#Lynn Flewelling

[fanaticsfiction]

Authors Convinced Fanfic is Illegal/Requires Permission

Terry Goodkind: “Copyright law dictates that in order for me to protect my copyright, when I find such things, I must go out and hire lawyers to threaten these people to make them stop, and to sue them if they don’t.”

John Scalzi: “Let's remember one fundamental thing about fanfic: Almost all of it is entirely illegal to begin with. It's the wild and wanton misappropriation of copyrighted material”

Diana Gabaldon: “OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.”

Robin Hobb: “Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen.”

Anne Rice: “I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”

Anne McCaffrey: “there can be no adventure/stories set on Pern at all!!!!! That's infringing on my copyright and can bear heavy penalties…indiscriminate usage of our characters, worlds, and concepts on a 'public' media like electronic mail constitute copyright infringement AND, which many fans disregard, is ACTIONABLE!”

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: “No. Absolutely not. It is also against federal law.”

Lynn Flewelling: “Whether you are writing about Seregil or Fox Mulder or Sherlock Holmes, if you do not have legal permission from the author, their estate, or publisher, then you are violating US copyright law. It is creative piracy. Doesn't matter how many disclaimers you put on, or if you're being paid. It. Is. Illegal.”

Someone Else, elaborated in the notes

[darkandstormyart]

in love with alec's character development in book 2

[beholderlair]

Thriftbooks haul!!!!!!!

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America's own.

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system's unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means.

Dystopia, speculative fiction, science fiction, adult

The Nightrunner series (Luck in the Shadows, Stalking Darkness, Traitor's Moon, Shadows Return, The White Road, Casket of Souls, Shards of Time) by Lynn Flewelling

Endorsement from submitter: "First genre books I read with queers! Written in the early 90s, so has era typical language. I would say this book has romance in it, but is primarily a political intrigue fantasy. I say this is a positive!!! I don't mind a romantasy, but I tend to find them focusing more on the romance than the fantasy, this has both without one getting lost in the background details! Alec and Seregil will steal your hearts and probably any juicy gossip you have lying around!"

When young Alec of Kerry is taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit, he is certain that his life is at an end. But one thing he never expected was his cellmate. Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things–none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec’s new mentor, and this time there just might be… Luck in the Shadows.

Fantasy, epic fantasy, adventure, political intrigue, series, adult

[darkandstormyranger]

bruh i am so grateful for luck in the shadows and how it reminded me that i AM still able to fall in love with a book like i used to and i CAN choose reading over mindlessly scrolling on my phone and i still have the ability to OBSESS over a book and its characters and think about it day and night and use every spare minute i have to read it

like man i thought that door was closed for me :') it's been literal years since i enjoyed a book so much

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Characters, book, and author names under the cut

Leo Merritt/Tristan Drake - The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac - The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice 

Jade/Moon/Chime - Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells

Seregil í Korit Solun Meringil Bôkthersa/Alec í Amasa of Kerry - Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling

[inclusivefuture]

Queer book recs from IFM's editors

Mantha's Rec(s)

Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner Series and Tamír Triad

Any chance Mantha gets they recommend Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner Series and Tamír Triad. Both set in the same world but in two different eras, these fantasy series have become so dear to them over the years.

The Nightrunner books are part fantasy, part political intrigue, part murder mystery, all while exploring themes of belonging and identity. And while they don't have genders outside the binary, the two main characters are bi, cis men (with a little gender-nonconformity in there, too.)

The Tamír Triad tells the coming of age story of a trans girl at court in the midst of political upheaval: think Knights of the Round Table but King Arthur is trans.

Flewelling's writing is impeccable. She has a gift for character, detail, and setting that creates immersive worlds. Though not recent publications - the first book came out in 1996 - they were the first books Mantha read that showed them that the sky was truly the limit in fantasy writing.

Lydia's Rec

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

Not for the faint of heart, All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes is a historical thriller in which a trans man stows away on an expedition ship bound for the Antarctic from England.

Set just after WWII, the stakes are quickly raised when the ship - the only way the expedition is getting home - is destroyed just shy of their destination. Missing most of the crew and nearly all their supplies, the few remaining members of the expedition must find a way to survive the winter in Antarctica.

Stumbling across a German expedition's camp seems like a stroke of good luck - but where did the Germans go (and would they even believe the war was over?), and what lurks in the darkness just outside of the lamp light?

