#f/f sff lol

[cubistemoji]

My Personal F/F Book Rec List

being an entirely subjective collection of things I personally liked with reasons why I liked them and why you might like them as well!

Science fiction and fantasy

This is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Science fiction, time travel, epistolary, novella -- very short in all. Tight, poetic language. If you like star-crossed lovers and households both alike in dignity, no one is more star-crossed than rival time war soldiers Red and Blue. It is very romantic.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Do you like your lesbianism as a spice that flavors a dense political drama examining the machineries of imperialism through the lens of space colonization? Did you have a Homestuck phase in your past? You'll like this one. The romance is not the focus of the story, but it's there, and it's f/f.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

Honestly this book wasn't my favorite plotwise (a lot of situations where it seemed like the characters were less intelligent than the reader), but the main character is a lot of fun as a lesbian who wears suits in an alternate-history 1910s Cairo and has a cool catgirl girlfriend, and the worldbuilding and character dynamics were fun as well. Not that kind of catgirl. In a world where the discovery of djinn propelled Egypt to the top of the world stage about a hundred years ago, the guy who did that in the first place is suddenly back in town and murdering people. It's up to Fatma to get to the bottom of it!

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Beloved by Tumblr, it's Lesbian Necromancers In Space! Another book for the Homestuck phase havers. Very very lesbian, although Gideon and Harrow... well they get together in a way... anyway it's about a space empire composed of 9 Houses of necromancy, and the house's representatives have to complete a series of trials to become Lyctors. Ancient Rome inspired but also full of stealthy meme references, if you enjoy the juxtaposition of elevated, old-fashioned language and "Did you know your name contains the words 'Sex Pal'", you'll like this one. The characters are just so fun. Gideon Nav is Horny Butch Representation.

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Supernatural horror thriller this one is not fluffy or cute it is dark and scary and also pretty long. Girls on Sawkill Rock have been disappearing for decades, and it's up to the new girl, the outcast, and the queen bee to figure out how to end the cycle for good. Also I'm pretty sure all of the viewpoint characters are girls who like girls? Themes of grief and trauma and also a big scary monster! Oooh!

Contemporary and Historical Fiction

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

In 1920s Britain, a young woman and her mother take in a lovely young married couple as their lodgers. And then there's a murder. Recommended for fans of murder mysteries and thrillers.

Fingersmith also by Sarah Waters

Inspiration for the film the Handmaiden by Park Chan-Wook (which transplants the Victorian setting to Korea under Japanese occupation), this is a story of cons and crimes and lesbianism! A lot of plot, eventual happy ending.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

"Disaster bisexual" August just moved to New York to try going to college again, and she meets a hot girl in a leather jacket on the subway. The hot girl turns out to be from the 70s and trapped on the train forever for some reason... unless August can figure out how to help her! I like McQuiston's writing style, and I thought the descriptions of queer life in the city felt believable.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Yes I had an Uglies phase in middle school that made me into an eternal Westerfeld stan leave me alone. Afterworlds is a pretty fun sendup of the YA publishing industry. Indian-American Darcy Patel wrote a YA book and got a book deal at 18, so she deferred college for a year to live in NYC and work on editing her first book and writing the second book. And then she gets writer's block, Manhattan is expensive, also, the fellow writer she eventually gets into a relationship with turns out to have her own dark and troubled past. It's really long because half of the book is the novel Darcy writes, but it works.

Pulp by Robin Talley

Part historical fiction about an imagined lesbian author of lesbian pulp novels from the 1950s, and part contemporary fiction about a teen activist researching said author for a project while still not over her ex. I like learning about queer history, and I thought this was a clever way to frame that kind of narrative and show why it's relevant today.

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Iranian immigrant teenager is successfully dragging herself through high school without having to deal with liking girls until a hot new girl shows up and might be into her, maybe? Reviews saying said hot new girl is an over-the-top predatory bisexual caricature are I think somewhat valid, she didn't read as bisexual to me because I don't think she was actually interested in Leila at all besides as a source of attention but I can understand why that would be offputting to readers. Still, Iranian representation!

[girlonthelasttrain]

I plan to write something in Italian for None English Fest 2023 (lbr it's going to be a Trek fic), and god I want to write it so badly in the style of Fruttero & Lucentini [immediately gets pelted with rotten tomatoes]

[olderthannetfic]

Is it just me or have popular sapphic books in SFF gotten kind of bad? There's never been a lot of them, so I should probably be happy to get anything (ha), but the few I've read lately have featured 3/4 of the following elements: purple prose masquerading as lyricism, incoherent worldbuilding that prioritizes style over substance, paper-thin characterization of the FMCs, and war crimes (with no one held accountable, typically - no, but why is "be gay do war crimes" such a thing?).

The way some people talk about sapphic books has gotten weird too. People who only ever read the most generic YA/YA-adjacent fantasy romance see one and go "oooooh" as if they'd ever read anything that isn't an ACOTAR clone. There's this aura of virtue and specialness hanging about, even a shield against criticism of aspects that have nothing to do with the romance. "Oh, you dislike the purple, ahem, baroque prose? How straight culture of you. You might find this more to your liking." *throws the newest Brando Sando"

Also, the relative lack of heat in some (not all) of these books gets talked about as if smut were unclassy and queer ladies too evolved for lowly forms of carnality lol. I hate it!

--

I see this complaint often.

Maybe the smaller amount of content magnifies annoying trends that would exist but be avoidable in het romance. Maybe it's all because f/f is constantly held to some radfem-y standard of perfection. Possibly, people haven't looked hard enough for The Good Shit (though having looked some myself, I think, for once, this isn't a major factor).

[itsallsternutation]

Pinned Intro Post.

