#u: lakelore

[deehollowaywrites]

I felt like dropping a book today! This giant-size collection of short stories pulls together stories previously found in my collections Current and Suspicious Country, as well as the Weird Florida stories that made it to publication by actual editors in the past.

There’s queerness in these stories, and a couple of introductions to the carnivorous water horses of Little Nothing. All in all, this book is a great intro to my Florida, real and imagined. All money made from it, over the course of its life, will be donated to Zebra Coalition in Orlando, a non-profit supporting queer young people.

[displayheartcode]

hiiiii do u know any books where the ocean is a heavy presence? not just a setting but rather a theme in the book? ive read the seas by samantha hunt & summer of salt and those r good but i want more emphasis on ocean. i just really love aquatic life/the sea in general and would love some fiction books that surround it :3 sry if this is a weird question, ty!!!

it's not weird! here are some books where bodies of water – seas, oceans, lakes, rivers, and the occasional pond – are featured heavily

feel free to add, people!

middle grade

sabriel by garth nix

deep wizardry by diane duane

the wedding planner's daughter by coleen murtagh paratore

paola santiago and the river of tears by tehlor mejia

the girl from the sea by molly knox ostertag

greenwitch by susan cooper

the coming storm by regina m hansen

young adult

the dark tide by alicia jasinska

the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater

a far wilder magic by allison saft

lakelore by anna-marie mclemore

the wicked deep by shea ernshaw

impossible by nancy werlin

monsters born and made by tanvi berwah

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake

adult

the lake of dead languages by carol goodman

into the blue by pene henson

the house in the cerulean sea by tj klune

the ten thousand doors of january by alix e harrow

the starless sea by erin morgenstern (the sea is made of honey so it counts!!!)

ninth house by leigh bardugo

a river enchanted by rebecca ross

into the drowning deep by mira grant

[a-grayscale-galaxy]

OK so it’s been three years and it’s two am right now but the problem I’m currently having is that my queer book recs sucked so I’m adding more. I didn’t do any research for this I’m going off vibes from whenever I read these books. 

Before we start let’s go basic:

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson should have been on this list to begin with. It’s objectively not the most hinged of books but it does live in my brain. 

Anything by Nina LaCour but especially We Are Okay and You Know Me Well make me kind of feral. In very, completely different ways, but still. 

Also Loveless by Alice Oseman came out like two months after I posted this. I LOVED loveless it’s so good and perfect because that’s just how Alice does it!!!! literally I believe in love now.

Okay now we can have some fun: 

My favorite book of the year (and yes, I know it’s only august, and yes, I know nothing will top it) goes to Man o’ War by Corey McCarthy. You will know about this book specifically if you live in my brain because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it. I’m still looking for ways to get a forever copy to this day because I love it so fucking much. Just read it. like don’t think only read. 

This is buzzy in the queer world but I also loved Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore. A little magical realism a little t4t a little learning to love yourself. What more could you honestly ask for. 

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar also hit so right. Like the surface story was so good and sweet and perfect but also like. I keep yelling about it but I really mean it when I say that Ishu is so me I am so her I love her and would marry her she’s my autistic blorbo. and not even autistic the way y’all say it these days I mean I’m giving her the RAADS-R and she’s topping out no hesitation. 

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry also should have been on this list since the beginning because it already broke my brain but here we are. Literally imagine the most poignant retelling of O&E ever and it’s here for u. and it’s lesbians. (This book is also notably dark and has a lot of triggering content, so read those CWs besties)

since we’re on the topic of triggering books we might as well put them all in the middle so we can ignore them if necessary. I really liked both Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake and The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan when I read them but it’s been soo many years for both so I’m not going to make major promises. I liked them both but they have some heavy ass topics and content. 

moving away from that, I will recommend In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan of course, because what else could I possibly do. Unfortunately, Elliot is me and I am him and he lives in my walls now. I have many Normal and Fine thoughts about the book that are Normal. 