Sione's Rec

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

If you're a short story reader who loves weird, slightly dark speculative fiction (think George Saunders, Miranda July, Alexander Weinstein, Carmen Maria Machado), Sione highly recommends Sayaka Murata's book of short stories, Life Ceremony, which came out in paperback in May.

While the stories don't contain genders outside the binary, there is gay rep, asexual and aromantic spectrum rep, and neurodiversity rep.

But what really gets zir excied about this book are the themes! This is basically an entire short story collection about what's normal, who decides, and how changeable our social norms and taboos are, which opens a window into a future with many queer and neurodivergent possibilities. Ze hasn't been this excited about a new book in a very long time.

Originally published in our newsletter on July 31st, 2023.

[golden-flute]

Just finished The Nightrunner series (7 books) by Lynn Flewelling, and I’m having all sorts of feelings about it. What a magnificent end for such a beautiful cast of characters.

I first found this series when I was looking up lists of older epic fantasy books with LGBTQIA+ rep. Lynn Flewelling’s first book “Luck in the Shadows” came out in 1996 (and I’m crying that I consider it an “older” book when it’s younger than me) and wrapped up with a cryptic “for now” in 2014. The series definitely felt like it had different eras, and I enjoyed them all immensely. I have an intense desire to pull out book one and start reading from the beginning.

The series isn’t without its faults and does incorporate some tired tropes that were more popular in their day than they are now, but I think having Seregil and Alec at the helm of a dream team of characters, all living in a beautifully fleshed-out world more than makes up for any imperfections.

The relationship between Seregil and Alec is a slow burn, but when it takes off, it takes off. Though their relationship isn’t the main focus of the series, it becomes the foundation of their strength as they face off against dark, antagonistic forces. Between these two and Xie Lian and Hua Cheng from Heaven Official’s Blessing, they make this cynical soul believe in the power of love again.

In general, I have a tendency to gravitate towards one or two characters in stories which leads me to dread reading about the other characters. Not so for Nightrunner! Each character became so dear to me that I never felt a need to skim over parts.

So, if you’re looking for something to pick up, I highly recommend this series. (4.75/5)

[artemistartarus]

The fact that Lynn Flewelling, author of one of the first queer books I’ve ever read, that I could actually find in book stores in the early 00’s, can’t find a publisher that will take her book after a year of looking, is distressing. Come on publishers.

[very-serious-book-reviews]

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling

Did I like it: YES

Did I understand what was going on: Not always but I had fun and that’s what matters

I knew this series has a gay romance (that’s why I’m here tbqh) but that doesn’t mean I expected one of the main characters to dress as (by all accounts) a very pretty woman within the first third of the book

This book is older than me but overall I feel like it could’ve been written pretty recently honestly, not too much jumped out at me as “didn’t age well”

Also! Society that only has queens, but makes sense about it and doesn’t just do it because That’s Different, my beloved

(Now to see if I can find the rest of the series literally anywhere 😅)

[iphigeniarising]

[bondilluns]

them!!! I recently got into the Nightrunner series, and i needed to draw this scene from Stalking Darkness :)

(i just finished Shadows Return, no spoilers of the later books please)

[darkandstormyart]

some of the book 1 characters ^-^

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries below:

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters—James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna—join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote—and perhaps not even to live—the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

Fantasy, historical fiction, alternate history, turn-of-the-century, adult

The Tamir Triad series (The Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, The Oracle's Queen) by Lynn Flewelling

For three centuries a divine prophecy and a line of warrior queens protected Skala. But the people grew complacent and Erius, a usurper king, claimed his young half sister’s throne.

Now plague and drought stalk the land, war with Skala’s ancient rival Plenimar drains the country’s lifeblood, and to be born female into the royal line has become a death sentence as the king fights to ensure the succession of his only heir, a son. For King Erius the greatest threat comes from his own line — and from Illior’s faithful, who spread the Oracle’s words to a doubting populace.

As noblewomen young and old perish mysteriously, the king’s nephew — his sister’s only child — grows toward manhood. But unbeknownst to the king or the boy, strange, haunted Tobin is the princess’s daughter, given male form by a dark magic to protect her until she can claim her rightful destiny.

Only Tobin’s noble father, two wizards of Illior, and an outlawed forest witch know the truth. Only they can protect young Tobin from a king’s wrath, a mother’s madness, and the terrifying rage of her brother’s demon spirit, determined to avenge his brutal murder….

Fantasy, epic fantasy, secondary world, magic, series, adult

[darkandstormyranger]

*Thero being in love with Klia is hinted at*

my brain, immediately: