Starship Library

Title: A Whisper of Horses

Author: Zillah Bethell

The Story: A gorgeously lyrical journey of discovery across a reimagined Great Britain. Serendipity loves horses. No-one in Lahn Dan has ever seen one, apparently they died out before the Gases - but there are statues of them around the city, paintings and drawings too if you know where to look. And there's the little lost wooden horse Mama gave Serendipity when she was little.  When Mama dies, Seren is taken under the wing of Professor Nimbus, a storyteller. Nimbus is kind and knowledgable, but Seren has started to question the Minister's rule and life beyond the high, impenetrable Emm Twenty-Five wall. Hidden among Mama's few possessions was a map which suggests there is life outside of Lahn Dahn, and a place where horses live and roam freely - out beyond the wall and the Minister's grip. So, with the help of a trader boy called Tab and his little dog Mouse, Serendipity heads into the unknown, searching for the beautiful creatures she's always dreamed of. (x)

Title: Seven: A Lesbian Snow White

Author: Jennifer Diemer

The Story: The strange witch girl Neve has skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and a dark secret. Her father Lexander, an alchemist, harbors an evil obsession, and Catalina, his newest bride, made the grave mistake of becoming his wife. When Catalina finds herself falling in love with his daughter, Neve, instead, the deepening bond between the women sets in motion the final chapter of a story that began long ago, with a desperate longing and a handful of apple seeds. Together, Neve and Catalina must venture into the Huntsman's haunted forest to undo what has been done and set themselves free. (x)

The Representation: This is a romance between two women.

Why I Loved It: This was a creepy and atmospheric tale of women working together to fight for their freedom and bring down the man who harmed them. I loved seeing Neve and Catalina tentatively begin to trust each other, and I enjoyed the way Catalina discovered her own power.

Content notes under the cut.

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Heart

Author: Stephanie Burgis

The Story: Once upon a time, in a beautiful city famous for chocolate and protected by dragons, there was a girl so fearless that she dared to try to tell the greatest story of all: the truth.  Silke has always been good at spinning the truth and storytelling. So good that just years after arriving as a penniless orphan, she has found her way up to working for the most splendid chocolate makers in the city (oh, and becoming best friends with a dragon). Now her gift for weaving words has caught the eye of the royal family, who want to use her as a spy when the mysterious and dangerous fairy royal family announce they will visit the city. But Silke has her own dark, secret reasons for not trusting fairies ...  Can Silke find out the truth about the fairies while keeping her own secrets hidden? (x)

The Representation: Silke has dark brown skin and curly black hair. She prefers to wear masculine clothing. She and her brother Dieter are former refugees living in poverty. Horst has brown skin. Marina has golden skin. Princess Katrin and Princess Sofia are biracial, with light brown skin (their father is white, their late mother had brown skin).

Why I Loved It: This was a complete delight! I really enjoyed Silke in The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, this book’s predecessor, and it was fascinating to get to explore her point of view. I loved her determination, ambition, keen observation skills and her affinity for her city – Drachenburg and its complexity came vividly to life through her eyes. I also adored her power to tell compelling stories, and the ways in which it’s a survival skill for her in a sometimes unwelcoming world. (The book doesn’t shy away from depicting the anti-immigrant sentiment that makes life more difficult for Silke, Dieter and their community.)

I loved seeing Silke’s relationships with other characters in this book – especially her close friendship with Aventurine, but also her rivalry with Princess Sofia, the tension in her complex relationship with her brother, and the sense of family she feels with Marina and Horst at the Chocolate Heart. It was interesting to see a character used to self-reliance wrestle with her need for connection.

The storytelling is pacy – I read this almost in one sitting – but it never feels rushed. There’s plenty of time for deep emotion and character development as well as intrigue and adventure, and the world feels enticingly big – I’m hoping to read many more stories in this setting! This is an exciting adventure with a ton of heart (dragon and otherwise).

Title: Beauty, Glory, Thrift

Author: Alison Tam

The Story: On a lost planet in the depths of space, goddess-sisters Beauty, Glory and Thrift split their time between stasis and bickering, forever waiting for new visitors to their forgotten temple. Enter a thief, who comes searching for treasure but instead finds Thrift—the least of the goddesses—who offers powers of frugality in exchange for her escape.  And the rest, as they say, is history. (x)

The Representation: The story features a romance of sorts between two women.

Title: Gretel: A Fairytale Retold

Author: Niamh Murphy

The Story: Starving and lost, Hans, and his sister Gretel, are saved from a pack of bloodthirsty wolves by a woman, who seems to ask for nothing in return. Seduced by her kindness and beauty, Gretel grows closer to her, while Hans becomes ever more suspicious of her motives. Torn between her brother and a woman she has just met, Gretel soon learns she must make a choice between long held loyalty and newfound love. (x)

The Representation: This is a romance between two women. Gretel and Hans are travelling to find work due to poverty.

