#kai tesh

[fantasyescapism]

LGBTQ+ Book Recs

Most of these are sapphic. If they are part of a series I just put the first book. I'll probably keep updating as I read more. A couple of these count as both sci-fi and fantasy.

Fantasy

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

Girls at the Edge of the World by Laura Brooke Robson

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

North is the Night by Emily Rath

Practical Rules for Cursed Witches by Kayla Cottingham

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland

The Scapegracers by H.A. Clarke

The Shattered Lands by Brenna Nation

The Society For Soulless Girls by Laura Steven

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Spirit Bears Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy

The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

The Valkyrie's Daughter by Tiana Warner

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Sci-Fi

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Crier's War by Nina Varela

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

[torpublishinggroup]

We're advertising Witch King by Martha Wells, a demon fantasy novel for fans of N.K. Jemisin, Emily Tesh, and The Untamed.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Waking in a watery tomb after untold years, Kai, a prince among demons, a king among witches, must solve a murder—his own. But first he must gather any allies that still live and navigate a changed landscape.

He should be a hero. After all, he helped save the world—but his void-black eyes and demonic powers have always made people hate and fear him. As Kai investigates, he discovers that the world that cost so much to save may just be in danger again.

[theinquisitxor]

Mid-Year Book Freak-out Tag 2024

Another year, another Mid-Year Book Freak-out Tag! I believe this set of questions originated on booktube, but I see it circulate around all social media. I usually do this set of questions every year. Feel free to copy/paste the questions if you're interested!

I try to only answer 1 book per question (but sometimes I can't decide) and I try to only talk about a book once throughout the set of questions too, so I'm not too repetitive, but it doesn't always happen!

1.Best Book so far in 2024: I'm going to have to say Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I read this on audio back in January, and it's stuck with me since. I bought a physical copy and have been reading & marking up the book over the past few weeks. I'm not a religious person, but this book could be my bible lol.

A close runner up is North Woods by Daniel Mason, and the Beartown series by Fredrik Backman.

2.Best Sequel you've read so far in 2024: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. This series is just so fun and exactly the type of book I like to read.

3.New Release you haven't read yet, but want to: Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel. I really enjoyed her debut, Kaikeyi and she's an author on my radar now. I'm also interested in Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland.

4.Anticipated Release for the second half of the year: The new T.Kingfisher book, A Sorceress Come to Call in August, as well as A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft later in the fall.

5.Biggest Disappointment: The Atlas Complex, the third and final book to the Altas series by Olivie Blake. This was a big disappointment and let-down :(

I also found Song of the Huntress and A Winter's Promise to be disappointments this year. Both were books I was anticipating liking a lot, but was let down.

6.Biggest Surprise: The Throne of the Five Winds / Hostage of Empire trilogy by SC Emmett. This became a new favorite fantasy series, and I went into the first book without much of an expectation, but was surprised by how much I liked it.

7.Favorite New Author: I did not read many new (new to me, or debut) authors this year so far, but I did enjoy reading the Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh. So I would say Emily Tesh is a new favorite.

8.Newest Fictional Crush: usually I struggle with this question, but this year was easy 😂. It's easily Zakkar Kai from The Throne of the Five Winds without no doubt. Takshin from the same series is also a contender!

9.Newest Favorite Character: Komor Yala from The Throne of the Five Winds, she was such a great main character, and had such a quiet strength and intelligence that made her an instant favorite.

10.Book that made you cry: The Wall by Marlen Haushofer had me crying by the last page. I might not make everyone cry, but it certainly made me emotional.

11.Book that made you happy: A Fragile Enchantment by Alison Saft was one of the first books I read this year, but it was so delightful and had me smiling throughout. I read it in a day and couldn't put it down.

12.Most Beautiful Book you've bought/acquired this year: The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape by Katie Holton is such an artistic and unique book.

13.Book you need to read by the end of the year: I've been meaning to do a re-read of the Pellinor series by Alison Croggon for a few years now, maybe I'll get to it this year

[fulcrumstardust]

books wrap up 2024 📚

here's my bodycount, let me know if you've read some of these (and what you thought!!)

