J.S. Fields

Author & Scientist

Review: Branded Ann by Merry Shannon

Genre: fantasy – historical (lesbians on boats!)

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian

Warnings: Scary Black Man trope, discussion of child rape, some off-page adult rape (not voyeuristic), ethnic slur (Gy*sy)

Review

Violet, former prostitute now merchant-wife, is setting off on the vacation / move of a lifetime with her new husband. They’re headed to Jamaica, where her husband’s land holdings and wealth will make her a queen among the natives (don’t worry, it’s not a colonial narrative) and allow her to leave her past behind.

Barely into their voyage, Violet’s ship is taken by pirates, who are lead by Branded Ann, a “woman with eyes like ice and a face marred by a mysterious cross-shaped scar.” But Ann isn’t after Violet and her husbands possessions, nor is the ship carrying any worthwhile cargo. Ann is after a portion of a map that will help her translate the portion she carries, and allow her to find her father’s hidden treasure.

None of this is of much interest to Violet of course, who gets to watch her crew and husband murdered. Violet makes some key missteps and Ann, who will kill anyone who looks at her but who can’t stand rape, has to take Violet under her protection to save her from the crew (this is all very well done, I have no objections to this scene). Violet has no intention of serving Ann or the crew, except as a scullery maid. Hence she’s left to scrub decks and make friends with the cabin boy–and slowly earns the respect of part of the crew.

As Ann’s scheming takes the crew farther afield, into dangerous waters that could spell disaster for the ship and its crew, Violet and Ann must learn to trust each other as a mole on the ship, other treasure seekers, and Ann’s own crew plot to kill them both. Trust isn’t something that comes easily for the merchant’s wife or the pirate, and the reader gets treated to the very best of the enemies-to-lovers trope, while on the high seas, and surrounded by murderous pirates.

Much like SWORD OF THE GUARDIAN, BRANDED ANN combines the very best fantasy tropes (herein, pirates) with my favorite romance tropes in a skillful, suspenseful, and hot stand-alone book. There’s a real plot that I actually care about. Both Violet and Ann are three-dimensional and have their own motivations. They have unique voices. The crew of the pirate ship are complex and distinct, and act with the moral grayness of, well, real pirates. There’s a reasonable, on-page sex scene and plenty of sexual tension before it, swashbuckling, fun outfits, a misfit kid, and a pirate with a heart of gold. Seriously, what isn’t to love in this book??

Unfortunately, like SWORD OF THE GUARDIAN, this book does have some tired racist tropes, primarly in the form of Black descriptions:

Then there was Mason, a giant of a man with skin so black it shone like polished ebony when he sweat in the sun. Rumor had it that Mason had originally been captured from Africa by pirate slave ships, and the captain had been so impressed–or perhaps intimidated–by the enormous man that he’d recruited him.

For those playing their TV Tropes bingo card at home, Mason hits the Scary Black Man trope, specifically Token Minority, Proud Warrior Race, and Gentle Giant.

The book is surprisingly realistic in how it portrays the brutality of pirate lives, though it does so without glorifying violence or giving us voyeuristic rape scenes. It’s a fine line not many authors can walk, and Shannon does it with grace. Be warned, however, that there is rape of Violet, though it is off page and no actual portion of the rape is discussed other than Violet’s frustration over the encounter.

Somewhat more concerning is one of the pirate crew propositioning the ten-ish-year old girl who ends up stowing away on the pirate ship, who Violet takes under her wing. Again, it’s just a proposition and nothing happens, but it does serve to really enforce the real brutality pirate life, and the very complex morals of Branded Ann’s crew:

Saunders reached out and took hold of Charlie’s arm. “Aw now, Sister, that bunk of yours is awful tiny, ain’t it? Maybe this little one ought to share berth with me.” The lecherous gleam in his eyes made Violet sick to her stomach. “What do you say, moppet, you want to come sleep next to your Uncle Saunders?”

There’s also a concerning passage from Violet’s past about a Gy*sy woman who is paid to give her an abortion, and the effects of said potion. So, racial slur and problematic context, in a one-page backstory.

