#Harrietta Lee

[foldingfittedsheets]

re: Jim Butcher post and tags — Ye e e eah h h… I wanted to think it was just the character and that the narrative didn’t support it, because there were just enough times that other characters called the main character out on his b.s. that I thought: maybe? maybe there’s some self awareness?

Then a few things happened:

I stumbled across this post (and some related discussions that are forever lost to Xitter by this point): 

luciazephyr dreamwidth 548703 (in case it removes the link due to anonymity)

I ended up interacting with Butcher on social media due to some closely overlapping/intersecting social circles (long story). 

anyway, after watching him only interact with a couple mutual friends whenever they posted anything social justice related, and only to whitesplain and mansplain and cissplain (etc) all over the place, repeatedly, despite very gentle and patient attempts at education and calling in…

……yeah I think the only reason the narrative seemed at times to not entirely support the misogyny was due to the (rather cool in many cases) women in his life* possibly giving feedback, and maybe due to sensitivity readers, rather than because of any awareness the author has internalized. *At the time. I don’t know how many of those women are still in his life at this point, but that’s unrelated gossip/speculation.

(I really hope this only sends once, because it’s given me 2 error messages now)

Yeah, I know that for my male friend recommending the books to me the in text call outs definitely made him be like, “See? The author is aware!” So I had to write a fuckin essay of bullet points to get him to understand and acknowledge the textual misogyny that was just baked in. The nail in the coffin is Murphy the “straight” woman checking out a naked werewolf lady and having no reaction to a jacked naked dude.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve read them but I remember literally every woman is introduced on a fuckability scale- including his kids teenage daughter. There’s no plot relevant older women or anyone who’s not bangable hanging around the narrative. Lots of older dudes and mentors as long as they’re male.

He digs into native shit that tribes have asked white authors to never touch, turns a Jewish man into a crusader for Christ, and just generally doesn’t listen if any fans took issue with portrayals.

The bummer is that he is a skilled writer in terms of plot and pacing which is why I read several of them teeth gritted hoping things would improve.

When they didn’t I found the Harrietta Lee books which are a fun lesbian spoof on the Dresden Files that I quite enjoyed, and of course October Daye.

[mantis-lizbian]

while i heartily agree with this, i think that it's very likely most people will be drawn more towards The Traitor Baru Comorant by Seth Dickinson. there's a lot of parallels there to both Gideon and Harrow in Baru Cormorant, so it'll probably have more immediate appeal.

She Who Became the Sun and especially A Memory Called Empire, i think, have some major differences that might be harder to adjust to for TLT fans. Became the Sun is kind of a bit more... brutal? and grounded. think a bit more the tone of those first couple chapters, especially when sticking tightly within Gideon's perspective of how things are going, and focus on that tone and feeling for much more of the book. it's made it a bit of a slog for me to get through just coz i keep having to take emotional breaks. ^^;

A Memory Called Empire, meanwhile, is almost the polar opposite. like... yes, it is excellent and beautifully written, and also is about a galaxy-spanning expansionist empire with some aesthetics drawn from antiquity... but replace necromancy with poetry, and everyone honestly kind of likes the empire, including the author even though they know it's dangerous and perhaps kind of wrong to like it. where TLT is categorically against the concept of empire, and its empire is unambiguously evil, AMCE's empire certainly isn't unambiguously good, and many characters present their own valid criticisms of it, the book's dedication really captures the perspective it holds:

This book is dedicated to anyone who has ever fallen in love with a culture that was devouring their own.

between that and the way that it's narrative is focused on politics in a remarkably nuts-and-bolts kind of way for a sci-fi novel, it's one that i think is much better to compare with TLT in retrospect, than when going into it.

another book that i finished rereading recently and am waiting to finally get my hands on a copy of the sequel that i feel compares to TLT pretty well is Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta, which is basically a moderately more YA-y TLT where the necromancy is swapped out for gigantic mechs, and BoE comes into the plot much earlier.

oh and while i'm at it, while the books are very different from TLT, the Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn could kind of be described as if you merged Harrow and Gideon into a single soggy cat of a lesbian, and gave her Harry Dresden's job in a magic-filled New York City.

father strange have you any book recommendations for lovers of the locked tomb. please your channel introduced me to it and i have read the series upwards of 4 times. i need to feed

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine & She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan both fill that need for beautifully written sci fi/ fantasy with queer characters for me

[marquis-of-writeblr]

20 Questions Writer Questionnaire

Tagged by @saturnine-saturneight

Is writing a hobby or way of life?

Still just a hobby, but I want to make it much more a part of my life. Getting off to a rough start, but this blog is part of that plan.

A journal full of writing notes or a clean, completed manuscript?

Hmm… I'd say 50/50 probably? During the planning stages, to figure out aspects of the world or my characters, I'll use notebooks as something like scratch paper to sketch things out (sometimes literally) before writing them up in digital documents. But all those notes are largely just for the sorts of things that could cause continuity errors. A character's appearance, the geography and climate of a location, etc. When I sit down to write, it's usually by opening a blank document and just writing by the seat of my pants.

Who (or what) is your writing inspiration?

Oh that's a tough one. There's a couple of authors who I look up to in aspiration, usually for stylistic reasons; Pratchett, Tamsyn Muir, Diana Wynne Jones…

But honestly? I think most of my inspiration comes from the people I think fell short. Like… "Okay, you had a couple good ideas here and there, but the overall story is just… so disappointing. Let me see what I can do with these pieces."

Oh! One work that does fall on both sides of this fence is Final Fantasy IX. Its world manages to feel so incredibly real to me, and I love how it manages to maintain an incredibly personal and intimate tone for all of its characters, even as the plot builds to saving all of reality from the manifestation of entropy (not kidding, the "Not Alone" sequence that kicks off the third act still makes me tear up). But it still has shortcomings inherent to being a turn-of-the-century JRPG, and not all of its characters get all the narrative attention they deserve. But writing a story that I can conceive as an improved version of FF9 (whatever medium it winds up being) is probably my number one writing goal.

Which is worse: someone you "idolize" reading your first draft or listening to you sing?

Probably singing? I'm not horribly self-conscious about it - I did have some lessons once (a long time ago) - but I pretty much always want people to read my writing, if only to give me feedback on what they did like, and what I might do better.

Has writing from someone else's POV ever changed your own perspective?

…Not unexpectedly. I'll actually sometimes do a little bit of writing as an exercise specifically to explore certain points of view. So like… usually, if my mind changes due to writing from a particular character's POV, I started writing with the intent to see if my mind might change. Granted, that's pretty oversimplifying of the process, and mind-changing tends to be pretty gradual and slow, anyway, but…

Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN?

AO3 and Tumblr. I've been active on Tumblr for years, though I've only recently started writing on it. Meanwhile, I've been reading fic on AO3 for ages, and …very occasionally post stuff to it. …I really ought to post a new chapter to my Freyatrix fic, thinking about it…

AO3 wordcount, and are you satisfied with it?

3,744 and I'm not horribly stressed about it, but as I mentioned in the previous answer, I should see about maybe hitting 5k soon.

What movie/book/fic gripped you irrevocably?

Counting games under this.

Final Fantasy IX, as previously mentioned

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The Last Unicorn

The Locked Tomb

The Fallen Gods series by S.D. Simper

Backwards to Oregon by Jae

Heaven Will Be Mine

The Clinch by Nicole Disney (specifically for teaching me to appreciate present tense narration, which I had previously been firmly opposed to)

Carmilla and all its adaptations and spin-offs

The Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn

A Memory Called Empire

the mountain of unfulfilled potential in Warcraft has haunted me since I started writing

and a whole host of honourable mentions that I'd be listing all night, if I started

There will also absolutely be two or three things I think of tomorrow that I'll be slapping myself for having forgotten, but... alas.

What’s the highest compliment you’ve ever been given, and have you been given it?

I can't think of any single compliment I've been given, but the number of times people have complimented the flow of my writing has stuck with me.

What defines your writing style?

I think it's that flow, again, mostly. Whether it's action or description, I have a feeling I have a fairly signature way of handling it. I think I also have a knack for maintaining characterization.

Gonna pull the "I'm still new here so don't yet know a lot of people, so all of my followers may consider themselves tagged, if they wish." thing again.