Ball Lightning - Cixin Liu

A Far Wilder Magic - Allison Saft

Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga, #6) - Pierce Brown

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (London Highwaymen, #2) - Cat Sebastian

Certain Dark Things - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) - Tamsyn Muir

Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2) - Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #3) - Tamsyn Muir

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) - Suzanne Collins

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington #1) - David Weber

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1) - Shelley Parker-Chan

He Who Drowned the World (The Radiant Emperor, #2) - Shelley Parker-Chan

The Hollow Places - T. kingfisher

Analee, In Real Life - Janelle Milanes

Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1) - Fonda Lee

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2) - Fonda Lee

Jade Legacy (The Green Bone Saga, #3) - Fonda Lee

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) - Heather Fawcett

Snowglobe - Soyoung Park

Bride - Ali Hazelwood

Nettle & Bone - T. Kingfisher

These Burning Stars (The Kindom Trilogy, #1) - Bethany Jacobs

Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh

The Familiar Dark - Amy Engel

The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson

Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1) - Brynne Weaver

The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1) - Thea Guanzon

🌟 Starling House - Alix E. Harrow 🌟 (this was my favorite!!)

The Bound Worlds (The Devoured Worlds, #3) - Megan E. O'Keefe

Wildfire (Maple Hills, #2) - Hannah Grace

We'll Prescribe You a Cat - Syou Ishida

the did-not-finish (RIP):

Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1) - Elsie Silver

Beacon 23 - Hugh Howey

We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire, #1) - Tehlor Kay Mejia

Aetherbound - E.K. Johnston

Bonesmith (House of the Dead, #1) - Nicki Pau Preto

Bright Young Women - Jessica Knoll

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Chokshi

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (Hart and Mercy, #1) - Megan Bannen

The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo

Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #1) - Lana Harper

Babel - R.F. Kuang

The Wings Upon Her Back - Samantha Mills

Not in Love - Ali Hazelwood

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted fandom challenge!

Since our numbers post earlier today, we've had more than 30 signups, including write-ins for 2 more fandoms, bringing the total of unlisted fandoms to 155 ... for now ...

At the top of the list we have a 3-way tie for 1st, a 5-way tie for 2nd, and a 6-way tie for third ...

5 Danny Phantom

5 For All Mankind

5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney

4 Ted Lasso

4 Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

4 Stanley Parable

4 Tortall

3 Greek Mythology/Religion

3 Bungo Stray Dogs

3 Call of Duty

3 Dragon Ball

3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb

3 Mummy (1999 franchise)

A single sign up could change all that ...

The rest below a cut for length -

2 Alan Wake/Remedyverse

2 Ghosts (TV)

2 Buffyverse

2 Cosmere

2 CSI

2 Detective Conan

2 Dracula

2 Dune

2 Firefly

2 Formula 1 RPF

2 Glee

2 Guardian (2018)

2 HBO War

2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP

2 Imperial Radch Series

2 Mob Psycho 100

2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

2 Persona Series: 3-5

2 Professional Wrestling

2 Riverdale

2 Saw

2 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab

2 Slow Horses

2 Stormlight Archive

2 Bear (TV)

2 Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros

2 Folk of the Air (Holly Black)

2 Radiant Emperor Series

2 Undertale

2 Venture Bros

2 Voltron

2 Wolf Pack

1 1670

1 a league of their own (TV series)

1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series)

1 Adventure Zone: Balance

1 Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across 8th Dimension

1 Adventures of Tintin

1 American Gods

1 Among Us

1 Artful Dodger

1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival)

1 Billabong - Mary Grant Bruce

1 Bioshock 1&2

1 Blue Beetle

1 Breakfast With Scot

1 Bunny - Mona Awad

1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF

1 Cabin Pressure

1 Cats the musical

1 Charlie's Angels (2019)

1 Cherry Magic

1 Chronicles of Narnia

1 Cobra Kai

1 Coffee Talk (Video Game)

1 Criminal Minds

1 Death Note

1 Dexter

1 Dice Punks (podcast)

1 Digimon

1 Dimension 20

1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett

1 Divergent

1 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds

1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast)

1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda)

1 Falsettos

1 Fargo FX

1 Farscape

1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16)