CW before we start: this is a sneeze blog (duh) and will probably feature a few mentioning of contagion and mess and that kind of thing. No emeto or anything dangerous here like that though.

If you wanna skip the exposition, here's all the links to my stuff:

My sneezefics (These are my forte. I'm a bit of a word nerd and sneezefics really bring out the demi in me. They're mostly F, but with plenty of M and Enby in them too. Also sorry some of my reblogs are in there. Tumblr's being uncooperative with me lol)

My sneezing (most of them are on youtube, but who knows, maybe I'll make some tumblr exclusives).

Hiya, I’m Saul Stern (not my real name. It’s short for It’s All Sternutation and I thought it sounded nice). Pronouns are he/him and they/them, but any work for me. I’m not picky.

I’ve been a big fan of sneezing all my life, whether they be in fics or in wavs, I thought it was the right time for me to give something back. I’m a cis guy with no allergies, but with really strong, desperate sneezes that come out real easily with a rolled up tissue. I love both reading and writing wonderful fics about itchy allergies and stuffy colds (I usually prefer F and enby sneezes, but I might throw in a few M in the writing part as well as a few of my own M sneezes). I’m also a big time handkerchief fan and would love to see some of yours.

Here you can find…

My Fics (I was blessed with being really really good at writing, but I’m also a very busy person. I mostly just like stuff with original characters, but I might throw in some fandom stuff if you ask nicely.)

My Own Sneezes (I made a YT and I’m gonna try to share my inducing sessions there)

My General Sneezy Thoughts (I’m not used to expressing them with words, but I sure as heck can try)

Please do not reblog, interact, or message me if you are a…

Minor (Pretty obvious one. Just wait a few years, it won’t be that long)

Non-Kink Blog (If you’re into sneezes, just get an alt. If you’re not, why are you even here?)

An Asshole (If you’re one of these guys I won’t just block you like the others. I’ll do something worse: I’ll make fun of you).

So yeah, here is me. If you’re within my age bracket and wanna talk, DM me at either here, Snzliker on kik or at saulstern2@gmail.com. My YT is also @SaulStern/https://www.youtube.com/@SaulStern and I post some sneezes there. I’m also Itsallsternutations on the SFF. 

Cheers, achoo’s, and bless you’s to all of you,

-Saul

[no-where-new-hero]

fic asks: 3, 18, 26!! :D

Thank you so much for the asks! Also, wishing you a very merry Christmas if you celebrate 😊

3: What’s something that you learned about yourself as a writer?

Writing fan fiction has actually been really good for my self-esteem as a writer these days lol—writing OG fiction had been a really soul-zapping slog this year, partly because I’ve been stuck in the querying trenches and partly just because my mental health hasn’t been that great, so there was too much pressure and stress attached to it. But fic writing was just like—I could play in the sandbox. Put down words and don’t overthink if something falls through a plot hole. Enjoy thinking about characters I loved and felt real to me. So I guess what I learned is A, I actually can write fast if I take my mental hobbles off; B, I am in fact capable of enjoying the act of writing the way I did when I started doing this as a kid; C, I can give myself the grace (and time) to practice elements of craft (like plotting or character dynamics or structure) in this way without having to worry if it'll be "profitable."

18: What was the hardest fic to write?

As of now, I kind of anticipate that “the heart is a hollow plain” will be the hardest to write 😅 mostly because I can feel myself starting to take the characters/representation really seriously and also because f/f is a new and uncharted territory for me. But I’m hopeful that if I can stamp down an outline, I'll be able to rise to the challenge.

26: If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Having an OC story get accepted by a major SFF magazine The lovely commenters on A Dream of the Woodland telling me my writing voice sounded like LMM's! That’s all I’ve ever really aimed for for years, and it was SUPER satisfying to know I succeeded.

[sniperct]

I’ve never watched Star Trek. I’m a trans lesbian, big SFF reader, enjoy Star Wars quite a bit with my wife and a kiddos. Where do my wife and I start?

There are a number of different ways you can watch it. If you like a bit of camp with good stories, starting with TOS is never a bad bet. You could also start with Strange New Worlds which is like TOS with more modern progressiveness(but TOS was incredibly progressive and transgressive for its day. We're talking when mini-skirts were so much the height of feminism that the female cast members insisted on it and plots such as 'this alien is half white black and hates the alien who's half black white for looking different and that's bad' among others.

TNG had a rough first season, but there are some gems, 2nd season is better than many people remember and 3rd season onward is generally gold. That's also a good onramp point as they don't lean too heavily into trek nostalgia. DS9 is my favorite trek for a variety of reasons and with both DS9 and Voyager you don't really need too much prior knowledge, they're good at explaining things as they go. DS9 is a direct spin off of TNG so there are some concepts (bajor, the cardassians, sisko's backstory) that spin out of that but they explain that in the first episode. VOY spun out of DS9, the biggest thing being a group called the Maquis, which I don't remember if they fully explain them enough.

Discovery is GREAT, but the first season is heavy and i don't recommend it as a starter series. I also don't recommend Enterprise until you've watched everything (and tbh I don't recommend it at all except for the 2 mirror universe episodes, but a lot of people like the show so more power to them.)

Picard is good once you've watched TNG and the four TNG movies.

There are three cartoons. The Animated Series has terrible animation but there are some amazing episodes with great writing hidden in there. Generally something to try after watching TOS, before the TOS movies. Lower Decks I think is great for newbies but is mostly a love letter to fans and geared for adults. Prodigy would be a good onramp as it does a good job of introducing starfleet and the federation and explaining the ideals of both. Its a bit like the clone wars as an animated show for kids with some deeper themes.

