| Blogging about books ||Â hmu if you got suggestions || Don't be afraid to talk to me! I love love LOVE talking about books (esp if its about The Floating Islands)Â |
Broke: what is worldbuilding? Made in a lab to be as blandly inoffensive as possible. Time to randomly namedrope terms like 'nonbinary' and 'ace' while doing zero work actually incorporating them into the world or characters and have someone give a speech about how valid they are. Lines like 'I'm too ace for this' while never exploring the concept of asexuality or aromanticism and still having very central romance plotlines is common. I hate it here learn how to write realistic dialogue and fully realized characters I'm begging.
Woke: more ore less typical sci-fi and fantasy but Itâs Queer Now. Might include in-universe queerphobia to be struggled against or may have queer identities be fully normalized. Can be done bad or well depending on the skill of the writer. A good way to explore our contemporary ideas of gender and sexuality or to have a bit of a power fantasy with lesbian princesses and trans knights. There will probably be a bisexual love triangle.
Bespoke: what is a gender. What is monogamy. What is polyamory. What is romance. What is platonic. Time to show you the most fucked up uncategorizable relationship youâve ever seen. There may be weird ass metaphorical sex
AKA books that tackle gender, sexuality and relationships in ways that come off as deeply alien and non normative to our present day culture, frequently featuring actual aliens.
For details on the books, check under the readmore! My personal favorites are marked with an *
A note: as I'm generally more into sci-fi than fantasy, this list skews heavily toward the former. Feel free to make your own recommendations in the notes if you know of more titles!
If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie*
Once, Breq was Justice of Toren, a starship whose artificial intelligence linked through the minds of a multitude of human ancillary bodies. Now, there is only Breq, a lone soldier seeking vengeance after a horrific act of betrayal cost her everything. As Breq gets closer to her goal, the conquering empire she once served begins to destabilize from the inside, and Breq herself has to question her priorities as new loyalties arise. Features female-as-neutral worldbuilding, as well as singular characters existing throughout many bodies.
Note: my favorite from this series is Translation State, which gets really weird about gender and sexuality and stands fairly well on its own, go read it!
The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang
Novella series. In a world where children choose their gender when they're ready, twins Mokoya and Akeha once swore never to pick. But as they grow older, the two find themselves drawn in different directions, both in terms of gender and in what they want from their lives. Rebellion is brewing, and the twins' mother is looking to use them to her whims to retain power. Akeha, unwilling to be her pawn, resorts to leaving home and falling in with the rebels.
The Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum*
On a distant planet in a distant future, everyone has multiple bodies that can be customized however they want, cybernetics have abolished nearly all privacy, and the gender binary is no longer about man or woman. Instead, there's vail and staid, for which biological sex is irrelevant. Fift should be focusing on the obligations of a staid, but is distracted by budding feelings for Shria, forbidden due to Shria being a vail. When their complicated relationship unexpectedly becomes the center of a growing revolution, they will both have to decide where their priorities lie.
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler*
After a devastating war leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, survivor Lilith finds herself waking up naked and alone in a strange room. Sheâs been rescued by the Oankali, who have arrived just in time to save the human race. But thereâs a price to survival, and it might be humanity itself. Absolutely fucked up I love it I once had to drop the book mid read to stare at the ceiling and exclaim in horror at what was going on. Includes darker examinations of agency and consent, so enter with caution.
The Javelin Program by Derin Edala
Dr Aspen Greaves expected to be woken from decades of cryo sleep on humanityâs first deep space colony, but instead finds themself alone on a spaceship still years away from its goal. Surrounded by mysteries on a barely functioning ship, Aspen must make sure the still sleeping crew reach their new home, while also dealing with the many secrets hidden behind the Javelin Program. Nonbinary and aromantic lead, based on a society and norms very far removed from ours.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir*
Gideon, raised as a swordswoman by unfriendly nuns, would rather run away and make her own life, but her services are needed. The Reverend Daughter, Gideonâs childhood nemesis, has been invited to a trial to win a place as an immortal by the Emperorâs side, and sheâs in need of a bodyguard. Listen, if youâre on tumblr I probably donât need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say itâs exactly as good as people claim. Humorous and spooky but also absolutely gut wrenching and clever with a lot of political commentary. There are also, indeed, lesbian necromancers in space.
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
Centuries in the future, humanity has deliberately engineered society to be as utopian as possible, politically, socially, sexually, religiously. But things begin to crumble as the shadow of impending war looms. Written in an enlightenment style and featuring questions of human nature and whether itâs possible to change it, and what price weâre prepared to pay for peace, this book is simultaneously very heavy and very funny, and written in a very unique style. While still human, the society presented often feels starkly alien.
