Long Hidden features 27 stories, focusing on (as the editors put it) “stories from the margins of speculative history, each taking place between 1400 and the early 1900s and putting a speculative twist—an element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or the unclassifiably strange—on real past events.” The anthology features many people and women of color, trans* characters, lesbians, and storiesRead More
Lena reviews A Dying Place by Emma Johnson-Rivard
There’s an almost theatrical quality to A Dying Place, Emma Johnson-Rivard’s rather bleak fantasy story. In terms of setting and structure, the novel functions as a play and it speaks to Johnson-Rivard’s strengths as a writer that she’s able to let the characters sing through that format. The book opens with Ama’u, a veteran ofRead More
Danika reviews Charm School Book One: Magical Witch Girl Bunny by Elizabeth Watasin
I’m very glad this book exists. It is adorable. It takes place in Little Salem, a magical place filled with monsters, faeries, and supernatural beings of all kinds. Bunny is a cute witch with a badass, butch, biker, vampire girlfriend, Dean. Their relationship is really sweet, and Dean is the quintessential swoonworthy bad boy butch.Read More
Laura reviews Red Falcon’s District by Leilani Beck
Red Falcon’s District is a historical fantasy novel by Leilani Beck. The story follows Bridget Caswell — a plucky young woman who has been on the run her entire life — as she takes sanctuary in an unusual, little known London district. A capable work by an emerging author, this book is an excellent choiceRead More
Laura Mandanas reviews Ash by Malinda Lo
The first chapter of Ash by Malinda Lo stopped me in my tracks. Lo’s writing here is not the type that should be read hurriedly — speed reading here would be like sprinting through the Taj Mahal, blindfolded, and calling it sightseeing. Such a waste! No, readers will do best to advance slowly. Pause. Ponder.Read More
Danika reviews Hellebore & Rue edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff
I’m going to be honest: the only thing I was really looking for in Hellebore & Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic was for it to live up to its cover. I mean, look at that cover! It’s definitely one of my favourites. The good news is, it does! It seems like every review ofRead More
Danika reviews The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
First of all, how amazing is that cover? Doesn’t it make you want to pick it up just by itself? Amazingly, this was a book I was assigned in a class. I very reluctantly put down Inseparable by Emma Donoghue (which is also amazing, and I will be reviewing it later) to read The Salt Roads, butRead More
Islay reviews Raven Mask by Winter Pennington
Raven Mask is the second in Winter Pennington’s series featuring the adventures of ‘preternatural investigator’ werewolf Kassandra Lyall, and I would most certainly recommend reading the first before the second as Raven Mask picks up fairly seamlessly from where the first novel leaves off. It is, however, an enjoyable romp told with flare and goodRead More
Guest Lesbrarian Shanna
This is a new author who has written a beautiful take on the Cinderella story, with a twist. Ash’s mother is dead, and, following in the tradition of almost all Disney movies, epic poems, and fairy tales, her father dies soon after. She’s left at the mercy of her stepmother, forced to clean and lookRead More
Danika reviews Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
If you’re sick of only reading coming out stories (not that there’s anything wrong with coming out stories, but sometimes it’s nice to have some other plot), try reading some Fantasy/Sci Fi lesbian books, because they can just not make it an issue. It’s so refreshing! Zanja, the protagonist (and the woman on the cover,Read More