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Fic (and nonfic!) Recs for Pride!

In honor of Pride, have some of my favorite F/F and F/NB reads!

Short stories (available online)

Radcliffe Hall by Miyuki Jane Pinckard - 40k word novella, with a Japanese student attending an American women's college in 1908. It's a Gothic novel with the characters encountering the supernatural, which is no less malevolent than systemic racism and homophobia.

The First Stop Is Always the Last by John Wiswell - Short and sweet time loop flirtation!

Scallop by J.L. Akagi - A woman begins growing eyes all over her body, and struggles to hide them. All the warnings for body horror, eye injury, and referenced sexual assault.

The World Ends in Salty Fingers and Sugared Lips by Jen Reese - Time loop story about the end of the world and the ways we try to deal with the crushing uncertainty of the inevitable.

Romance

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - Subway time travel romance! August moves to New York and meets Jane, a butch punk from the 70s who’s trapped on the subway. It’s warm and sweet and funny, with all the feels and queer found family goodness.

Fatal Fidelity by Rien Gray - Dark romance/erotic suspense featuring a bi femme fatale and a nonbinary assassin! The series begins with Love Kills Twice, in which Justine hires an assassin to get rid of her abusive husband…unaware that Campbell was also hired to kill her. Absolutely delicious.

Feminine Pursuits series by Olivia Waite - While I’m listing it as a series, each novel is entirely stand-alone! These are a set of historical F/F novels featuring women in arts and science (and beekeeping!) making their way and falling in love with one another!

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan - Historical romance as two older women (73 and 69 years old, respectively!) plot the downfall of an absolutely Terrible Nephew who deserves everything that happens to him. An absolutely delicious comedic romp.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - An AI repair technician and an autonomous robot who runs a small tea shop, set in a retro-futuristic America. It’s warm and gentle and yearning in very good ways.

Horror/Suspense

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin - Gender apocalypse featuring trans women! A virus has turned anyone with over a certain level of testosterone into cannibal rape monsters, so we’re following our trans protagonists as they try to survive feral men, murderous TERFs, and a sociopathic bunker brat. This deserves a LOT of content warnings but it’s also been blurbed as a ‘bleeding love letter to trans women’ and it really is.

Blackwater Sister by Zen Cho - A Malaysian-American lesbian moves to Malaysia with her family, where she is haunted by her grandmother’s ghost. Her grandmother is out for supernatural revenge, involving our protagonist with gangsters and a terrifying goddess.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - Historical crime novel in which a thief poses as a lady’s maid for a con, and ends up developing feelings for the mark. Except the lady’s not as innocent as she seems, and it’s difficult to add more without spoiling the novel but it’s good!

Science fiction

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine - Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the capital of the interstellar Teixcalaanli Empire, discovers that her predecessor has died, and must find not only who murdered him, but why—while trying not to get murdered herself, and trying to maintain her small station’s independence from Teixcalaan’s ever-expanding empire. And there is a sequel but that has its own plot and requires you to read this one anyway!

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages - Set in San Francisco, built on artifice and delight as we follow a group of queer women both present and in the 1940s. Central story is a romance, two women trying to navigate both joy and the brutality of the worlds they inhabit.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - An epistolary love story across time and space, in far futures and alternative pasts as two rival agents—post-singularity Red and bio-consciousness Blue—foil and thwart one another.

Fantasy

The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri - Indian-inspired fantasy trilogy (third book coming in 2024!) that follows a captive princess and a maidservant with forbidden magic who navigate the the tension between their different loyalties and the politics of empire. Just! So good!

The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk - A fantasy trilogy (that’s actually complete!) set in a world where witches are persecuted and placed in asylums…while secretly, the witches of elite families use that power in service of the crown. The first book (Witchmark) starts with a murder mystery and a doctor with PTSD who follows that mystery to government secrets that force him to confront his estranged family. It’s also M/M, but the sequels (Stormsong and Soulstar) center around F/F and F/NB main pairings, respectively. 

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir - The first book starts with swordjock butches and lesbian necromancers in space going through (essentially) a haunted mansion together, and it just keeps going after that! It’s delightful, deranged, and full of fantastic characters I want to gnaw on!

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo - A beautiful frame story with a very fairytale feel, where the cleric Chih is telling the story of a tiger and her lover, a female scholar, to a trio of hungry tigers who threaten to eat them if Chih tells the story incorrectly!

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark - Mystery and magic and suspense in a steampunk Cairo, set forty years after magic returned to the world! The first female agent for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities is assigned to discover who murdered members of a secret cult. In addition to solving the case, she’s also assigned a rookie partner to train, and navigating the surprise return of her girlfriend, who has her own secrets! This is a really fun romp, full of joy and wonder. (And Fatma’s fabulous suits!)