Walking Practice by Dolki Min
Having crashed their space ship, a shapeshifting alien finds themself trapped on Earth. Suffering from isolation and loneliness, they have settled into a routine to survive. Using online dating services, they take on the shape of human men and women to hunt humans for food. Strange, gross, and gender weird, Walking Practice is a unique take on gender from a wholly alien perspective.
The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
Zan wakes without memory, a passenger aboard one of the living world-ships of Legion, a fleet of decaying generations ships. Told sheâs the salvation meant to free them from the fleet, Zan is flung head first into a brutal and bloody conflict. This book fucked me up when I read it. Itâs weird, itâs gross, thereâs So Much Viscera, there are literally no men, it has living spaceships and biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable, where humans are nothing but part of an ecosystem that cares little for their well-being. Itâs an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells*
After having hacked its own governor module, SecUnit uses its small amount of new freedom to secretly download and watch as much media it can between doing its job guarding humans. But when the scientists itâs been charged with keeping safe come under attack, it must make a choice about whether to continue keeping its freedom secret or risk it all to save them. The series features both novellas and full length novels, and balances humor with scathing social critique. There's also an excellent tv adaptation!
Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee
Four-BEE is a utopian city, in which humans have no responsibilities, are cared for by machines, and few acts cause true consequences as even death has been conquered. Able to change bodies and gender nearly at will, living lives of luxury and hedonism, everything should be perfect; yet the narrator finds him/herself dissatisfied with his/her life. After an impulsive decision leads him/her to break one of the only remaining taboos, he/she is exiled from Four-BEE into the wholly uninhabited desert wilderness outside.
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Moon doesn't know what he is. Having lost his family young he lives on the move, shifting shape to hide his true form. The only ones similar to him he's ever encountered are the vicious, bloodthirsty Fell, but he knows he cannot be one of them. When chance leads to a meeting with someone like him, he hopes his days of loneliness are over. But his new people stand against a dangerous enemy, and not all of them welcome Moon's help. Featuring a world with not a single human in sight, The Cloud Roads makes for a unique perspective.
When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb*
The angel Uriel and the demon Little Ash have been friends for centuries, living and studying together in a small Jewish community in Europe. But times are changing, and many of the community have left for a new life across the sea. When one of these emigrants go missing, Uriel and Little Ash decide to leave their peaceful life to go find and, if needed, save her. While set in our own past rather than a fictional world/time like other titles on this list, the relationships and identities of the two main characters often break our ideas of gender as well as platonic/romantic.
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson*
Young adult. Young artist June Costa lives in Palmares Tres, a beautiful, matriarchal city relying heavily on tradition, one of which is the Summer King. The most recent Summer King is Enki, a bold boy and fellow artist. With him at her side, June seeks to finally find fame and recognition through her art, breaking through the generational divide of her home. But growing close to Enki is dangerous, because he, like all Summer Kings, is destined to die. Set in a world in which bisexuality and polyamory are largely the norm.
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre*
In a future ravaged by disaster, Snake is a traveling healer who uses the venom of her snakes to concoct medicines for all imaginable ills. The most valuable of them all is her dreamsnake, an alien creature whose bite can grant a painless death. When circumstances cause her to lose her dreamsnake, she must embark on a dangerous journey to obtain a new one so she can continue her work. Set in a world where polyamory and bisexuality are largely the norm.
Shadow Man by Melissa Scott
As an effect of an FTL drug, intersex births increased, resulting in five separate genders among humans: men, women, mems, fems, and herms. But on the planet Hara, people cling to the old two gender system, forcing intersex individuals to pick one of the two and generally refusing to recognize their existence and needs. As conflict on the planet broils, Warreven, a Haran advocate and herm, and Tatian, an off-worlder, find themselves dragged into a struggle for equality.
Leech by Hiron Ennes*
Unbeknownst to humanity, a sentient hive mind has taken over the entire medical profession to ensure the health of their host species. One of their doctors is sent to an isolated location where theyâre cut off from the rest of the hive mind, only to realize theyâre faced with a rivaling parasitic entity. Leech hands you only just enough information to get by, and whether its historical fantasy, an alternate timeline, or futuristic post apocalypse is hard to determine. Itâs spooky and weird and wildly creative, and does some neat things with gender, because what does gender even mean when you're a hive mind bacteria inhabiting countless bodies?
Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Itâs 2007, and a leak has just confirmed that the US has reached alien contact. Cora wants nothing to do with it, but as her absent father is the whistleblower who dropped the news the media wonât leave her alone. Even worse, she soon finds herself meeting and being stalked by the alien presence itself as it tries to remain in hiding - and discovering that there is a much larger threat on the horizon. Features aliens with very different ideas of gender and relationships than humans, and a central focus is how a relationship between one of them and a human would look like.
