#Metal From Heaven

[layaart]

I walked through the dark to the edge of the cliff, the big basalt-column fingers that held us up from the hungry crashing water. I sat down. [...] I felt my heart seize and I mashed it back inside my body. [...] The near moon and the far moon were both out. Full and gibbous. In the water they overlapped and made a sort of milky blurry hourglass shape. "May I sit with you?"

a scene near the end of Metal From Heaven, by august clarke

[aroaessidhe]

metal from heaven out today! here’s a few author tweets from recent months to perhaps convince you of it

[featherquillpen]

At this point I'm basically begging everyone to read Metal From Heaven by August Clarke. It is, frankly, better than The Locked Tomb, and just as full of totally deranged lesbians. Metal From Heaven is what if the United Healthcare CEO assassin were a non-binary dyke who rides a motorcycle.

[theafictionado]

The Best Books I Read in 2024

It’s the most magical time of the year—when I look back at my favourite works of fiction! I got a lot of reading in in 2024, in part due to a cunning scheme in which I made sure to always have an ebook on my phone, slowly yet successfully training myself to dip into a novel instead of tripping down into a Twitter hole (not that I’m on Twitter anymore; and not that it’s even called Twitter…) every time I had the urge to Scroll and look at Content. As always, I’ve enjoyed an eclectic mix of vibes and genres: on this list we’ve got a range from whimsical to harrowing, we’ve got high fantasy, contemporary rom-coms, modern gothic, and some fun hybrids including horror-romance and fantasy-mystery. More adult/general fiction than YA, you’ll notice, as I continue to explore the world outside my thesis niche—but I’ve always got room for a couple. 

Without further ado and without making this post any longer than it already is, let’s begin! Let me know if you also read any of these, and what you thought, and of course feel free to tell me all about your own favourite reads of 2024!

Keep reading...

[cobalt-teal]

I read „metal from heaven“ over the last two weeks, and while my final opinion is still cooking (and that might take a while!), one of the aspects I really loved is the main character, stupid, determined, sexy, slutty Marney. So enjoy some fanart of her!

(Sketch and lineart on paper, color is digital!)

[daphneblakess]

books i read in 2024: metal from heaven by august clarke

know i adore you. look out over the glow. the cities sundered, their machines inverted, mountains split and prairies blazing, that long foreseen Hereafter crowning fast. this calamity is made as a promise to you.

[metalrabbitcosmos]

Marney and Vikare 💜

Not entirely sure who I ship Marney with but her relationship with Vik was exciting!

[left-hand-of-dorkness]

i just finished metal from heaven by august clarke and i feel like all you locked tomb perverts need to get on this book immediately

hallucinogenic explicit anticapitalist lesbian revenge industrial fantasy

[beforeviolets]

underrated reads of 2024

books I read in 2024 with under 1000 ratings on goodreads // adult fiction

-

Fallen Thorns by Harvey Oliver Baxter

I love calling this book a vampire coming-of-age campus novel and I stand by it. I still need to read the standalone prequel to this world, but I really loved this work.

The Sins On Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

*physical ARC from the publisher

Shadow and Bone meets FMA: Brotherhood in this dark adult Jewish fantasy about sexual assault, war, and trauma. Definitely a tough read, but again, one I really enjoyed and can’t wait for the sequel of.

Smile and Be A Villain by Yves Donlon

*finished copy from the author

This diverse Hamlet retelling is easily the most underrated book of the year. Especially for a self-pub debut, this was absolutely fantastic. A diverse cast, a rich landscape of politics and religious complexities, a QPR between Hamlet and Ophelia, come on! I’m so excited for this sequel after seeing the way Donlon perfectly laid out threads throughout the book to pull tight into a perfect harmonious tapestry right at the end.

Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslein and Kat Weaver

Picked this up because I can’t resist a Marlowe Lune cover, and because it’s a mixed genre story with queer and Jewish rep! The title for this book honestly perfectly describes it. It’s complicated and maybe doing too much but its uniqueness is just so charming.

In the Roses of Pieria by Anna Burke

*finished copy from the publisher

Sapphic vampires are always worth anyone’s time and this was such a unique take on them! I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series but I really loved the combo of archival work, fungal horror, and sapphic romance.

All Our Yesterdays by Joel H. Morris

*finished copy from the publisher

A fascinating prequel to Macbeth focusing on Lady Macbeth and her son! Slow paced, but full of interesting themes and ideas that this book explores with tact.

Caraway of the Sea by Madeline Burget

*finished copy from the author

A really sweet self-published pirate story featuring a diverse cast and found family. I enjoyed the writing, and for a self-pub book, I found the work to be quite polished and readable! I loved our MC, Caraway, who is so incredibly snarky and stubborn and guarded, and her journey throughout the story was really compelling.

The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry

*physical ARC from the publisher

A wholly unique theatre kid epic, this was one of my stand-outs of the year. Anyone who loves storytelling should read this book. It’s just so whimsically and completely its own.

Metal From Heaven by August Clarke

*physical ARC from the publisher

I think I’ve raved about this book enough but absolutely the book the world needs right now. This brutal dyke fantasy is straying from the pack and ambitiously crafting its own path, and it pays off. Obsessed.

-

Other underrated reads of 2024:

plays

non-fiction

poetry

MG/YA/graphic novels

[libraryleopard]

sincerity, sexily: what would you like to do, daddy?

marney honeycutt, owner of a one-track, revenge-seeking mind: i want to kill yann industry chauncey

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Metal From Heaven by August Clarke Rating: 5/5

I received an ARC of this title through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Marney Honeycutt works in the Yann I Chauncey Ichorite Factory but when their sister leads a workers' strike that turns into a massacre, they are suddenly all alone. Touched in the head by the metal they worked from birth, Marney has to get out of the city. They fall in with a gang of thieves who whisk them away to a mansion high in the hills by the sea. But Marney will come back. Because they are going to kill Chauncey and they're going to marry his daughter to do it.

August Clarke has done it again. I was captivated from the very first page by Clarke's signature dizzying, dazzling prose. I was utterly immersed in this rich world that blends fantasy and science fiction absolutely perfectly. I loved the different cultures, I especially loved the way Clarke emulated butch/femme lesbian culture, I loved that trans-ness was just part of the world and Marney never had to fight to be who they were.

The queerness really was my favourite part. It was so nice to finally read a book about a trans stone butch that feels like the trans stone butches I know. Marney felt and talked and behaved like so many of my friends do and that representation is so sorely needed. I have a list of friends a mile long to recommend this book because I know they ache to see themselves and their lives represented in media. I'm very grateful that August Clarke is able to do that with their books.

And the prose! Clarke has such a specific way of writing that just latches into your brain and doesn't let go. It flows so beautifully but has a staccato edge that I can't get enough of. I especially enjoyed how Clarke intermittently used second person to elevate how Marney was telling the story and the reason why they were doing that became so satisfying as the story went on. It was utterly brilliant.

If you are looking for a truly unique speculative fiction story that centres queerness and working class people in a story of revenge, I implore you to pick up Metal From Heaven and allow yourself to be swept away in this enthralling book. It's an absolute masterpiece.

Metal From Heaven releases October 22nd, 2024!

[layaart]

watch us rise as the sun comes up over the beauty. the future stains the bleakness so pink.

I read an arc of metal from heaven by august clarke and it is very good.

[aroaessidhe]

metal from heaven fans i have character design sketches for most of the cast I would love if anyone has Thoughts Ideas or Suggestions (gay sketches as a reward if you read to the bottom)

i did..... not quite every on page character, but pretty much everyone who's there more than once and at least vaguely described (or like. I'd do gwyar if it wouldn't be a spoiler)

all the character descriptions I have recorded are here by the way !!

some of the characters are described a lot but most are like.....their face/hair but nothing about their clothes, or the other way around, so for a lot of them I just winged it - part of the reason I wanted to do so many characters roughly was so get a sense of the overall styles and vibes? august said they were thinking about john galliano for fashion so I took a lot of inspo from that and also a heavy dose of western vibes.....fashion is not my strong point though. truly just stuck it all in a blender and slapped it on.

and also for most of these it's sort of first-or-second-pass designs - basically just getting an initial feel rather than really solidly Designed. so likely to change. I could definitely push a lot of them further!!!

fingerbluffs/choir etc!

sisphe is described with having sunlight trapped in her hair and then also a dark curtain of hair and it's PROBABLY dark but I did imagine her blonde initially because of that. going with blonde hair as a kid that got darker to compromise...

her disguise outfit isn't really described other than gloves but I kinda matched it to marney disguise (below)

harlow took me so long to figure out getting her face like I imagined and also like how I described....I'm not sure still. i love her sm

amon is accidentally giving victor arcane. the character archetype + colour palette I guess. I specifically made it blue/black with pink highlights because of the tullian gender colours though..

tbh I still haven't figured out how their bandit hoods work. I think they pull over from the back of the head but I can't figure out how to draw that in a way that works so they're bandanas for now

not pictured but what are we imagining the lurchers like. just fun punky sff motorbikes?

aristrocrats !!

i am pretty happy with my marney and goss (though goss could be shorter...)

wanna do more vikare outfits

yann i. chauncey supposed to be quite boring and nondescript but also. sure does like Like A Random Dude in this lineup huh

basically all of the bottom row are only lightly described so I just went with the initial vague mental image I had tbh!

could I put more effort into giving them more cultural distinctions / make the areas they're from more visually distinct? yes probably. it's hard to get a sense of some of that when some of the places are within ignavia and some are like.. separate continents - and there's no map to sort it out in my head. (you may notice i wrote where they're from in blue by the names though)

description: 'detailed traditional tullian/drustish/etc embroidery' me: here's some vague scribbles

could deffo get some more body diversity in here

anyway genuinely very interested if anyone is like 'I imagined x to be completely different in y way' or fancasts or anything else! i am so open to and interested in making changes if other people have thoughts (and like if you're not an artist so can't draw it yourself) (or even if you are an artist but don't have the time and want to make me draw it instead. i know the feeling)

----

thanks for reading here's sketches:

I promise I will post these properly on my art blog sometime. also if anyone has ideas for little sketches like these, of any particular interactions or whatever....

[fyrix]

“…Do you remember when we were small?”

Oh my god, do yourself a favor and stick it through the slow beginning. This book shattered me in the best way possible. I have not read a more morbidly beautiful book this entire year, and the way it’s written is so different and interesting. No part of the book is hard to read per se, but for those who don’t like a slow start, this is the one to give a chance, you won’t regret it.

5/5 💫

And of course, thank you August Clarke!

[have-you-seen-this-butch]

Marney Honeycutt- Metal From Heaven, by August Clarke

Fanart by @layaart with permission

[sunderedstar]

okay but Metal from Heaven FUCKS.