October 2026 – Jasmine Gower

Pre-order the ebook here:

Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo

Cover art for Can't Hold Us Down: Tales of Defiance & Hope. White text depicting the title and the words "A Charity Anthology of LGBTQA+ LOVE & COURAGE" is displayed over a dark geometric background with spots of brighter color. At the bottom of the cover is a row of small character portraits. — Designed by Ashborne Stardust Editing and Design

I now have a link to pre-order Can’t Hold Us Down: Tales of Defiance & Hope, featuring my post-apocalyptic slice-of-life short “Utopian Scholastic” and many other wonderfully queer stories. ~~At the moment, only the Amazon ebook pre-order option is ready, but I of course will update here once the print option is available too.~~ ~~All sales of the book, included pre-orders, will be donated to charities that benefit LGBTQIA+ causes.~~

The anthology’s Books2Read page will be updated as more purchase options become available (the publisher is working on it), so that’s one place to keep an eye on if you are looking for non-Amazon options. [UPDATE] We now have links to update from various ebook vendors, so you can pre-order from whichever works best for you. Options for order the print version of the book are still forthcoming, and you can still keep an eye on the Books2Read page for the full list of current purchase links. I also have an update on the charities that will be benefiting from Can’t Hold Us Down’s sales: the publisher has selected Rainbow Railroad and Transgender Law Center as the planned beneficiaries.

You can now also find a blurb for the full anthology on my landing page for “Utopian Scholastic” here on my site.

Here’s some exciting news about a project I’ve been at work on the past year! About a year ago, Archer Kay Leah, a fellow former-Less Than Three Press author, reached out to me to ask about contributing to a charity anthology for LGBTQ+ causes in the face of how BAD everything is right now for everyone. I thought that sounded like a lovely idea and lent not only a story but some developmental edits for my fellow contributors.

Today, I’m happy to share the cover and title for that anthology: Can’t Hold Us Down: Tales of Defiance & Hope.

My story contribution, “Utopian Scholastic”, is a sapphic post-post-apocalyptic slice-of-life about a socialist commune trying to build on the ruins of a fallen United States while weighing the value of 90s Kid nostalgia in that project.

The anthology is scheduled to release October 30, 2026, however, I unfortunately don’t have landing or pre-order pages available at the moment. It is planned for wide distribution and both print and ebook publication. I’m expecting to have more specifics on all that very, very soon. You can check back here on my front page or the story’s page on my site for updates.

I will also soon have more details on the specific charities that will benefit from the sales of the anthology. The decision was made to avoid committing to any particulars early on due to queer charities coming under increased scrutiny basically everywhere, and uncertainty around which ones would still be active to receive donations by the time of the anthology’s publication. I expect to get word on which beneficiaries have been finalized soon.

Sorry for the sparseness of details so close to publication! I did want to hold off on announcing my role in the project until it at least had a cover (and because I was so busy editing that I forgot anyway -_-), but I should have plenty more to say about it in the next week! Keep an eye here!