1 Five Nights at Freddy's

1 Friends at the Table

1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

1 Good Place

1 Grantchester

1 Green Creek

1 Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh

1 Grey's Anatomy

1 Grimm

1 Gundam (see below for details)

1 Hatchetfield

1 Hawaii 5.0

1 Hello From The Hallowoods

1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

1 Hollows - Kim Harrison

1 Honkai Star Rail

1 Horizon Zero Dawn

1 Horror

1 Inception

1 Inspector Morse

1 IT (Movies - Muschietti)

1 Jeff Satur - music videos

1 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

1 Julie and the Phantoms

1 Last Kingdom

1 Law and Order

1 Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix

1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes

1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)

1 London Spy

1 Lunar Chronicles

1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

1 Magnificent Seven

1 Mechanisms

1 Mrs. Davis

1 My Little Pony

1 Nancy Drew (CW Series)

1 Narcos (TV)

1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard

1 NU: Carnival

1 Omori

1 One Direction

1 Orphan Black

1 Outlast

1 Pacific Rim

1 Pairing (Casey McQuiston)

1 Re-Animator

1 Saint of Steel

1 Sex Education (TV)

1 Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler

1 Simon Snow Series

1 Skins (UK)

1 Slam Dunk

1 South Park

1 Starry Musical

1 Succession

1 Super Sentai

1 Sweeney Todd

1 Team Starkid

1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

1 Terror (TV 2018)

1 Three of Hearts

1 Tin Can Bros

1 Tower of God

1 True Detective

1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers)

1 Westworld (TV)

1 Yellowjackets

1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[autumnsaesthetics]

Cozy Queer Books 🍁

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldtree

Can't Spell Treason Without tea by Rebecca Thorne

The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O'Neill

A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Silver In The Wood by Emily Tesh

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

The Watchmaker of Filligree Street by Natasha Pulley

[llycaons]

SO. I've hit 14 books this year!! I do have a goodreads but it's kind of public so it's mutuals-only (feel free to ask!). but here's my list so far

babel by r.f. kuang

kindred by octavia butler

the goblin emperor by katherine addison

horse by geraldine brooks

spinning silver by naomi novik

kitchen by banana yoshimoto

deep as the sky, red as the sea by rita chang-eppig

the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro

annihilation by jeff vandermeer

the order of the pure moon reflected on water by zen cho

the mask of mirrors by m.a. carrick

black water sister by zen cho

the witch's heart by genevieve gornichec

mexican gothic by silvio moreno-garcia

I also attempted, but gave up on

the night tiger by yangsze choo (the stepsibling romance...I couldn't)

the tiger's wife by téa obreht (just a bit slow - may return to it)

song of the huntress by lucy holland (I just hated one of the leads so much 😭 my blood pressure skyrocketed every time it was her chapter)

these violent delights by chloe gong (WOW this book is for 15 year olds and also pretty pretentious and stupid to boot)

black sun by rebecca roanhorse (it did not grab me)

the black tides of heaven by neon yang (frankly this was a bad book)

silver in the wood by emily tesh (shut UPPPPP white rich british man!!!!!)

lucha of the night forest by tehlor kay mejia (very juvenile and an embarassingly heavy-handed 'drugs are evil' moral right off the bat. also just not very well written)

my reading map as of now

borrowed

ancillary justice - scifi isn't my usual genre but I was really intrigued by the sample I'd read, and I loved the raven tower by the same author. audiobook

sistersong - I had such a bad time trying to read song of the huntress I'm wary about this one but I do still want to try it. ebook

holds - physical books

gods of jade and shadow - I don't know much about this one but I do love a more modern take on folktales and I don't know much about mexican mythology

snow crash - I'll finish this eventually lol. another scifi

pachinko - sampled this ages ago. will it be good? idk. I was absorbed

salt fish girl - REALLY looking forward to this one. it says zero copies available so perhaps I will need to buy it 😭

warbreaker - a podcaster I listen to gave a glowing review and I've been meaning to get into brando sando for ages

lolita - lower on my priority list. I'd like to listen to the audiobook but maybe that would be harder. the only available copy is in spanish anyway

holds - audiobooks

warbreaker - I'll takewhatever arrives first. the waitlist is fucking. months long

pachinko - ditto. these are both 20+ hour audiobooks so maybe a physical book would be less tiring. maybe

wuthering heights - I want to know what everyone is talking about when they rave about their toxic doomed love

the final empire (mistborn #1) - another sanderson offering

the watchmaker of filigree street - I have been on the waitlist for so long for this one...