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Centuries ago, the first settlement on the planet Jeep was hit by tragedy: a virus killed off all men, leaving behind a society of only women. Now, the planet has been rediscovered, its inhabitants having long forgotten about the rest of humanity. Anthropologist Marghe Taishan is sent to test out a potential vaccine. If the vaccine succeeds, Jeep and its people would no longer be in forced quarantine, but it would also open them up to exploitation.
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold
For Dr. Ethan Urquhart living on Athos, delivering babies looks a little different: they are "born" from uterine replicators, as Athos is a planet populated entirely by men. But now they're running out of the ovarian cultures that allow them to reproduce. To replace them, Ethan is one of the first of his people to be sent off planet into the wider universe - where there are women, rumored to be an evil and corruptive force.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Genly Ai is an emissary sent to the planet of Winter, meant to help facilitate Winterâs inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But heâs unprepared for Winterâs citizens, who spend much of their time genderless or switching between genders, making for a culture wildly different from what Genly is used to.
Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey*
Thora and Santi are strangers, brought together by a coincidence and torn apart just as abruptly when tragedy strikes. But this is neither the first nor the last time they meet - again and again they encounter each other, as friends, lovers, enemies, family, every time recognizing in each other a familiarity no one else carries. But with every new life, a mysterious danger grows ever closer, forcing them to find out the truth of their connection. This is a puzzle-box of a story that goes some entirely unexpected places in a very wild ride, featuring a bisexual co-lead and a very hard to define main relationship.
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
On the moon Shora live the Sharers, a nation of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis and have developed highly advanced biological sciences. Leading wholly pacifist lives, the Sharers are threatened when humans from another planet come across their world and decide to develop it, no matter what the Sharers themselves think. The Sharer society is openly sapphic, though the main romance is m/f.
Dust by Elizabeth Bear
In a dying spaceship, orbiting an equally dying sun, noblewoman Perceval awaits her own gruesome death. Having been captured by an opposing house, her wings severed and life forfeit, Percevalâs execution is imminent - until a young servant charged with her care proves to be Percevalâs long lost sister. To stop a war between houses likely to doom them all, the two flee together across a crumbling, dangerous spaceship. At its core waits Jacob Dust, god and angel, all that remains of what the ship once was. And he wants Perceval. Sapphic and asexual characters, however be prepared for kinda fucked up relationships.
Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman*
When Val, expert in alien cultures, gets called in to help handle the young Tedla after a suicide attempt, she is let in on a secret decades in the making. Tedla is neither male nor female, an asexual person from an isolated planet where a genderless class of 'blands' are exploited as a work force. As knowledge of Tedla's presence begins to spread, so does the attention of various parties wanting to use it for their own ends, including its old masters. As Val works to unravel the history of how Tedla came to leave its world, the pressure builds - what is to become of Tedla? Content warning for themes such as suicidal ideation, slavery, and child sexual abuse.
Moonstar Odyssey by David Gerrold
On the planet of Satlik, humanity have been changed: children are born genderless, and have the ability to choose between male and female during puberty. As a child coming of age, young Jobe finds herself having a hard time choosing what she wants to be, a decision coming into shadow as global disaster looms near. Novella length, focused as much on building up the history and lore of Satlik as it is on the coming of age story. Also an early example of female pronouns being used as default and neutral!
Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon*
Charlie Johns is just your average guy, so when he suddenly finds himself pulled into the strange, utopian future of Ledom, he's shocked. In Ledom, gender is a thing of the past, as is hunger and war. Confused and wanting to return home, Charlie Johns is promised that he will be returned, but first the people of Ledom want him to tour their society. Charlie Johns agrees, but the more he learns and the better things seem, the more suspicion grows: why is he really here? Published in 1960, Venus Plus X is frankly astoundingly progressive about the topic of gender.
Trouble on Triton by Samuel R. Delany
On the moon Triton hundreds of years in the future, life looks a little different from our world. The only place yet to be drawn into a war spanning the entire rest of the solar system, society on Titan is in many ways a utopia, where everyone can live however they want, no matter how strange their ideals. Yet despite this, martian immigrant Bron Helstron isn't happy. Unable to build meaningful relationships or figure out what he actually wants out of life, Bron is prepared to all but turn himself inside out to figure things out. Strange, surreal, and a bit out there, I'd recommend this if you want a story with a fairly loose plot and prose that will scramble your brain. Not a personal favorite, but an impressive work.
Every Day by David Levithan
Young adult. A is neither boy nor girl - in fact, A doesn't have a body of their own. Every day they wake up inhabiting a stranger's body, and spend a single day living their life before waking up as someone else the next day. They try to be respectful of their hosts' lives, not making decisions they wouldn't themselves make, but after meeting and falling for Rhiannon, the girlfriend of one of their hosts, things begin to change as A begins pursuing their own wants.
