Siavahda's Blog, page 7
June 4, 2025
I Can’t Wait For…A Fuckery of Fae and Fate by A.J. Braun
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
You can find the releases I’m most anticipating this year over on my Unmissable list, but I use Can’t-Wait Wednesday to feature books I’m hopeful about but aren’t as sure of.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is A Fuckery of Fae and Fate by A.J. Braun!
A F*ckery of Fae & Fate by A.J. Braun Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 3rd July 2025
Goodreads
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In one of their first-ever documented adventures, bounty hunters Rhema—a grumpy, axe-wielding fighter—and Benny—her chipper, easily excitable dragon—save a bratty princess from a trickster fae prince.
But when they attempt to return her home, not only is Rhema growing an inconvenient attachment to the spitfire royal, but the princess is also being chased down by droves of sexy, dumb, and very violent fae men who claim she's their mate. In order for Rhema and Benny to make it to the Butter and Barmaids Festival on time, they have no choice but to seek out Rhema's hot bounty hunter rival, an expert of the fae realm, to help them uncover the mystery of where all these chiseled-jawed men are coming from—and stop them before the princess falls for their illustrious charm.
I hope it won’t take anyone who follows this blog by surprise when I say I deeply despise what Maas and her ilk have done to the reputation of the Good Neighbours; that I cannot stand the ‘genre’ typified by Noun of Noun and Noun titles; and I wish I could wake up to discover the whole trend has been a terrible nightmare and it’s over now.
I am therefore so excited for a book taking the piss out of the stupid Fae Mate trope! CAN WE HAVE ALL THE LAMBASTING OF IT, PLEASE? Gods, this looks so freaking cathartic!
Even without that, this sounds delightfully ridiculous, and I am made very hopeful by all the neon in that cover!
The post I Can’t Wait For…A Fuckery of Fae and Fate by A.J. Braun appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
June 1, 2025
Pride Flag Recs For My 6th Blog Birthday!
Today Every Book a Doorway is SIX YEARS OLD AND COUNTING!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I really can’t believe I’ve managed to keep blogging this long, that I somehow built my own little niche of the internet into something I’m this proud of. I love knowing that I’ve made a space for other readers with my wildly weird (and weirdly specific!) Venn diagram of interests and preferences to come and find out about books they might like. I remain astonished that I now have a network of other bloggers, readers, and even publicists and authors who know who I am and are interested in my opinions. I’ve seen myself quoted on author websites, publisher pages, and even inside a few books!
NOT 100% SURE HOW I GOT HERE, BUT YOU’RE SURE STUCK WITH ME NOW, FOLX!
As is OFFICIALLY tradition, I am celebrating my blogiversary with Pride Flag recs. Rainbow Reads came up with the original tag, and it is exactly what you’d expect; a recommendation for every stripe in the (original) Gilbert Baker pride flag themed around what those colours represented, plus the new brown+black stripes for QBIPOC.
I actually went a little bit further, and added the stripes from the Daniel Quasar flag shown below – so, not just brown+black, but the trans colours as well!
And because I’m me and this is Every Book a Doorway, each book is SFF, AND a Crescent Classic.
(I mean – le duh.)
Now let’s (finally!) get to what you’re here for: THE BOOKS!
PINK – SEXUALITY
The Mercy Makers (The Moon Heresies, 1) by Tessa Gratton Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual brown MC, secondary fat brown sapphic character, minor nonbinary character, minor trans character
Published on: 17th June 2025
Goodreads
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A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love—either way, her choice will upend the world, in the start of a sweeping, romantic epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.
Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?
Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She'll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
This is a perfect book. I love absolutely everything about it. But one aspect of it which I particularly want to think about and talk about and bang the drum about is its approach to sexuality. Because, among all the other things this is, it’s an extremely sexual book! As in, there is quite a bit of sex in it, some quite graphic, but also, sexuality is a thing which permeates every page. Sex and desire and pleasure are all presented frankly, openly, unashamedly, and while I’ve seen that before, a) it’s rarely as well done as it is here, and b) it’s always been in a sort of ‘sex is natural, why make a big deal of it?’ way. Here, sex is – celebrated? Revelled in. It’s natural, yes, but it’s also something to enjoy. Bodies are something to enjoy, in Iriset’s world; you’re meant to actively enjoy having one. I don’t know how to articulate it, but it made this sex-repulsed ace very teary (in a good way!) It felt like – as if there’s a spectrum: there’s all our weird shames and hang-ups about sex, and beyond that is a perfect neutrality, and beyond that is sex-positivity. And beyond that is Mercy Makers.
It’s not just that our main character like sex; sexuality is woven throughout the story’s setting. This is a culture where same-sex encounters or relationships are nothing to bat an eye at, but any pairing that could potentially reproduce is regulated. Regulated! The high priestess of the empire gives her divine husband a magic orgasm every day! There’s a theological argument between sects of the priesthood, and the sexiest one wins, and that makes sense within the theology! IT’S ALL EXTREMELY COOL.
Also, because it delights me: Gratton mentioned in their newsletter a while back about how sexuality affected the design of the cover. ‘SWORD IN CHALICE VIBES’, INDEED.
RED – LIFE
Metal from Heaven by August Clarke Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, multiple lesbian secondary characters
Goodreads
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For fans of The Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth: a bloody lesbian revenge tale and political fantasy set in a glittering world transformed by industrial change – and simmering class warfare.
He who controls ichorite controls the world.
A malleable metal more durable than steel, ichorite is a toxic natural resource fueling national growth, and ambitious industrialist Yann Chauncey helms production of this miraculous ore. Working his foundry is an underclass of destitute workers, struggling to get better wages and proper medical treatment for those exposed to ichorite’s debilitating effects since birth.
One of those luster-touched victims, the child worker Marney Honeycutt, is picketing with her family and best friend when a bloody tragedy unfolds. Chauncey’s strikebreakers open fire.
Only Marney survives.
A decade later, as Yann Chauncey searches for a suitable political marriage for his ward, Marney sees the perfect opportunity for revenge. With the help of radical bandits and their stolen wealth, she must masquerade as an aristocrat to win over the calculating Gossamer Chauncey and kill the man who slaughtered her family and friends. But she is not the only suitor after Lady Gossamer’s hand, leading her to play twisted elitist games of intrigue. And Marney’s luster-touched connection to the mysterious resource and its foundry might put her in grave danger—or save her from it.
H. A. Clarke’s adult fantasy debut, writing as August Clarke, Metal from Heaven is a punk-rock murder ballad tackling labor issues and radical empowerment against the relentless grind of capitalism.
It is probably some kind of ironic to pick Metal From Heaven for the Life prompt/stripe, because Marney, the main character, is really Not Invested in staying alive. She’s not suicidal or depressed (although wow is she traumatised!) but she doesn’t care about dying at all, so long as she takes Chauncey with her.
But the book. The book is so very alive. It crackles and burns and hisses, vivid and electric, so fiercely and vibrantly and viciously alive that it’s like neon in a black-and-white world. I don’t think I can describe it any better than that. If you’ve read it, you know exactly what I mean; if you haven’t, you should go get yourself a copy IMMEDIATELY.
My review!
My (more ‘professional’) review for Ancillary Review of Books! (beware spoilers!)
Lovequake by T.J. Land Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Brown pansexual MC, disabled trans love interest, secondary sapphic Nigerian character, minor Nigerian asexual aromantic character, M/M, secondary F/F
Goodreads
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No one knows what to make of Sunday.
He’s handsome. He’s stylish. He’s got endless amounts of cash that he splashes around like water.
But there’s something just a little bit wrong about the way he talks – like he’s never had a conversation before – and the way he walks – like he expects walls to simply get out of his way. Though his hair and beard are immaculately groomed, he never brushes the former or trims the latter. And he talks to the sky.
All of which are very solid, sensible reasons for Zip Fletcher, cheerfully rude Welsh sex worker, not to develop a crush on him.
Zip is, however, not a sensible man.
LOVEQUAKE is an M/M + F/F romantic scifi adventure set against the backdrop of a quintillion-year-old cosmic war.
Lovequake is both literally a story of healing – it’s the story of an ancient cosmic horror recovering from a long-ago injury – and is incredibly healing as a story. I first read this book at an absolutely terrible time, and it was the only thing that had been able to make me laugh. It has made me laugh, and grin like a fool, and kick my feet, and flap my arms, every time I’ve read it since. It’s such unbelievable FUN, but also thoughtful and meaty and quite deep in places. You need to have a taste for the totally ridiculous occasionally, though in my opinion I think it’s done wonderfully. And good luck not falling in love with every member of the cast, because they are, all of them, PHENOMENAL.
And it is currently available FOR FREE over on Smashwords!
YELLOW – SUNLIGHT
A King's Trust (Heart-Mage Trilogy #1) by S.E. McPherson Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual autistic MC with ADHD, M/M/F polyamory
Goodreads
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Fantasy | Romance | LGBTQ+
The spare becomes the heir and, on his path to the throne, discovers magical intrigue, a secret society pulling political strings, and not one, but two loves of his life.
I cannot articulate, even to myself, why King’s Trust fits the Sunlight stripe, but I feel in my gut that it does. I think maybe because it flooded me with so much JOY as I read it; it was like having a little sun in my chest. This is a polyamorous romantic fantasy (fantasy romance? Romantasy?) set in a fairly generic fantasy kingdom, where the second (autistic, with ADHD) prince become crown heir after his older brother dies. This is very bad, because he is not at all kingly material. Also, his dead brother’s fiance thinks he murdered his brother, for some strange reason. There are a number of plotlines, smaller and larger, mysteries and twists and secrets and reveals. The relationships, romantic and platonic, just SHINE. I need the sequel so bad!
GREEN – NATURE
Susurrus on Mars by Hal Duncan Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi, Science Fantasy
Representation: M/M
Goodreads
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This novella-length collection of Erehwynan Idylls offers readers an indulgent and weird agglomeration of randy boys and revelations, as the embodiment of a small breeze--actually the gene-spliced child of the gods Zephyros and Ares--flirts and seduces fleshlings on a terraformed future Mars. Hal Duncan's acclaimed style is both alethic and erudite and offers a fresh telling of philosophical musings and classic Greek mythology for 21st century readers.
