Queer experiments abound

Queer' not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but 'queer' as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live. bell hooks

When a book feels like it has fought for its form - like it could be told in no other way but this, exploding the seams of narrative restrictions - it is truly a special thing. It's something like encountering the joy of being oneself, and understanding what that means.

Stories of queerness often seek infinitely new forms. They have to, in order to reach honest truths among normative stories and language.

We were reminded of this by Helen Palmer's wonderfully fresh Pleasure Beach - a queer love story from the North West’s saucy seaside paradise, told in multiple voices and styles.

We're overjoyed to be hosting the Edinburgh launch of Pleasure Beach in the shop on June 27th - it's the queer experimental summer read we needed. Come along and enjoy its sunshine with us! Tickets are HERE.

Check out Pleasure Beach below, alongside a host of the team's top queer experimental novels - all carving their own magnificent way into the world. Joyously queer in content as well as form.