#author: Aliette de Bodard | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

haveyoureadthisscifibook · 3 months

Note

Hey! What books by POC got a majority yes result? I'm interested in reading more by authors of color but when I used the be loathed Tumblr search function the only posts it brought up as tagged 'result: yes' were by white authors. Also, any personal recommendations for sci fi by POC?

hello! don’t mistake the stats — no books by authors of color have gotten a yes result either here or on the fantasy blog, and I don’t think any are likely to at this point (if Jemisin’s The Fifth Season couldn’t do it on the fantasy blog, I highly doubt anything else will); authors of color simply have an average yes percentage here that’s only slightly lower than the average percentage for white authors.

I’m happy to give my own recommendations, though:

any of Samuel R. Delany’s sci-fi. I think Nova is maybe the most approachable starting point (and quite good in its own right), but if you want to jump off the deep end, I think Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is the greatest science fiction novel ever written; whether or not one agrees with that statement, I think it is pretty unequivocally the most science fiction novel ever written, by which I mean that no other book I’ve encountered or heard of has made such a thorough use of everything science fiction can be and do as Stars.

I also would be remiss to not recommend Octavia E. Butler; I’m personally not a huge fan of her books, but I do think every sci-fi reader should read at least one of them. the Earthseed duology (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents) is probably most-discussed in recent years because they seem to parallel current developments in US politics, and the Xenogenesis trilogy (first book Dawn) is also considered a classic.

the elements of it that read as (at least potentially) science fiction upon publication now read as fantasy, but if you’re interested in something older, Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood, or The Hidden Self is an early work of science fiction/fantasy by a Black writer — it was serialized in 1903. it’s part lost world narrative, part last gasp of (pseudo)scientific mesmerism/animal magnetism theory, part troubled romance (caught up in turn-of-the-century racial politics).

Zainab Amadahy’s novel The Moons of Palmares is a cool (though a little short) novel about a racially diverse mining colony trying to break away from Earth’s capitalist / colonial domination.

I’ve enjoyed several of Aliette de Bodard’s Universe of Xuya books, which are mainly short — I think the first I read was On a Red Station, Drifting, and I also enjoyed The Tea Master and the Detective (even though I often don’t really care for Sherlock Holmes adaptations) and The Citadel of Weeping Pearls.

if you like science fantasy, I loved Jacqueline Koyanagi’s Ascension when I read it back in 2014. it hits a lot of ~found family~ notes that I think would appeal to what people on tumblr (say they) like.

I also would recommend any of Yoon Ha Lee’s books; I think the best starting point for his work is his short story collection Conservation of Shadows, which is incredible and also contains “The Battle of Candle Arc”, which I think is the best intro / preparatory reading for his Machineries of Empire trilogy (first book Ninefox Gambit), which is excellent (though very dark) but can be challenging to get into.

I read and enjoyed a lot of Nnedi Okorafor’s books in the past, although I haven’t read most of her more recent stuff, and I would particularly recommend Lagoon, as well as her short story collection Kabu Kabu, which includes some excellent sci-fi stories, especially “Spider the Artist” (also available online).

if by any chance you read Spanish, I can’t recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán’s Iris highly enough — incredible, deeply fucked-up novel about an anticolonial war in a corporate dystopia somewhere in ambiguously Latin America-slash-Oceania.

also “authors of color” isn’t necessarily the right rubric for these, since he’s Wajin in Japan, but if you like military sci-fi I’ve been really enjoying Tanaka Yoshiki’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, although tragically Tyran Grillo’s translations of the middle novels are very bad.

Masande Ntshanga’s Triangulum was something I’d picked up entirely on spec at a bookstore a few years ago and it absolutely blew me away — I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

if you liked The Locked Tomb and ever found yourself thinking, “what if this decadent space empire ran on sex magic instead of necromancy”, I’d highly recommend Bendi Barrett’s Empire of the Feast

and some other short fiction collections (some with the same caveat re the utility of “POC” as Tanaka Yoshiki):

Gillian Ybabez, Homeward Bound, and other stories includes some sci-fi and some science fantasy, published as part of the now sadly defunct Trans Women Writers Collective booklet series and is still available through its successor, River Furnace.

Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others (now sometimes titled Arrival)

Hassan Blasim (ed.), Iraq + 100

Basma Ghalayini (ed.), Palestine + 100

Sofia Samatar, Tender — Samatar is imo the greatest living fantasy author, but this collection is also about 50% sci-fi and she’s just as good at sci-fi.

most of it is realist but I have to mention Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s This Accident of Being Lost, which has two excellent sci-fi stories (“Big Water” and “Akiden Boreal”); Simpson has imo perfect prose — never a word out of place.

Sunyoung Park and Sang Joon Park (ed.), Readymade Bodhisattva

Michel Jean (ed.), Wapke, which was originally published in French but is apparently now also available in English

it wasn’t all my preferred kind of specfic, but Chelsea Vowel’s Buffalo Is the New Buffalo is worth a read in any case.

#not a poll

33 notes · View notes

bajoop-sheeb · 2 months

Note

Sorry if this is invasive in any way, but I host a queer library at my university and noticed we do not have many authors of colour hosted in our collection. I enjoy sci fi and would like to put more of it into our collection, but I'd really like for some amount of it to feature authors of colour. I know Samuel Delany is a good author for this, but I was wondering about any beyond this.

