Marked for Plot

The Route of Ice and Salt

A Mexican horror novel following a ship captain of a ship transporting vampires, playing off elements of Dracula (which I haven’t read). It’s an excellent translation, and a dip into the more Literary side of horror than I normally go for. This was a good reminder of why I was a bad English major in college, and why genre fiction is my happy place over Literature. However, I’m glad I read this, and I think it’s much better at engaging with vampires’ historic associations with queerness in interesting ways than most other queer vampire books I’ve read.

The Premise
The captain of the Demeter has been hired to take fifty boxes of dirt to England. The captain spends the trip in a haze, torn between his constant desire for the companionship of men and his responsibilities as captain of the ship. And he dreams. Oh does he dream, and his dreams grow ever darker as strange things begin to take place on the Demeter, shifting what should have been an easy and profitable journey into a thing from nightmares.

Read if Looking For: intense focus on internal monologue, dream sequences, horror of the unseen, prose like liquid silk

Avoid if Looking For: direct plot or prose, ethical gays, paranormal romance elements, cute rats, protagonists who don’t sexually harass people, vampires with major speaking roles

The Four Profound Weaves

I’d been hearing a lot of buzz about the Birdverse series, and when a book club picked up The Four Profound Weaves for November, it was time for me to take it off the shelf as well. This book hearkens back to magic as mystical, inspects the internal journeys of an elderly trans man’s late transition, and takes us on a jaunt through several different cultures. Ultimately, I was disappointed in this despite liking a lot of individual pieces, and I’m curious to see if RB Lemberg’s short fiction will capture me more than this did.

The Premise
This book follows two main protagonists: the nameless man who struggles with what it means to be a man after transitioning late in life in a culture with rigidly defined gender roles (which map not at all onto our own, including as a reversal) and Uiziya a weaver who never realized her potential, and whom now seeks out her powerful and terrible Aunt to teach her the secrets to the weave of death. The two travel together, learn from each other, and must eventually face The Collector, who seeks to own all that is unique or special.

Read if Looking For: platonic bonding, characters with profound self-doubt, desert landscapes, magic carpets

Avoid if Looking For: novellas with a clear focus, nuanced villains, action scenes, happy queer stories

DNFs from September and October

Too Many Books, and Not Enough Time have led to me trying to DNF more books. In the past two months, I’ve set aside seven. Interestingly, all were audiobooks on loan from the library. This probably means I’m being too stubborn with my physical books that I spent money on … but it’s a start.

City of Strife

The City of Spires has been on my radar for a while as a great example of what ambitious queer representation can look like. It’s also gotten nods as the modern inheritor to Swordspoint, the seminal Fantasy of Manners book with pioneering queer rep in the 80s. I ended up not loving the book, but I see the appeal and am intrigued to continue at some point in the future. But if you’re looking for a queer ensemble cast, I can’t think of something better than this.

The Premise
Isandor is a city with class problems. The rich live (quite literally) above everyone, in towers connected by bridges, holding them above the world. The poor are at the whims of the games of the noble houses. And the city plays host to an embassy of an Empire intent on conquering the world. Many different characters lives intersect in this book, connecting apprentice mages with shelter owners with idealistic nobility. Each character’s agendas and concerns are different, but this book lights the match that will set the city ablaze (quite literally). There’s enough going on that focusing on any single plotline will do a disservice to describing what the book is about.

Read if Looking For: many queer identities in one book, ethically upright protagonists, sadistic villains, impassioned monologues

Avoid if Looking For: deep characterization, flashy magic, political maneuvering

Looking for Group

November through January has historically been a heavy romance season for me, and Looking for Group definitely jumpstarted that process. It was a bit of an impulse buy. Alexis Hall has been hit or miss for me, but the nerdy vibes of a video-game focused romance caught my eye. Also, the cover art is gorgeous (though inaccurate to the point of infuriating me. The whole schtick is that the love interest hates high elves and only plays dark elves … so why is a high elf on the cover? Also the humans are above the wrong characters). ANYWAYS. This book won me over by successfully executing romance plotlines with realistic characters and pacing, which I really enjoyed. If anyone else has good recs for other down-to-earth romances, I’m all ears!

The Premise:
Drew is a pretty big nerd. He’s one of the strongest tanks in the MMORPG Heroes of Legend, but when his competitive guild gives a valuable loot drop to someone who will barely use it instead of him, he ragequits. To try and find the joy in the game again, he joins a casual (but skilled) guild, where he meets Solaris. He quickly starts to fall for her, until she turns out to be a he, and Drew has a bit of a crisis. Add onto that his inability to manage pressure from his friends and issues expressing himself without being a big of a jerk, and Drew is on track to potentially ruin something beautiful before its even begun.

Read if Looking For: nerdy characters, realistic conflict resolutions and relationship development, bisexual awakening storylines

Avoid if you Dislike: video game chat dialogue, extensive descriptions of MMORPG gameplay, meet-cute, physically tame romances

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert

When celebrities announce that they’re coming out with a book – a book in one of my favorite genres no less – I tend to get skeptical. Bob the Drag Queen is a phenomenal comedian, performer, and entertainer. That does not make her a good author necessarily. Still, at only 233 pages and narrated by Bob herself, it wasn’t difficult to throw a library hold at this book and tackle it over a weekend of deep cleaning. This book is no masterpiece, but it was solid, entertaining, and blended modern queer struggles with lessons on slavery in a way I hope others emulate. Also, how I could I not pick up a book called Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert? It’s definitely on the short list for best title of the year so far.

