#fantasy authors of color

[lexwritesgayshit]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm really confused by what people consider cozy fantasy. Even *if* you can set aside the rampant casual racism and ableism in the genre (which....how?), where is the cozy factor in a book described as a brutal war tale? And why are we categorizing Dianna Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle as cozy fantasy? Did we read the same book? Did we forget what actually happened to the prince, and all of the things studio ghibli wayyy toned down in the movie?

To each their own, but I think people confuse comfort stories with coziness. You can have the most fucked up books be comfort stories, but coziness has (or used to have) a certain meaning and vibe, and I think we're losing that. If you tell me a book is cozy fantasy yet the main character is racist against both her own mixed family as well as toward herself, and she's forcing her "help" on the love interest while simultaneously saying shit like "I didn't sign up to be a baby sitter", where is the cozy element? The fact that they're running errands together and eating sweets and falling in love for some reason while still treating each other poorly? I'm stressed! I'm not feeling cozy right now. WHO finds this cozy, and why????

I want to read a cozy fantasy by an author of color, preferably a disabled author of color (or an abled author of color who doesn't pump the story full of ableism) and I want to know if the whole fucking genre has these issues or if it's just the way white people write "cozy" fantasy. If anyone has recs please send them my way (and yes, I'm going to tag this cozy fantasy, not to upset people who love the genre, but because I want book recs. I need to believe that there are good things happening in this genre, too)

[safirefire]

legendborn really is so perfect for every single person who reads fantasy about ancient magical systems and wonders how it’s remotely possible that every single person involved from the dawn of time is white and there’s only one system of magic practiced

[aninkwellofnectar]

FREE FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION STORIES ON OFFER IN THESE PROMOS

This month I am promoting In Pursuit of Perfection in two separate newsletter promos via BookFunnel.

The theme of this promo is MORALLY COMPLEX CHARACTERS.

If you like your fantasy stories to follow morally complex characters with heroes that have grave flaws and villain that have reasonable points then you might want to check out the offerings in this promo. As mentioned every story here is completely free, the only stipulation is that you must become a newsletter subscriber in order to claim the story.

The theme of this promo is EPIC WOMEN, especially if they're intelligent or clever!

This one might appeal specifically to my follower base but if you like fantasy fiction full of intelligent women who impact and drive the plots of the stories they’re in then you’ll definitely want to check out the stories offered on this list. Again, all completely free, only stipulation is that you must become a subscriber.

[lucyslenses]

This is Damen.

Shot with Street Candy Psychedelic Street 400.

[beareadsbookz]

For those who can’t see the images

Book recommendations for hispanic/latinx heritage month:

My Chicano Heart by Daniel A Olivia’s

Lineage Of Rain by Janel Pineda

The Storyteller’s Death by Anna Dávila Cardinal

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado

[elvensemi]

Okay you've just had the worst day of your life, now to finish it off you just have to fall asleep alone with a terrifying spider man. Easy, right? 

The Demon Isles is a erotic, second-person monsterfucking romp through the dangerous Demon Isles. The second person character is referred to by  gender neutral terminology and they/them pronouns, physical appearance left ambiguous. Sex scenes have two versions with  different sets of genitalia for the main character. Tags and content warnings are available for each chapter.

[Monsterloving] [Stranded on an Island] [Humanoid Monsters] [Fantasy Australia] [Gender neutral main character]

Parts 1-3 available on Patreon now!

Hi, I'm ElvenSemi and I write webnovels online through Patreon (available monthly) and Ko-fi (available for one-time purchase)! Two updates (SFW and NSFW) every month, plus bonus and behind the scenes content, polls, and more.

Interested in what I'm hawking but no $$$? I'm also on Ao3! There are two works there set in Oceanside, the same setting as this story.

[queerbookdragon]

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!

[eveangeline666]

ART DUMP!!!! desc and explanation for all pics on the bottom!

-my surrealism art final for school, don’t judge me it’s so rushed 😔😫

-eyeball and glass ball: sphere assignment for art class 👁️👁️ the eye is BAD

-the bee and the bee 🐝 , new additions to my bug series! Should I write lore? Comment and vote! ⬇️⬇️

-silly little doodle of a silly little gal 🫶🏻

-a fire elf 🔥 from my ongoing book (“Plena Vita: The Planet Twisted By Time”) I’ve been writing for years! She needs a name! (Should I post about my book?) 📖

-idk a weird bubble robot girl 💀

-a new character I designed in first period today! She’s a bunny who loves bows 🎀🐰 and she’s a nurse who specializes in potions! (📖?) Help me name her! What color should her hair be? (Little doodles of her flustered and angry included! She puffs up her cheeks and her hair gets poofy when she’s upset!)