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
After being forcefully committed to an asylum, Connie Ramos' life is looking bleak. She's being coerced into experimental treatments meant to "cure" her, and no matter what she does no one will believe she's fit to be released. Her only escape are the mysterious visits by a time traveling envoy, who introduces her to a utopian future of sexual and racial equality. But this isn't the only possible future, and Connie herself may be a driving force in what shape the future will take. A very interesting work featuring a mostly gender neutral future, though it does at times feel more like a thought experiment than a narrative.
[images: photo collages of the covers of all the named books, first all of the books in one image and then in groups of three before the descriptions.]
2. The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within US Slave Culture by Vincent Woodard
3. "Abolitionists turned the tables on Europeans by accusing them of being cannibals when they ate sugar tainted with the flesh and blood of slaves."
4. Zombies (which I would class as cannibals, since they were human and need to eat humans to live) have a root in Haitian folklore and represented enslavement.
adding that, if you can find it, cannibal culture by deborah root is about exactly this. the way the white western world is a hungry, destructive force that cannibalizes non-white cultures and creates wealth and status through the cannibal colonization of those cultures.
here's the intro
i almost think there's an essay in bell hooks' black looks about this too? yes! just checked, there's an essay called "eating the other"
you know, i generally prefer ebooks over physical books (for convenience sake), but there is exactly one exception: old gay scifi. because there is Something about holding an old, visibly used copy of a book like that. seeing the age of it, the wear and tear, and knowing there were gay people writing my most beloved genre, and there were characters like me in it and readers like me who got to see themselves as heroes in these stories years, even whole decades before i was even born. there's just Something about it
@xeylah !!! always!!! here's some of the best i've read so far:
The World Well Lost by Theodore Sturgeon (1953) - this one's actually a short story, but i cannot overstate how important it was in terms of breaking the taboo around depictions of homosexuality in scifi; it's often regarded as the first piece of SF to portray gay people in a sensitive, sympathetic manner. it's also online! it's too short to describe without spoiling, so, please just go read it
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany (1966) - fun, beautifully written space opera with casually bi&polyam charas :) (honestly tho, anything by Delany is so good, this is just my favourite from the stuff i've read so far)
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969) - self explanatory i think
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (1976) - gut-wrenching novel abt a forcefully institutionalized woman who is able to time-travel to a hopeful, utopian (and queer-normative) but uncertain future
The Fortunate Fall by Cameron Reed (*published under the name Raphael Carter) (1996) - rly raw and devastating cyberpunk novel about a lesbian news reporter living under a dystopian regime (this one might be a little difficult to track down these days bc it's out of print, but it's getting a reprint next year - in the meantime DM me if you'd like an EPUB!)
also, beyond Samuel R. Delany, 2 gay SF authors I'd recommend checking out are David Gerrold and Melissa Scott! what I've read of Gerrold (The Man Who Folded Himself, Moonstar Odyssey) has generally been more flawed&messy than the books i've listed, but still decent and undeniably groundbreaking in terms of its depictions of LGBT charas in scifi at the time, and Melissa Scott is the queen of 90s lesbian scifi (though i'm just reading my first book by her rn, so i can't recommend specific titles)
I don't see enough talk about How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by SaĹĄa StaniĹĄiÄ. It's hilarious but ultimately heartbreaking, as its main character lives through and processes (as a refugee) the genocide of Bosniaks in the ViĹĄegrad massacres.
The material is so heavy, but seen through the lens of the freewheeling heart and imagination of an initially very young Aleksander, its horror is felt because of his charm and his distance (due to age and due to his family having fled the region). It was published in 2006 when not all the trials for the war crimes of the Bosnian war had started, and there are still many deniers of these crimes. Many survivors didn't go back, understandably, and the Muslim population of some areas that once had strong representation (majority in the case of ViĹĄegrad) are decimated. Fiction is a way to finding the heart of fact.
It's my second time reading it with a break of about ten years between readings. It still holds up. Great translation, also.
I threw together a little rec list for fans of Murderbot :)
This is aimed at fans of the novellas and the TV show and I tried to capture various different elements of the story and characters.