For the most part you can't go wrong starting just about anywhere, but my personal preferred watching order when I do the yearly 'turn on star trek while working' marathon is mostly chronological.

But I really don't suggest watching discovery first, so a good order would be Original series, animated series (okay to skip tbh, the animations is really hard to get through), the first six movies(you could probably skip 5 but then you'd miss a reference in strange new worlds lol), The next generation, the first TNG movie, DS9 seasons 1-4, the second two TNG movies, DS9 seasons 5-7, the last TNG movie, Voyager 1-7, Lower Decks, Prodigy, then skip back to discovery and strange new worlds, then finally finish with Picard.

That said, my gut tells me strange new worlds, TOS or TNG would all be good starting points for you, but I can't recommend DS9 enough once you've dipped your toes in, so maybe even start with that one!

I know this answer sucks but I've been a fan so long I'm not sure I can honestly answer for new people coming in as to what they might or might not like as a starter.

Actually going back to star wars, DS9 is one of the more actiony series, discovery is too, but very heavy first season (all of the new treks make good use of modern effects to give starships the manueverability you'd want/expect, but DS9 is where they started doing that first). Both series explore the darker side of the universe, or rather the more morally grey side, while also willing to embrace the hope and beauty of the universe (discovery especially has that become the main theme of the series. hope, unity, exploration, wonder)

TLDR: there's so many places to start is there anyone who is a newer fan who might have better advice?

[purplepiratefaerywitchthing]

SF/F & Speculative Fiction author Rebecca/R. K. Fisher

presents...

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS is a Halloween-themed LBGTQ+ novella about a 16-yr-old boy and the demon he summons to be his date to his ultra-conservative Christian high school's first-ever Halloween dance.

This story is:

For young adults, new adults and the young at heart.

Told from the demon's 1st person POV

Full of humor, sadness, and a little romance.

About 15,000 words long and broken up into 8 chapters.

You can buy the paperback/e-book here!

NOTE TO READERS: TRIGGER WARNING INCLUDED AT PURCHASE LINK.

THE OTHER SIDE is a sci-fi/horror short story that follows a group of people across post-apocalyptic landscape in search of life and resources that might help her dying settlement. What they find is more than they bargained for, and not at all what they hoped it could be.

This story is:

Written for a general SFF-loving audience, although readers under 14 should be advised.

Told in epistolary form, meaning through the letters/writings of one person.

A mold of science fiction, folk horror and mythology

About 6,000 words long.

You can buy the e-book here!

********

About the author:

Hi there! I'm Rebecca (she/her) and I'm a long-time story-teller and a first generation Tumblr user (AKA, I've been here a... Long time lol). I write weird, fantastical, speculative tales for all ages and have decided to take a crack at self-publishing as I continue through my writing career.

I'd love to connect with other writers and readers here on Tumblr and greatly appreciate any interest in and support of my work!

My asks are always open. Much love 💕

P.S.: Don't see something that interests you here? Don't worry - there's more coming 😁😁

Next Up:

To be released late Summer 2022!!!

NOTE: All covers seen here were designed by the author (see above👆) using Canva and Unsplash.

[celiabowens]

25 books recs from my 2020 reads

I’ve been wanting to make this post for a while, but I wanted to wait and see how my last reads of the year would go. Also, narrowing them down to 20 was a nope, so I just made a bigger list instead lol. I’ve tried to include a vague description of each book and the main trigger warnings and rep. I apologise in advance if I forgot anything (for trigger warnings, I suggest double checking on the site booktriggerwarnings).

Adult SFF

A Memory Called Empire: it feels like I’ve raved about this one enough but just in case: A Memory Called Empire is a space opera following an ambassador who suddenly finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery and a political conspiracy. It’s got brilliant world building and a nuanced and intricate reflection about culture, language and colonialism. Subtle slow burn f/f romance on the side (+ a poly relationship shown in flashbacks). TW: suicide.

Black Sun: first book in an epic fantasy series inspired by pre-columbian Americas. Great cast of characters and very interesting use of mythology + the main plot is focused on political and religious conflict and the author handles both sides of it quite well. The book has bisexual and non-binary rep, one of the main characters is blind. TW: suicide, abuse, self harm. There’s some gore, although it’s not extremely graphic.

The Sword of Kaigen: a Japanese inspired stand alone epic fantasy. The book is not focused on battle or war, although they play an important role in the plot itself, but on family dynamics and personal growth. It’s a very character driven novel, with some rather conventional elements (elemental magic) and some more original reuses of traditional fantasy tropes. TW: abuse.

Empire of Sand: first book in a duology of companion novels inspired by Mughal India. Mostly focused on religious and political conflict, although romance is heavily featured in both books. Pretty good slow burn romance in both cases. TW: abuse, slavery, torture, sexual assault, self-harm.

The Light Brigade: a rather unconventional space opera with a complex non linear narration. This is not an easy read in every possible way, but the pay off is worth it. Also it’s one of those cases in which I think it’s best to go in knowing nothing or almost nothing. TW: torture, murder, ptsd, war, gore, infectious diseases (yeah you need a strong stomach for this........).

Gods of Jade and Shadow: a coming of age story set in Mexico during the Jazz age. A bit of a lighter read, a journey-adventure featuring a god slowly becoming human, tasks to complete etc. TW: bullying.

River of Stars: more of an alternate history than pure fantasy, as most of GGK’s novels are. This one in particular was inspired by Chinese history and it’s ideally a companion to Under Heaven. Both can be read as standalones but I find their parallels and differences very interesting. I’d also recommend The Lions of Al-Rassan and A Brightness Long Ago, by the same author. All of them revisit historical events from the point of view of rather ordinary people who find themselves in the middle of events they can’t control. 