Why not round it out with How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow. I do love a STEM queen it has to be said. unobjectionably bizzare but like. we all need a jewish lesbian Christmas corgi-focused romcom goddamn it 

Favorite lgbt+ books?

On the list for favorite question ever asked of me? Perhaps?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sañez (mlm gay, set in Texas in the 70s, happy ending, it’s a classic babey)

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (mlm with background wlw and trans characters!!! Set in the UK) ((it’s an ongoing webcomic, with can be read on tumblr or webtoon, but the first three volumes can be bought in physical copies))

Leah on the Offbeat (and Love, Simon, ofc) by Becky Albertalli (wlw sequel to love Simon!! It’s so good and I adore it!! Bi girls in love as well as fat protagonist!!!)

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (mlm tragedy with a little bit of Future Technology Magic, so ambiguously in the future)

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren (mlm with hopeful ending! Exploration of religion and the LDS church, if that’s not you’re thing, set in Utah)

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (asepc gay-bi friendship, but mlm background romance as demi ace gay / gay! This is one of my favorites on this list)

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver (nblm, happy ending, it is so good and I cried reading it)

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden (wlw set in around the 50s-60s? Maybe? Ambiguously unmodern but very lovely)

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (historical mlm and aroace respectively, set in 1800s Europe, I Hate This Abusive Family so I’m leaving)

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (all Ashley Herring Blake novels are icons, but this one is Very Good. wlw, set in the early 2000s or around there?)

I have more but I have to go to dinner! LGBTQ fiction wins though!!

[lgbtqreads]

Hey, I'm sorry if this is too confusing, but this is kinda multiple asks.

But do you have any nblnb/nblw/wlnb, maybe in a poly relationship, or not is also okay?

Or an nb person/a bunch of queer ppl in an apocalyptic/post apocalyptic/dystopian situation?

-Thank u! <3

Absolutely! Let’s go through some stuff!

polyam involving with women and nonbinary parties: Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton and Survival Rout by Ana Mardoll

nblnb: The Brilliant Death by AR Capetta, and get Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore on your TBR

nblw in Dystopian: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey, and wlnb in sorrrt of Dystopian but maybe it’s more fantasy: Spellhacker by MK England.

Not nb but polyam with a trans protag and in exactly the genres you’re interested in, so I’m gonna give it a mention: Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver

[deehollowaywrites]

SOMEHOW, we are rapidly approaching that time: cover reveal for Little Nothing time, that is! If you're subscribed to Queen of Swords' Patreon, you've already seen the goods--but an early peek will be available Friday 6/2 for subscribers to Sword & Kettle's newsletter, plus a Q&A with cover artist Caitlin Cadieux (who also designed my S&K chapbook a few years back and is, in general, wildly talented).

ARCs are being prepped, and pre-orders will be open in advance of the book's mid-July release date. Follow me on Instagram or Twitter for more teasers, and stay tuned!

[deehollowaywrites]

She’s here! Now available on itch.io, Devil’s Cup is my gloomy paean to Olympic-caliber codependents, beach goths, and hyperlocal urban legends.

[deehollowaywrites]

Crowded syntax of bicycles, released with the green light, a wheeling cluster that crests like a wave over an old arched bridge. The chirp of the signal for pedestrians with visual impairments, the swoosh of plastic rain-pant legs, the lingering, quietly stale flavor of coffee, and the salty aftertaste of bami goreng.

“The Poetic Pleasures and Pains We Can Only Express In Dutch”

[deehollowaywrites]

No one could remember which of the Enright twins had been slated for the Devil, and which for God. It came up often enough that, even had Pastor Papa not decreed it scriptural, it would’ve become a truism in itself. Soon enough people figured the girls’ names came from their dooms, black and white, demonspawn and godsgift. Willa, who’d been present for all the particulars, merely shook her head when the girls asked who was who. They asked all the time in their younger years, for people have a terrible habit of telling small children things not even an adult can bear; they used the decree against one another. Mom! Orca stole my sandals and broke the strap! Can the Devil have her now? Can we just give her to Him?

diving horses! cults! Hot Guy Satan! “The Devil and Dice” is available in the new issue of Luna Station Quarterly.