The Premise
Darnell’s career as a music producer is more or less over when historical figures begin returning to the world. However, Harriet Tubman calls him in to help her produce an album sharing her story with the world. She and her team (also returned from the same era, and Tubman’s friends and associates) share their stories with Darnell as he grapples with his own internal struggles. Can Harriet Tubman help Darnell just as she’s helped so many others?

Read if Looking For: middle aged queer leads, music performances (in the audiobook), self-liberation, a broad range of stories from history

Avoid if Looking For: deep historical analysis, Bob’s comedic persona, romance plotlines

Dear Mothman

Dear Mothman has been in my orbit for about a year now as one of the better middle grade novels to come out. It doesn’t quite fit comfortably in any genre. It’s certainly speculative (Mothman is very real) but it reads a lot like a realistic fiction book. It’s part Epistolary and part Book in Verse, but doesn’t really live in either space fully. However, it’s got a whole lot of heart, and is one of the better books I’ve seen where a character’s processing of grief is front and center. It’s the type of middle grade book that many adults would enjoy, even those who have a distaste for ‘kids books’.

The Premise
Noah is a lot of things, but mostly he’s grieving and finding himself. His best friend (and crush) Lewis died in a car crash, and Noah is unmoored. Everybody else calls him Nora, he doesn’t know how to make new friends, and school seems so unimportant. He latches onto Mothman, Lewis’s last obsession before his death, and begins writing the cryptid letters. To his surprise, Mothman seems to get those letters. This book follows Lewis’ 6th grade year as he struggles to form new social connections, find a self outside of Lewis, and prove to himself that Mothman is real after all.

Read if Looking For: emotional musings, a good cry, childhood taken seriously, the intersection of queer and neurodivergent identities

Avoid if Looking For: fight scenes, teen drama, dramatic plot twists

Frontera

This is a book that’s been in my classroom library for a while. It hasn’t been super popular unfortunately, likely because it looks a little to realistic for kids who are browsing in the fantasy section of my library. When a kid had rave reviews for it, however, it was easy to give it a try. Frontera is a quick and emotional read. Immigration is a topic that affects pretty much any country in the world, but Frontera’s relevance is strongest to those living in Mexico and the US. At a brisk 240 pages, it won’t take too much of your time either!

The Premise:
Mateo lived in America his whole life before being deported his Junior Year in high school. He and his parents make the choice to have him make the crossing back into the US to live with his grandmother. On the perilous journey, he encounters Guillermo, a ghost of a man who died during the same crossing many decades ago. Guillermo now helps others cross the border as he refuses to come to terms with his own history. However, perhaps the two can help each other more than either is willing to admit.

Read if Looking For: immigrant narratives, heartfelt characters, badass cats, angsty teens that feel realistic

Avoid if Looking For: tightly plotted stories, lots of speculative elements, romance storylines

Magic’s Pawn

Along with Nightrunner and Swordspoint, Magic’s Pawn serves as one of the foundations of gay male representation in the fantasy boom in the 80s and 90s. Apparently, this is the year where I finally got around to reading the classics of queer men in the genre I love so dearly. While Swordspoint and Nightrunner had some issues, I found them largely interesting and engaging reads worthy of their place in the cannon. Magic’s Pawn however, I struggled immensely with. I kept listening out of a desperate desire that it would return to the heights of its opening chapters. Unfortunately, I thought this novel was a bit of a mess. I deeply appreciate Lackey for helping to pave the way for greater queer representation, but it isn’t a series I plan on returning to.

The Premise
Vanyel is heir to a relatively minor noble house in the countryside. Unfortunately, he aspires to be a musician, while his father wants him to follow in the footsteps of toxic masculinity. Eventually, Vanyel is sent to court to live with his Aunt Savil, one of the highest ranking mages in the country. While there, Vanyel comes to terms with his homosexuality and falls in love with Savil’s star apprentice Tylendal. Their love is fated for tragedy however, and Vanyel’s story is far from a happy one.

Read if You Like: examples of early gay representation in epic fantasy, magic horses, tortured protagonists, instalove

Avoid if you Dislike: graphic suicide attempts, convincing love stories, emotional depth, consistent tone in writing

But Not Too Bold

Novellas have become one of my go-to library checkouts. With my limited budget, dropping $15 on a book that will take me a single evening to consume is a tough choice to make. However, I love the length and format, and I find that authors tend to be much more focused on what makes their work special in novellas. But Not Too Bold is an excellent example of that trend, and it put Cabaret in Flames (Hache Pueyo’s upcoming release) on my radar.

The Premise:
Dália’s promotion to Keeper of the Keys is only a small surprise. Nobody expected her mentor to be eaten, but when you work in a house owned and inhabited by Anatema, a fabulously rich pseudo-eldritch spider creature, you know that getting eaten is one of the hazards of the job. Thankfully, Dália is not a Bride, and thus her risk of being eaten is much lower than those who seek to marry into the wealth of the household. Unfortunately, Dália is quite beautiful, and Anatema cannot resist a beautiful woman. Dália must step carefully, but she finds herself at home with the strange encounters her new position throws at her.

Read if you Like: translated books, fast-paced horror, creepy spider monsters, tidy endings, descriptions of opulent mansions

Avoid if You Dislike: human/monster love stories, depictions of spiders, characters without self-preservation instincts, fairy tale ‘retellings’ far from the source material