Why I Loved It: This is a lushly romantic story that manages to keep the fairytale feel of the original while adding depth and complexity of character. I loved the mysterious forest woman Maeve, and I enjoyed seeing Gretel grow away from Hans’s influence and figure out what she wanted for herself. The ending was especially satisfying.

Content notes below the cut.

Title: Blackout

Author: Kit Mallory

The Story: After the Board came to power the world changed the way a hunter stalks its prey: all paranoia and imagined flickers of shadow, so that while you were being torn to pieces you were still wondering whether you were overreacting. For 16-year-old Skyler, fear is a way of life. For three years, since the Wall split the UK in two, her survival as an illegal Northern refugee in the South has been a perilous balancing act between staying in the shadows and clinging to her reputation as the South's best hacker. Fellow refugee Mackenzie is a ghost from her past she'd rather ignore. But when their paths collide unexpectedly, Skyler sees an opportunity to exact revenge on the brutal regime that destroyed her home and family - even if it means she goes down with them. Forced, with extreme reluctance, on the run together, Skyler and Mackenzie, along with enigmatic contract killer Angel, must find a way to outrun not only the Board and the South's most sadistic crime lord, but their own personal demons. If they can manage to not end up murdering each other in the process, that'll be a bonus. But more is at stake than any of them realise. And Skyler, who has long believed she has nothing left to lose, is about to discover just how wrong she is. (x)

The Representation: Skyler is attracted to women. Angel is a lesbian. Mackenzie has OCD. Several of the characters are living undocumented in the South. Joss and Lydia are Black, and Joss is a man attracted to men.

Why I Loved It: I was really excited to see a near-future dystopia set in the UK, and the fact that it features an F/F relationship made it an instant buy for me. This was an evocative and tense read – the plot was gripping, the fear and paranoia of life under the Board’s regime came through really strongly, and the parallels with the UK’s current political landscape were clear without being overdone.

The relationships in this book were fascinating – Skyler, Mackenzie and Angel have all been hurt in different ways by life under the Board, and I loved seeing them all gradually learning to lower the defences they’d built up and trust each other. I’m excited to read more in this compelling world.

Content notes under the cut.

Title: Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor

Author: Shira Glassman

The Story: Every time Cinnamon Blade, crime fighter making up for a bad past, rescues the sweet and nerdy Soledad Castillo from bad guys, the two women's chemistry grows stronger. Now that she's finally asked Soledad out, sparks fly -- but is a normal date even possible in a city threatened by aliens and vampires on a regular basis? (x)

The Representation: Cinnamon Blade is Jewish and bisexual. Soledad is Costa Rican American, working class and Catholic and is unsure whether she’s bi or a lesbian. Captain Werewolf is Jewish. Satyr is of Taiwanese descent. Dot is Black and chubby. Rodney is Black and queer.

Title: Jasmine Skies

Author: Sita Brahmachari

The Story: 14-year-old Mira Levenson travels to India to finally meet her family and is quickly swept into a sweltering, chaotic world - full of new sights, smells and deeply buried family secrets. (x)

The Representation: Mira is British with Indian and Polish-Jewish heritage. Most of the other characters are Bengali Hindus.

Title: The Superheroes Union: Dynama

Author: Ruth Diaz

The Story: TJ Gutierrez used to be a superhero. But after the birth of her twins seven years ago, she hung up the yellow spandex. Until the day her archenemy and ex-husband, Singularity, breaks out of prison. When it becomes clear he's after the kids, she's forced to call the nanny helpline—and once again become...Dynama!

Annmarie Smith doesn't have a superpower. She saves the world by keeping kids safe while their parents fight evil.

She temporarily moves in with TJ, and the way the magnetic mama puts family first captures Annmarie's respect, and maybe her heart—even though she knows better than to fall for a superhero. Still, it's hard to resist their wicked chemistry. Kapow!

But they can only hide from the world for so long. When Singularity's quest for custody puts the kids' lives in danger, can the two women conquer the evil villain and save TJ's family—all before their first date? (x)

The Representation: TJ is Latina, bisexual, and has light brown skin. Annmarie is attracted to women.

Title: Passing Strange

Author: Ellen Klages

The Story: San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World’s Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet. Six women find their lives as tangled with each other’s as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where mystery, science, and art intersect. (x)

The Representation: Most of the characters are lesbian and bisexual women. Helen has Japanese ancestry (although she is frequently mistaken for Chinese and experiences stereotyping and other racism based on that assumption). Haskel and Babs are Jewish. Many of the characters are struggling financially.