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Novels with Korean American Protags

Fave Five: Novels with Korean American Protags

Obie is Man Enough by Schuyler Bailar (MG Contemp) I’ll Be the One and Flip the Script by Lyla Lee  (YA Romances) Deadline by Stephanie Ahn (Urban Fantasy) Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (Literary Fiction) Nuclear Family by Joseph Han (Literary Fiction) Bonus: Coming in 2023, Your Love is Not Good by Joanna Hedva (Literary Fiction)

[mantis-lizbian]

okay so now that i've finally finished the latest Harrietta Lee book, i need to actually make that post i was saying i would...

...i may need to go back and reread the first book though, just coz it's been so long... ^^;

[mantis-lizbian]

well, if you haven't read Fingersmith...

i'm sure there's already been a dozen replies mentioning that book now, already, but just in case... anyway, let me dig out my rec list for this vibe. (edit: actually, looks like it's barely been mentioned so far? anyway, The Handmaiden is a perfectly decent adaptation, but i feel it's definitely made with a primarily male audience in mind. yes, it makes use of female gaze much more than male gaze, and does a lot else right, but like... even if it's 90% the same outside of the setting update, Fingersmith simply being made with a primarily female audience in mind makes a world of difference.)

Adijan and Her Genie by L-J Baker in fairness, definitely comes off more than a little orientalist in its handling of Arabian-based fantasy setting, but the main character is pure butch himbo, an utter disaster, and utterly devoted to her wife. like, there's a lot i can point to to criticize in this book, but the characters themselves and the love story are absolutely not among them. and when i say "utter disaster", Adijan is a drunken, slovenly wreck barely floating by from get-rich-quick scheme to get-rich-quick scheme at the start of the novel before wind up in possession of a cursed locket with a homophobic "genie" in it who can't grant wishes.

The Sting of Victory by S.D. Simper a melodramatic vampire romance set in a high fantasy world. Ayla, our vampiric love interest, is like if you took the worst, most toxic parts of Harrowhark, Ianthe, and Carmilla (the vampire, not Camilla), and bundled them all into a single person. and yet, the way the story unfolds, you see why our protagonist is willing to quite literally damn herself - several times over, also literally - to be with her. she does also pretty much damn the entire world a couple of times, too, so... can't say they don't belong together :D

The Fate of Stars by S.D. Simper set in the same world as the above, but something like a thousand years earlier. honestly, i feel like the sequels each drop half a step in quality, but the first book was plenty good on its own that that still means the third book is fine, but it also works fairly well as a stand-alone if you'd rather. also has a bit of that orientalism problem like in Adijan, but it's at least not permeating the entire story. here, our romantic lead kidnaps our protagonist from the ocean and drops her in a giant fish bowl in her imperial palace. yeah, Simper loves writing absolute shitheels for romantic leads, it's delicious.

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn i'm actually recommending the rest of the series more than the first book, it's definitely got that "pilot episode" problem of still feeling itself out, and having to deal with setup and stuff, but the next two books are two of my favourites of all time. it's also a bit of an odd one out here because it's an urban fantasy noir series first and foremost, and i can't even really say romance on the side. there are a couple of characters with romantic potential for our protagonist, Harrietta Lee but this is definitively her story more than anyone else's. regardless, she is a sad, wet, pathetic little meow meow who i absolutely adore, and who is more than capable of getting up after ever single hit she takes. which is good, because she takes a lot of them.

Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall basically just here for if you wind up wanting more lesbian urban fantasy noir with monster fucking. however, i'm also mentioning it to contrast with Deadline because it's much closer to... power fantasy. Kate Kane fits pretty comfortably into the hard-boiled PI mould where Deadlin's Harrietta Lee has this... almost Jackie Chan-esque quality to her in how she frequently barely makes it out of situations - both combat-related and not - by the skin of her teeth. not to bring everything back to The Locked Tomb, but you kind of look at these two like Kate is if Griddle was a PI while Harry is more if... well, Harry was a PI. but yeah, all this is to say that Deadline is probably more what you're looking for here. Iron & Velvet is good, too, though.