[zacwuv]

My Glittering Friend (Erotica/Tentacles/MonsterxHuman/3k)

In a large and mysterious mansion resting at the edge of a nameless city, there lives a woman named Ani Berlough with rather particular tastes. The entire first floor of her home is dedicated to shelves of books, trinkets, and jars full of oddities. A large mahogany table is at the center, and there she usually sits to organize and summarize each new item or friend she has acquired.

Ani has many travelers and traders that she works with, though she would never mention them to one another. Their relationships are a pact between each other, and their trades are secrets just for them. Ani has solidified this as a fundamental promise before any work can be done, because - unfortunately - what she desires from some traders can at times be a problem for other traders to be aware of.

She’s a powerful woman with powerful needs. And now, sitting in silence at her mahogany table simply writing notes, one of those needs slowly builds and thickens at the base of her stomach. Her thighs twitch, then fold over each other.

She huffs at what’s left to be done of her work and glances across her shelves, though there’s not a soul in sight. No visitors today, no travelers, no traders...Hm. Since it’s early afternoon, she doubts any will come.

Ani knows herself well. She’s already distracted, so she may as well…yes, she may as well.

Ani places her pencil down and flips her light burgundy hair over her shoulder. The tall, admittedly ostentatious, chair she sits in scrapes against the flooring as she pushes it back to stand, and the sound echoes.

Some distance behind where she sits, there is a gaping hall between two bookshelves that reach the ceiling. The hall stays dark at all times. Only Ani can walk through. As she walks, she adjusts the belt holding her wrap-dress closed, excitement beginning to thrum down her arms all the way to her toes. The darkness grazes her skin in hello and she smiles in return.

Ani reaches a door that she habitually knows the location of. She pushes against it and closes her eyes against the bright afternoon sunlight. The door shuts silently behind her.

Her yard is a hub of her interests. She ignores all but the cave that sits at the base of a small mountain that she uses to grow particular herbs and flora. She prefers to be barefoot, so she makes sure to take the tending of her yard very seriously. The grass is soft between her toes as she walks toward the opening. Yellow flowers have been sporadically growing here in clumps, but they’re small and harmless, which is not what she can say about some other flora that attempts to grow in her gardens.

The yellow flowers rise in quantity as she crosses the caves’ threshold and walks deeper in the tunnel that the opening becomes.

Ani loves the shift from sunlight to blue luminescence that occurs when she passes a certain point of the tunnel. She breathes deeply in and feels the mint-like chill that tingles down her throat. God. She loves that feeling. Her pace picks up and the edges of her mouth can’t help but twitch upwards about her own child-like excitement.

The tunnel leads straight to an alcove that is softly glowing blue. The light emanating comes from clear-blue crystals that grow downwards from the ceiling of the space. Taking up about half of the floor below the crystals is a pond, and the soft shifting of the water creates fluctuating light of silvers and light blues against the walls of the alcove. It’s here that the yellow flowers truly take over, and they cover the rest of the free ground surrounding the pond. Ani treads across the flowers to reach the edge of the water and kneel before it. She knows they’ll grow back.

She flares out her dress around her legs, then leans her head over the water to stare down into it. Her breasts are large enough that they threaten to spill over the collar of her dress, but she pays it no mind. Her limits of indecency are incredibly contextual.

For a moment, all she can see is the blurry reflection of her face in the water. When something glimmering shifts beneath the surface, she smiles. The glimmering collects itself into a shape, almost like a silver fish swimming upwards. But what breaches the surface of the water isn’t a fish.

Something gelatin-like and almost see-through pops up in front of Ani’s face. It’s thin and rounded at the tip, but acquires girth at Its base as it extends higher from the water, and keeps rising until what you can see of its bottom is as thick as Ani’s thigh, like the tentacle of a very large octopus. The light from the crystals make it seem to have an aqua tint. Along with the sparkle-like shine that’s across Its form, when It moves, It shifts between being clear as water, then clear and blue, and glittering like a crystal all at once.

“Good afternoon, Dear,” Ani says, looking up at the tip, eyes sparkling. It wiggles up and down, like a little wave, then leans in close. She kisses the tip, and a tiny vibration ripples across Its surface. Ani giggles. “How have you been today?”

Ani doesn’t notice two other tips breaching the waters’ surface, since she’s distracted by placing kisses across the one that’s in front of her. They grow from either side of the first, and travel low and sneakily to the side of Ani’s knees. They wrap suddenly around her ankles and pull forward, effectively flipping Ani onto her back with an, “Oop!” as she lands, cushioned by the flowers and the soft dirt beneath them.

“Getting right to it, hm?” Ani laughs. The smaller ones get to work on snapping off her belt and slipping off her underwear, easily accessible since her loose wrap-dress now lies gaping open. Meanwhile, the main entity rises tall above Ani, practically looming over her, Its base now thicker than Ani’s body. But this doesn’t make Ani nervous. She only smiles wide and purrs, “Wonderful.”

Read the rest on my website here (1 8+ only!!)

[rrcraft-and-lore]

The Doors of Midnight (from @torbooks and @gollancz) virtual tour kicks off tomorrow!

