Name: ayah ♡'s review of Out Now by Saundra Mitchell
Item: Out Now
Rating: 4
Author: ayah ♡

Saundra Mitchell

QUEER WE GO AGAIN! A follow-up to the critically acclaimed All Out anthology, Out Now features seventeen new short stories from amazing queer YA authors. Vampires crash prom, aliens run from the government, a president's daughter comes into her own, a true romantic tries to soften the heart of a cynical social media influencer, a selkie and the sea call out to a lost soul. Teapots and barbershops, skateboards and VW vans, Street Fighter and Ares's sword: Out Now has a story for every reader and surprises with each turn of the page!

Queer We Go Again!

Out Now

ayah ♡

For me, this anthology was fine. There were a couple of stories I really liked and a some stories that just didn't do anything for me but that's typical with anthologies. I feel like this should have either been a contemporary anthology or a fantasy/science fiction anthology and not a weird mishmash of both. I think All Out was a lot stronger because it had a single unifying theme/genre - queer historical stories - rather than "set in the present but it doesn't have to be our present." 

And a more personal gripe (but one that I'm never gonna not be bitter about seeing) was the absolute lack of aromantic characters in collection. Any queer collection that doesn't include at least one aromantic-spectrum character is fundamentally failing, in my opinion. There are 17 stories in this collection. At least one of them could have been written by an aro-spec author about an aro-spec character. Even the ace characters' stories weren't focused on their asexuality, or the ace character was a side character in someone else's story. Like, it was a throwaway mention that didn't influence the story in the way that the other characters' identities did. I'm just really tired of not seeing aroace identities being given the same space and respect as other identities, especially in collections like this which are supposed to be about celebrating ALL queer identities.

Sahi K

Average Rating: 
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I was very much looking forward to reading this collection during Pride month but it took me a while to finish, both because I’ve been in a truly terrible reading slump and also this collection didn’t always manage to keep my interest. There are some amazing stories here, especially in the first half but once the book took a turn from contemporary to a bit more fantastical in the second half of it, I feel it lost a bit of its charm and I also wasn’t always able to understand what was happening. But the representation includes a spectrum of gender identities and sexualities and I thought it was all done with a lot of respect (though I won’t vouch for the authenticity because I’m not an ownvoices reviewer for any). 

If you wanna read a variety of short stories from high school kids worrying about prom to vampires and gods and sacrifices, then this is a good collection and I hope you’ll find your favorite stories in it. 

Below are my individual reviews for the stories:


  Kick. Push. Coast by Candice Montgomery


This is the story about a young person who is questioning their gender, sexuality, pronouns.. everything.. while also trying to navigate their attraction for a girl they see from afar everyday. I could feel the pain the character is feeling because the confusion is palpable in their words, but I loved the turn the story took and ended up being so sweet. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  What happens in the Closet by Caleb Roehrig


This was mostly a cute story of a young gay boy at prom trying to flirt with his frenemy while also fighting off vampires. It’s definitely cool to see the undead creatures make a comeback in interesting ways.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Player One Fight! by Eliot Schrefer


Story of a gamer boy who wants to be with another, but the other one can’t seem to make up his mind. The writing in this felt felt a bit erratic though.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5


  Lumber Me Mine by C. B. Lee


This was a very cute story of high school senior dealing with her breakup with her childhood friend as well as feeling the initial attraction to someone new. I really enjoyed the beginning of this new relationship and the ace rep was so casually mentioned and not made a bid deal out of, it was cool.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Follower by Will Kostakis


A chance encounter between an online influencer and one of his followers on a beach turns into a fascinating conversation about love. This was a bit boring at times but overall pretty cute. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Refresh by Mark Oshiro


Two guys who aren’t confident in their bodies just trying to connect irl after meeting up online, this was a funny meet cute but also profound in its own way shedding a light on body image issues. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Victory Lap by Julian Winters


A young boy who wants a date for his school’s winter formal - this should have been a very predictable story. But the friendship, the bond between a father and son, the importance of having a supportive parent when you are scared to come out - all of this is depicted beautifully and the story turned out to be absolutely adorable. Not for nothing that I love Julian’s writing so much. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


  A Road of One’s Own by Kate Hart


A camping trip; a young woman trying to figure out her recently broken up relationship, a newfound attraction for a girl and what she wants her future to look like; and a bit of commentary on the whitewashing of Native American history as well as all the microaggressions they face on the daily - this story was both fun and contemplative with so much to look forward to. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Seditious Teapots by Katherine Locke


I love the idea of the teapot metaphors to describe Rory’s extreme anxiety about how to label themselves and even wondering why it’s necessary to have a label. I also liked the conversations they had with some new found queer friends who help them resolve their doubts a little. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Star-crossed in DC by Jessica Verdi


Definitely surprised to read a story about the queer daughters of two presidential candidates on the opposite side of LGBTQ rights. It was still well written and interesting, though I would have liked it to have been longer and given more closure. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Floating by Tanya Boteju


