The Lesbrary

“MIND MELD: LGBT Themes in Fantasy and SF – Recommendations” was posted at SF Signal.

Karin Kallmaker posted 4 for $40 – Sale to Benefit the GCLS Scholarship Fund!

Pit Crew: How to Survive a Spiritual Pit Stop by Renair Amin was reviewed at Sistahs On the Shelf.

Domestically Cursed: A Story on Partnership Violence by Renair Amin was reviewed at Sistahs On the Shelf.

A Lady Never Tells (Songs of Sappho #7) By Marie-Elise Bassett was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

Women Float by Maureen Foley was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Sex Variant Women by Jeannette Howard Foster was reviewed at LGBTQ Recs Month.

Passion for Vengeance by Patty G. Henderson was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

Adaptation by Malinda Lo was reviewed at Mundie Moms.

The Seduction of Moxie by Colette Moody was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

L.A. Metro by RJ Nolan was reviewed at Lesfic Insomniac.

Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure by Sara Warner was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Lena reviews “Women Float” by Maureen Foley

June 4, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: lena, maureen foley | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | Leave a comment

“Women Float,” Maureen Foley’s gentle and lyrical novella is a lesson in patience and painful futility of life. The story follows Win, a baker in southern California, as she attempts to reconcile various pieces of her life. There’s her mother, a mysterious figure who disappeared when Win was nine; Mia, Win’s best friend and unrequited crush; and Sandra, a woman who trades swimming lessons for cream puffs. The central theme, that Foley weaves carefully through the narrative, is water and the idea of floating.

At times the metaphor is literal and blatant. Win’s mother was a surfer, alive in the water, while Win has never learned to swim and mainly associates the water with traumatic experiences of disassociation and terror. The swimming lessons with Sandra that carry through the book are dreaded moments of self examination. What is really magical about this literal use of theme is it allows us access to the more nebulous aspects of Win’s identity. We discover she’s a compulsive liar, exemplified in a terrifying scene with the people who now live in her childhood home, and is distracted by mysterious postcards that arrive from various parts of the country. Instead of using the scene at her old home or letting the strange postcards become an obsession, Foley spends more time with the swimming lessons, bringing us into Win’s world through her own phobia and self-doubt. We experience fear and hesitation in synch with the character instead of fighting through the steely control of her lies or the delusions of her love for Mia. The result is a really beautifully created tragedy that still feels incredibly alive and beautiful.

“Women Float” is ultimately a tale about the futility of life. By the end of the book, very little is resolved. There are some answers, but the remaining questions still overwhelm them. The ending does beg for more resolution, but at the same time there’s a degree of truth in the story’s final scenes that justifies its lack of closure.

Marcia reviews Legal Briefs edited by S. L. Armstrong & Carrie Cunn

June 3, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: erotica, marcia | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | 1 comment

I’ll kick this review off with a bit of full disclosure: I’m an asexual queer who doesn’t particularly enjoy erotica on screen or in print unless it deals with character building. Perhaps I made an odd choice to choose Legal Briefs, a six-story anthology with legal and erotic themes. The collection by Storm Moon Press runs around 40,000 words and is a quick read. While only one story in the collection deals with a lesbian relationship, I read and (mostly) enjoyed the anthology for what it is: sexy fluff that requires no knowledge of the legal system or analysis to consume.

The anthology starts off with “Honest Lawyers” by Kelly Rand. The title refers not only to the bar where student lawyer Craig and reporter Luna begin their date, but to the refreshing honesty and up-front way that Luna, a MTF trans woman is introduced to the readers and to Craig. The plot and details are laid out with very little flair or fuss, and Craig, with very little explanation, is completely okay — and even enthusiastic — about Luna’s body. I found this to be refreshing. Why should we expect a negative reaction in an already escapist sexual fantasy? Add to that the quick and (also) tidy negotiation of sexual safe lines, and “Honest Lawyers” is a solid story.

“24 Hours” by Cari Z tells the story of Evan, a young gay man who suffers an assault at a gay bar and later must meet with his lawyer and the lawyer of the man who hurt him to defend himself once more. Fortunately, Don, the lawyer of Evan’s assailant, sees the situation for what it is, and assures Evan that Mr. K will be paying for Evan’s doctor bills. Don also has a history with Ross, the owner of the gay bar where the assault took place. The two of them had “a fucked up dynamic” and Don seems to continue that with his urge to take care of Evan. I wasn’t convinced by Don or Evan as love interests — an aspect of the story which is relied upon with no sex to distract the reader from lack of characterization. Even the side characters are all archetypes — the grumpy matchmaker ex, the sassy fag hag assistant, the cheerful grandmother-type who knows both parties and only wishes the best for them. Skip “24 Hours” even if you do enjoy reading about male gay romance.

“Study Buddy,” which follows, is the only lesbian story in the collection. I’ll talk more about it at the end.

The fourth installment of Legal Briefs is easily the longest and best-written of the collection, a sci-fi/fantasy piece that uses the law for more than just erotic background, and develops characters Illan and Daru. SFF is far from my genre of choice, so I personally found “His Best Defense” by Blaine D. Arden too long and boring, but for those who enjoy the genre, m/m romance, and fun world building details, this story should be a highlight of the anthology.

“Double-Cross” by Salome Wilde is another well-written piece, but it left me puzzled. The only first person narrated piece in the anthology, this story features a narrator who is homophobic and misogynistic in turns. Perhaps this is supposed to lend to the story’s noir feel, but for me, it was an immediate turn off. Another turn off was the surprise reveal (a double-cross, so to speak) that narrator Cal’s lady love interest not only “knows Cocque” but has one. The set up is fine and the story is quite clever, but I simply didn’t care to see the world through Cal’s eyes — no matter how interesting that world was.

Ending the collection is perhaps the sappiest offering, “Against the Law” by Gryvon. This story takes place in a world similar to ours but where homosexual acts are not only illegal, but punishable by death. Despite this, Henry and Abel find one another, and Henry is even able to secure a marriage of convenience to lesbian Lady Clary. I wasn’t wowed by this story, and as it was probably the most traditionally romantic/erotic of the bunch, that’s not much of a surprise.

Back to “Study Buddy,” as I promised. As previously noted, this story is the only one of the collection that features a lesbian relationship. And unfortunately, it is pretty terrible. Lawyer Melanie has just realized that she is a lesbian. She has no moral or social issues with this realization, which is, I suppose, convenient. As is only proper for a late in life convert, Melanie decides to go on a sort of crash course tour of the ladies she’s missed out on for years. She goes to a strip club, for no real reason than for the author to show us some strippers putting on a show. Melanie also tries out her local lesbian bar, and doesn’t have much luck. But wait — the solution has been under her nose the whole time. The barista at Melanie’s favorite coffee shop happens to be gay and more than willing to teach Melanie the ins and outs of lady sex in exchange for help studying for the LSAT.

Unlike the rest of the anthology, “Study Buddy” seemed barely edited. Melanie reads as very young — not only because of her naivete, but due to her non-existent personality.

If one round of fairly stimulating lesbian sex and a donation to Lambda Legal float your boat, please check out Legal Briefs. Otherwise, there are far better (and more arousing!) stories out there.

Link Round Up: May 21 – 29

May 29, 2013 in Lesbrary Links | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | Leave a comment

AfterEllen posted Kate and Maggie team up to unmask [SPOILER!] in “Batwoman #20″ and AfterEllen.com Book Club: Choices for June.

Autostraddle posted

Lambda Literary posted Bi Lines VI & Bisexual Book Awards: A Multi-Arts Celebration of Bisexual Writing (June 2, NYC) and Lambda Literary Awards Ceremony.

Queer Books Please posted

The Rainbow Reader posted The Lesfic Boomtown Foretold: A Cautionary Tale by Salem West and TRR Celebrates 100,000 Visitors.

Sistahs On the Shelf posted Top Ten Tuesday Freebie: Memorable Stud Characters.

Women and Words posted Amazon and fanfic.

Sarah Diemer posted

Malinda Lo posted Finalists for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards in LGBT Children’s/Young Adult Books.

Catherine Lundoff posted Bisexual Book Awards – Finalist list and press release.

Damn Love by Jasmine Beach-Ferrara was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The Selected Letters of Willa Cather edited by Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Dialectic of the Flesh by Roz Kaveney was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Art on Fire by Hilary Sloin was reviewed at Piercing Fiction.

The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook and tumblr.

