Good morning and happy Labor Day! I hope you're finding a way to rest today. Here's a look back at my reading over the past week. Books marked with a * were gifted to me and books marked with a ^ I was paid to read.

Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff* - I saw Colloff speak at the National Book Festival and immediately downloaded this audiobook. I found it to be a bit scattered in the first half. It seemed like her subject, Paul Skalnik, did so much and ruined so many lives that it was hard to organize it into a narrative until she focused on Jim Dailey's case. Overall though, it's clearly written and horrifying in that way nonfiction can be where if it was fiction you'd say it wasn't believable. I appreciate Colloff highlighting the way the legal and carceral systems failed - and making it clear that this wasn't a fluke, but the way things are structured.

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong - This was a reread for me so I can dive into the sequel that came out this year. Also, I totally dropped the ball on holding a book club discussion for it, I'm so sorry! I was not expecting August to be as busy as it was. If you've read it, please drop your thoughts in the Discord!

Stories of a Devoted Mother: From the Kovno Ghetto to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn by Diane Cypkin^ - Through reading manuscripts for Books Forward PR, I've read a lot of memoirs. I've discovered that I really enjoy this sort of subgenre of them - books about people who aren't famous and maybe didn't lead an extraordinary life, but that show us what life was like for a specific community at a specific time. In this case, Cypkin was the child of Lithuanian Jews who survived the Holocaust and made a new life in New York City. It's vignettes of life in midcentury Brooklyn, and I greatly enjoyed it. (Now, I said "not extraordinary life" but that's not true for her parents, and we do get their horrifying experiences as well.)

Cold in Mississippi: A Memoir of the Human Soul in Medicine by Dwaine Rieves^ - This is another memoir in the "regular-ish people" subgenre outlined above, but unfortunately this one was a miss for me. It's quite scattered, often bouncing between several decades within one page. Rieves is trying to sort out whether the concept of the soul should be considered in medicine, but the parallels he's trying to draw between his research and caring for his mother dying of cancer don't really land due to how all over the place the writing is.

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi - This was, as I expected, unhinged and fun. There's not a ton of depth to the characters given h0w high concept and fast moving the plot is. I didn't really care, though, and was just gleefully along for the ride. Scalzi is so good at snark, and this novel is like 75% snark.

Hello my friends, and happy Sunday.

Due to the content of this newsletter, I wanted to give a brief warning before we get started that we will be discussing National Suicide Prevention Month, including LGBTQIA+ statistics, books, and in addition, some resources should you or your loved one(s) ever need additional support. With that being said, I hope you take care of yourself if you decide to continue reading this newsletter, as it is my hope to raise awareness and destigmatize the discussions around suicide, and how it directly affects the LGTQIA+ community in particular. I will post a banner below this disclaimer as a way to break up this disclosure before we get started. Please proceed with an abundance of caution, and remember, at the end of the day, your mental health is most important. The goal of this newsletter is to raise awareness, however, I also know not everyone is in the mental space to hold these statistics. Please take care.

National Suicide Awareness Month is important to me for a myriad of reasons - my profession, my life, my queerness - it's all correlated. I wanted to break down some key dates, the theme of 2026, and a little bit of how it started so you have a little bit of a background knowledge before we jump into anything else.

Key dates for this month are September 8th, also, 9/8, known as "988 Day". Another important date is September 10th, which is World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD). The theme for 2026 is, "Changing The Narrative On Suicide: Start The Convo" which is what my goal is here, through this newsletter - to create that conversation, yes, but also to explain why it's crucial to not only have the convo through sharing statistics, but books to further your reading - both nonfiction and fiction. The history of National Suicide Prevention Month is that it was established in 2003 by The International Association For Suicide Prevention (IASP) and The World Health Organization (WHO).

The above banner says that "We all have a role to play in suicide prevention." And I 10000% agree. As I share these statistics next, I would encourage you to think about your own experiences with your queerness (if applicable) and your own mental health, or if you're an accomplice and do not identify as queer, how you have shown up for your queer friends/family/community members and how you have impacted their mental health. It takes a village to care for one another, but all it takes is ONE PERSON to change someone else's day for the good. With that said, here are some breakdowns of the LGBTQIA+ community:

• LGBTQIA+ teens are 4x the national rate to attempt suicide

• 36% of LGBTQIA+ youth endorsed suicidal ideation, while 1-% attempted in the last year

• over 50% of LGBTQIA+ youth have been bullied, and 21% have been physically harmed or threatened due to their identity, in addition to 19% missing school for safety concerns

• 84% wanted mental healthcare, and out of that 84%, 44% were unable to receive help

• 32% endorses having a plan to end their life

• Using the correct pronouns = a 50% decrease in attempts in trans and nonbinary households

• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for 10-14 year olds

• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds

• 1.8 million LGBTQIA+ 13-24 year olds consider suicide each year and there is at least 1 attempt every 45 seconds in the United States

• Trans and nonbinary youth are 2-2.5x more likely to endorse anxiety and depression and highly consider or attempt suicide

• Intersectionality: 11% white, 22% Indigenous, 18% Middle Eastern/North African, 16% Black, 17% Multi-racial, 15% Latinx, 10% Asian/Pacific Islander has attempted suicide

• 23% Indigenous LGBTQIA+ attempted suicide versus 14% other LGBTQIA+ community

• 58% of Black trans and nonbinary have considered suicide, while 25% have attempted

• Only 38% of LGBTQIA+ people say their home is safe for them

And the one statistic that I want you to walk away with:

• ONE ACCEPTING ADULT DECREASES SUICIDE BY 50%

Please be that one adult. We have just read so many statistics that are heartbreaking, earth shattering, and also? Completely avoidable. How we show up for our community matters - each other, our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors - and yes, even those strangers and passers-by on the street. We all deserve compassion and a community and SOMEONE that cares.

