#AN ACCIDENT OF STARS

[aroaessidhe]

Aro & ace books: DRAGONS

The Dragon of Ynys - an aroace knight and dragon go on a quest

Royal Rescue - high fantasy about being aroace and making friends with a dragon

A Day of Fallen Night - high fantasy with one of four MCs being aroacespec (sequel also has 2 word-of-god aspec MCs)

An Accident of Stars - portal fantasy with a major POV character who's aro

After The Dragons - sff novella with an ace-spec mlm MC

So Let Them Burn - YA fantasy, one MC is demisexual

See also: The Siren the Song and the Spy, The Grimrose Girls, Adrift In Starlight (include dragons, though not as significantly)

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[fozmeadows]

Hello 👋

I went to World Con in Dublin 2019 and bought myself a 'blind' book - it was wrapped in brown paper with a brief description of the story. I am so glad that it turned out to be An Accident of Stars, which I Devoured. I've since read all of your books I managed to get my hands on, but nothing will beat the pure joy I had at that first book.

So glad you're on tumblr so I get to tell you this 😘

ahhhh, thank you so much! I'm

[poisindonottouch]

Queer reads: Foz Meadows

For day 13, I bring you Foz Meadows. Meadows recently published A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, which I quite enjoyed, but I wanted to recommend some of their earlier work, The Manifold World duology: An Accident of Stars and A Tyranny of Queens.

These books are portal fantasies, and they’re great. An Accident of Stars tells the story of Saffron Coulter, who finds herself in Kena, a world with fucked up politics, magic, and weirdly fantastic dragons (that’s fantastic as in awesome, but also as in fantasy, because, you know, dragons.) A Tyranny of Queens is a continuation of Saffron’s story after she came back to the mundane world and no one fucking believed her. These books are hella queer, with rep across the whole LGBTQ spectrum.

I’d recommend these to fans of Seanan MacGuire’s Wayward Children novellas, except I’d say Foz Meadows does a better job with character driven story telling than MacGuire does. So yeah, check them out.

[friendofhayley]

Friendofhayley's Top Books of 2022 Pt. 2 LGBTQIA+ Magic

This Book Rec is on LGBTQIA+ with a magical element in them. This list contains 7 different books. Let's go!!

Kushiel's Avatar (Kushiel's Dart #3) by Jacqueline Carey | queer society

This concluded the Kushiel's Dart series through the eyes of Phèdre, a now powerful Duchess. In this installment (that has jumped years into the future) she tries any aims and leads she can to free her best friend from the island he was cursed to. It was very bittersweet to finish this book, Phèdre is such a brilliant and unique character. I loved getting to see fantasy Africa and Central Asia in this installment and see the twists made on Egyptian and Jewish culture in this world.

"We speak of stories ending, when in truth it is we who end. The stories go on and on."

An Accident of Stars by Fox Meadows | queer/feminist world (kinda)

This story follows an Australian girl who falls into a portal into another world and lands in a political mess -- and she'll never be the same again. I loved how this new world was literally COMPLETELY unlike our own. Plants and animals weren't a mix of ours, they were completely their own. I loved every character and how nonchalantly free and queer/trans all the women were.

“Life is hard. Some days we get our asses kicked, but apathy breeds more evils than defeat. So, you know. Keep fighting."

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin | poly & queer characters

The Stillness is a land of constant shakes and phenomena since Father Earth started hating his children. This story follows characters who can (basically) Earth bend and it's super poly and queer. This book made me realize what epic fantasy should be, which is nonchalantly queer and POC-filled with no heteronormativity anywhere. A semi-depressing read though.

“After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you.”

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu | lesbian vampires

This book was extremely gay. I was cautious because I felt like maybe the show really emphasized it, but no. Carmilla is head over heels in love with Laura, and Laura is confused but into it. I loved that it involved an unreliable narrator as well. Dracula who?

“Yes, very—a cruel love—strange love, that would have taken my life. Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno | queer romcom

There is an island known for a rare (magical) bird. Georgina hates the time of the year when the bird researchers flock to her hometown, and it's even worse while she's waiting for her family magic to kick in. But another magic (love) also arrives. This book was amazing. It has a small-town feel to it, it made me laugh out loud, and the characters all feel real. I stayed up until 4 AM to finish it, and it was so worth it. I wish I could read it again.

"And she was funny, and interesting, and her smile was like a small revelation. Like she had invented smiling."

Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk | gay men

Two men get shoved into an occult mystery that might turn into a horror story. Also enemies to lovers and badass/nerd. This book was outstanding. It was so refreshing for a story to have a non-romantic plot with a well-written subplot in which there is no drama about the being gay part. It felt like any other brilliant story set in the Victorian(?) age but with gay main characters.