Racial and rape issues aside, BRANDED ANN is decidedly well-written and walks the perfect balance between romance and adventure. With a publication date of 2008, some of the issues are more forgivable (rape, in particular, seemed to be almost required in fantasy books from the 1980s-about 2010) than others (at no point has the slur Gy*py been okay unless you’re Roma). Readers will need to decide if they can put the racism aside for an otherwise delectable adventure.

Grab a cutlass and join Branded Ann’s pirate crew here.

Review: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Genre: science fiction: space opera / military sci fi mix

Pairings: f/f, f/m

Queer Representation: cis bisexual

Warnings: none

Review

~

I would like to tell you I knew what I was going to do, before that. But I had not seen the true measure of the destruction that the corporations were willing to wreak to consolidate their power.

I wanted to be brave. To be a hero. To carry out orders like a paladin would. I did those things even knowing what the outcome was going to be. I wanted so badly to be the good guy.

But it truly was not until that moment, after I had destroyed everything still good in this world, that I realized I wasn’t a hero…I was just another villain for the empire.

~

Who needs FTL drives when you can just become light? Humans have gone and destroyed Earth (of course) and a handful of mega corporations control the remaining population. Citizenship must be earned, so the poor remain poor unless they earn citizenship, usually through military service to their corporation. Early colonization of Mars went horribly wrong, and now the Martians have returned, and are threatening the tenuous corporate control of Earth.

Dietz is a fresh new recruit in the battle against Mars. Her ‘drops’ don’t take her to new places so much as new times, and she quickly finds herself seeing the war in different locations, with different squads, and across different parts of her own (somewhat fluid) timeline. The book focuses on her emotional journey of understanding, from complete devotion to her corporation (driven by extreme poverty and no other options), to discovering the truth of Mars, to taking control of her drops and movement in time, to saving humanity.

Out of all of Hurley’s books, THE LIGHT BRIGADE is probably the easiest to follow despite the time travel. With only one POV character (and first person!) the narrative is fairly easy to follow. Dietz is a surly character, but the political climate of the book closely mirrors the current situation in the real world, making it very easy to empathize with her views.

“They aren’t our people,” Andria said, but her heart wasn’t in it. “Most are paid protestors. We’re doing a job, just like they are. They were told to disperse or face force. They know what’s coming.”

“They aren’t even armed,” Omalas said.

“Some may be,” Andria said.

 

In Hurley fashion, Dietz has a primary interest in women, though she does hook up with a man as well during the course of the book (also in Hurley fashion, genders outside the binary are completely absent). She mostly moves through the book alone, watching most of her friends and colleagues die gruesome deaths from drop accidents, artillery, etc.

The strength of the book is really in Dietz’s journey to understanding the ‘sides’ of the war, and who is really fighting whom.

I wanted to punch him. Scream at him. Because in that moment I had no idea who “us” was.

“I’m here to fight the bad guys,” I said.

“Then you’re with us,” he said, and marched me to the cafeteria with the others.

 

And of course, there are some great one-liners:
“You know you’ll have to fight the aliens,” I said, before Frankie could get a word out, “not just fuck them.”

 

Muñoz perked up. “You have a girlfriend, Dietz?”

“Not anymore.”

“Does she know that?” Muñoz said.

 

THE LIGHT BRIGADE is pretty quintessential space opera/military sci fi. Much stronger on the political messaging than other Hurley books, this one is also a lot easier to follow. Good solid sci fi, though heavy handed enough in places that it likely won’t be a reread classic.

You can try your own drop and see if you can join the Light Brigade here.

 

 

Review: Lucky 7 by Rae D Magdon

Genre: science fiction: dystopian

Pairings: f/f (could also be classed as f/nonbinary, the character in question hasn’t quite decided)

Queer Representation: cis bisexual, asexuality, trans, nonbinary

Warnings: none

Review

There’s nothing in the world as good as making a beautiful girl come.

Jacker Elena is on the run from AxysGen after the death of her crew during some ‘illegal’ activity.

Handler Sasha, an operative team leader, just lost her jacker and the rest of her crew in a botched operation. She can’t find a crew without a new jacker, and Elena needs a place to hide, STAT. AxysGen has a hit out on Sasha, too. If any of them are going to survive, they need to be deleted from AxysGen’s databases. And they can’t do that without a jacker. Or Sasha’s crew.

