Lesbrary Sneak Peek: Catching Up

Okay, I’m way behind in the new lesbian books I have acquired since last Lesbrary Sneak Peek. All the stacks on the shelf are the lesbian books I’ve gotten since then:

The books behind them are my girlfriend’s. So, here’s the first stack, and I’ll try to tackle the next one tomorrow.

One review of this book ends with “HAND OF PROPHECY, Severna Park’s second novel, benefits from an unusual plot and neat prose, but its graphic descriptions of lesbian sex might limit the novel’s appeal”, which may be the best unintentional sell I’ve ever heard. Hand of Prophecy is a sci fi novel set where slaves are injected with a virus that makes for great slaves for two decades, then promptly kills them. Our protagonist, Frenna, is one of these slaves, but she’s found a way to fight the virus. Will she overthrow the tyrants and free her fellow slaves? Will she be able to recruit enough people to her side to be a formidable opponent? And, most importantly, how much graphic lesbian sex can we look forward to?!

Stella Duffy’s Calendar Girl is another genre lesbian book, this time in the mystery category. I have no idea how lesbianism comes into Hand of Prophecy, but it’s a lot more clear in Calendar Girl. According to the back cover: “Maggie has fallen for ‘the girl with the Kelly McGillis body’, a mysterious woman who can’t commit herself. Meanwhile Saz Martin is hot on the trail of a woman known only as September, who commute between London and New York in a whirlwind of drug smuggling, gambling and high-class prostitution. A murder brings Saz and Maggie and their respective mysteries together.” Yes, I am being lazy and just giving you the blurb. There are a lot of books to get through!

I have no idea what the back of this book is talking about, but that is a very cool cover. The Lesbian Science Fiction site has a positive review of this one, calling it “[p]ost-apocalyptic science fiction with a touch of fantasy and the absurd”, and promising a lesbian main character. I love post-apocalyptic books and lesbian books (obviously), so this should be perfect for me. Does anyone know any other dystopian lesbian novels they would recommend? I wonder how many there are out there.

Judy Grahn’s The Queen of Wands is a poetry collection. I’m a little iffy on it, because poetry can go very much either way for me. If it’s at all boring, I won’t bother. I need emotion and vivid imagery, not long descriptions of scenery. Grahn is a lesbian who often writes on the lesbian experience, so I’m hesitantly optimistic. I haven’t found any lesbian poetry I really like yet, unless you count the slam poet Alix Olsen, who is awesome.

This does not seem like it will be a light read. Gulf Dreams is about a Chicana woman dealing with abuse, racism, sexism, and homophobia in a small town in Texas. It looks like it’s not written in an entirely linear way, either. So, heavy subject matter and a challenging writing style… could be a very rewarding read. I’m looking forward to it.

Shadows of Aggar is the third sci fi/fantasy book in this stack. The reviews I’ve read of this one are very positive, and promise “a unique world and culture, swords and magic, and imperfect characters on a heroic quest” with a good lesbian romance to boot. This one was also nominated for Lambda award: always a good sign.

In contrast to Gulf Dreams, all the reviews of The Romantic Naiad promise it’s full of stories you can read with your brain turned off. It’s all short stories, and appears to be partly mysteries, partly romance, and partly erotica. Nothing wrong with that.

Have you read Hand of Prophecy, Calendar Girl, Daughters of Moab, Queen of Wands, Gulf Dreams, Shadows of Aggar, or The Romantic Naiad? What did you think of them?

Have you received any lesbian books lately?

What’s odd about all these stacks is that this is after I’ve stopped sending out books on Bookmooch (temporarily; I’m out of money). There was a giant book sale here and I managed to pick up a surprising amount of lesbian books, all $1-3, and even managed to grab some free ones. So if I had been on Bookmooch, too, this would be a lot bigger.