"The Taking of Jake Livingston" by Ryan Douglass is a YA horror ghost story about Jake, a gay Black teenager haunted by Sawyer Doon, the gay white school shooter in the next town over, who is still out for vengeance against his abusers.  The sense of dread and fear in this book is palpable.  But so, too, is the hope and longing to survive and even thrive.  This one is heavy: mental illness, rejection, bullying, racism, homophobia, abuse, and complex questions of justice.  But there is also a sweet teenage crush and someone discovering his own power.

Ryan Douglass: "I want more stories that encompass current realities of Black life, including realistic examination of how ideological differences in the Black community stunt our capacity for liberation. Specifically how homophobia and transphobia work in our own communities and how differences between Black radicals and Black liberals show up today. I’m dying for stories that don’t focus on racism, and ones that aren’t concerned with convincing white people how Black people are human too. That always feels pretty shallow to me, conceiving of a Black story through a white voyeur. "

Ryan Douglass (he/him) is a Black, queer man with ADHD and dyslexia.  He was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where he currently resides, cooking pasta and playing records. He enjoys wooden-wick candles, falling asleep on airplanes, and advocating for stronger media representation for queer Black people.