The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite another departure from the form in that its protagonists are actually reasonably well-adjusted people, but it is not only set only a couple decades earlier than Fingersmith and in the same country, it even has an approximately similar plot. basically, The Hellion's Waltz is kind of what you'd get if you took Fingersmith's eleven and turned it down to a gently simmering two or three. bonus points for also being about unionization and seizing the means of production. quite explicitly. this is also part of a trilogy, each book focusing on a different couple during the early 19th century, which i mostly mention because even though they are definitely about much more well-adjusted couples than is being asked for here, The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows has become another one of my favourite books.

Do you want reccs for more interesting sapphic books? Last year I tried to read as broad a spread of books with wlw protagonists as I could find, and a lot of them seem to have flown way under the radar. I'm sure other people are sending you suggestions unprompted, but I thought I'd ask first, and if you are interested, maybe you could tell me a few things you like in your stories to help me narrow it down?

I think what I'm looking for is a f/f romance where shit is messy. Like both protagonists are kinda awful but like in a tragic way where they're products of their environment. They fuck nasty but can't talk about their feelings until the very end. Stuff in their personal and professional lives is constantly going sideways but they find solace in each other. Idk if this is making any sense but while I did end up enjoying Ashley Herring Blake's Hallmark Movie sapphics it did leave me longing for something a little less sugary and wholesome.

[ahnwriting]

FLYTRAP (Harrietta Lee: Book #3) is now available as an eBook for $4.99!!

Trouble comes in threes--especially for Harrietta Lee, a disgraced witch scraping by in New York.

One, a cannibalistic nemesis in her dreams. Two, the demon who cost her an ex-girlfriend. Three... a love interest who reminds her of home.

books2read.com/harrietta-lee-flytrap

[stephahnart]

CW ear insertion??? [update of old painting]

Pop quiz: If you're a demon trying to corrupt someone and they start getting off on it, which one of you needs therapy? 😈😈

(Try staring at it for a few seconds...)

[write-the-galaxy-blog]

May Book Reviews

Oh my gosh you guys, this was my last month with access to my high school library! Agh, it will be missed. Anyway, I’m back more LGBTQ novels, so let’s get into it! Also, June’s will be super gay, don’t worry! :)

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang: This is a graphic novel with a genderfluid prince whose family accepts him in the end. I love it, makes me happy. Definitely read it, and maybe Jen Wang’s previous work In Real Life if you like stories about MMOs. (It’s not like SAO, it’s actually pretty sweet.) 

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn (@delphiiwrites): Not gonna lie, this is a pretty bangin’ magical private investigator novel. Plus it’s hella gay, which I love. So definitely give it a read if this genre is your kind of thing. I genuinely liked the humor and the story. (I wouldn’t recommend this to someone under the age of 18 though, just sayin’)

[oracledelphii]

luce in #18?? :0

i’m so sorry, i was gonna make it look much more professional but i got caught up in The Meme… (i assume this is how all people who own cats wake up)

[systlin]

I'm a relatively new follower and I noticed you're talking about the Dresden Files today. I also can't stand them. Have you read any of the Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn? They're everything the Dresden Files should be. The first one is called Deadline.

You have my attention and interest

[bee-fabulous]

I don't have access to libby so you'll have to check for yourself but I'll try with some recs:

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon - I kind of went into it blind and I don't regret it, there's so many layers to it idk where to start. It's very crafty and very ambitious but it still flows & has nice sff/horror tying it up

Dead Djinn Universe by P. Djeli Clark - paranormal mysteries set in an alternate history Cairo with djinns and mechanical angels

Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn - paranormal mysteries with a disgraced witch who is a bit of a disaster and kind of out of options

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho - Malaysian set urban fantasy, sometimes a ghost of your grandma who was a spirit medium appears and makes you deal with her shit

The Conductors by Nicole Glover - another alternate history paranormal mystery but in post civil war Philadelphia. The queer rep is only side but it's still a good one

Can I get some book recs?

I'm looking to get back into reading after being out of the game for a loooong time, but I'm having a hard time finding books that fit what I'm looking for that are also available on Libby. I have no desire to use audible or kindle. If I really like how a book sounds I'll add it to my list, but I'm poor as hell right now, so I'd love to get suggestions for books that I can access sooner. (And yeah, my library system sucks ass and so apparently does NYC, so it's been a struggle)

I'm basically looking for adult speculative fiction by authors of color, preferably with queer characters. Open to just about anything under the speculative fiction umbrella, though I admit I do struggle with high fantasy and "hard" sci-fi, but I'm open to looking into them! Urban fantasy and paranormal are my faves. I would also love poetry book recs by authors of color. Oh, and Indie authors of color! :D

Thank you, bookfriends!

