#Red is just a gay feral witch in love with a lost boy

[dingalingalingis]

Witch

(Cause @red-sterling mentioned it and my mind went WILD)

There's a deep restlessness in his gut, a twisting wiggling thing that spoke in verbatim imitations of tongues and breaths taken from other people and spiked up against the frail undertones of his ribs like it wants to rip out from under his skin and devour him with sharp needled teeth. He didn't choose this, this way of life but has learned to accept living so deep in the woods with dirt under his nails. 

His heart however? It was easy to keep at bay, the itch of its claws under his sternum, clawing ever so gently at the thrumming organ keeping his body ever so alive even when the people of his old home thought of him as dead, distance from the town he adored made it screech under his pulse point and stab into his lungs, but being near kept in sated like the animal it was, melting into hibernation in the pit where his organs were meshed together like a mess.

Red was a beast in himself, curled and sprung tight like a wire ready to snap and tear his maws into whatever feeble fleshed human cowered in his blood craved hunt. He never hurt people, he couldn't. The students, most died from the ferals in the woods, he remembers one named Green who was a sweet girl. She remembered him, brought him food sometimes but she was too scared to return to civilization. She lived close to Viridian forest's border by his woods, he directed her to Yellow. She would be safe there.

Chattering softly to the woods, his only true connection to the earth he could hear the pipes that were laid down years ago and it sounds like chittering metals being rubbed together, a deep bodied chill that crawls like little footed bugs under your skin. But the scratching thrum of whatever it was taking home in his gut where, as humans called it, the ‘butterflies, formed. It was pestering, a need never to be sated unless he fully delved into it’s deep desires, to curl into bodied warmth and divulge into a long session of cafune. He heard footsteps and his stomach dropped.

The stranger looked at his direction, half lidded and warm though distress was in his bright ocean eyes, a bag strapped to his cloak with an Eevee perched on his shoulder. From the top of the wooded hill Pikachu squealed, running out to greet the Pallet born and his pokemon. The stranger smiled, Red's stomach fluttered.

"Hello little guy, Pikachus aren't found this deep." He crooned, petting down Pikachu's fur as he looked around "I think I'm lost, you know how to get out of here?" His soft pink lips frowned when Pikachu shook his head. He looked away, pink cheeked under his fur cloak.

It bothered him sometimes, the feeling, because it grew. It blows into proportions that matches his true form more than the human body he was born with before he fell cursed in this… Blaire witch existence, large with gnashing teeth demanding of him. At first he thought about going to this stranger, but when he barely brushed his hand against the pale skin wrapped around the stranger's delicately scarred wrist he felt the beast null. Collapse into itself and purr throatily, that turned into a deep growl in unhidden contemptuous emotions when he tugged his hand away from the stranger's wrist as if he was burned. Blue looked around, eyes wide, fearful before relaxing, dropping down with a frown as he watched the ground darken with foreboding nightfall.

He looked at the bag, reading a name on it.

"Blue."

He likes that name.

He had been avoiding this stranger, avoiding the smell of shampoo and dust and the fragile scent of something maple that burned and his organs clench each time his attempts to flee are seen and not ridiculed but looked at almost forlornly. Blue didn't know if he was a skittish pokemon or the witched beast he truly is. He missed the times back when he was a child and not… This. Innocent Red vanished not long after he got his first pokemon. Red lived here now. Alone.

He would have liked the silence a lot more. He kept to himself though, feeling the writhing thing of inopportune feelings slithering in his veins and head, and stayed in the trees. Blue never knew he was there, and he had no heart to scare the lost stranger to leave.

He still stares out the treeline, waiting for the falling sun to fixate on an area of the woodlands still lush with frivolous life that refused to stop crawling up the stumps. He will wait, and wait, and wait, and hear the bag open and watch Blue easily slip into the coat with ease. He would wear gloves, there was never a time where he wouldn't he guesses in this winter weather, and gently rubbed his thumb along the thick white of Eevee's fur, inspecting, sometimes tugging away a falling out, or ticked, from its brothers and toss it before going to the next one. He never needs gloves for that, Red knows, he did it fir his Pokemon without them. He watched as Blue ran a hand through his hair that sparkled somewhat in the dewy sunset before reaching out to Pikachu.