"This densely lyrical novella combines science fiction, Greek mythology, botany, philosophy, and erotica into a resonant whole..." - Publishers Weekly
Hal Duncan is one of my favourite authors no one ever seems to have heard of, and Susurrus on Mars is a great place to start with his books, imo. The writing style’s somewhat experimental (not 100% sure that’s the word I want), but I never found it hard to follow; it’s an exploration of a far-future Mars, and a found-family that forms there, via the interested surveillance of a young wind god. One of the things I really love about this novella is how it’s woven through with the mythological origins of different plants – like how Narcissus became the flower, and Daphne a laurel tree. Makes it a perfect fit for the Nature stripe of the flag!
TURQUOISE – MAGIC
Domesticated Magic by Wendy Palmer Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, queer love interest, M/M
Goodreads
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Mateo Taurasi and his family fled their island home when their people turned to sorcery. Mateo’s own magic is tame but it’s still banned in the Vaeringan Empire...and his family still use it every day in their cosy teahouse. The last thing they need is an Imperial barging in to catch them at it.
Luckily, Jonas just wants to offer them a trade deal too good to resist. As hard as he tries, Mateo begins to find the cheerfully charming Jonas too good to resist, too.
But an unfairly attractive Imperial is not Mateo’s only problem. Rumours of sorcery loose in the city mean trouble for the Taurasi. With Jonas caught up in the mess, Mateo must investigate.
His family already lost their world once. Mateo can’t let them lose again. Not even if it costs him the man he really wishes he didn't have feelings for.
c/ explicit transm/m sex scenes
Magic is – probably not very surprisingly! – fundamental to every aspect of Domesticated Magic; Mateo’s people left their home because of it; the country that accepted them as refugees has banned magic, which affects, you know, how they live their lives; and yet they use it daily. The sharing of magic is fundamental to their culture and religion, even. The main mystery of the book is finding out who is misusing it. It even becomes quite important to the romance. It’s in every part of the story!
Plus, the magic system itself is just – so incredibly impressive. It’s so simple, but it’s elegantly simple, perfectly simple. Genius!
BLUE – HARMONY
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic Jewish MC, sapphic Jewish spouse, polyamory, queernorm world
Goodreads
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A literary descendent of Ursula K. Le Guin, Ruthanna Emrys crafts a novel of extra-terrestrial diplomacy and urgent climate repair bursting with quiet, tenuous hope and an underlying warmth. A Half-Built Garden depicts a world worth building towards, a humanity worth saving from itself, and an alien community worth entering with open arms. It's not the easiest future to build, but it's one that just might be in reach.
On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. She heads out to check what she expects to be a false alarm—and stumbles upon the first alien visitors to Earth. These aliens have crossed the galaxy to save humanity, convinced that the people of Earth must leave their ecologically-ravaged planet behind and join them among the stars. And if humanity doesn't agree, they may need to be saved by force.
But the watershed networks that rose up to save the planet from corporate devastation aren't ready to give up on Earth. Decades ago, they reorganized humanity around the hope of keeping the world livable. By sharing the burden of decision-making, they've started to heal our wounded planet.
Now corporations, nation-states, and networks all vie to represent humanity to these powerful new beings, and if anyone accepts the aliens' offer, Earth may be lost. With everyone’s eyes turned skyward, the future hinges on Judy's effort to create understanding, both within and beyond her own species.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
It probably wouldn’t be wrong to use Half-Built Garden for the Nature stripe, but I think it’s a better fit here. Because the central question of the book is: can sapient life exist in harmony with nature, or not? Nature’s important here – but the book is about harmony. The aliens are convinced that technological species have to leave their planets, or else destroy themselves. The main character and her community completely reject that premise – but humans aren’t a single community, and there are a bunch of other factions with a bunch of other opinions (of course). This is such a stunning book, and it fills me with so much hope for the future. As Seanan McGuire said on the cover, this ‘deserves to be the first contact novel that defines a generation.’
PURPLE – SPIRIT
So You Want To Be A Robot: 22 Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer and neurodivergent MCs
Goodreads
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“Divergent characters find themselves in startling situations in this debut collection of unconventional sci-fi and fantasy stories... A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS
review [1st Edition]
Set aside traditional norms and the gender binary in this updated collection of twenty-two stories by Nebula Award finalist Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
Here you'll find robots and cyborgs exploring their own forms of personhood; lose yourself in wildly imaginative landscapes and dystopian worlds; follow assassins, sentient shadows, sorrowful ghosts, and all forms of monsters. Dare to feel everything—from the brightest joy to sorrow and the rainbow of emotion in between.
Yet even in the darkest moments, there will always be hope.
---“The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gods, this collection is so incredibly…soul-feeding. I’ve come back to it over and over. Wolfmoor’s imagination is breathtaking, and the prose! Excuse me while I swoon. But much deeper than that… This book brims with the sense that anything is possible. ANYTHING. When I’m feeling deeply grey and numb, So You Want To Be A Robot wakes me up, brings the colour back. Brings the MAGIC back. When my sense of wonder grows ragged, this is the book I reach for. It always works.
TRANS – A TRANS LEAD AND AUTHOR
The Story of the Hundred Promises by Neil Cochrane Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, nonbinary MC
Goodreads
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A queer, deconstructed version of the “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale
Trans sailor Darragh Thorn has made a comfortable life for himself among people who love and accept him. Ten years after his exile from home, though, his sister asks him to reconcile with their ailing father. Determined to resolve his feelings rather than just survive them, Darragh sets off on a quest to find the one person who can heal a half-dead the mysterious enchanter who once gave him the magic he needed to become his true self. But so far as anyone knows, no one but Darragh has seen the enchanter for a century, and the fairy tales that survive about em give more cause for fear than hope. In lush and evocative prose, and populated with magical trees and a wise fox, The Story of the Hundred Promises is a big-hearted fantasy suffused with queer optimism.
Toss out the idea that this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling; that’s only accurate by the loosest of definitions. What it is is a soft, dreamy, emotional story exploring gender and what it means to be ‘different’. It’s a story that’ll make you ache, but also make you smile; it’s magical and optimistic, even if parts of it hurt. Charlie Jane Anders called it ‘the trans fable the world needs right now’, and I think that’s even truer than it was when Hundred Promises came out in 2022.
QBIPOC – A BIPOC MC AND AUTHOR
The Iron Below Remembers by Sharang Biswas Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Brown gay MC, M/M, queernorm world
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-01T16:23:35+00:00", "description": "SIX YEARS AND COUNTING, ARE YOU TIRED OF ME YET?", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/pride-flag-recs-for-my-6th-blog-birthday\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Iron Below Remembers", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sharang Biswas", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}Set in an alternate version of the British Isles where South Asian imperial interest colonized much of the globe thanks to their advanced technology, Professor Laxman Yadav is dating Saviour, one of the world’s most famous superheroes, while also investigating possibly the most important archeological find of all time. Equal parts pulp caper and meta-textual academic text, this novella leans as heavily on footnotes as it does on explorations of queer romance.
AHHHH, HOW DO I CONVEY HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS??? It’s the kind of novella only Neon Hemlock would publish (that is a compliment), deeply weird and wild and EXUBERANT with its own oddness! It’s set in a UK that was colonised way back by a fictional Asian empire, and the main character is a professor in that empire’s history, but don’t worry about it being all Proper Academia and very dull, because instead it’s bright and witty and funny and my GODS, it is so very gay. (Also a compliment.) Oh, and this professor? Is dating one of the world’s biggest superheroes. Superheroes are a thing. It all fits together way better than you might expect, up to and including the magical archaeology!
Happy Blogiversary to ME, and happy Pride to everyone!
If you’re curious, you can find my previous years’ recs below;
Year One!
(I missed celebrating year 2!)
Year Three!
Year Four!
Year Five!
And if you do your own Pride Flag recs, PLEASE let me know so I can come see!
The post Pride Flag Recs For My 6th Blog Birthday! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 31, 2025
In Short: May
Pretty laid-back month this month; not much to report. The heat’s begun to hit where I am, which is just rude; the fibro is what it is. I had a lot of fun with Wyrd & Wonder, the garden’s coming in, and I ordered new glasses – should be getting them this coming week! Kind of sad to be retiring the gorgeous pair I have now, but they’re falling apart and my prescription’s changed, so…sigh. But at least the new pair are extremely sparkly!
ARCs Received
Mostly auto-approves this month! Almost all of these were already on my radar; of those new to me, Slayers of Old I learned about when a Goodreads friend reviewed it, and I remembered that diversity needs to mean elderly rep too; Demon Engine I stumbled upon on Bluesky, and then discovered it’s from the same tiny indie (micro-press?) who published the hardback of Darknesses! (Which, I say yet again, you should read!)
There’s really not many books left on my Unmissable list that I’d want arcs of – sequels and new books from authors I already like, I’d rather wait for. I love having books to excitedly look forward to, you know?
(Obviously I have broken that rule a lot! But I’m trying, I swear.)
(And I’ll unapologetically break the rule when it’s an author I like writing something wildly different to their thing I read, like Emily Tesh writing Incandescent after Some Desperate Glory. This month I nabbed Voidwalker when I really loved the author’s debut, The Phoenix Keeper, because Voidwalker sounds very different.)
So most stuff I request going forward will probably be new to-me-authors and books I’ve not heard of already! I wonder what new faves I’ll end up discovering?
Read
25 books read this month! That’s 5 more than April. Probably the number of novellas this month helped!
I continue to read non-fic aloud at bedtime to get the hubby to sleep, which has had excellent results but the quality of the books themselves has varied a lot (and does anyone know why non-fic ebooks are almost always packed full of typos???) But the fiction made up for it: Incandescent blew me away, The Grimoire Grammar Parent Teacher Association is utterly delightful, and I’m still heartbroken that The Mercy Makers is over (wanna take bets on how many times I reread it before we get book two???)
Audition For The Fox was a book I hoped to like (I count the author as a friendly acquaintance) but ended up loving, with worldbuilding I straight-up adored. I’m interviewing the author about it, so expect that closer to the book’s release day (September 16th)!
Wonderful rereads included Radiance, which will never not take my breath away; Letter to the Luminous Deep, every bit as enchanting the second time around; Tears of the Salamander, a beautiful MG about music and fire; A Brother’s Price, which remains one of my favourite romances and I wish the author would write more in that setting!; and Bride of the Rat God, which I doubt I will ever get tired of (I think this was my fourth time with it!) I also played the audiobook of Murderbot for the hubby, which is a Big Deal because he never reads sci fi! Now to convince him to listen to the rest of the series…
ReviewedPretty pleased with my reviews this month! I mean, I always wish I’d written more, but quality-wise, I’m happy. (Yes, even with the one of Amplitudes. I regret not one single swear word.)
DNFed
A new record this month: 17! What is there to say except…welp?
(The last one I only dnfed around 3am this morning; I’ll add it to yesterday’s dnf roundup post later!)
ARCs Outstanding
I feel like I’ve somehow managed to wrestle my arcs under control, which is not an accurate reflection of reality because I still have so many whose release dates have passed without a review from me. (Although some of these are final copies sent to me after publication, which I feel much less guilty about.)
Unmissable SFF UpdatesAnother Unmissable was pushed back to 2026, but I added another after I got to read an arc of it, so we’re still at 81!
How did my predictions/anticipated reads for May go? I declared ten books Unmissable for this month, and–
two were five-star reads (Incandescent and The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association)two were two-and-a-half star reads (Brighter Than Scale Swifter Than Flame and Starving Saints)one was a two-star read (that I’d like to give -10) (Amplitudes)three were DNFs (Disco Witches, Behooved, and Sun Blessed Prince)two I haven’t finished yet, but am enjoying very much (Letter From the Lonesome Shore and Overgrowth)Even though the two five-stars both became favourites, I think we have to call this a pretty disappointing month for the Unmissables! Even if both the ones I haven’t finished yet turn out to be five stars (and I’m pretty sure one of them won’t) that’s still less than a 50% success rate. Meep!
MiscThis month was Wyrd & Wonder, so I had more non-review posts than usual! And I’m pretty happy with all of them;
a list of recommendations featuring mermaids and selkies, for this year’s nautical thememy annual list of cool magic systemsmy annual list of cool magical powers10 strange and wonderful fantasy settingsI also made a recommendation list of vampire books for World Dracula Day, which I did not know was a thing and remain gleeful about!
Looking Forward
Pride Month is once again PACKED full of new books to be excited for! The Mercy Makers is at the top of the list for me (conveying just how much I love it is going to make reviewing it HARD); Starstruck and Seventhblade, featuring sapphic radishes and Native American epic fantasy respectively, come a close joint-second. The rest are in no particular order; we have a fixer of magical objects in Reigncloud Palace; Woman From the Waves is a gothic-y looking romance with a sapphic kelpie; Dragon Next Door features the rescue of a stolen dragon egg getting out of hand. Nine-Tenths, with more dragons, is the newest book from a long-time fave of mine, and A Holy Maiden’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped, with its faceblind mc, sounds like a lot of fun!
And these are only the ones I’m REALLY excited for; a ton more I have my eyes on will be showing up in my Must-Have Monday posts!
Wishing us all a joy-full June!
The post In Short: May appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 29, 2025
Beyond the Edges of the Map: Strange Settings
Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs PhotographyThe Wyrd & Wonder theme this year is maritime fantasy. Which had me thinking about ships, and then maps (why DO we all love maps in books so much??? I know I do, but I can’t articulate why), which got me thinking about here be dragons – the edges of the maps, where the world is Different and Strange and Anything Is Possible.
So here is a list of some of the most fantastical settings I’ve seen in Fantasy!
The Mercy Makers (The Moon Heresies, 1) by Tessa Gratton Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary sapphic characters, minor nonbinary character, minor trans character, queernorm setting
Published on: 17th June 2025
Goodreads
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A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love—either way, her choice will upend the world, in the start of a sweeping, romantic epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.
Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?
Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She'll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
We get glimpses of several settings within this world – flying cloud-palaces and an archipelago that worships very eldritch demons (not the Christian kind) – but I think the strangest and best is the main one, Moonshadow City. Built in the crater made when one of the moons fell to earth, this is a place where architecture (as in buildings, not magic; ‘architecture’ is also the term for a kind of magic in this world) regularly disregards the laws of physics, birds with skulls for faces feed on energy, magical graffiti functions as both news service and advertising – and most forms of healing are banned as blasphemy. The worst criminals get unmade from reality; the head of the faith gives her god an orgasm every morning; people wear masks to prevent their faces being stolen; and the moon overhead never moves, hence the city’s name. ‘Strange’ doesn’t BEGIN to cover it!
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Portal Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Japanese MC, bi/pansexual MCs
Goodreads
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In the Cities of Coin and Spice and In the Night Garden introduced readers to the unique and intoxicating imagination of Catherynne M. Valente. Now she weaves a lyrically erotic spell of a place where the grotesque and the beautiful reside and the passport to our most secret fantasies begins with a stranger’s kiss.…
Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night.
To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.
I mean, even getting to the city of Palimpsest is extremely strange; it can only be reached by having sex with a person who’s been there! Once you arrive, you’ll find houses that are grown like flowers; canals of cloth traversed by velvet gondolas; chariot races on tracks of pearls; narwhal-horned saints; maps that are baked like pies before they fly themselves away. It’s very dream-like, and every part of it you’ll see is packed with impossibilities – most beautiful, some disturbing, all deeply, deeply strange.
The West Passage by Jared Pechaček Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
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A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.
When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.
Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.
The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for the world is about to change.
The eldritch Ladies who rule the towers are unknowable: some of them have castles for heads, or birds, or fire. Their – queendom? – contains bee hives who prance around with the bodies of donkeys; frogs whose eggs contain furniture; and genders determined by careers, not bodies. The sketched outline of this realm might be vaguely Medieval, but it’s a Medieval world on acid!
The Pyramids of London (The Trifold Age, #1) by Andrea K. Höst Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, amputee MC, secondary sapphic character
Goodreads
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In a world where lightning sustained the Roman Empire, and Egypt's vampiric god-kings spread their influence through medicine and good weather, tiny Prytennia's fortunes are rising with the ships that have made her undisputed ruler of the air.
But the peace of recent decades is under threat. Rome's automaton-driven wealth is waning along with the New Republic's supply of power crystals, while Sweden uses fear of Rome to add to her Protectorates. And Prytennia is under attack from the wind itself. Relentless daily blasts destroy crops, buildings, and lives, and neither the weather vampires nor Prytennia's Trifold Goddess have been able to find a way to stop them.
With events so grand scouring the horizon, the deaths of Eiliff and Aedric Tenning raise little interest. The official verdict is accident: two careless automaton makers, killed by their own construct.
The Tenning children and Aedric's sister, Arianne, know this cannot be true. Nothing will stop their search for what really happened.
Not even if, to follow the first clue, Aunt Arianne must sell herself to a vampire.
A world where gods are objectively, tangibly real, tied to the nations of humanity, and which god you declare for determines which afterlife you go to; where ancient Egyptian vampires control the weather of the world; and Roman crystals power pre-Industrial Age machinery. England is ruled by a trio of queens who stand for the country’s dragons, and who send starry hares racing through the night sky when they they’re seeking secrets. Horned snakes guard sacred sites that lie outside of time. And don’t get me started on this world’s France!
Asunder by Kerstin Hall Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary F/F
Goodreads
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"Eerie, lovely, and surreal."—Ann Leckie on The Border Keeper
We choose our own gods here.
Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch entity—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.
Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.
And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.
Listen. LISTEN. This is probably the one I agonised over the most, because ALL of Hall’s books feature strange (and incredible) settings – Star Eater is set on a flying island run by cannibal nuns, and the Mkalis Cycle takes place in MULTIPLE deeply bizarre ‘kingdoms’ within what is kind of an afterlife realm…except for all the people born there, for whom the ‘normal’ world is the afterlife!
But in the end I had to pick Asunder, because I don’t think anything can top living furry taxis, miraculous flowers taking the place of the postal service, and hands-down the BEST alternative to trains/long-distance coaches I have EVER seen!
The Helm of Midnight (The Five Penalties, #1) by Marina J. Lostetter Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown bisexual MC, queernorm world
Goodreads
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A legendary serial killer stalks the streets of a fantastical city in The Helm of Midnight, the stunning first novel in a new trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter.
In a daring and deadly heist, thieves have made away with an artifact of terrible power--the death mask of Louis Charbon. Made by a master craftsman, it is imbued with the spirit of a monster from history, a serial murderer who terrorized the city with a series of gruesome murders.
Now Charbon is loose once more, killing from beyond the grave. But these murders are different from before, not simply random but the work of a deliberate mind probing for answers to a sinister question.
It is up to Krona Hirvath and her fellow Regulators to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer while facing the terrible truths left in his wake.
The world Lostetter’s created is one where time is taxed, only twins can hold the highest political office, emotions can be drained out of a person and planted into gemstones (which can then be worn by anyone wanting a boost of that emotion!), and experts in their fields are made into masks so after their deaths, someone else can wear them and have the use of their skills or knowledge…assuming the mask-spirit doesn’t end up possessing you.
My review of Helm of Midnight!
My review of Cage of Dark Hours!
Windburn Whiplash (Streets of Flame Quartet Book 2) by Matt Weber Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown bisexual MC of fictional minority; F/F; extremely minor nonbinary character
Goodreads
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It’s been six years since Zaya Shearwater lost her wife and her dragon in the most dangerous race in Yemareir. She’s retired from the dragon-racing circuit, supporting her family as a security guard on long-haul trade expeditions… until she comes back one night to discover that her newly adopted daughter, Vanako, has been dealing for a mob boss. Worse, she owes him a sky-high sum of money for lost product. And there’s not much he wouldn’t do – to Vanako, to Zaya, or to anyone in their family – to get it back.
Zaya doesn’t want to go back to the racing circuit. She doesn’t have a trained dragon, she doesn’t have anyone to ride with, and she thought she’d put those memories of pain and loss away. But even if she does ride again… after six years away from the scene, can she win what she needs in time to pay what she owes?
Windburn Whiplash is the first full-length novel in the Streets of Flame Quartet. Start with Brimstone Slipstream, the novella that opens the series, and keep an eye out for Heatstroke Heartbeat and Wildfire Riptide, forthcoming!
How about a Central/South American-inspired setting with feathered dragons? The city of Yemareir revolves around dragons; each district is built around the nesting area for a different dragon breed, and when that breed shows up, the entire district up and moves to another. You and your besties can form a House together and legally become a new family, with the same surname and everything; empaths guide animals like gorillas and elephants to help out on construction sites; and a significant minority of people are walking around with baby demons attached to them.
My review of Brimstone Slipstream!
My review of Windburn Whiplash!
My review of Heatstroke Heartbeat!
