#i've also got yours for the taking by gabrielle korn in the arc pipeline but that's a december release

[funwithchickenjane]

did someone say speculative wlw !!

Amatka - Karin Tidbeck: a bizarre, poetic swedish dystopian where the heart of the novel is a heartbreakingly beautiful romance between two housemates.

Fractured Fairy Tales - Alix E Harrow: what if you were sleeping beauty and the evil queen was a milf? silly style but heartfelt fairy tale retellings. (series of novellas)

Jane Unlimited - Kristin Cashore: in an ode to creepy classic lit, one bisexual will face several speculative iterations of a mystery in a mansion. imagine glass onion with more dimensions.

Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue: lesbian fairy tale retellings, but this time it's a little sexier and a little more grim(m).

Our Lady of Endless Worlds - Lina Rather: lesbian nuns in space 2, but more the vibes of the nuns in the sound of music breaking the nazi cars. (series of novellas)

The Singing Hills Cycle - Nghi Vo : one (1) nonbinary monk collects the stories of the hottest, gayest women to walk the face of the (kind of?) jianghu. (series of novellas)

Siren Queen - Nghi Vo: evelyn hugo adjacent, but with like 300% more monsters, magic, and literal devil deals. exquisite vibes.

Small Game - Blair Braverman: horror/survival lesbians in a survival reality show gone wrong. not very super spec fic, but. i love them.

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson: parallel universe exploration workplace lesbians. takes a long stroll through some very fun genres while uncovering the truth of their world.

Spear - Nicola Griffith: arthurian lesbians.

also, not strictly wlw (not suggesting nonbinary characters are women lite) but playing around in the gender and sexuality are complex sandbox in a way some lesbians (me) might enjoy:

Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey: lesbian! librarian! cowboys!! in a wild west dystopia!!

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw: very dark little mermaid retelling that digs with both hands into the body horror and weird fiction pit.

Litenverse - Nino Cipri : what if ikea contained portals to another world. and what if your coworker was your very recent ex. (series of novellas)

I feel like I’ve been able to read so many speculative fiction wlw books in the past few years that I get a little frustrated when ppl complain that wlw relationships are always sidelined in stories. So I’m just gonna make a list of the ones I’ve completed, for posterity. There are so many interesting books out there and all of these deserve more attention.

To reiterate, this is speculative fiction (sci-if/fantasy) where the primary relationship is wlw.

Ash: Chinese and fae influenced retelling of Cinderella (+Huntress, a prequel)

A Restless Truth: historical magical murder mystery set on a Titanic sister-ship. This is the second book in a series but my favorite so far

Burning Roses: European fairy-tale/Chinese legend mashup featuring older ladies

Cinderella is Dead: YA fairy tale dystopia

Crier’s War: human x android enemies to lovers political intrigue

Even Though I Knew the End: supernatural detective noir, super quick and super fun

In the Vanisher’s Palace: Viet influenced Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is a dragon lady

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom: middle school age mythological fantasy adventure, I wish I had this growing up

Labyrinth Lost: bruja fantasy underworld adventure

Legends and Lattes: Simple and sweet DND inspired cafe AU

Once and Future: King Arthur but in space with ladies. Wish this one had been poly

Roots of Chaos series: high fantasy with dragons and so many queers.

Strictly No Heroics: the struggles of villain henchmen

The Abyss Surrounds us/The Edge of the Abyss: kaiju pirates, enemies to lovers

The Locked Tomb: wlw necromancers in space. Enemies to ???

The Luminous Dead: spelunking thriller set on another planet—this one is fucky everyone should read it

The Memory Librarian: short stories set in Janelle Monae’s android world

The Red Scholar’s Wake: space pirates, enemies to lovers, human x spaceship

The Space Between Worlds: inter dimensional corporate exploitation, handler x agent mutual pining, this one is so underappreciated

The Witch and the Vampire: YA vampire x vampire hunter

This is How You Lose the Time War: everyone knows this one

If you have any others please add, I’m always looking to grow my reading list