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Didn’t I just do one of these? I think it was last week. iam has kindly reminded me that time is in fact moving forward and I have been bad about giving out these tips. So just to prove iam wrong, here is a tip! (iam is 100% right and that I forgot just how excited I am about this reading challenge. I will do better!)

18. A speculative fiction featuring a queer character or by a queer author

Speculative fiction is a newer genre for me, but it is one that is super queer for me. Not all speculative fiction is queer, but I was introduced to it as a genre by a queer trans poet that I just adore. So it will always be queer in my heart. So I made this a challenge because I wanted to read more and I wanted to spread one of my newest favorite genres to everyone I could.

So what is speculative fiction? “a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.” per a random google search. Pretty much it is fiction that asks a question like “what would happen if hippos were raised as cattle in the US?” and then goes on a spree answering it. It changes one element (or more) of reality and examines what would happen. Also known as “books Isaiah loves and wants other people to read”. It is a super genre, so books of all sorts count. They can be horror, fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction (and probably more).

Without a ton of rambling, books!

The Four Profound Weaves – remember, you still have a few days to enter to win a FREE digital copy. Just be sure to email mibookreviews@gmail.com and let me know what the best email address is to send you a book. Sometime during September 4th, I will draw a random name to win the book. Your chances are good. Plus, if you are really wanting a chance, there is a print book US giveaway on Goodreads that is going on until September 1st. The book sounds super queer, there is a queer author, and it is about weaving. I am sold. I have the book in front of me right now. I may have pet the cover a few times before starting this post.

American Hippo – literally the example from my rant above. What if the US imported hippos and used them as livestock instead of cows. American Hippo is the collected version of the whole series, so if you just read River of Teeth that counts too! Queer characters and my favorite non-binary author (my non-binary author partner can fight me, because Gailey is pure magic)

Upright Women Wanted – Another Sarah Gailey book, this time about lesbian librarian spies. Seriously. I ugly cried at the dedication of the book. (Gailey is really magic, read their newsletter where they yell about pasta and tell me they are not pure magic.)

Izzy Wasserstein – not a book, but both the wonderful person who introduced me to speculative fiction and someone who writes queer speculative short stories, which will totally count. She wrote one about fascist eating dinosaurs and one about a really wild world. (Links directly to the stories so you can read them online!)

Small Changes Over a Long Period of Time (links directly to the story so you can read it online!)- did you want trans vampire smut? Because that is a thing. This author has a full length novel out now too! (Docile is on my nightstand and I lovingly look at it, but haven’t even opened it yet).

If you want the easiest book to find that would count (that is not a direct link), it would have to be The Handmaid’s Tale. There is a lesbian character that shows up, but is not a main character (has a much larger role in the Hulu show!). This would count, but it feels almost like cheating despite it being one of my favorite books. There is also a graphic novel adaption out now. I have not read it, so I am not sure if the lesbian character still exists.

Briar Rose – A sorta fairy tail retelling, but not, which more queer elements. Yolen also has some other wonderful queer stories.

Barnes and Nobel has a list.

Autostraddle has one too!

Here is a list of publishers that publish queer speculative fiction

So many books work for this challenge. I will not accept books about how straight people are now the minority/oppressed and that is the plot like The Wanting Seed (I really liked this book when I read it, but the woe is me straight man act is a little tiresome and really not queer).

~Isaiah

Edited 9/2/2020 to add: Goodreads has a list of recent speculative fiction and there are quite a few queer titles:

This is How you Lose the Time War

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Gideon the Ninth