"Ah." He breathed out, soft and warm under his cloak, his heart warmed.

Pikachu was feral now, feral as can be with a cursed witch as a trainer, a cautious mouse to things it considers a threat. Yet, he purred under Blue's careful touch, like how he purred to him when they would all curl up in the makeshift bed. Blue's nose turned soft red in the chilly cold, that reminded him of the bushels of roses he used to steal from a Pallet house years prior, he'd leave them at the house of the Professor. He heard that he had a grandson who was deathly ill. He hoped he got them. He waited, and watched Blue’s hands work to an even softer beat when he grazed his fingers over Pikachu's ears and watched more until he noticed the upturn of Blue's locks and breathed, unblinking when his eyes were locked to Blue's.

Even at the distance he noticed the light hitting Blue’s eyes in just the right way, mixing the dark bleak blackness with a light color of ocean hues. He watched, with an intrantment matching that of a child looking at something shiny, and blinked when Blue moved his hand from the yellow mouse in his lap. Blue rested his hand against his chest and stared for a moment longer before dropping back to his own fluffy pokemon.

"I'm ok Vee, just thought I saw something."

Red blinked, the beast only slightly sated from the attention before clawing at the muscle of his esophagus. He went back to staring idly into the space of his temporary wooded abode, thoughts twisting and pulling at his form until he decidedly slipped out of the brush. The light was still in violent reds and oranges, making the green leaves change to brown and it gave him time to think about just how long he hid up there. He winced when he reached the ground, the cold of the woods slipping into his toes. But he continued and turned on his heel, slipping into the bushline with practiced quiet ease.

His gift through his curse, he supposes, of being a wood bound witch.

“Did you know…,” Blue started, speaking lowly as if Pikachu was a frightened animal “In Johto Myth, the rainbow feather is bonded to love and foreverment?” His hands were raised, still gloved, cradling a mewling Eevee and a crooked Pikachu. The mouse made a sound, and Blue continued.

“The origin of the name was said to have come from a young man whose ardour to his Love ended in a tragedy,” Red closed his eyes and breathed, smelling the soft undertones of fruits, “The young man was named not, lost in time, but from what we know out of sheer determination to see his love swam the Hellespont every night.” He took another step, and he could hear Blue sway in his spot.

“In one dreadful night however, while trying to reach a feather of the plant for his Love, he drowned and so the sweet tryst of the lover ended. In the morning, his precious love longing for him can be seen shouting and with such forlorn cried “O Love!”, “O Love!”-” He could touch Blue’s gloved hand if he reached, he took another step “-in the banks until finally he was found and clasped in his hands were the feathers who had became a symbol of everlasting love, crushed in the hands of time.” 

He was almost pressed completely against the tree Blue was leaned against and raised his hand. He could feel Blue’s subtle shift, his lips pressing lightly against his wrist as he smiled "Now the lake of which those feathers were found were named the Lake of Rage, in memory of the Lover who cried out in angered anguish for the loss of their love." Blue looked calm, serene, glowing slightly from the setting sun. 

He reached, brushing his fingers against the side of Blue's hand. Pikachu 'cha'ed happily and scrambled out of Blue's hold to hop around the tree onto Red's fur coat.

Blue turned, watching the empty space with wide eyes. He blinked, eyes wide before standing up with Eevee on his shoulder. "Guess the Pikachu left. Sorry Vee."

Red stood in a tree a distance away, pulling back his hood to press his fingers against his lips, his pinks felt red.

The beast purred contently.

His heart felt light.

[magical-grrrl-mavis]

Sibling AU

because apparently this is a thing I've got on my mind now. (Probs won't be writing it any time soon but I have a primal need to info dump, and maybe I'll inspire someone else.)

Characters

Eda Clawthorn - Canon Eda: She's Eda. She loves all 3 Noceda girls but is closest to Luz

King - Canon King: He's King. 

