is as amazing as she thought. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: The World to Come https://www.doesthedogdie.com/does-an-lgbt-person-die The Lammy Awards (Lambda Literary) and the Foreword Indies Finalists The One (Netflix) Children of Morta (Nintendo Switch) A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Get this episode's transcript

This week Kris exchanges calling from a phone booth to staggering in with a hangover. From praising the qualities of Jif peanut butter to cursing the six peanut-butter-flavoured whiskeys she had on her Patreon exclusive podcast the night before. Tara, as always, remains sober, but—in a twist—brings quotes! Together they answer questions about which of Kris’s characters they’d sleep with, marry, or date, and what brought them into FF/wlw fiction. For the big recommendations of the week, Kris delivers with the movies Becks and Almost Love, while Tara goes over the moon and back with Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Also discussed: Drunk Lesfic with Rachel Spangler Drum up the Dawn: Galaxy Girl Book One by Kate Christie Dickenson (Apple TV Plus) More Beautiful for Having Been Broken (movie) WandaVision (Disney+) Knit, Purl, A Baby and A Girl by Hettie Bell Get this episode's transcript

This week, Kris calls in all the way from a 1980s phone booth, otherwise known as the polar vortex. It’s been a wild one, but Tara and Kris get right down to what matters. Peeps over peanut butter? Smooth versus chunky? Don’t worry, Kris remains on the right side of history and she’s ready, if not eager, to fight you. All of you. Along with (checks notes) a veritable buttload of games and movies, there’s still the big recommendations of the week. Tara's bringing along Later Daters, a dating sim from Bloom Digital that she adored, and Kris is pulling out the discography of her life with the (sadly, starring Kristen Stewart) rock and roll movie, The Runaways. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Kris and Tara also discuss: Stardew Valley (game) Last of Us series (game) Dream Daddy (game) Gone Home (game) A Normal Lost Phone (game) Night in the Woods (game) The X Ingredient by Roslyn Sinclair The Super Heroes Union: Dynama Ruth Diaz The Super Heroine Collection, Ylva Publishing The Power of Mercy and A Lover’s Mercy Fiona Zedde Chasing Stars Alex K Thorne Flora and Ulysseus (Disney Plus Movie) Mulan and Aladdin Live Action Always Be My Maybe (Netflix) RuPaul’s Drag Race (of course, of course) Animal Crossing New Horizons Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Get this episode's transcript

This week marks The Cancellation of Wynonna Earp by the Coward Capitalism. During her grief, Kris notices the correlation between her liking things and them immediately getting cancelled. Can she use this power for good? Also, Tara reiterates her position on not wanting to see naked strangers, and the first listener question brings about a change in one of our hosts. This week’s recommendations are Hotel Queens by Lee Winter and the powerful but difficult documentary L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin. Luckily we’ve got The Ten Year Plan to wash it down. If you enjoy this episode, please consider buying Kris & Tara a Ko-fi! Kris and Tara discuss: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Stroke of Fate by Renee Roman The Princess Affair by Nell Stark Party of Three by Sandy Lowe Her Best Friend’s Sister by Meghan O’Brien The Butch and the Beautiful by Kris Ripper Lise MacTague’s On Deception’s Edge series and Breaking Out Modern English by Rachel Spangler 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star (television series) Hades (Again! But probably for the last time) You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson Hotel Queens by Lee Winter L Word Mississippi: Hate The Sin (documentary) The Ten Year Plan (movie) Get this episode's transcript

This week starts off with a brief but important discussion about the day after inauguration. Tara and Kris reflect on the feeling of holding your breath for four years, the perils of burnout and how nice it is to feel a little bit hopeful. Thankfully they follow it up with Tara’s favourite book of the decade (Vivek Shraya’s The Subtweet) and passionate lady-sex (the Kate Winslet movie, Ammonite) along with a host of other suggestions, confessions and recommendations. It’s a real journey. This week, Tara and Kris queerly recommend: QR superfans, including fantastic authors, Fiona Riley and Cathy Pegau Burnout by Emily Nagoski & Amelia Nagoski Jojo Siwa Hades (again!) Salvation (television series) Spontaneous News of the World RuPaul’s Drag Race (this one’s pretty much always going to be here) Lawrence Cheney Outlawed by Anna North The Queen’s Gambit (minus the ever present rapey vibe) The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya Ammonite Get this episode's transcript

They didn’t turn to salt, but holy shit what happened these last couple of weeks? Tara and Kris start off discussing the attempted American insurrection before getting into what they love. And this week? They love a lot. Dolly Parton, Anna Burke, Hades, Bridgerton, Nora Roberts (that fucking badass). Their official recommendations for this week are Tara’s favourite book of all time (Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan and Salem West) and the TV show that captured Kris’s heart and attention (Wynonna Earp). It’s a good episode. And what did it cost them? Friends, apparently. Kris has no more friends now. They know what they did. Seriously. Listen to find out. This week, Tara and Kris queerly recommend: Scent by Kris Bryant The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells Nora Fucking Roberts Hades (Nintendo Switch) Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton Bridgerton (Netflix) Spindrift by Anna Burke Football! (As long as our team is playing) Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth, aka the only real one) Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan and Salem West Wynonna Earp ClexaCon Get this episode's transcript

Before jumping into 2021 with both feet and a prayer, Kris and Tara tempt turning into pillars of salt and look back at some of their favourite queer content that got them through Hell Year.  Tara starts off first with Who We Could Be by Chelsea M. Cameron and Kris takes us home with Netflix’s Teenage Bounty Hunters.  This week, Tara and Kris queerly recommend: Schitt’s Creek RuPaul’s Drag Race Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party) The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells Dexter Who We Could Be by Chelsea Cameron Teenage Bounty Hunters Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall Get this episode's transcript Listen to the full episode Check out these clips

Look, fuck 2020. It took our time, our mobility, our security and for some of us, our lives. Locked in our houses, bored to all variety of tears, we searched for the things that made us happy. Out of that trashfire, SO MANY PODCASTS were born. And among those? Us. This one. Queerly Recommended is a bi-weekly podcast where critic (fancy for book reviewer) Tara Scott and award-winning author (just fancy), Kris Bryant, introduce themselves and give you an idea of what to expect going forward. So sit back, relax in your fallout shelter, and get to know them a little. Get to know Kris and Tara better Visit Kris’s website Follow Kris on Twitter Follow Tara on Twitter Get this episode's transcript