Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn
Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.
So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.
Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems….
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonist (Fatma)
- WLW love interest (Siti)
Content Warnings
self-mutilation, gore, violence, immolationReviews
- Alex’s Brown’s review
- Liz Bourke’s review
- Rose’s review
- Chaima’s review
- Charlotte’s review
- Landice’s review
- Lin Chuchu’s review
Where to Find
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Two sworn rivals, a clash of ideas, and an attraction neither can deny.
A noted scholar of ancient literature and spellcraft, Lord Ashcroft “Andrea” de Bourbon, finds his world shaken when the new science of mechanical animation becomes the talk of high society. In response, Andrea takes to the presses gaining notoriety for his scathing critiques of mechanical animation and its founder the Marquis de la Marche.
Then one night Andrea comes face to face with the Marquis de la Marche and discovers he is nothing like Andrea expected. Leon Gregory de la Marche VI, Marquis de la Marche is handsome, brilliant, and charming. While their clashes on paper have become legendary in person they are even more explosive. As passions rise Andrea knows there is no backing down …
Representation Includes
- Gay man protagonist (Andrea)
- Trans gay man protagonist (Gregory)
Content Warnings
transphobia, fatphobiaReviews
Where to Find
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His practice newly established, metaphysician Ned Mathey can’t afford to turn away any clients. But the latest Londoner to seek Ned’s magical aid gives him pause: Mr Edgar Nevett, an arrogant banker, is the father of the bully who made Ned’s life hell at boarding school. Nevertheless, Ned accepts the commission to ensure the Nevett family silver bears no ancient or modern curses, and then prepares to banish the Nevett family to unpleasant memory again. Until Edgar Nevett is killed by an enchanted silver candlestick—one of the pieces Ned declared magically harmless.
Calling on his old school friend Julian Lynes—private detective and another victim of the younger Nevett—Ned races to solve the murder, clear the stain on his professional reputation, and lay to rest the ghosts of his past.
Assisted by Ned’s able secretary Miss Frost, who has unexpected metaphysical skills of her own, Ned and Julian explore London’s criminal underworld and sodomitical demimonde, uncover secrets and scandals, confront the unexpected murderer and the mysteries of their own relationship.
In Death by Silver veteran authors Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold introduce a Victorian London where magic works, influencing every aspect of civilized life, and two very appealing detectives.
Representation Includes
- Gay protagonists
Content Warnings
Remembered physical and sexual abuse, bullyingAwards
- Won the Lambda Literary Award
- Shortlisted for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award
Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- Published May 24th 2013 by Lethe Press (first published May 1st 2013)
- Paperback (ISBN13: 9781590210550)
“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”
Set in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.
Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen’s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonist
- South Asian sapphic love interest
Content Warnings
TKAward
- Nominated for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award
Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- Published February 3rd 2015 by Tor Books
- Hardcover (ISBN13: 9780765375247)
- Paperback isbn13: 9780765375254
The fifteen tantalizing, thrilling, and ingenious tales in Steam-Powered put a new spin on steampunk by putting women where they belong — in the captain’s chair, the laboratory, and one another’s arms. Here you’ll meet inventors, diamond thieves, lonely pawn brokers, clockwork empresses, brilliant asylum inmates, and privateers in the service of San Francisco’s eccentric empire. Though they hail from across the globe and universes far away, each character is driven to follow her own path to independence and to romance. The women of Steam-Powered push steampunk to its limits and beyond. “From colonial India to New Orleans in slavery times, from a rogue San Francisco to the Lower East Side of old New York, these stories are thoughtful, wide-ranging, exciting, and often very, very sexy. Anybody who thinks that “steampunk” and “lesbian” are niche interests should read Steam-Powered and get their horizons seriously expanded.” -Delia Sherman, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner and author of Through a Brazen Mirror.
Representation Includes
- Lesbian protagonists
Content Warnings
Help grow this entry by providing content warnings. Comment below or email queersffbooks@theillustratedpage.net.Reviews
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An alternate history / historical fantasy / steampunk novel set in the Belgian Congo, from noted short story writer Nisi Shawl.
Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium’s disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo’s “owner,” King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.
Shawl’s speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.
Representation Includes
- One of the main relationships in the novel is between a white passing black woman and a white woman. They are in a polyamorous relationship.
Content Warnings
violence, colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, more content warnings needed. Help grow this entry by commenting below or by emailing queersffbooks@theillustratedpage.net.Awards
- Nominated for the Nebula Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award
- Included on the Otherwise Honor List
Reviews
Where to Find
Details
- Published September 6th 2016 by Tor Books (first published August 16th 2016)
- Hardcover (ISBN13: 9780765338051)
- Paperback isbn13: 9780765338068
I was in an accident. I got out. I’m safe now.
An alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, where a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.
A prodigy mechanic who can repair not only clockwork but time itself, determined to rescue his father from a Stopped town.
A series of mysterious bombings that could jeopardize all of England.
A boy who would give anything to relive his past, and one who would give anything to live at all.
A romance that will shake the very foundations of time.
Representation Includes
- Gay protagonist with PTSD
Content Warnings
manslaughter, absent parent, homophobia, bullying, physical assault, ableist language, PTSD, anxiety/panic attacks, explosions/bombsReviews
- Kadeen Griffith’s review
- Chiara’s review
- Reviews from MLM readers needed
Where to Find
Details
- Published November 8th 2016 by Sky Pony Press
- Hardcover (ISBN13: 9781510706187)
- Paperback isbn13: 9781510726604
A breathtaking tale of passion and adventure in the untamed skies!
Prosperity, 1863: a lawless skytown where varlets, chancers, and ne’er-do-wells risk everything to chase a fortune in the clouds, and where a Gaslight guttersnipe named Piccadilly is about to cheat the wrong man. This mistake will endanger his life . . . and his heart.
Thrill! As our hero battles dreadful kraken above Prosperity. Gasp! As the miracles of clockwork engineering allow a dead man to wreak his vengeance upon the living. Marvel! At the aerial escapades of the aethership, Shadowless.
Beware! The licentious and unchristian example set by the opium-addled navigatress, Miss Grey. Disapprove Strongly! Of the utter moral iniquity of the dastardly crime prince, Milord. Swoon! At the dashing skycaptain, Byron Kae. Swoon Again! At the tormented clergyman, Ruben Crowe.
This volume (available in print, and for the first time on mechanical book-reading devices) contains the complete original text of Piccadilly’s memoirs as first serialised in All the Year Round. Some passages may prove unsettling to unmarried gentlemen of a sensitive disposition.
Representation Includes
- Black, dyslexic, bisexual/pansexual protagonist
- Lesbian supporting character
- Genderqueer supporting character
Content Warnings
More content warnings needed.Reviews
- Laura’s review
- Rainbow Gold Reviews’ review
- Reviews by black readers needed
- Reviews by dyslexic readers needed
- Reviews by MLM readers needed
Where to Find
- Amazon
- IndieBound
- WorldCat
Details
- Published July 24th 2018 by Quicunquevult Press (first published October 27th 2014)
- Paperback (ISBN13: 9781912688883)