[turbo-toast]

Tag game!

Been a while since someone tagged me, but @tafferling did, thank you!

A: Three ships

Widowtracer (Lena 'Tracer' Oxton/Amélie 'Widowmaker' Lacroix - Overwatch) Work Wives (Jesse Faden/Dr. Emily Pope - Control) V/Judy Alvarez (Cyberpunk 2077)

B: Last Song

Lazerpunk - Black Lambo

C: Last Movie

Uhhhh. Do I remember? I think I *wanted* to watch the reboot of 3 Angels for Charlie with Kristen Stewart but haven't managed to, yet. Don't remember otherwise though.

D: Currently Craving

E: Currently Reading

A bunch of fanfic. Also want to continue the Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn but haven't gotten around to buying the other two books yet

1: Favorite Color

Midnight Purple III

2: Last Series

The Witcher - Season 2

3: Sweet, Savory or Spicy

Unfair choice, just one would be boring.

4: Currently Working On

Next chapter to Race Into My Heart, and rewriting chapter 5 of They Made Their Own Nightmare.

Tagging - uh, let's see - @einsesk, @kaleidocat-13, @fbcbreakroom, @mortimermcmirestinks

[booksforthegays]

“Deadline” by Stephanie Ahn

Description: Disgraced witch Harrietta Lee has made a lot of mistakes in her life; there's a reason she's got a sizable burn scar slapped across the side of her neck and a formal letter of excommunication from the international underground magical community. But who has time to dwell on the past when you're trying to make rent in New York? Things are mostly clean and simple, until her next odd job is brought to her by a representative of a powerful corporate family—a family she once had close personal ties to. As she unwillingly digs through six years' worth of personal baggage, she's also got to contend with an inhuman admirer shadowing her in the street. But hey, maybe it'll be worth it for the beautiful women she gets to kiss...

Representation: The main character is Korean-American and a lesbian.

Genre: Fantasy Length: 187 TW(s): Violence, self-harm, bdsm but no explicit sex

[lgbtqreads]

Do you have any recommendations for adult wlw fantasy/fiction? Preferably characters in their 20’s-30’s.

Sure. I’m very slow to parsing out ages in books but there are a bunch of contemporary wlw books with MCs in their 20s-30s here: https://lgbtqreads.com/representation/age/ (I especially recommend Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers, which comes out February 23rd), and in fantasy, I absolutely never know ages so I can only tell you that in books categorized as adult, I love The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood and the Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn, and you can find lots more here: https://lgbtqreads.com/sff/

[badass-at-fandoming]

10 fav female characters from 10 different fandoms

I was tagged by @missn11​ Thank you again, friend :D

I went through my recent-ish reads and, uh, this got a little out of hand. No particular order to this:

1. Kel from The Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce

2. Celie from The Color Purple by Alice Walker (I actually haven’t seen the movie but it won a bunch of awards!)

3. Violet from The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan (she’s one of my favorite authors!)

4. Kate Warren from Old Magic by Marianne Curley

5. Kamala Khan from Marvel Comics. G. Willow Wilson is another favorite author :D

6. Alex Mortiz from Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova.

7. Lady Angela and Lady Sera from Marvel Comics. Marguerite Bennett is a GIFT

8. Harry Lee from the Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn

9. Layla Amin from Internment by Samira Ahmed (together with Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give, it’s truly the book of our times)

10. Naima Pepper from (H)afrocentric by Jewels Smith

Honorable Mentions go to Akko & Mari from Girl Friends, The Athena Club in the series of the same name, America Chavez & Cindy Moon from Marvel Comics, literally every character in Moonshot: An Indigenous Comics Collection and Love: Beyond Body, Space, and Time, Mila from Undead Girl Gang, Twinkle of From Twinkle with Love, Zafira from the Sands of Arawiya series, Kitty Norville from her novels, and Rukhsana Ali from The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali and then I had to stop digging oh noooo, hahaha

Tagging @nightingaletrash​ and @brightstorm98​ and anyone else who wants to do this! Best of luck, friends!