BIPOC Lit – Page 38 – Trigger Warning Database

Boys Run the Riot, Volume One by Keito Gaku

Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 by Keito Gaku

High schooler Ryo knows he’s transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. He can’t tell his best friend, who he’s secretly got a crush on, and he can’t tell his mom, who’s constantly asking why Ryo “dresses like a boy.” He certainly can’t tell Jin, the new transfer student who looks like just another bully… The only time Ryo feels at ease is when he’s wearing his favourite clothes. Then, and only then, the world melts away, and he can be his true self. One day, while out shopping, Ryo sees someone he didn’t expect: Jin. The kid… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Transmisia
Misgendering
Gender dysphoria
Misogyny
Drug use
Blood depiction
Bullying

Tacos for Two by Betsy St Amant

Tacos for Two by Betsy St. Amant

Rory Perez, a food truck owner who can’t cook, is struggling to keep the business she inherited from her aunt out of the red–and an upcoming contest during Modest’s annual food truck festival seems the best way to do it. The prize money could finally give her a solid financial footing and keep her cousin with special needs paid up at her beloved assisted living home. Then maybe Rory will have enough time to meet the man she’s been talking to via an anonymous online dating site. Jude Strong is tired of being a puppet at his manipulative father’s law firm, and the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & colourism
Cancer

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid

James and Michelle find themselves in the Atlanta airport on a layover. They couldn’t be more different, but seemingly interminable delays draw them both to a mysterious flashing green light–and each other. Where James is passive, Michelle is anything but. And she quickly discovers that the flashing green light is actually… a button. Which she presses. Which may or may not unwittingly break the rules of the universe–at least as those rules apply to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. Before they can figure up from down, strange, impossible things start happening… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Panic attack, on-page
Cancer

Like Home by Louisa Onomé

From Little Tokyo, with Love by Sarah Kuhn

If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale–being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business–she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold. All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism, on-page & discussed
Colourism
Sexism
Ableism, off-page
Lesbomisia
Parental abandonment
Anxiety
Panic attack, on-page
Teen pregnancy recounted
Invasions of privacy (paparazzi)

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

Why did a Hercules C130, the world’s sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan’s military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of: Mechanical failure, human error, the CIA’s impatience, a blind woman’s curse, generals not happy with their pension plans and the mango season. Or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Torture

Like Home by Louisa Onomé

Like Home by Louisa Onomé

Chinelo, or Nelo as her best friend Kate calls her, is all about her neighbourhood Ginger East. She loves its chill vibe, ride-or-die sense of community, and her memories of growing up there. Ginger East isn’t what it used to be, though. After a deadly incident at the local arcade, all her closest friends moved away, except for Kate. But as long as they have each other, Nelo’s good. Only, Kate’s parents’ corner store is vandalized, leaving Nelo shaken to her core. The police and the media are quick to point fingers, and soon more… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Gentrification
Police violence

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England’s first African Sorcerer Royal. And that’s only the first of his problems. He must juggle the conflicting demands of a wayward Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, where a faction schemes to remove him from his position by fair means or foul. He must cope with the Fairy Court refusing to grant Britain the magical resources it needs. And now the British Government is avid to deploy this increasingly scare magic in its war with France. He must also contend with rumours that he murdered his predecessor and guardian… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Colourism
Misogyny
Classism
Slavery & indentured servitude
Hallucinations mentioned
Suicide recounted
Alcohol consumption
Burns
Dead bodies
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a husband
Death of a father
Murder discussed
Fire
Death by drowning recounted
War & colonialism themes
Workplace bullying

The Undead Truth of Us by Britney Lewis

The Undead Truth of Us by Britney S. Lewis

Sixteen-year-old Zharie Young is absolutely certain her mother morphed into a zombie before her untimely death, but she can’t seem to figure out why. Why her mother died, why her aunt doesn’t want her around, why all her dreams seem suddenly, hopelessly out of reach? And why, ever since that day, she’s been seeing zombies everywhere. Then Bo moves into her apartment building―tall, skateboard in hand, freckles like stars, and an undeniable charm. Z wants nothing to do with him, but when he transforms into a half-zombie right before her eyes, something feels… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Self-harm
Body horror

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie Dao

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao

Princess Jade has grown up in exile, hidden away in a monastery while her stepmother, the ruthless Xifeng, rules as empress of Feng Lu. But the empire is in distress and its people are sinking into poverty and despair. Even though Jade doesn’t want the crown, she knows she is the only one who can dethrone the empress and set the world right. Ready to reclaim her place as rightful heir, Jade embarks on a quest to raise the Dragon Lords and defeat Xifeng and the Serpent God once and for all. But will the same darkness that took Xifeng take Jade, too? Or will she … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blood depiction
Graphic murder

Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira

Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira

Carmen Aguilar just wants to make her happily ever after come true. Except apparently “happily ever after” for Carmen involves being stuck in an unpaid summer internship! All she has to do is perform! In a ball gown! During the summer. In Miami. Fine. Except that Carmen’s company is hired for her spoiled cousin Ariana’s over the top quinceañera. And of course, her new dance partner at work is none other than Mauro Reyes, Carmen’s most deeply regrettable ex. If Carmen is going to move into the future she wants, she needs to leave the past behind. And if she can man… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Workplace sexual harassment mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Drug abuse mentioned