Elena and Sasha must work together to find Sasha’s crew and prevent AxysGen from finding Elena. The deeper they get into the the virtual world, however, the more layers of AxysGen peel away and the more Sasha’s past, including her ex-girlfriend, come back to haunt them.

LUCKY 7 is a fast paced dystopian sci-fi novel that starts with action on page one and does not let up. Unfortunately the action comes at the steep cost of stakes and character buy-in, and the first third of the book is entirely skimmable. The gems of attraction between Sasha and Elena are well done, but do little to progress the narrative forward. Elena’s character is poorly developed, as is her motivation, and Sasha’s ice queen attitude leaves her functionally emotionless.

The book takes a hard right turn at the one third point, with a steamy shower sex scene that breaks through our ice queen’s exterior and gives the reader some much needed emotional interplay. There’s consensual power play here, too, and it is hot as fuck. The book is worth buying for the sex scenes alone (there are three!).

But something in me wants to fight. To push back against her dominance, to show her I’m not just some warm body she can bruise because she hates me. I need her to fuck me, but she doesn’t get to unless I fuck her back.

~~

Somehow, I know I’ll never tire of bringing her over the edge. “Come for me,” I growl into the dip of her collarbone, close enough for her to feel my lips on her skin. “I want you to come for me.”

Halfway through the book changes POVs from Elena to Sasha, and it is at this point that the narrative takes off. Sasha’s POV is rich and complex, and the reader cannot help but be fascinated as she learns about her forgotten past, her relationship with her ex, Megan, and the secrets behind the ship’s AI. With an emotional hook, the storyline and plot pack a punch. The stakes raise, the crew becomes more three-dimensional. You care about Sasha. You root for Sasha. Sasha is the ideal unreliable narrator.

The A plot, of Elena running from the evil corporation, takes a quick backseat to the B plot of Sasha’s origins and the motivations of Megan. The B plot is by far the stronger of the two. Megan is the perfect villain–delightfully self absorbed with just enough humanity to make her relatable. The clone situation is excellent, the AI a delight, and Sasha, again, steals the show.

Another bonus: the representation in the book is phenomenal. Elena is Mexican (with brown skin), Sasha is black, and the richness of Elena’s background comes through in so many fantastic phrases and snippets of history. There is no white default in this book-white people are described via skin tone upon first introduction as much as the numerous people of color.

“If anyone tries to speak to you, let me do the talking,” Rami mutters from the corner of their mouth. “Just give them a white people smile.”

“The close-lipped ‘I acknowledged you, now please go away’ gringo smile?”

“Exactly.”

The trans rep, in particular, really struck a chord with me. One of the crew is trans, but it is the exploration of Sasha’s gender identity that was the most compelling. It is rare to see a true exploration of the nonbinary experience in queer fiction. So much is either a nonbinary person just being a person and having adventures, or being a side character. Sasha’s explanation of her gender, and Elena’s intuitive understanding, cemented their relationship as one of the best I’ve read in lesbian fiction. In a culture where the butch identity was long used as a dumping ground for both gender and gender identity, having one branch explored at length, and with deep sensitivity, was absolutely amazing.

I know from her smile that she’s joking, but my confidence falters. I know what Elena wants, but I’m not sure I’ll be ante to give it to her. I’ve got baggage around sex, around trust, around my body, and although I feel good in my skin tonight, I can’t guarantee she’ll get the results she wants, no matter how hard she tries.

~~

My face heats up. I’ve tried thinking about it that way sometimes, more often before I bought my first prosthetic. Once in a while, it works. Usually it doesn’t. There are aspects of womanhood I still connect and identify with, but my parents aren’t one of them. And even thought I know all too well that body parts don’t make a woman, being touched that way feels…vulnerable. In a good way, on some occasions, but more often in a not-good way.

~~

Once my hands are dry, I consider what to do about my swimsuit. The decision to pull down my trunks is an easy one, but my top is more difficult. It bares my midriff, but keeps my chest fairly flat. The look of hunger that takes over Elena’s face is enough to tempt me out of it. Her dark eyes have zeroed in as I pull it off, and her tongue leaves a glistening line on her lips as she wets them. I’m naked, but thanks to her admiration, I don’t feel overexposed.

~~

It’s a feeling of freedom, of knowing I can fly without the fear of falling. It has everything to do with the face that it’s Elena between my legs.

She’s memorized more of me in a few weeks than other people have bothered to learn in years, and I actually feel comfortable enough to teach her. It’s different. Powerful. A little scary. Bit it’s also all kinds of good, and I know I’d be a fool to give it up. I’m not even sure I can.

You can find your own curvy hacker in paperback here and ebook here. Consider supporting an independent bookstore by buying it here.

 

Double bonus: this scene

“You blew up the front door,” Rami yells back, taking the steps two at a time.

“Because I love you,” Cherry hollers. “Even though you left me in Brazil!”

“How do you run so fast in heels?” I gasp as I stagger down the front steps. I don’t know how Sasha finds all these magical bitches who can run ops in perfect makeup and designer shoes, but if I wasn’t terrified of dying, I’d be jealous.

 

And the best description of this particular flavor of bisexuality to date:

“Not my type, kid. I like pretty boys with long eyelashes and girls who look like they could step on my windpipe with their jackboot and make me thank them for it.”

Review: Crier’s War by Nina Varela

Genre: fantasy: dark  (YA)

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian (potentially bi or pan, not explicitly stated)

Warnings: some potentially problematic interpretations of asexuality and aromanticism

Review

Once upon a time there was a queen so desperate for a child that she had one Made. As with all things involving royalty, Made people became all the rage, and soon the continent was filled with Automae.

Like any good sci fi tale, the Automae were treated as servants/pets and of course, rebelled. Automae won the war and now rule over humankind, occupying the latter’s former palaces and social structures.

Enter Ayla. Orphaned by Automae slaughter (including her twin brother…maybe), her only goal in life is to bring down the Made and cut off their source of power–a special mineral that must be mined from specific source. More immediately, she can best hurt the Made by killing Princess Crier, and very early on in the book she is conveniently hired as the princess’ handmaiden.

Of course, feelings get felt. Ayla’s never had much interest in romance (only REVENGE) and Crier is an automae (who are canon asexual and aromantic… in theory). Turns out that Crier may have the Flaw of Passion inside her, which her fiancé’, Kinok, has no problem holding against her.

While Crier struggles to identify friends and enemies at court and understand her (lack of) place in the monarchy, Alya’s narrow view of the Made is threatened by Crier’s attempts at friendship. A human rebellion is also brewing, and Crier and Ayla must decide which side they are on before the truth about Ayla’s past is revealed and the balance of power is forever changed.

CRIER’S WAR is an f/f enemies to ‘lovers’ tale, and very much a setup book for a longer series. The worldbuilding is fun if not a little generic, and the pacing distinctly YA in that an inordinate amount of time is spent mentally rehashing events and feeling feelings, which drags down the pacing. For a YA book, the pacing moves at a strong clip. For an adult book (which it isn’t, so it shouldn’t be judged as such) it is slow.

The two POVs, Ayla and Crier, are distinct and easy to empathize with. Crier has many android stereotypes, including lack of sexuality/passion, problems with emotion, super strength, etc. Ayla is all hot-blooded passion, most directed at the kill side of things (yay! stabby lesbians!). They’re a natural pairing, and Varela does a nice job of slowly ramping up the tension between the two and then backing it down with real problems, such as, how do you kiss a girl whose family killed yours?

The worldbuilding takes an interesting look at the Automae and humanity. While recent fiction has driven stories of androids wanting to improve upon human tech and dwellings and such (and certainly never retaining human rituals), CRIER’S WAR shows the POV of androids who actually embrace and retain all the silly little bits of human culture, like marriage and birthdays. It’s a very strong showcase of the book’s central theme, that the Automae, despite being Made, are human.

The only real issue in the book comes from how it interprets what makes us ‘human.’ Crier believes for a good part of the book that she is Flawed with Passion. This ‘allows’ her to fall in love with Ayla and become, as the book presents it, more human. The Automae are described, functionally, as Data from Star Trek, complete with ‘going crazy if your emotions go into overdrive’ trope. They’re beautiful, but heartless.