Blackheart Knights by Laure Eve Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, secondary nonbinary character, queernorm setting
Goodreads
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Power always wins.
Imagine Camelot but in Gotham: a city where knights are the celebrities of the day, riding on motorbikes instead of horses and competing in televised fights for fame and money.
Imagine a city where a young, magic-touched bastard astonishes everyone by becoming king - albeit with extreme reluctance - and a girl with a secret past trains to become a knight for the sole purpose of vengeance.
Imagine a city where magic is illegal but everywhere, in its underground bars, its back-alley soothsayers - and in the people who have to hide what they are for fear of being tattooed and persecuted.
Imagine a city where electricity is money, power the only game worth playing, and violence the most fervently worshipped religion.
Welcome to a dark, chaotic, alluring place with a tumultuous history, where dreams come true if you want them hard enough - and are prepared to do some very, very bad things to get them . . .
"A riveting tragedy of blood and desire - and the coolest thing you'll read this year" ― Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season and The Priory of the Orange Tree
"The boldest, smartest, most adventurous fantasy I've read in ages - and it's really f**ing fun" ― Krystal Sutherland, author of Our Chemical Hearts
"Arthurian legend meets urban fantasy in a brilliant, bloody wild ride" ― Jay Kristoff, No.1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author
This alternate London is its own kingdom, with its own monarch, within an England very different to our own. In London, knights ride motorbikes rather than horses, and are the only ones who can legally carry guns. Knights are rockstars, competing in stadiums before thousands of fans – and their fights settle legal disputes. Magic exists but is illegal, and people born with it are tattooed and registered. And if someone kills someone you love, it’s perfectly legal for you to kill them…
My review of Blackheart Knights!
Range of Ghosts (Eternal Sky, #1) by Elizabeth Bear Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Central Asian-inspired cast and setting
Goodreads
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A powerful new fantasy from Hugo award–winning author Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts creates a world both deep and broad, where a sorcerer-prince seeks world domination for the glory of his God.
Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather's throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.
Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards.
These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.
The Eternal Sky Trilogy
#1 Range of Ghosts
#2 Shattered Pillars
#3 Steles of the Sky
In the world of this trilogy, the sky is determined by the ruling power on the ground – so, when you cross a border into another kingdom, you step out under a different sky than the one behind you. Different skies are different colours, with different stars, but also with different numbers of suns and moons, all of which follow their own unique laws – for example, in the Khan’s realm, there’s a moon for every one of his hundreds of grandsons, and if a prince dies, his moon disappears. Sometimes the skies don’t reflect the official king or emperor down below, but instead the dominant religion – and a god’s territory extends only across their own sky, and no further. Travel abroad, and you go beyond the reach of your gods.
Makes vacations a much chancier business…
The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1) by Kameron Hurley Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, queernorm world
Goodreads
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An ambitious tale of magic, war, and parallel worlds that pushes the boundaries of epic fantasy—from a two-time Hugo Award winner
On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past . . . while a world goes to war with itself.
In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. At the heart of this war lie the pacifistic Dhai people, once enslaved by the Saiduan and now courted by their former masters to provide aid against the encroaching enemy.
As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war; a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family to save his skin; and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father's people or loyalty to her alien Empress. Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself. In the end, one world will rise—and many will perish.
Stretching from desolate tundras to steamy, semi-tropical climes seething with sentient plant life, this is an epic tale of blood mages and mercenaries, emperors and priestly assassins, who must unite to save a world on the brink of ruin.
File Under: Fantasy [ Orphaned Child | World at War | Blood Magic | The Fluidity of Gender]
The Worldbreaker Saga takes place across several worlds – which are all alternates of each other within the same multiverse. The cultures, therefore, are wildly different – we have cannibal pacifists who are big on group marriage and another that’s a violent matriarchy, for starters – but the physical setting/s are more or less the same. They all have carnivorous, occasionally AMBULATORY plants more than capable of eating humans; none of them have horses (dogs and bears are the most common replacements); and they all have star magic. Mages in these worlds can draw power from one of several satellites (so I guess not really stars); each satellite’s power is good for different things, and each satellite is in ascendance at different times – one satellite might be in the sky for a decade, then it changes over to another, and when it changes, the mages of the first satellite become much, much weaker until it comes around again. Because magic is so important for so many things, satellites changing position can have a huge affect on a society who depend on its magic, not just the mages who use it.
What are some of the strangest settings YOU’VE ever seen?
The post Beyond the Edges of the Map: Strange Settings appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 28, 2025
I Can’t Wait For…Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
You can find the releases I’m most anticipating this year over on my Unmissable list, but I use Can’t-Wait Wednesday to feature books I’m hopeful about but aren’t as sure of.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey!
Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 30th June 2025
Goodreads
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Colin Levesque is at loose ends. He's finished university, but has no career; he adores romance novels, but he's crap at relationships; and his prickliness is a detriment at the café where he's making ends meet. He also has a crush on his regular Dav, a homo draconis who comes in every morning to read his newspaper, sip his double-strong coffee, and stare longingly at Colin in return.
So it figures that the day Colin gets up the courage to do something about the sexual tension simmering between them, he also learns that Dav has an embarrassing habit of hiccupping fire when he's nervous. Which, in this case, destroys the fancy custom-made bean roaster. When Dav volunteers to take over the coffee roasting with his fire-breath, being squished together in the hot, cramped kitchen leads to even hotter kisses.
Everything's finally happening for Colin—until people start claiming the dragon-roasted coffee has cured their genetic ailments. As their budding relationship struggles under the scrutiny of scientists and media, the hype around the coffee leads the lovers to be inducted into a centuries-old conspiracy: dragon-roasted food has always healed humans. And the most powerful draconic nobles have been withholding this symbiotic advantage to keep themselves on top. Colin and Dav are determined to expose the truth, but if they're not careful, their objections could goad power-mad monarchs into destroying everything they hold dear.
Including each other.
I have loyally followed Frey from book to book (and genre to genre) since I first read Triptych back as a teenager, and I was GLEEFUL when I learned she was releasing Nine-Tenths! She always writes such interestingly odd stuff – she’s mentioned that trad publishers loved Nine-Tenths but had no idea how to sell it, and a) cowards but b) fair, I guess.
Because this – let’s see – is a Coffee Shop (not-)AU, in a contemporary fantasy setting, with (humanoid? shifter?) dragons, is definitely a (queer) romance, but has a magical mystery which is also a capitalist conspiracy, the resolution of which is probably going to be world-changing within its setting.
HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING?
I MEAN, PROBABLY, FREY ALWAYS HAS TWISTS UP HER SLEEVE, BUT I THINK THAT’S EVERYTHING IN THE BLURB AT LEAST.
So I can see why it’d be difficult to shelve this one! (Even if I still think the answer is to trust readers can handle a book being multiple things at once, publishers, TRY IT SOMETIME.)
Nine-Tenths is out for kindles at the end of next month; paperback and other ebook retailers in September.
You can read the first five chapters here!
The post I Can’t Wait For…Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 26, 2025
13 Vampires for World Dracula Day!
Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs PhotographyIt’s Wyrd & Wonder AND World Dracula Day – what better time for vampire recs?
I don’t read many vampires books, but the ones I do tend to be excellent – and here are some of my VERY favourites!
Darknesses (Darknesses, #1) by Lachelle Seville Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black bisexual MC, Black pansexual love interest, F/F, Black secondary characters
Goodreads
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It’s been a year since Oasis stumbled away from Blessed Falls with wings carved into her back and too many scars to count.
A year spent razing delusions of being an angel's vessel, proving to her brother that she doesn’t belong in a psych ward, and mourning the loss of her mother's vinyl pressed ashes.
A year spent struggling to feel human again.
Enter Laura, the mesmerizing stranger who claims to hear Oasis’ heartbeat, who reads her hand-written memoir like scripture, who makes her feel closer to found than lost.
Laura is the most recent face of the eternal Count Dracula, ruler of the shadows, chimera of the Devil, and embittered victim of libel.
The Van Helsing Institute have been waiting for a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, and eagerly approach Oasis for her help in a ploy to kill Dracula for good. But not every wound from Blessed Falls has cicatrized, and Oasis realizes she may be a danger to Laura—and to herself.
Yet no one is as dangerous as Laura—the first vampire, the Devil's plaything, and the person with whom Oasis finally feels human.
Oceans of time have passed since she last had a drink, and she will not let Oasis go easily.
Oh, we’re talking Dracula??? Then run for cover, because Laura – the real Dracula – does NOT like Stoker’s novel! This is such a WILDLY addictive book, with Black, queer vampires it’s impossible not to fall in love with – and no matter what you think, you will NOT see where this book is going, my GODS. Twists! Turns! Reveals! Also, Seville’s is officially the only take on the Dracula story I consider canon. Fight me!
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC, polyamory, M/F/F/M, queer cast
Goodreads
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A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula's brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets.
With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
Wouldn’t Dracula be so much better if it were narrated by one of his wives??? Yes, yes it would! That’s basically the premise of Dowry – although the ‘husband’ is never named, and no reference is ever made to Stoker’s novel or the events of it, the husband is clearly meant to be Dracula or very Dracula-like. This is a decadent, extremely queer poly love story wherein the brides of ‘Dracula’ take him down, and if you don’t love it, I’m afraid you’re simply Wrong.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Secondary Turkish characters
Goodreads
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For centuries, the story of Dracula has captured the imagination of readers and storytellers alike. Kostova's breathtaking first novel, ten years in the writing, is an accomplished retelling of this ancient tale. "The story that follows is one I never intended to commit to paper... As an historian, I have learned that, in fact, not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it." With these words, a nameless narrator unfolds a story that began 30 years earlier.
Late one night in 1972, as a 16-year-old girl, she discovers a mysterious book and a sheaf of letters in her father's library—a discovery that will have dreadful and far-reaching consequences, and will send her on a journey of mind-boggling danger. While seeking clues to the secrets of her father's past and her mother's puzzling disappearance, she follows a trail from London to Istanbul to Budapest and beyond, and learns that the letters in her possession provide a link to one of the world's darkest and most intoxicating figures. Generation after generation, the legend of Dracula has enticed and eluded both historians and opportunists alike. Now a young girl undertakes the same search that ended in the death and defilement of so many others—in an attempt to save her father from an unspeakable fate.
As far as I’m concerned, no conversation about Dracula is complete without Historian! This is – I guess you’d call it a literary history? Basically – what if Dracula, the historical figure, had become a vampire? It’s divided between letters (from various people) and the POV of a young woman gradually digging into her father’s past, learning how her family has crossed paths with Dracula in the past. It does take a while for the vampires to show up, but when they do, they follow Bram Stoker’s lore pretty closely, which is delightful! It’s a very sensual book – I don’t mean sexual, I mean rich with sensory description; honestly, I’d call it decadent. Love love love!
No Such Thing As Duty by Lara Elena Donnelly Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, M/M
Goodreads
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"A page-turning thrill ride."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In the waning days of World War One, William Somerset Maugham-novelist, playwright, and spy-is sent to Romania to serve allied interests in the fight against Austro-Hungary while dying of tuberculosis. His handler sets him to recruit mysterious Carpathian nobleman Walter Roşu to the cause. But Roşu is more interested in William than the war, and William struggles to fulfill his duty in the face of death and desire.
Part of the Neon Hemlock Novella Series.
If you’re not paying attention to indie press Neon Hemlock, you very much should be: they release wildly original SFF novellas, and No Such Thing As Duty is one of their 2025 offerings, from the marvellous Donnelly. This is a rich, intense, sharp-edged story about a terminally ill spy and a vampire, and if you know your Dracula lore, you’ll shriek at one particular sentence Donnelly sneaks in!
Those Who Hunt the Night (James Asher, #1) by Barbara Hambly Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads
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At the turn of the twentieth century, a former spy is called into service to hunt down a vampire killer...
Once a spy for Queen Victoria, James Asher has fought for Britain on every continent, using his quick wits to protect the Empire at all costs. After years of grueling service, he marries and retires to a simple academic’s life at Oxford. But his peace is shattered one night with the arrival of a Spanish vampire named Don Simon. Don Simon can disappear into fog, move faster than the eye can see, and immobilize Asher—and his young bride—with a wave of his hand. Asher is at his mercy, and has no choice but to give his help.
Because someone is killing the vampires of London, and James Asher must find out who—before he becomes a victim himself.
I’ve mentioned this series before, and I will no doubt mention it again, because it is dark and decadent and exquisite in every way! If you want vampires who feel Alien and Other, who are genuinely monstrous but still terrifyingly beautiful, then my dears, these are the books for you. Despite being called the James Asher series, the books are actually wonderfully split between James and his wife Lydia, who is a vital, active part of the story, James’ equal in their relationship as well as narratively. (Is narratively a word?) The vampires here are…just PERFECT, deeply Wrong; the lore is old-school, but with several unique twists, and I love that Lydia actually experiments over the course of the series to try and figure out what vampirism IS. (Her theories are fascinating.)
The story starts when someone is killing vampires in London, so they blackmail James – an ex spy – to track down the killer. Poor James and Lydia get sucked into vampire matters again and again, and sometimes seek them out, for various excellent reasons. I cannot emphasise enough how sublime these books are!
To Add Drunkenness To Thirst by T.J. Land Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Goodreads
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Father Bryson has been trying to drive a stake through Anstice’s vampiric heart for ten wonderfully entertaining years.
Never before has a slayer pursued him with such passion and fervor; it’s enough to make any undead dandy swoon.
But lately, Anstice has noticed that his nemesis is behaving… strangely.
M/M, PARANORMAL ROMANCE, NOVELLA
How do you feel about anime vampires? That’s very much the vibe in this novella, which also happens to be one of my favourite (and one of the few genuine I’ve ever seen) examples of enemies-to-lovers. Anstice delights in his long rivalry with vampire hunter Bryson…and starts pouting when it becomes clear that Bryson is distracted lately. Featuring big cinematic fight scenes and many laugh-out-loud moments, this one is such FUN!
Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Trans MC
Goodreads
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A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel.
When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who's come to donate her wife's papers, there's an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the "vampire disease."
Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.
Maybe more low-key vampires are more your thing? In Dead Collections, vampirism is ‘just’ a disability some people have; it sucks, but it’s not supernatural. This is a languid, literary-ish short novel with quite a lovely love story in it (although I wouldn’t call it a romance), and there’s a lot of fun explorations of fame and fandom spaces, and of course archiving history. Also Gender Stuff, which is fun in a different way!
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Lesbian MC
Goodreads
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A detective investigating a grisly crime in rural Alaska finds herself caught up in the dark secrets and superstitions of a small town in this riveting novel from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.
In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart haven’t seen a killing like this in twenty-five years. But they know who’s responsible: a member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods.
Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing—and authorize a cull. Old suspicions die hard in a town like Deadhart, but Barbara isn’t so sure. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone.
As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found. While the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, a killer stalks Deadhart, and two disparate communities circle each other for blood. Time is running out for Atkins and Tucker to find the truth: Are they hunting a bloodthirsty monster . . . or a twisted psychopath? And which is more dangerous?
Another book where vampires aren’t seen as supernatural – although by the end you’ll be questioning whether humans are right about that – Gathering is…so hard to describe! Kind of a crime novel, I guess, but in an alternate version of our world? It’s the modern day, but vampires exist – and have the legal status of endangered animals. A 50yo lesbian with the FBI is sent to investigate a potential vampire killing, and wow, things get DARK: this world’s history with vampires is deeply fucked up. People-keeping-vampire-heads-on-their-walls-as-trophies dark. The worldbuilding is low-key but phenomenal and really exciting. I’m so hoping we get a whole series of this!
Heart of Stone by Johannes T. Evans Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC with ADHD, gay autistic MC, M/M
Goodreads
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The year is 1764, and following a glowing recommendation from his last employer, Henry Coffey, vampire, takes on a new personal secretary: young Theophilus Essex.
The man is quite unlike any secretary - or any man, for that matter - that Henry has ever met.
---
'Heart of Stone' is a slowly unfolding period romance between a vampire and his inimitably devoted clerk: lushly depicted in flowing, lovingly appended prose, we follow the slow understanding these two men grasp of one another, and the cross of their two worlds into each other's.
Henry Coffey, immortal and ever-oscillating between periods of delighted focus upon his current passion project, is charming, witty, and seems utterly incapable of closing his mouth for more than a few moments; in contrast, Theophilus Essex is quiet and keenly focused, adopting an ever-flat affect, but as time goes on, he relaxes in his employer's presence.
Craving resounding intimacy but with an ever aware of the polite boundaries for their situation, Coffey and Essex perform a slow dance as they grow closer to one another, and find themselves entangled.
At the COMPLETE opposite end of the spectrum from Gathering, Heart of Stone is a slow, dreamy love story between a vampire with ADHD and his autistic secretary. Don’t pick this up looking for plot or action, because there’s not much of either, but it’s very sweet, extremely escapist, and deeply soothing!
Sunshine by Robin McKinley Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads
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Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: In a world where darkness threatens, there is Sunshine . . .
Although it had been mostly deserted since the Voodoo Wars, there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years. Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, head baker at her family’s busy and popular café in downtown New Arcadia, needed a place to get away from all the noise and confusion—of the clientele and her family. Just for a few hours. Just to be able to hear herself think.
She knew about the Others, of course. Everyone did. And several of her family’s best regular customers were from SOF—Special Other Forces—which had been created to deal with the threat and the danger of the Others.
She drove out to her family’s old lakeside cabin and sat on the porch, swinging her feet and enjoying the silence and the silver moonlight on the water.
She never heard them coming. Of course, you don’t when they’re vampires.
Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I find Sunshine very soothing too – at least, big chunks of it! I’ve run into a few people who don’t love the first-person narration (you could call it rambly I guess?) but I adore it – you should know within a few pages whether this is for you or not, either way. This is set in a world where everything from werewolves to demons exist and are well-known, but it’s vampires that are the worst and scariest. Our mc – nicknamed Sunshine – is a baker who, after being kidnapped, can only escape by helping the vampire she’s locked up with escape too… And although she’d really like for her life to go back to normal after that, it does not. Come for the vampires, stay for the cinnamon rolls as big as your head!
Generation V (Generation V, #1) by M.L. Brennan Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Japanese-American love interest
Goodreads
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Reality Bites
Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.
But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.
But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him.…
The Generation V series has much of the feel of popular urban fantasy, but it’s a crucial bit smarter and a LOT funnier than most – I started reading aloud giggly bits to my partner five minutes in, and ended up reading the whole series aloud to him! The vampire lore is deeply weird and fascinating for it – vampires are actually born of two human parents (who’ve had their biology messed with by a vampire) and the baby doesn’t become a vampire until both human parents die. The MC of this series is kind of an experiment, in that his vampire mother has, inexplicably, not yet killed his human parents – so he’s still functionally human. His properly-vampire siblings do NOT approve. The series was dropped by the publisher before it should have been, so the ending of the last book is kind of abrupt, but I still heartily recommend these despite that!
True Love Bites (Hunger Pangs #1) by Joy Demorra Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer Deaf MC with chronic pain, queer MC with ADHD, M/M, pre-polyamory
Goodreads
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In a world of dwindling hope, love has never mattered more...
Captain Nathan J. Northland had no idea what to expect when he returned home to Lorehaven injured from war, but it certainly wasn't to find himself posted on an island full of vampires. An island whose local vampire dandy lord causes Nathan to feel strange things he'd never felt before. Particularly about fangs.
When Vlad Blutstein agreed to hire Nathan as Captain of the Eyrie Guard, he hadn't been sure what to expect either, but it certainly hadn't been to fall in love with a disabled werewolf. However Vlad has fallen and fallen hard, and that's the problem.
Torn by their allegiances--to family, to duty, and the age-old enmity between vampires and werewolves--the pair find themselves in a difficult situation: to love where the heart wants or to follow where expectation demands.
The situation is complicated further when a mysterious and beguiling figure known only as Lady Ursula crashes into their lives, bringing with her dark omens of death, doom, and destruction in her wake.
And a desperate plea for help neither of them can ignore.
Thrown together in uncertain times and struggling to find their place amidst the rising human empire, the unlikely trio must decide how to face the coming darkness: united as one or divided and alone. One thing is for certain, none of them will ever be the same.
Not urban fantasy, but with delightfully modern sensibilities, True Love Bites is a romantic drama – dramatic romance? – in a secondary-world where vampire and werewolves are aristocrats, but witches and selkies abound too. A disabled werewolf takes a job with a very important vampire family, and falls for the ADHDer heir of the clan. It’s kind of period drama, with a big world-threatening plot building in the background, and it’s so much FUN, with so many Feels, and delicious thoughtfulness. There are also two editions of the book: the ‘flirting with fangs’ edition, which has explicit sex scenes, and the ‘fluff and fangs’ edition, where the sex scenes are fade to black.
