What’s on our shelves: A Pride special packed with LGBTQ+ creators, narratives and spaces, and plenty more too!

Graphic Novel Series: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman 🌈

Heartstopper is a fantastic comic series that has made an impressive mark internationally for the way it champions representation. It portrays a wide variety of people from the LGBTQ+ community and offers far more representation than much of what’s currently shown in mainstream media. It gives children and adults alike the confidence to express themselves, or even begin to discover things about themselves that haven’t always been visible before now. It’s rightly popular with many different groups because it finally shows people of all kinds, with all sorts of histories and experiences, while also touching on less talked-about topics like the dark sides of mental health. It helps normalise starting these conversations and finding ways to look after mental wellbeing in ways that work for each individual.

I loved it because it shows an unfiltered view of an average teenager’s life without glossing over the struggles that many face — struggles that often aren’t exposed to wider society, at least not on this scale. It gave me confidence in the idea that being a “normal” teenager doesn’t mean being perfect, but rather dealing with life as it comes.

When I first came across Heartstopper, I instantly fell in love with it because of how well it captures so many aspects of everyday teenage life. It tackles issues I see daily at school, especially around mental health. It was refreshing because it doesn’t gloss over or exaggerate these issues, the way many other teen books sometimes do. Instead, it creates a world of in-depth characters with different experiences and backgrounds, so almost everyone can relate to them in some way. I think that’s really important in stories like these, which aim to reflect teenagers and their realities. For me, it felt true to life — like it could be the story of someone sitting next to me at school — rather than just a story made purely for entertainment. And while it does carry important messages, it never feels like it’s pushing an agenda.

Isobel Renvoize
(Isobel has been on work experience with us in the past and happens to be Martin’s eldest. When asked to write a little review for Pride Month, she jumped at the opportunity!)

Book: The Rise of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee 🌈

After rewatching The Legend of Korra for the umpteenth time recently, I was moved to finally find and read the Kyoshi novels. The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi are canon prequel stories in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, following Avatar Kyoshi through her impoverished childhood and fraught introduction to power, politics, spirituality. I came to them wanting more and deeper spelunking of the world established in Korra, just as Korra introduces more nuance than Avatar did.

Although Kyoshi’s story begins hundreds of years before Aang or Korra’s, the first pages of the book feel contiguous with the things we know from the TV series, helped by the dynastic nature of the families and factions involved. The tone is the familiar ATLA combination of earnest and lighthearted. The care with which interpersonal relationships are depicted is pleasingly similar too; even murderous war criminals have their internal lives and motivations explored with sympathy, and heroes are not uninterrogated or morally unblemished. Some more detailed and mechanical language is used to describe the process of bending and bending-training, and lots of time is spent discussing the machinations of the shady earth kingdom aristocracy. In contrast to Korra’s bisexuality by implication, Kyoshi is explicitly gay. The way this is introduced to the outlaws she bands together with is undramatic and intelligent.

One thing I felt was handled exceptionally well in the transition between ATLA and TLoK was the increased target audience age relative to the release date gap. People who saw ATLA (2005-2008) at age 8 would have been 15 when Korra came out, ready for the more serious and complex topics therein, and better able to relate to the older avatar. Given the similarly large release date gap between Korra and The Rise of Kyoshi, I had hoped for a subject matter jump again – an even more serious vibe, given that our theoretical 8-year-old ATLA fan from 2005 is 21 and 22 when the Kyoshi novels are released. Instead, the apparent intended audience age seems (to me) similar to that of Korra, which strikes me as a slight bummer. Great supplemental reading but not the clear, standalone 6/5 stars of the TV originals.

4/5 stars

Jake Bateman, Linux System Administrator – Open Fifth

Board game: Bärenpark designed by Phil Walker-Harding

Published by Lookout Games.

Bärenpark is a tile game: you pick tiles and try to fit them together as best as possible to get points. In this game, your aim is to build a more attractive bear park than your competitor(s). Your park will feature Gobi bears, polar bears, pandas and… koalas – even though they clearly aren’t bears!