[deehollowaywrites]

Places, too, are more interesting as villains. The Florida Dream is the deranged grandchild of that older dream, the one we call the American Dream: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Florida dreams are about romantic escape, about a climate so mild that dreamers never awaken to sleet, rain, thunder, or flood. They are about a retirement that is long and prosperous and full of golf and early bird specials and saunas. The official slogan of the Florida tourist council in the 1980’s was, “The rules are different here.” But as we all know, dreamers are either asleep or daydream­ing. In either case, they are half‑witted and vulnerable. Too often, in Florida, they wake up to some nightmare named Ted Bundy or Henry Lee Lucas or Oba Chandler.

“Why Writers Love Villains”

[deehollowaywrites]

I’ve always been interested in cult doctrine and stories of fringe religious groups, whether real or fictional (a great recent example of the latter is Samantha Hunt’s Mr. Splitfoot). The mixture of entertainment, religion, and industry common to Florida and the South, as in the cases of megachurches and Scientology, provided fertile ground for a story intended to feel just this side of true. Pastor Papa is a sort of ur-Florida Man.

interview time at LSQ is always fun!

[deehollowaywrites]

On Silkies

This essay originally appeared as Patron-only content on the Crystal Queer Patreon.

Five years ago, I wrote a throwaway bit of world-building in a short story centered on magic of a different type, and the silky was born:

Pearl had met the silky of Rainbow Springs once, a broad-beamed woman with dark-dappled skin, as though she’d lain long enough in part-shadow to burn splashes onto her arms and breasts and stomach. (from “Fire in the Pines”)

I didn’t know what a silky was; I had some vague idea of creating a mermaid local to Florida, but the story wasn’t about her, whoever she was, and I didn’t think about it again for several months. Then a friend requested I write her a selkie story… and the silky was born, again, this time from a river that looked a lot like one framing my hometown. The Florida silky sprang into my mind, almost fully-formed: she was always female, whether cis or trans; she didn’t have a seal form, because seals don’t live in Florida, and instead took the forms of native animals such as alligators and gar and bull sharks. In place of a pelt, there was an item I eventually called a token, a tooth or piece of hide that exerted power when outside of a silky’s control. A bit of animus loci went into them--they were attached to a single spring or river or marsh, in the mode of dryads from Greek myth, rather than being open ocean-dwellers.

Sandy folk and silkies, pinewits, sprites, everything that winked off the pages of Sera’s other book; surely their own histories were waiting to be found, or hidden away intentionally, kept close and safe in the wake of invasion after invasion. (from Sunblind)

A novel called River’s End fell out of me, and then a companion to it, Skin Dive, and a prequel to that, Devil’s Cup. As the rules of my otherworldly Florida took shape, other stories appeared. A mythology was established, and different creatures from real-world myth found their places among spindly pines, palms, and sandy soil: the people under the hill, from the defunct project Sunblind, and kelpies, in “Eel and Bloom.” But I return again and again to silkies, fascinated as I am by the limestone springs and many rivers of my home state. You’ve met them by now too, in “Bright Well,” contributed to August 2017’s rewards and included in my recent collection of shorts, Current. Readers of that collection or the online horror journal Body Parts have met them in “Diving for the Cross.” Current also includes a third story, new, whose world will be familiar to Patrons who read “The Vapors” in March 2018’s rewards. Skin Dive was once intended for publication, but for now will have to remain submerged.

“What is it called, what you are?” Those pink spots appeared on Xan’s cheeks again. She was pretty cute, and Callie hated to admit it but Cora was too. They were mismatched, but in a good way, bound by their ring fingers and their love of learning. “Roland,” Xan went on, “his name for himself is benandanto.”