I'd love to connect more people to works by people of colour, and I think it is a genuine necessity for our library to do so to be worth maintaining. Would you have any recommendations? Thank you.

Not invasive at all! I definitely do have some recommendations for books by BIPOC + queer spec fic authors, but they're mostly fantasy. Hope that's okay--if anyone has any queer BIPOC sci-fi books to add, please do so! (There'll be a lot of overlap with my earlier post.)

Anything by Octavia Butler. My personal favorites are Dawn, The Parable of the Sower, and her short fiction collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories (sci-fi)

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (sci-fi)

The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley Parker-Chan (fantasy)

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (fantasy)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (fantasy)

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard, who also writes absolutely wonderful short fiction (fantasy)

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera (fantasy)

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (fantasy)

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (fantasy)

#an unkindness of ghosts #the radiant emperor #the vanished birds #fireheart tiger #the unbroken #science fiction #fantasy #bloodchild and other stories #ascendant #the burning kingdoms #the singing hills cycle #books #asks

18 notes · View notes

aurorawest · 9 months

Text

Reading update

White Trash Warlock by David R Slayton - 4.75/5 stars

Urban fantasy with a protagonist from a trailer park, who, for bonus points, got sectioned by his older brother as a teen. Daddy issues, mommy issues, and brother issues, what's not to like? I ordered everything else by this author I could find when I finished the book, including the other two books in this series.

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos - DNF

Boring.

The Revolutionary and the Rogue by Blake Ferre - DNF

Boring, with the added crime of actual plot happening but still, somehow, nothing actually happening. I kept reading whole pages and realizing I had no idea what I'd just read.

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard - DNF

OMFG CAN I CATCH A BREAK. This was such a disappointing DNF, too, because I'd really been looking forward to it. One of the characters is a spaceship and it bills itself as a space opera? Yes please. But after the initial marriage of convenience setup, it's just all a bunch of pointless, boring conversations. Nothing happens. I flipped ahead. Still nothing happening. Not a space opera but definitely cozy sci-fi, which I think I officially hate.

Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray - 5/5 stars

An FBI agent and a GRU agent get assigned to work a case together in 1959 and they fall in looooove. But oof, this book was so good. I'm not sure I've ever had a time skip hit me in the gut so hard. I really can't recommend this book enough, it fits squarely in my niche interest of mid-century America or Britain m/m romance. I think Natasha Pulley also awakened something in me with The Half Life of Valery K, because I seem to be a sucker for gay Soviet men. Speaking of, if you liked The Half Life of Valery K, I bet you'll like this too! Anyway, read this, but be prepared to be hurt by it.

Ordinary Monsters by JM Miro - 4/5 stars

X-men meets Strangers Things with a dash of English boarding school, set in Victorian Britain.

Human Enough by ES Yu - DNF

Promising until it devolved into boring, pointless conversations and tumblr posts on neurodivergence.

Olympic Enemies by Rebecca J Caffery - DNF

I put this down on page 12 and my wife grabbed it to flip through it, cackling at the amateurish prose.

Frost Bite by J Emery - 4.5/5 stars

Snowed-in cabin fic with an enemies to lovers romance between a vampire and a (former) vampire hunter. It was cute and a quick read.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - DNF

Very Not Like Other Girls. Also read a review that said pregnancy was a huge focus of the book, and that's a squick for me.

Reverie by Ryan La Sala - 3.75/5 stars

This book didn't quite live up to the promise of its beginning (missing memories, bizarre disruptions to time and space) and the writing was a little twee at times, but overall I enjoyed it. This was the author's debut, so I suspect subsequent books will probably be better. I did feel like the teenage main characters were weirdly inured to death, which also contributed to me knocking of a quarter of a star from what would otherwise have been a solid 4 star book.

All Souls Near & Nigh by Hailey Turner - 3/5 stars

If you like The Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards, this series might be worth picking up. I will say, though, that it's nowhere near as good. I think it's a combination of pacing and too many characters that detracts from my enjoyment of this series. This is the second book and I enjoyed it more than the first, probably because I sort of remembered the massive cast of characters from the first one. It's one of those things where I really don't think they're all necessary and some should be combined with others. The pacing is also...weird. It's pretty much nonstop action. At one point I think the main character drove back and forth between various crime scene locations and his office like 5 times in a day.

That said! Despite the issues, clearly I still picked up book 2, and I'll probably read book 3 at some point. I really like the two main characters.

#white trash warlock #david r slayton #honeytrap #aster glenn gray #the red scholar's wake #ordinary monsters #jm miro #human enough #olympic enemies #the fascinators #the revolutionary and the rogue #frost bite #j emery #reading tag #the lost apothecary #reverie #ryan la sala #all souls near & nigh #hailey turnter

17 notes · View notes

hedwig-dordt · 2 months

Text

It's hard to believe this is the seventh – seventh! – World SF bundle I've had the privilege to put together. It's been a trip, collecting novels and stories from around the world, both here with StoryBundle and with the early Apex Book of World SF anthologies and the more recent Best of World SF hardbacks from Head of Zeus. It's a constant joy to see how much more international the science fiction and fantasy fields become year after year, more accessible, more diverse and more interesting.

Just a few years ago books from outside the Anglophone world, let alone books in translation, seemed rarer than gold dust. That much of the work is still done in the small and independent press is telling – but things are definitely getting better, and it's always interesting when I come round to look for this year's titles, unearthing new treasures and bringing some back that may have been unjustly left behind.

I hope you enjoy this year's crop, and find something you like in the selection. Remember that the bundles not only support the authors and their publishers directly, but also our partner charity. At a time when the world seems ever more strained and polarised, literature joins us together, and speculative fiction offers us that rarest of things, hope. So dive in, and I hope you enjoy these stories!

–Lavie Tidhar

* * *

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of four books in .epub format—WORLDWIDE.

The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Under Pressure by Fabio Fernandes

Freetaly - Italian Science Fiction edited by Francesco Verso

Moscow But Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus six more books for a total of 10!

The Hidden Legion by Snorri Kristjansson

Nordic Visions by Margrét Helgadóttir

An Occupation of Angels by Lavie Tidhar

Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard

Imago Mortis by Samuel Marolla

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get a DRM-free .epub for all books!

#sci fi #sf #diversity in sf #we need diverse books

5 notes · View notes

bookcoversonly · 9 months

Text

Title: The Red Scholar's Wake | Author: Aliette de Bodard | Publisher: Gollancz (2022)

#books #The Red Scholar's Wake #Aliette de Bodard

16 notes · View notes

duckprintspress · 1 year

Text

To celebrate Science Fiction Day, which is today on January 2nd, 2023, we asked DPP contributors to recommend us their favorite science fiction that they read in 2022! And we got some really awesome answers… (all spelling/grammar is sic the original recommender)

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard. D. V. Morse’s recommendation: “lesbian pirates in space with lots of Vietnamese culture throughout. And so much more I want to say that I keep deleting because spoilers.”

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Cap’s recommendation: “a ‘motley crew/found family on a perilous journey’ story that centers queer, poly, and otherwise non-traditional characters and relationships. Book 1 of a Hugo-winning series, female author.”

The Testing (The Testing Trilogy) by Joelle Charbonneau. Annabeth Lynch’s recommendation: “I absolutely loved it and I never see people talk about it. It’s distopian sci-fi.”

Threadbare (Storm Fronts Series) by Elle E. Ire. boneturtle’s recommendation: “an action-packed futuristic scifi story featuring ruthless mercenary and cyborg Vick, whom no one (including herself) believes is human, and her lover and handler Kelly, the only person who trusts her implicitly. A simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking lesbian romance that confronts the nature of love and humanity, and what it means to be the hero when you feel like the villain.”

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace. Adrian Harley’s recommendation: “one of my favorite books I read this year. It’s got a fun adventure setup about a VR gamer who starts discovering the truth behind the star NPCs of the VR game, PLUS the most chillingly plausible dystopia I’ve ever read, bar none, PLUS an aro/ace protagonist and a central platonic relationship.”

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. Dei Walker’s recommendation: “it’s The Thin Man in SPAAAACE with a heroine with chronic pain, a really deftly handled non-gender-binary selection of characters, and queer.”

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. alec’s recommendation (without comment).

Scythe by Neal Shusterman. nottesilhouette’s recommendation: “the whole series has queer characters in it though the first book is really focused on like 5 people that are all kinda straight. and I am queer, and I like it.”

Global Examination by Mu Su Li. Nina Waters’s recommendation: “queer semi-dystopian vaguely sci-fi manhua shenanigans!”

The Martian by Andy Weir. Rascal Hartley’s recommendation: “not queer, but definitely one of my absolute favorite reads.”

What were YOUR favorite science fiction reads of 2022? We’d love to hear about them!

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Love what we do? Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get previews, behind-the-scenes information, coupons, and more.

#duck prints press #rec list #science fiction books #national science fiction day #sci fi #national sci fi day #book recs

37 notes · View notes

booksandchainmail · 2 months

Text

Hugo Award Nominees Thoughts

Best Novel:

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Witch King by Martha Wells

Largely makes sense to me: Saint and Glory were my nominees as well, and probably the strongest on my short list. Witch and Translation were on my longlist, both good and unsurprising nominees. Adventures I haven't read but have heard good things about, I wasn't a fan of the author's early work so I hadn't picked it up but it sounds fun. Villain I don't know about but I'm willing to try.

I'm not surprised that my other nominees didn't make it: Chain-Gang All-Stars I think was billed more as literary fiction than sci-fi, He Who Drowned the World I thought might be on the list but I imagine missed the cut, and Furious Heaven was never going to make it (second book in a series, less-known author, lengthy military sci-fi)

Best Novella:

“Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet”, He Xi / 人生不相见, 何夕, translated by Alex Woodend

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

“Seeds of Mercury”, Wang Jinkang / 水星播��, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Thornhedge, Mammoths, and Mimicking were all on my longlist. Rose/House has been on my "want to read" list for a while, but is bafflingly unavailable at the library. Seeds and Life I don't know, but am excited for.

