Category Archives: LGBT+

Hooked on Books: An Oral History

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Ryn PB

Hello and welcome to my blog, Poor Unfortunate Stories! My name is Ursula, and I will be your captain on this voyage into reading. Today, however, I have some co-navigators—my arch-nemesis Terry and his grandkid LJ. Every week, we will … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories, LGBT+ | Tagged age, ages, blog, book, book blogs, books, booktube, fish puns, generation, generation gap, generational gap, generations, grandkid, grandparents, LGBT+, librarian, library, life lessons, nemesis, nonbinary, old, oral history, podcast, puns, reading, student, the little mermaid, transcript, writing, young | Leave a comment

TBR Playlist: Pride Edition

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Ryn PB

Hello, hello! I had grand plans for my blog this month. I was going to post a fun story about library arch-nemeses and an ode to my old car that I had to sell, but alas, a Summer Cold caught … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, LGBT+, TBR Playlist | Tagged against me, baby queen, books, contemporary, dodie, ezra williams, frankie cosmos, gay, gilmore girls, girl in red, graphic novels, green day, hozier, ice cream, kehlani, kesha, king, lesbian, lesbians, leslie feinberg, LGBT, LGBT+, lgbtq, lgbtq+, lgbtqia, meet me @ the altar, miley cyrus, music, pansy division, pink panther, playlist, princess, princess diana, queer, queer artists, queer lit, reading, scene queen, sci fi, science fiction, take me to church, tbr, trans, trans lit, trans stories, transsexual, virginity, wrecking ball, YA, young adult | Leave a comment

My First Encounter with the Word “Queer”: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Ryn PB

I don’t have a great memory, but one that has stuck with me is the first time I consciously encountered the word “queer.” Young Ryn was under their floral covers, propped up on two pillows, and talking to their dad … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, LGBT+ | Tagged books, burnett, children's lit, classic, classic lit, classic literature, classics, etymology, found family, history, LGBT+, lgbtq, life lessons, mistress mary, oscar wilde, owlcrate, queer, queer history, queer lit, quite contrary, reading, the secret garden | Leave a comment

TBR Playlist: Saviors by Green Day

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Ryn PB

I’m starting a new blog installment purely for my own enjoyment… again. As we all know, I love pairing songs and books together, but I’m running out of books I’ve read that I want to recommend and that go well … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, LGBT+, original writing | Tagged 1990s, 2000s, 7fates: chakho, alice waler, alice walker, anna-marie mclemore, book, book tag, books, brian broome, bright young things, bts, chloe gong, classic lit, classics, emo, evelyn waugh, foul lady fortune, graphic novels, green day, hayley kiyoko, historical fiction, janelle monae, kpop, laura hankin, laura taylor namey, leigh bardugo, LGBT+, literature, memoir, mental health, mtv, music, music lit, nick hornby, ninth house, nonfiction, pop punk, punk, punk rock, queer lit, reading, rock, rock music, sci fi, science fiction, shanghai, sonora reyes, the color purple, the great gatsby, these violent delights, vile bodies, YA, YA lit | Leave a comment

JJS: An Interactive Story

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Ryn PB

Content Warning: transphobia, misgendering, queerphobic slurs, doxing, bullying *How to read, interactive version: The first article has links to the other “sites.” These are also color-coded. *How to read, static version: Everything is presented in chronological order except for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Another New Era, Fiction Short Stories, LGBT+, original writing | Tagged anxiety, breaking news, bts, color, company, creative writing, death, doxing, fandom, friendship, global, hallyu, hypertext, idol, idols, instagram, interactive, k-pop, korea, korean, kpop, lgbt lit, LGBT+, lyrics, magazine, mental health, mixed media, multimedia, music, music industry, music news, news, online, online bullying, queer lit, red ink, short story, social media, songs, trans, trans experience, trans lit, trans stories, transgender, transmasculine, transphobia, united states, website, worldwide, writing | Leave a comment