Text of slides below the cut
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
Adult science fiction novella
Imagine Sherlock and Watson if Watson was a sentient, traumatized spaceship and Sherlock was a human detective investigating a murder
Faster-than-light travel, deep space unreality, mind-altering herbal teas
Spaceship POV
The spaceship really enjoys reading/watching period dramasÂ
Vietnamese-inspired sci fi setting
No romance
One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adult science fiction novella
The grumpy last survivor of a catastrophic time war lives a solitary lifeâŚuntil other time travellers try to disrupt his carefully curated retirement
The main character has a pet dinosaur
Darkly funny, misanthropic narrator
If you liked Murderbotâs first-person POV in the books, youâll probably enjoy the narrative voice of this novella
The Butterfly Assassin by Finn Longman
Young adult dystopian thriller set in a walled city ruled by assassin guilds
Isabel Ryans is a former child assassin and the daughter of a notorious scientist
Wanting nothing more than to live a normal life, she escapes and assumes a civilian identityâŚbut finds her past and her assassin training harder to leave behind than sheâd hoped
âRaised as weaponâ character grappling with violence, morality, and friendship
Aromantic asexual main character with PTSD and severe hand scarring
No romance
The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmooor
Adult dark fantasy novella
Scythulf, a wolf shapeshifter, was raised to be nothing more than a pit fighter until heâs rescued by Brennus, a knight who offers him a new life
When Scythulf accidentally kills a corrupted nun, his only chance at redemption is to run with the Wild Hunt, a trial of blood and courage
âRaised to be a weaponâ protagonist; aspec rep; strong platonic bonds
Aroace protagonist; aroace nonbinary queerplatonic partner, queernorm fantasy world
No romance
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Adult science fiction novel
A motley spaceship crew finds adventure and friendship on their voyages through the universe
Episodic storytelling and found family dynamics
Interesting alien characters and cultures
Queer characters + F/F relationship
Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura
Adult fantasy novel
Adrien Desfourneax, a disgraced physician turned professor of magic, finds himself investigating a dangerous curse while grappling with his own mental health and a dangerous ally
Gay main character with bipolar disorder; autistic-coded side character
If you love rotating TV!Gurathin in your mind, you will probably find Adrien a very interesting character
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Young adult fantasy/dystopia
A young ghost hunter joins forces with the ghost of a supersoldier to traverse the underworld in search of the lost ghost of his partner and answers about their post-apocalyptic world
Characters shaped by ruthless dystopian worlds learning to claim their autonomy and identity
Strong M/F friendships that donât turn into romance
Aroace-coded main character + no romance
Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie
YA science fiction novel
Hundreds of years in the future, the last survivors of the human race travel through space in a fleet of ships, searching for a new habitable planet to settle
When two girls join the order of cyborg soldiers who keep order in the fleet, they find themselves questioning their loyalties as violence brews
Explores bodily autonomy and privacy through sci fi elements
Main characters of color + ace main character
No romance
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
Adult science fiction novel
Cosmic horror x space opera
In a galaxy ruled by AI gods and their ruthless cyborg-angels, young prodigy scientist Yasira develops new technology that could change the trajectory of humanityâuntil her work backfires and is declared heretical
Offered her life in exchange for hunting down her vanished heretical mentor, Yasira must decide who to trust as her worldâs fate hangs in the balance
Autistic lesbian main character of color
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Adult satirical science fiction novel
Ensign Andrew Dahl is excited for his new position on board the the starship IntrepidâŚuntil he begins to realize thereâs a mysterious pattern of low-level ensigns like himself dramatically dying on missionsâŚand the reason why might reshape his very understanding of reality
For the enjoyers of the TVâs take on Sanctuary Moon being a Star Trek parody
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Adult science fiction novel
Anti-colonial space heist
Maya Hoshimoto, an art thief turned grad student, finds herself pulled into one last job to retrieve an artifact that could save an alien speciesâand possibly doom humanity
Alien-human friendships, explorations of sentience and consciousness
Japanese diaspora main character with chronic migraines
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Adult science fiction inspired by classic horror storiesÂ
Demeter is a spaceship that transports humans across galaxiesâexcept her passengers keep dying in mysterious paranormal murders
To prevent herself from being decommissioned, Demeter must track down the ultimate evil behind her passengersâ deaths: Dracula
In a near-future dystopian America, salvager Valentine runs odd jobs in the wastelands of Utah in hopes of earning enough for the gender-affirming care he desperately needs
When he encounters Osric, an AI forced into an android body, heâs offered a job that could pay him everything he needsâbut at the cost of his own morals
Explores sentience and autonomy through a science fiction lense
Android/human romance
Gay, trans man main character with ADHD; gay main character
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot
Adult science fiction novel
In a galaxy ruled by three warring rival factions, gunslinging inventor-turned-thief Rig has abandoned her former faction and is happy as a rebelâuntil her former faction ransoms her twin sister for what she stole from them
Alongside her librarian girlfriend, a mysterious bounty hunter, and a network of resistance contacts, Rig embarks on a journey across the galaxy to save her sisterâand maybe tear down the factions for good
Rip-roaring romp of a sci fi story full of actionÂ
Alien protagonists
Lesbian main character; amputee representation
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
Adult science fiction novella
Scorn is a state-of-the-art AI investigator who becomes entangled in brewing corporate warfare
When Scorn wakes up one day day on the moon with no memory of zir past ten days, ze begins a hunt into zir own past that leads them to uncover far more explosive truths than ze could have expected
if anyone else is also experiencing a 70s/80s sword-and-sorcery moment i really really encourage you to read the birthgrave by tanith lee. conan the barbarian for weird girls. i ordered my copy off thriftbooks but its also available on internet archive. its vivid and bizarre and understands religion and belief in a way that was complex enough to surprise me, the cyclical plot feels deeply purposeful, and it contains a lot of descriptions of really good outfits. if you can handle a few really fucked up scenes please try it
hello fellow non-Black tumblr users. welcome to my saw trap. if you'd like to leave, please name one (1) Black woman author who is not Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, or N.K. Jemisin. bonus points if she's published a book in the last five years.