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs
Goodreads
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At a club in Missing Mile, N.C., the children of the night gather, dressed in black, looking for acceptance. Among them are Ghost, who sees what others do not. Ann, longing for love, and Jason, whose real name is Nothing, newly awakened to an ancient, deathless truth about his father, and himself.
Others are coming to Missing Mile tonight. Three beautiful, hip vagabonds - Molochai, Twig, and the seductive Zillah (whose eyes are as green as limes) are on their own lost journey; slaking their ancient thirst for blood, looking for supple young flesh.
They find it in Nothing and Ann, leading them on a mad, illicit road trip south to New Orleans. Over miles of dark highway, Ghost pursues, his powers guiding him on a journey to reach his destiny, to save Ann from her new companions, to save Nothing from himself...
Lost Souls, on the other hand, is full-on horror – gorgeous, lush prose, but bloody and awful. Not everyone gets a happy ending; not everyone gets out alive. These vampires are only barely magical – the more-recently-born ones don’t even have fangs! A very young vamp runs away from home to find his own kind, and falls in with a trio of vampire serial killers. There’s also a pair of human besties, one of whom is psychic, and when the vamps and humans collide, it’s not pretty.
UpcomingA Blood as Bright as the Moon by Andrea Morstabilini Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 2nd September 2025
Goodreads
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A vampire, desperately torn between worlds, is hunted down by a secret society bent on his destruction, in this elegiac and unsettling queer gothic horror, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Frankenstein, Germany. Ambrose, a young vampire, lives a life secreted away from the modern world with the rest of his clan, all of them under the spell of the charismatic Regina, who spins stories of salvation for their kind. Their grand plan? To build makeshift wings and fly to the moon where a safe haven awaits for all vampires.
But Ambrose harbours a he is not ready to abandon the earth, and he is in contact with a human who believes he can be saved. As the rest of his kind prepare to flee their home, Ambrose is torn between loyalties.
However something else is on the horizon – the Royal Diurnal Society – a group with sinister plans for vampires, are closing in, and if Ambrose isn't careful, he could find himself right at the centre of a terrifying and mysterious experiment.
I can’t recommend this unreservedly yet, because I’m currently in the middle of reading an early copy – but I’m enjoying myself immensely so far! The vampire lore here is very unique – vampires are born, not made, and have pink blood instead of red? Haven’t seen that before!
And they really are planning on flying to the moon!
Spooky 13 with a sneaky bonus – what more could you ask for?
Drop your own vampire recs in the comments!
The post 13 Vampires for World Dracula Day! appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
Must-Have Monday #238
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
SEVEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: West African cast and setting
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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Award-winning author Tochi Onyebuchi’s new standalone novel is hardboiled fantasy Raymond Chandler meets P. Djèlí Clark in a postcolonial West Africa
Fortune always left whatever room I walked into, which is why I don’t leave my place much these days.
Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much—least of all trouble—but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds.
When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hardwon clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden, and decide what he’s willing to offer next.
From the visionary author of Riot Baby and Goliath, Harmattan Season is a gripping fantasy noir in the tradition of Chandler, Hammond, and Christie that will have you by the throat—both dryly funny and unforgettably evocative.
I’ve been majorly impressed with Onyebuchi’s books in the past (War Girls! Riot Baby!) and I’ve been hearing lots of love for this one from early readers!
You can read the first four chapters here!
Kitemaster by Jim C. Hines Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Brown (?) MC
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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"Providing a cozier fantasy experience that’s both familiar and distinct, Hines’s latest is recommended for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone."—Library Journal
Nial Sarnin is twenty-one—far too young to have lost her beloved husband, Jika. One year after his death, Nial prepares to fly a kite sewn from his wedding shirt, believing it will carry Jika’s spirit to the stars.
But instead of drifting gently skyward, the spirit kite moves under Nial’s direct control, revealing her as a Kitemaster—a rare gift in a world forever ruled by winds and magic.
Her newfound powers attract Captain Wolf of the kiteship Midnight Rain. With runaway Prince Vikaan, Wolf seeks to thwart Queen Kavaya’s ruthless ambition to dominate the skies and conquer all neighboring kingdoms.
Nial may hold the key to stopping Kavaya’s brutal reign and saving countless lives—including those she loves most—but only if she learns to master her extraordinary gift in time.
Every gust of wind promises hope, renewal, and a chance to reshape a world teetering on the brink in this inspiring tale of loss, resilience, and transformation.
Award-winning author Jim C. Hines delivers a deeply personal epic in Kitemaster, a labor of love written over twenty years.
Listen, any time I hear a book is a long-term labour of love of the author’s, it gets my attention. A story someone cared about that much has to be special. And it’s been a few years since I last read a Hines book, but I immensely enjoyed the ones I read! So I have high hopes for Kitemaster!
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Biracial secondary character (spouse), secondary F/F, secondary Black character, secondary Desi character
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.
When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.
As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.
And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…
I got to read this one early, and I absolutely ADORED it – instant new fave. Magic school from the POV of a very stressed non-magical parent! With tons of Feels, giggles, and really fun magic! Strongly recommended!
You can read an excerpt here!
Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian Genres: Adult, Nonfiction, Queer Protagonists
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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“An antidote to the loneliness of our species.”—ROBIN WALL KIMMERER
“A master class in how to love the world.”—MARGARET RENKL
A thrilling book about the abounding queerness of the natural world that challenges our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible.
Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.
In Forest Euphoria, Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us. Fungal species, we learn, commonly encompass more than two biological sexes—and some as many as twenty-three thousand. Some intersex slugs mutually fire calcium carbonate “love darts” at each other during courtship. Glass eels are sexually undetermined until their last year of life, a mystery that scientists once dubbed “the eel question.” Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.
Wide-ranging, richly observant, and full of surprises, Forest Euphoria will open your eyes and change how you look at the world.
I’m always here for queer nature! Memoir+nonfic seems to be becoming a thing, maybe? (Thinking of How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, or Below the Edge of Darkness by Edith Widder Ph.D.) I do not disapprove in the slightest!
Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: NB/M
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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Calisto and Fawkes are drawn to each other for the first time, again, as they travel from when to when to take on a threat to all they hold dear in this lyrical and playful fantasy from award-winning author A. R. Capetta.
Anyone who has hiked through time knows the town of Pocket. It’s the place travelers first reach after they stumble away from their hometime, passing through on their way to any other when. To Calisto, Pocket is home. They love their grandmother’s shop, which is filled with clothes from every era that are used to make costumes for time travelers. Calisto has no intention of traveling—it’s too dangerous. For Fawkes, traveling is life. He put on time boots when he was young and has been stumbling through eras ever since. When he floats into Pocket, Calisto meets him for the first time, though Fawkes has seen Calisto—in glimpses of what hasn’t happened yet. He’s also seen the villains chasing them both. Now Calisto and Fawkes must rush—from Shakespeare’s London to ancient Crete to California on the eve of a millennium—to save Pocket, and travelers, from being erased. From the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The Heartbreak Bakery comes a fairy-tale romance that weaves in and out of time, from kiss to kiss and costume to costume.
AHHHH NEW CAPETTA BOOK!!! About a market that DRESSES TIME-TRAVELLERS!!! That is an amazing premise, and Capetta’s prose is always gorgeous. GIMME!
You can read an excerpt here (under the book cover where it says ‘read an excerpt’)!
These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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ALL GODS MUST DIE in this searingly relevant YA from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Bargain and Most Ardently. In a world bound by violence, a teen descended from the god of Death must keep their true identity a secret as they fight their way through a gladiator-style competition towards victory and rebellion against the gods who murdered their family.
Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the the Shallows.
Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow’s even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable -- which comes in handy as a fighter in the city's lucrative underground fighting ring.
Then, Crow's uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren.
With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they’re going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow’s very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods -- a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner’s circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles’ freedom as their reward.
But in a city of gods and magic, you don’t ask for what you want.
You take it.
A nonbinary descendant of Death out to save their family? I’m listening!
You can read an excerpt here (under the book cover where it says ‘read an excerpt’)!
Divine Blessings (The Divine Trilogy #1) by K.R. Thompson Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: F/F
Published on: 27th May 2025
Goodreads
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Forbidden love. Divine powers. A vengeance that could tear the world apart.
Nsiria had always felt different—wishing she could learn to read instead of becoming her father’s perfect little noblewoman. After a forbidden kiss, Nsiria finds herself alone—exiled by her father to a foreign city.
Elara knows what it’s like to be alone. While mourning her mother’s death, she stumbles upon Nsiria. They find a home together in “the grove,” a refuge for the city’s outcasts. Soon, Nsiria’s renewed attempts at teaching herself to read catch the eye of the deity of wisdom, and she is granted powers that can finally make her dream of learning a reality. But her growing feelings for Elara could distract her from the path of knowledge.
When tragedy strikes and Nsiria believes Elara is dead, rage and grief consume her. She vows to exact revenge on the man responsible for her loss. But the path toward his destruction may be the path toward her own, for more than one of the seven deities have set their sights on her.
Haven’t heard much about this one, but it sounds like it could be fun!
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
The post Must-Have Monday #238 appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 23, 2025
A Heart-Wrenching Delight: The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Representation: Biracial secondary character (spouse), secondary F/F, secondary Black character
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 27th May 2025
ISBN: B0DFGB9XJQ
Goodreads
Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.
When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.
As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.
And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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~deeply suspicious accounting at the PTA
~passing kindergarten is HARD
~smart people go to therapy
~the prophecy says WHAT now???
I was wowed by the cover and delighted by the premise, but I’m still surprised that The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis (from hereon referred to as TGGSPTA!) ended up being, not just a fun read, but one that won a spot on my favourites shelf.
(If you are the kind of reader who can read multiple books at once, I STRONGLY recommend reading this alongside Emily Tesh’s Incandescent. That’s how I read them, and they make for such an incredible contrast!)