I could write a novel on the value of human decency and respect and how showing up for others is suicide prevention. But let's get into some resources, because that was heavy, and I want you to know that YOU matter, too.

Like the above graphic, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 via chat/text/phone at both 988 and 988lifeline.org. Here are some additional resources specifically for the LGBTQIA+ community:

• The Trans Lifeline at: 1-877-565-8860

• The Trevor Project (TheTrevorProject.org) at 1-866-488-7382

• LGBT National Hotline at 1-888-843-4564

• SAGE Elder Hotline at 1-877-360-5428

• Coming Out Support at 1-888-688-5428

There are several, several additional resources out there, so this is by no means an exhaustive list I have given you. I have gathered a couple LGBTQIA+ books with the topic of suicide, both nonfiction and fiction, and is also not an exhaustive list - merely a starting point for you to utilize if you so choose:

• Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

• Prayers For Bobby by Leroy Aarons

• If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

• The LGBTQ+ Mental Health Workbook by Dr. Kiki Fehling

• The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

• Darius The Great (duology) by Adib Khorram

• Jerkbait by Mia Siegert

• Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austen

Like I said, there are so many more books on this topic, these books I found at a quick glance. I encourage you to do your own research and read what feels right for you.

I hope you have walked away with more knowledge surrounding National Suicide Prevention Month, yes, but also a better understanding of how suicide is not only very much preventable, but, how we can work together to not only destigmatize it, but come together and stop it. It truly takes a village to take care of our own. And like the last statistic says, it takes ONE to decrease suicide by 50%. Just one. Please be that one to the people you come in contact with every day.

I hope you all have a great Sunday and you find small and big ways to take care of yourselves and be gentle today. I will see you Thursday for Trans Joy Thursday. I will also share the zoom link for our Beyond The Rainbow chat with Anita Kelly happening Friday, September 11th, from 6-7pm CST. Can't wait to see you all then!

With all my trans joy,

Sawyer Cole

Happy Sunday folks!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's RAINING here in Southern California! We woke to a small downpour thanks to Hurricane Marie, and I am SO excited to curl up with a book for the rest of the day with the windows open and the sound of the rain in the background.

This week's update feels a little light, but it was a fun reading week. I started the week working on my final August read: The Pirate Queen. And in case you haven't seen my Youtube review, l absolutely loved it. It's exactly what I hoped it would be and SO much more. Honestly, you cannot go wrong with this book, especially if you've read and loved her other work. I shared a lot of thoughts and feelings about this one, including my 2 cents on whether you should read the book as published or if you should read the chapters chronologically, so be sure and check out that video if you're curious. ♾️⭐️s

I promptly moved on to Femme Feral, a book COMPLETELY outside my norm but which totally worked! This was one of my last few unread NetGalley books, and, boy, was it fun. Definitely not for everyone, but any of my perimenopausal or menopausal friends looking to escape into a hilarious story about a perimenopausal werewoman raging across London will probably enjoy it! 3.5⭐️s

As part of an upcoming campaign I am re-reading The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer. See, I read this book over a year ago when I thought it was going to be published under the title The Midnight Estate. But for some reason the publication date and the title changed. I have been invited to share a paid review, so I thought I would give it a re-read. I am enjoying it a bit more this go-round, and not just because it's a paid campaign. I think I rushed through it last time, so I've been trying to take my time with it a bit more this go-round. There are lots of fun Easter Eggs in this book-within-a-book story, and fans of Kate Morton will appreciate the tone and the mystery. Final review to come soon! 😜

I've started Tenderness, the latest from Rowan Beaird which promises to be cinematic and somewhat dark. At least that's the vibe I'm getting so far, and that's exactly why I loved her last book, The Divorcees. It read like an old Classic film noir, and Tenderness is feeling a bit like a 1970s neo-noir. More to come!

I also started MY MOST ANTICIPATED Winter release and already I've fallen completely in love. Stations by Louise Kennedy is going to be excellent, but I knew that already. I'm so excited to have been selected as an early reader for this November release. Beginning in 1980s Ireland, it follows two teens who find solace in each other; it follows them over decades and promises to be a tear-jerker just like Trespasses, one of my all time favorite reads. Stay tuned for my final thoughts!

Lastly, I think it's the perfect day to curl up with The Hacienda, the September BBFL book club book. I have read and enjoyed Isabel Canas' work in the past, so I have high expectations. Are you reading with us?

ICYMI

• September historical fiction books worth reading

• a WWII novel set in Italy that you might enjoy

• Madeline Martin wrote a witchy novel!

• The Pirate Queen reading guide and review

• The Pirate Queen giveaway for you and your boo

• I'm having a Labor Day sale over on Pango! (help me clear my shelves)

Hear It Here First

Paid subscribers will get early access to the November historical fiction look ahead sometime this week, so be sure to upgrade if you want the secret password!

I filmed a fun weekend vlog focused on productivity while my phone was on lockdown; look for that to premier this week on Youtube.

The August reading wrap-up will likely also premier this week on Youtube, and you'll have to tune in to see what book I ranked my favorite read of the month. It might surprise you!

Happy reading friends 😘

xoxo

c