Qstack News 02/11/26

A bimonthly digest of queer happenings around Substack

Qstack | The LGBTQQIP2SA+ Community, Directory, and Platform of Substack creators is a reader-supported newsletter and depends on paid subscriptions to highlight the diverse creative talent of queer writers. All content will always be free, but if you want to support your fellow queers by amplifying our voices, please subscribe or upgrade.

Have a question you wish you could ask a queer coach—about identity, relationships, work, creativity, or becoming more yourself? We invite you to submit questions for Transformational Coach and Associate Editor Keith Aron’s monthly Ask a Queer Coach column. Big crossroads or small stuck places welcome. Submissions can be anonymous. DM Keith directly.

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🚨News & Announcements

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CONGRATULATIONS to Wyatt O’Brian Evans of WYATT! Out Loud on the announcement of a publishing deal for his new book, Ruthless! from the “Nothing Can Tear Us Apart” series, with OUR PRIDE’s Rainbow Advocacy Press

Wyatt’s fiction centers on the issue of Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (IPV/A), of which he is a survivor, advocate, and public speaker. Ruthless! follows Shattered! (2023) from the same series, and will continue to explore the aftermath of IPV/A, homophobia, racism, and mental health issues within the relationship of a Black gay couple. Look for its release in August 2026!

Watch Wyatt’s recent interview with Rainbow Room Publishing.

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The Queer Love Project will be at the AWP Conference & Bookfair in Baltimore, March 4-7th, 2026—are you going too?

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is the largest North American conference and marketplace for independent literary presses and journals, creative writing programs, writing conferences and centers, and literary arts organizations.

Jerry Portwood and Michael Narkunski will be sharing exhibitor space at the Bookfair with Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Open Secrets Magazine, and will feature appearances and book signings from authors Jackie Domenus, Kelly Lundquist, Dale Corvino and Bronson Lemer.

They’re also partnering with Say Please: Kinky Poetry Reading for an off-site event featuring work by Jerry, Michael, Anthony DiPietro and others.

For more details, check out their recent announcement:

The Queer Love Project Guide to AWP

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Michael Horvich did an episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life—the GLAAD Media Award-nominated podcast ranked #1 Best Queer Book Podcast at MillionPodcasts—to talk about James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room

Click the pic to listen to Michael’s take on this classic of queer literature, and to read more, check out the piece he wrote for Mr. Troy Ford’s The Books We ❤️ Club in December.

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Author Carly Bryant Black has a new book AND a new novella available now

Bloodlines … “an ancestry test that unravels everything... the family secrets that should’ve stayed buried, the dawning horror of realizing your bloodline might be your curse.”

Encore … “a spicy second-chance romance novella. Think... a woman who swore off love meets a younger country singer who fumbles his bass guitar the moment he sees her.”

Click the pic for more info.

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Nan Tepper and Eileen Dougharty’s next Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! story slam is Feburary 21st

Click the pic for more info!

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At Cross & Crows Books, Vancouver BC

Got a big announcement, an article or event, a special offer, a new book published?
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You can also Post about it in the Qstack Chat!

We hope you’ve been enjoying the new cross-posting format of Qstack—we’ve seen significant traffic, Likes, Restacks, and Comments for the writers whose work we’ve sent direct to your Inbox.

Thank you so much for your generosity!

We’ve limited the number of cross-posts each week to 2-3 in order not to inundate you, but there are so many great posts and articles coming out of Queer Substack we will also be providing links to even more in these bimonthly Qstack digest posts.

And so without further ado…

(…with extra special thanks to Qstack’s Associate Editor Keith Aron for sleuthing these out and the text of the blurbs!)

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Qstack Digest 02/11/26

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reflecting after 4 years on T

lucas barreto-cisneros’s cartoon captures the poignancy and bigness of the decision to begin HRT, and the essay is hopeful and gently powerful in the way it claims the right to the full spectrum of a human emotional experience. Love saves the day, even the darkest ones.

Dave Chappelle Walked Away from $50 Million. Then He Cashed In on Our Pain.

Black Trans Perspectives’ deep dive on Dave Chappelle's anti-trans "jokes" weaves together so many important topical threads, like the fine line between humor and bullying, how greed and opportunism sometimes drive art, the devastation of betrayal within already-marginalized communities, and the ways in which Black masculinity and femininity have been (and are) both policed and commodified.

Want Less. Need More.

This piece by Jenna Woginrich is a compelling exploration of the oft-confused nuances between what we think we need, what we actually need, and what we want. It begs us to get honest about how we use our time and how that's working for us. A very relatable object lesson in the power of choice.

A Sacred Obscenity

hankycode’s recent thought-provoking guest post by Forrest Core is a fascinating exploration of Guillermo del Toro's 2025 Netflix adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Forrest, in discussing their own process of coming to terms with their trans identity, makes a powerful case for Frankenstein as a metaphor not just for transness, but queerness and womanhood. They also highlight the fascinating possibility that Shelley created the original character in reaction to their own experience of queerness—and that del Toro has reimagined the character in an even more strikingly trans way.

Little Drummer Boy/Man

We loved Clint Collide’s fun and inspiring snapshot of how, when we drop our skepticism and allow ourselves to try something that we may have avoided or even scorned, it can yield the most delightfully surprising results.

Can I survive my Orange Crush?

Pavini Moray's honesty and humility about their obsessive desire for oranges in the relative fruit desert of their ashram experience made this episode deeply relatable, funny, and gently thought-provoking.

Best Pictures: It Happened One Night

Rhiannon D'Averc is on a mission to watch every Best Picture winner at the Oscars and recently did a deep-dive on It Happened One Night, the 1935 Best Picture winner. It was fascinating to see the way in which tropes that appeared in this 1934 film are still used in rom-coms today. Rhiannon also gives mini-reviews of West Side Story (1961) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), both of which had fairly recent remakes. The look back at these nostalgic films felt like a balm for eyes sore from the barrage of hard news we're seeing in current times.

Surviving teen love triangle obsession as a closet lesbian

This playful post by Em looks at teen fangirl pop culture obsessions through the eyes of a girl trying to come to terms with her own identity as a lesbian and find a sense of belonging with her peers at the same time.