Are we reaching some kind of critical mass this year in terms of queer content in books published by mainstream SFF imprints? Where queer people have a central role to play, and where, moreover, being queer does not end universally badly? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that this year—including some novels I’ve read that aren’t published quite yet—is a banner year.
In the past, I’ve had short lists of works (outside niche presses with a romance focus) and of creators who included queer folk (who stayed alive! mostly) in their speculative fiction narratives. Every year since I discovered I was interested in this sort of thing, I’ve been adding to those lists, usually with a faint air of frustration that the selection wasn’t more varied (or in some cases, of a higher quality: it’s annoying to caveat with “it’s not all that well written, but at least it doesn’t bury its gays”). But this year is the first time I’ve come across an average of more than one new good book with at least one queer main character per month. Where things don’t end terribly badly.
This year, I’ve come across a whole eighteen new books with significant queer inclusion. (From mainstream imprints. This is important, because it means they are more likely to have bookshop distribution. People won’t necessarily have to go and specifically seek them out.) Five of them are novellas, but they’re substantial novellas. And this number represents only the new books I’ve read so far this year that represent worlds that aren’t almost entirely heterosexual. (And that aren’t genre romance. I like romance! Romance is fine. But sometimes I want other things to happen in the plot.) There may yet be one or two more. I have my fingers crossed for several—it’d be nice to have twenty-four as a number!—but that might be hoping for too much.
I have, it turns out, come across more books that include women who love women than those that include men who love men, and more of either than those that include trans characters—though there are a few. When it comes to nonbinary characters, the list is fairly short.
These books are good. They have queer main characters, for some variety of queer. And they’re here.
In no particular order, they comprise:
- Foz Meadows’s A Tyranny of Queens, sequel to An Accident of Stars, a post-colonial portal fantasy which revolves around who lives, who dies, and who tells the story.
- Aliette de Bodard’s The House of Binding Thorns, set in the same world as The House of Shattered Wings, taking place in a baroque and gothic Paris in the aftermath of magical war. A story of politics and betrayal and the chains you refuse.
- Ruthanna Emrys’s Winter Tide (the main character is asexual and the book is about found family), a reinterpretation of Lovecraft from the point of view of the so-called monsters.
- Ellen Klages’s Passing Strange, which is an ode to, and a love story set in, 1940s San Francisco.
- Kameron Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion (tagline: lesbians in spaaaaaace), a weird and brutal and brutally inventive and intensely biological space opera.
- Sarah Fine’s The Cursed Queen, sequel to The Imposter Queen, about a young woman who discovers shocking things about herself. She has magic! She’s not who she always thought she was.
- Tim Pratt’s The Wrong Stars (forthcoming November from Angry Robot Books), a gloriously pulpy space opera adventure that recalls both Killjoys and The Expanse, and which may be my favourite new space opera this year, or at least tied for first place.
- R.E. Stearns’s Barbary Station (forthcoming November from Saga Press), is a story about space pirates, engineers in love, and murderous A.I. It ties with Tim Pratt’s The Wrong Stars for the title of my favourite new space opera.
- K. Arsenault Rivera’s The Tiger’s Daughter is a gloriously lush epic fantasy romance, set in a world inspired by China and Mongolia. It’s beautiful and striking and has characters who stand out.
- April Daniels’s Sovereign, sequel to Dreadnought, continues Dreadnought’s story of a superhero who also has to deal with transphobic bullshit.
- Max Gladstone’s Ruin of Angels is the latest novel in his Hugo-nominated Craft sequence, a caper through a split-personality city built on ghosts, with his usual interrogation of capitalism and colonialism.
- Adam Roberts’s The Real-Town Murders is a near-future locked-room murder that turns into an attempted political coup.
- Ann Leckie’s Provenance, a standalone novel in the same universe as her Imperial Radch trilogy, which combines comedy-of-manners with political caper and coming-of-age adventure.
- Melissa Caruso’s The Tethered Mage is a fantasy adventure set in a Venice-like city that may be on the brink of war.
- Sarah Gailey’s River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, alternate history capers with American hippos.
- J.Y. Yang’s justly lauded The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune, magnificent fantasy novellas in a rich and complex world.
