#rivers Solomon

[librarycards]

Hey, that's my book, Failure to Comply!

Cavar's Failure to Comply is an abolitionist text concerned with trans, disabled, and Mad liberation as a speculative art.

Every story has its fugitives. “I,” a deviant self-hacker with three arms, two stomachs, and no name, is on the run from RSCH, a high-tech, authoritarian government that mandates wellness and carves the contours of truth itself. When I is kidnapped at axe-point to be mined for forbidden memories, they must struggle against RSCH’s medical abuse to recapture their history, reunite with their lover, and rewrite their future—or risk remaining Patient forever.

I crosses an epistolary, time-flipped dreamscape as they recollect their memories from RSCH’s hungry archive, and, in the process, write the story of their liberation.

Rivers Solomon said this about it:

Failure to Comply is a striking and fresh examination of life under boot of hegemonic corporate society lovingly and ecstatically told. With language that sings and stings, this novel disrupts the status quo with the form and poetry of its telling. This book made me feel. Each sentence excited and thrilled. I loved it.

It'll be out on August 6. A percentage of the proceeds from pre-orders of FAILURE TO COMPLY (check out the new ~official~ cover!) now-June 30 will go to Palestinian LGBTQ organization alQaws. In July, for disability pride month, a percentage will go to the anticarceral care collective/respite space Wildflower Alliance.

If you haven't pre-ordered your copy yet, now is the perfect time. Consider adding on goodreads –– where there's currently a giveaway going! –– and storygraph while you're at it, and tell your friends!

[see the original post about my book here :)]

[talos-stims]

do y'all remember / how deep it go?

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[charliejaneanders]

Trans people used to look for reflections of ourselves in metaphors and subtexts — but now, a lot of us are realizing that it's way better when stories feature actual trans characters who get to live complicated lives. And you can even feature living, breathing trans characters alongside metaphors for transness. My latest, over in @them.

[lillyli-74]

Forgetting was not the same as healing.

~Rivers Solomon

[ipsogender]

PSA: "all of [species] are intersex" can reinforce misconceptions

So I'm still gathering my thoughts on The Deep by intersex author Rivers Solomon which I read for @intersexbookclub and one thing that I keep seeing in reviews for the book is "all of the wajinru are intersex" because this is a fantasy species where everybody has both male and female reproductive systems.

And while I know full well this is a work of speculative fiction, everything is a metaphor, and having biological hermaphrodites be stand-ins for intersex people is metaphor, I'm starting to worry that perisex readers don't actually know this distinction.

Intersex refers to individuals of a given species whose sexual traits do not match what is considered typical for the species.

Hermaphrodism in biology refers to species who have both male and female reproductive systems. So for example, snails have both male and female reproductive systems and when they mate they connect up both.

An individual snail with fully-functioning male and female reproductive systems that match norms about snail sexual characteristics is a perisex snail.

An individual snail with only a male reproductive system is an intersex snail.

If you see somebody saying snails/earthworms/trees/etc are ALL intersex they are conflating intersex and biological hermaphrodism, and this is a common but hurtful misconception about us intersex people.

Please note: you do not see biological hermaphrodism in humans, even as intersex variations. And the h-word is a slur when used to refer to intersex humans.

Things get a little more complicated with speculative fiction where it's clear a species is there as a stand-in/metaphor for intersex people. I know it's a little longer to say "the wajinru represent intersex people" but given how common the misconceptions there are about intersex people it matters to state it unambiguously.

[ursulaklegay]

ULTIMATE (queer) SF LIST (in progress)

Rivers Solomon - An unkindness of ghosts, The Deep, Sorrowland 

Akwaeke Emezi - PET, BITTER

Jaqueline Koayanagi - Ascension

Otter Lieffe - Margins and murmurations trilogy

Ursula K. Le Guin - The left hand of darkness

Becky Chambers - To be taught, if fortunate, the wayfarers series, the Monk& Robot series

Octavia Butler - The Xenogenesis series

Chana Porter - The seep

Tamsyn Muir - The locked tomb series

Ray Nyler - The mountain in the sea

Starhawk - The Fifth Sacred Thing

M.E. O'Brien, Eman Abdelhadi – Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072

Marge Piercy – Woman at the edge of time

[contracat25]

Alright, some more recommendations for the end of #TransRightsReadathon! Here are some standalones by trans authors I've enjoyed.  These books mostly fall under the sff umbrella except for Confessions of the Fox which is meta-historical fiction.

