Real Stories. Real People. Real Conversations

### Fruit Fly by Josh Silver

“Go gay. Go sad. Go dark.”
For September, we’re diving into one of 2026’s buzziest new queer novels — a dark, funny, uncomfortable, and wildly provocative story that asks a pretty explosive question:

Who gets to tell our stories?
Mallory Maddox was once a literary sensation. Seven years of writer’s block later, her career is disappearing — and she desperately needs a story that will make people pay attention again.
Then she meets Leo.
Leo is young, gay, struggling with addiction, and surviving on the margins. To Mallory, his life is heartbreaking, authentic…and potentially the perfect material for her comeback.
She decides his story needs telling.
More specifically, she decides she should tell it.
What follows is a razor-sharp satirical thriller about queer identity, privilege, addiction, exploitation, authenticity, and our culture’s fascination with turning other people’s trauma into entertainment.

And there is A LOT for us to talk about.
Is Mallory exploiting Leo, or giving his experiences a voice? Who owns a story once it’s been told to someone else? Why do stories of queer suffering so often receive more attention than queer joy? And how much are we, as readers, part of the very system the book is criticizing?
Whether you love it, hate it, feel completely conflicted about it, or need someone to process it with, bring that opinion to the table.
And as always:

You do NOT have to finish the book to join us.
Seriously. Read 300 pages. Read 30 pages. Read the synopsis. Come because you want to meet some great LGBTQIA+ people and spend an afternoon talking, laughing, and connecting.
The book gets us to the table. The community is why we keep coming back.

New to Rainbow Readers? This is a perfect month to join us.

We love seeing familiar faces, but we’re always excited to pull up another chair for someone new.
Read something queer.
Have an opinion.
Meet your community.