Decadence as Defiance: The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo
Nghi Vo has outdone herself.
Tag: best of the decade
A Dark and Bloody Incandescence: On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield
I was a third of the way through when I stuck this on my Best of Year list, and having now finished it can I just say: CALLED IT.
Necromantic Perfection: The Halls of the Dead by S. M. Hallow
If Gideon the Ninth had a baby with Kushiel’s Dart that was then raised by Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, this is the book you’d get.
I Have Been Ruined For All Other Literature: MAEJ by Dale Stromberg
Lord of the Rings meets Shakespeare in a matriarchy.
Leave Your Assumptions at the Door: A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde
Whatever you think this is, you’re wrong.
It’s BETTER.
Everything I Want Out of Sci-Fi: Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
Space socialism vs space pirates! Or: rich, thoughtful sci fi I could not put down!
The First Gay Gothic Novel is Still a Revelatory, Revolutionary Read: Gaywyck by Vincent Virga
The first gay Gothic novel says let’s show the straights how it’s done, and proceeds to do so magnificently.
If You Can’t Find Meaning, Make It: Slow Gods by Claire North
This is a book about facing the full, complicated reality of reality, feeling that there is no meaning in any of it–and making meaning anyway.
Incandescently and Extravagantly Weird: The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
Queer rococo bugpunk.
I SAID WHAT I SAID.
Truer Than Myth: The Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee
Featuring a hero who’ll renew your faith in humanity, a distinctly Unimpressed dragon, and horse-magic!