Nonfiction

In the Dream House by Carmen Machado - A memoir about surviving domestic abuse, with each chapter using a different trope or genre convention to not only explore the way the relationship affected her sense of self, but also about trying (or failing) to find that representation in cultural history. It’s a rough read in places, but absolutely worth it if you’re in a space to handle that sort of content. (And in case it’s not obvious: her ex was another woman. Abuse isn’t limited by gender.)

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Happy Aromantic Awareness Week! It's me, your local aromantic asexual agender author asking you to be aware of me and my aromantic books! I've got em! You can read em!

Fire Becomes Her is a 1920s inspired fantasy about an aromantic girl who becomes a political spy to appease her wealthy boyfriend's family only to discover she has more in common with the other side. It's got fire magic, speakeasies, and queerplatonic love!

Common Bonds is an anthology of aromantic fiction centering platonic relationships. I have a story in this anthology about a magical market where time stands still and a thread witch frozen by grief who finds a way to love again after losing those she holds dear.

Tarnished Are The Stars is a steampunk science fantasy about three queer teens who team up to save their planet. It stars an aro/ace boy and two sapphics taking on a government that refuses to provide decent healthcare.

I hope you enjoy them!

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hi! do you have any romance royalty prompts but fem x fem? maybe something with princess and her "loyal companion" vibes. thank you so much!!

Hi :)

Sure, here they are!

Royalty Prompts

Loyal companion/princess romance

Taking her loyal companion as a chaperone to picnic dates with princes wanting to court her, so they can enjoy the food and nice weather while the noble keeps talking about his latest hunting trip in the background

Spending the night in the stables, laying in the hay and talking

Embroidering flowers into each other’s handkerchiefs to show their affection

Bribing the stable hand so they can go for a ride, just the two of them

Successfully scaring away anyone who comes to court them

Making each other flower crowns

Being each other’s partner while learning how to do ballroom dances

Sneaking away together from boring duties to hide in the stables with the horses

Loving the fact that the companion is the one who gets to help the princess dress in the morning and even better undress at night

Spending a lot of their free time in the kitchen, because it’s warm, there is always something delicious to eat and the women there don’t judge

Doing each other’s hair and braiding intricate patterns in it

The princess is gifting her companion expensive dresses, saying it is to show the wealth of the kingdom, but she definitely has an ulterior motive

 Dialogue Prompts:

“Maybe one day, they can accept a woman on the throne.” “Maybe one day, they can even accept two.”

“Sometimes I wish we could just run away together. Far away, living in a small village in a tiny house with a nice garden and some animals.” “And you would let me do all the work, right, my love?” “Well, I was raised to manage a household, everyone should do what their good at.”

“Why did you make me this flower crown?” “Because you deserve a crown on that beautiful head of yours, just as I do.”

“That dress looks very nice on you, my lady.” “But it’s awfully hard to get out of. May you please help me with it?”

“You don’t need to worry about the prince. He is good-looking, but a dreadful conversationalist. You have much more interesting things to say and I wish I could listen to you all day.”

Bonus (other people noticing):

“My lord, your daughter and that chamber maid of hers are looking awfully close to each other. If I were to marry the princess this would have to stop.” “Well, they seem to come as a pair and I’ve long accepted that.”

I had fun coming up with them, I hope you enjoy them!

- Jana

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LOSS OF INNOCENCE IS ALSO A LOSS OF PATIENCE.

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Kind of feels awesome for people to actually understand what you were saying with your art. Like. Man. I'm happy

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“The basic elements of a proper Gothic romance require a heroine of pure heart that must travel, often across the world, guided by her love for a dark, brooding gentleman of aristocratic origins. They will often take residence in a haunted building in which a deep secret is stored (often involving wealth, treasure, or ancestral secrets) only to be revealed by our heroine’s journey. Often the characters represent sides of a single self. Almost as if the edifice was the mind, the self and its deepest catacombs, the id — with the festering horrors of the past. Historically, the Romantic movement was a rebellious tide crashing against the dry, uncaring shores of reason. A movement that was sparked by the poetry of ruins and decay and the inexorable attraction of human emotion at its basest. Thus, a Gothic romance lives and dies on two things: the fortitude of its heroine and the power of its villain. And so, casting our film became quite a complex process. The list of actors that I really wanted was quite short — I hoped for a heroine that was sophisticated intellectually but emotionally vulnerable to the myth of perfect love (even if she denied it publicly). I needed a character with a very strong backbone but a certain innocence to the ways of the world. She had a fierce mind, but her knowledge of the world all came from books and imaginary characters. When Mia Wasikowska became a candidate I was elated: In her past work, she always struck me as someone that seemed to be very assured of herself but timid and private. And then, Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston emerged as the perfect Gothic villains — able to deliver the tough moments but capable of illuminating their actions to reveal the vulnerability, the humanity, beneath. There needed to be a reason and a true humanity behind their actions, no matter how grotesque.”

— Guillermo del Toro discussing the casting of Crimson Peak in the Foreword to Crimson Peak: The Art of Darkness by Mark Salisbury

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The amazing digital art of Dominik Mayer

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Now that JK has proven herself to be the jk we always knew she was, here is a list of incredible fiction by trans authors, because the best way to tell JK to shove her bigotry where the sun don’t shine is to buy the work of authors who deserve her platform. 

The Tensorate Series - JY Yang: four fantasy novellas about the guild of Tensors, magic users who can control elemental forces known as the Slack. V political, v beautifully written. Gender is a key theme but also there are dragons (naga), so there’s something for everyone tbh. 

Love Beyond Body, Space And Time - anthology: a collection of indigenous sci-fi / spec fic stories with LGBTQ and two-spirit characters and themes. Stories include narratives of transition, love stories, and just good ol’ space romps. 

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror - Daniel M. Lavery: a collection of fairytale retellings with a spooky and disturbing twist. Some of these are darkly comic, and others are just plain dark. All are beautifully written, because Lavery is just That Writer. 

The Spirits Series - Jordan L Hawk: a very spicy paranormal romance trilogy about Henry Strauss, an inventor, and Vincent Night, a psychic, whose differing approaches to communing with the dead cause (I’m so sorry) friction. These ones ain’t for the kiddies, but they’re so good and spooky.

The Mechanical Universe - EE Ottoman: a romance series (w a trans male protag!) set in a sort of steampunk universe, where spellcraft and mechanical animation are vying for equal respect. Tbh, everything by EE Ottoman is Very Good And Trans - The Doctor’s Discretion is my personal fave. Recommend 100%.

Peter Darling - Austin Chant: a trans retelling of Peter Pan, where Peter returns to Neverland to find that his place there is now much less certain than it was before, and he no longer belongs anywhere. There is also a romance with Captain Hook, but it works! I promise! 

The Danielle Cain series - Margaret Killjoy: a duology of novellas following Danielle Cain, a queer punk rock nomad, as she solves spooky mysteries. The first book is set in an anarchist settlement, and the theme of found family + community is prevalent throughout. 

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon: on board the spaceship HSS Matilda, the last of humanity make their journey towards the Promised Land. Conditions on board are akin to the Antebellum South, and protagonist Aster is driven to find her way off the ship - if she can. 

I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver: a non binary teen, Ben, comes out to their parents and is kicked out. Their sister takes them in and they start a new school, where their life begins to change for the better. This one is v sweet and deals well with mental illness. 

Resilience - anthology: a collection of poetry and prose by trans women and amab trans people, featuring work by Casey Plett, KOKUMO, Magpie Leibowitz and many more. 

Small Beauty - jia qing wilson-yang: a mixed race Chinese trans woman returns to her small town Canada home after the death of her cousin, and she deals with her trauma and grief. Beautiful and sad, and absolutely honest about grief. 

Little Fish - Casey Plett: a trans woman begins to believe that her late Mennonite grandfather may have been trans, and while her own life starts to cave in, she attempts to connect with him through those who knew him. This one is A Lot but it’s phenomenal.

A Boy Called Cin - Cecil Wilde: a romance novel (so it’s SPICY) about Cin, a young trans man, and Tom, an older genderqueer billionaire. This is not your typical billionaire romance AT ALL; healthy relationships are depicted beautifully here alongside the reality of transition.

Confessions of the Fox - Jordy Rosenberg: a retelling of Jack Sheppard, the famous jailbreaker and thief. It’s told as though a trans man has discovered a manuscript about Jack (who is trans) and Jack’s story unfolds alongside the personal narrative of the manuscript discoverer. 

Nameless Woman - anthology: a collection of fiction by trans women of colour. There’s something for everyone here - romance, sci fi, personal narratives and more. A lot of the topics covered are very heavy but they’re treated honestly and sensitively. 

Maiden, Mother, Crone - anthology: a collection of fantasy stories about trans women and femmes. You want a story about a dread trans chthonic goddess? Of course you do. It’s right here. Enjoy. 

Caroline’s Heart - Austin Chant: a romance between a trans man (a COWBOY nonetheless) and a trans woman (a WITCH). Cecily has been trying to bring her lover, Caroline, back from the dead via magic, but when Roy gives his life to save her, she has a choice to make. 

The Queen of Cups - Ren Basel: a novelette about Theo, who’s about to set sail on their first voyage. As per their village’s custom, they ask the Oracle to bless their voyage, and she agrees - if she can come along. A great treatise on bravery, loyalty and independence. 

Amateur - Thomas Page McBee: not fiction, but OH WELL!! You gotta read it!! The autobiography of a trans man who learns to box and asks questions about what kind of man he wants to be; can he avoid repeating the toxic masculinity he fears? 

Trans Power - Juno Roche: also not fiction! Oops! Take me to court!! Roche interviews multiple trans people about their relationships with their transness, their sexuality and their bodies, and the result is a super empowering and beautiful book. 

The Shape of My Name - Nino Cipri: a novelette about time travel. I really can’t say much about this one because it’s better to go in without knowing a lot, but the main theme is self discovery and acceptance, especially within the context of a neglectful / abusive family. 

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi: the children in the city of Lucille know that there are no more monsters. They’ve been told so. So when Jam meets Pet, who definitely seems to be a monster, she has to face the problem of saving the world from something that it refuses to admit exists. 

There are obviously many more trans fiction authors out there, but these are the ones I’ve read and can call to mind immediately. On my to read list are Juno Dawson (who writes YA primarily), Kai Cheng Thom (whose story in Maiden, Mother, Crone was my favourite), Meredith Russo (also writes YA), Leslie Feinberg, and Sybil Lamb.

I haven’t included trans poets here because I feel like that’s a separate list in and of itself, but if anyone wants to add any, please feel free!

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Raine and Riesling, the paladin and bard from our dnd game (Riesling belongs to my friend @/enjolieblue on Twitter)

These are our OC’s please don’t tag as any other character.

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Advice from an (Amateur) Archer on Writing About Archers and Archery

Admittedly, I don’t have the widest range of experience when it’s come to archery. I’ve only been shooting for a year now, and the time that I do take to shoot have long months between them. Still, I think it’s important to outline the basics for anyone who wants to write an archer in their book and wants to save themselves the embarrassment of having the archer do something that an archer would never do in a million years.

- Archers usually unstring their bow after battle. Unstringing a bow is exactly what it sounds like: removing the string from the bow’s limbs. Usually, archers then wrap the string around the now-straightened bow so they don’t lose it as easily. Archers unstring bows because everytime the limbs are bent by the string, there is a large amount of tension in the limbs. If the string is on too long and the bow has not been shot for a while, the limbs will start to wear down and lose their power, resulting in an archer needing to buy new limbs or an entirely new bow.

- Archers always retrieve their arrows after battle. Arrows are expensive and take a long time to make, so archers want to conserve as many arrows as possible. Sometimes they have a repair kit with them at the ready, in case they find an arrow with a loose arrowhead or broken fletching that can easily be repaired. 

- Training arrows are not the same as battle arrows. Training arrows have thinner shafts and usually blunted tips so they can easily be removed from targets. Thinner shafts break more easily, and the blunted tips – whilst they can pierce skin – usually won’t get very far in the flesh. They’re also easier to make. Battle arrows are thicker, and their heads are pointed at the tip and have two pointed ends at its sides. This arrowhead is designed to easily pierce through flesh, and is incredibly difficult to pull out because its two pointed ends snag onto flesh. If you want to pull it out, you’d have to tear the flesh away with it, which can lead to an even larger wound.

- Arrows are fatal, and one can incapacitate a soldier for the rest of his life. Arrows are not easily snapped off like you see in movies. The draw weight is too strong, and they can sometimes be as strong as bullets. They will pierce through bone and tendons, which do not easily heal. Furthermore, if you want to remove an arrow, you either have to go through surgery, parting the flesh away from the arrowhead so it doesn’t snag onto anything, or you have you push – not pull – it all the way through the body.

- Bows are not designed for hitting people with in close combat. The limbs are specifically made to flex. Imagine hitting someone with a flexing piece of wood. If you hit with the middle of the bow, it still does very little because there is no weight behind the bow, and so you might as well be hitting them with a pillow. It might be annoying to the opponent, but it won’t save you. Archers need a secondary blade in close combat. They cannot strike people with their bows and expect to win.

