Approaching the end of LGBTQ+ history month here in the UK, and I thought I would share two SFF titles, if not for historical relevance, for the significance of representation. Sci-fi has often been seen as ahead of the curve in breaking barriers, and across the genres, marginalised voices are coming to the fore.
The Four Profound Weaves; by R.B. Lemberg
The first of the four profound weaves is woven from wind to signify change, invisible threads woven into whispered weaves, spun from a captured wind and revealing hints pf pink and silver desert hues. This type of descriptive narrative flows throughout this magical novella, with tantalising magic woven from the surrounds, almost plain to see but impossible to catch – just like a magic carpet, which was one of the reasons I was drawn to this book.
The story begins with Uiziya, sitting in her goatskin tent waiting for the return of her exiled Aunt Benesret. Her weaves cannot compare to Benesret’s, whose expert fingers could weave even from bones. Uiziya’s lessons of the Four Profound Weaves are unfinished, and still she waits to inherit her aunt’s loom, waiting to learn the weave of death. It’s a weave that involves an actual death. Benesret previously killed Uiziya’s husband for the sake of the weave. It was the reason Benesret was banished, because she killed. Nevertheless, it is a weave Uiziya must learn, since she is destined to become a great weaver of the Four Profound Weaves, one who would bring the gods themselves to her bidding.
Uiziya’s search for Benesret coincides with the Nameless Man’s search for his name. It is three months since the Nameless Man’s transformation at the ceremony of change, but his people, the Khana, don’t recognise transformed people, instead insisting that the shape of one’s body determines one’s fate. Uiziya is also a changer, since after weaving her cloth, the sandbirds came to her.
This is a brooding tale against a colourful backdrop, incorporating thought-provoking contemporary discussion of gender identity and transitioning. The Nameless Man ponders the social impact of his transformation: all his life he had been a lover, trader, and reluctant grandmother who cared for their grandchildren. Now he was a grandfather. But in his culture, grandchildren never saw their grandfathers. It is insight like this that gives real depth to character, narrative and backdrop. Fantasy woven alongside these personal journeys of transformation, reveal the challenges of surrounding microaggressions designed to undermine an identity to uphold another. I loved the simple statement given in one response to tireless questioning of a person’s identity: ‘This is what feels right to me.’
Thought-provoking themes set against an imaginative world called Birdverse, described with magical lyricism that is a feast for the senses, makes for a truly memorable story.
Gideon the Ninth; by Tamsin Muir
Enter the world of lesbian necromancers…
Gideon lives on a remote planet, home to both the stronghold of the House of the Ninth, and a tiny prison used for criminals whose crimes are so repugnant, they cannot be rehabilitated in their own houses. The Ninth House is an enormous hole cracked vertically into the planet’s core, and the prison is a bubble installation set halfway up into the atmosphere. Gideon first arrived when her mother mysteriously appeared, falling down the planetary shaft. Gideon, just one year old at the time, survived the fall. She was chipped, surnamed and put into the nursery. By age five they knew that she was not a necromancer, and by eight that she would never be a nun. By ten they knew she knew too much and could never be allowed to leave. By the time she is eighteen, Gideon has attempted to run away eighty-six times. The alternative would be to die in this dark netherworld, which would only be the beginning.
On the tenth thousand year of the King of the Undying, Prince of Death, Gideon makes another attempt, only to be thwarted by the Lady of the Ninth House, Reverend Daughter Harrowhawk. Harrowhawk has her own plans for Gideon: for Gideon to become cavalier primary of the House of the Ninth. Serving Harrowhawk may not be Gideon’s idea of a good time, but it’s the only way to leave. But what will she be leaving for?
Welcome to an inventive and ghoulish world, where mysterious tendrils lie in wait to ensnare and crush the life out of those still living; a labyrinth of death, bones, panic, quest and mayhem. Disorganised chaos is punctuated with sarcastic, sadistic and mysterious notes that speak to the reader as much to the characters, tempting you to turn the page and delve further into this Alice in Wonderland-esque creepy maze. Magically weird, dark worldbuilding, with lively narrative and well-scripted dialogue brings to life the humanity of necromancers.
What are you reading?