Cosy fantasy seems to be pretty hard to define, but I lean towards Alexandra Rowland’s take, which is that cosy fantasy (or cosy ANYTHING) needs high tension if it’s going to have low stakes. And on that front, TGGSPTA is a masterclass, because despite the implicit promise of that very bright and cheerful cover, this unexpectedly turned out to be an edge-of-my-seat read – Vivian’s story is immensely stressful, actually! Rozakis had my heart in my throat and my stomach in knots the whole way through – I even burst into tears at one point, just from the overwhelming, grinding misery of Vivian’s situation and headspace. It’s a really fun book, with a very whimsical, funny approach to magic school (especially magical kindergarten) but like, YIKES. I spent the whole book waiting for poor Vivan to have a breakdown, and I wouldn’t have blamed her for it one bit!
But, just as one should not bring a knife to a gunfight, one should not bring brownies to a magic school picnic.
Everything Vivian does is a misstep in the magical community she and her husband David have been forced to join, and any readers who’ve ever struggled with anxiety, or who, like Vivian, are aware of and hate their need to please others, are going to feel their hearts break for this poor woman. From the first pages, when Vivian brings brownies she baked from scratch to a school picnic, only to discover that chocolate anything is a huge faux pas in this crowd (because werewolves, like canines, can’t have any), Vivian is constantly running right into rules no one will explain because they all take them for granted – and being forced to deal with the fact that, as magical parents go, she is wildly inadequate: she can’t access the shops stocking Aria’s school supplies, can’t protect Aria when something magical goes down – she can’t even create a ‘here I am!’ sigil.
“It’s another little cantrip almost anyone can cast. Most families have one, so you can signal your location to each other from far away. It’s a lifesaver in the school pickup line.”
“What’s ours going to be, Mommy?” Aria asked hopefully. “Can it be purple?”
“Mommy can’t make magic fireworks, sweetie,” Vivian said, trying to conceal the wince. “You’ll have to stay close to me, that’s all.”
Aria looked crestfallen. The fact that she didn’t seem disappointed in Vivian, just sad, made it worse.
Parenting a werewolf brings a fair bit of humour to TGGSPTA; I particularly liked Vivian’s quest to make Aria wear booties when she’s indoors in her wolf form, to keep the wooden flooring from being irreparably ruined by claws. And there’s a wonderful wry streak running throughout via the Looks and commentary Vivian and her husband David share whenever something is especially weird – especially because the reader is, naturally, very much with them when it comes to magical people do WHAT?! moments. It’s one of the many ways Rozakis connects us to Vivian, because we’re absolutely sharing her wtf-ery – experiencing what she experiences, right in the moment, making us intensely sympathetic to her.
Of course a siren would run an ad agency. It was probably restful, luring consumers to their doom instead of sailors. Less dead fish smell.
This continues throughout, and I thought it was AMAZINGLY well done. For example: woven into the parenting-a-magical-child issues are the problems every parent faces, magical or mundane. When Vivian and David are discussing whether Aria should be given potions to help her control her shapeshifting, an editor could have replaced all mentions of ‘werewolf’ with ‘ADHD’, ‘potion’ with ‘adderall’, and the scene wouldn’t have altered a whit. Or then there’s the ongoing worry over whether Aria is making friends, and are they good friends, or is there bullying going on – the fact that two of the kids involved are mages doesn’t make it any different than if the situation were set in a normal human kindergarten. And I think this – this anchoring of the fantastical elements into the familiar-and-everyday – is part of the genius of the book; it bridges the gap between reader and fiction beautifully, brings us into the world alongside Vivian, because we know exactly how all of this feels, even if what we’ve gone through didn’t involve fireballs and demon-summoning (hopefully!)
It also creates a really fascinating effect that I’m not sure I’ve seen elsewhere: because the magic is channelled through these very familiar-to-us life experiences, the magic feels less wondrous, but doesn’t become banal. A fair bit of the book could have remained the same if Aria had gone to a school for the super wealthy, for example: the magic of TGGSPTA is in a lot of ways functionally identical to how the wealth/status/prestige would have worked in that scenario. Vivian would still have been an outsider, still blundering over rules no one would explain, still struggling to be accepted in this new community if the issue was money rather than magic.
This could have reduced the magic to set-dressing, nothing but an aesthetic, but I actually found that it made Vivian’s story feel much more real and immediate. I could believe in this community, that the parents around a school like Grimoire Grammar would be like this – sure, they can enchant a spilled drink back into the glass, or talk to ghosts, or turn clouds into vehicles, but they also gossip, worry themselves sick over how to get their kids into a good high school, and start drama in the groupchat. Their cavalier approach to magic helped make them all feel human (even the ones who aren’t!)
And that Vivan throws herself into mastering this new world she finds herself in – that she does so without going all starry-eyed to have found herself in a fantasy novel – that she sees it only in terms of how her comfort with magic will reflect well on Aria and help Aria’s uncertain position here – it’s so convincing! Because yes: would any (good) parent allow themselves to lose themselves in how strange/cool/epic this all is, when their kid’s welfare is at stake? No! No they wouldn’t! I could absolutely believe that Vivian would forget to feel wonder when she’s terrified any misstep will get Aria expelled or socially excluded! She has no TIME for that; she has to Get It Right, for Aria.
Which is extremely stressful. I just – I cannot overstate how sympathetic and believable Vivian is as a character. Even when she messes up big time – I thought she was very much in the wrong, but I could absolutely see how it happened. There’s a moment when Vivian is furious because two girls have done something pretty terrible to Aria, but the parents brush it off – and Vivian freezes. On the one hand, she should absolutely blow up at these awful people, protect her daughter; on the other hand, if she does so, what if these people completely cut her off and she loses the fragile inroads she’s made here? What if no one lets their kids play with Aria any more because her mom is rude/scary/a freak with a temper?
Folx, this is the first time in my LIFE I understood a parent not immediately blowing up in defense of their kid. I have the strictest parenting standards, you have no idea, and I’ve always been very unforgiving of parents who bow to social pressure when their kid needs them. But Rozakis made me get it. Please give her MANY points for being the first to manage to get this through my skull!
There’s something painfully ironic in the fact that Rozakis made me understand it perfectly – but Vivian can’t explain it to David in a way that makes sense. Honestly, the way all of these stresses affect her and David’s relationship was also immensely believable, and I both loved their dynamic, and loved how carefully Rozakis handled what this situation could do to a marriage – even a strong and healthy one.
I also really appreciated the frank, undramatic approach to Vivian’s anxiety and guilt and trauma – turns out it’s actually pretty traumatic to see your daughter attacked by a werewolf, who would have guessed. Vivian is undergoing therapy! I am extremely impressed! I can’t remember the last time I saw an adult character attending therapy, and I love how it was normalised here.
That did make it extra jarring to see ‘schizophrenic’ used to describe a chaotic room – in all other respects, TGGSPTA is very inclusive and considerate; there’s a great amount of diversity among the secondary cast, especially. My fingers are crossed that the line is fixed in the final version of the book (I read an advanced reader copy, after all, changes can be made between that and the version published on release day).
But that is literally the only critique I have for this book! And you must admit that is a very small thing to critique! Everything else (so, virtually everything!) is PERFECT. Even the whole prophecy thing – I despise prophecy plotlines, but I was so happy with how this one played out in TGGSPTA! Just like I fell head over heels for Vivian, despite her being a person/character I would have thought would annoy me. But no: as I said at the start, I felt for her so much, and I fully credit that to Rozakis’ excellent character work, and whatever magic is in her writing that turned my empathy up to 11. And in-between playing my heart like a yo-yo, there was so much laughter here – the announcements from the school notification system at the start of every chapter had me in freaking STITCHES.
Giggles, all the Feels, delightful magic, fantastic characters – TGGSPTA has everything, and I loved it. I LOVED it.
You can be sure I’ll be grabbing a copy of Rozakis’ previous book next, and any others she writes in the future!
Mermaid by Yuri Arcurs PhotographyThe post A Heart-Wrenching Delight: The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 21, 2025
I Can’t Wait For…All the Stars In the Daylight Sky by Maya MacGregor
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
You can find the releases I’m most anticipating this year over on my Unmissable list, but I use Can’t-Wait Wednesday to feature books I’m hopeful about but aren’t as sure of.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is All the Stars in the Daylight Sky by Maya MacGregor!
All the Stars in the Daylight Sky by Maya MacGregor Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Autistic agender MC
Published on: 28th October 2025
Goodreads
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In this spellbinding romantasy, an agender teen stumbles into the fae world and finds love and belonging–but at what cost?
Eighteen-year-old Cam bounces between houses in Texas and Scotland and has always thought that’s why they don’t feel at home in either place. A recent Autism diagnosis followed by a fight with their Mothers add an extra layer of real-life stress, only amplifying their struggle to belong. However, things take an unexpected turn when they cross paths with members of the fae deep in a Scottish forest. With the Gaelic wisdom from their Granaidh (Grandma), Cam understands that they have been noticed by the fae, and that this means that their life is suddenly in grave danger.
Cam must make a face the danger or join the fae and never see their family again. With their human ties fraying even further, the allure of the fae’s acceptance tugs at Cam’s heart, but are they ready to say goodbye to their family forever? From the acclaimed author of The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, this is a lush, lyrical romantasy novel set at the crossroads of belonging and the magical realm of the unknown.
Yes, it’s YA, yes it’s calling itself romantasy. I don’t care; I’m so starved for agender rep that I am RIDICULOUSLY excited for this!
Agender AND autistic! Agender and autistic and tempted to join the fae.
SCOTTISH fae! Gaelic mythology! ALL THE YES PLEASE!
I will be disappointed if we end with Cam being all ‘no, I can’t, I choose humanity’ – mainly because I’m so sick of characters ALWAYS doing that. It would be so great to see a different ending, just for a change.
There’s a pretty well-accepted historical connection between autism and changelings, the fairy children left in place of human kids who are stolen by the fae. Most people I’ve seen discuss it are pretty convinced ‘changelings’ were often, maybe even mostly, autistic people. Then there’s the similarity between the fae’s inability to lie – and generally having very odd social customs – and the way many autists struggle with or strongly dislike lies and lying, as well as having a great deal of trouble with social cues and the like. Meaning that MacGregor is not the first person I’ve seen raise the idea that autistic people might find hanging out with the fae extremely appealing!
I’ve been dying for more stories that explore this, and it very much looks like that’s exactly what MacGregor’s doing here!
