Queer – Page 3 – Marked for Plot

Novella Readathon #30: We Burned so Bright

I have been super hit or miss with Klune. He’s definitely the biggest gay author in fantasy right now, but I don’t find myself terribly interested in pursuing his backlog. However, since We Burned so Bright is a novella, featured elderly gay protagonists, and got a reputation for being a tonal shift from his normal writing, I figured it would be worth trying out. I still don’t think Klune is going to be a must read author for me, but this settled some hesitations I had about his older work.

The Premise:
The world is ending. A black hole is slowly consuming our solar system, and everyone’s lives are measured in weeks. Don and Rodney are an elderly couple. As the world ends, they buy an RV and set to travel from Maine to Washington. Along the way, they meet all sorts of folks who are facing the end of the world in their own way. At the end of their journey is a piece of their own past that they never completely came to terms with.

Read If You: want to watch the world crumble, enjoy episodic stories, crave elderly protagonists who don’t descend into stereotypes

Avoid If You: are looking for cozy fantasy, salacious gay romance, or saving the world

Novella Readathon #26: Queen O’Nine Tails

The third and final of my purchases from the now defunct Hedone Press, which unfortunately means you can only get this via Audible at the moment. I participate in this r/Fantasy’s yearly Bingo as well as the r/QueerSFF Reading Challenge, of which one of the prompts is ‘Sapphic Swashbuckler’ which this book definitely fits. However, I think this book does a poor job of marketing what it actually is, which is mostly a fantasy romance on a pirate ship, with only a smattering of the horror story I thought I was walking into. Actually, don’t read the official blurb at all. I started sketching out my initial thoughts for this review at page 100 (of 180), and the blurb spoils a major plot event that hadn’t happened yet.

The Premise:
Gloria Vane is an aspiring con woman, though mostly because it’s the path in life her uncle has set for her. On her way to swindle a new husband in America, she gets captured by pirates, immediately pisses off half the crew, and starts romantically taunting the captain Valentina Mallozzi. This book isn’t quite action, isn’t quite a romance, isn’t quite adventure, but something living in a space between all three.

Read If Looking For: sapphic pirates with a strong romance subplot, jealous crewmates, magic that isn’t always explainable

Avoid If Looking For: gore, terror, or grotesqueness, detailed sex scenes

Novella Readathon #25: Murder by Memory

The Cozy Fantasy/Sci boom seems to have two modes: romance featuring the opening of a small business, and elderly folks solving murders. Unsurprisingly, this is the latter. I liked this book quite a bit, though Mystery aficionados will leave disappointed. The portrait of the generation ship that Dorothy rides on is unrealistic, but an engaging and evocative locale for a series of mysteries to be set in. I’ll read the sequel for sure, as this series feels like a great palette cleanser between longer novels. In terms of Hugo viability? I’d slot this well below Cinder House, probably about equal with Summer War.

The Premise
Dorothy was taking a break from life when the Fairweather’s AI stuck her consciousness in the body of a bank clerk. It turns out the previous host for her new body was tangled up in some shady business, including wiping a shelf of memory archives that included Dorothy’s herself. As she gets used to a new body that she very much hopes to abandon as soon as possible, Dorothy gets pulled back into her Detective work, hoping to solve a mystery that involved several deaths, at least one of which was permanent (not something that’s supposed to happen on this ship).

Read If You: are craving something light and readable, want to follow a stereotypical Auntie solving crimes, enjoy utopian portraits of humanity’s future

Avoid If You: want realistic depictions of space travel or economic models, want the experience of a tightly written mystery

Novella Readathon #23: Of the Wild

I’ve been on a long kick of bad dads for this project, so I wanted something that I knew would not feature that character archetype. I actually almost read Of the Wild last year for the Parents Bingo Square. This book was satisfying, but probably not going to stick around in my head for a long time. I think it’ll be a good option for people who want a cozy fantasy that has a different vibe than most, or a different take on Romantasy than we’re used to seeing from the current boom.

The Premise:
Aeris is a fae who rescues children whose parents do not want them. However, the fruit of his tree, which allows his children to thrive and grow in arcane ways, are harder to find and less powerful every time one is picked. He is dying, and his tree dies with him. The Tall Ones are waiting to consume the children when Aeris can no longer defend his home. When a human dreams his way into Aeris’ domain, he sees a potential successor to take on his mantle once he passes on.

Read If Looking For: found family themes, love stories that don’t involve sex, cozy fantasy with some teeth

Avoid If Looking For: developed love interests, realistic portrayals of childhood trauma, bespoke prose

Novella Readathon #18: The Iron Below Remembers

Every year there’s a book. A book that blows my mind and makes me want to scream from the rooftops how much I love it. Typically, this book is a little more niche, with choices that keep the story from appealing to the broad audience needed for breakout hits. I’ve championed Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares and How to Survive this Fairytale by SM Hallow, and now its time for me to tackle The Iron Below Remembers. This book examines how history gets layered and built, revels in queer sexuality, and uses a superhero framework to focus on the intensely personal. Characterization is consistent and exciting, and our characters aren’t stand-ins for the reader’s hopes and dreams. It’s kind of a perfect mix for me, though there are a few elements that I think will put off the general reader. Certainly it’s a strong contender for book of the year (the only current competition is The God Eaters by Jessee Hajicek). I’m mostly just disappointed I didn’t pick it up sooner.

