Lesbian – Marked for Plot

Novella Readathon #16: Brimstone Slipstream

I underestimated Brimstone Slipstream, and for that I think I owe Matt Weber an apology. I looked at the cover of this novella and assumed it would be a high-octane dragon racing story; Nascar meets Fantasy. I would have enjoyed this of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought the book. Instead I got a delightful epistolary novel masquerading as a long-form news story, one whose political undertones are far more interesting and serious than my expectations. In fact, it looks like book 2 in the series, a full-length novel, is going to be more traditionally structured and plotted. Goodness knows I’ll find out before too long, because this kind of knocked my socks off. Finished the whole thing after driving for 5 hours, when I should have been asleep and bone tired. At ~50 pages, this is probably more a novelette than novella proper, and it is well worth the time. Plus, it works well as a standalone, not requiring sequels for the story here to feel like a complete product. Plus it only has five ratings on goodreads. Be a trendsetter! Dragon lovers unite!

The Premise:
Zaya and Kiriki are the rising stars of Brimstone Slipstream. Notably, their success hinges on a whip-smart ground crew and their mastery of psionics. Anyone can become empaths, but the skill comes more naturally to their ethnic group, who form the majority of the working class but almost never the financially stable. This report chronicles moments from their rise to fame and success, their support team which is akin to family, and the history of both the city and dragon racing.

Read If Looking For: narrative reporting, the brutal exhaustion of a culture without maternity leave, evocative infodumps, transparent portrayals of well-meaning people with biases

Avoid If Looking For: flashy dragon racing sequences, fully explained worldbuilding, books that follow the laws of physics

Call And Response – An Anthology of Duets

Call and Response is a fairly new anthology of short stories by Christopher Caldwell built around a delightful premise: what if each story comes in a pair? In Call, Caldwell introduces characters and worlds, only to return to them in Response. Sometimes these appearances are small cameos, other times they are directs sequels. Call and Response is unapologetically black and queer, with several stories sneaking semi-autobiographical details into the fantastic. This collection won’t satisfy those seeking the tight research of Ted Chiang or the experimental forms of Isabel Kim. However, Caldwell’s stories are candid, intense, and thoughtful. I’d love to see what he can do with a full novel.

Read If Looking For: stories of black resilience and rebellion, diverse representations of queerness, aquatic motifs

Avoid If Looking For: experiments in form or structure, answers to broken systems, unambiguous endings

Comparable Media: Convergence Problems, The Fox Roads, Ivy Angelica Bay

Beyond Redemption – Addictive and Epic Grimdark

Historically, Grimdark hasn’t really been my speed. Plenty of books I’ve enjoyed, but the hopelessness and gore kept me from picking up the sequels. Beyond Redemption has convinced me that, as with my Horror journey – I might not dislike Grimdark as much as I thought. Certainly it’s reminded me that I need to read more by Fletcher, because I adored The Storm Beneath the World. Beyond Redemption is quick moving, intense, and dark without going too far. The mix won’t be right for everyone, but it worked for me.

The Premise:
Belief defines reality, which makes the delusional very dangerous indeed. This book follows two main groups within this world: a theocratic ruler with manipulation powers trying to build himself a god, and a trio of criminals who (eventually) get it into their head to kidnap the little boy being groomed to become god. You’ve got gruff veteran soldiers with more scarred skin than smooth, a man turning himself into the greatest swordsman in the world, scientists who try to bring about delusionists with torture, doppelganger trying to take the place of their creator, and a pyromaniac who can light a city ablaze with a thought.

Read If You: like an innovative premise executed to its fullest potential, don’t mind a little backstabbing or cannibalism, enjoy dry humor that doesn’t overdo itself

Avoid If You: want heroics, characters who have their shit together, positive representation of … pretty much anything.

Comparable Media: The Storm Beneath the World, First Law, Angels Before Man

The Warden

If I’m being blunt, there wasn’t much drawing me to The Warden when I saw the audiobook in my public library’s catalog. It seemed like fairly traditional fantasy fare, but with a queer necromancer that wasn’t The Locked Tomb. The thing that actually hooked me? The anticipated wait for a hold to come up was over a year long. Surely something that in-demand is worth the wait? This book didn’t reinvent my reading life, won’t make my favorites list, but it absolutely was a fun farmtown fantasy filled with plenty of things to love in a 300 page package.

The Premise:
Aelis is a new Warden. She’s a prodigy able to manipulate magic from three fields of magic and the son of one of the country’s richest men. That didn’t stop her from getting placed at the very edge of the Country, near the frontier that serves as no-man’s land between Aelis’ people and the Orcs. Turns out everyone is terrified of a necromancer walking amongst them, there’s a few dangers and mysteries she didn’t expect, and a crumbling wizard’s tower in desperate need of a roof and a door. Before she can tackle any of those problems, she’s got to earn the trust of the locals.