So, tldr:
*grabby hands*
The post I Can’t Wait For…All the Stars In the Daylight Sky by Maya MacGregor appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
May 20, 2025
Take Your Crap and Shove It Back Up Your: Amplitudes edited by Lee Mandelo
Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity by Lee Mandelo Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer and QBIPOC MCs
Published on: 27th May 2025
ISBN: 1645660877
Goodreads
Revolutionary and visionary, these twenty-two speculative stories edited by Lambda, Nebula and Hugo finalist Lee Mandelo explore the vast potentialities of our queer and trans futures.
From self-styled knights fighting in dystopian city streets to conservationists finding love in the Appalachian forests; from social media posts about domestic “bliss” in a lottery-based, state-housing skyscraper to herding feral cats off of one’s scientific equipment; from street drugs that create doppelgangers to dance-club cruising at the edge of the galaxy— Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity interrogates the farthest borders of the sci-fi landscape to imagine how queer life will look centuries in the future—or ten years from now.
Filled with brutal honesty, raw emotions, sexual escapades, and delightful whimsy, Amplitudes speaks to the longstanding tradition of queer fiction as protest. This essential collection serves as an evolving map of our celebrations, anxieties, wishes, pitfalls, and—most of all—our rallying cry that we're here, we're queer—and the future is ours!
Inventive, moving, and hopeful, this fresh anthology contains never before published stories by some of our most prominent and emerging LGBTQIA+ writers,
Esther Alter • Bendi Barrett • Ta-wei Chi, trans. Ariel Chu • Colin Dean • Maya Deane • Dominique Dickey • Katharine Duckett • Meg Elison • Paul Evanby • Aysha U. Farah • Sarah Gailey • Ash Huang • Margaret Killjoy • Wen-yi Lee • Ewen Ma • Jamie McGhee • Sam J. Miller • Aiki Mira, trans. CD Covington • Sunny Moraine • Nat X. Ray • Neon Yang • Ramez Yoakeim
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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About half of these stories are objectively good. But almost none of them MEET THE FUCKING BRIEF.
This is, supposedly, a collection of ‘stories of queer and trans futurity’. I took that to mean we’d be seeing what-if futures that were at minimum queernorm, but were hopefully actively queered in some way. Maybe they’d mess with gender, or sexuality, or family structures, or romantic set-ups (I was expecting so much more polyamory, you cowards). But whatever we got, I thought queer and trans futurity inherently, definitionally, meant we would not be dealing with queerphobia.
That’s not what this is.
(Also, why is it queer and trans? Queer includes trans. Trans is queer. I hate how many times I had to write ‘queer and trans people’ in this review, like those are two separate categories. Trans people are queer! The whole point of queer as a noun is that it’s inclusive OF EVERYBODY. And if the intent was ‘we want to specifically spotlight that we feature trans stories!’ then you failed, because you don’t, there’s very few trans/nonbinary characters and virtually no gender fuckery whatsoever. FAIL.)
But Sia! you say. You just misunderstood! That’s not what it meant. That was never the theme. It was just – queer and trans people in the future. No promises about the future being good for queer and trans people.
Yeah, I wondered about that, and then I reread the introduction, twice, to see if I’d hallucinated this assumption of mine–
As I’m writing this introduction we find ourselves in a frightening reactionary political moment both in the USA, where I live, and across the globe. Whether it’s the growing momentum of right-wing violence, which always oppressively targets gender and sexuality, or the resurgent popularity of “radical” (conservative, essentialist) feminisms destabilizing years of labor by queer, trans, and women of color feminists to create a vision for shared liberation . . . we’re stuck in a rough timeline right now. But I need to believe, in a teeth-grit furious sort of way, that as artists and scholars and activists and everyday queers we have futures to strive towards. I need to believe that we’ll create better potential futures for those who come after us, exactly how others did before us. Stories, I think, help people survive while carrying all our pleasure, and joy, and rage, and grief, and love along with us. Envisioning other and better potentialities, speculating on how our alternate futures might arrive while seeing other peoples’ differing imaginaries alongside our own, might help us get closer to the horizon.
And, hopefully, we get there together.
—Lee Mandelo
April 2024
This is the conclusion of the introduction. Bolding mine. So yeah, this was supposed to be an optimistic collection.
So: fuck you, Mandelo. Fuck you, Kensington Press. Fuck you, too many authors. This is a fucking trainwreck. It is certainly not a collection of queer/trans-hopeful futures. It’s fucking miserable, and frankly, this is not what I want to read EVER, never mind what I want to read while the world is like THIS.
Let’s go through the stories actually worth reading real quick.
The GreatsThe Republic of Ecstatic Consent by Sam J Miller. A glimpse at a queer commune/squat trying to fight for a better future; optimistic tone, despite the setting being a disaster.
The Orgasm Doula by Colin Dean. MC is literally a doula for orgasms, like a hands-on sex therapist – in a world where most people believe everyone has only a set number of orgasms, and when you run out, you’re done forever.
The Shabbos Bride by Esther Alter. A Jewish trans woman gets the body that fits her via a most excellent Shabbos. Wider setting/state of the world unmentioned.
MoonWife by Sarah Gailey. A medium brings back a ghost via the bits of personality left all over her social media. Wider setting/state of the world unmentioned.
They Will Give Us a Home by Wen-yi Lee. A lesbian married to a gay man in a queerphobic dystopia has to play happy heterosexuals to keep her influencer lifestyle.
There Used to Be Peace by Margaret Killjoy. A lesbian joins an order of modern knights to fight back against the rise of fascism in the US.
Six Days by Bendi Barrett. Soft and sweet, a glimpse of a utopic commune. Wider setting/state of the world not directly mentioned.
The They Whom We Remember by Sunny Moraine. In a(n implied utopic) far future where everything about our bodies is under our control, a historian experiments with having a body that can’t be changed.
When the Devil Comes From Babylon by Maya Deane. Post climate collapse, a trans girl is in a fundamentalist commune where she’s supposed to take a cyanide pill rather than accept the temptation of ‘the Devil’ to join the queer utopia Babylon.
A Step Into Emptiness by Aiki Mira, translated by CD Covington. Far-future look at what new neurodivergences might intersect with queerness once humanity starts editing itself. Tragic setting.
Bang Bang by Meg Elison. Far-future second-person short of an elder leading a newbie to a secret queer club – which is constantly getting shot up and bombed.
Fuckers, THESE ARE THE GOOD ONES. Fucking TWO OF THEM are optimistic – Six Days and The They Whom We Remember. Four if we include Shabbos Bride and MoonWife, which don’t tell us what the wider world is like in their time. Six if we accept When the Devil Comes to Babylon‘s happy ending, even if the story itself is miserable, and take The Republic of Ecstatic Consent as a hopeful things-are-getting-better-even-if-they’re-bad-right-now.
SIX. Six are good and meet the brief (maybe). Out of a total twenty-two stories.
(No, Orgasm Doula doesn’t count, that’s a fucked-up take for a society to have on sexuality and also that ending.)
Everything ElseAnd let’s quickly run over the rest of the collection – these are bad stories. Fettle & Sunder? No fucking plot, random tragedy that fucked me up but had no impact on the story, and a platitude ending. Copper Boys? Is a will-they-won’t-they about matching on gods damned TINDER – and ends with the MC deleting the app rather than finding out if they match! A Few Degrees? Bitter, awful, honestly abusive MC resenting her gf for being a good person and a success in her field. The Garden of Collective Memory? Cool premise (a database of donated/stolen memories) that’s ignored in favour of the MC deciding to cheat on her wife. Circular Universe is an EXCERPT of a NOVEL that is a SEQUEL to ANOTHER NOVEL – what the fuck is this doing here?!
I could go on – I promise, the ones I haven’t mentioned are bad too – but you get the picture, yeah?
I’d also like to point out that Bang Bang IS THE CLOSING STORY OF THE COLLECTION. Let me say it again: the story where we’re so far in the future that you can travel across the solar system and back in a night? Where, that far in the future, there is ONE queer club that is constantly getting shot up and bombed? IS HOW
WE CLOSE
THE FUCKING
COLLECTION.
Sorry, what? The closing story is arguably the most important in a mixed-author collection. It literally sets the mood/tone for the reader as they finish the book – I don’t know how many times a mediocre collection has been given a glow in my memory because the last story was epic.
So why would you close a collection allegedly featuring HOPEFUL QUEER FUTURES with THAT?
Yeah, I’m angry. I’m fucking furious. I’m annoyed so many of these stories were crap – I didn’t DNF because you can’t, can you, when the next story will be from another author? When you’d be punishing an author or authors you haven’t read because of the ones you did? – but I’m genuinely mad this was declared an optimistic collection when it’s anything but. I’m mad Mandelo apparently can’t keep to his own brief, and didn’t change the official theme after falling in love with the stories he selected (what I assume happened). I’m mad so many authors read the call for stories and sent in what they did! I’m mad so many other reviewers don’t care or didn’t notice that this is a lot of boredom mixed in with a lot of kicking us while we’re down.
What the fuck? What the actual fuck?
Just to add insult to injury – ‘amplitudes’, in physics, means ‘the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium.’ Which is presumably meant to mean these futures are as far from the now as we can get?
a) they are, as a whole, not NEARLY imaginative for that, almost none of them really tried to come up with unusual or even thought-provoking futures,
and
b) if you’re saying this is the best we can hope for re progress from modern queer/transphobia, then, again, FUCK YOU.
I hate this. The stories I listed in The Greats are great, but most of them don’t belong in a hopeful collection – and the rest are terrible.
This is the best we can have? These are the HOPEFUL futures? This is as good as it can get? FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU. I refuse. I REFUSE. I reject your pathetic, depressing, pitiful futures. We can have so much more than this. Humanity can do better, queer-and-trans people deserve better AND WILL HAVE better. Fuck you for holding this up as something to aspire to, something to hope for, like that’s all we can have, this is the best it’ll ever be. FUCK YOU.
I don’t read short story collections from multiple authors any more. Because it’s always a mixed bag, right? But I took a gamble on this one because damn it, I love sci fi, I love worldbuilding, and I love mixing queerness and transness into sci fi and worldbuilding – and that’s what I thought this collection was. The introduction assured me that IS what this was supposed to be.
Well, it fucking lied.
If you want optimistic queer collections, I recommend Scheherazade’s Façade, edited by Michael M Jones, and Kaleidoscope, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios. (The latter isn’t exclusively queer, it features many different types of diverse MCs.) I remember both having few-to-no duds, though it’s been A Minute since I read either.
But skip this fucking mess.
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