After reading Renae Jones' lesbian
space western sci-fi romance HELLCAT'S
BOUNTY, I was craving more f/f SFR. I revisited Cathy Pegau's guest
TGE post In
Search of Lesbian SFR: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly to search for
titles.
The challenge for me is finding
(adult) stories with technology-based settings (i.e., non-fantasy) that also
feature a romance/romance subplot with an upbeat ending. I'd also prefer
non-erotic titles at the moment, since I'm a big plot and action-adventure
loving gal, although an erotic heat level
is fine.
Unfortunately, I'm currently operating
under budget constraints, which means I can't snap up as many books as I'd like
(though I may have to break down and make an exception for Andi Marquette's FRIENDS
IN HIGH PLACES, which seems right up my alley). Maybe I'll get lucky and
score some titles at my local library.
I decided to try out Katherine
V. Forrest's OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN per June
Weiss's recommendation. The story was originally published in the DAUGHTERS
OF DARKNESS anthology (Pam Keesey, Editor). I discovered it's now
available for individual purchase (at least at Amazon US)!
The lowdown: I'd characterize
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN as SF erotica with romantic elements. The writing is lovely and there's enough worldbuilding to anchor the sexual journey plot. The
love scenes are tasteful, stylistic, and non-graphic (YMMV).
The story doesn't follow
romance genre conventions, which is why I'm tagging it as SF; however given the
upbeat ending I believe this story would appeal to SFR fans who also enjoy
romantic SF and erotic SF. There's a kind of romantic twist ending--I'll leave
it at that to avoid spoilers.
I'm also currently making my
way through Steam-Powered
II: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories (Joselle Vanderhooft, Editor). So far,
I've discovered some are romantic steampunk.
Related post: Heather Massey on Lesbian Steampunk (via Babbling About Books, and More!)
If you're on the hunt for
lesbian SFR/romantic SF yourself, here's a list you might want to check out: Lesbians
in Space: A Reading List (via Good Lesbian Books).
Finally, keep an eye out for
K.T. Grant's 2015
Lesbian Fiction Appreciation Event, which kicks off on 1/11/15! I
contributed a post, which is scheduled for 1/23.
January is one of my favorite months in blogging because it’s the annual Lesbian Fiction Appreciation Event (#LFAE) here on Babblings! Started in 2012, the LFAE helps promote all types of Lesbian literature and the authors who write and publish it.
Joyfully yours,
Heather