Asexuality in Fiction

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Published 2018 by Balzer + Bray

I recently read Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, an alternate history where the Civil War was put on hold when zombies started to rise. Slavery has been abolished, but due to a new law called the Negro Reeducation Act, our protagonist, Jane, is at a training school to become a companion/bodyguard for a white family. One of her classmates is Katherine, her rival. Jane saves the day, but gets blamed and she and Katherine get sent off to a mysterious settlement out west. 

Some light spoilers after the cut

“Love and sex go hand in hand… until they don’t. This is an asexual love story.” (Amazon) 

I discovered this book, which is about a bi woman in a romantic relationship with an ace woman, through @readvitality’s LGBT sampler. I have a lot of thoughts about it and haven’t found any reviews discussing it from an ace perspective, so I decided to write my own. It got kind of long, so I’ve divided it up with headers to make it easier to just read what you’re interested in.

I want to say upfront that I’m sex-repulsed, which definitely influences my opinion. And I don’t intend to speak for all aces, but just to explain my own concerns. 

The title/cover: misrepresentation?

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with this book from an asexual standpoint. One major reason is that I feel like the book was titled and the cover designed specifically to appeal to ace readers—I mean, it’s called “Aces” and has a picture of an ace of hearts card on the front, along with the tagline “an asexual love story”; this marketing, combined with the excerpt in Vitality’s sampler, was the reason I bought the book. However, it ended up feeling a bit deceptive, because the book doesn’t live up to its promise of being a story about asexuality.

It is “an asexual love story” in that sex isn’t a big part of the main character (Astrid)’s relationship (and of course in that her girlfriend, Holly, is ace), but asexuality isn’t specifically highlighted or focused on any more than Astrid’s bisexuality, or any of the other characters’ queer identities. So the title doesn’t really make sense—the word “ace” isn’t even used in the book, and there’s only one ace character (who’s not even the main character). The story is primarily focused on Astrid and her life, and while her romantic relationship happens to be with an asexual woman, the story isn’t actually about asexuality in any way. 

Pride Rec

16. Asexual Character

The Painted Crown by Megan Derr

Istari and Teverem are both on the asexual spectrum, so reading it was quite fun and exciting. As an asexual myself, it was really nice to read about two characters also on the spectrum where sex wasn’t even on the table or even expected of them. It was like a fresh breath of air really, cause I’ve read other stories with supposed asexual characters and ended up gritting my teeth and going, “no. no. no. that’s not how it works.” and Megan has never disappointed me when she writes a new story.

Here are all the books I know of with confirmed demisexual characters! (Meaning the word is used in the text, or else the author has said it.) With links to more info, including (in some cases) reviews discussing the portrayal of demisexuality. Also see Lynn E. O’Connacht’s Demisexuality in Fiction list and the “demisexual character” tag on AgentAletha’s Tagpacker list.

YA/NA

The Change (series) by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith - Mia is word-of-god demi

The Iamos Trilogy by Lyssa Chiavari - Isaak is canon demi  

Mangoverse (series) by Shira Glassman - Rivka is word-of-god demi

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman - Aled is canon demi

All for the Game (series) by Nora Sakavic - Neil is word-of-god demi

Newton’s Laws (series) by Rebecca Schwartz - Rachel is word-of-god demi

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld - Darcy is word-of-god demi

M/M romance

Ace by Jack Byrne - Jake is word-of-god demi  

A Gentleman’s Position by K.J. Charles - Richard is word-of-god demi

The Trouble With Tony by Eli Easton - Tony is canon demi

Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner – Quentin (because @demigray has recommended this as a book with a demi character, I’m including it even though I can’t find author confirmation that Quentin was specifically written as demi)

The Pardoner’s Tale by Morgan Ferdinand - Nick is word-of-god demi

Model Citizen by Lissa Kasey - Ollie is word-of-god demi

Taking the Long Way by Max MacGowan - Marcus is canon demi

High and Tight by Vanessa North - Adam is word-of-god demi  

Not Even Close by Lisa Oliver - Connor is canon demi

Kanaan and Tilney: The Case of the Arms Dealers by Jenna Rose and Katey Hawthorne - John Tilney is canon demi

Other fantasy

The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones - Antuniet is word-of-god demi

Night Calls (series) by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel - Allie is word-of-god demi (caveat on this one—the first book came out in 1996, before “demisexual” had been coined, so it’s being applied retroactively)

From Under the Mountain by Cait Spivey – Guerline is word-of-god demi

Our main character, Bee, is asexual, as well an anxious, monster-fighting college student and a magic fire-starter 🔥

So if you’re desperate for more canonically confirmed & complex ace characters, particularly ones that aren’t written as robotic or otherwise inhuman, give us a listen 💜🤍🖤

Plus, if you’re looking for any more ace shows, check out this handy list of other podcasts! https://t.co/bbpNLVhohz

A few people have asked this, so I’ll copy-paste my previous answer below! 

Chloe is asexual. I realize the phrasing of that conversation was a little confusing, but it’s because both Dr. Bright and Frank already know what they’re talking about, even if the audience doesn’t. Frank was talking about how a lot of Chloe’s classmates assume that he’s Chloe’s boyfriend, which frustrates him because he knows she’s asexual and doesn’t get why the art kids don’t get that.

Frank’s sexuality is a little complicated at the moment. I think for most of his life he identified as heterosexual but since everything that happened in his military service, the sexual part of his identity has taken a back seat in a big way. For all intents and purposes, he’s celibate and not looking to change that. But with time and healing, anything could happen.

My ace heart is bursting out of its chest 🖤🤍💜