Empire of Gold: the last book in a trilogy, starting with City of Brass. The first novel is more trope-y and naive in places, but I found both the second book and the conclusion of the trilogy more nuanced and satisfying. There’s a m/m relationship on the side. TW: mass murder, torture, enslavement, abuse.

Adult SFF novella edition

The Deep: novella set in an underwater society built by the descendants of African slave women that were tossed overboard. The novella deals with trauma, both personal and generational one.

This Is How You Lose The Time War: epistolary set during a time-travel war. Enemies to lovers f/f romance. Very character driven, don’t expect a lot of world building.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune: an Asian-inspired novella that gives a voice to people usually silenced by history. It follows a cleric as they chronicle the story of the late empress, retold through objects that she used in her life. 

YA SFF

Return of the Thief/The Queen’s Thief series in general: the last book in the queen’s thief series! Honestly just read this series it’s literally too good? It is carefully planned from start to finish and it has politics, adventures, characters with extremely questionable morals and good banter? TW: loss of a limb, torture (not extremely graphic), ptsd.

The Kingdom of Back: probably Marie Lu’s best book yet? think of the concept of “shakespeare’s sister” as explained by Woolf in A Room of One’s Own, but with the Mozart siblings. I actually had no idea Mozart had a sister prior to reading this. It’s a quite emotional read, as it shows how little opportunities women had to be recognised for their talent.

Adult Literary Fiction

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: a beautiful exploration of language, family history, trauma, sexuality and gender. TW: war, ptsd, death.

Augustus: an epistolary historical fiction novel narrating some of the main events of Augustus’ reign through letters from/by his closest friends and enemies. Not even remotely historically accurate, but a lot of fun to read if you’re familiar with historical accounts of that period.

A Gentleman in Moscow: following Count Alexander Rostov, who, in 1922, is sentenced to a lifetime of house arrest in the Metropol, a luxurious hotel in the center of Moscow. A peculiar novel, funny and heartbreaking at once, following a vibrant cast of characters as they come and go from Rostov’s secluded life.

How Much of These Hills Is Gold: following two recently orphaned children through the gold rush era, the book is an adventurous historical fiction piece that focuses on themes like gender, identity and immigration. TW: abuse, sexual assault, racism.

The Memory Police: published in Japan in the mid 90s, but translated recently, it’s an orwellian dystopian novel set on an unnamed Island where memories of certain objects and feelings slowly disappear.

The Nickel Boys: the book follows the lives of two boys sentenced to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. A bleak, but important book, with a shocking final twist. TW: abuse, racism, death.

Manga/Graphic Novels

The Girl from the Other Side

Opus: very meta, much like most of Satoshi Kon’s movies. Kon actually never finished this (the magazine he was publishing it on was cancelled) and a last chapter was published after his death after his family found the sketches for it.

Oriental Piano: based on the story of the author’s grandfather, who invented a musical instrument in Beirut in the 1960s, combining Arabic music and a western musical instrument. Sort of reminiscent of Satrapi’s style. 

Webtoons

Lore of Olympus (TW: sexual assault)

Clara and The Devil

Non Fiction

The Professor and the Madman: the peculiar and extraordinary tale behind the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary. TW: self-harm, ptsd, war.

Honourable mentions: The Binding (TW: abuse, sexual assault, suicide. Gay rep.), The Silence of the Girls (TW: sexual assault, death, war), To Be Taught, If Fortunate (bi, ace, poly rep), The Kyoshi Novels (bi rep, f/f relationship).

[beyond-far-horizons]

hey, so enemies to lovers is my favorite troupe as well, but why its so difficult to find something good with this troupe?? latelly i am getting very disappointed with anything that says enemies to lovers, so do you have any recommendations, like books, fanfics, games? i am down for anything that has drama and good writing

WORD!

Okay I have very little time as I’m on a busy MA course but briefly - 

I think the reason this trope is done badly is that it’s hard to get right. Also people’s mileage varies  - we see this across fandoms all the time with what is seen ‘problematic’ and policed etc. That’s part of a much wider conversation. For me I just wish people had a more nuanced understanding a) that stories can influence society sociologically esp if the trends in the words of Pop Culture Detective as ‘pervasive and unquestioned’, but also b) many people know how to separate real life from fiction and not only is it great escapism to experience a range of different things, I’d argue in some ways to some folks it could be vital archetypally. In other words, I wish we could be a bit more forgiving of other POVs and more appreciating that what works for some doesn’t work for others in terms of enjoying Enemies to Lovers and villain-shipping specifically. For myself I adore a good Sexy Bad Guy, but in RL if I had a dude want to kidnap me and act that way without my consent I’d be like ‘f-off mate’ LOL.

 But I digress...

Hard to recommend without knowing what fandoms/media you are into and what versions of Enemies to Lovers you like (sadly I don’t have time to go through this even though I’d love to). Enemies to Lovers can be two basically good people on different sides of a fight or it could be shipping the altruistic protag with the (sexy) villain. Is it slash or heterosexual? I think I saw you weren’t a fan of love triangles which is another major potential element of this dynamic.