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Jordan reviews Gay Pride and Prejudice by Kate Christie (and Jane Austen)

May 28, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: jane austen, Jordan, kate christie | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | 5 comments

Along my bookshelf, the possibility of seeing a classical book is actually really slim. About the only things I have are Little Women, a bunch of fairy tales, and a couple of somewhat old lesbian books. But the classics, like Melville and Pride and Prejudice are not something you’d find in my stuff, mostly because when I tried or had to read them around college, I nearly stabbed my eyes out so I wouldn’t have to read them. This isn’t to say that classics like those aren’t brilliant books, in fact I can recognize a lot of great things from them in other stuff, but the way books were written over even thirty years ago is vastly different from the majority of books written today.

That said, I will admit I enjoyed reading Gay Pride and Prejudice by Kate Christie (and Jane Austen) way more than I could say for Pride and Prejudice and I can point out exactly why. The whole reason I kept hanging on to getting through this book was because of the lesbian tones that Kate had weaved into the book, which particularly focus around Lizzie and Caroline. The original story, I managed to get through the first couple chapters before I gave up on it, because I’m a reader from the age of movies, to where if you don’t grasp me in the first chapter chances are I am not going to hang on very long to finish the book.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t know what happens in the normal Pride and Prejudice though, I actually know it quite well since I enjoyed watching things like ‘Lost in Austen’ and even ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’. So I wasn’t going into this book totally blind in what was changed, in fact I could recognize a lot of the changes, such as the father of the Bennet girls inner monologues quite a bit about his own tendencies toward men, and that he only hopes his favorite daughter Lizzie, with her preference to her own sex can find some kind of same happiness too. And this is just one of the many things that changed for this book and really what made this book shine to me.

So, for consistency sake, I think I do need to talk about what the plot is, as I’m sure there are others out there who don’t know the whole plot of Pride and Prejudice either. The story still focuses on the daughters of Mr Bennet, with most of it being directed around Lizzie and Jane, the two eldest daughters. The whole story starts with a new man moving into town though, Bingley, which sparks the events and introduces Jane to Bingley and Lizzie to Darcy… or in this case… to Darcy and Bingley’s sister: Caroline.

Much like any romance specific story, Lizzie is at first revolted or turned away from Caroline, much in the same way she was Darcy, in fact, the author did an amazing job with realizing that a lot of the same reasons she doesn’t like Darcy in the normal book, could be said for Caroline too. And really this whole book shines because of how well the author was able to interweave the gay elements into a story that wasn’t even remotely gay and in different ways too. Charlotte and Lizzie weren’t just childhood friends they were also the first lovers for each other, but they also had drastically different views for their futures. The whole reason the Bingley’s had moved to the area where the Bennet’s were? Because Caroline was found out by the husband of a woman she was having an affair with so they left.

Really, I think the whole reason I loved reading this, was because it was essentially well crafted fan fiction, using non-gay characters and making them gay. So, for the story I don’t want to give away a lot, because the whole reason I kept sticking around was because I wanted to know HOW Caroline and Lizzie would end up together facing a society that doesn’t condone such a thing at all. And while the ending was technically expected, it was only to a degree that I had expected it. So there’s a bit of a few twists in the end that I found all the more interesting in terms of diversity, since I was thinking of the Bingley’s and Charlotte as Asian and a few characters as black, thanks to the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Overall, I have to say the story was decent, at least the areas that Kate Christie had manipulated. They were fun and kept me actually yelling at my kindle at one point as to why Lizzie and Caroline didn’t kiss. (Don’t worry it’s resolved later). But when it comes down to it, if you didn’t enjoy reading Pride and Prejudice then you probably aren’t going to like this one either, unless you can pretty much read anything lesbian, then the gay plots will probably pull you through it. In the same vein, if you loved Pride and Prejudice but don’t much care for gay romance plots, then it’s again something you’d want to avoid. But how could you not love gay romance plots?!

Either way, it was a fun read that unfortunately took me forever to get through, though that may not be the case with everyone and at least it wasn’t Gay Moby Dick… I don’t think I could have taken that.

Danika reviews Swans & Klons by Nora Olsen

May 26, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: danika, dystopian, Nora Olsen, teen, YA | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | 2 comments

Teen dystopian is a huge genre right now, and I’m used to getting engrossed in giant trilogies contained in it (like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Chaos Walking–sadly, all nonlesbian). Compared to that, a 186-page novel is practically a short story. And Swans & Klons definitely has enough going on that it could have been stretched into several books with a little padding and expanding on concepts, but there is something refreshing about the conciseness of this book. First, we are introduced to the world. Rubric lives in a dystopian future society populated entirely by women (men of the past were all struck with “cretenism”). People are grown in vats in a laboratory, all picked from 300 “Jeepies” (from GP: genotype/phenotype), which are sets of DNA. Society is divided into further types, however: Pannas (women) and Klons: non-human slaves. The beginning couple of chapters set up the world, and then the action begins. This is definitely a quick read.