For my own future reference, and for anyone else who wants it, a list of authors mentioned in the notes. (I cannot promise this is comprehensive, there are a lot of reblogs and I might have missed some.) I've included a link for each author, where possible I've tried to find one that leads you to their books, prioritising own websites/publishers, falling back on wikipedia otherwise.
If you find any mistakes in the links let me know and I'll edit. This post will be in two parts, because I literally broke tumblr with how many authors there were. I think it's about a hundred and fifty.
Petals KalulĂŠ - fiction, poetry [Petals is noted as using she/they, I'm not 100% sure of their gender identity and past a certain point it feels weird to investigate too much]
Itâs so significant too that this narrative was collected by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the greatest authors and anthropologists of her time. She was shunned by the âgatekeepersâ of both of these professions, largely because of her Blackness, her womanhood, and her uncompromising commitment to honoring and showcasing both in her works. She died penniless and alone in a state-run institution in 1960. All of her works had gone out of publication by then. It took more than a decade before she was rediscovered. A young author by the name of Alice Walker had come across her work and was deeply inspired by it. âIn 1973, after an exhaustive search, Walker came across Hurstonâs unmarked grave in Ft. Pierce, Fla. She purchased a headstone for Hurstonâs tomb and had it inscribed âA Genius of the South.ââ
It is through Zora Neale Hurstonâs pioneering sacrifice, and the acceptance of that inheritance by Alice Walker that we have found this missing piece of our history. Without the courageous and unfailing work of Black women, we wouldnât have Cudjo Lewisâs story. We are slowly regaining a narrative thatâs been hidden from us, one that continues to be lied about. Trust Black women to lead the way.
Some after "Sinners" reading material if you're interested in Black American and Indigenous History (and the immigrants who came over, too). I put in the Jones-Rogers book too so y'all won't think the 58% had no serious role in shaping the horrors of America.
Adding this amazing "Sinners Syllabus" too for further resources to educate yourself. The books above are ones I have in my personal library, but some very cool people put together an entire webpage of information. Check it out HERE.
Evangelina Alciati - The reading - 1905 private collection
Italian đĽLit(erature) Tournament Bookclub - first edition
After the Commedia dell'Arte micro-tournament ended and the start of the Beef Edition - that will be postponed just one week more, to reach enough options for a complete poll, it's time to present a long term project that I started to think about since this January: the ILT bookclub, a daily, weekly or monthly reading challenge, on the model of Dracula Daily.
My personal aim with the Italian Literature Tournament, since its start a year ago, is to "promote" certain italian authors that maybe outside Italy, or in a literature school program, aren't very famous; I already started it two years ago with Pinocchio Weekly and meanwhile I want to relaunch it now as a parallel project, at the same time I'm thinking to try with other Italian novels, as long as are all public domain.
I've already written a draft list (it's proposed at the end of this post, under the cut) but at the same time I want to engage all of you to the choice of the first novel, so guess what I opened another google fom so all of you can send to me your ideas, yaaay. When a certain quota of names will be reached, I'll open a poll here and we'll decide together the first title to our bookclub. In any case, check carefully the list below if the title that you have in mind is already present.
The novel that you want to propose must follow these criteria:
must be in the public domain - and digitalized: I want to use substack so anyone will have the chapter easily to read in its email address and follow its preferred reading pace;
translated in english - and of course the translation have to be like the point one: it depends actually (check point 3). The English translation will be an easy point for anyone who can't read italian, so must be out of coyright and already digitalized. The copyright for translations according US law usually is of 70 years after the death of the translator - in any case the terms are always written at the start of the book copy/index card on the editor website;
the second point fall if we all decide to read in Italian - in this case only the original work have to be public domain: non Italian speakers don't worry, I will search all the possible translations in english/other languaes and will link the other options beside the challenge post, so if anyone want to read it translated borrowing it from the library or in different terms - it could be possible!
In the end: how to understand if a book is public domain? Easy: you can search it in various websites that collect and digitalized literary works, like Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive (attention: not all the works present there are open access, some are still under copyright but still present because Internet Archive makes them bookable like a virtual library for the subscribers), Wikisource, Google Books Advanced search (check "only complete visualization/solo visualizzazione completa" or use the publishing time option at the end). You can just search the translated version of the novel on amazon/google books/the press page and find when it was translated, in the colophon is written if it's still under copyright or you can calculate youself if it expired. Other useful links: wikipedia category for all the recent public domain entries.