I like a lot of different versions of this trope but one of the major things I personally enjoy is an empowered altruistic heroine with agency in a pairing with a Sexy Bad Guy, esp if there is also a Sexy Good Guy who is his rival/frenemy. Now I know you said you don’t like love triangles but to me it depends how it’s written. For me I hate the YA ‘boring best friend’ vs ‘douche bad boy’ with bland heroine defining her identity between them, instead of being on a journey of discovery about herself and her world which the love drama aids in. It’s also about how these things get resolved as well. For me several things I really enjoy is a) sexual tension between heroine and villain b) cat and mouse games whether via fights/chases/political intrigue or all of the above c)philosophical conversations about the nature of life and humanity - I need my heroine/hero to CHALLENGE the villain AND vice versa. I want them both to grow and develop as a consequence. d) I want BOTH sides to be tempted by the other and there to be major angst but the tension remains because both sides are strong characters with deep convictions - I loathe a heroine for example that just excuses her villain’s actions because he’s hot or he’s changed (without reflection or atonement) or something. I also nowadays don’t really enjoy the ‘I need you to make me into a better person’ - nah mate do that yourself - she/he can inspire you but it needs to come from within (I love this about Zuko from ATLA  - he never needs Katara in this way although she clearly inspires him.) I need more than superficial stuff, I need deep reasons and emotional developments to justify their growing connection. THAT’S what’s interesting to me. Or if it is just the villain’s charisma I want to see the heroine deeply conflicted about that because it clashes with her powerful sense of self.  This is why slow burn is also key for me (also great opportunities for UST and angst hehe). Unless of course you are just looking straight for some X rated stuff which...fair play...most of us have done it. 

I’m not sure what you are looking in the trope but as for suggestions for the above dynamic some of the best fanfics I’ve ever read are ‘World Under Siege’ by @nofearofwaves (Loki and Jane Foster in Thor/MCU - slow burn - goes on to its sequel, canonverse set from the end of Thor/Avengers) and ‘The Cave’ by ‘Masksarehot’  -(Amon and Korra from Legend of Korra - fantastic conversations and very hot without being too porny.)

I also attempt to write a lot of Enemies to Lovers or containing that theme in some way. Fandoms - Naruto, One Piece, ASOIAF, DMC, ATLA, Harry Potter (my only slash pairing is young Dumbledore and Grindlevald but that is more friends/lovers as its the beginning of their connection) and Yu-gi-oh. 

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4317571/Girl-of-Blue-Fire

Some are finished, some are WIPs , some contain the fore-mentioned love triangles, some don’t. Obviously my best works are the later ones so you could check that out if you want and look at my faves??

Lastly in terms of some good canon stuff...like we’ve said it’s rare but I’ve heard good things about Children of Blood and Bone (i have it to read) whose canon enemies to lovers theme was inspired by Zutara in ATLA. Zutara also has some fantastic works but the canon story unfortunately short changed itself IMO. If I think of anything else I will add it...

Hope that helps and good luck!

Ps I’m also writing a TON of original SFF fiction centring on this theme - my latest has...wow...about 4/5 canon enemies to lovers pairings ( hetero, slash and fem!slash) with huge amounts of fanon potential so hopefully one day we will have more.

[lgbtqreads]

Hey, i'm kinda having a hard time finding nb/m or even better nb/nb lit, do you have any suggestions? There's a couple of the former and one of the latter I already saw on the romance page, but the other pages have basically nothing, and I haven't been able to find like anything other than nb/f looking on my own. Pretty sure we just mostly don't exist at this point lol...

It sounds like you’ve already looked through the site so I’m not sure how much more help my answering on Tumblr is gonna be...? Counting Polyam titles on the Romance page (which is where books are broken down by pairing), there are about 13 nb/m titles, in a mix of genres (mostly adult contemporary). The only title I can think of that’s nb/nb IIRC but isn’t on that page is Brooklyn, Burning by Steven Brezenoff, but I would check in at @coolcurrybooks, who blogs about Queer SFF, because I am far less in the know about that in Adult and I don’t know the finer details of the nonbinary rep and pairings in a lot of those titles.)

[booasaur]

I loved warrior nun! I went into it w no expectations other than my brother telling me to watch it and it ended up being so good! I looooove Beatrice and was so happy to see she’s gay (I’m assuming based on her heartbreaking reaction to the word lesbian that she’s specifically a lesbian). Ava honestly annoyed me a lot of the time but I loved all the others, esp Mary! And Ava/B seemed like a potential thing in that hug for me too and then post cinderblocks was !!!! Even tho I think it’ll (1/2)

End up as a one-sides crush given her earlier fixation on JC I could also see them as a slow burn friendship turned more. I doubt the show will go there but you never know lol. The show was good beyond any shipping tho which is actually rare for me nowadays, I really hope they get a second season! (2/2) 

It was good! I was shocked, tbh. It was good in this very specific way that I appreciated, partly because recently, in addition to the shows I watch on the regular, I’ve been trying some f/f books, mostly genre, and the variation in quality of the pacing and especially dialogue can be so noticeable. I need dialogue to be four things: natural, distinct between different characters, advancing character, and advancing plot and honestly, this should be the bare minimum, but it’s really not. So I just super appreciated it in this show that I absolutely didn’t expect it from, first seasons and super cheesy sff plots usually mean tons of worldbuilding exposition and attempts to establish and nail down characters, but this did so well with that, just jumping in and passing info as needed. And the actors all committed to their admittedly absurd characters and totally embodied them. I think honestly I just had such low expectations that this exceeding them so well made for an even bigger positive gap in the experience.

Yes, I LOVED Beatrice, god, what a character! From the start. So compassionate while being such a competent leader, that is my absolute favorite character combo. It’s like, you’re a good judge of people, you see them for what they are, and you still think well of them. Love that. And the little hints about her gayness, which I do agree with you, I think she is a lesbian, but how it was revealed! This goes back to what I was praising above, how the show chose to tell this story, what and how it revealed, who it focused on when it did it. Like, you know from Camila telling her about that passage while smiling to herself, that she knows about Bea’s past and if she does, you can speculate that it’s probably a whole open secret, and from Camila’s own reaction, not everyone judges her for it as harshly as Bea herself seems to. How much was conveyed in just that little! I loved her relationship with Camila, tbh! I almost wonder if that’s where they might go, but maybe not. I’m kind of afraid they’ll kill off Camila if/when s2 picks up because you can’t have this high stakes battle and not kill someone off, right? Maybe Mother Superion (who had the HOTTEST voice, btw). 