A few have bucked that stereotype and are presented as more compassionate and more human–by taking lovers. Crier is also presented in a similar light, where it is her love for Ayla and budding sexuality that turn her away from the ways of her android people and help her better understand humanity, and empathy. And, yes this sort of development is a fairly common trope in sci fi and fantasy, it still comes at the expense of an often trampled part of the queer spectrum. Sex, attraction, desire, romance, these aren’t things that make us human. For many they are an important part of self, but for others they aren’t. Asexual and aromantic people are still human. They don’t need to fall in love to have empathy, much as atheists don’t need to find religion to be good people.

Representation gripes aside, CRIER’S WAR is exceptionally well written, with an almost lyrical prose reminiscent of THE TIGER’S DAUGHTER (which was not without its own representation issues as well). The book does not stand alone, in that no plot arcs are resolved and the reader must continue to the next book to continue the narrative, but the character development is well worth it.

The cover is gorgeous, and well worth having in hardback for the embossing and delicate bronze imagery. The plot is complex enough that teens would likely be deeply engrossed (It’s not a trope if its your first exposure to it!), and the tandem coming-of-age stories of Ayla and Crier should resonate with many younger readers.

It’s not a book I would have on my own bookshelf, but it’s one I would hold for my kid, for sure.

You can mine some Iron Heart and make your own android in paperback here, ebook here, and audiobook here.

 

 

Review: Velveteen vs. The Multiverse by Seanan McGuire

This is a review for the second book in a series. To read the review for book one, VELVETEEN VS. THE JUNIOR SUPER PATRIOTS, click here. To read the review for book there, click here.

Genre: science fiction: superhero

Pairings: f/m, f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, trans woman

Warnings: none

Review

Velveteen is back! 

Settled now in Portland, Oregon, as the resident crime fighter, Velveteen almost has her life together. She has a cute superhero boyfriend, a new superhero friend, and a host of low-level villains to fight.

It all goes horribly awry, of course, when Vel wakes up in bed with Action Dude, her childhood crush. In bed. Married. And officially part of the Super Patriots, Inc.

Thus begins Vel’s journey through the multiverse. As with any good superhero story, long-hidden truths get revealed and Vel attempts to right old wrongs (she is a superhero, after all) and bring down the Super Patriots, Inc., once and for all.

Nothing comes without a cost, however. When one evil falls, another rises, and the destruction of the Super Patriots comes with an unimaginably high price tag.

VELVETEEN VS. THE MULTIVERSE is the strongest installment in the Velveteen trilogy. It is also the installment where we spend the most time with Sparkle Brite aka Polychrome, and see part of her romance with Victory Anna (a steampunk refugee from an Earth that never really existed, but who really has the hots for Yelena).

“Torrey’s very tea-oriented,” said Yelena, as she walked Vel toward the kitchen. “She’s from an alternate Victorian England that ceased to exist in a freak accident involving a time machine and a blackcurrant trifle. After spending a few years stranded in parallels without other people, she got very focused on the important things in life.”

Like tea,” said Vel.

“Tea, and shooting people who bother my girlfriend,” said Torrey, walking over with a tray.

It’s also the installment where we learn the full breadth of Vel’s powers and the extent to which the Super Patriots went to hide Vel’s potential from her. It’s a story with an amazing number of twists and turns, filled with robust characters, history, and so, so much comic book lore. Santa remains as concerningly creepy/loving as ever, Princess continues to enchant with her rodents that sew clothes and enchanted mirrors and be the best trans rep: “My name is Carrabelle Miller,” said Princess. “If you want to know what my parents called me, then you’re looking for Scott Miller. But that’s never been my name.”, Yelena’s character development turns her into my hands down favorite character, and Victory Anna is an absolute delight as an additional character who can turn anything into an explosive weapon. Anything.

There’s a final battle that feels satisfying, but opens more doors than it closes. There are promises made that hurt more than they heal, and tragic romances (no gays are harmed). Most questions are answered but in doing so, we lose the structure of our world. Was it worth the cost? We won’t find out until book three: VELVETEEN VS. THE SEASONS.

You can join Vel and her misfit superhero league in paperback here and on audiobook here. 

P.S. This is the volume where McGuire finally has Vel use My Little Ponies in battle. This is the book of my soul.

A herd of brightly-colored plastic horses came stampeding out of the alley, each carrying one or more toy soldiers on its back. Rainbow manes whipping in the wind, they circled the woman in black, and the soldiers opened fire.

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