- Ellen Kushner et al’s Tremontaine: Season One, the serial prequel to Kushner’s famous Riverside series.
The following novels also have nonbinary characters in various degrees of prominence: Ann Leckie’s Provenance, Elizabeth Bear’s The Stone in the Skull, Corey J. White’s Killing Gravity, R.E. Stearns’ Barbary Station, Sarah Gailey, River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, J.Y. Yang’s The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune, and Foz Meadows’s A Tyranny of Queens.
I find this development promising. Especially since several of these novels include queer characters who aren’t white. I want to see inclusive speculative fiction, and I’m glad to have evidence that I’m far from the only one.
Liz Bourke is a cranky queer person who reads books. She holds a Ph.D in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. Her first book, Sleeping With Monsters, a collection of reviews and criticism, is out now from Aqueduct Press. Find her at her blog, where she’s been known to talk about even more books thanks to her Patreon supporters. Or find her at her Twitter. She supports the work of the Irish Refugee Council and the Abortion Rights Campaign.
Ruthanna Emrys “Winter Tide” is excellent, and for anyone interested she also wrote a short story “A Litany of Earth” with the same characters, also excellent.
Don’t forget Amberlough, by Lara Elena Donnelly! I read that in one afternoon, and am ready for the next one.
I’m happy we’re getting more queer representation, but I do find it a little depressing that when I see an announcement for a new book which is billed as having good queer/LGBT representation, I immediately think: “So, lesbian or bi women then?” and I’m right more often than I’m not. I feel like male/male romances are still very much taboo in mainstream books, and I can’t help but feel like sometimes there may be an element of “well, straight guys like lesbians, so that’s fine” going into what gets published…
I don’t want to sound like too much of a downer, because I’m really glad to see more queer representation of any kind, and I’m glad you called out in the article that you’d seen a preponderance of books which were about women-who-like-women, because I’m occasionally concerned that discourse is running to an uncritical “Yay, more queer representation!” without anyone noticing the kinds of queer people who’re being overlooked.
Crane @3:
To be fair, I’m more interested in women, nonbinary folks, and people who otherwise don’t fall under the heading “cis men,” so my view of what’s out there is naturally skewed by my view of what I’m looking for. What I pay attention to changes what I see. But I suspect that we are skewing to more representations of lesbians and bi women, for a raft of reasons including the pervasiveness of toxic masculinity.
In recent UK fantasy releases, Nicholas Eames’ Kings of the Wyld, Anna Stephens’ Godblind and Ed McDonald’s Blackwing all have male homosexual characters.
Isn’t it lovely? I think I would have made entirely different publishing choices if the field had looked this welcoming when I was looking for a publisher.
Nicky Drayden’s The Prey of Gods also has gay male characters. Although I’ve no idea if there’s a happy ending – yet.
3 @crane: I don’t know about mainstream publishers, but indie publishing seems to veer more towards male/male relationships. I’m in a few LGBT+ reading groups, and quite a lot of readers there complain about not finding enough books with lesbian or bi women. But I agree that good representation of bi men is especially hard to find and I was really happy when I learned about In Other Lands.
@Liz Bourke: Thanks for pointing out that the main character of Winter Tide is asexual. Not a single review I read so far mentioned that. Which can mean two things: Either that her sexual identity is no big deal to most readers – which, fine – or that her asexuality gets overlooked.
Is TORR a SCI-FI publishing house or a LBGTQ+ forum? Are you reviewing, recommending and publishing SCI-FI or LBGTQ+ SCI-FI literature? Are the editors fully honest with reviews of poorly written works that happen to have LBGTQ+ favorable characters? Critically look at your work. You risk alienating the audience you seek. As a white male heterosexual man, I am happy to read about other points of view, but other points of view cannot be the only recommending attribute. Traditional quality of ideas, characters and plot must be paramount. I (like many) try not to be prejudice but I demand quality writing and review.
@8 Bourke specifically addressed the question of quality in her second paragraph.