Ava...Ava, Ava, Ava. I can totally see how she rubs people the wrong way but I found her endearing. She’s a total dumbass, for sure, but she knows it, they all do, lol. She’s trying! Mary was greaaat. The way she’s gonna protect Ava because of Shannon...everyone’s so multilayered. Lilith being raised for this and being passed over again and again, like, I love them all.

The Ava/Bea (Beava? oh wait, lmao, probably not) thing is...it’s definitely canon one-sided, yeah, I guess we’ll have to wait to see how they go with them? The way they introduced JC and even his whole crew, I thought he’d stay relevant the whole time, but he disappeared halfway through and tbh, I don’t know what he could offer next season, except a place to lie low, since Jillian’s now distracted? But they have other contacts already and if they bring him back, it’ll have to be for more than that. He better not get his own powers or something.

Man, though, I would so love if they went with Ava/Bea, not just for the main character wlw part or it being super central f/f, but they’re legit great as friends and teammates, Bea gets through to Ava in a way nobody else does (though Mary comes close--who’d have thought, being nice works) and Ava helps Bea let loose a little without compromising her leadership. I actually super loved that even after the ep 8 reveals, Bea didn’t lose what made her Bea, she didn’t start to moon over Ava and drop the part of her that’s a great leader. A lot of media has so much trouble writing character dynamics after that turn, they’ll soften and neuter them far beyond they should, they become different characters, but Bea was exactly who she always was. I also hope they get a second season to like, at least finish off this story, but also I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the f/f. :P

[oceanjar]

sorry if this gets way too detailed lol but i love all ur book recs nd im looking to beef up my tbr pile so im asking u :) what r some upcoming/recently released sff books u look forward to reading? they can also be ongoing series idc im just looking for stuff thats recent

its no problem at all! i love talking about books and i really enjoy hunting through my own unnecessarily large tbr to answer asks such as these :] so lets go:

*note: italics are series

1. the poppy war - r. f. kuang (final book nov)

2. the midnight library - matt haig (oct)

3. a girl made of air - nydia hetherington (sep)

4. the once and future witches - alix e. harrow (oct)

5. the bone shard daughter - andrea stewart (first book sep)

6. house of dragons - jessica cluess (first book may)

7. dark shores - danielle l. jensen (third book 2021)

8. stealing thunder - alina boyden (first book may)

9. granted - kendra thomas (first book may)

10. incendiary - zoraida córdova (first book apr)

11. foundryside - robert jackson bennett (second book apr)

12. race the sands - sarah beth durst (apr)

13. so this is love - elizabeth lim (apr)

14. black stone heart - michael r. fletcher (first book apr)

15. paternus: rise of gods - dyrk ashton (final book jun)

bonus: first books of really good fantasy series that have already finished: the shadow of the wind -  carlos ruiz zafón, the queen of blood - sarah beth durst, strange the dreamer - laini taylor, the crimson queen - alec hutson, the ninth rain - jen williams

[heartyearning]

1 + 15

1. Tell me about that imaginary bookshop you dream about running.

ok so its like mostly second hand books but other than that it has a large sf/f section (because i live in a very large city and i cant find sff books ANYWHERE) plus there’d be a shelf of self published books near the door so you see it on the way in, so that people are more like aware of self published authors? i mean obv they wouldnt be directly supporting self pub (like, *i* would be) but its still a nice thought to have someone pick up a book and maybe review it that they never would have found otherwise. plus thered be like a system where u donate books and can swap points for other books in the store (because again, i want that but my city doesnt have it) 15. What’s a cover that fooled you?

lol this is a cop out answer but i have a copy of hannibal by thomas harris thats the same colour as my copy of red dragon so i was talking abt it as if it was red dragon for the longest time

send bookish asks!!

[sophygurl]

WisCon 43 panel Favorite Queer Depictions In Fiction write-up:

Whether it's a coming-of-age coming out story, a love story about queer characters, a drama or comedy centering the lives of a queer found family, or any old story that just includes a queer character or three without making a big thing about it—we all have out favorite queer stories. Whether it's books, TV shows, movies, video games, or something else, this is the panel to share the ones we love, and why we love them!

Moderator: Kate JohnsTon. Panelists:  Cat Meier, Charles Payseur, Sarah Waites, Alberto Yáñez

Disclaimers: These are only the notes I was personally able to jot down on paper during the panel. I absolutely did not get everything, and may even have some things wrong. Corrections by panelists or other audience members always welcome. I name the mod and panelists because they are publicly listed, but will remove names if asked. I do not name audience members unless specifically asked by them to be named. If I mix up a pronoun or name spelling or anything else, please tell me and I’ll fix it!

Notes:

I missed some of the panelist intro info, but Alberto identified himself as “queer AF” and Cat added “yes, I am also very queer.”

Kate asked the panelists to discuss what brought them to queer fiction, citing Mercedes Lackey as her intro point. She added “we existed and didn’t die in the first book.”

Sarah brought up Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner. When she read it, she wasn’t consciously queer yet. Once she realized that she was, she began to read a lot more.

Alberto also mentioned Lackey, specifically Magic’s Pawn. He had gotten it as a library book and found someone had written in the front of it “this book is about f**gs” and he thought “well, alright then!” He also talked about the short story Things With Beards, a re-telling of The Thing through the lens of HIV/AIDS. 