June 27 & 28 - We've got @FantasyBookCrit dropping a Q&A and The 8 Dragonslayer Myths You Didn't Know About - Listicle

June 29 - Liver interview with @KaysHiddenShelf at 12pm ET.

July 1 - Ch. 1 Excerpt - FanFiAddict, Before We Go Blog, SFF Insiders & Fantasy Book Critic

July 10 - The Essential Hero's Toolkit - Listicle on FanFiAddict

July 11 - Tales from the Bridge Podcast

July 13 - JCM Berne live interview at 3pm ET

July 17 - Text Q&A on JamReads

July 19 - Storyline Sessions Podcast

July 20 - Page Chewing Podcast live interview at 7pm ET

July 24 - People Behind the Pages w/ Nicholas W. Fuller live interview at 9pm ET

July 25 - Text Q&A on SFF Insiders

July 26 - 5 Famous Temptresses Across Myths - Listicle on SFF Insiders

July 30 - Julianna Caro video interview

July 31 - Bald&Balding live interview at 7pm ET

August 2 - A History of Impenetrable Heroes - Essay on Grimdark Magazine

August 5 - Text Q&A on Fiction Fans Podcast Blog

August 6 - Late Night Talk with Stephen Aryan (the Age of Darkness, and the Age of Dread trilogies, The Judas Blossom)

August 7 - Under the Radar SFF Podcast

August 8 - Text Q&A on Before We Go Blog

August 9 5 Comparative Tales of Lovers Lost - Listicle on Before We Go Blog

August 11 - The Fantasy & Sci-Fi Fanatic's Podcast

August 13 - OWWR Pod and Launch Party Livestread feat. Jim Butcher and Michael Mammy on FanFiAddict (Youtube) and SFF Insiders (Twitter/X) at 7pm ET

August 19 - Lisa does Life & Not So Secret Bookaholic live interview at 2pm ET

August 21 - BellTube live interview at 9pm

Want to buy something special:

If you're in the US and would like a signed hardcovers, @Loyaltybooks is running a signed book pre order campaign!

If you're still not convinced, see what other authors have said about The First Binding and The Doors of Midnight!

[luciaherrerawriting]

Currently writing my first novel, an urban fantasy about a group of queer Mexican boys who gain Magical Girl-esque powers, fight the forces of evil, and fall in love

[aninkwellofnectar]

THE ESSENCE OF THE EQUINOX 💫

Experience the thrilling tale of a star princess's journey through intrigue, danger, and betrayal in the first two books of this enthralling trilogy.

WHEN THE STARS ALIGHT 🌟

The court of a heartless demon king is no place for a star princess. Caught in the middle of his two sons' deadly rivalry, she must use her wits to survive. But can she sway them to her side and save herself from an uncertain fate?

WE WILL DEVOUR THE NIGHT 🌙

The fate of Laila's dynasty hangs in the balance as she battles against those who seek to take control through fear and prejudice. Join her on her journey back into the kingdom of chaos, where old lovers are rekindled and emotions run high.

You can buy the series here or alternatively become an ARC reader.

[lucyslenses]

Long Day.

Shot with Kodak Portra 400.

[b-a-pigeon]

Fell & I are now accepting beta reader applications for our fantasy novel, Hierarchy of the Unseen!! Read on for details:

What is HotU? It’s a collaborative fantasy novel written by B. Pigeon and Fell Marsh, following a devout demon hunter and a shiftless demon who must team up to avert the apocalypse. It explores themes of faith, power, light & darkness, and alienation & assimilation.

What should I know going in? HotU has some pretty dark themes; the demons manipulate, torment and kill humans. There are some pretty graphic references to death & dead bodies, arson, imprisonment, abuse, torture, etc. We're happy to elaborate in greater detail on request.

What kind of feedback are you looking for? The purpose of beta reading is to get average readers’ opinions, so we’re mostly interested in your honest thoughts about what worked and didn’t work for you! We’ll provide some broad questions about characters, plotting, worldbuilding, etc. but these are optional.

What’s the timeline? Now through March 19!

How do I sign up? Fill out this 4-question Google Form & we'll get back to you soon, or just DM me :)

[queerbookdragon]

I'm thinking of making (yet another) sideblog, or even a new main blog, for book-related shit. This is technically supposed to be my book blog but I end up posting everything that doesn't fit into other sideblogs, and I'd love to interact more with whatever kind of book community still exists on tumblr. It's been like six years since I read an entire (new) book, and I want to share with others!

If anyone here is still in booklr/generally has a book blog, what are your thoughts? Also, please share with me your book/writing blog so I can check it out! :D

PS. I'm tagging a few of my favorite genres so that I can hopefully find people who read/write for them, but I'm open to just about any genre. I'd also love to find more readers/writers of color.

[virtuouslibertines69]

“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact: One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.” ― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream