Summer Reading List 2021: Elisabeth

Welcome to my Summer Reading List! Only one of my titles is a 2020 novel – all others are 2021 releases, though the first 2021 release is a January release (Root Magic). Normally I would apologize here – offer some comment on backlists and how much I love reading those too – but the truth is I think 2021 is a turning point for queer adult fantasy. Almost all of these books are books I have anticipated since their PW Weekly announcements: even though their release dates are recent, I feel like I have been waiting for these books for years. So I’m excited to drown in them this summer! 

THE JASMINE THRONE by Tasha Suri
It’s impossible to exist on the internet as a lesbian who loves fantasy without hearing the good news about The Jasmine Throne from all corners (including Ari’s review right here!). An epic fantasy inspired by Indian mythology, in which lesbians play the central role, written by one of my favorite authors? Yes please! This has been my Number #1 Anticipated Release of the Summer, and I can't wait to gobble it up in one sitting.

AIR LOGIC by Laurie J. Marks
Technically, I am gearing up for a full series re-read of Marks’ Elemental Logic series, but since Air Logic inspired this reread and will end the series, it’s the one I’m listing here. The series began in 2002 with its first title FIRE LOGIC. I remember reading all three existing novels in 2014 or 2015 and loving them. The series was a rare gem at the time – a traditionally published fantasy novel featuring queer characters – and I’m excited to revisit it in this new context of QUEER BOOK WEALTH. 

FOXFIRE IN THE SNOW by JS Fields
This new novella by JS Fields, published by small queer press Ninestar, promises to be very interesting. A young nonbinary person called Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, and when their mother goes missing, they have to deal with the consequences. I love Fields’ deft character work from their previous scifi series, so I am excited and delighted about this fantasy novella! 

ROOT MAGIC by Eden Royce
A wild middle grade book appears! I’m psyched to finally find the time to read this very promising middle grade titles by one of my favorite short fiction authors. Royce’s treatment of the south – with nuance, care and justice – is one I find myself constantly gravitating towards, and I absolutely can’t wait to lose myself in this book.

BLACK WATER SISTER by Zen Cho
I love being a Zen Cho fangirl and no, I won’t ever stop. Because Zen Cho writes the fiction I love! Black Water Sister has all the plot elements that I love: ghosts, anti-capitalist feels, and matriarchal family members. I can’t wait to read it! 

AND WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU TONIGHT by Premee Mohamed
And lastly, a final queer novella, this time from the small press Neon Hemlock. Neon Hemlock served some great novellas last year, so I am very excited to see what their Summer Selection 2021 brings, especially this Mohamed one. The story, about sex, crime and money in a future where you can fall to a government cull for a single mistake, promises to be exciting, weird, and totally unexpected.

POSTED BY: Elisabeth R Moore is a writer, birder and grad student living in Germany. When she's not writing strange stories about scary plants, or reviewing short fiction, she can be found crocheting, hiking or biking. She tweets at @willowcabins.

Short Fiction Round Up: June 2021

Finals season is back for German grad school (please don't ask me how our semesters work, I don't understand it either, I'm just suffering at this point) but despite that, I have some excellent recs coming your way! Second-world fantasies dominate our selection this month, though there's a touch of horror and a touch of literary fiction to add some variety. Enjoy!

The Lay of Lilyfinger by GV Anderson (Tor.com)
Anderson’s newest fantasy novelette about a scaled musician, her apprentice, and a complex and culturally fraught song was genuinely the standout in my June reading. Anderson’s deft touch with complex and layered situations is perfect. The humanity that each and every character in this densely populated novelette shows is perfect. Both these elements combine into a very enjoyable meditation on art, colonization, and memory. Highly recommended, especially for people who loved the complicated worldbuilding of RB Lemberg’s Four Profound Weaves. 

All This Darkness by Jennifer Donahue (Apex)
Written in the third person plural, this Donahue story follows an amorphous group of children of coal miners as they slowly get drawn in by the mountain. As someone currently living in Germany’s mining area, it’s unsurprising that this story hooked me in. The plot is creepy, the writing is stunning, and the imagery is haunting. I think about this first line every time I walk by my decommissioned coal mines now: “Nobody ever says we have coal in our veins; they don’t have to.” Chills!

Thirteen of the Secrets in My Purse by Rachel Swirsky (Uncanny)
The skill with which Swirsky weaves this small flash piece together is unmistakable: the lipstick, wallet and keys, the three things first mentioned, begin to affect the narrator: the tension rises quickly, until the end feels like a deeply satisfying relief.   

Hassan the Executioner Walks Out of Jawasar for the Last Time by RK Duncan (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
I love stories that play with structure, and that’s exactly what this second-world fantasy story by Duncan does: it begins at the end. The story opens with powerful sorceress and authoritarian ruler Lamia dying, and tells the story of her closest friend, Hassan, leaving the city. The setting is rich and well-described – the desert city’s newly emancipated criminals as well as its angry and oppressed occupants are happy to turn on Hassan, and as her fends them off with his slowly failing magic powers, Hassan reflects on how much of the city's anger is deserved.  

All The Ophelias In My Flat by N Theodoridou (Silvia Magazine)
Theodoridou’s literary flash piece about dozens of versions of Ophelia coexisting in a single apartment and trying to move forward with their life is heartbreaking, beautifully written, and wonderfully stylistic. Again, I don’t want to say too much about it and dull it’s effects, so all I will say is read it and weep.

POSTED BY: Elisabeth R Moore is a writer, birder and grad student living in Germany. When she's not writing strange stories or cheerful reviews, she can be found crocheting, hiking or biking. She tweets at @willowcabins.

Short Fiction Round Up: May 2021

May was a pivotal month for German seasons; our days stretched long, our cold spring gave way to warmer moments, the swifts returned. I don't think it's a coincedence, then, that all my favorite stories of the month deal with our environments. These stories ask important questions: how we affect our environment, and how does our environment affect us. I loved the thoughtful, nuanced, and messy answers this selection provided. Please, enjoy!

To Hear Them Sing by Rebecca Burton (Fireside)

This story about a young magical practitioner taking her final exam to graduate into magic scholarship is tender, beautiful and well-crafted. The epic world-building on a small scale gives this story an excellent hook, and the language and pacing are excellent. Stories that tackle not how much we affect our environment, but how much our environment affects us always have a special place in my heart, and I highly recommend this one! 

A House Is Not a Home by L. Chan (Clarkesworld) 

Not all environments are natural; Chan’s tiny little flash story is told from the perspective of an automated house whose owner was taken away by the authorities in a technocratic dystopia. Again, Chan manages to render a whole world in the observations of a house; the third line of the story simply states “Most of the coffee sloshes over the jagged edges of the half-shattered mug.” The tone of the house -- factual, but revealing just enough cruel and unnecessary damage to establish an anti-Government façade – is the thing that makes the story. 

The Captain and the Quartermaster by CL Clark (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) 

CL Clark writes the best contemporary military fantasy. This short story takes place in the middle of a revolution; the captain and the quartermaster of an army fall in, and out, of love over the course of a campaign. As always, this short story is precise, with elegantly complex characters and an emotional arc that makes sense, even as it feels tragic. 

Magic Rules Zero to Four by Sue Burke (Daily Science Fiction) 

Clocking in at about 450 words, this flash piece still manages to balance three separate levels: it details five rules of magic, it details the second person narrator’s first interaction with magic, and it details the second person’s narrator’s biggest interaction with magic. I was fascinated at the apparent-ease with which all three elements braided together. 

Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jack Rabbit Five by T Kingfisher (EscapePod) 

T Kingfisher’s newest short story, which is also featured in EscapePod’s Anthology, is about pregnancy, animals, feminism, and space. Like many Kingfisher stories, this story is hilarious, in large part because of how well Kingfisher can juggle a dozen character voices so well. The drama is high-stakes, the ending is happy: this story felt like an amazing episode of All Creatures, Great and Small but in spaaaaaace.

Short Fiction Round Up: March and April 2021

Hello readers! I’m back with a short fiction round up spanning two months, as I was absent in March due to a death in the family. So…please enjoy some short stories that helped me grapple with grief.

