Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a scfi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.
Always run, never fight.
Preserve the knowledge.
Survive at all costs.
Take them to the stars.
Over 99 identical generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices and sacrificing countless lives. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the future of the space race.
But Mia’s family is not the only group pushing the levers of history: an even more ruthless enemy lurks behind the scenes.
A darkly satirical first contact thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them…
Representation Includes
- WLW main character (Mia)
Content Warnings
racism & racial slurs, antisemitism, homophobia, suicide, miscarriage, blood & gore depiction, body horror, forced institutionalisation, description of conversion therapy, grief & loss depiction, sexual harassment (allusions of rape and coercion), death of a child, death of a parent, genocide, gun violence, torture, car accident, animal deathReviews
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A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago’s divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above.
An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can’t resist―the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves.
To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago’s most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian woman (Helen)
- WLW woman (Edith)
Content Warnings
blood, homophobia, misogyny, gore, violence, murder, human sacrifice, guns, religious trauma, mentions of conversion therapy, mentions of electroshock therapy, general discussions and depictions of period typical asylums, smoking, possession, biblical concepts (angels/demons)Reviews
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An impossible crime. A detective on the edge of madness. The future of time travel at stake.
January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.
Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.
Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.
None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.
On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.
January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders.
There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.
But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.
Representation Includes
- Mentally ill lesbian woman (January)
Content Warnings
discussions and depictions of grief, murder, chronic illness, blood, mentions of child abuse, lesbophobia, transphobia, racism, gun violence, gore, prescription drug abuse, violence, language, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, animal deathNotes on Contains: Romance tag
Girlfriend of main character is dead, this happens prior to the start of the book. Handling this grief is a main part of the plot and may still be considered romance since they have some interactions due to the time travelling elementsReviews
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IN THE BEGINNING, MAN WAS PREY.
WITHOUT THE GODS, THEY’LL BE PREY AGAIN.
The old gods have fled, and the monsters they had kept at bay for centuries now threaten to drown the city of Valentine, hunting mankind as in ancient times. In the midst of the chaos, a serial killer has begun ritually sacrificing victims, their bodies strewn throughout the city.
Lilac Antonis wants to stop the impending destruction of her city by summoning her mother, a blood god—even if she has to slit a few throats to do it. But evading her lover Arcadia and her friends means sneaking, lying, and even spilling the blood of people she loves.
Alex and Cecil of Ace Investigations have been tasked with hunting down the killer, but as they close in—not knowing they’re hunting their close friend Lilac—the detectives realize the gods may not have left willingly.
As flooding drags this city of cars and neon screaming into the jaws of sea demons and Arcadia struggles to save the people as captain of the evacuation team, Lilac’s ritual killings at last bear fruit, only to reveal her as a small piece in a larger plan. The gods’ protection costs far more than anyone has ever known, and Alex and Cecil are running out of time to discover the true culprit behind the gods’ disappearance before an ancient divine murder plot destroys them all.
Set in an alternate reality which updates mythology to near-modern day, NO GODS FOR DROWNING is part hunt for a serial killer, part noir detective story, and unlike anything you’ve ever read before.
Representation Includes
- Trans lesbian woman protagonist (Arcadia)
- Bisexual woman (Lilac)
Content Warnings
Gore, murder, human sacrifice, child death, pregnancyReviews
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Live fast, die young.
Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown.
When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It’s adventure she wants – and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death.
It’s time to take a walk on the wyld side.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonist (Tam)
Content Warnings
Violence, murder, death of a family member, drug addiction, self-harm (discussions and depiction), discussion of previous sexual abuse, emotionally abusive parentsAwards
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Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (2018)
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Reddit r/fantasy Stabby Award for Best Novel (2018)
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BookNest Award for Best Traditionally Published Novel (2018)
Reviews
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Once a culturally rich world, the planet Aka has been utterly transformed by technology. Records of the past have been destroyed, and citizens are strictly monitored. But an official observer from Earth named Sutty has learned of a group of outcasts who live in the wilderness. They still believe in the ancient ways and still practice its lost religion – the Telling.
