Rey Terceiero's graphic novel about a young queer Texan boy who reluctantly spends summer working on a ranch and accidentally develops feelings for the rancher's son. There are family secrets, ridiculous gothic fixations, and openly warned about homophobia, sexism, and racism – only some of which is shrugged off (did you ever notice that going along to get along so often involves tolerating being slurred?). 

 

Illustrated in muted tones by Bre Indigo, it is never really possible to buy into the mystery of Northranger because it's too grounded to believe that anything worse than the mundane horrors that have already befallen the characters is going to happen - but it's quietly affecting despite that. 

 

The one bum note is in the author bio. Based on the author's note at the end, Northranger was written in 2020. It wasn't published until 2023, and the bio still reads "[h]e is a queer writer who has always been drawn to strong female protagonists, including ... Hermione Granger." 

I would argue that 2020 was already too late to have this sentiment, but I would definitely say that there is no way that the lead time on Northranger was so long that this one part of the bio couldn't have been amended in three years. 

 

Books remain written, but their connotations can change with time. And sometimes the author does not die. That is the truest horror of them all.