When Casey McQuiston’s second novel, One Last Stop, was published last year, a few of my booksellers at Books Are Magic decided to hold a midnight launch party. Several people on line were in costume—that is, they were wearing costumes that the characters wore, despite the fact that the book had not yet been released. This is the sort of devotion McQuiston inspires. Their three books—gay royal romance Red, White and Royal Blue; queer New Adult romance One Last Stop, which features an instantly classic sex scene aboard a Q subway train; and this year’s sweet YA romance–mystery I Kissed Shara Wheeler—are all deeply pleasurable, romantic, and very, very queer. The fact that we hosted a midnight launch—the sounds of which still bring to mind a certain fantasy series—seems to me a reclaiming of wild fandom, of passion for books and shared excitement, all of it laced through with absolute queer joy. Casey 4 ever.
Straub is an author and co-owner of Books Are Magic in Brooklyn
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