None of my nominees made it in, which I'm sad about. Keeper's Six, The Twice-Drowned Saint, The Narrow Road Between Desires, and Lost in a Moment and Found were all excellent. I nominated less than my total number of slots in an effort to avoid just filling my ballot with everything good that was eligible in a category I don't read much in.

Best Novelette, Best Short Story: I have read none of these, though many of the authors are familiar

Best Series:

The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie

The Last Binding by Freya Marske

The Laundry Files by Charles Stross

October Daye by Seanan McGuire

The Universe of Xuya by Aliette de Bodard

Last Binding was one of my nominees, glad to see it made it. I'd completely forgotten that Imperial Radch would be eligible again, happy that others remembered. October Daye is a perennial favorite, though not a nominee of mine this year. Xuya is a personal pet-peeve: every book of it sounds amazing, and they never work for me, and I keep reading them and being frustrated. Architecture I haven't read, but I've loved everything of Tchaikovsky's I've read. Laundry I'm dubious about, given how hard I bounced of his other series.

My other nominees were the Craft series, which I'd love to see get more attention, Unconquerable Sun, which is my personal darling blorbo books that I desperately want people read and love, and Kushiel's Legacy, which was newly re-eligible thanks to the publication of a companion novel, and never got the critical sff attention it deserved.

Best Graphic Story, Best Related Work: haven't read any of these, but it looks like interesting nominees

Best Dramatic Presentations: I don't really care about these

Best Game or Interactive Work:

Alan Wake 2

Baldur’s Gate 3

Chants of Sennaar

DREDGE

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

New category! I don't know enough about games of 2023 to speak on these nominees, but it looks good at a glance? and it's clearly better than the steam awards at least

Best Editors, Zines, Artists, Writers, and Casts: I don't follow these fields enough to have opinions

Lodestar (not a Hugo):

Abeni’s Song by P. Djèlí Clark

Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer

Promises Stronger than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Shape was one of my nominees, one of my favorite books of the year all over. Very glad to see it here. Since it was published and marketed aimed at adults, even though it's about teenagers at magic school, I imagine we'll see a repeat of the Scholomance eligibility discourse. Booksellers was... fine? But nothing particularly noteworthy to me. Abeni and Liberty I don't know, but like the authors. Unraveller I don't know, but have heard good things about the author. Promises I am going to preemptively not read given how much I disliked (and DNFed) the first two.

I'm sad to see my other two nominees, The Shape of Drowning and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth not on here. Drowning reminded me very sharply of Diana Wynne Jones, and Spirit was one of my best books of the year, with an excellent narrative voice. Maybe teen horror isn't doing that strongly now?

Astounding (not a Hugo):

Moniquill Blackgoose (1st year of eligibility)

Sunyi Dean (2nd year of eligibility)

Ai Jiang (2nd year of eligibility)

Hannah Kaner (1st year of eligibility)

Em X. Liu (1st year of eligibility)

Xiran Jay Zhao (eligibility extended at request of Dell Magazines)

So can we just go ahead and call this one for Xiran Jay Zhao already? Even leaving aside that they are a strong nominee, I can't imagine voters not using this as a protest against last year's scandal. Of those I've read, Blackgoose is my favorite, and was one of my nominees. Kaner and Liu both had good first novels/ellas and are solid nominees, though not my picks. Dean and Jiang I don't know.

My other nominees were Isabel J. Kim, Maya Deane, Vajra Chandrasekera, and C. E. McGill.

Overall:

This is a very reassuring ballot, after last year. Nothing here is deeply surprising, nothing is deeply surprising to be missing. The announcement also included an explanation of nominees that declined (Martha Wells continues to be classy in declining further nominations for Murderbot) or were ineligible, and why.

I have ~15 fiction books to read for voting, which is very manageable. In particular, already having read 4/6 of the series is a major help.

#hugo awards #books #hugos

6 notes · View notes

manic-intent · 1 year

Photo

The sixth World SF story bundle is out, and my space opera novel ION CURTAIN is part of the collection! So if you haven’t read it yet, please consider picking it up--and all the great books that are keeping it company :D

Pay as much as you want ((minimum of $5 for 4 books, minimum of $20 for all 10)), and you can choose to use 10% of what you pay to support English PEN, the founding centre of PEN international, a charity that supports the freedom to read and write worldwide.

Check it out here: https://storybundle.com/scifi

Selected reviews:

Unto the Godless What Little Remains by Mário Coelho

"Rock'n'roll for the eyes."

– The Times

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

"Haunting and beautifully nuanced, Signal to Noise is a magical first novel."

– The Guardian

Ion Curtain by Anya Ow

"An addictive space opera"

– Publishers Weekly

Nova Hellas: Stories from Future Greece by Francesca T Barbini and Francesco Verso

"Often underwater, sometimes entirely virtual, facing calamities from austerity to beepocalypse, near future Greece comes to life in these stories. Forget everything you learned in school, on vacation, or from the faded memories of your immigrant γιαγιά. Λοιπόν, this is the real deal."

– Nick Mamatas, author of The Planetbreaker's Son and The Second Shooter

The Love Machine & Other Contraptions by Nir Yaniv

"In short, this collection of short stories is: outstanding. Buy more copies than one if you give special books to people you respect... I don't mean 'outstanding' in relation to other books this year, but in relation to any in any."