Why I Loved It: This is a gorgeously evocative portrait of queer ’40s San Francisco – it felt almost real enough to touch. I loved its exploration of identity and the different ways the characters negotiate the selves they present to the world. I keep thinking about the word “passing” in the title, and how many different meanings it has in the context of the story – from passing through time and space to ideas around gender identity and presentation. All of the characters were fascinating, particularly Haskel - I loved the way she found some control over her difficult past by making art. I loved the ways art, magic and science merged, and the hints of rich hidden worlds – I’d read a dozen more books about these characters and this setting.

Content notes under the cut.

Title: Summer in Orcus

Author: T. Kingfisher

The Story: When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains… (x)

The Representation: Summer is a survivor of ongoing emotional abuse. The Forester has brown skin.

Title: The Flamebringers

Author: Charley Clarke

The Story: An orphan, Mal has never felt at home in her village. When wildfires force her people into the mountains, she finds a way of life she never knew existed. But will she finally find a place to belong?  Astraea leads the Dagruhn people, who live in the mountains, bond with dragons, and don't take kindly to outsiders. When Mal and her people need shelter, will Astraea find the courage to put the needs of her heart above the needs of her people? (x)

The Representation: This is a romance between two women. Mal was abandoned as a baby and raised by the community.

Title: The Masked Minotaur

Author: Chace Verity

The Story: Odelia Aster runs her confectionery store with pride, even though profits are now practically non-existent. The hundred-year-old store has been in Odelia’s family from the invention of steamboats to the exile of magical creatures. She would do anything to protect her store and its famous candy geode recipe from the bandits now raiding the kingdom. Five years ago, Odelia married a nice noblewoman to keep the shop from going under. She cares for her wife, but it’s hard to feel there is something real between them when Charlotte keeps her distance, taking naps all day and getting plastered at fancy parties. Charlotte is nothing like the alleged Masked Minotaur vanquishing the bandits across the nation. The idea of a Masked Minotaur keeping humans safe at the risk of certain punishment from the king excites Odelia in ways her wife does not. When Odelia finds herself held up by a most unexpected bandit, she has to figure out how far she’ll go to protect her family’s legacy, even though all she wants is to be rescued by the Masked Minotaur. (x)

The Representation: This is a romance between two women. Odelia has light brown skin and silky black hair.

Title: Tess of the Road

Author: Rachel Hartman

The Story: In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. Tess, stubbornly, is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy. Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl—a subspecies of dragon—who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her to the world in more ways than one. (x)

The Representation: Tess’s childhood was physically and emotionally abusive. Pathka’s gender (and quigutl gender generally) does not align with human concepts of gender. There are several queer characters in the supporting and minor cast. There are several supporting and minor disabled characters. A character struggles with alcoholism.

Why I Loved It: This is my favourite book I’ve read in 2018 so far, and it’s a contender for my list of favourite books of all time. It’s a story about so many things – the harm done by rape culture, misogyny and rigid gender roles, the power of being free to make your own choices, the importance of networks of support, understanding and mentorship, coming to terms with trauma, figuring out who you are and what you’re doing with your life.

I absolutely adored Tess – she’s complicated and difficult and struggling, punished for her curiosity and for failing to fit neatly into her assigned social place, but with a core of innate kindness even while she reacts to her pain by lashing out, hurting herself and others. Parts of this book made me viscerally angry on her behalf, and other parts made me cry for her (and sometimes both at once). Her journey to understand her self and her place in the world is at the heart of the novel, paralleling her physical journey across the Southlands, a landscape that comes to vivid life as she explores it.

I loved the complexity of Tess’s relationships with her twin Jeanne and her older half-sister Seraphina, and the ways they evolved over the course of the book. I loved the many and varied characters she encountered on her travels, particularly the women she met who showed her paths that she hadn’t known existed. I loved everything this book had to say about the different ways women deal with life in a patriarchal society.

Tess’s relationship with Pathka, her quigutl best friend, is fascinating. While ostensibly on the same quest, they’re coming from/heading to very different places personally. I enjoyed that the book didn’t shy away from exploring the contrasts between the ways their cultures perceived the world, and the fact that they sometimes failed to understand each other’s perspectives in spite of their deep bond. I loved the exploration of quigutl culture generally, particularly the fascinating Qootla language, which has vocabulary to explore concepts that are difficult to articulate in English.

The book also contains some lovely easter eggs for fans of Seraphina/Shadow Scale, Hartman’s earlier story in the same setting, as we get to see interesting glimpses into the characters’ futures.

This is in many ways a painful book to read, but it balances its crushing lows with moments of pure joy and revelation. I could not have loved it more. Highly recommended.

Content notes under the cut.

Lately I’ve found myself with a real craving for F/F romance in fantasy and sci-fi settings that I can devour in one go, and I couldn’t find a handy list anywhere, so I decided to make one myself. (If anyone knows of another such list I’d love to see it, though!) Thank you to everyone who suggested things on Twitter!

These are all ones that I have read myself, but if you know of any I’ve missed off, don’t hesitate to add them and I’ll reblog. I’ll probably also add new entries to this list periodically, so if you get through them all and want more, check back!