Cat mentioned Henry Fitzroy as her first queer character love. [ I didn’t catch the specific work/author but it involved the bastard son of Henry the 8th as a bisexual vampire - a quick search shows me this is probably Tanya Huff’s Blood and Smoke novels?]

Kate brought up that queer characters often don’t get a family and asked the panelists about queer characters that either have found families or that remained in their families of origin. 

Cat talked about the novella Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night by Katherine Fabian and Iona Datt Sharma.

Alberto said that, as a Latino writer, he writes a lot about family “because some stereotypes are true.” 

Sarah mentioned that Becky Chambers writes about found family quite a bit. Another example was a world where homophobia doesn’t exist in a Beauty and the Beast re-telling - In the Vanisher’s Palace. 

Charles mentioned the found family in Jacqueline Koyanagi’s Ascension [also a fave of mine!], as well as Geometries of Belonging by Rose Lemberg. He also talked about Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed as a story that imagines different ways of thinking about family and queerness, as well as Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics by Jess Barber and Sara Saab about decoupling possessiveness in relationships. 

Charles also said that he has written both kinds of stories - found family and family of origin, specifically mentioning a found family in his short story Undercurrents.

Kate talked about how the 60′s SF genre was a lot of men going into space without any women, but it was still supposed to be read as cishet. Now we’re at a point where we actually can send women without men into space and it tends to be read as queer. 

She also asked about stories where it’s not just the same nuclear family and/or gender binary but just with same-sex couples slotted in.

Alberto mentioned Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite, which is about a whole world that is female in many different expressions without having to label them all. 

Cat talked about being both queer and poly and feeling very seen by Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night more than any other book. Having an example of a poly community where all relationships are equally as important as one another. 

Sarah brought up The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley where the male/female nuclear family structure is just not possible. 

Charles again brought up Ascension as an example of family structures on space ships. Also Hurricane Heels by Isabel Yap, which has a magical girls trope - heavy on friendship but the importance of friendship is highlighted and some, but not all, in the friend group are queer. 

Kate talked about James Tiptree’s Houston Houston Do You Read and some of Melissa Scott’s work.

Cat added that Melissa Scott has a wide variety of books with queer relationships in them showing a range of queer experiences. The newest - Finders - has queer poly. 

Sarah talked about some of Scott’s fantasy series and the structure of the culture being that male/female relationships were for procreation but the expectation is that love is between same genders. [I didn’t catch the title of these books/the series]

Kate brought up bisexuality in fiction. She first noticed the lack of bisexual representation when she started dating a bi woman. 

Charles said “all I write is bisexual - even if it’s not explicit.” Since it’s generally assumed for people to be either gay or straight if it’s not mentioned, he likes to write worlds where it’s assumed for the characters to be bi. 

Charles also talked about bi rep in Rose Lemberg’s work - Birdverse, Splendid Goat Adventure, and A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power. 

Alberto said he wants more queer characters where the drama isn’t about their queerness. In real life, acceptance can take awhile but he’s been there for a long time now and for reading and writing - he’d like for the drama to be focused elsewhere. 

Cat talked about not knowing that bisexuality existed at 13 when she discovered Henry Fitzroy.

Kate talked about the importance of bi representation in creating understanding for others. “I’m a skier. I ski in the winter. It’s summer. I’m still a skier.” 

Kate brought up Sarah Gailey’s River of Teeth. Also Tanya Huff’s work [missed the title] about omnisexual aliens who would screw a hole in a donut and everyone’s happy about it! Also for YA/teen reading - Foz Meadows. 

Alberto mentioned Six of Crows and it’s sequel by Leigh Bardugo as having bisexuality and found family in it. [Gosh I need to get on to reading this series]

Cat brought up Peter Darling - a trans re-telling of Peter Pan with a Pan/Hook romance. [!!] Also The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue as well as The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee. The former has an ace character.

Sarah also rec’d the Guide to Petticoats and Piracy book. She is ace and the character in the book is ace and aro - society wants her to be one thing and she isn’t. Also the character gets called out on the “not like other girls” thing. 

Sarah also mentioned Chameleon Moon, which has a F/F/F triad, as well as an ace man with anxiety. Sarah wants more ace characters who are not sociopaths or robots.

Kate brought up the TV show Lucifer which is “really really really bisexual” [lol]. Kate also likes that the show doesn’t explain how Lucifer, who is white, has a black brother and an Asian sister.

Someone [I only wrote “C”, so either Cat or Charles? unless that meant continued and was Kate?] talked about Tanya Huff’s work having so many queer families with a variety of experiences.

Charles said there are a lot of examples that are just sad and messy.

Kate talked about lots of queer and black fiction is depressing because - “have you looked at our lives?” She added that we need more positive examples of queer characters. 

Alberto brought up Lara Elena Donnelly’s three books - Amberlough, Armistice, and Amnesty - which are about surviving fascism and rebellion. There’s crime, adventures, spies, etc. This is a strong recommendation.

Sarah added on to that by saying that this example of a dystopia is not about the queerness. Also talked about the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee [oh look! one of next year’s GoH’s!], which has no homophobia and almost all of the characters are queer. It also subverts the sociopathic ace trope - other characters think he is and he encourages that belief, but isn’t.

Charles mentioned a short story in Glittership Year Two [missed what it was], as well as The Root by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun which he said has a good depiction of queer families.

Kate posed the question of what there should be more queer characters in. She said video games and TV shows and that both should also be less male gaze-y.

Charles agreed with video games and said whether it’s a relationship game or not. He wants more background characters to be queer. He doesn’t want to have to headcanon it.

Sarah said “besides everything?” Big SFF movies, like the MCU - and that they should stop making such a big deal about adding super small scenes with queer characters. 