“Why did he have to be kind? If only he’d mocked me, or sneered at me, or merely tolerated me, then I would have known how to deal with him. But he insisted on being kind, on pretending I had some worth. How was I to defend myself against that?”

Peter Darling by Austin Chant | trans man MC + gay relationship

This story follows Peter Darling who has come back to Neverland after being away for so long. For some reason, he's drawn to Captain Hook and keeps forgetting something very big. There was so much hype about this book and it was worth it. At times the story was trippy in the best way and the romance was sweet and made sense.

“You know, I find that enemies are often the most satisfying people to share your secrets with. If you must tell someone, tell someone who's sensitive to all your vulnerabilities, on account of trying to exploit them.”

[noahhawthorneauthor]

Merry Christmas Eve my friends ✨🎄 📚❄️

[ghostbusterscantcatchme]

the dedication in A Tyranny of Queens by Foz Meadows

[grumfield]

quote from the mom movie

[opikiquu]

iknow my comics are ugly please just hear me out

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace books: multiverse / portals!

Portal Fantasy

An Accident of Stars - adult fantasy duology, aro woman major POV character

Perception Check - NA portal fantasy, demi man major character

Alternate universes

The Art of Saving The World - YA sci-fi, ace lesbian MC

Sal & Gabi Break The Universe - MG sci-fi duology, aro (& probably ace) boy MC

Multiverse / cosmic type vibes

No Gods, No Monsters - adult contemporary fantasy/horror with some multiverse elements, an ace trans man MC

The City We Became - adult contemporary fantasy/cosmic horror, an (aro?)ace-coded woman MC

in both of these the ace MC is one of a large cast, aceness is not a focus, and also the multiverse stuff is one of many sff elements!

#aspec books / aspec database

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[fozmeadows]

I just found your book A Tyranny of Queens on a new reading app (queerreads) and wanted to make sure they licensed use of it before I read it there. I couldn't find any. I'm suspicious of any new reading places these days with so much blatant piracy happening...

I've never heard of this app before; I looked it up and can't find much information, but as a general rule of thumb, if an app isn't charging you for the cost of the book and it isn't affiliated with an actual library service, then it's probably piracy. If you want to read the book for free, either in print or as an ebook, then I'd recommend looking up a local, state or national library service - libraries buy their books and ebooks from the publisher, and in most cases, authors receive lending rights money based on how often their books are checked out. If a library doesn't have a book you want, you can request it, and the author still gets paid. I do know for certain that there's pirated copies of A Tyranny of Queens floating around on the internet, as it was scraped for the AI dataset used in one of those stupid Chat GPT-style programs, while the first book in the duology, An Accident of Stars, was not. So if this queerreads app has ATOQ but not AAOS, then yeah: it's pirated.

[trashmammal-7]

I'm fucking sobbing over this

First of all, what business did Spot have being anywhere near a transporter. Second of all, the transporter can do what?? "Yeah sorry about your cat. We sent her through the transgender operation transporter. Yeah.... sorry again." I'm in tears.

[spookberry]

Im like pretty sure drawing the portal accident a million different ways is a right of passage

[alephstudio]

[sixofravens-reads]

Finished An Accident of Stars!

This book and I got off to a slow start, but once I got into it I really liked it! I don't think it's actually a YA book, but I definitely would've enjoyed it as a teen. Will definitely be picking up the sequel!

This was a really great example of creating a fantasy world with a matriarchal society, and where the power balances and relationship dynamics are different from real life, without being too shallow or having to repeatedly explain things to the reader. It's great to have Saffron as someone for everyone to explain the world to, but the author trusts her reader to pick up on subtext and keep track of things as well. There's a lot of exposition without being info-dumpy.

That said, compared to the other Meadows book I've read, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, the author's writing style is still a little unformed here. The pacing is a bit uneven, and the final scene in Karavos after Saffron leaves seems a little tacked-on. It almost feels a bit like a nanowrimo where the author came up with new plot points as she went, and while it's still a very coherent book there could definitely be a little more foreshadowing earlier on to tie things together.

But! I still enjoyed it very much. One thing I will say is, don't get turned off by the high school scene at the beginning. I almost did, bc I wanted a fantasy novel and not a YA school story, but the characters very quickly leave earth.

Overall a great portal fantasy, very realistic in how it deals with a teenage girl vanishing for weeks and reappearing with severe injuries. The cast of characters was delightful, and as an adult reader I especially liked having Gwen's perspective, both to relate to, and to fill that essential "who tf is keeping an eye on all these kids and teens who are involving themselves in politics and war??" niche.