A draft list of titles that I first thought under the cut
Public domain both in italian and english:
Malombra by Antonio Fogazzaro: One of the few gothic novel from italian literature, which inspired four movies (a silent film in 1917, a 1942 one that is aviable on Raiplay, a 1974 one that's actually a TV movie also this aviable on Raiplay, a 1984 one that's actually a porno).
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni: A classic of italian literature with various movie, theatre and musical transpositions.
The Decameron By Giovanni Boccaccio: same as above.
The conquest of Rome by Matilde Serao: Francesco Sangiorgio is a newly elected deputy from a small province in Souther Italy. As he travels to Rome, he start to feel the weight of ambition, personal history, and the vibrant life of the city. The story unfolds against the backdrop of political and social dynamics of the time.
Fantasy by Matilde Serao: The novel is about the absolute but unhealthy friendship between the two female protagonists in the Naples at the end of the 19th century.
The Land of Cockayne by Matilde Serao: It explores the lives of various characters from the lower social strata of Naples, particularly focusing on their aspirations and struggles, centered around themes of fortune and despair, often represented through the lottery.
After the divorce by Grazia Deledda: Murder, catholic guilt, innocent people in jail, true love vs fail marriages, forbidden and ultimately destructive affairs!
Nostalgia by Grazia Deledda: Regina is a a young bride who has recently moved from her home in Sardinia to Rome with her husband Antonio. The novel explores the stark differences between her expectations and the reality of life in an unfamiliar environment, and Regina's struggle with homesickness and her journey of self-discovery amidst the vibrant yet isolating backdrop of Rome.
The house by the medlar tree (I Malavoglia) by Giovanni Verga: it follows the failing fortunes of the Malavoglia, a family of fisherfolk who are living through a period of political change following the country's annexation to Italy.
The late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello: a novel that explores the complex themes of identity and existential crisis through its protagonist, Mattia Pascal. After escaping an unhappy marriage to Romilda Pescatore, Mattia finds himself in Monte Carlo, where he unexpectedly wins at gambling.
Heart by Edmondo De Amicis: a children's novel which was the best known work from its era. Set during the Italian unification, and includes several patriotic themes and has been remade in various transpositions, including an anime.
The Devourers by Annie Vivanti: the author was italo-british and wrote this novel first in English then she translated in Italian. The book explores themes of family, loss, and the complexities of relationships through the lens of Edith Avory and her new family dynamics following the arrival of her half-sister Valeria and Valeria's baby. #familydrama #toxicmotherhood #motherdaughterism.
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi: if anyone is interested click here.
Public domain in italian but not in english (translation exists but still under copyright):
Any novel from Emilio Salgari
Fosca by Igino Ugo Tarchetti: another of the few gothic novel from italian literature, there is a translation by Lawrence Venuti as Passion: A Novel. Is the basis behind an Ettore Scola movie and an awarded Broadway musical.
Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo: translation by Penguin Classics.
The Viceroys by Federico de Roberto: translated by Archibald Colquhoun, published by Verso Books (they often do discount if interested).
The Priest's Hat by Emilio de Marchi: translated by Steve Eaton & Cinzia Russi for Italica Press.
The Beautiful Summer by Cesare Pavese: translated by Elizabeth Strout for Penguin Classics.
I wish kinky sex ed wasn't so stigmatized even among left-leaning "sex positive" circles. Everyone's all "uwu I'm a sub I'll do anything you ask" okay mommy wants you to read The New Bottoming Book so you learn how to sub without hurting yourself since your sex ed up to this point is porn and your ex boyfriend Jared who liked to choke you incorrectly
Iâm so glad you asked! Let me list off what Iâve got for you:
Books I personally recommend:
- The New Topping Book and The New Bottoming Book, by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy
If youâre having kinky sex at all, you need to read at least one of these two books. Point blank. Theyâll teach you the very basics of negotiating properly (which is critical!), and help you identify what you are and arenât into.
- Mindfucking Mindfully, by Sir Ezra
Where this book really shines isnât actually in helping you âmindfuckâ people, itâs in taking a close look at how to do so ethically. Itâs a great answer to the question âhow do I get someone to consent to something and still surprise and shock them with it?â
- Real Service by Raven Kaldera and Joshua Tenpenny
This is a slightly niche pick but there simply isnât a better book on the subject. Itâs written from a 24/7 M/s perspective, which is not what I do, but the book itself is an indispensable guide to giving and receiving service. The phrase âif the Master doesnât want it, it isnât serviceâ will be burned into my psyche for quite some time. I love this book a lot. Maybe my favorite out of all of these.
