SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi

not specifically, but a good resource is Fantasy Magazine, December 2015: Queers Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue

I frequently read books with LGBTQ characters, but they're usually supporting characters. I am so glad you posed this question! I can't wait to see what everybody else suggests.

This book The Abyss Surrounds Us has a LGBTQ main character. I haven't read it yet, so I can't speak to the quality. It is the first one that came to me because it's at the top of my TBR list. Also Every Heart a Doorway has an asexual character. The Fifth Season (Which is one of my favorite books!) has a polyamorous relationship. It includes relations between the two males as well as the males and the female. But the relationship is not the central focus of the story. It really is beautifully done.

Check out these GR lists (and there are many more):

Gay male main character (fantasy)
LGBT main character (fantasy and scifi)

Or try this list of video recommendations.

I have a shelf to track this!

I haven't read many yet with the main characters being homosexual men, but here are the books I can recommend:

Digital Divide: A really fun, smart but lighter sci-fi book with a lesbian main character.

The Collapsing Empire: a hilarious space opera with a bisexual main character.

Ancillary Justice: This one's sort of a stretch, but gender doesn't exist in the main character's culture, and it makes it clear that anatomical sex has little to nothing to do with relationships. So I counted it as gender fluid/pansexual.

Shadow Unit 1: This one's a bit odd as a bunch of authors work on it, but it has a character who is gay and a heart wrenching story about him and his boyfriend.

Kushiel's Dart has a bunch of gay and bisexual people (basically everyone's bi) but I found it long and gadzooks is there a lot of rape! However it is free on the Tor bookclub right now, so it's a good time to check it out if you haven't, and are interested,

London Falling: I didn't actually like this one very much, but a lot of people did and it does have a gay Black character, and they discuss how both of these things impact his career, which I thought was neat.

I second Kushiel's Dart.

@Allison - was there a lot of rape? I want to say that I really don't remember a lot of it. (view spoiler)[I know when she was in captivity but outside of that? I don't remember any. (hide spoiler)]

MrsJoseph wrote: "I second Kushiel's Dart.

@Allison - was there a lot of rape? I want to say that I really don't remember a lot of it. [spoilers removed]"

It was a lot more than most books I've read that are not about rape,
I'd say. (view spoiler)[The captivity was a hefty chunk, and it started with her being tortured for information, through the Northern slavery, and then is revisited again when she's breaking the siege. There's also a lot of question for some people about whether coerced sex is rapey...she says she gets to choose her patrons, but they're for the keeper of her marque so it gets a liiittle dubious for anyone more sensitive. (hide spoiler)] But it was also handled in a way that I was still able to finish the book, even as someone who IS a bit sensitive to this topic, and did deal with all the implications of the situation so it wasn't the worst take on rape I've ever seen.

I'd recommend looking up and following Liz Bourke's reviews (seen frequently on Tor.com or Locus magazine ) as she also has a particular focus on LGQT themes in the genre.

I thought Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series was super fun.

And I haven't read Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar: Last Herald-Mage books since I was a teenager, but they were HUGE for me then...helped me come out and cope with a hostile climate.

The Thousand Names - fantasy, lesbian MC
The Traitor Baru Cormorant - fantasy, lesbian MC
Ethan of Athos - sci-fi, gay male MC.
Ninefox Gambit - sci-fi, main character is lesbian though the subject doesn't really come up.

The Moon and Beyond
Someday the Stars
Not fantasy, but SF with lesbian MC (same character -- its a series)

Luck in the Shadows and Mélusine. Mélusine does have a violent rape scene, however.

Sarah Anne wrote: "Luck in the Shadows and Mélusine. Mélusine does have a violent rape scene, however."

If you go with Luck in the Shadows, plan to read Stalking Darkness immediately after. It's one of those situations where the author originally conceived of them as a single book, but the publisher split them into two. They're so much fun! Lots of adventure and risk, but I think of the whole series as somehow cozy.

Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, and more recently Tremontaine -- set in the same world, earlier, and featuring several authors along with the ones I've named: alternate-world fantasy that's strong on LGBTQ themes.

Introvert wrote: "anyone know good book with lgbt main character. Preferably gay main character."

Sovereign by R.M. Meluch fits this. It also came out (no pun intended) in 1979, so it was pretty groundbreaking stuff back then. Especially for me, as I was 14 at the time.

The world she's created sits somewhere between Star Wars and Star Trek, and it was published just before Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out, so it is free from too much cinematic influence.

I read a lot of LGBT fantasy, though mostly f/f. I've noticed the m/m ones have a good amount of explicit sex, so if your into that you can check out my "m-m" bookshelf. Most in there are fantasy or paranormal. The Beautiful Monsters series by Jex Lane is really good. There are a few YA series in there as well that are lighter on the sex.

That sounds like romance though. Not fantasy.

I just finished reading Jack of Thorns by Amelia Faulkner. It's the first in a series and it's on instafreebie.

There's a m/m sci fi romance that's amazing. Simply amazing. It's funny, has heart, explosions, hit men and gun fights. But you kinda have to be ok with the romance part.

Bone Rider

The MC is a guy who on the run when he found out his bf was in the mafia. His body gets invaded by a sentient alien armorer system. After watching a Die Hard marathon, it became he and he named himself McClane.

I loved it and wrote a review: http://bookslifewine.com/r-bone-rider/

When the Moon Was Ours has a transgender main character. I really enjoyed that one.

Yes, they are pretty romancy. I haven't found too many that aren't.

You could try The Changers of Chandris series by AC Smyth or Call to Arms by S. Nott. Both have gay leads but much less romance.

MrsJoseph wrote: "There's a m/m sci fi romance that's amazing. Simply amazing. It's funny, has heart, explosions, hit men and gun fights. But you kinda have to be ok with the romance part.

Bone Rider"

Ow, the pun.

Margaret wrote: "Swordspoint.."

Swordspoint is wonderful.

I just finished The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember which is a YA retelling of The Little Mermaid/play on Norse mythology with an f/f central romance. I would second the mention of Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway and the prequel, Down Among the Sticks and Bones if you like YA. If you like short stories, I'd highly recommend Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins, which is a collection of interconnected fairy tale retellings with f/f central relationships.

Introvert wrote: "anyone know good book with lgbt main character. Preferably gay main character."

There's an entire GR group on this.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

The Nightrunner series has bi main characters who end up in a relationship as the story progresses.

A classic Lackey, Last Herald Mage has a gay main character.

Hainted is a good paranormal fantasy.

Lots to list. Check out the group.

Introvert wrote: "anyone know good book with lgbt main character. Preferably gay main character."

Empress of the World This is YA though.