the water outlaws - please be good please please please

giovanni's room - long waitlist for this one too!!

on my list but not in my library

when a fox is a thousand - I want to read this one so bad I feel SICK. libby PLEASEEEE

piranesi - honestly this did not captivate me but it's so short. why not

sorcerer to the crown - only the second book of this series was available, oddly enough. is the second one so freestanding? is it so much better? I'd like to read them in order. lower on my list since it was a new addition

this is like 16 books and some of them are VERY long so I doubt I'll get to this entire list by the end of the year but it's so satisfying to look back and see how much reading I've done 😊 I've done more this year than I have in like, a decade and it's been so wonderful getting back into another long-beloved form of storytelling even if I don't get as obsessed with it as I used to in hs and middle school

[oflights]

2 & 26 for the bookish asks? 😊📚

hi!! thank you for these! 🥰

2. Favorite fantasy book(s).

oh man, i have a lot of favorites. i love Guy Gavriel Kay's books, even if i don't love him anymore. A Brightness Long Ago is still one of my all-time favorite books ever. i love Lent, by Jo Walton; i wish i could erase my memory and read that book for the first time over and over. for a recent one that i really, really loved, The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez absolutely blew me away, just rocked my world, cannot recommend it enough!

26. Favorite novella(s).

mmm i love novellas. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan absolutely crushed me, it was phenomenal. i also really loved the Silver in the Wood/Drowned Country duology (by Emily Tesh); i think i could read a ton of little bits and pieces in that world.

ask me book things! 📚

[traeumenvonbuechern]

My Queer Lit Readathon TBR

Banned Books: All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

Group Reads: Finna by Nino Cipri

Trans Joy: Joy, to the World by Kai Shappley and Lisa Bunker

??? (Choose Your Own Category): A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee (ARC)

M-spec: So This Is Ever After by F.T. Lukens

History: Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam

Host rec: Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li

Memoir: Pageboy by Elliot Page

Crime: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Enby MC or Author: Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

Intersectional: Keep Me Close by R.M. Virtues

Folklore: Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

Continued: Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

Short Stories: At Midnight, edited by Dahlia Adler

Sapphic: She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

Queer Friends: Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

[mellifiedman]

Okay, I'm going to for-real take advantage of having unlimited characters again and tell you my very important thoughts on all the media I've consumed in the last month-ish. We're blogging! We love blogging, right?

BOOKS

Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon: have you ever wished for a Guy Gavriel Kay novel that was way queerer, but also worse? Boy, have I got the book for you! It's clear that a lot of careful historical research went into this book, which I appreciate, but it doesn't make up for the fact that this book is an incredibly long exercise in writing multiple POVs that all kind of feel like the same boring, namby-pamby character, despite some surface-level angst (except for the scheming gay alchemist, who actually got to have some real moral conflict a few times). It's very clear early on that all of these little dweebs are going to make the most selfless and heroic choices possible at the end of the book, and they spend many hundreds and hundreds of pages riding a rail to just that conclusion. That being said, I can see this author writing an actual fantasy masterpiece in another 10 years, maybe?

The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling: this felt less like a real book and more like one of those extremely involved and gritty AU fanfics that people used to write for, like, Death Note. What if this couple you should hopefully already care a LOT about is in, uh...a cave? In space? A space cave? And they hate each other at first, but then they fall in love, and also only one of them is technically in the cave (the stronger one with the weirder hair color, still all according to anime plan [keikaku]). Also, it's psychological. The thing is, I don't actually care about these characters from a pre-existing media property, so I just thought this was an incoherent mess that didn't deliver on pretty much any count. If you want an actually good version of what this book was going for, just read a Patricia Highsmith novel with Alien on in the background or something.

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh: man, this one slapped. You could definitely come up with some cringey booktok-style "what if Ender's Game was ~sapphic~" pitch for this one, but thankfully it's also just a really good, crunchy, humanist sci-fi book. Honestly, my main issue with this one is that I read it so obscenely quickly that I'm not sure I absorbed everything. There are some little flaws I could complain about if I really wanted to, but this book nails what I'm looking for in this contemporary crop of queerer, more diverse, etc etc genre fiction, which is that it's a good fucking book first, and not just an affirmation of my own personal laundry list of moral beliefs (which, hey! It totally is that, too!). Thank you @storywonker for the rec - you're at the top of the genre fiction friendship pile right now! Feel free to look down and grind your heel into the necks of those below you! It's what I would do.

Cradle series, Will Wight: these books are sooooo dumb. I've read ten of them and loved every second. Cradle 4 life!!

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

In a lot of these fantasy sorts of books the guards (guarding the castle or as in this one a caravan or such) don’t get a lot of time, they’re just the steel to protect the main characters. But, in this book, Demane, one of the guards, as well as Captain Isa, are the main characters.

Demane is a demi-god, a product of the gods, who then retreated to heaven. He has quite the healing powers, and, is often labelled as a sorcerer. He uses them to protect the merchant caravan that he's travelling with. Between the two of them, can they keep those in the caravan alive?

There’s a ton of mythical-ness in here, as well as romance, and, the coolest part, just a hint of science fiction too. It’s very much a character driven novel, but that's okay because the characters were all totally amazing. A really fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh, or The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante

[the-dust-jacket]

Happy birthday and merry Christmas! Some suggestions based on what you've already got:

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (cozy fantasy romance)

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (magic school, colonialism, dragons)

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (mythopoeic futuristic sci-fi)

I’m Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle (funny, poignant fantasy)

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (high concept space opera)

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (Regency fantasy)

The Witch King by Martha Wells (dark epic fantasy)

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (speculative short stories)

The Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace (imaginative sci-fi/fantasy)

Babel by R.F. Kuang (historical fantasy, colonialism and translation)

The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley (dark, visceral sci-fi)

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (YA fantasy, intrigue and power)

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (sci-fi politics, diplomacy, and mystery)

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson (lyrical fantasy adventure novella)

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (war, romance, time travel, complex and beautiful)

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (a subversive take on Lovecraft)

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (haunting first-contact sci-fi)

Silver in the Woods by Emily Tesh (sweet and spooky fantasy romance novella)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (gritty fantasy, colonialism and bureaucracy)

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera (ambitious middle grade sci-fi on a generation ship)

If Found Return to Hell by Em X. Liu (demons, wizards, bureaucracy)

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu (YA sci-fi romance graphic novel)

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (YA fantasy, terrifying gods and dangerous friendships)

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (dark military sci-fi)

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Afrofuturust sci-fi novella)

IT IS WISHLIST TIME

.... Does anyone have any book recommendations? I'm trying to throw together a list I can give to people if they ask what I want for my birthday/Christmas and I THOUGHT I had a bunch of recommendation lists tagged but clearly my tagging system ... needs work. So. Help please? What I have so far:

Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) - already read Gideon

Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)

The City We Became (N. K. Jemisin) - LOVED the Broken Earth trilogy

Parable of the Sower and Bloodchild: And Other Stories (Octavia E. Butler)

An Unkindness of Ghosts (Rivers Solomon)

Babel (R. F. Kuang)

The Blood Trials (N. E. Davenport)

The Vanished Birds (Simon Jimenez)

The Three-Body Problem (Cixin Liu)

The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle)

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 1, English translation (Ryoko Kui)

Spy x Family Vol. 1, English translation (Tatsuya Endo)

Cat + Gamer Vol. 1, English translation (Wataru Nadatani)

[chaoticly-shy-dragon]

besties snarking at one another-

(press the picture for better resolution)

[sapphicbookclub]

23 sapphic books in 2023

Here’s a list of 2023 book releases with f/f pairings that you can add to your TBR and you can preorder now to support the authors!  