I’m still not sure exactly what I think of Swans & Klons. It sometimes felt like more of a parody or though experiment than a world to itself, especially the description of men. For instance, a description in a textbook is “The Barbarous Ones . . . [are] peopled by drooling, hairy Cretinous males.” At first I thought the idea of “cretinous males” was hilarious, like men just became more and more distasteful until no one wanted to have to have sex with them to reproduce. [mild spoilers] But when we are introduced to “Cretinous males,” they are men who have severe mental disabilities. The “Barbarous” society they live in don’t describe them or treat them in this way, but there is lots of ableist language and attitudes expressed in the book. Even when Salmon Jo is trying to be understanding, she says that she sees the value in these men because they help you discover more about yourself, and that’s why they’re an asset, it still seemed pretty dismissive of these people’s value in themselves. I’m not sure about their role in the “Barbarous” society, where all men have these disabilities. In some ways it did seem respectful, but I still felt a little uncomfortable–I guess because they’re still seen as a separate class, perceived as innocent, childlike, etc. I’d like to hear other people’s opinions about this aspect. [end spoilers]

I did like that Rubric and her “schatzie” (or “girlfriend”; there is a lot of slang in Swans & Klons, which for the most part I liked, other than “cretinous males” and “barbarous ones”, which doesn’t sound realistic) struggle with their newfound disgust with the way their society is structured. They wonder whether it’s worth fighting a seemingly impossible battle, whether things are really as bad as they think, whether the “other side” is really any better, etc. Revolution is not an easy or peaceful process. Even trying to imagine or work towards it is messy and exhausting. I liked that Swans & Klons didn’t offer easy answers.

There were a lot of things to think about brought up in this book, and because it’s so short, they aren’t addressed in depth. For example, everyone in Society is cloned from one of 300 sets of DNA, meaning that many people have identical DNA. It is assumed that this will determine your personality to a large extent. Once a Panna (woman, not Klon) turns 16, she is paired up with an older person of her same Jeepie. The older Panna mentors the younger one. Jeepies usually are grouped in the same jobs. Klons have the same Jeepies, but they are second-class citizens, altered to not be human, to be less intelligent, more hardworking, etc. They do all of the manual labour and child rearing, leaving Panna to artistic and prestigious jobs. Society definitely reinforces that your genes determine your future, but it is unclear to which extent the book as a whole agrees with that assessment. I do feel like Swans & Klons has a whole world imagined, but we do just see glimpses of some part of it.

[vague spoilers about ending, highlight to read] At first I really thought we were going to get a 1984-esque ending, which actually would have been pretty cool. Some part of the end might seem a little too neat for some people, but I was surprised. And at the very end, I liked the none-of-the-above, open-ended conclusion. It left some questions, and there is definitely a whole other story ahead of them (not one that’s going to be, or necessarily needs to be, written, but still), but I found it to be satisfying, especially considering how ambitious it is to fit a story about a whole dystopian society into such a slim book. [end spoilers]

Despite some reservations, I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it with those caveats. I would love to hear other people’s opinions on this one! It is nice to have a lesbian teen dystopia, that’s for sure. Hopefully there are more on the way!

Rie of Friend of Dorothy Wilde interviews Mary of Queer Books Please!

May 25, 2013 in Uncategorized | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | Leave a comment

You may have noticed Queer Books Please showing up in the Link Round Ups a lot lately! My friend Rie over at Friend of Dorothy Wilde has done an interview with the person who runs it, Mary, and has kindly let me post it here! I’ve added in the covers of some of the books mentioned and linked them to their Amazon pages. Enjoy!

Friend of Dorothy Wilde: One day you sat down and decided to record a podcast about queer books–what inspired you to do this and what made you choose a podcast over a blog or tumblr or other media?

Mary: I’ve been working a pretty regular job that doesn’t have much creative output. I’ve always been interested in reading and writing, so in general I have been trying to find ways to keep my brain oriented on that kind of thing. So not just reading, but also thinking about how the books are written, what makes them successful, what makes me respond to them. What was really fullfilling was when I made a lot of time for reading–and reading lesbian type books in particular. The podcast came about when I realized that I wanted to keep doing what I loved the most, reading, but push myself to doing something constructive with the hobby.

I thought about doing a blog at first, but there are a lot of blogs all ready out there that are doing good work, and I wasn’t sure what else I might have to offer. I’d been listening to a lot of podcasts during my job and realized that I wasn’t finding a lot of good lesbian podcasts at all–let alone anything about books, which is what i really would have liked to hear! So I figured, why not do it myself?

I like the podcast because in some ways it’s more informal than writing, which suits me since I tend to look at books in terms of how they affect me personally rather than trying to present a definitive critical argument. And it’s also really challenging! Trying to stay funny and entertaining and not get stage fright really keeps me on my toes. I hope that the informal presentation of a podcast also helps me from editing my thoughts too much, so that I stay as close as possible to the truth of what I feel.

FODW: I know you have a good post about how you find queer books in general (linked here), but how do books for the podcast make the cut?

Mary: At this point I’m mostly just reading what I want to read. I’m using this as an opportunity to explore some older classics (still can’t believe I didn’t read THE PRICE OF SALT until a couple weeks ago) and really keep up with what’s newer as well. I’m trying to keep a balance of genres, partially because I want to be able to help readers with all preferences, and because I like most genres myself. I also see a lot of readers complaining about not being able to find enough lesbian books, but it seems like they aren’t exploring other genres, so I try to be inclusive because I think it’s a good way to keep your reading list robust.

I mostly only review things if I have positive stuff to say. I need to get so much reading done that I don’t really have to time to finish something if I’m not enjoying some aspect of it.

I will sometimes read romance fiction that might be a little low brow, and sometimes I might do a little gentle mocking, but if I read it, and I finished it, I probably had some fun with it, and so it might be worth something.

FODW: Sometimes, you just need a lesbian Harlequin romance!

Mary: Do you find yourself getting hustled a lot? There’s so much self pubbed stuff out there… I want to give it a look, but I get frustrated too if I catch too many duds in a row.

FODW: I don’t because I’m not actively reviewing at the moment–I do tend to hustle my friends though; my friend Lisa’s book (STARTING FROM HERE) came out last summer and I plug it all the time. Have you been contacted by authors/publishers for reviews?

Mary: Oh, I totally didn’t realize that your friend Lisa wrote STARTING FROM HERE. It’s such a sweet book, and a fresh take on some of the issues that queer kids struggle with. It didn’t feel overblown or overly message-y. The characters felt very real. And I’m a sucker for books with vets and dogs!

FODW: Have you been contacted by authors/publishers for reviews?

Mary: Not yet, but I’ve only been at it for a couple months.

FODW: Do you have a policy in place for when the time comes, or do you think you’ll just wing it?

Mary: No policy at this point. At this point, the podcasting is very much a natural extension of my usual reading habits. Once you’re talking to authors and publishers, I imagine that changes. So I would need to think about how it would affect my reading choices and if that would have any measurable improvement on the podcast itself.

FODW: That’s great–keep it fun and informative and not an obligation, no?

Mary: Exactly. And I think there’s a lot of great places for people to go find reviews of a specific book. I’m reviewing, sure, but for me the podcast is not just about reviews, but about the process of finding books, the experience of reading them, and making connections between different kinds of books.

FODW: How do you pick your themes? Do they happen naturally or do you brainstorm?

Mary: I have some that I know I want to get to. For example, I know I want to do an episode on books with sports in them sometime in the future. I’m thinking about doing a segment of someone of the books I’ve enjoyed that included gay males. So I have those ideas in mind. But one of the amazing things about this podcast is how the connections get made naturally. This week I read a couple different books that featured Lesbian Parenting/Pregnancy, and I realized, duh, of course I need to do a bit on lesbian mothers for Mother’s Day!

FODW: What were some of the first queer books you read, and how did you find them?

Mary: If you mean in my life, we’re going back to about 1999 or so in my very early teens. I think I may have simply typed in “lesbian” into the library catalog and looked for YA books. I read ANNIE ON MY MIND and GOOD MOON RISING from Nancy Garden. Also DARE TRUTH OR PROMISE by Paula Boock. I remember reading a lot of Francesca Lia Block, who didn’t really write about lesbians specifically but did include gay males in her books, and just had a magical sort of queer possibility in her books. Have you seen the cover of VIOLET & CLAIRE? I don’t think that book ending up being gay at all, but the cover featured two bare lady stomachs, and those two friends sure did love each other a lot….