- Enough To Make You Blush: Exploring Erotic Humiliation, by Princess Kali
This oneâs high on my reading list;Â Iâve heard it recommended by a number of people whose opinions on these things I trust.
- Pretty Much Anything Midori Has Ever Done
Midori is a great resource for this stuff - I havenât personally read much of her work, but sheâs a well known sex educator and great at what she does. Sheâs known for bondage, but has a lot of range beyond that.
- This Negotiations Worksheet from Bex Talks Sex
This is what I default to using a lot of the time for negotiations. Forget BDSMtest, you donât need that, itâs no good. Just look through this worksheetâs wordbank with your partner. Big fan especially of the âhow do you want to feel?â section.
Books I can kind of recommend:
- The Ultimate Guide to Kink, edited by Tristan Taormino
This book is weird. Thereâs a lot of good info for experienced players, but some of whatâs written here skeeves me out. I think if I had a top that thought the way some of the tops in here think, they would not be topping me for long. But thereâs some good techniques and so on to pick up that I wouldnât have otherwise. I liked the distinction one of the authors makes between being sadistic in the sense of inflicting pain and being sadistic in the sense of doing something your sub doesnât âenjoy.â
- The Ritual of Dominance and Submission, by David English
Man, this book fucking sucks. The writing and editing are garbage, and the fear and protocol play described need way more careful negotiation than he ever lets on, let alone recommends. This is some 50 Shades bullshit. The only time I recommend this book is to tops like me who tend to be very affirming to their partners and need a guide on how to really scare them - when their partner consents and when you negotiate it, which this book sucks at teaching you. Really good content on fear, punishment, and protocol play, really terrible presentation of the topic though. Donât read this if you donât already know what youâre doing.
- Paradigms of Power, by Raven Kaldera
I love this book. Great book. Very focused on 24/7 M/s play though, and, being an anthology, some chapters are better than others. If you canât read something and pick out what is and isnât for you, donât bother. But some really great inspiration, and generally pretty well written. Big fan of the discussion of leather throughout the book.
Hope some of these are helpful for people ^-^ for the average person reading this I recommend New Bottoming/Topping, but theyâre all important parts of my library and Iâve recommended all of them to friends at some point or another.
May I also suggest Hell on Wheels and Kneeling in Spirit by Raven Kaldera, d/s companion books that address kink with a disability. They're a should read for everyone, imo. You never know when you or a partner are going to have changes in your body that affect what you can physically do. Temporary illness/injury and even just age can affect your sex life.
I'd like to suggest Better Bondage for Every Body! It goes really in depth on anatomy, pain processing, self-tying, and has chapters specifically focusing on how to do rope bondage on/for someone who is disabled or has chronic pain, which was really important to me.
I had the pleasure of designing the dust jacket for Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Alien Clay', a book I had actually read and adored BEFORE I received the job offer!
Keep an eye out when this Subterranean Press edition comes out; more illustrations by an amazing artist within...
PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Yâall (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you donât know who Octavia Butler is or that you havenât read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! Iâm not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here
Some of yâall love marginalized stories but you donât give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn
Gladly! The pieces on this list arenât limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.
Anything by NK Jemisin. She is the best speculative fiction writer of her generation and probably the best speculative fiction writer alive. She is easily one of the best writers working right now, across all genres. Thatâs not hyperbole. She deserves all the hype.
Anything by Octavia Butler. She needs no introduction. Her short fiction is incredible; âBloodchildâ is one of the pieces that inspired me to write.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. Excellent. Just read it.
The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley P. Chan. It broke my heart and it'll break yours.
Babel by RF Kuang. Youâve probably already heard of this book because Harper Voyager marketed the shit out of it and was right to do so. Itâs very, very good. Kuang writes a compulsively readable story, thatâs for sure.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonial Science Fiction and Fantasy (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.
Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:
The Blood Trials by NE Davenport. Given the current chokehold romantasy has on the public itâs insane to me that this book hasnât sold a billion copies.
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. Itâll change you.
The Tigerâs Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera.
The Lesson by Caldwell Turnbull.
Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesnât immediately center them and they donât automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the storyâeven if it touches on (gasp!) racismâand maybe, just maybe, itâll reveal something to you.
Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much Iâm going to fling myself into the sun
Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didnât want to do it but here I am
Oh! Please read EVERYTHING EVER WRITTEN by P. Djèlà Clark y'all! but start with this book first!
This is the epitome of Black Steampunk. It so refreshing to see science fiction written and just beautifully and authentic displaying of black culture(locations, language, practices, belie, ect) like black culture is extremely relevant and refreshingly written in this story. It even has some thrill of historical/ancestors revenge, along with messages of life and healing in it. It has all kinds of Black diaspora and queer rep in it too!
Yâever read something and have understanding that has eluded you interminably suddenly stop, curl up, and snuggle neatly into a fold in your brain because a new way way opened to it?
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
prguitarman