– World Fantasy Award nomineee Anna Tambour

& This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda

"A beautiful and rending look at family, loss, and grief, all while sharply dissecting time travel tropes and delivering a powerful message about memory, storytelling, and responsibility. It's a story that hurts in the best of ways, confronting death and healing without losing its sense of humor or its impulse for rebellion."

– Charles Payseur, author of The Burning Day and Other Stories

And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

"And What Can We Offer You Tonight is a deep dive into sacred revenge, a vivid, devastating and exquisite story of love and loyalty, among three friends who can ill afford such luxuries."

– L.X. Beckett, author of Gamechanger and Dealbreaker

Hadithi & the State of Black Speculative Fiction by Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis

"Eugen Bacon and Milton Davis come together for Hadithi & The State of Speculative Black Fiction to share a compelling addition to the commentaries and canon of black literature"

– Aurealis

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard

"Delightful… Beautiful writing, weird and magical world, fascinating culture and politics, and compelling characters: what more do you need?"

– KJ Charles, author of Slippery Creatures

HebrewPunk by Lavie Tidhar

"Imagine Hard-Boiled Kabbalah... If you like your otherworld fun noir, have I got a book for you!"

– Kage Baker, author of In the Garden of Iden

#science fiction #SF #fantasy #books

16 notes · View notes

bonebrujeria · 2 years

Note

Hello, I saw in a comment section you were offering to make a rec list of queer adult fantasy. Any chance you happen to have that list handy? If not no worries, and thank you for your time

YOU GOT IT

Contemporary Adult Queer Fantasy

Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Geisbrecht (we do not talk about this book enough it's so good!! Read if you love Hannibal or Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon The Unbroken by CL Clark (ft. Sexy butch protagonist) The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark (+ his Djinn in Cairo novella series) Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (read if you love Hozier) The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman (ft. Trans vampire protagonist) The City of Dusk by Tara Sim Burning Roses by S.L. Huang The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane (ft trans Achilles!) The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia (ft. Aroace protagonist) Spear by Nicola Griffith (Authuriana) Witchmark by C.L. Polk, or anything by C.L. Polk The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard (or anything by Aliette de Bodard) Sarahland by Sam Cohen House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot (Alexander the Great retelling) The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke K.A. Doore's Chronicles of Ghadid series The Deep by Rivers Solomon Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons series Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse The Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera The Devourers by Indra Das (Indian shapeshifters!) The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (queer Gatsby retelling)

Adult Queer Fantasy that I know specifically feature on-page boning: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (please read anything & everything by Nghi Vo) A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan The Mercenary Librarians series by Kit Rocha (dystopian) KJ Charles' Magpie Lord series

Not fantasy but you should still read them: Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (horror, trans cast, firmly anti-TERF) Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (science-fantasy, objectively a perfect novel) Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (horror, gay yearning) The Seep by Chana Porter Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang (sci-fi Joan of Arc) Everything by Becky Chambers Everything by Rivers Solomon Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire

ALSO: author K.A. Doore keeps a running list of queer adult SFF published every year. I highly recommend going through those archives, which you can find here: https://kadoore.com/2022/05/23/2022-queer-adult-science-fiction-fantasy-books/

Tl;dr: SFF is extremely gay, almost everyone writing contemporary SFF is queer in some way, we are truly blessed and I don't want to hear anyone complaining about not being able to find stuff ever again, I love you all.

69 notes · View notes

peraltasass · 5 months

Text

Read in 2023

✩✩✩✩✩ - ★★★★★

Fiction:

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes: ★★✩✩✩ (HUGE disappointment)

Babel by R. F. Kuang: ★★★★★ (HUGE recommend)

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: ★★★★✩

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron: ★★★★✩

Pet by Akwae Emenzi: ★★★★★

The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick: ★★★★✩

The Deep by Rivers Solomon: ★★★★★ (big recommend!)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: ★★★★★

Nevada by Imogen Binnie: ★★★★✩

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (re-read): ★★★★✩

Das Känguru Manifest by Marc-Uwe Kling: ★★★★✩

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker: ★★★★✩

Die Känguru Offenbarung by Marc-Uwe Kling: ★★★★✩

Die Känguru Apokryphen by Marc-Uwe Kling: ★★★★✩

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee: ★★★★✩

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi: ★★★★✩

Peter Darling by Austin Chant: ★★★★✩

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty: ★★★★½

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: ★★★★★

Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha: ★★★½✩

Dschinns by Fatma Ayedemir: ★★★★★

Blutbuch by Kim De L’Horizon: ★★★★✩

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang: ★★½✩✩

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall: ★★★★✩

Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher: ★★★★✩

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard: ★★★½✩

Der Duft der Sterne by Simon Klemp: (can’t fairly rate, a friend of mine is the author)

The Binding by Bridget Colling: ★★★★½

In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens: ★★★★½

Non-fiction:

Von hier aus gesehen by Celestine Hassenfratz, Anna Luise Rother, & Ulla Scharfenberg: ★★★★½

Behindert und Stolz by Luisa L’Audace: ★★★★½

Ich, ein Kind der kleinen Mehrheit by Gianni Jovanovic mit Oyindamola Alashe: ★★★★✩