The main character seemed like she had OCD or maybe ADHD but I really didn’t understand much of the story. Maybe I’m not the right audience for it.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️


  The Soft Place by Hillary Monahan


The main character is completely high in this story and the writing reflects that mood, which means I really didn’t get what was happening. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️


  A Pound of Flesh by Kosoko Jackson


Greeks curses, a human and a god in love, then endless conflict between Athena and Ares as a backdrop for police brutality and resulting protests in America - this was timely in a sense but some points that were made felt very tone deaf too. But the love story itself seemed very tragic but fascinating. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  One Spell Too Many by Tara Sim


Baked goods, witches, love spells baked into yummy pastries - this was both highly entertaining and an interesting lesson in good intentions leading to not so good consequences. Very well written and I loved the beginnings of a new relationship.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  Far from Home by Saundra Mitchell


A space boy and his human boyfriend trying to run from federal agents trying to capture him, this was quite thrilling and adrenaline inducing.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


  The Coronation by Meredith Russo


I liked the trans representation in the story and a bit of what happened, but I can’t say I truly understood the story or the world as a whole.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️


  Once Upon a Seastorm by Fox Benwell


I loved the idea of the main character struggling to find his roots and going on a journey to find them, and the author also manages to integrate a great mother-son relationship that is resilient even during tough times.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Katie

As is typical for anthologies, I have to give this an average rating. There were some stand outs for me, including "What Happens in the Closet" by Caleb Roehrig (an obvious precursor to his 2020 release The Fell of Dark), "Lumber Me Mine" by CB Lee, "Seditious Teapots" by Katherine Locke, and "Star-Crossed in DC" by Jessica Verdi. These all handled the short story format wonderfully, providing a full, satisfying arc in a limited amount of pages.

The rest did not accomplish that. To be fair to them, that is not always an author's intention with a short story. Authors like to leave things to the imagination and allow open endings, but that was to the point of confusion with a lot of the other stories for me. I still liked most of them, and I would definitely still suggest you read this book if you are interested in it, but it just takes a lot for a short story to really wow me.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Out Now: Queer We Go Again!

Author: Saundra Mitchell, Eliot Schrefer, CB Lee, Mark Oshiro, Kosoko Jackson, Hilary Monahan, Candice Montgomery, Meredith Russo, Fox Benwell, Jessica Verdi, Tanya Boteju, Tara Sim, Julian Winters, Will Kostakis, Caleb Roehrig, Kate Hart, and Katherine Locke

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: LGBT friendly! m/m romances, f/f romances, bi, queer, trans, etc. Latinex, Chinese, Native American, etc. characters!

Recommended For...: anthology lovers and LGBT recs!

Publication Date: May 26, 2020

Genre: YA Anthology (Contemporary, Romance, Fantasy, all revolving around LGBT authors and stories)

Recommended Age: 15+ (homophobia, death, heterosexism, toxic relationships, catfishing, genocide, discrimination, substance abuse TW, child abuse TW, transphobia)

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Pages: 416

Synopsis: QUEER WE GO AGAIN! A follow-up to the critically acclaimed All Out anthology, Out Now features seventeen new short stories from amazing queer YA authors. Vampires crash prom, aliens run from the government, a president’s daughter comes into her own, a true romantic tries to soften the heart of a cynical social media influencer, a selkie and the sea call out to a lost soul. Teapots and barbershops, skateboards and VW vans, Street Fighter and Ares’s sword: Out Now has a story for every reader and surprises with each turn of the page!

Review: I find it hard to review books with multiple authors sometimes because I like some stories and don’t others. For the most part though I really liked all of the stories in this book. The book had a variety of POVs and representation. I think all of the stories did well with character development and world building. The book will be something I remember for awhile.

The only thing I found “fault” with is that I thought the pacing in some of the books was a bit slower than what I wanted and the plot of some of the stories was not as interesting as others, but the great thing about this book is that you can pick and choose what you want to read!

Verdict: A definite recommended read!

Megan Leprich

*Thanks to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review*

Let me start this off by saying I am TERRIBLE at reviewing anthologies. I never know how to give them a solid rating because the stories always get such mixed ratings from me. Overall this was a pretty good book, I feel like it touched on a lot of important topics such as coming out to family, friends, and learning about sexuality. I feel that a lot of people can benefit from this book if they're scared or insecure of their sexuality.

Ariel Himboi

I fell in love with the first anthology All Out, and was very excited to hear that the editor was releasing a second called Out Now. As I had high expectations, I did feel like they were met. Out Now is a wonderful book full of several amazingly cute, meaningful queer stories. I loved the feature of well known and lesser known authors, a diverse mix of LGBTGQ+ characters and POC characters. I only ended up skipping one short story for the writing style that did not click with me, and two were up to three stars. Fortunately, this book had many other significant stories that I found were five stars, so I gave this completed anthology four. I have recommended it to my boyfriend, I recommend it to everyone, and I do hope we get another addition of this series in the future.

ayah ♡ &
Out Now by Saundra Mitchell

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