Somehow that crystallized things--that word, offered simply, more profound than the cat and the man in moonlight.

“Silky.” Callie paused, pulse heavy through her skull. The things she caught herself saying to these people, the casualness of their admissions drawing the same from her. Admissions to near-strangers, when she could barely talk about her day-to-day with Loey. “I’ve heard a few theories for why.” (from Skin Dive)

Each silky thus far has been an exploration of loneliness. Mermaid stories often feature a clan or underwater kingdom (as in Chace Verity’s wonderful Your Heart Will Grow), a bent which has never naturally arisen in my writing. I’m interested less in creating fantastical societies, roles, and norms and more in placing fantastical beings within a mundane setting. The protagonist of River’s End and Skin Dive wonders if she’s the only one, how she might go about figuring out if there are more across the state (sheepish Googling is involved). Her aunt, the protagonist of Devil’s Cup, longs to become one, to grasp a family legacy and secure a place for herself in the world. In the case of Lucille from “The Grotto,” she does not even know the name for herself. There is always some rupture, spiritual or mental or familial, that belies the indelible nature of the silky. Most especially, each silky story delves into the relationship between place and persona. Bright Well so clearly belongs to Linnea that Max barely questions her presence at the spring; ultimately Linnea’s function is somewhere between grove goddess to be worshiped and devouring lady of the lake. Callie’s attachment to Riversend is so strong that straying too far from its borders makes her physically ill. Power and self and locale are all intertwined, reinforcing the slipstream qualities of water and spirit, highlighting how people influence their place and vice versa.

She resented Low Springs with every scrap of her will for being icy-cold and clear where Crooked Creek was sun-warmed and murky--for its relative glamor as a health spa for wealthy, insipid northerners--for its chilly scent and welcoming calmness, its smooth boil--for the knowledge that diving into it, as the girls upstairs did each evening, would have one of two effects.

First, Lucille considered, it might strip the flesh from her body, acid-like. It might be so different from her own water that it would kill her.

Second, it would embrace her like loving arms. It would sink into her starving skin, a balm and a blessing, and she would wish never to leave it.

Which fate was worse, Lucille hadn’t decided. (from “The Grotto”)

I still have not written my friend a real selkie story, with seals and thieved pelts and cold oceans.

[deehollowaywrites]

Part of me always wished the tiles had turned into hammerheads. How brave that would’ve made me. How my fear would’ve been well-spent.

[deehollowaywrites]

So: a presence that feels like absence, and an absence that functions as an oppressive presence. How do we write about absence – more plainly, how do we make a thing around no-thing? Taxidermy seems like a decent metaphor for that – stretching a skin over an empty framework – but taxidermists actually mount skin over a solid form, as we learn in Mostly Dead Things.

on T Kira Madden and Kristen Arnett

[deehollowaywrites]

Sen’s horror is the monstrous masculine. More familiar in everyday life, he’s the creature who won’t just swallow you whole and bloody, but will shape whole families and societies to make sure he gets his fill. Who’ll make you complicit in his predations. Who’ll insist the rules that feed him are the only possible rules to follow. And one of the monsters that we still don’t quite know how to defeat, opening space for stories that might help us figure it out.

“Nibedita Sen’s ‘We Sang You As Ours’“

[deehollowaywrites]

You know it hurts her to walk, flippers were never meant for walking. Does it always hurt to walk, you ask her. Yes, she says and then she kisses you hard, tasting of sea spray and mineral breeze. Because she knows what’s next, because the skin knows what’s next. When it cinches itself tight, it breaks your femurs in half a dozen places. Legs were never meant for swimming. Will it always hurt to swim, you ask her. Yes, she says and she spits out blood where you’ve bitten through her lip.

[deehollowaywrites]

Ok, I’m a little pumped about this. The journal in question is my alma mater’s literary magazine and I’ve always wanted to publish a piece with them.