Diverse Reads On Scribd

As promised, here's a selection of diverse-authored books available on Scribd to go with my list of 37 inexpensive diverse-authored books!

Scribd is an electronic reading service that provides subscribers with three monthly ebook credits and one monthly audio credit to spend on titles from participating publishers. There's also a large, rotating selection of Unlimited books and audios available without a credit. While many large, mainstream publishers put their books on Scribd, the service is especially valuable to anyone interested in exploring work from smaller and/or niche publishers, like those who publish books by and about marginalized people. These sorts of books are less likely to show up in public libraries, and they often carry a high price tag even in ebook format. Scribd makes them more accessible to readers with smaller budgets or sparser librarians.

If you aren't already using Scribd, you can try it free for two months.

The books listed below are available at the time of this writing (September 14th, 2016), mostly within the credit selection, but the publishers who put their books on Scribd do sometimes change out their offerings so I can't guarantee how long these titles will be up. On the plus side, they may also be rotated into one of the monthly Unlimited pools, removing the need for a credit!

Once again, I've limited this list to books I've personally read and enjoyed, to the first book in a series where relevant, to books available in Canada (Scribd imposes geographic restrictions, so I can't see material available in other territories), and to authors who I can identify as diverse based on photos, bios, and public discussions I've witnessed. I'd love to hear your own recommendations in the comments, particularly where openly queer authors are concerned. I'm sure I've left many wonderful writers off the list because I don't know they're queer.

Starting with prose fiction by genre and moving along to audiobooks, I recommend:

Fantasy:

Flight by Sherman Alexie

• contemporary fantasy with time travel and litfic appeal
• Indigenous author
• Indigenous protagonist

A Companion To Wolves by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette

• secondary world fantasy
• series opener
• bisexual co-author
• queer secondary characters

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

• young adult contemporary fantasy/horror novel
• series opener
• Korean-American author

Retold: Six Fairy Tales Reimagined, ed. by the Book Smugglers

• fantasy/science fiction short story anthology
• queer and POC contributors
• queer and POC characters

Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond, ed. by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall

• science fiction and fantasy short story anthology
• mostly black contributors
• mostly black protagonists

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer

• mythological fantasy novel; fairy tale retelling
• lesbian author
• lesbian protagonist

Prosperity by Alexis Hall

• secondary world fantasy novel
• queer author
• absolutely every character is queer

Report From Planet Midnight by Nalo Hopkinson

• short fantasy & science fiction collection; essay collection
• black author
• POC protagonists

Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

• fantasy novella
• series opener
• WOC author
• WOC protagonist

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

• secondary world fantasy novel; fairy tale retelling
• WOC author

Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, ed. by Brit Mandelo

• fantasy and science fiction short fiction anthology
• genderqueer editor; queer contributors; POC contributors
• entirely queer protagonists

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

• young adult portal fantasy; classic novel reimagining
• series opener
• black author

Serpentine by Cindy Pon

• young adult secondary world fantasy
• series opener
• Chinese-American author
• fantasy-Chinese protagonist

Fairy Tales For Modern Queers by Emily Reed

• young adult general and fantasy short fiction collection
• genderqueer author
• entirely queer protagonists

Jellaby: The Lost Monster by Kean Soo

• children's contemporary fantasy comic
• series opener
• Asian-Canadian writer/artist

Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara West

• secondary world fantasy
• series opener
• Japanese-Canadian author

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Science Fiction:

Retold: Six Fairy Tales Reimagined, ed. by the Book Smugglers

• fantasy/science fiction short story anthology
• queer and POC contributors
• queer and POC characters

Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler

• science fiction novels
• three-book series available as an omnibus
• POC protagonists; poly family system

Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond, ed. by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall

• science fiction and fantasy short story anthology
• mostly black contributors
• mostly black protagonists

The Selection by Kiera Cass

• young adult dystopian science fiction novel
• series opener
• WOC author
• POC love interest

Report From Planet Midnight by Nalo Hopkinson

• short fantasy & science fiction collection; essay collection
• black author
• POC protagonists

New Ceres Nights, ed. by Alisa Krasnostein and Tehani Wessley

• science fiction shared world short story anthology
• queer and POC contributors
• queer and POC characters

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee

• young adult science fiction novel
• Asian-Canadian author
• multiracial protagonist

Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, ed. by Brit Mandelo

• fantasy and science fiction short fiction anthology
• genderqueer editor; queer contributors; POC contributors
• entirely queer protagonists

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Romance:

The Nothingness of Ben by Brad Boney

• same-world-different-characters series opener
• gay author
• gay heroes

Life After Joe by Harper Fox

• novella
• queer author
• gay heroes

Winter Knights by Harper Fox

• holiday romance novella
• queer author
• gay heroes

Cover (Story) Girl by Chris Mariano

• novella
• Filipina author
• Korean heroine; Filipino hero

All's Fair In Blog and War by Chrissie Peria

• novella
• Filipina author
• Filipina heroine; Filipino hero

The Real Score by Kesh Tanglao

• novella
• Filipina author
• Filipina heroine; British hero

Fit by Rebekah Weatherspoon

• BDSM erotic romance
• same-group-different-leads series opener
• queer black author
• Chinese-American heroine; white hero. All lovers in the next two installments are POC.

So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon

• novella
• series opener
• queer black author
• bisexual black heroine; biracial hero

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon

• novella
• queer black author
• lesbian heroines

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General Fiction:

Signs Preceeding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

• novella
• Mexican author
• Mexican protagonist

The Short Stories of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes

• short fiction collection
• black author
• black protagonists
• NB: I haven't read all his stories yet, but those I sampled were excellent

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

• short fiction collection
• Indo-American author
• Indian and Indo-American protagonists

The Heart of the Artichoke by Elena Poniatowska

• short fiction collection
• Mexican author
• mostly Mexican protagonists

Fairy Tales For Modern Queers by Emily Reed

• young adult general and fantasy short fiction collection
• genderqueer author
• entirely queer protagonists

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

• general young adult novel
• Mexican-American author
• Mexican-American protagonist

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

• media tie-in
• Asian-American coauthor

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Historical Fiction:

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

• non-magical fairy tale retelling set in the 1920s
• WOC author
• queer and POC secondary characters

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Crime Fiction:

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

• black author
• black protagonist

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Nonfiction:

A Game For Swallows by Zeina Abirached

• memoir comic
• Lebanese author
• NB: one of my all-time favourite comics and a recent addition to Scribd

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay

• essay collection
• black author

Report From Planet Midnight by Nalo Hopkinson

• short fantasy & science fiction collection; essay collection
• black author
• POC protagonists

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

• memoir
• trans black Hawaiian author

In Search Of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker

• essay collection
• black author

Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha L. Womack

• focused on genre fiction across multiple media
• black author

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Audiobooks of All Genres:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

• young adult general fiction
• Indigenous author
• indigenous protagonist

Queen Sugar by Natlie Baszile

• general novel; may qualify as Christian fiction
• black author
• black protagonist
• NB: Ava DuVernay's TV adaptation has just begun airing on OWN

Dust by Elizabeth Bear

• science fiction novel
• bisexual author
• queer protagonists

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

• young adult science fiction novel
• series opener
• bisexual author
• queer protagonist

The Selection by Kiera Cass

• young adult science fiction novel
• series opener
• WOC author
• POC love interest

The Siren by Kiera Cass

• young adult contemporary fantasy
• WOC author

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

• classic adventure novel
• black author

Feed by Mira Grant

• science fiction/horror novel
• series opener
• queer author
• queer secondary characters

Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson

• contemporary fantasy novel
• black author
• black protagonist

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

• nonfiction; self-help
• Japanese author

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, ed. by Susan Kuklin

• nonfiction anthology; memoir
• trans contributors, some of whom are POC
• NB: I haven't seen anything as to how much Kuklin, who is not trans, edited each young person's account as she transcribed it.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

• short fiction collection
• Indo-American author
• Indian and Indo-American protagonists

Legend by Marie Lu

• young adult science fiction novel
• series opener
• Chinese-American author
• POC protagonist

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

• general novel with fantastical elements
• Japanese author
• Japanese protagonist

Juba! by Walter Dean Myers

• historical novel
• black author
• black protagonist

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thích Nhất Hạnh

• nonfiction; religion; self-help
• Vietnamese author

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

• young adult contemporary fantasy novel
• series opener
• Cuban-American author
• Latina protagonist; queer secondary characters

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

• science fiction novella
• series opener
• black author
• black protagonist

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

• general novel with fantastical slant; loose fairy tale retelling
• black author
• black protagonists
• BEWARE: GORGEOUS NOVEL UNTIL THE HORRIFICALLY TRANSPHOBIC ENDING.

A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

• marketed-as-general novel with strong science fiction and fantasy elements
• Japanese-Canadian author
• Japanese-Canadian and Japanese-American protagonists

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

• memoir; self-help
• black author

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

• nonfiction; memoir
• black author

The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman

• young adult time travel novel
• queer author

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís

• children's historical novel
• Mexican-American author
• Chilean protagonist

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

• children's historical novel
• Mexican-American author
• Mexican-American protagonist for 1/3 of the narrative

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

• children's historical novel
• Mexican-American author
• Mexican protagonist

Paint the Wind by Pam Muñoz Ryan

• children's novel
• Mexican-American author

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

• general novel
• Mexican-American author
• Mexican protagonists

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

• historical novel; non-magical fairy tale retelling
• WOC author
• queer and POC secondary characters