Intrigued by their beliefs, Sutty joins them on a sacred pilgrimage into the mountains…and into the dangerous terrain of her own heart, mind, and soul.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonist of Indian descent
Content Warnings
Religious oppression; war and trauma; homophobic government; grief over the death of a girlfriend; allegories for Chinese Cultural RevolutionReviews
- Nicky’s review
- Kate’s review
- Charlie Jane Anders examines the entire Hainish Cycle, with a strong thread of The Telling’s place in it
- Reviews from South Asian reviewers needed
Where to Find
Details
- Published September 11th 2000 by Ace
- ISBN13: 9780441011230
“Love and Comets” and Other Stories is a collection of stories, poems, and journal/memoir that I published on my website in 2016.
The title story, “Love and Comets”, is a space adventure and slice of life story. Maria Flores has been sent on a mission to save the Earth from several comets heading for it. In the time leading up to her leaving, she meets Hailey Wen and they begin a relationship.
The other thirty-nine stories are a mix of scifi, fantasy, contemporary, and surreal.
Representation Includes
- Flash fiction collection; focuses on stories about trans women, lesbians, and trans lesbians
- Many protagonists are sapphic Latina trans women
- Title novelette “Love and Comets” features romantic relationship between Latina trans woman and East Asian (cis?) woman
Content Warnings
Medical procedure, car crash and death of loved one in “What’s the Last Thing You Remember?”; transphobia expressed and rejected in some of the “Contemporary” and “Memoir/Personal” pieces.Reviews
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Details
- Published July 10th, 2017
Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother.
Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.
Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.
But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonists in a fantasy world based on India
Content Warnings
From the author’s site:- Explicit violence including immolation and self-immolation
- Gender-based violence (this does not include sexual assault)
- Homophobia and internalised homophobia
- Suicidal ideation
- Self-mutilation
- Abusive family dynamics
- Child murder
- Body horror (plant-based, cosmic)
- Forced drug use and depictions of addiction/withdrawal
Awards
- Include whether the book was nominated for or won any awards. This information is typically listed on Goodreads. If there are no awards, simply delete this section.
Reviews
- Rainbow and Sunshine’s review
- May’s review
- Reads Rainbow’s review
- Lex Kent’s review
- To Other Worlds’ review
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Darkness blooms in bestselling author Kalynn Bayron’s new contemporary fantasy about a girl with a unique and deadly power.
Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch.
When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage.
When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.
From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her.
Representation Includes
- Bi/pansexual Black protagonist, who is adopted
- Black WLW love interest
- The protagonist has two moms
Content Warnings
Stalking; on-screen murder of a parent; vivid descriptions of the effects of poisonous plants; immortal love interest for 17-year-old MCReviews
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The day before moving into her new dorm, college freshman, Maya Lilac, has a haunting dream that ends with her coming face-to-face with a second version of herself. After being haunted by the dream during move-in day, she finally comes in contact with her double, nicknamed “Lucent”, and learns that she actually has powers and can—among other things—make her dreams come true.
Maya’s heritage, however, runs deeper when she discovers that she’s the True Dreamer, a person reaching back as far as Joan of Arc that’s tasked with protecting her species, as well as the world, from any and all threats… including her seemingly-peaceful and non-combative double. But, not everyone shares Maya’s vision that her clone isn’t out to harm anybody, especially her mother. As Maya and her mother fight over whether Lucent is a legitimate threat, Maya trains in her now-active powers to fulfill her destiny of protecting the world, whether she has to take care of Lucent or not.
Representation Includes
- Bisexual protagonist
- Lesbian supporting character
Content Warnings
Help grow this entry by commenting below or emailing queersffbooks@theillustratedpage.net.Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- Published March 19th 2019 by Ja-Mel Vinson
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ISBN: 9781732858