You start with one 4 by 4 grid. Every time you cover a construction site icon (wheelbarrow, cement truck, excavator or construction crew) with a tile, you pick a new tile or a grid from the reserve. You get points from animal enclosures, bear statues and challenges – like your park having three consecutive river tiles. The fun resides in puzzling out how to cover the construction icon you need to get the type of tile you want, how to grab the most valuable tiles before your competitors do and how your tiles are going to fit together on your grids – all while trying to complete the challenges first to get the most points!

Aude Charillon, Customer Services Consultant – Open Fifth

Video game: Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley developed by Hyper Games 🌈

A couple of weeks ago I saw an announcement for a new Moomin video game, Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth. Which alerted me to the fact that there must be an old Moomin video game. So I dug out my personal laptop, finding the open window from its last use which was the ‘end of meeting’ Zoom screen from my interview with Open Fifth! (Or more accurately as this was 2024, PTFS Europe). 

I have spent a couple of quiet Sunday afternoons playing Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley exploring Moominvalley and its charming characters, beset by mild peril. I don’t quite have the controls down, I find my character stopping to play the harmonica when what I actually want it to do is run away from The Groke in its ominous pursuit. But the game is very sweet, has a lovely art style, and feels like it honours Tove Jansson’s cosy world-building. 

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive –  Open Fifth

Event: UK Pride 2025, hosted by Portsmouth 🌈

My home city of Portsmouth hosted this year’s national UK Pride event on 7 June. 

Part of what makes Portsmouth Pride so special is that it is an unticketed, unfenced event, removing barriers to involvement and welcoming all, without the overcommercialisation often seen at similar events. This year I volunteered, joining the rainbow-bright, leather-clad, sequinned, flag-waving parade as a marshall and thankfully the heavy rain forecast held off for us (nobody is gonna rain on our parade!). The whole event was well organised, inclusive, joyful, and maintained its political message. 

Portsmouth Pride isn’t just a one-day event, this fantastic group of volunteers is active throughout the year holding events, fundraisers, and undertaking advocacy to progress and protect LGBTQIA+ rights. 

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth

Book: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

Mr Abercrombie has built his rep as a writer on a particular style of dark age fantasy adventure which is bold, crude and realistic, with broken protagonists and enemies with their own real objectives…and rarely does anything “work out for the best”. It is not to everyone’s taste but I really enjoy it, even if I secretly am hoping for some happy endings. This book is the start of a new series set in an alternative and magical earth of the crusades period. Our heroes (or devils) are a mismatched group of enemies of the church who have been captured and forced to work for “good” including a vampire, werewolf and an immortal knight. Their quest is to take a long lost Empress to claim her throne. I know other reviews have found it wanting and it’s not the best of this writer, but I appreciate it setting up a new world and I am already invested in the new characters, looking forward to part 2.

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

Book: Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

In a similar vein to my enjoyment of writing a bit more on the grim side of fantasy is the start of this trilogy by Kristoff. This is set in a world plunged into semi-darkness by some unknown disaster that darkened the skies, thus becoming overrun by the vampire families that had previously remained in the shadows along with their ever growing army of risen dead and thralls. The story follows a hero of early battles, glory faded and now a bitter drunk, who stumbles upon, perhaps, an end to the darkness once and for all.

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

TV Series: I Kissed a Boy, The L Word: Generation Q, What it Feels Like for a Girl, King of Drag, The Ultimatum: Queer Love 🌈

I Kissed a Boy available on BBC Three / iPlayer – Season 2 of this fun, summer dating show for gay men was released in May 2025. It’s filled with flirting, banter, drama and some very tender moments, with ally in residence Dannii Minogue hosting the show in flouncy dresses between theatrical slow-mo walk scenes (symbolic of the holiday dating show genre). They’ve also announced a second season of its female counterpart, I Kissed a Girl, due to hit screens in 2026. 

The L Word: Generation Q  by Showtime – I also watched The L Word: Generation Q this month, having never watched the actual The L Word which is probably for the best for all of the reviews trashing this reboot. This three season American drama was a fun watch, with plenty of cheesy acting and absurd writing. 

The rest – I haven’t watched them in time to review them, but currently watching BBC Y2K destructive coming of age drama What it Feels like for a Girl, excited for the new American drag king competition show King of Drag from Revry, and a second season of Netflix’s The Ultimatum: Queer Love is set to begin on 25 June (watch season 1 if you haven’t already!)