Dorothy Allison was probably the first adult lesbian fiction I ever read, which means I really jumped into the deep end there.

FODW: (FLB is one of my roots, specifically “Dragons in Manhattan” in GIRL GODDESS #9)

FODW: What’s a book you loved that you didn’t expect to, maybe, from the copy? Alternately, is there any book that gets raved about that isn’t really your cup of tea?

Mary: I’m going to answer your second question first. I have yet to get into Jeanette Winterson. I tried reading WRITTEN ON THE BODY many times as a younger person, never got very far. I did read her memoir and ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT and found them both very good, but didn’t find myself particularly moved by them in any sort of emotional way. I know her books are much beloved, and I am going to do some reading of her work and see if I can get to the bottom of my reaction to her, but yeah, at this point, not my cup of tea.

I think the last book I was really surprised and pleased by was MAP OF IRELAND by Stephanie Grant. I thought, well, it’s a coming of age story but is anything going to happen? And 70s Boston isn’t exactly a time or place that I know about or have much interest in. But then I read it and was completely blown away. CARRY THE ONE by Carol Anshaw also surprised me. I went into knowing very little, and kind of being tired of contemporary literature, and then found it to be so deft and funny and sad.

FODW: What is your dream queer book? Like, this author writing about this subject in this genre

Mary: So many possibilities! Emma Donoghue writes another sweet, thoughtful romance–but this time in space!

FODW: love it! (mine is Stephanie Perkins writing a cute lesbian YA set in NYC and at a queer music festival)

Mary: I’d like to see Malindo Lo write an adult fantasy epic.

FODW: is there a genre you really like that you wish had more queer books?

Mary: I’d like to see science fiction and fantasy featuring more queer characters, but with strong focuses on the genre conventions rather than romance. Take lesbian mysteries in the late 90s. Ten years ago, when I was really starting to seek out lesbian fiction, I loved that there were a lot of mystery series that featured tough lesbian heroines, but didn’t focus too much on romance.

I’d like to see that happen in the other genres. You get a lot of stuff that’s hybrid romance/sci-fi/fantasy from Bold Strokes and the like. But the romance part has one crucial downside–it pretty much guarantees a happy ending. Which isn’t so good for generating excitement and suspense.

FODW: Would you ever try your hand at writing again, or is reviewing where it’s at for now?

Mary: I’d like to think so, but right now I’m enjoying the podcast so much that it’s hard to see when writing could be fit in There’s a possibility that some more nonfiction pieces by me about my life–stuff that isn’t strictly reviewing books–may pop into the podcast in the future. If it seems like listeners might enjoy it, anyway. Right now I like to think that I’m contributing to the field by encouraging talented writers to keep writing and getting there stuff out there!

FODW: do you want to share some possible upcoming themes, or let that be a mystery?

Mary: Yeah, I can give some hints as to what might be coming up. I’m just finishing up a crash course on Willa Cather and will share some of my thoughts on her and her letters. I’ve got a pile of great historical fiction novels that I’m working my way through. Hmm. I can also tease that I’m working on an exciting project that should start to trickle out in the next couple weeks.

And it’s related to lesbian vampires!

FODW: Fantastic! Any parting thoughts?

Mary: Thanks for doing this interview and thanks to everyone listening to the podcast. It’s really a pleasure to share my reading experiences with you. And I want to encourage old and new listeners alike to let me know if there’s anything they’d like to hear me talk about on the podcast. If you’re looking for specific recommendations or want to recommend a book to me, feel free to email me, hit me up on twitter, or leave a comment on the blog.

FODW: Fantastic! Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview you :D

Mary: Thank you! This has been a lot of fun.