A couple of these are technically novelettes, and one or two of them are getting towards novel length, but all of them are longer than a super-quick short story and shorter than a full-length novel, and available to buy as ebooks on their own rather than as part of an anthology.

(If you’d like content notes for any of these, they’ll all eventually get full reviews, but feel free to send me a message or an ask if you have questions about the ones without reviews posted yet.)

Beauty, Glory, Thrift, by Alison Tam - This smart and evocative space adventure is almost impossible to explain - you just have to read it - but it involves an unusual relationship between a goddess and a thief.

Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor, by Shira Glassman - In this witty and steamy story, crime fighter Cinnamon Blade just wants to get through a whole date with cute, nerdy Soledad without having to save the city from aliens or vampires.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop, by Meredith Katz - This is a warm and atmospheric tale of a romance between a sentient robot stuck in the past and a human technician afraid to put down roots.

The Disastrous Début of Agatha Tremain, by Stephanie Burgis - My review notes when I reread this recently were just “KISS GIRLS SMASH THE PATRIARCHY!!!” and if that’s your jam you’ll love this kickass, uplifting 19th-century fantasy.

Dynama, by Ruth Diaz - A sweet and hot superhero story following undercover metahuman TJ as she tries to juggle kids, work, saving the day, and her evil ex escaping from supervillain prison, with the help of her incredibly competent nanny Annmarie.

The Flamebringers, by Charley Clarke - A lush and romantic high fantasy story with awesome dragons - Astraea, the leader of her people, finds herself drawn to Mal, an outcast refugee.

Gale, by Lyssa Chiavari - This atmospheric and creepy dystopian retelling of The Tempest features the beginnings of a sweet romance between Miranda and Ferda, a girl she meets in her dreams who tells her stories of another world.

Girl Reporter, by Tansy Rayner Roberts - A funny, smart and thoughtful story of superhero journalism, family, adventure, and cute, bantersome romance.

Gretel: A Fairytale Retold, by Niamh Murphy - An intriguing and romantic twist on a familiar tale, with Gretel stepping out from her brother’s shadow when she falls for a mysterious woman in the woods.

Humanity for Beginners, by Faith Mudge - Gloria may have accidentally started a halfway house for lesbian werewolves but it is DEFINITELY not a pack and she is DEFINITELY not the Alpha. Totally charming with lovable characters and a gorgeous romance.

The Masked Minotaur, by Chace Verity - A super-cute fantasy romance that features a candy shop, a marriage of convenience and a masked vigilante. Plus, in a stroke of sheer genius, the ebook comes with two versions - one with a sex scene and one without, so you can choose your preferred flavour!

Moon-Bright Tides, by RoAnna Sylver - An absorbing and lovely story of the relationship between a lost mermaid and a lonely sea witch struggling under the weight of a duty that she bears alone.

Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages - A beautiful, immersive tale of magic, love, art and queer community in 1940s San Francisco.

Romancing the Inventor, by Gail Carriger - A hot and sweet slow-burn romance in a steampunk vampires-and-werewolves setting, featuring a butch inventor and a maid with a secret talent for mathematics.

Safety Protocols for Human Holidays, by Angel Martinez - This fun and satisfying story explores cultural misunderstandings and communication on a multi-species space vessel - can Growlan Raskli figure out what’s bothering Human Jen?

Seven: A Lesbian Snow White, by Jennifer Diemer - A creepy and lovely fairytale retelling in a richly imagined world.

Sparks Fly, by Llinos Cathryn Thomas - OK, maybe this is cheating because I wrote this one, but consider checking it out if you want to read a quick rivals-to-lovers romance between two teachers at a performing arts school on a space station.

The Terracotta Bride, by Zen Cho - A witty and bittersweet tale of first love and self-discovery in the Chinese afterlife.

Title: Moon-Bright Tides

Author: RoAnna Sylver

The Story: The night sky is very dark without a moon, and there hasn't been one for decades. Without one to govern the oceans, it falls to Riven, reluctant sea-witch, to sail out alone every night across the midnight ocean to cast a spell to call in the tides. She hates it. Hates the moonless dark, hates the endless deep, and hates the fact that without a witch to sing in the tides, sea and land alike would fall to ruin. Riven faces her worst fear every night for years - until she meets a mermaid. Her new friend is lost, starving, and just as lonely as she is. And now that they've found one another, neither of their nights on the midnight sea will be the same. (x)

Why I Loved It: This was a sweet, comforting story of two lonely women who are almost without hope until they find each other.  Riven begins the story bitter, lonely and without any expectation that this will change. I loved seeing her gradually flourish and find joy in life again, and I loved seeing both she and Moonbright grow happier as their relationship progressed. I also loved the setting, I’d happily read more in this fascinating world.