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Because lists of 2021 upcoming ace and aro books already exist [Rosiee Thor's 2021 list  (17 titles). Kristine Vitola's  2021 list  (36 titles)], I've decided to highlight a handful coming in 2021 that I'm excited for, and then list any 2022 and 2023 titles I could find.  Happy Reading! 2021 This Golden Flame  by Emily Victoria  (February 2021) An aroace main character and a sentient automaton sidekick are off to rescue her brother.  ARC Review [Image: The cover of  This Golden Flame. A spinning golden orb shedding tendrils and specks of light and reflecting either a room with a hanging bare lightbulb, or an outdoors space with a street lamp.]  Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology   (April 2021) A collection of speculative short stories and poetry featuring the platonic relationships for aromantic characters.  Goodreads   [Image: ( source ) The "common bonds" title surrounded by vines.] In the Ravenous Dark...

Disclaimer: theories of marginalization and privilege.  The November Carnival of Aces prompt is Invisible Activism . My interpretation of this prompt is a smidge roundabout, so hold on to something. A key part of activism is understanding the needs and concerns of everyone in the community you advocate for, including those whose experiences and intersections are invisible (or low visibility).  Spectrum of Visibility Identities and experiences exist on a spectrum of visibility. Their noticeability may shift over time and can be affected by your choice to disclose, how you express yourself, where you are, who you spend time with, and more.  I choose to speak frequently about asexuality, which increases the visibility of this identity.  The low visibility of my gender is a choice I make and could change in the future. My health conditions are classified as "invisible illnesses," however their visibilities fluctuate. They become more noticeable as a symptoms flare up ...

Timely Questions Will you participate in or support Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (ASAW) in February? How? What can you do with this time to prepare? Who can you collaborate with? Who can you follow or promote? Do you have a goal for 2021 related to being an ally? A group project? A resource? An area to learn more about? What are future opportunities you have to be an ally?  What is an ally mistake you have made in the past? Why was it a problem? What did you do to make amends? What can you do going forward? Ally Questions What advice would you give to others on being an ally? What does being an ally mean? Do you have an example of someone being a good ally to you? What ally practices do you hold to? Have there been times when it was difficult to be an ally, or you were not sure how to be an ally? Where could you find support or advice? Being Ace and an Ally Does being ace affect how you are an ally? What would you ask from allies outside the ace community? How can the ace c...

When I first read Brandon Sanderson's announcement about an asexual character , I noted three things: especially in the larger context of queerbaiting, I thought it was very respectful to his fans to acknowledge possible disappointment and explain the decision he has sensitivity readers and mentioned the decision was based on how the character feels (which means this wasn't a quick grab for diversity points) the character seems* to deprioritize their asexuality, which is an ace experience that I am happy is getting representation I was happily spreading the word, when someone countered that this was disrespecting the character's wishes and used a quote from the very article I'd just read and shared. “______ would prefer you focus on other aspects of [their] identity, rather than [their] sexuality.” I've gone down a rabbit hole thinking about this, and haven't entirely made up my mind. So here's a set of questions to get your head spinning too.  ...

I was stressing out about writing a careful and nuanced post about words having boundaries, and the ethics of label policing, and power dynamics and harm, and determining valid harm from manufactured harm - when I decided to chill instead. So, let's chill. [Image: a cloud and blue sky] Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel where your body touches the surfaces that support it. If you're comfortable doing so, close your eyes.  You might not be able read with your eyes closed. If so, don't close your eyes.   Hear the sound of the rain. Hear it splatter and ping on different surfaces. Hear it trickle over the curb and merge into a tiny stream. Smell the wet asphalt. Shiver as the rain pulls the temperature down a few degrees. Hear the thunder rumble overhead. Count and hold your breath. One one thousand, two one thousand, three. See the lightning flash in the distance.  Look up and see thin metal ribbing branching out under a purple nylon canopy.  [Image: ...

Aspec Reviews (ongoing): Book reviews, and screen recordings of search results for "asexual" with discussions of it the titles have poor, non-existant, or existant ace rep.   Ace Pride (June 2020): My first pride month. I made a 30 second video a day on an ace topic. Mainly about books. Ace Writing Prompts (July 2020): 15 writing promts with an ace concept + a writing exercise + a random symbol.

Content Warning: mentions of aphobia, trauma, elitism, illness. "What thoughts do you have that you want others in the ace community to know about?" I fear I'm going to do ace rep wrong, that I'll never be free of internalized aphobia, that I'm rewriting my self-expression to be normal and popular and selling the lie to myself. Why is m/m ace romance my favorite combo when I'm AFAB agender aro ace? Did society get in my head and make me like that - make me think that's ideal and fun and what I want to express without realizing that's not me?  I fear that the me I express would hurt the community because I am a sickly, traumatized, emotion avoider and want to pour those aspects of who I am into my story along with my asexuality. I want to strip away the "pathetic" parts of who I am and leave only asexuality, fill in the gaps with the tempered shmexiness of slow burn m/m ace romance.  I fear that I'll trigger the elitists, that I'll f...

I was thrilled to be part of the Aces in Fiction panel from recruiting panelists and preparing questions to the tech dress rehearsal and the buzz of the day of.  I'm not ready for the fun to end, so here are follow up videos I made to answer questions we didn't have time to get to during the panel: Ace Recs Question Ace Publishing Question See video description for chart of publishers and "# of possible aspec titles" Own Voices Question Self Expression and Consequence Question Check out the Aspec Fiction Databases, Lists, and Reviews  Google Doc I shared during the panel.