let me bend your mind

sapphic horror books:

wilder girls by rory powers: an all girls' boarding school on an isolated island, where everyone starts developing weird mutations like gills, extra spines, scales etc, after a virus called the tox breaks out. there is also something lurking in the woods. very, very atmospheric and creepy, casually queer, but has a divisive ending. you'll like it if you liked the film version of annihilation.

to break a covenant by alison ames: ever since a mining explosion, eerie occurences have been plaguing the ghost town of moon basin. when a young girl's father ventures down into the mine and doesn't come back up, she and her friends team up to investigate the creepy history of moon basin. the queer romance is not the focus but it's quite nice. ending is kind of lazy. also there's a ghost hunter called shane ryan lol.

sawkill girls by claire legrand: another island, another story of missing girls, except this one is slightly more disturbing and has some demonic activity and occult rituals rather than being solarpunk. has a sapphic romance that is the right amount of toxic and also, pleasantly, includes a hungry and angsty sapphic sex scene. divisive but slightly better ending than wilder girls.

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez: a seminal work of black speculative literature, which tells the life story of a black lesbian vampire- from her creation in 1850 louisana, as a runaway from a plantation, to her travels across america and various adventures for 200 years. not much romance, but has some really™ psychosexual feeding sequences.

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson: it's very different from the show and the horror is more about anticipation and psychology than spectral apparitions. theo and eleanor are both very queer and it's insane that mike flanagan made them sisters, never trust a man. (I know theo was a lesbian in the show but her love interest was so meh).

a lesson in vengeance by victoria lee: a young girl grieving the death of her gf returns to her remote and exclusive ivy covered campus for her senior year, and teams up with a prodigy novelist to research the arcane history and gruesome murders from her academy's past. spooky, unsettling, toxic lesbianism and one very spicy sex scene. the love interest is based on donna tartt btw.

things have gotten worse since we last spoke by eric larocca: about two women in an online relationship in a 2000s chat room, but their dynamic soon spirals out of control. it's gruesome it's nasty it's twisted and depraved and horribly enjoyable.

the locked tomb trilogy by tamsyn muir: lesbian necromancers and swordswomen in space bond over repressed catholic guilt, murder, bodyswapping and bones. this one is a make or break type deal because I know some people hated the writing style, but if you get used to it, you'll have a great time. also has a living embodiment of a tumblr sexy rat woman with a gold bone arm. many codependent relationships, nasty and horny women.

plain bad heroines by emily danforth: a film crew travel to an abandoned school in their attempt to recreate a tragedy that happened there back in 1902. lesbians, polyamory, gothic horror etc. haven't read it yet.

the luminous dead by caitlin starling: see now THIS is what I am talking about. a young woman goes exploring into a cave system that is partially underwater, with the help of her handler above ground, who provides her with instructions and resources as she goes in further. but she is not alone in the dark. TWISTED af toxic romance, spooky and feels like a fever dream. if you like this, I also recommend the movie the descent (one of my favourites).

sorrowland by rivers solomon: a black woman escapes from the separatist cult she grew up in, and hides in the woods with her babies. while there, she is hunted by an unseen "fiend" for sport and weird, unsettling things start happening to her body. has a toxic romance, and has a wholesome healing one, both lesbian. also has a scene where the main couple have a phone sex foursome with a pair of ghosts. yeah.

mabel podcast by becca de la rosa and mabel martin: not a book but a podcast. a nurse taking care of an elderly lady in her large spooky house starts sending voice messages to the lady's estranged granddaughter, but before long creepy things begin occuring around her and she has to figure out just what exactly she has signed up for. folk horror, feral lesbians, lots of religious and mythological references.

frank apologized to her for his behavior that day, and she didn’t accept it — which is well within her right to do! but then she doubles back and intentionally, cruelly, maliciously throws his recovery in his face like it’s some sort of gotcha. she acts as though she is owed a step by step rehashing of his recovery process. (she isn’t.)

she is so hung up on consequences — that’s what happens when you fuck up — but when has she ever genuinely received a consequence in canon? she was dismissive of her deaf patient multiple times, and when she offhandedly notes she almost called for an inappropriate scan just because of her impatience and frustration, she gets a simple glad you didn’t from al-hashimi. she threatens an alleged abuser by weaponizing her position of power as his physician, likely causing further harm to the victim she was supposedly trying to protect. she’s outright rude to her fellow practitioners, but they still joke and tease with her, they give her 5 hour energy drinks, they do special check-ins (thinking once again of “he’s OUR huckleberry”). did garcia call her out? yes, and then santos promptly argued with her for doing so “in front of langdon.”

doctors of all people should know that addiction is a DISEASE & her using that and completely throwing his recovery in his face is icky idk

Ok so. Imagine from the day that you’re born, every major religion on this planet decided that your body was the home of Sin. That your flesh makes men fall from literal heaven. Even if you’re not religious, this theme of your body being dirty and sinful permeates your culture.

Imagine if you grew up knowing that your sexual partners will be stronger and taller than you. Imagine growing up knowing that the sex you are attracted to commits 99% of all rapes and sexual assaults. Imagine growing up knowing that sex makes you dirty, and that if you are raped and assaulted by someone bigger than you, you won’t be believed.

Imagine having sexual body parts that are never allowed to be shown on screen. Imagine the only women whose body parts you do see on screen are being abused or murdered in some way. Your body parts are dirty and disgusting, like pieces of rotten meat.

Imagine knowing that sex can lead to a lifelong commitment to a child, possibly to multiple children. Imagine knowing that men may not use what protections they have to prevent pregnancy because it doesn’t feel as good. Imagines the protections you have can cause you to gain weight and drop your libido.