It’s a new year, and I have plenty of room in my heart and on my list for new voices!

it’s also been a while since I paid tribute to queen RiRi

so

MY #MSWL AS RIHANNA: A THREAD

off the top, I’m always looking for:

BIPOC voices, lore, histories, the stories only we can tell
queer visibility
distinct, unmistakable voice
high, character-driven stakes
beloved tropes used in new ways
literary chops and crossover potential
smooches
#mswl

HIGH FANTASY with fresh worldbuilding and intricate magic systems, ancient dynasties, court intrigue, lost lore, political backstabbing, sword girlfriends, wizard boyfriends, warrior queens, colonizers being colonized, enemies that should be lovers, yearning, GREAT outfits #mswl

SPACE OPERA with widescreen, cinematic scope and more social than hard science (linguistics!anthropology!), with lurid worlds and robust politics that interrogate the genre’s colonial history; bonus points for cool aliens, ships with personalities, unlikely humanism #mswl

FOLKLORE, MYTH, and FAIRYTALE-inspired stories that tell the old tales from new perspectives, deify new gods, and give the monster their say. Would particularly love to see non-european inspirations here (but also yrs of Latin say I am a SUCKER for the greco-roman canon) #mswl

HORROR either in the lush, gothic, Crimson Peakian vein with sputtering candles, twisted family trees, forbidden corridors, etc.; or with a modern-day edge that cuts straight down to the nervy quick of our current moment, and would make Ari Aster or Jordan Peele proud #mswl

near-future, high-concept SCI-FI with a literary bent, that dissects our own world more clearly through another—looking for hopeful postapocalypses, dystopian utopias, Gibsonian cyberpunk from new perspectives #mswl

HISTORICAL FANTASY or MAGICAL REALISM (in the true, anticolonial sense) with rich details, generational sagas, transportive settings and just enough magic #mswl

as always this is broad but not comprehensive (and I’m always happy to be surprised by something I didn’t know I needed) but if you have anything like the above, I hope to see you in my inbox!