Danika reviews Lunatic Fringe and Hungry Ghost (Tales of the Pack Books 1 and 2) by Allison Moon

May 24, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: Allison Moon, danika | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | Leave a comment

Okay, can we take a minute for these covers? Is it ridiculous to say that my expectations for Lunatic Fringe were really high just based on this cover? Well, to be fair, they were also very high because a) Allison Moon seems awesome and b) lesbian werewolves. Feminist, lesbian werewolves (!!!). That was about all I knew about this series, but it was enough to get me very excited. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, probably a feminist lesbian werewolf utopia, but that wasn’t what I got. Which is fair, I just think I had the wrong expectations going in.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of the term “New Adult”, but I think this is a genre that at least the first two books of this series fit into. New Adult is a new genre that focuses on 18- to 25-year-olds or so. It’s like Young Adult, but a step up. It focuses on college age people and their struggles. I feel like these books fit really well in this genre not just because Lexie, our main character, is just heading off to college when we meet her, but also because she is really trying to find herself through these books. She is struggling to establish her own identity, struggling with her sexuality (some variation of queer, but not necessarily gay), and struggling with her family (her dad is distant and her mom left years ago).

But yes, werewolves! A whole lot of werewolves. I’m not sure how to talk about this without spoiling the first book for you, because it keeps you on your toes, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I do want to address the feminism, however. I have a minor in Women’s Studies and many of my friends are WS majors and really involved in activism and feminism, so I was really excited to read a feminist and lesbian werewolf book, to say the least. This is not a feminist utopia, however. The feminist group (The Pack) in Lunatic Fringe is one that is definitely flawed. There’s classism, bi erasure, and generally really simplistic, non-intersectional ideas presented. (Basically “men bad, women good”.) Now, these are addressed in the novel. You are supposed to think that there’s a problem here. So it’s not a problem with the book itself, necessarily, but do be warned that there are a lot of shitty things said in the first book, especially.

Another problem is that the big villains of this series, the Morloc, are bloodthirsty [spoiler for both books, highlight to read] rapist[end spoiler] animals who also happen to be an indigenous group. I mean, they are wolves, but they are indigenous to the area and predate settlers. They are discussed as an indigenous group in the books. The characters resolve that they don’t want to part of oppression of indigenous people, but they also don’t want to get killed. Fine, but why was a Native group made to be the villains in the first place? It reminds me of Twilight, where the Native people as werewolves are described by the vampires as smelly, dirty, dumb animals, etc. To be fair, there are also indigenous “good guys” in Tales of the Pack, but it still seemed really problematic to make the bloodthirsty, savage, animal villains indigenous.

I have some more issues that I’d like to discuss, but they are big spoilers, so. [spoilers for both books] First of all, I did not like Lexie with Sage. I guess I had assumed that Lexie was gay when it hadn’t actually been stated for sure–she has struggled with her sexuality throughout the books–so that is my own problem. But still! Her ex’s brother? That’s weird. That’s really weird. Also I don’t understand why Archer didn’t come back during the second book when they were all in danger. I’m sure it will be addressed in the next book.

Secondly, one of the minor characters, Jenna. I was also sort of annoyed that she seemed to do all the housework and cooking for no real reason. That didn’t seem fair at all. No one seemed to really acknowledge that she did all the work. Because, you know, women’s work isn’t real work. (Even in a feminist house.) AND THEN. She’s the one who dies! It’s like [spoiler for Buffy the Vampire Slayer] Tara’s death all over again! [end Buffy spoiler] Where the feminine character is killed as this innocent lamb, which totally erases her as an actual person versus just a symbol! I get that someone had to die, I just really didn’t like that the stereotypical feminine character was killed to show loss of innocence. It’s basically woman in a refrigerator, but the people’s plots that are being moved forward are also female. I OBJECT. But, you know, it’s probably Buffy that makes me so defensive here. [end spoilers]

There’s a lot more going on these books: the mythology of the wolves, Lexie’s mom’s story, Lexie’s multiple romances, the werewolves, the rape, the characters of Renne and Blythe… there’s a lot more that I could talk about, but mostly it wasn’t what I wanted from it. Even though there’s so much going on, I didn’t feel like there was the sort of depth that I was expecting. I say New Adult because it has a similar vibe to a Young Adult book. I think if you go in expecting a Young Adult/New Adult book with some really problematic elements, you would probably enjoy it more. I just had very high expectations for Lunatic Fringe, which probably weren’t fair and weren’t actually reflective of what the series was trying to do, but I was disappointed. Let me know if you’ve read it, and what you thought of these books!

Link Round Up: May 15 – 21

May 22, 2013 in Lesbrary Links | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | Leave a comment

Autostraddle posted Liberty Lit #20: Remember Library Lesbianism.