Elevator Pitch:
Professor Yadav’s specialty is ancient history, specifically the Karthik Empire, a South Asian colonizing force whose lasting impact is comparable to our world’s British Empire. His boyfriend is Ezra/Savior, a beloved superhero with golden retriever energy. When one of Savior’s battles uncovers a pristine artifact of sorcery – whose use and knowledge has been lost to time – Yadav’s connections see him as one of the primary researchers studying it. As his academic star rises, relationship dynamics shift. Woven through their journey are Yadav’s academic musings on the Karthik Empire.

Read If You Like: superhero settings from the perspective of a normie, fictional academia, relationships as something requiring work and investment

Avoid If You Dislike: abundant talk about sex (but very little actual sex happening), anecdotes that don’t connect with the main plot, footnotes, superhero settings without many superhero plot beats

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

Novella Readathon #15: The Salt Grows Heavy

As I slowly grow into reading horror, I’ve had a complicated relationship with the more grotesque side of the genre. I thought I disliked it, and certainly I need to avert my eyes in any medical show I watch. Body horror authors like Andrew Joseph White capture that visceral repulsion that forces me to skip pages. I thought that The Salt Grows Heavy might be similarly challenging for me. This book features the plucking of eyeballs and the cradling of intestines in one’s hands, yet it was palatable even for me. Khaw married this body horror to a dark fairy tale atmosphere; the result so enchanting that I couldn’t look away.

The Premise:
The mermaid has given birth to her children, and they have feasted upon the land. The country which stole her from the water lays in ruins, a corpse to rot in the sun. Now she travels with the plague doctor, seeking a new country and a new home. They come upon a commune of children and their saints, the strange trio who pursue surgical immortality. The mermaid and the plague doctor’s shifting relationship is confronted by the plague doctor’s past, and the mermaid must decide what is important to her, versus what is simply meat to be consumed.

Read If Looking For: bespoke body horror, the tentative love of monsters, uncommon word choices, inhabiting the mind of a creature of the deeps

Avoid If Looking For: windowpane prose, genre romance, Disney mermaids, fast pacing

Novella Readathon #14: Werecockroach

This book has been sitting on my TBR mostly because I was curious what a book with this title would be about. I’ve seen lots of odd shapeshifter characters, but this one really takes the cake. I knew a few things about the book (such as this having aromantic and asexual representation), but not much else. I certainly did not expect this book to feature an alien’s arriving on Earth. I’m glad I read this book, but I don’t think I enjoyed it enough to pick up the sequel, which is coming out later this year.

The Premise:
After a fire at his old place, Rin is hunting down a new apartment. He’s broke, meaning his new spot is as cramped as you can get while still having your own room. His new roommates are unorthodox, and it later revealed that both can turn into cockroaches. Mix all of this in with an alien ship that has appeared over London, and Rin is in for a very unusual week.

Read If Looking For: cutesy cockroaches, found family, characters representing multiple marginalized groups

Avoid If Looking For: serious explorations of first contact stories, creative use of the werecockroach idea

Novella Readathon #13: Cinder House

I have a soft spot for Cinderella. I wouldn’t describe it as my favorite Fairy Tale, but somehow pieces of it keep capturing my imagination. As a child, I watched the VHS for Ever After so much we had to buy a new copy – I still love it, corny dialogue and all. My teenage self enjoyed the goriness of the Grimm Fairy Tale. As an adult, The Magic Fish became my all-time favorite graphic novel (though that goes far beyond Cinderella). Cinder House enters in the long line of Cinderella tales I adore. In classic Marske fashion, it weaves together the fantastic and romantic elements to find a really excellent balance

The Premise:
Ella died shortly after her father, killed by a combination of poison from her stepmother and falling down the stairs (but really it was the poison). Now a ghost posessing the house owned by the woman who killed her, Ella cleans and cooks for her stepfamily, unable to live a life apart from the building that has become her body. Cue some classic Cinderella elements, such as the Prince holding a ball to find a wife, which has a lot of the traditional trappings of Cinderella. For the most part, this book is Cinderella + the main character is a ghost who feels the house as her new body.

Read If Looking For: chronic illness coding, the sensuality of bare feet on carpet, a friendly bit of correspondence, your body is a temple

Avoid If Looking For: fairy tales that invert the original, Cinderella that eschews insta-love, criticisms of monarchies

Novella Readathon #12: A Necessary Chaos

I have not yet read a proper Romance for this project, though plenty of the novellas feature romantic subplots. A Necessary Chaos entered my TBR when it was described as ‘Mr. and Ms. Smith, but Fantasy and Gay.’ This pitch combines three of my favorite things – I don’t know why I love that movie so much, sue me – and I hoped it would be a nice tonal change after The Lathe of Heaven. The two had a pretty stark contrast; as A Necessary Chaos is, quite frankly, a bit of a mess. It was a mess that worked for me however, because it was so tailored to the things that I enjoy. As it stands though, I can only recommend this for people for whom the premise is immediately exciting.

The Premise:
Vade is a Whisper, a member of the Empire’s magical secret police, seeking revenge on the rebels who killed his sister. Althus is an anarchist in the Phantom Dragon, hoping to bring the system crashing down. The two have been lovers for years, meeting up to spy on each other. Just as they start thinking that their feelings are too serious for a fake relationship, however, they each receive the needed push to finally commit to killing the other. Perhaps them being honest with each other about who they are was the key to unlocking a true relationship all along, and it will bring an Empire to its knees.

Read If You Like: steamy action romance, cool magic powers, torture demons, love was the real magic all along

Avoid If You Dislike: unredeemably evil villains, abrupt changes in allegiance, typos