Queer Slice-of-Life Episodes of SFF Television

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

How are we feeling, cannibal fungus fans? Still floating in the cozy feels of the third episode of The Last of Us? Episodes like that where we spend time watching people exist in the world largely outside bigger plot dynamics don’t happen often—less so in the age of “diverse” shows getting canceled after a single season. When you narrow the field down to just speculative shows and just queer characters, that slice gets thinner and thinner. So let’s take this opportunity to celebrate queer life, queer joy, and queer people just being themselves.

Read the rest of this spotlight at Tor.com.

Something Old Yet New: Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

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Release Date: January 10, 2023
Publisher: Tordotcom Publishing
Series: Wayward Children #8
Genre: Fantasy

Description

A young girl discovers an infinite variety of worlds in this standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire, Lost in the Moment and Found.

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.

If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.
If you ever wondered about a favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.

And the headphones that you swore this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the Shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she discovers that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.

Continue reading “Something Old Yet New: Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire” →

Must-Read Speculative Short Fiction: 12 Works You May Have Missed in 2022

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Every month I read a couple dozen or so short speculative fiction stories from 60+ publications in order to put together my monthly short SFF/H column. That’s a lot of reading! It’s always impossibly hard to narrow down to just my ten favorite pieces; if I had the time and energy, I’d do a massive list every month. So this year, instead of doing a best of list, I thought I’d put together a little collection of my alternates, one story from each month that I loved but that didn’t make my original spotlight. Let’s take a walk back through last year and some absolutely epic short fiction.

Read the rest of this spotlight at Tor.com.

10 Great Young Adult Space Operas

~ Alex Brown ~ Leave a comment

You know, I really want to thank the authors that looked at young adult fiction and space opera and thought “why not both?” Because this is one of my favorite subgenres of YA science fiction. There’s adventure, there’s romance, there’s danger, there’s high stakes, there’s a pack of outcasts who have the fate of the galaxy in their hands. What more could you want? Here are ten great YA space operas from the last few years.

Read the rest of this spotlight at Tor.com.

A Dark Fantasy Popcorn Novel: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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Release Date: January 10, 2023
Series: Alex Stern #2
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Fantasy

Description

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory–even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

Continue reading “A Dark Fantasy Popcorn Novel: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo” →

Mini Review: “Sounds Fake but Okay: An Asexual and Aromantic Perspective on Love, Relationships, Sex, and Pretty Much Anything Else” by Sarah Costello & Kayla Kaszyca

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Release Date: February 21, 2023
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Genre: Non-Fiction

Description

Somehow, over time, we forgot that the rituals behind dating and sex were constructs made up by human beings and eventually, they became hard and fast rules that society imposed on us all.’

True Love. Third Wheels. Dick pics. ‘Dying alone’. Who decided this was normal?

Sarah and Kayla invite you to put on your purple aspec glasses – and rethink everything you thought you knew about society, friendship, sex, romance and more.

Drawing on their personal stories, and those of aspec friends all over the world, prepare to explore your microlabels, investigate different models of partnership, delve into the intersection of gender norms and compulsory sexuality and reconsider the meaning of sex – when allosexual attraction is out of the equation.

Spanning the whole range of relationships we have in our lives – to family, friends, lovers, society, our gender, and ourselves, this book asks you to let your imagination roam, and think again what human connection really is.

Includes exclusive ‘Sounds Fake But Okay’ podcast episodes.

Continue reading “Mini Review: “Sounds Fake but Okay: An Asexual and Aromantic Perspective on Love, Relationships, Sex, and Pretty Much Anything Else” by Sarah Costello & Kayla Kaszyca” →

Mini Review: “I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life” by Cody Daigle-Orians

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Release Date: February 21, 2023
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Genre: Non-Fiction

Description

How do I know if I’m actually sexual?

How do I come out as asexual?

What kinds of relationship can I have as an ace person?

If you are looking for answers to these questions, Cody is here to help. Within these pages lie all the advice you need as a questioning ace teen.

Tackling everything from what asexuality is, the asexual spectrum and tips on coming out, to intimacy, relationships, acephobia and finding joy, this guide will help you better understand your asexual identity alongside deeply relatable anecdotes drawn from Cody’s personal experience.

Whether you are ace, demi, gray-ace or not sure yet, this book will give you the courage and confidence to embrace your authentic self and live your best ace life.

Continue reading “Mini Review: “I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life” by Cody Daigle-Orians” →