Aphra’s asexuality never does get mentioned explicitly in Winter Tide, mostly because she hasn’t quite figured it out yet and her culture doesn’t have a term for it. This seemed appropriate to the character and the setting, but in Deep Roots she starts to figure out what she does want in relationships, and there are characters who have the background to discuss it in more straightforward fashion. FWIW, Winter Tide also has lesbians, bi women, a gay couple, and even a scattering of straight people. And of course, there are plot-relevant reasons to justify those characters being straight… (I dithered about responding to a thread on what’s technically a review, but did want to be clear that 1. She is canonically ace, and 2. While she doesn’t start out terribly self-aware about her orientation, I’m not trying to Dumbledore anyone.)
hawkwing-lb @@@@@ 4:
Oh, to be sure, I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t right for you to have a focus on what appeals to you personally. As I said, I’m greatful you mentioned the disparity at all. And I mean, I love stories with any kind of queer relationship in; I’m totes happy for more lesbians in space or enby folk in fantasy asia, or trans girl super-heroes. I would never want to suggest there should be less stories like that or that I’m at all displeased there’s such a boom.
Adrian Tchaikovsky @@@@@ 5:
Yeah, but character is a ways away from protagonist. (Also, those all look pretty grimdark, which isn’t really my thing, but that’s a problem on my end rather than with the books themselves.)
R. Emrys @10 Thank you for your response, that’s great to hear! I for one really appreciate seeing more ace characters in fiction – and I know that the way to figuring out what you want and don’t want can be quite a long and complicated one.
@8
For me, as a fellow white, heterosexual man (hi!), other points of view is *a* attribute. I would hardly think that the reviewer is saying or has said in any of her reviews that it’s the only attribute, or that its paramount over any others. Quality matters, and other things matter too.
Let me speak from experience. When I read DUNE, at age 14, I was delighted and happy because here was a protagonist I could identify with–and even had my first name. It was a gateway, an entry into the story, I could see myself in the character.
For, say, Aphra in Winter Tide, I don’t have that connectivity to the character based on identification, and so I enjoyed the book based on other attributes. (It’s fantastic, by the way) However, books like Winter Tide provide the experience I had in DUNE, and frankly, what you and I have for a vast swath of science fiction, for readers who have had thin or non-existent opportunities to do so. SF is a literature of ideas, of worldbuilding (love worldbuilding, its my jam). It’s also a literature where people want to see themselves or see stories of people like themselves, or characters that they can identify with. To see that the future, or alternate worlds, or other places have places for them, too.
There are an increasing number of books with LBGTQ characters in them, absolutely. But take a look at the entirety of Tor’s catalog, present and past. The number of books with such characters is growing, yes, noticeably so, and its still a tiny fraction of their total output.
I am thrilled there is more queer content in mainstream press releases. I’ve been running a small press specializing in queer spec fic for years…and while 18 books may seem like a lot to some, the small presses have been releasing quality, award-winning books in the field for years. So I lift my glass to the larger players: thank you! But please remember that us small players have been building the safe foundation upon which to stand.
Steve, as the author of the article says, it is well known that smaller outfits have published this kind of fiction; but that mainstream publishers have a wider distribution presence, and therefore, will reach more people that won’t have to actively look for them.
I want to acknowledge that I only realised that Aphra was asexual after Ruthanna Emrys pointed it out to me on Twitter. (I mean, it is obvious now, but reading the book she just wasn’t interested in people that way and it did not seem to loom large.) So I want to thank her for clarifying that here, too.
Adrian Tchaikovsky @5:
I haven’t read them – so many books! Are those main characters? That’d be useful info for people looking for more gay or bi blokes in their fiction. I tend not to see as many, or not keep quite so close track of the ones I do see.
shilo020 @8:
It would be pleasant if you clarified what it is you mean to say. You appear to imply that the books I mentioned lack “quality” in some way. I should like to inquire whether, if this were a post entitled “My Year In Space Opera,” you would make the same implication, without reference to specific points where the nature of “quality” may be contended. Is there a particular point of contention you wish to raise regarding the quality of these novels?
It is true that some of them succeed more or less well than others, and I should be interested to discuss several of them with someone who has read them – particularly BARBARY STATION and THE WRONG STARS, which are both largely set in the solar system, are space opera, and are doing entirely different things, thematically and in terms of their focus, which makes it fascinating to read them back to back.