May 2022: How May showers bring June rainbows

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Ryn PB

What I Got: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Café con Lychee by Emery Lee De Profundis by Oscar Wilde Zone One by Colson Whitehead The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake What I … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, polysyllabic spree | Tagged a good girls guide to murder, anxiety, books, cafe con lychee, disney, emery lee, fairytales, family, graphic novels, half price books, heartstopper, holly jackson, importance of being earnest, japan, lgbt lit, LGBT+, library, manga, mermaid, mika, murder mystery, music, mystery, nonfiction, oscar wilde, public library, punk, queer lit, reading, romance, sexology, sexuality, the little mermaid, writing, YA, young adult lit | Leave a comment

April 2022: How LGBTQ+ media, sunshine, and a magical readathon are lifting my mood

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Ryn PB

What I Got: This Song Is (Not) for You by Laura Nowlin The Ensemble by Aja Gabel The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King Heart Shaped Fire by P.W. Davies Take My Hand by P.W. Davies The Complete Poetry … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, polysyllabic spree | Tagged a cappella, aiden thomas, alice oseman, anxiety, arcs, bass, book reviews, books, brujo, brujx, burnout, climate, climate change, depression, edgar allan poe, emotions, environmentalism, friends, geoff castellucci, graphic novels, greek myth, healing, heartstopper, hi, im back, latinx author, LGBT+, love, medea, mental health, miscarriage, music, mythology, nature, netflix, nick hornby, plastics, poc, poetry, poison, queer, queer lit, queer literature, reading, return, reviews, romance, seasons, siblings, sister, tell tale heart, the raven, voiceplay, weather, writing, YA, young adult | Leave a comment

September 2021: How the Magical Readathon helped me find purpose in the simple things

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Ryn PB

What I Got: Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey The Girl Who Became a Beatle by Greg Taylor Vogue Dec. 2020 What I Read: King of Scars (reread) by Leigh Bardugo The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen Rule of Wolves … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, mental health, polysyllabic spree | Tagged adaptations, bees, black history, books, challenges, dark academia, discrimination, emily m danforth, fairytales, fear, ghost stories, ghosts, graphic novels, grisha, grishaverse, historical fiction, horror, justina ireland, leigh bardugo, LGBT+, life lessons, literature, magic, magical, memoir, mental health, middle grade books, movies, nonfiction, novice path, orilium, paranormal, queer lit, queer literature, queer women, racism, readathon, reading, six of crows, supernatural, the devil all the time, tom holland, wasps, writing | Leave a comment

November 2020: How I Participated in NaNoWriMo, Didn’t Finish a First Draft Even After 50,000 Words, and Barely Read Anything with My Eyeballs

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Ryn PB

What I Got: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Every Day Failures Issue #1: A Punk Stuck in Suburbia (zine) by Sarah B. What I Read: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (ARC) by Dawnie Walton CW: racism, racist violence, … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, polysyllabic spree | Tagged advanced reader copy, antiracism, arc, author, black cat, booknerd, books, books about music, bookworm, cat, chuck palahniuk, creative writing, crooked kingdom, e lockhart, elliot page, fight club, graphic novels, in progress, indigenous artists, indigenous writers, jason reynolds, leigh bardugo, lemony snicket, lgbt lit, mental health, music, nanowrimo, novel, queer lit, series of unfortunate events, six of crows, stephen king, trans, trans lit, transgender, writing, writing advice | Leave a comment

Stories are the Cure: How I’m embracing and facing my anger

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Ryn PB

There is a sticker on the lefthand corner of my laptop, below the keyboard I am typing this on, that says, “You got this.” It is slowly peeling away, curling up, to leave only the white background the words had … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT+, mental health, new era | Tagged airplane, airport, anger, anxiety, death, depression, grief, hannah gadsby, honesty, LGBT+, loss, mental health, nanette, queer, relapse, self harm, stories, transphobia, trauma, travel, trigger warning, truth, tsa, tw, writing | Leave a comment