Read if Looking For: classic D&D fantasy trappings, slow pacing, city-slicker arrogance, small towns with more secrets than one could reasonably expect

Avoid if Looking For: dynamic sapphic romances, skeletons everywhere, action galore, corny D&D humor

5 Comic Mini-Reviews

I’ve been reading lot’s more comics recently, both for work as I continue to develop two seperate comics courses for middle and high schoolers, but also for personal pleasure. I’ll still do bigger reviews for comics that I want to dig a bit more deeply into, but for now enjoy a pre-Thanksgiving meal of some (mostly) light and fun comics.

The Devils

I shouldn’t have been surprised at how controversial Joe Abercrombie’s new release would be in parts of the fantasy fandom. The Devils is a departure from Abercrombie’s reputation as a character-focused writer interested in deconstructing classic fantasy tropes, and a popular author straying from their niche invariably invites criticism. At its core, this is a misfit adventure novel with a collection of villain archetypes as major players in an ensemble class. I thought the book was fun, a great audiobook to listen to at the gym, but probably not one that’s going to get recommended by me unless it’s a unique fit to someone’s requests. Had a great time with it though.

The Premise
Brother Diaz is a monk who thought he was destined for greatness when he was granted an audience with the Pope. Instead, he’s put in charge of a ratag group of prisoners to escort the long-lost princess of the Empire to take her throne. He’s got to wrangle a suave vampire, a bloodthirsty werewolf, an elf assassin, an egotistical necromancer, an immortal paladin, and a normal woman who has worked any job you could possibly imagine for at least a few weeks. Together, they must beat the odds – mostly just dead Empress’ four sons, all of whom want the princess dead – and complete their holy quest despite none of them wanting to be there (other than the paladin).

Read if Looking For: villain of the chapter, big personalities, extended fight scenes

Avoid if Looking For: a carbon copy of First Law, historical accuracy, a book impossible to call ‘safe’

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

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

The Jasmine Throne

The Burning Kingdom’s Saga is a great example of what modern Epic Fantasy looks like, and it’s been on my to-read list for several years. There’s quite a few ambitious sapphic fantasy series that have made waves in the 2020s, and this is a great addition to that list. I didn’t love everything about The Jasmine Throne, and am very excited to see where the series heads.

The Premise: set in an analogue of India, this series focuses on the people of a small territory under the rule of an oppressive empire. Their religious temples have been destroyed, their spiritual leaders killed. Rebel groups fight for freedom, and those in power respond by punishing all who live in the province. Our story focuses on two lead characters: Priya, a temple child with mild supernatural powers who escaped the fate of her elders and temple siblings; and Malini, a princess living in exile as punishment for refusing to burn herself alive at her brother’s throne When Priya becomes Malini’s maidservant, both see an opportunity to change the fate of themselves and their people.

Read if Looking for: creepy plant gods, worldbuilding set up to explore sexism and racism, varied depictions of what female strength can look like, characters making hard (and not always ethical) choices

Avoid if Looking for: epic fight scenes, deep political scheming, instalove romance

Hungerstone

Queerness and vampirism go hand in hand throughout literature. While I’m not well versed in the classics, The Book Eaters and Heart of Stone both showcased how vampire stories can be gripping in both romantic and horror spheres. Hungerstone is essentially a take on Carmilla (which I haven’t read), with a special focus on the main character’s relationship with her own agency. I think fans of gothic horror will love it, and is a good option as a starter to the genre if you like stories with a more internal focus (whereas something like Mexican Gothic or A Botanical Daughter would be better starting points for more plot focused stories). However, its much less vampire-forward than I would have expected.

The Premise
Lenore is trapped in a listless life and a loveless marriage. An orphaned noble with no money to her name, she married Henry (a corrupt steel magnate) to find a life of security. Now she finds herself without any clear anchors in her life, struggling to figure out how she can salvage some happiness. As they move to the countryside, they pick up Carmilla on the road, a mysterious stranger who seems in desperate need of care. As Carmilla starts to open up Lenore’s eyes to just how dire her situation is, Lenore finds he growing attraction to their new guests matched only by the horror rising in her as she comes to terms with the reality of her life.

Read if You Like: melancholy, living in a character’s head, depictions of abusive relationships and the effects of patriarchal structures

Avoid if Looking For: plot focused stories, lead characters who drive the story, a heavy focus on classic elements of vampire stories