Deadlock by Aimee Ogden (Fireside Magazine)
Ogden’s prose is always clear, sharp and laser-focused. It is on display at it’s best in this small 800 word flash piece published in Danny Lore’s amazing issue of Fireside. I actually had to stop myself from adding other stories from this issue here, but I highly encourage you to read them all! It’s such an excellent collection! Now, back to Deadlock: Ogden’s apocalyptic piece about climate change leaves a reader breathless as it balances anger, despair, and resignation. But as always, in true Ogden fashion, it ends with a little glitter of hope.  

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine)
Pinsker’s newest short story is structured to mimic an internet conversation analysing the lyrics of an "old English ballad." Throughout the story, a group of internet users discuss the meaning and origin of the titular "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" ballad. Pinsker crafts horror atmospheres slowly– the creeping sense of dread comes from unspooling a mystery masterfully hidden between the lines of her work, until you reach the end, and feel as if you – and the characters – were always going to end up here. I especially loved the touch of adding small "intra-community" forum discussions as part of the story, as I felt it added depth to this already complex and powerful story. 

Things I Learned Today by Kyle Aisteach (Daily Science Fiction)
Aisteach’s hilarious little flash story about toddlers, Zoom, cats, and dark magic is a perfect story for 2021. It begins with the line "Any toddler who manages to pick up a full gasoline can immediately gains the power to run at the speed of light and to pass through walls simply by turning the gas can upside down," and just gets better from there.

Our Nomadic Forest – J. S. Alexander (Hexagon Magazine)
While the whole Spring issue of Hexagon Magazine is a delight, this story really stood out to me with it's originality. The short story follows a romance between two members of different tribes who live in a forest. The story is set during an important historical moment for both communities, namely a moment in which the (nomadic) forest is moving around the village. The romance -- both between the two lovers, and between the characters and their natural environment -- is beautiful, and gives this story amazing weight. 

So your grandmother is a starship now: a quick guide for the bewildered by Marissa Lingen (nature)
Lingen's flash fiction is genuine, multi-layered, and nuanced, even in only a couple of hundred words. Her celebration of women's agency by challenging our assumptions about -- especially older-- female characters is couched in the style of a perfectly crafted brochure, whose comedic questions such as "Can I stop her from becoming a starship?" receive cutting and clear answers ("no"). 

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POSTED BY: Elisabeth R Moore is a writer, birder and grad student living in Germany. When she's not writing strange stories about scary plants, or reviewing short fiction, she can be found crocheting, hiking or biking. She tweets at @willowcabins.

Short Fiction Round Up: February 2021

February was finals month for me, so I’m sorry to report I still have 49 tabs of short stories open, which I have not read, and thus can’t recommend for you here. Among other things, a new issue of Translunar Travelers Lounge dropped which I’m extremely excited to read cover to cover. But more on that next month. For now, I bring you offerings from Apex, Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com and Fireside Fiction.

Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow (Apex)

An emotional short story in which a Grim Reaper is tasked with reaping a two-year-old child. As the Grim Reaper observes the child, we learn more about his past as a man and a father, and watch as he makes decisions about his future. It’s a classic Harrow story, in that it is deeply evocative, furiously kind, and brilliantly hopeful. I cried three separate times, and I invite you to do the same. 

The Pill by Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)

This dystopian novelette from Meg Elison’s Big Girl short story collection examines a near future in which a Pill magically turns fat people thin – for a price. Elison’s first-person protagonist is the daughter of one of the early adopters of The Pill. Reminding me of Carmen Maria Machado's short story Eight Bites, a thematic element of Elison's story is the way that mothers rejecting themselves can feel to daughters like their mother rejecting them. As the Pill’s toll on her family and on society gets bigger, what does the role of a fat person in society become? 

50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know by Ken Liu (Uncanny)

A 2020 story, but recently featured in the Uncanny Readers Poll, Ken Liu's title captured me immediately, and the story itself did not disappoint. I loved it. The story, which is set up as an obituary for the most renowned AI AI-critic WHEEP-3, explores the complicated relationship between the AI and its creator, Dr. Jody Reynolds Tran. It ends with a “commemoration of the life and work of WHEEP-3,” which is his 50 things every AI working with humans should now. The final line brought me to tears.

#Selfcare by Annalee Newitz (Tor.com)

The thing about being a Newitz fan is that one always has to be prepared to be surprised. The effortless way that Newitz blends her near-future tech-laced settling with the magic and fantasy of fae is tonally perfect. The fae Newitz invokes is weird and creepy, but always happy to bargain. So it’s unsurprising when the fae and the workers band together in an extremely satisfying narrative twist at the end of the story.

Mouth & Marsh, Silver & Song by Sloane Leong (Fireside Fiction)

How can one describe a short story in which the protagonist is a marsh? It’s a marsh with powers, one that can sing prophecies, though only when cut with silver. But then it begins to fight, to search for its own song, to explore its own agency…and meets a woman. This story is stunning, evocative and deeply piercing. 

Now that I look at these five stories together, I do think there’s a powerful theme of identity in the column this month. How do the choices you make now inform what kind of person you will be? How do the protagonists of these stories sit with it? Happy reading!

POSTED BY: Elisabeth R Moore is a writer, birder and grad student living in Germany. When she's not writing strange stories about scary plants, she can be found crocheting, hiking or biking. She tweets at @willowcabins.

Contributor Profile: Elisabeth R. Moore

Today we welcome our second new contributor of 2021, Elisabeth R. Moore! Elisabeth is a short fiction writer. She and her wife live in the Ruhrgebiet in Germany, where Moore is in grad school for English and German literature, with a focus on climate fiction. Her writing deals with the natural world in all its glory, the ghosts we hide from and queer women. She loves to listen to audiobooks while crocheting, wandering the local forests with her dog, and experimenting with sourdough baking. She tweets at @willowcabins and can be found at spacelesbian.zone

 

NAME: Elisabeth R Moore

SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION: I live in Essen, Germany. If you've ever been to Germany and thought to yourself "wow, what a beautiful country," then you've definitely never been in the Ruhrpott. It's the ex-industrial heartland of Germany, so we have mines, rivers, and urban sprawl.  As a result, I like to think my secret undisclosed location is deep within the flooded mines under my city, hanging out with the mermaids, discussing our plans for unionization.

NERD SPECIALIZATION(S): I'm an English Literature grad student, so I'm embarrassed to say my speciality is "thinking about books That Way." Also fiction staring, involving, or even hinting at queer women. 

MY PET PEEVES IN NERD-DOM ARE: Hierarchies! No one is inherently better than anyone else for liking or disliking a piece of media, and yes, I'm including the Star Wars prequels in that statement. Also, the idea that analysis is somehow "ruining" a piece of media. Sorry, it's not!

VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES, ALIENS OR ROBOTS: Wow what breadth! But I think for me the answer is always going to be robots. I'd rather be a cyborg than a goddess!

RIGHT NOW I'M READING: I just finished reading the gothic novel The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey. It's spooky, atmospheric, and gay, so I had a great time.

...AND A COUPLE BOOKS I RECENTLY FINISHED ARE: A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (excellent near future climate change novel) and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (amazing amazing horror).

NEXT TWO ON QUEUE ARE: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (I love birds!!! so much!!!) and The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (I started this series in January and was like ?!?!?!?! how have I been missing this amazing art work so now I'm furiously catching up).

WHEN THE WEATHER SUCKS OUTSIDE I'M MOST LIKELY TO BE... curled up on the sofa with a good audiobook, crocheting. Though as a German, I strongly subscribe to the rule "there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing," so bad weather rarely disrupts my plans.

MY FAVORITE SUPERHERO AND SUPER-VILLAIN ARE: Hero? Huntress. Villain? Poison Ivy. 

IF I WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN, MY POWER WOULD BE: Silencing people. So making their voices disappear? 

THE BEST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Sorry to give the Gay Answer(TM) but Thor: Ragnarok. 

THE WORST COMIC FILM OF THE PAST 5 YEARS IS: Wonder Woman 1984.

I JUST WATCHED Orphan Black AND IT WAS AWESOME: 

I JUST WATCHED Wonder Woman 1984 AND IT WAS TERRIBLE. (Look I paid 23 dollars for the HBOMax streaming service only to watch this movie on Christmas Day so SORRY IT'S GETTING DRAGGED TWICE HERE BUT IT DESERVES IT).

EVERYONE SHOULD SEE Warehouse 13 BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, 

BEST SCIENCE/SPECULATIVE FICTION SHOW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS: Person of Interest, no competition.

