Editorial support for science fiction and fantasy authors.
In celebration of International Non-Binary People’s Day (14 July), this month’s Queer SFF Spotlight features four brilliant SFF novels and novellas with non-binary protagonists.
Let’s jump right in!
Continue reading “Queer SFF Spotlight: 4 books with non-binary protagonists”
Hello and welcome to a brand new series all about gender in science fiction and fantasy worldbuilding!
If you’re working on a novel that includes worldbuilding around gender, I hope this blog post series will give you new ideas and food for thought—on both creative and inclusive fronts.
Each of these posts uses a published book as a springboard for discussion. I’ll talk about things I’d bring up if I were providing sensitivity feedback or worldbuilding consultation on the novel.
Today’s post is all about the gender worldbuilding in A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a solarpunk novella set on a moon called Panga. The protagonist, Sibling Dex (they/them), is a tea monk who travels around remote villages with their wagon, brewing special tea blends and lending a sympathetic ear to people and their everyday troubles.
The world in the book is presented as a utopia, at least from an ecological and anti-capitalist viewpoint. Humankind has moved away from its previously destructive behaviours and has learned to live in harmony with nature. Society is peaceful and centred around compassion and kindness. Everyone lives in comfort and safety.
You could therefore be forgiven for assuming that the gender system in the novel is also utopian. The book’s inclusion of non-binary characters (especially a non-binary protagonist) is fantastic to see. But the wider worldbuilding—or lack thereof—around gender is far from idyllic, and brings along a lot of harmful baggage. That’s what we’ll be unpacking in this post.
In celebration of Agender Pride Day (19 May), I would like to spotlight four brilliant SFF novels and novellas with agender protagonists. (Not sure what agender means?)
A large proportion of agender characters in science fiction and fantasy are robots/AIs, aliens or supernatural beings, which—brilliant though many of them are—I wouldn’t exactly call representation. And out of all the SFF books I’ve read with non-binary characters, I couldn’t think of any that specified that those characters were agender. So I set out to find some agender humans in SFF, and I set myself the challenge of finding books where they take centre stage as the protagonists.
It took a little bit of digging (and one case of complete serendipity), but it was so worth it. The four books below are absolute gems that I would highly recommend to all fans of queer SFF, whether you’re actively seeking out agender rep or not. And, as a bonus, all four of them happen to be uplifting, feel-good stories that I’m sure we can all appreciate right now. So, without further ado, here they are!
Continue reading “Queer SFF Spotlight: 4 books with agender protagonists (human ones!)”