Radikale Selbstfürsorge jetzt! by Svenja Gräfen: ★★★✩✩

Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum (Your Homeland is Our Nightmare) by Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah: ★★★★★

Bad Gays. A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller:

Unlearn Patriarchy by Lisa Jaspers, Naomi Ryland and Silvie Horch (eds.): ★★★★✩

Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel: ★★★★✩

Sprache und Sein by Kübra Gümüşay: ★★★✩✩

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei: ★★★★✩

Lieber Jonas oder Der Wunsch nach Selbstbestimmung by Linus Giese: ★★★★✩

Gender. A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker & Julia Scheele: ★★½✩✩

Hood Feminism by Mikkie Kendall: ★★★★★

Let’s Talk About Sex, Habibi by Mohamed Amjahid: ★★★★★

Wie kann ich was bewegen? by Raúl Krauthausen & Benjamin Schwarz: (stopped bc it made me unhappy)

Caliban and the Witch by (not finished yet)

NichtMutterSein by Nadine Pungs: ★★★½✩

Desintegriert euch! by Max Czollek: ★★★★✩

Pageboy by Elliot Page: ★★★★★

Hass by Şeyda Kurt: ★★★★½

Die stille Gewalt by Asha Hedayati: ★★★★★

Die letzten Tage des Patriarchats by Margarete Stochowski: ★★★★½

Identitätskrise by Alice Hasters: ★★★½✩

Anti-Girlboss by Nadia Shehadeh: ★★★½✩

Graphic novels and webcomics:

Pimo & Rex by Thomas Wellmann: ★★★★✩

Pimo & Rex: Die interdimensionale Hochzeit by Thomas Wellmann: ★★★★✩

Freibad by Paulina Stulin & Doris Dörrie: ★★✩✩✩

The Tea Dragon Festival by K. O’Neill: ★★★★★

Medusa & Perseus by André Breinbauer: ★★✩✩✩/★★★✩✩

#books #my books #read in 2023 #reading list #book tracking #reading tracking

3 notes · View notes

gollancz · 1 year

Note

Ok so where do you even start reading Le Guin? Because there is SO much!

Also, have any queer SFF recs?

Our Lady Le Guin is one of those authors who wrote across genres, so again YMMV on what you enjoy.

Her EARTHSEA series is probably one of the best known, having been adapted by Ghibli and into a live action movie.

If you want Sci fi, LATHE OF HEAVEN and LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS are both massively acclaimed and generally listed up there with her must-reads. That said, we recently reissued THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST which is a great examination of colonialism, climate change, and the cultural impact of colonisation. It's got a great philosophical issue as to how you defend your culture when your culture is built around pacifism.

As for queer SFF - THE RED SCHOLAR'S WAKE by Aliette de Bodard is a desperately romantic queer enemies to lovers space opera, inspired by Vietnamese culture and with lesbian space pirates.

SEVEN DEVILS/SEVEN MERCIES is a space opera duology by Elizabeth May and L.R. Lam with a trans character, a lesbian romance, and some casual overthrowing of fascism. (It's not actually casual)

Older books, BOLD AS LOVE by Gwyneth Jones and its sequels retell the story of King Arthur around a climate apocalypse, but Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot are in a polycule.

These are mostly SF, I will update with fantasy tomorrow!

#Gollancz Blogging #AMA #Ursula K Le Guin #Queer SFF

27 notes · View notes

lloronista · 5 months

Text

BOOKS I READ IN 2023: REVIEWS

At the beginning of 2023, I made a resolution to read at least one new book each month. Life got busy and I didn't always keep up with my reading goals, but since it's the last day of the year, I wanted to do a brief review for each new book I read :P

JANUARY

Martita, I Remember You / Martita, te recuerdo - Sandra Cisneros

I have been a huge fan of Sandra Cisneros for many years now and quite honestly can say she's one of my biggest inspirations in the way I've developed my own skills as a writer. So of course I was more than excited when she announced her latest novella. Martita, I Remember You is a book that had me getting teary-eyed in the breakroom at my workplace when I would read it during lunch. Such is the way that Cisneros touches the heart so masterfully, with such profound and succinct prose. It's imbued with autobiographical aspects of Cisneros's life, but it's also very much a story for anyone who has long distance friendships, the way it captures that feeling of connection beyond place and time. Can't recommend this one enough, it's a short and very worthwhile read!

The Tea Master and the Detective - Aliette de Bodard

This one was a recommendation from Nami, and a very wonderful one! I hadn't read anything by Aliette de Bodard before, and even without having read the other installments in this particular series, I thought the worldbuilding was so vibrant and captivating that I didn't find myself feeling lost or in need of explanation beyond what de Bodard showed in her writing. One of my favorite elements of The Tea Master and the Detective was the cast of strong and interesting female characters, the sly and mysterious detective, Long Chau, being my favorite ^^ This one, too, was a rather short read, yet the thrill of a fast-paced adventure and murder mystery was no less amazing than you'd expect from a longer novel. Definitely recommend this one if you're looking for a sci-fi story that strays from the typical genre framework.

FEBRUARY

Dragon's Winter (1997 Uncorrected Proof) - Elizabeth A Lynn

Well, this was me cheating a little bit ^^'' I've read EAL's Dragon's Winter as well as the sequel novel probably at least ten times, as it's one of my all time favorite books. And each time I re-read it, I absorb something new - a little detail in the setting that recolors my memory, or way a line of dialogue is spoken here and there that gives a certain inflection. But when I came across a copy of the original uncorrected proof version of this novel, I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough 😆 In a way, it was like engaging with the material with fresh eyes, taking in the differences and aspects that hadn't yet been fully decided on by the author in the final draft. One aspect that I observed in the original uncorrected proof of DW is how EAL seemed to allow one of the main characters, Azil, more insight into his emotions and inner thoughts than in the final edition of the novel, which was something I relished greatly. Why she made the decision to edit those passages out, I wonder about; perhaps she intended for Azil to be more enigmatic, to have less of a POV or central narrative position in the story. I wonder about this, because I think making Azil more in the foreground of the story makes thematic sense. Dragon's Winter is, on its surface, a story about twin brothers (one a dragon changeling, the other a wizard) who go to war with one another. But on a deeper level, it's about the complicated love story between Karadur and Azil: their friendship, one's betrayal of the other, the way they must pick up and mend the pieces afterwards. They both undergo a transformation of sorts, of multiple sorts. Their relationship is the lifeblood of the story, and I felt that even more intensely in EAL's original version of the novel. As I said, this is perhaps my favorite book of all time, and so I definitely recommend this one tenfold, especially to anyone interested in queer fantasy stories!

APRIL

The Hacienda - Isabel Cañas

Oh my, how I adored this one! Isabel Cañas is probably my favorite author I've discovered this year, and I'm so excited for everything she's going to publish in the future as well ;v; The Hacienda is a book that has something to offer for pretty much everyone - gripping, graphic horror, amazingly researched history, compelling and interesting female characters, and a really nicely written romance. Regarding the latter, I was actually surprised how into the relationship between Beatriz and Andrés I became xD (like yeah, girl! get that hot priest!! 🔥🔥🔥) At its core, The Hacienda is a take on the haunted house genre, rife with the ghosts of Spanish colonization and Mexico's war for independence. I really enjoyed Beatriz as a horror story protagonist and a Final Girl; there was a strength and ambitiousness to her that made it really easy to root for her. And I loved Andrés as the parallel protagonist across from her, as well as his dual role as a spiritual guide to his community, not only as a Catholic priest but as a curandero in touch with Indigenous perspectives of curses and spirits. There was something really refreshing about the way Cañas writes them working together to uncover the source of the haunting. I will warn that the ending has more of a bittersweet mood rather than a happy ending, but overall it's a very enjoyable read!

JUNE - JULY

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin

Wow, where to even begin. This was the first full-length novel by Le Guin that I read, by Suri's recommendation, and it completely blew me away with what Le Guin had the ability to accomplish in her worldbuilding. I truly don't think I've ever encountered another science fiction story that utilizes its genre to encapsulate such a sincere and complex reflection of humanity and society that The Left Hand of Darkness achieves. For one thing, Le Guin's background in anthropology shines in the way she positions Genly as a lens through which the reader similarly takes in such a vastly different alien culture, at times grappling to understand them and at other times seeing them as though through a mirror reflection of ourselves. Genly's dynamic with Estraven, in particular, and the way it changes over the course of the story, acting as the emotional current of their combined journeys, was most captivating part for me. I know TLHoD has sort of become more widely known on tumblr for the way it explores gender and sexuality, which it does quite extraordinarily. But I think, at the heart of it, TLHoD is a story about storytelling, the way it promotes understanding in a way that ascends scientific observation of another culture. This is certainly a book I will be re-reading many times in the future, absorbing more new tidbits each time.

SEPTEMBER

Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

The one non-fiction book I read this year, and what a fascinating one. Placing it in the genre of true crime seems somewhat inaccurate, as this story is so much larger than the narrative of murder and corruption, but a real life horror story of the violence wrought by white supremacy. Killers of the Flower Moon covers only part of a historical era that saw a widespread conspiracy to seize the headrights of Indigenous people from the Osage nation, who after being forcibly displaced and moved to a reservation, were found to be on land that was rich with oil. Needless to say, this is not a part of history that gets taught in American history classrooms. So I found Grann's relaying of the Osage murders to be educational as it was gripping, sorrowful, and meticulous in its outlaying of all the different factors that went into this tragedy, the disenfranchisement and dehumanization of an entire group of people, all for the sake of sating the avarice of another group of people. Since the film adaptation's release, I have seen some members of the Osage community, as well as other Indigenous people, critique both the film's and novel's centering of white characters in the story. I can certainly see how Grann spent a lot of the novel focused on the early FBI's involvement in the investigation, at the detriment of making Osage characters like Molly more prominent. If anything, I think KotFM works as an effective starting point for anyone wanting to learn more about this part of history, passing from this work to those written and spoken by Osage voices.

The Haunting of Alejandra – V. Castro

Okay so as soon as I saw the premise of this novel announced, and from an author whose other works I really enjoyed, I was sold right away. Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with the ever-evolving figure of La Llorona and her tragic, haunting narrative. And this take on La Llorona, as with many of Castro's other decolonial reimaginings, was amazingly refreshing. For one thing, it blew me away how Castro's Llorona was not just a ghostly figure, but almost more of a demonic entity - only to then be revealed to be something so much stranger, an interdimensional being that feeds on grief. I also found the titular character of Alejandra to be just as refreshing of a heroine - older, anxious, in an unhappy, thankless marriage. She's worn out in the beginning, fractured by trauma and disconnected from her heritage, her family history. Castro has a way of using horror and subjects of trauma in her novels to be transformed into something cathartic, and it's no different here as Alejandra finds healing and strength in order to protect her children from this monstrous Llorona, to save herself from the same fate. I 100% recommend this one to anyone else who grew up with folktales of La Llorona and other boogeymen, this version is definitely worth the read!

OCTOBER

She Who Became the Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan

Every now and then, I come across a book that I can clearly see is good, but just not for me. I finally read She Who Became the Sun after seeing a lot of hype on social media, and plenty of rave reviews from some people I follow on here. But as much as I really wanted to like, even love, this novel, I just could not get myself into it. And as for why I couldn't get into it, I have to admit I'm still not entirely certain; you would think that a fictionalized queer drama based on Chinese history with fantasy elements would be the very essence of my cup of tea. The prose was beautiful, the dialogue flowed well. I think the major issue for me, however, lies in the pacing. At the halfway mark of the book, I still really wasn't captivated by any of the characters very much, or the plot - the latter hadn't actually moved along very much, in fact. Even at three-quarters of the way through, I was still desperately waiting for something to grip me by the shoulders and make me pay attention. Additionally (and others who read and loved this novel may disagree with me on this), I actually think much of the first chunk of the book could have been heavily edited down, or even just cut away entirely and relayed through flashbacks. Most of Zhu's time at the temple during her childhood could have been mentioned elsewhere, or visited briefly as she senses herself becoming more ruthless later on (really, the two most important scenes in that whole section were when Ouyang burned down the temple, and earlier when she thought of murdering one of the teacher monks). The way that the sudden rebellions were so quickly squashed, the way characters were swiftly and brutally removed from the story, seemed more like an attempt at shock value than actually serving to raise the stakes or move the story forward. But anyways, to conclude this off: I can see why lots of people did enjoy this novel, it certainly has all the right the elements of tumblr's next favorite book, after Captive Prince and The Raven Cycle. But I think in order for me to have liked it, it would have required a different editor behind the writing process, someone who encouraged Parker-Chan to cut down the excess and make the story flow better overall.

NOVEMBER

Guardian / Zhen Hun (Vol. 1) – Priest

I had heard of this series when it was a live action drama you could find on youtube, but reading the translated first volume this year has made me totally head over heels for the story and characters. Guardian has quickly become one of my favorite Danmei, set in a world where the mundane and the supernatural frequently collide and it's up to a paranormal detective agency to handle these matters. I especially love the way Priest balances the setting with dark, macabre subjects with moments of light-hearted humor. But amid the adventurous aspects of the story, the central conflict mainly involves the budding romance between Zhao Yunlan and the mysterious Shen Wei. The romance is delightful to read, and I think their personalities are what make them really compelling, when they're apart and when they're together. I'm excited to read more of this series when the English versions get released ^^

DECEMBER

Vampires of el Norte – Isabel Cañas

Another Isabel Cañas novel, and just as enjoyable of a read! Just like The Hacienda, Vampires of el Norte blends history and horror, portraying the Mexican-American War through its effect on hacendados being violently forced from their land by Anglos - and also being preyed on by vampires. Even more so than in The Hacienda, Cañas has a masterful way of building and sustaining suspense in this story. Despite it being a non-traditional form of horror, the danger looming all around of vampires, and also of violent Anglos, persists throughout. As someone who loves vampire literature, I was really impressed with how Cañas uses vampires here as an allegory for colonization/displacement, and the way that several characters in the novel at first mistake vampirism for a kind of susto. Furthermore, I thought it interesting how the vampires of this world are much more animalistic than the suave, intellectual type of vampire you see often in vamp literature. Rather than being evil or demonic, they're almost neutral in their methods of hunting, more like predators that are solely motivated by hunger, as one would view a wolf or puma. The way that these vampires are weaponized by Anglos almost seems to reference the way that Spaniards would train their large, European breeds of dogs to maul Indigenous peoples during the conquest - a connection that remains in line with Cañas's decolonial themes. Also like The Hacienda, the characters here are written wonderfully, their dreams and fears focusing the reader in with their emotional currents. Nena and Néstor's tumultuous romance takes center stage, the novel opening on the tragedy that splits them apart for nine years. I loved that there were so many layers to their love for each other, the sweet and innocent puppy love they had as children, the different ways they felt anger and betrayal by the parts of their lives around each other that they couldn't control, the moments of heady sensuality and heated bickering while on their journey home, and the fact that they both have to literally and figuratively fight to be with each other. I think Cañas had a lot of fun writing Nena and Néstor's relationship, and it was definitely fun to read ^^

Those were the books I read in 2023! For 2024, my main goal is to read through all the Danmei I've been piling up 🤭

#personal #book reviews

3 notes · View notes