- Draw weight affects speed, range, and impact. Draw weight is measured in pounds, at least in America, and it is measured in how much weight must be pulled when you draw back the string. A high draw weight means stiffer, thicker limbs that can shoot further and hit harder. But, this is at the cost of speed. A low draw weight means thinner, more flexible limbs that can shoot smaller distances and have low impact, but can be shot faster. Before you acrobatic fanatics immediately seize the smaller bow for its speed, understand that a bow’s advantage is in its range. No one can hit an archer from 300 meters away with their spear or sword. The archer has complete dominance over the battlefield in this way, and their arrows can kill anyone who gets too close. Not hurt. Not annoy. Kill. And a higher draw weight means a better chance of piercing through specific armor, then flesh, then bone. A lower draw weight means less range and, even worse, a lower chance that the arrow would even pierce through armor if the arrow even hits its target. 

- Bows will always be outmatched in close combat against any other weapon. Bows take too long to draw and shoot, and at such close range, the opponent has an easier chance to dodge oncoming arrows. I already explained that the bows themselves cannot be used to take down a foe. 

- Bowmen on horseback are utterly terrifying. Archers usually can’t move from their spot because range is more important than mobility, and at such a long range, you usually don’t need to move from your spot anyways. Bowmen on horses, however, are closer to the battle, and worse, they are faster than almost anyone on the battlefield. Not only are they difficult to hit, you have no way of predicting where they will shoot next because they can circle around you in confusing ways. If you want an interesting archer character, I’d advise trying these guys out.

- Never underestimate armor and padding. Arrows will never be able to pierce through plate armor because its curved surface will always deflect oncoming arrows. Arrows can pierce through maille because maille is made out of metal rings that can be bent and can fall away. However, padding usually lies underneath, which is surprisingly durable and can stop an oncoming arrow, as well as absorb some of its impact. Because of this, make certain that the archer is focusing on gabs in the armor. To know this, you MUST study armor. Gabs usually lie where the joints are because soldiers need those gabs open so they can move. Typical gaps lie in the neck, the armpit, the inner-elbow, the knees, and the palm of the hand. Impact is also an archer’s friend. A war arrow shot by a hundred pound bow, hurtling at incredible speeds and gaining momentum the further it travels, can evoke serious damage. To be hit by one of these arrows will feel more like being hit by a horse than being hit by someone’s fist. 

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Flower Shop AUs 💐

Person A owns a flower shop and Person B comes in so many times to buy flowers that Person A thinks they must be quite the Casanova.

Most people come in without having any clue on what they actually want. And some people know exactly what they want.

Flowers are often used for photo shoots and Person A gets hired to arrange the flowers for one, but they can’t help getting nervous around the model, Person B.

The employees had a fun game to pass the time. If someone bought a big bouquet and it wasn’t around Valentine’s Day, they love to come up with ideas on how that person messed up, to warrant an apology like this.

Person A is definitely petty enough to use the language of flowers to mess with rude and ignorant customers by giving them the absolute wrong flowers for the occasion.

Person A’s flower shop has a small café in it and it has become the meeting point for the locals to drink tea and gossip.

Person A is very good at making flower arrangements and they love their small shop. But they’re not a natural business person and so they hire Person B to help them keep their shop open.

Giving flowers to someone who owns a flower shop is not that easy.

At the market, they always have their stalls right next to each other. Person A sells beautiful flowers and Person B sells delicious fruits. And sometimes they sneak a small gift over to the seller next door.

Person A loves to help their customers out, but when Person B drops in more than once a week to ask questions about the plants they have and new ones they want to buy and they don’t seem to know a lot about botany, Person A feels like they soon have to ask Person B where they live, so that they can do a wellness check on their plants.

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My bachelor project "Neon Moon" from a few years ago, where I made up a fictional game setting. A queer story about secret werewolf gangs in the 80s, themes of found family and how time changes you.

Still very much in love with this idea and I will definitely repurpose it one day into something cool!

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I’ve read Forster’s Maurice and Miller’s Patience and Sarah back to back, both are one of the first novels that portray a same sex relationship with a happy ending, and although both are very different books, in both plot and setting, they seemed to me like they share some similar scenes and I wanted to portray them

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does anyone have any tips for adult fantasy or horror books with african, asian, scandinavian, russian or native american setting and mythology?

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So what exactly is Gothic fiction/horror? Most often, the term brings to mind the works of Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, or even Ann Radcliffe. But while the Victorian era birthed the genre and gave us the most well-known stories, there are quite a few literary works that fit, including modern examples. So what makes a story Gothic?

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There are plenty of resources out there, but for simplicity purposes, the general consensus is that Gothic fiction contains several themes. Most, if not all, of the following themes are included in historical and modern Gothic literature.