Alberto said more TV - especially for stuff aimed at kids and their parents. A good example of this is She-Ra.

Kate said it should be written in the stories - not retconned like Rowling does or killing them off right away. More 3D queer characters. She added that, especially having been out for most of her life, the struggling with queerness/coming out stories are getting old for her.

Cat mentioned movies that are adaptations that have queer characters in the source material, such as the MCU - there are lots of queer characters in the comics but they don’t make it to the TV shows or movies. 

Kate added that Deadpool keeps his pansexuality in the movies. Kate also wants more queer poc characters who are okay with who they are not evil aliens. This is a problem for white cishet Hollywood. 

Charles talked about the issues still affecting us from the Hays Code era legacy. Queer characters are always sad and end up dead - this was once enforced but has now just trickled down. 

Charles also said he enjoys cozy mysteries but the queer characters always die. There was one that he liked that was turned into a TV series and they finally had a queer character - the actor was leaving and the series could have given them a happily ever after but killed them off instead.

Sarah talked about the importance of diversity behind the scenes. It’s easier to get representation in a book because there is less gatekeeping, fewer hands in the pot. When everyone in the writer’s room of a show or movie are straight, it makes it harder.

Cat [I think? just wrote “C” again] mentioned The Wicked and the Divine - gods are reborn into people every 12 years - they’re all queer. [This was rec’d often this con - deffo need to read]

The audience got to throw out recs next. The ones I got down are: [I can’t find this in a search but it was something like Kaitlyn Sterling - Luminent... something? if anyone knows please chime in], Lifelode by Jo Walton, Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold about a planet of men, A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski about a world of women, A Big Ship at the End of the Universe by Alex White, The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, “everything by Seanan McGuire” [agreed!!], and then apparently Magic: The Gathering has recently been doing some exploring of genderless species and also a trans warrior woman character. 

The audience were still tossing out recs when I left, so I did not get them all, nor any possible closing remarks by the panelists.  

[celiabowens]

july-december sff releases

self-explanatory title here!

July:

Unconquerable Sun (7th, Adult): the summary says this is a gender-swapped Alexander the Great retelling in space. Yes, a space opera following a female Alexander, with family feuds, politics and cultures/societies inspired by real ones. Also reviews say Hephaestion’s gender-swapped too.

The Book of Dragons (7th, Adult): an anthology featuring some of the most interesting names of adult SFF writing about dragons. It has a great mix of known authors (Scott Lynch, Ann Leckie, Garth Nix etc) and more recent names of the genre (R.F. Kuang, Zen Cho etc). Also...it’s illustrated!

Girl, Serpent, Thorn (7th, YA): featuring Persian mythology, a f/f relationship and apparently morally gray characters.

The Shadow of Kyoshi (21st, YA): the second book following avatar Kyoshi’s life. No spoilers, but if you like ATLA and you’re even just a tiny bit curious about Kyoshi (who isn’t) you should check out book one.

August:

Harrow The Ninth (4th, Adult): follow up to Gideon The Ninth, which was probably one of the hottest debuts of 2019. Anyway, it’s a good crossover-YA title if you want to get started on Adult SFF and was pitched as lesbian necromancers in space so. 

September:

Master of Poisons (8th, Adult): epic fantasy following a spymaster trying to save his dying world.

The Bone Shard Daughter (10th, Adult): epic fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology + bone magic. Featuring political intrigue and a female lead trying to regain her position as the emperor’s heir. Also f/f.

Piranesi (15th, Adult): Susanna Clarke’s long awaited return to fantasy. The book’s been a mystery from the start, but it apparently features a mysterious house with infinite rooms and a research that could possibly lead to disaster.

A Deadly Education (29th, Adult): Naomi Novik’s latest series (already optioned for a movie lol), set in a sort of dark magic school and following a MC that will potentially become a dark sorceress? 

Burning Roses (29th, Adult): SFF novella following two older women in love?? Mixing Chinese and Western folklore? Sounds very cool.

October: 

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue (6th, Adult): V. E. Schwab, newest book (and long in the making), following a French girl who makes a deal with the devil in order to live forever, but is fated to always be forgotten.

Return of the Thief (6th, YA): last book of the Queen’s Thief series, which you should totally binge read before October 6th.

Ring Shout (13th, Adult): historical fantasy novella by the author of The Black God’s Drums, set during the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror.

The Once and Future Witches (13th, Adult): historical fantasy set at the end of the 19th century and following a family of witches who join the suffragists. 

Black Sun (13th, Adult): first book in an epic fantasy trilogy set in Pre-Columbian Americas, featuring crow mythology, apparently mermaids and lady captains and a visually impaired fighter.

The Midnight Bargain (13th, Adult): I can’t seem to find much about this one, but it seems a sort of historical fantasy about a young woman trying to escape her fate (arranged marriage) to become a sorceress.

Phoenix Extravagant (20th, Adult): Yoon Ha Lee’s latest book! Fantasy following a painter, set in a silkpunk world reminiscent of the Korean-Japanese occupation. From early reviews it looks like, as usual in Yoon Ha Lee’s books, there’s a lot of casual lgbt rep.

November: 

The Betrayals (12th, Adult): historical fantasy set in an exclusive (magic?) academy, following a man whose political career was ruined, featuring a mysterious contest.

These Violent Delights (17th, YA): Romeo and Juliet retelling featuring rival gangs in 1920s Shanghai. 

The Burning God (19th, Adult): the conclusion to The Poppy War’s trilogy, a grimdark fantasy inspired by 20th century China. 

December:

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (8th, Adult): fantasy novella set in the same world as The Empress of Salt and Fortune (which you should totally read).