Science Fiction / Fantasy books:

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Ravensong by Cayla Fay

The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Lucha of the Night Forest Tehlor by Kay Mejia

The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom by Nina Varela

Contemporary romance books: 

Life is Strange: Steph’s Story by Rosiee Thor

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

Out of Character by Jenna Miller

What a Desi Girl Wants by Sabina Khan

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Girl Next Door by Cecilia Vinesse

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni

The Rules of Us by Jennifer Nissley

Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

May 2023 bring you even more sapphicness and books! 🎆🎇

[aplpaca]

I mean you can say some similar stuff about any popular author. Any popular author in any genre is gonna have sway in what other authors they support. That's not the death of a genre, that's just how popularity works, as annoying as it is. And again it's really not difficult to avoid him or people affiliated with him (I had to google younger authors he's affiliated with bc I don't know them off the top of my head like you seem to, and it turns out I've never read any of their stuff)

But like, I don't really care if you don't like Sanderson's stuff. Every author gets criticized for being "bad", but that's all just a matter of taste that's not really worth debating over to me. Also criticizing his work method is totally valid.

It still just seems super dismissive to write off a whole genre of thousands of modern authors bc of one dude, even if you consider that one person a production house and include those affiliated with him. I've entirely avoided reading his extended network of authors purely on accident, so it's definitely possible to do it on purpose. Hell if you go on r/fantasy and ask something like "people who don't like Brandon Sanderson, what would you recommend instead and why", or even just search for similar questions, you'll get dozens to hundreds of responses bc there are A Lot of people there who dislike his stuff and stuff similar to it yet still read a lot of sff and can give recs. I can list dozens of modern authors unrelated to him and with very different writing styles, plots, themes, and characterization just off the top of my head and actually now that I think about it autism brain says lists fun so some of them are below the cut now.

But yeah, like, I'm really not a fan of George RR Martin and "grimdark" fantasy stuff, and he's hella popular and there's a lot of stuff in that vein that's also popular, but I'm not gonna say grrm and his influence Ruined SFF (which is a claim I've seen multiple times), bc sff is a huge genre and it's pretty easy for me to avoid that kind of thing and find things i do enjoy despite the popularity of the stuff I don't. I just gotta do a small amount of research, which is the same for finding potential books in any genre

Robin Hobb

NK Jemisin

Martha Wells

Lee Mandelo

Nghi Vo

Victor LaValle

Helene Wecker

P. Djèlí Clark

Tochi Onyebuchi

Rivers Solomon

Yoon Ha Lee

Tamsyn Muir

Sofia Samatar

Tasha Suri

CL Clark

Shelley Parker-Chan

Emily Tesh

Rebecca Roanhorse

Kai Ashante Wilson

Susanna Clarke

Katherine Arden

Katherine Addison

Erin Morgenstern

Simon Jimenez

Akil Kumarasamy

Saara El-Arifi

Alexandra Rowland

ML Wang

Victoria Goddard

T Kingfisher

Juliet Marillier

Fonda Lee

brandon sanderson did to novels what the mcu did to movies

[cashmere-sweatsuit]

Being a Comprehensive* List of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Adults about Gay Men

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (bloody Napoleonic time travel, highly recommended)

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (excellent lighthearted scifi, highly recommended)

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (Victorian London and causality problems, highly recommended)

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley (Meiji Japan and more causality problems, highly recommended)

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (beautiful fairy story, highly recommended)

The Drowned Country by Emily Tesh (sequel to Silver in the Wood, also beautiful, highly recommended)

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher (love in a fantasy death trap. It's sweeter than it sounds. explicit. highly recommended.)

Widdershins by Jordan Hawk (bloody, explicit, yet somehow delightful lovecraftian murder mystery, highly recommended)

Dragon's Winter by Elizabeth A. Lynn (dark high fantasy, absolutely gorgeous)

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (old-fashioned high fantasy, gets very dark but ends well)

Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling (sequel to Luck in the Shadows, this one has the romance in it)

Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch (delightful, funny, explicit, fantasy romance. Highly recommend)

Spectred Isle by K. J. Charles (explicit, very funny romance, highly recommended)

The Magpie Lord by K. J. Charles (explicit, funny and highly recommended)

Sword Dance by A. J. Demas (explicit, not really fantasy but ancient Greece with the serial numbers removed, delightful, highly recommended)

Saffron Alley by A. J. Demas (sequel to Sword Dance, explicit, delightful, highly recommended)

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune (sweet and innocent modern fantasy, highly recommended)

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (explicit, fun, magic in the pre-WWI English aristocracy)

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen (weird west, main character is a bisexual trans man who doesn't figure that last part out until the second book, very bloody but very good, would recommend)

Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison (extremely well-written fantasy in an extremely homophobic setting, recommended for its beauty nevertheless)

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison (sequel to Witness for the Dead, excellent)

Spellbound by Allie Therin (magic oldtimey London. Cute! Would recommend)

Water Horse by Melissa Scott (very slow moving but beautiful fantasy, bisexual king defends his people from religious fanatics, would recommend)

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (gay trans Peter Pan with an interesting take on Neverland, would recommend)

Witchmark by C. L. Polk (WWI-inspired fantasy, interesting plot and sympathetic hero, would recommend)

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall (Sherlock Holmes homage, wild and hilarious, only incidentally gay but lots of fun, would recommend)

Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell (telepathic space soldiers, lightweight entertainment, would recommend)

The Half Life of Valery K (historical fiction, not spec fic, God help us all. Devastating. Beautiful.)

A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson (beautiful but tragic but then not tragic? guardedly recommended)

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson (also beautiful but actually tragic, guardedly recommended)

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi (brutal, smart post apocalyptic sci-fi, guardedly recommended)

The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff (sword-and-sorcery, falls into some exotic east tropes, guardedly recommended)

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi (extremely well-written dreamlike modern fantasy that will likely frustrate people who want a straightforward narrative, guardedly recommended)

Under the Whispering Door by T. J. Klune (emotionally draining but not tragic, guardedly recommend)

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany (extremely strange scifi, tragic, only recommended if you want to stretch your brain or if you are dedicated to reading the classics)

Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders by Aliette de Bodard (fine little book, doesn’t stand alone, one of the gay boys is evil, meh.)

Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff (workaday urban fantasy, somewhat dull, solid meh)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (a bit of a mess, straight couples get all the screentime, but ends happily. Meh.)

The Door into Fire by Diane Duane (like the Morgaine saga but cozy. Not the most compelling plot, but the gay couple is cute. Meh.)

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly (the plot is driven by homophobia, doesn't stand alone, bloody. Meh.)

City of Strife by Claudie Arseneault (diverse cast but boring, doesn't stand alone. Meh.)

The Dancers of Arun by Elizabeth A. Lynn (very strange book, thin plot, hero ends up with his brother, would not recommend)

The Root by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun (bury your gays. Very bloody. Would not recommend)

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows (Dull fantasy romance. Explicit. Might improve eventually. Did not finish it.)

The Heart of the Lost Star by Megan Derr (secondary world with no magic, decent story with terrible writing. Would not recommend)

The Last Sun by K. D. Edwards (bad writing, thin plot, too much rape, would not recommend)

Cagebird by Karin Lowachee (longer than it should be. Too much rape. Would not recommend)

Lava Red Feather Blue by Molly Ringle (no Pacific Islanders on a Pacific island, but the bad fairies have Hawaiian names and the heroes are Welsh. Would not recommend)

The Widening Gyre by Michael R. Johnston (like trying to read a videogame, very dull, would not recommend)

Not yet reviewed:

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Best Foot Forward by Celia Lake

Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale

Asterius & Thesius Walk into the Light by Aaron Fown

The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek

Ferry of Bones and Blood by Hailey Turner

Returning Heroes by Harry F. Rey

Blood Legacy by Tej Turner

The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt

Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White

Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans

Deadbeat Druid by David R. Slayton

Climbing the Date Palm by Shira Glassman

Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale

Potato Surprise by Angel Martinez

The Forgotten Dead by Jordan Hawk

The God Key by Simone King 

* If a book is missing from this list, kindly let us know, but remember that it must be: science fiction or fantasy, for adults, about a gay man. Bisexual men are included. Works in translation are included; however, please do not submit works that are only available via fan translation.