They are beautiful, heartfelt, creative explorations of humanity, of our drive for connection, self-understanding, love, and survival. So many of these books look at history, personal, and community, aaaand they are filled with complicated, lovable, engaging characters. All of these books gave me something from a soft place to rest to a new way of viewing the world we live in. 

Many of these have trans characters as well, but not all of them. Most of these authors have other books that are also wonderful. Annnd as always there are so many other fabulous books by and about people who are trans.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuistion

An Unkindess of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

ID: a stack of 8 books on a teal background 

[layaart]

a little sketch of vern, feral, and howling from Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon!

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Aster- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Mo Xuanyu- Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Csorwe- The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood

Victor Vale- Vicious by VE Schwab

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote YES if you have finished the entire book.

vote NO if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[godzilla-reads]

⭐️ Finished: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

📖 Starting: The Deep by Rivers Solomon

[the-lady-writes-what]

A very long time ago, I received a lovely DM from @marziemoo when they asked about what are some recommendations for wlw/sapphic books about or written by authors of color. I apologize that it has taken me so long.

Allow me first to give some caveats:

I am very, very, very white. I am NOT a person of color. Please take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I take FOREVER to read books so, the ones I have read is small list but I have included ones that I researched and ones that have been on my To Read List for a while.

I tend to read mostly fantasy, so this list will comprise mostly of fantasy because that is what I read. I'll try to diversify with other genres. Everything except "The Jasmine Throne" I have not yet read.

Tasha Suri is a South Asian author whose work "The Jasmine Throne" depicts the story of an imprisoned princess and a priestess who hides from her past. It's passionate and powerful.

Warning: this book does depict or implicate harsher subjects and themes such as sexism, human sacrifice, and contains violence.

Kalynn Bayron, a black author. "Cinderella is Dead" tells the story of Sophia, who is forced with other girls to be forced into marriage two hundred years after Cinderella and her tale died. Sophia is joined with Constance, the last descendent of Cinderella and her step-sisters, to bring down the king. I haven't read this one yet, but it sits on my giant pile of To Read stack

This book by Leah Johnson tells the story of Liz Lighty, a midwest black girl. She's hoping to find financial aid so she can attend the college of her dreams. In order to do that, she has to become prom queen. Along comes Mack, the new girl, who is also vying for the prom queen crown. Sounds like rivals-to-lovers to me? I don't really read contemporary fiction, but the story premise is cute.

In Chinelo Okparanta's book, Ijeoma grows up as her nation gains independence and by the time she's 11, civil war breaks out. Ijeoma is sent away to safety where she comes across another displaced child. Friendship blooms and becomes a star-crossed romance. Again, I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction, but I might had this one to my reading list myself.

With the world's survival at stake, two teenagers are selected to journey to the Fairy Queen to fix it. Kaede and Taisin are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. This is a prequel to Malinda Lo's series, Ash.

Originally published in 1995, LarissaLai weaves a story in and out of medieval China to contemporary Vancouver. The book follows a thousand year old fox spirit, a 9th century Taoist poet and nun, and a young Asian-American named Artemis.

Makeda Hicks just lost her job and girlfriend in one fell swoop. She doesn't want to hear stories from her grandmother about her whirlwind affairs with royals and agents. So when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, Makeda can't resist. Only one bed and fake marriage hijinks insues!

Lei, in Natasha Ngan's book, Girls of Paper and Fire, lives with her father years after her mother is taken by the royal guards and disappeared. Now, they've come for Lei, whose rumored beauty has intrigued the king. Lei enters the opulent yet oppressive palace to train with eight other young women to please the king. A forbidden romance begins with Lei and she begins to question how far she would go for revenge.

In Tehlor Kay Mejia's premiere novel, 'We Set the Dark on Fire,' writes a compelling story that mirrors real world issues of immigration and equality. Daniela Vargas is the top student at Medio School for Girls. As a top student, upon graduation her paths are limited, run a husband's household or raise his children. Will Daniela chose the life of privilege her parents fought for or will she join the resistance to bring true freedom to Medio, and perhaps forbidden love?

Seventeen year old Lil and her twin sister, Kizzy are captured and taken away from their traveler community. Forced to work in the kitchens, Lil is drawn to another slave, Mira. Lil and the others discover and fight for a fate of their own making. (Through some research, I discovered that the author, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, is of Indian descent through her mother and lives in Oxford.)

Yetu remembers everything. She remembers the people who came before her, the pregnant African women thrown overboard by their enslavers. In order to escape this burden and the memories, Yetu travels to the surface to discover her past and a future for her people.

Manuela Azul lives a confined life in a small Florida apartment hiding from both her father's crime family in Argentina and ICE. On the run, she discovers a world within our own and one which Manuela discovers something about herself that could rock her world.

This Hugo award-winning novel by S.L. Huang, is a retelling of the Western fairy tale classic, Little Red Riding Hood. Only this time, Red Riding Hood is done with wolves and forests. Combing fairy tale nostalgia and Chinese folklore, the main characters, Rosa, Red Riding Hood, and Hou Yi the Archer join forces and set forth on a quest to stop the deadly sunbirds from destroying everything they hold dear.

[jojotier]

obsessed with Rivers Solomon's writing. the past is a haunting and it lives inside of you regardless so let it in. good or bad let it in.

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

goodreads

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this book yet, but it sounds really interesting.

[intersexbookclub]

July book pick: The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Our book pick for July is The Deep by intersex author Rivers Solomon! It was inspired by the song "The Deep" by Clipping, and is a fantasy novella set in a society of mermaids descended from African slaves.

We will be meeting online to discuss The Deep on Friday July 28 at: - 11:30am Pacific (Vancouver, San Francisco, etc) - 2:30pm Eastern (Toronto, New York, etc) - 8:30pm Central European (Paris, Berlin, etc) The meeting will be held on our discord, which you can join here: https://discord.gg/wmMQUQxEK4 (See our code of conduct)

As a reminder we'll be meeting to discuss our June book pick, The Fortunate Fall on Weds June 28. But if you're looking to get started on the next book, we hope you enjoy the Deep! We chose The Deep because: - We've heard good things about it! Most recently we heard it praised for its autistic representation. - It's been critically praised, and it's always great to see ownvoices getting recognition. It's a Lambda Literary Award recipient and was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. - It's a novella, increasing the chance people can finish the book. Though finishing a book is not expected for the book club we know most people prefer to finish books for book clubs. - The book deals with heavy themes such as the trans-Atlantic slave trade and inter-generational trauma, and a novella gives us a gentler entry to talking about heavy content. (List of trigger warnings for the book here.)

Disccussion questions we’ll be using to facilitate the conversation (you don’t need to finish the book!):

What did you like about it?

What did you struggle with?

What other works did it make you think of? Why?

What connections do you see between this book and our last pick (The Fortunate Fall)?    

This book grapples with how can we hold the truths of the violence in our personal/communal histories whilst also being able to move forward. What did you get out this facet of the book?

This is an atmosphere-oriented book rather than a plot-oriented book. Thoughts on the atmosphere?

We hope to see you at the meeting! If you have thoughts on the book feel free to share them as reblogs/replies!

And if The Deep isn't in the cards for you and you want to start on our August pick, it will be The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.

[mangotortoise]

Finished four books this month! (Technically three books and a novella):

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw: fucking amazing. Their style lends perfectly to the weird, slightly ambiguous, apocalyptic world of the setting and I enjoyed the unconventional romance (unconventional because how tf else am I supposed to describe the relationship between a mermaid and a sorta immortal plague doctor?) I might need to read it again, but the print version. 4/5

A House at the Bottom of the Lake by Josh Malerman: Super eerie, especially at the beginning. Kind of had this wonderous, childlike, dreamy quality to the story that still has me not sure which bits were real or not. Not a super spooky horrorific read, but enjoyable. 4/5

Beartown by Fredrik Backman: Lost my fucking mind this was so good. Was knitting through part of the audiobook and had to stop knitting and lie on the couch for the last twenty minutes. Got chills with the last line. 5/5

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon: A DEBUT NOVEL? THIS GOOD?? Yeah no the style here was excellent and I usually hate Sci-Fi and loved this (the Worldbuilding was subtle which is more my jam.) Absolutely horrific given the subject matter (sort of a sci-fi twist on a spaceship with an antebellum style caste system. Heed the trigger warnings on this one.) Anyway Aster is an amazing protagonist. 5/5