ELIXHER posted PREVIEW: Staceyann Chin and Baby Zuri Featured in ELIXHER Magazine.

LGBTQ Recs Month posted Sign-ups.

Queer Books Please posted Episode 18 – Pansexuality and the Fantasy of Manners.

Queer Zine Archive Project posted QZAP Frick-starter.

UK Lesbian Fiction posted Building Worlds: A Conversation between Jane Fletcher and Nora Olsen.

Women and Words posted 1 Question, Several Answers: authors answer which three books they’d take during a zombie apocalypse and A Conversation with Jane Fletcher and Nora Olsen.

Sarah Diemer posted Release Day: WINGED THINGS, the Sixth Project Unicorn eZine, is Out!

Andi Marquette posted Hoppin’ Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

An excerpt from Michelle Tea‘s Mermaid in Chelsea Creek was posted at McSweeney’s.

The Stonewall Riots the comic book has started an Indiegogo campaign.

Caty Simon at Emily Books wrote about Empathy by Sarah Schulman and “library lesbianism”.

Queer Lady and Lesbian Book Club of North Brooklyn is a thing, so you should participate if you can.

Astray by Emma Donoghue was reviewed at Santa Barbara Independent.

Love By the Numbers by Karin Kallmaker was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

I am Your Sister: Season 2 by Ericka K. F. Simpson was reviewed at Sistahs On the Shelf.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook and tumblr.

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Katie Raynes reviews Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

May 19, 2013 in Lesbrary Reviews | Tags: katie raynes, lesbian teen books, molly beth griffin, teen, YA | by Danika @ The Lesbrary | 2 comments

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin is the story of Garnet, a teenage ornithology enthusiast who spends a transformative summer in a lakeside town. Set in 1926, Silhouette of a Sparrow combines captivating historical detail with realistic characters and emotions while keeping it all on a believable, relatable scale. I was drawn in immediately by the writing, which has a unique voice without edging into caricature. Garnet is very relatable: she considers herself to be a regular girl, even plain, but any threat of the boredom that sometimes accompanies these types of characters is averted by her intricately described interests. She’s passionately in love with birds, and she notices them everywhere, cutting silhouettes of them out of paper because her mother approves of that hobby over her childhood outdoor explorations.

Garnet has to navigate several things during her summer in Excelsior, Minnesota: the relatives she’s staying with consider her to be poor and low-class in comparison to themselves, but they have their own secrets; she left behind her father, a veteran who came home unable to adapt to life away from the war, and her mother, who is desperately trying to keep the family together; Garnet takes a part-time job in a shop, confronting both the bias against working women and environmental conservation issues that are close to her heart; and her drive to be independent and enjoy her last summer before graduating (and marrying) leads her to meet Isabella, a dancer who flaunts numerous social conventions. All of the subplots wind together to make a full story, and none of them are left hanging or unfinished.

Garnet’s developing relationship with Isabella is one of the highlights of the story for me (I admit I equally adore all the bird imagery, which has tendrils running through the whole book). Their courtship progresses slowly and sweetly. Garnet and Isabella get to know each other gradually, each revealing their fears and hopes as they grow more comfortable with each other. I love that Garnet doesn’t consider her romantic feelings for Isabella to be wrong – she’s worried about what her family would think, but she seems just as concerned that Isabella’s reputation, instead of her gender, will be the cause of the disapproval. Another thing that satisfies me with this novel is that the relationship between Garnet and Isabella isn’t the main focus - Silhouette of a Sparrow is about Garnet’s development from someone who doesn’t know what she wants to someone who does, and who finds within herself the strength to go after her dreams. Her relationship with Isabella is integral to this development, but it isn’t the core of the story. It’s a lesbian romance not simply for the sake of romance, but as part of the lives of what feel like real people.

The Lesbrary

Link Round Up: May 31 – June 6

Lena reviews “Women Float” by Maureen Foley

Marcia reviews Legal Briefs edited by S. L. Armstrong & Carrie Cunn

Link Round Up: May 21 – 29

Jordan reviews Gay Pride and Prejudice by Kate Christie (and Jane Austen)

Danika reviews Swans & Klons by Nora Olsen

Rie of Friend of Dorothy Wilde interviews Mary of Queer Books Please!

Danika reviews Lunatic Fringe and Hungry Ghost (Tales of the Pack Books 1 and 2) by Allison Moon

Link Round Up: May 15 – 21

Katie Raynes reviews Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

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