Mega Milk: Essays on Family, Fluidity, Whiteness, and Cows

by Megan Milks

A sparkling, funny, and often wrenching portrait-in-essays on the dairy industry, queer intimacy, family, fluidity, whiteness, and cows.

For decades, Megan Milks has wondered what it means to share a last name with the classic white American beverage. Now, Milks takes on their namesake subject in all its dimensions, venturing into the worlds of small dairies, bovine genetics, and manure while also turning their eye on their family and themself. The resulting essays connect the dots between human lactation, Big Dairy, being queer and lonely, climate change, transmasculinity, the bull semen industry, the milky roots of white supremacy, and the best practices for giving and receiving a hug. With Mega Milk, Megan Milks confirms their place as one of our most exciting queer thinkers and writers.

Genres: Memoir, LGBT, Transgender, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 13, 2026

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

full RTC!

TYSM to Megan Milks & The Feminist Press for the #gifted advanced copy ❤️‍🔥

[Julia Rhea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pardon my French, but holy shit. After reading the first few pages of this book, I jumped out of my bed to snatch a pen and highlighter off of my desk because I knew Megan Milks was about to take me on a milky journey (don't worry, I gagged myself while typing that, but for purposes of this review, it must be done). "Mega Milk" is a collection of essays (written in honor of the author's namesake), discussing all things milk, cow, and beyond. Now, this isn't a vegan propaganda book (I do not say this with hate, as a former vegan of several years). Milks essays cover various spanning topics such as Big Dairy, their personal experiences being queer, connections to one's legal last name, white supremacy, and so much more. I wasn't aware how much of an emotional journey Milks was going to take me on.

Megan Milks writes with a rawness and vulnerability that I find as admirable as it is terrifying as a writer myself. This book was beyond inspiring. I was expecting to sit down and learn some lore on dairy farms and milk symbolism, and WHILE YES I DID GET THAT, I also was getting debriefed on incredibly impactful and introspective retrospectives on Milks own life. It was at times bizarre, boundary-pushing, and beautiful. I absolutely adored it. "Mega Milk" immediately cemented itself as one of my favorites of the year.

Thank you so much to Feminist Press for sending me a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of udder genius, Milks makes a splash into the personal essay form and bursts open our understanding of our most fundamental form of nourishment with this hilarious and profound book. Deleuze and Guattari might have proposed becoming-animal, but Milks puts it into practice with unparalleled commitment and unique, full-bodied immersion. Examining nurturance, and politics through a milky lens, this book has something to offer anyone who has ever swum in the murky waters of what it means to have a body, to be in relation to others both human and animal, to forge a fluid identity, to have been a baby. Get Mega Milk!

[Liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me company as I navigated my tenth estrangement Thanksgiving. It gave me something to look forward to during a time of year I hate. It absorbed me so completely that the chronic pain I've been battling for months subsided for five blissful days. And I really can't give it higher praise than that. Maybe someday I'll have the words to leave a proper review, but for now-- that's what I've got. For five days, it made the pain go away.

Thanks to MM for writing this one, and thanks to Feminist Press for getting it to me early. It made all the difference for this lonely-ass queer pulling yet another solo holiday.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forthcoming in January 2026 from Feminist Press! I have enjoyed splashing around in the milk bottle of the personal essay with this project -- and pursuing on-the-ground and other forms of research through farm trips and a work exchange, attendance at a manure expo, fun with bovine semen, etc. I did not expect milk to take me in so many directions but it did - not all of them dairy-related.

Isn't she beautiful? Cover art by Xander Marro.

[Wesley Ballesteros · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible collection of essays. I would expect nothing less from someone as talented, dedicated, and passionate as Megan Milks seems to be- Slug was perfection, Mega Milk was a peak behind the curtain! Recommending this to anyone and everyone who dares to udder (!) the word “milk” in my presence,,,

[no]

excellent, but doesn’t quite measure up to their other books (slug and margaret and the mystery of the missing body), both of which i could not recommended more highly.

[Sarah Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Megan Milks stan account — they’re truly one of the most creative, generative authors writing right now 🐄🐌

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate milk but I loved this book!