NAME A BOOK  YOU *NEED* A MOVIE OF (OR VICE VERSA): Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone. It's the dramatique space opera of my dreams!!!

Short Fiction Round Up: January 2021

Editor's note: Our second new contributor this week is Elisabeth R Moore, a writer who you may know as The Space Lesbian on Twitter and elsewhere! Elisabeth's profile will be landing next week but in the meantime we didn't want to keep you from her first set of short fiction recommendations for us:

Hello and welcome to my column covering short fiction! This month’s selection is inspired by all of the “Best of 2020” lists that December spawned, with me reviewing a story for the April 2020 issue of Clarkesworld, a September 2020 issue of EscapePod and the Autumn 2020 issue of Kaleidotrope. In terms of more recent fiction though, I loved Strange Horizon’s fiction this month - a strong start to the new year!

The Scholar of the Bamboo Flute by Aliette de Bodard (Silk and Steel)

The Scholar of the Bamboo Flute is a typical de Bodard story: the setting is a 19th Century Vietnamese-inspired fantasy school, the main character is a poor scholarship orphan and the love interest is -- it is later revealed -- a fantastical creature. At the heart of this story is a question every duelist must ask themself -- "what will I do to win?" In an elegant and deft twist on the familiar question, de Bodard explores what happens when the answer is "not that." The story builds slowly, but its final scene crashes over the reader like a metaphorical wave. While the romance itself lagged in the first part of the story, it came together beautifully in the end, offering a hopeful ending for both characters.


AirBody by Sameem Siddiqui (Clarkesworld)

In a near future where people can rent bodies remotely, a Karachi resident Meena Khan rents the body of Arsalan, a Washington DC resident. While Meena cooks, Arsalan grapples with his past as a member of Urdu diaspora, which ends up creating a wonderful camaraderie between him and Meena. Soon it becomes clear that this is not the story about one but two outcasts who are grappling with their position within their culture. Meena's and Arsalan’s one day together, inhabiting the same body, allows them to watch each other make the same kinds of mistakes. Both watch the other and think “this is not me,” even while they paradoxically are each other. The story is beautifully rendered, emotional, and a wonderfully sensuous read.


More than Simple Steel by Aimee Ogden (EscapePod)

A story about a pandemic that killed all the adults is a complicated thing to read in a pandemic that’s killing all of our grandparents. And yet Ogden pulls this story off with skill and style. A young boy named Micah lives with thirty other children in an abandoned school. When a newcomer with a baby and a gun shows up and threatens to ruin their home, how do they react? I loved this story; it was beautiful and heart-wrenching. It asked important questions about growing up, bravery, and how to be the person your family can be proud of. I cried at the end.


In The Garden of My Ancestors Statues by Marissa Lingen (Kaleidotrope)

Lingen’s signature style is stories that shine light in unexpected places. The mythical troll, usually the villain in the archetypal European fairy-tale, is rendered here as a tragic hero and an artistic outcast. In achingly simple language, Lingen evokes a fantasy setting in which trolls are being used and abuse by villagers -- hired for their amazing work in masonry, but then forced to work until sunrise so they turn into statues and don’t have to be paid. But the last of the trolls won’t stand for this, and hatches a daring plan. Kind and gentle, Lingen's prose always makes space for the outcast to shine.


Secrets of Kath by Fatima Taqvi (Strange Horizon)

Taqvi’s story about the wife of the village’s rich man, her son, and the local putliwallah is beautifully written. The trope of the storyteller -- in this case the puppeteer with the magic puppets -- who acts as the voice of the voiceless is used effectively and powerfully in this story. The opening paragraphs of the narrative are perfect: with deft and elegant strokes, Taqvi begins the story with the putliwallah entering the village, though the amorphous use of the first person plural implies early that this is a story of the collective, told through one man; not a lone hero’s undertaking. Throughout the story the pronoun play continues; the village’s rich man’s wife tells the story predominantly in the second person, watching her young son in the audience and addressing him repeatedly. And while I don’t want to spoil the ending, let me assure you: it’s perfect.

POSTED BY: Elisabeth R Moore is a writer, birder and grad student living in Germany. When she's not writing strange stories about scary plants, she can be found crocheting, hiking or biking. She tweets at @willowcabins.