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I'd like to once again remind you for #BannedBooksWeek that Huckleberry Finn and Animal Farm don't need you to go out of your way to read them. Instead, support a book, and author, who a ban can actually hurt.

A ban isn't, at this point, going to do anything one way or the other to Mark Twain, who is one of the most famous authors of all time and has been dead for more than a century. But it will end the career of a queer author selling their first Epub on Itchio or Amazon.

And Mastercard and Paypal haven't let up in their attempt to force websites to ban LGBTQ media and users. It has not gotten any easier to make a living off queer books. Mark Twain doesn't need the help. Thousands of queer, indie books you haven't heard of do.

If you're a reader, find a queer indie author you haven't heard of. #BookSky and #FurryLit are a good place to start, or @bookspotlight.bsky.social's starter packs.

And yes, there are other things a book can be banned for. But supporting or representing LGBTQ people is the SECOND most common reason for a book to be banned, according to the ALA: And frankly? We know that "sexually explicit" is usually a dogwhistle for "it's queer," so I'd bet it's actually #1.

And like I said, they are currently working VERY hard to ban Queer people from the internet storefronts. 3rd party ad providers have been demanding the largest furry platform, for example, ban all depiction of "plus sized people" and of "hugging," claiming both are sexually inappropriate.

In my own case: none of my books are in any library. No bookstore will touch them. I have them on a couple publisher's website and my own Itchio/SubscribeStar pages and if those got shut down that's it. It would be comparatively VERY easy for someone to ban my books.

So while I do encourage you to read a banned book this #BannedBooksWeek... put your eyes where they will do the most good.

And if you're a librarian or run a bookstore, consider going out of your way to shelve some indie books. I think most people would be shocked how few bookstores, and libraries, do, or how few indie authors ever get to be on any place's "local author" shelf.