Rainbow Rainbow

By: Lydia Conklin

Narrated by: Julia Weldon

A fearless collection of stories that celebrate the humor, darkness, and depth of emotion of the queer and trans experience that's not typically represented: liminal or uncertain identities, queer conception, and queer joy

In this exuberant, prize-winning collection, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming characters seek love and connection in hilarious and heartrending stories that reflect the complexity of our current moment.

A nonbinary writer on the eve of top surgery enters into a risky affair during the height of COVID. A lesbian couple enlists a close friend as a sperm donor, plying him with a potent rainbow-colored cocktail. A lonely office worker struggling with their gender identity chaperones their nephew to a trans YouTube convention. And in the depths of a Midwestern winter, a sex-addicted librarian relies on her pet ferrets to help resist a relapse at a wild college fair.

Capturing both the dark and lovable sides of the human experience, Rainbow Rainbow establishes debut author Lydia Conklin as a fearless new voice for their generation.

©2022 Lydia Conklin (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

An Excellent Collection of Trans and Queer Stories

I was so pleasantly surprised by this stunning debut collection of trans and queer short stories by Lydia Conklin that I listened to "Rainbow Rainbow" a second time, relishing their craft and deepening my appreciation of their writing. While I am a cisgender Black gay male, I nevertheless found that these stories resonated with me as diverse characters seek love, respect, and self-actualization. While the characters' experiences with being trans, nonbinary, lesbian, and pansexual differ vastly from mine, I identified with their longing.

I first encountered Conklin's writing when One Story published their story "Sunny Talks," which is included in this collection. I also read a glowing book review in the San Francisco Chronicle. They sounded like a writer to watch. Never before have I read a collection of trans and queer short stories by one author. My favorite story is the laugh-out-loud "Pioneer," in which a budding trans kid endures a grammar school reenactment of the Oregon Trail and learns something about themselves for the first time.

I look forward to reading more of their work. I highly recommend them.