I didn’t grok that Aphra was asexual. Hunh, that makes me rethink her interactions in the book. I just took that she was not really interested in such relationships but didn’t explicitly label her as such. Recognizing asexual characters and how they work–that is something I am still learning.
There is nothing intrentensic in the text of “Winters Tide” that indicates Aphra’s orientation. It is hardly surprising that she is single after suffering the genocide of her family and race and the obliteration of her culture. She is only two years escaped from a concentration camp rampant with torture and rape. She is just regaining her health. She does not pursue romance in the one month that she is busy saving the world and her new family as a character of agency. She rejects the one advance on her not because it was sexual but because it was insulting and exploitive. This does not mean that that she will never find love. She may well turn out to be asexual in the second book but by this logic her cousin Robert Olmstead is asexual and Lovecraft is an inclusive writer.
I am also loving the queer content I’ve been seeing this year! I’m in the middle of The Tiger’s Daughter and am absolutely adoring the relationship in it. Here are some more if anyone is interested!
– Borderline and Phantom Pains by Mishell Baker are also very queer – MC is a bisexual woman with borderline personality disorder and she doesn’t die by the end
– Keeper of the Dawn by Dianna Gunn has a F/F romance where one of the characters identifies as asexual
– The Lightless trilogy by C.A. Higgins concluded this year has a M/M romance that I think was brilliantly and subtly developed over the series
– Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee are also queer
– Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire have multiple queer characters with different identities
– The Prey of Gods has two gay MCs
– An Oath of Dogs by Wendy Wagner has a gay MC and a bisexual MC
– Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw has a fat, WOC bisexual werebear MC
– Wicked Like a Wildfire by Lana Popovic centers on two sisters, one of which is in a F/F relationships
– Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust is primarily focused on the relationship between a stepmother and stepdaughter, but the stepdaughter is a lesbian and there is a F/F relationship
– An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon is incredibly brilliant and incredibly queer
– There are certainly no happy-endings for anyone given the dark, post-apocalyptic content, but The Book of Etta by Meg Elison (sequel to The Book of the Unnamed Midwife) has a lesbian main character – TW for sexual assault, extreme violence, but the MC doesn’t die
There are another 12, which will easily bring you up and over 24 queer books this year!
Also, @8 – At no point did Bourke imply that a book being queer is the only qualification to be considered – in fact, it’s brought up that books with queer content with poor stories, writing, etc. are frustrating. Seems like another example of a cishet white man angry that he’s no longer the center of attention. Sit down.
#8: First, it’s “Tor” with a capital T, single lowercase “r”. Second, Liz specifically reviews feminist and LGBTQ+ science fiction and fantasy works for Tor. It’s her job. Thanks for letting us know that you are a white heterosexual man, even though it was blindingly obvious from your first sentences.
#18: It’s spelled “intrinsic”. After that, a finer example of mansplaining is rarely found in the wild. Quite a grand demonstration of toxic masculinity as well.
As for male-male fiction, like the others, I’ve also found more of those in the smaller publishers, as well as in self-published works. I have a bunch of them on a bookshelf somewhere at home, or I’d list their titles
Just a reminder to keep the discussion civil, and avoid making disagreements and criticisms personal in tone. The commenting guidelines can be found here.
Shilo020 @@@@@ 18: She finds love, I promise, just not the romantic kind. But yes, all the issues you bring up are why she doesn’t really question her lack of interest in sex and romance in Book 1, or think there might be anything going on besides “other things on my mind right now, thanks.”
Please see the moderator comment at #21–we realize things may be getting heated, so please phrase your comments in a way that’s constructive and civil, not aggressive, dismissive, or hostile.
I presented Aphra as a positive character period. Not as a “good character for a girl.” She has agency and concerns other than romance at this point. She may or may not find companionship later on. I denounced the inappropriate assault on her by a male character.
Great list — thanks, Liz! And as Tor.com is offering WINTER TIDE right now for free, I immediately grabbed a copy. Looking forward to reading it; thanks for the rec.
NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy includes a relationship between a gay man, a bi man, and a het woman, as well as a trans character. Also, it is AMAZING.
Stumbled across this post today while surfing the ‘net and immediately added several authors/books mentioned herein to my TBR list. Mille grazie.