Read on Twitter
I know I had a really hard time getting into adult SFF because I felt like I couldn’t find many titles by non-white and non-cishet male authors. I counted on twitter to help me.
So here’s a thread of SFF by BIPOC and queer authors.
So here’s a thread of SFF by BIPOC and queer authors.
I’m really excited for Cassandra Khaw’s next book, THE ALL-CONSUMING WORLD. A team of former criminals have to come back together to rescue a missing comrade. But the AI in control of the universe has its own agenda. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781645660200
I need to pick up THE MIDNIGHT BARGAIN by C.L. Polk ASAP. It’s set in an alternate Regency England in which women lose their marriage when they get married, forcing sorceresses with family debts into difficult places. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781645660071
C.L. Clark’s THE UNBROKEN came out last month and it sounds fantastic. It’s a sapphic military fantasy!!! A soldier stolen as a child and forced to fight for an empire. A royal trying to get her uncle of the phone. Assassinations! Massacres! https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780316542753
If you’re not hyped for SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan, then what are you doing with your life? Mulan meets THE SONG OF ACHIELLES in a reimagining to the beginning of the Ming empire https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781250621801
BLACK SUN by Rebecca Roanhorse is just one of a bunch of books Roanhorse has out. It’s inspired by the pre-Columbian Americans and features celestial prophecies and forbidden magic and a mysterious ship. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781534437678
THE YEAR OF THE WITCHING by Alexis Henderson - Immanuelle’s existence is blasphemy. Her father was an outsider - from a different race. To make up for it, she followers all the rules of Bethel. Until she’s lured into the forbidden wood. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780593099605
I’m always into books where the main character is described as a bitch, like THE WOLF OF OREN-YARO by K.S. Villoso. Talyien’s empire was nearly torn apart before she was born, but an arranged marriage may finally bring peace. Until her fiancee disappears. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780316532662
CHILLING EFFECT by Valerie Valdes - Captain Eva Innocente and her crew deliver small cargo around the galaxy. When her sister is kidnapped by a syndicate, she has to undergo a series of missions to free her. But she also has to deal with psychic cats. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780062877239
Pause because my thyroid is Demanding A Nap.
MARKSWOMAN by Rati Mehrotra features a bunch of magical knife wielding female assassins - and the strife when someone new takes control of the Order after potentially committing murder. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780062564542
Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a really varied backlist and front list. Her last release was MEXICAN GOTHIC, a horror fantasy that takes place in 1950s Mexico. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780525620785
Carmen Maria Machado has several titles under her belt, but HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES is one I still think about. This short story collection is eerie and beautiful and haunting. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781555977887
S.B. Divya’s written a lot of short fiction, maybe most notably RUNTIME, a sci-fi featuring a cyborg competing in the Minerva Sierra Challenge, a multi-day race that could give her and her brothers a better life. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780765389794
Nnedi Okorafor is prolific, but I always think of BINTI, which is a sci-fi about Binti, the first ever Himba person to be offered a place at the finest academy in the galaxy. But taking it means giving up her family to travel the stars with strangers. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780765385253
Zen Cho has so many cool concepts. Her next book is BLACK WATER SISTER, about a reluctant medium that discovers the key to a dangerous power, drawing her into a world of gods and ghosts. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780425283431
Tasha Suri has a new fantasy coming out called THE JASMINE THRONE, which is a sapphic fantasy featuring an imprisoned princess and a maidservant with forbidden magic. Together, they could destroy an empire. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780316538510
Aliette de Bodard has a bunch of titles to choose from, but on the top of my list is IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE, which is supposed to be a dark, f/f retelling of Beauty and the Beast that utilizes Vietnamese culture. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781625673985
I’m SO pumped for Nghi Vo’s THE CHOSEN AND THE BEAUTIFUL, a reinvention of The Great Gatsby. This one focuses on Jordan Baker, a queer, Vietnamese adoptee that may just have a little bit of magic. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781250784780
Coming in the fall is LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by Ryka Aoki, pitched as GOOD OMENS meets THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET in San Gabriel Valley and featuring a queer alien courtship over donuts. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781250789068
Zoraida Córdova is entering the adult SFF world in September with THE INHERITANCE OF ORQUíDEA DIVINA. The Montoyas have never wanted for anything and they never asked questions. But Orquídea Divina is gone and has left a mysterious inheritance. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781982102548
Of course I’ve gotta mention THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune, which gives me serious FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS vibes. Such a great, queer found family. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781250217288
Sarah Gailey’s THE ECHO WIFE is about Evelyn and Martine, her clone, who’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband. https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9781250174666
I gotta mention N.K. Jemisin and her extraordinary collection. Her last book was THE CITY WE BECAME, set in a world in which there are gods in New York City https://bookshop.org/a/1199/9780316509848
I know there are dozens and dozens of other queer authors and BIPOC authors writing adult SFF that I haven’t mentioned here, but it’s a starting place. And sometimes it’s easier to keep finding them when you’ve found a couple.