Lucia Noceda - Beta Luz: Her weirdness is sorta toned down compared to Canon Luz. She's a bit more angsty. Reeeaaaally needs to smile more. Absolute D E L I N Q U E N T.  Get’s into trouble on purpose, be gay do C R I M E. Feral. Totally down to help with Eda’s less honorable schemes. Tries to seem more “over it” and grown up but is secretly just as enthusiastic as Luz. She's more closed off, her life’s been a bit harder. Very protective of Luz and Laia, DO NOT fuck with them in front of her.  Ready and willing to throw down. Deeeeeefinitely not hopelessly in love with Amelia. Age 17

Luz Noceda - Canon Luz. You know her, you love her. Age 14

Laia Noceda - Pilot Luz: Just as weird as Luz but a bit more laid back and shy. Doesn’t like putting herself out there quite as much as Luz, but gets dragged into her schemes a lot. Huge nerdy bookworm but perfectly capable of being flirty. Actually pretty confident with Anna. Too precious for this world. Is babey. Sits back and observes her sisters antics bc she's actually got a little sense. Age 13

Amelia Blight - Beta Amity: Cold but F E R A L. Doesn't even try to be the little miss perfect anymore but will pretend in front of parents. C H A R I S M A. Will fuck you up. Sorta pyromaniac but not like crazy, just good w/ fire magic and feels calm when she watches flames. Will burn you to ash if you hurt Amity or Anna. Rolls eyes at the twins antics. “You were going to do WHAT with Amity’s diary!?” Lotta internalized shit from her treatment by her parents. THIS CLOSE to burning down Blight manor. “If I have zero friends nobody can hurt me”. Lucia really throws a wrench in that plan. Toooootally not madly in love with Lucia. Natural greenhead but constantly dyes her roots brown as a form of small rebellion and solidarity with Amity and Anna. Age 17

Edric Blight - Canon Edric: You know him. Age 16

Emira Blight - Canon Emira: You know her. Age 16

Amity Blight - Canon Amity: Our girl! Age 14

Anna Blight - pilot Amity: Is babey. Loves books. Shy and tries to stick silently to the background. Just so sweet and precious. PROTECC HER. Tries to do the right thing. Like, ALL her siblings do their best to protect her from her parents. Not good with people at all. Age 13.

Winona Park - Beta Willow: You've seen Dana’s drawing of her. This shady bitch. She knows all your secrets. She will use them against you. Likes a little trouble but doesn't get caught. Ever. By the time you figure out what rule she broke she's already won the game. Don't. Touch. Willow. T R O U B L E. Loner until Lucia came along. Just does not care about anything. Doesn't even try in school  but is still almost as good as Amelia. Not quite as powerful as Willow but still powerful. “What happens if I press this button.” Age 17

Willow Park - Canon Willow: You know her, stronk cinnamon roll. Age 14

Gus Porter - Canon Gus: Boy needs more character development. Age 12

(Story might not go quite like I'm describing it here but it's pretty close.)

Eda was going to eat King when they first met, they tell it like it's just some cute story.

Camilia was going to send both Luz and Laia to normal-person-camp but didn’t even try with Lucia bc she's clearly a lost cause. Lucia waited for the bus with them though, and she and Laia both followed Luz through the portal. Luz was the one who decided to stay on the isles, Laia just agreed bc she also hated the idea of camp, and being a witch sounded fun. Lucia agreed bc “well I'm not leaving my fucking siblings in another dimension on their own” but also was jumping up and down inside at the idea of being a witch.

Lucia and Laia were just vibing at the owl house during Witches Before Wizards because nobody told them shit.

Luz and Laia both went to the school in I Was a Teenage Abomination, Lucia didn’t bc “school? Why would I willingly go to school?” so she wandered off to town to do GOD knows what. Laia just hid in the bottom of the pot, but wandered off, Anna helped save her and get her out in the end. Later, at the covention, Laia gave Anna the “thanks pal” drawing.

Luz and Laia were both captivated by Eda’s magic lesson in Intrudor, Lucia was just hanging back with her arms crossed like she didn't care but inside she was going “I'm gonna be a witch! I'm gonna be a witch!”. Luz discovered the light glyph but Lucia came up with the idea of sticking it on the wall.

At the covention, Lucia saw Amelia and was actually gonna go over and be flirty bc Hot Witch Girl, but then she overheard her talking to Amity about her fighting Luz and instantly big sister mode. They got into a fist fight out back over “my sister’s better than yours.” their relationship after that is just Lucia constantly antagonizing Amelia and almost getting burned. Anna just stayed by the sidelines at the covention and Laia didn't see her until the very end, talked a bit and gave her the drawing b4 being dragged out by Eda.

Laia helped w/ the moonlight conjuring, but Lucia heard "night market" and sneaked off there. She didn't see Eda'z predicament but did run into Winona, who was making trouble and just being generally shady. Lucia helped her out with the shady business because why not and they were instantly friends, their friendship has a lot of Lucia going “you scare me sometimes.”

Laia went to the Library with Luz, she saw Anna just hanging out reading in the corner and immediately went over and sat by her. They were in Amity’s hideout sitting real close reading when Luz and the twins walked in, they left immediately, Anna red as a tomato.

The second Eda said body swap Lucia scooped Laia up and noped on out. It sounded fun to Lucia but for some reason she didn't feel comfortable subjecting Laia to that.

Laia and Lucia went with Eda when she talked to Bump abt enrolling them and just sat back and watched Eda clean up all her messes. Lucia was impressed.

Laia was just as excited to go to Hexside as Luz. But Lucia hated school, even magic school. She only decided to go to keep an eye on her sisters and fuck with Amelia.

Neither Laia note Lucia were interested in going to the Grudgby match. Laia stayed home and read (on the couch. She was so engrossed in her book she missed king walking out with half-transformed Eda) and Lucia went to hang out with Winona.

Laia and Anna worked together on a book for the writing contest. It won. Lucia wrote one too but it git rejected for being too graphic. It made one of the judges who read it start seeing a therapist.

All three went to the knee. Lucia went along with Eda'z crazy teaching because it seemed hysterical to her crackheaded mind, she missed the whole Slitherbeast thing bc she was off with moss in her ears, dirt over her eyes and pine needle mulch in her nose. Laia was incredibly disappointed that Anna wasn't there with the other blights. She didn't even try to stop Luz from stealing the wand bc she knew she wouldn't listen. She was just as impatient as Luz, just not rash. They figured out the ice glyph together.

Lucia chose the bard track in First Day bc she wants to be in a band. Laia couldn't choose just like Luz and got stuck in the Oracle Coven. Lucia got caught just like Luz and ended up in the detention track, Barkus was a bit more wary about her. She helped fight the basalisk I guess. Laia just stayed in class. Both Luz and Laia got to be in every track, Lucia chose only Bard, Beast Keeping and Illusion.

When Luz and co were shrunk at the carnival, Laia was off hanging out with Anna, and Lucia was doing something crackheaded with Winona. (Seriously, you could write such good fluff fics about Anna and Laia, and insane crack fics about Lucia and Winona.)

Idfk what Laia and Lucia were up top in Understanding Willow

Anna and Laia went to Grom together. They're such unassuming people that the only people who noticed were Eda and King bc they helped Laia get ready, and Amelia. Who had very mixed feelings bc 1- that's Lucia's sister, but 2- she actually kinda likes Laia and Luz.

Lucia begged Luz to let her take over as Grom queen but no dice. She ran to help too when Luz ran off but was too slow, she didn't get there until the very end of the dance.

Look, Laia is too much of a bookworm to care about sports and Lucia just thinks their stupid, so neither of them watched Luz play in Wing it like Witches.

Eda made cloaks for all 3 girls. Lucia and Laia were in the wrong year to go on the field trip to the emperor's palace. After school Laia went to the library with Anna and Lucia went to hang out with Winona. Laia and Anna fell asleep reading in Amity's secret room and Lucia and Winona lost track of time hanging out, neither got home until the next morning, and they found Luz crying on the floor.

Imagine with me, all 3 noceda girls breaking into the conformatorium to save Eda. All three wailing on Belos, Laia with a fuck ton of glyph papers, Luz with Eda's staff and some glyphs, and Lucia with a red aluminum bat covered in glyphs. They don't beat him but they do a lot more damage than just chiping his mask.

Imagine all 3 sisters agreeing silently to destroy the portal. For Eda.

[theradioghost]

what books did u get ? i rly need to get back into reading more now school is over

oh man. so I’ll give you what I bought & then I’m also gonna throw in some similar books that I have already read just because I can actually vouch for the quality of those

(brief note that my main qualifications when I was looking for books, besides not wanting YA, was that 1. they were not about straight cis white men and/or 2. they had particular appeal to one of the areas of sf&f that I have a particular fondness for and/or 3. they cost under five bucks. so there’s a lot of diverse lit, and a lot of novellas, and a lot of urban fantasy wizards who are also detectives/rebellious angels and or demons/necromancy/dragons/stuff that is explictly Lovecraftian adaptations but takes the piss out of Lovecraft/anything on this list/anything published by Tor)

new books that I have read:

(coming back to update this as I get through these books)

the Lovelace & Wick series by Jennifer Rainey – this is the Demon Husbands one I’ve been yelling about. Two gentleman demons in love – a Faustian tempter and a bringer of catastrophes – are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the work they do for hell, while also being forced to contend with new and dangerous enemies. Set in a vaguely-steampunk 1890s Massachusetts. Also includes monster-hunting steampunk scientist lesbian wives.

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn – fourteen months after a disastrous failed ritual, disgraced blood witch Harrietta Lee gets offered a ridiculously lucrative job quietly recovering a stolen artifact for a young member of a powerful magical family, and promptly finds out that this is too good to be true. Also she keeps meeting scary, hot women. Instantly the only wisecracking urban fantasy PI named Harry that my heart has any room for. (This one’s a bit Spicier than my usual fare but the author actually includes a list of content warnings including page numbers at the front of each book, which you can view with the preview option on the Amazon page.)

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw – A kid hires London PI John Persons to kill his stepfather. The first catch is that the stepfather is a Lovecraftian horror. The second catch is that Persons is too. This is like, the noir-est horror I’ve ever read and that’s something I am very into. 

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark – An urban fantasy police procedural set in an alternate 1912 Cairo, in which two government officials are sent to deal with a strange, malevolent spirit in the midst of political upheaval as Egypt’s women demand universal suffrage. There’s a free short story prequel to this on tor.com called “A Dead Djinn in Cairo“ that’s worth reading first.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone – high fantasy with a black protagonist, in which Tara Abernathy, a disgraced magic user and rookie associate in an internationally renowned necromancy firm, is assigned to resurrect a city’s murdered patron fire god – but first, with the help of a chain-smoking priest and a vampire-addicted servant of Justice Herself, she has to track down his killer.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey – in an alternate history where the 1910 “Hippo Bill” passed, Winslow Remington Houndstooth, an ex-rancher out for revenge, is hired to travel north with a ragtag crew – a con artist and pickpocket, a demolitions expert with a proclivity for poisoning, the most dangerous contract killer in the country, and the very man who ruined his life – and take on the dangers of the massive swamp that was once the Mississippi river, a place ruled over by deadly feral hippos and a homicidal riverboat gambling king.

or, essentially, a swamp-based heist Western with a cast including a British-East Asian bisexual man, a black nb person, an unashamedly fat woman, and a pregnant Latina lesbian, and also their pet hippos. Listen just go ahead and get the version with both stories in it

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh – Tobias has lived in the woods as long as anyone can remember; long enough that the nearby town tells stories of the Green Man, the spirit-king of the forest, who dwells in the trees. These stories are truer, and far more dangerous, than anyone but Tobias knows – so when friendly, handsome, curious Henry Silver buys up the neighboring Greenhollow Hall and starts investigating the local folklore, Tobias will have to decide whether to sacrifice the only life he has known for centuries, or the first person he has loved in all that time.

not-new books that I have read:

idk if you don’t know about the Wayfarers series, the first of which is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but it is an absolutely stellar bit of sci-fi very much based around ideas of found family and discovering your own identity and place in the universe and love and compassion and stories based around sweet slice-of-life stuff in a scifi universe with lots of fun aliens and it is so very queer and so very heartwarming and all three books (which each have different casts, although the characters in all three are connected to one another and sort of cameo across all the books) are fantastic.

Urban Dragon by J.W. Troemner – Dragons are supposed to be ruthless, unpredictable, deadly, selfish creatures. So why is it that Rosa Hernandez seems to be able to keep her best friend Arkay in check? How did Arkay, a shape-changing dragon with lightning at her command, end up being found alone and starving and with no memory of her past by a homeless woman? And as evidence mounts that someone is hunting down supernatural beings, who can they trust? (I stumbled across this while looking for urban fantasy on TV Tropes and BOY am I glad I did. Good if you like close friendships between queer women or the enemies-to-lovers trope)

The Merry Spinster by Daniel Mallory Ortberg – of course I was going to read Daniel Ortberg’s short story collection, are you kidding me. Not “””darker””” fairy tale retellings, but fairy tales as often very surreal, psychological horror. Read this if you want to totally ruin “The Velveteen Rabbit” for yourself.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – historical fantasy set in the early-20th-century Orthodox Jewish and Middle Eastern immigrant communities of NYC, about the strange friendship that springs up between a bitter jinn trapped in a mortal body and a masterless golem living among humans. and it gave me feelings.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle – a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Horror at Red Hook” from the perspective of a black man. One of the better pieces of horror I have ever read.

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff – a very different take on a similar concept to The Ballad of Black Tom, wherein a mid-century black Midwestern family find themselves mixed up in the plans of a bunch of cultists and set out to disentangle themselves from this whole cosmic-horror mess. Apparently Jordan Peele is adapting this into a TV show, so I’m stoked for that.

new books that I have not read:

(& also a couple that are just books I want, and some that I just haven’t read yet but got free from the Tor monthly ebook club, which is very much worth joining)

Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield– I’m just going to let the official blurb speak for this one because there is absolutely no way I could improve on it

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark – New Orleans-based steampunk fantasy about an airship captain and a stowaway who talks to orishas.

Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw – Apparently several authors have written standalone works in this series, and Cassandra Khaw’s aren’t chronologically the first, but I love Cassandra Khaw and “chef for ghouls and pencil-pusher for the Ten Chinese Hells is forced to solve an inter-pantheon murder mystery” just sounds so good to me.

Bones and Bourbon by Dorian Graves – Cursed half-huldra PI is forced to help out his little brother and the demon who shares his body, and then everything goes wrong. Feat. carnivorous unicorns.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova – reluctant bruja attempts to rid herself of her magic and instead plunges her entire family into magical trouble. YA.

Robbergirl by S. T. Gibson – WLW retelling of The Snow Queen from the perspective of the bandit princess. YA.

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages – slightly-fantastical historical lesbian noir novella set in the burgeoning 1940s gay club scene in San Francisco.

The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang – admittedly caught my eye because the cover art reminded me of Moribito, which I adore. East-Asian-inspired epic fantasy which I believe has a nonbinary protagonist.

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire – I’ve been neglecting getting around to October Daye way, way too long considering how much I love Seanan McGuire and urban fantasy, but my mom started reading this and that pushed me over the edge because damn it, yes I want to read her take on the Wizard Detective genre that I have such a weakness for.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – this was recommended to me in a Tumblr post listing interesting, diverse fantasy, and I’ve been into high fantasy political intrigue lately.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg – came across this in a Twitter thread about fantasy worlds with unconventional and interesting magic systems. A newly graduated student of magic is bitter about being sent to learn paper-crafting magic rather than working with metal, until Murder Stuff Happens. YA.

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett – queer fantasy sequel to The Tempest, with Miranda as protagonist.

Witchmark by C. L. Polk – post-WWI gaslamp fantasy MLM romance about a male witch in hiding, working as a doctor; the reviews seem to indicate people think it’s more ‘delightful’ than ‘literary’ but apparently it is pretty fucking delightful.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard– East Asian WLW retelling of Beauty and the Beast and also one of them is a dragon.

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys – another one of the rash of new Lovecraft adaptations that are turning perspectives around, this being one where the citizens of Innsmouth are the protagonists. Also has a really good short story prequel you can read for free on tor.com.

also I just feel like mentioning that I’m stupidly excited for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir to come out this fall because the review they’ve decided to put at the top of every blurb is “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” (not my exclamation mark) and I don’t know how anyone could more perfectly craft something to my tastes.