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth

Not quite the intention but so much more fun….

I went to Sicily for a relaxing week in the sun at the start of the month and had grand plans to read The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz and As I was going down Sackville Street by Oliver St. John Gogarty…..

I did get about half way through The Street of Crocodiles…

and then read:

The Big Shots series by Tessa Bailey

The Wilmot Sisters series by Chloe Liese

and have continued my romance extravaganza by reading:

Second chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander

At First Spite by Olivia Dade

and the heartwarming Hollywood romance series by Olivia Dade

Soooo…..

I’ll finish The Street of Crocodiles eventually.

Helen Symington, Sales Executive – Open Fifth

Why MM themed detective novels have become my summer reading guilty pleasure… 🌈

When my Kindle gave me the tempting ‘three months free’ offer sometime last month, I thought, why not…summer is coming and my tablet is lighter than the usual bundle of paperbacks I take on a week in the sun. Then, based on a little recent kindle reading, the algorithms decided I might be interested in Jackson Marsh’s (pen name of James Collins) ‘Clearwater Mysteries’. Now I am not normally someone who devours detective novels, but I do favour LGBT (specifically MM) reading when I can, and I was tempted by the Victorian setting. Three series, and over 20 books later, I am a convert actively seeking other easy-read detective fodder to get me through the summer!

Huge caveat…high brow these are not; error free and perfectly edited, also not. However they are self published, superbly researched, immersive tales which really get you into something of what it must have been like to be an gay man in Victorian Britain and in particular in London. I feel like I have learnt a huge amount about Victorian society in every class, transport, communications, sewage systems and entertainment. Second caveat, with the first novel titled Deviant Desires, these are not PG reading! However, as I have had to spend a lot of my life reading about heterosexual love and relationships, why shouldn’t I indulge in a little MM romance now it is more readily available.

Side note, James Collins has a great website jacksonmarsh.com with tips for budding writers and also how to get into the self-publishing industry.

Since munching through everything Jackson Marsh has to offer, I have also demolished another couple of gay-themed detective novels with a traveller community ex-detective as the hero…and as the third in William Hussey’s ‘Killing Jericho’ series is only recently published, I will be looking for a physical copy to borrow from my local library…I promise!

Andrew Auld, Commercial Director – Open Fifth

Book: What is Queer Food? How we served a revolution by John Birdsall 🌈

Whilst I enjoyed the concept of this book and many of its anecdotes, it wasn’t quite focused enough to meet my expectations from its title. With a lens on America and Europe throughout the 20th Century, the book is challenged by the criminalisation of homosexuality during this period and therefore the history it is seeking to uncover and collate was simply not recorded, often not safe to allude to. In place of these erased facts, it relies heavily on using the word ‘surely’ and questions to introduce its numerous conjectures. It has the effect of a long-form article. 

That being said, brunch is gay, and I appreciate the intent to explore and share hidden queer history. 

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth

Film: Predator: Killer of Killers by Dan Trachtenberg 

2025, available on Disney Plus.

This animated film begins with 3 stories of how humans across time have battled and won against a Predator, a viking warrior queen, a samurai and a WW2 pilot. The twist in the usual fare is that we then see those same heroes imprisoned by the Predator Chief to fight for the entertainment of the crowd in their amphitheatre. Will any survive? Or will the Chieftain once again prove his might as the ultimate warrior?

I enjoyed it, but the “sketched” stories made it feel a bit rushed.

6/10

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

Book: Maurice by E. M. Forster 🌈

Forster started the novel in 1913-14, with revisions over the ensuing decades, however it was not published until 1971, following Forster’s death, per his request due to fear of repercussions of releasing the book with homosexuality criminalised in England. 

The plot follows the titular Maurice Hall through the self-discovery of his late school years, undergraduate at Cambridge, and into adulthood, grappling with the romantic and personal challenges of his homosexuality in a time, place and society that would not accept it. In many parts the book is tender and emotional, and to quote Forster himself [spoiler], 

“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense, Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”

I followed Maurice by reading Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder and almost wish I hadn’t. 

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth