#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!!!!!!!

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[elveny]

Why don’t I ever see ppl talking about the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling here? It’s queer fantasy, with such rich prose and world building and brilliant characters ❤️ You know, she also did what Dragon Age failed so badly at - give us a fantasy setting where men and women are equal (with a matriarchal monarchy!!) that still acknowledges differences!!

GOSH I love these books.

[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.

[smalltownfae]

I did the Barbie meme for the boys before I get sick of seeing it around.

[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 😅)

[darkandstormyart]

some of the book 1 characters ^-^

[iphigeniarising]

[evenaturtleduck]

Seregil: "These crude things didn't look like something anyone would miss in a hurry. He pocketed one for later study."

Me: wait wait wait wait wait [flips back to check page one] oh fuck

I'm getting through this one Very Slowly because it's my official "trade-sized paperback I actually bought myself so the library won't get pissed if I damage it and it rides around in my totebag getting read a few pages at a time while I wait for the kids to be done with whatever they're doing"

[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)