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Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 277 - On the Shelf for January 2024

Saturday, January 6, 2024 - 07:00

Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 277 - On the Shelf for January 2024 - Transcript

(Originally aired 2024/01/06 - listen here)

Welcome to On the Shelf for January 2024. While writing up the script and notes for this episode I kept having to correct the year, so I guess I’m not quite ready for this. What I am ready for is receiving submissions for the 2024 fiction series. If you’re listening to this at any time close to the release date, then you still have most of the month of January to submit a story. Heck, if you’re motivated, you have time to brainstorm, write, revise, and then submit! Since I’m recording this episode late in December, I’m still at the point of worrying about getting enough good submissions. (I always do, but I always worry about it.) Given the timing, I won’t have decisions made and contracts signed in time to announce the acceptances in the February On the Shelf episode, so check the blog for updates.

It is quite possible that this may be the last year I run the fiction series. There are a number of factors I consider each year when I make that yes/no decision: the enthusiasm of the submissions, whether the fiction shows get a good listener response—either in terms of download numbers or in terms of audience feedback. But the factor that will change in 2025 is that I’ll be retiring and will be making a number of decisions about controlling expenses. I don’t expect the show to pay for itself in any meaningful way—it’s a labor of love and I want to keep it that way. But royalties and narrator fees are a big line-item expense that may need to be re-evaluated. That said, I’ve gotten a lot of personal satisfaction out of publishing sapphic historical short stories on the show and encouraging authors in the field in a very concrete way. So a lot will depend on how the books balance on both the monetary and satisfaction scales.

Publications on the Blog

The blog didn’t see any new books or articles in December, even though I read several things that will be written up eventually. My day-job has been really hectic, which means that my allegedly “free” time gets squeezed. (See my previous comment about upcoming retirement. I love my job, but I’m eager to see the end of it.) I did fit in another session of downloading articles from JSTOR at the U.C. Berkeley library, so in theory I have enough material for the next year just from that source. Maybe one of my New Year’s resolutions will be returning to a schedule of at least one publication per week on the blog, rather than the boom-and-bust schedule I’ve managed recently.

If you have favorite topics that you’d love to see prioritized, drop me a note, either in comments on the blog or in social media. I probably have publications on almost any subject you’re interested in! For that matter, if you ever have ideas for a podcast topic, I’ve done a number of shows in the past that were inspired by a listener asking a specific question. I’ve been trying to intersperse the trope shows with other content to keep things varied. I’d love to know what you’d find interesting.

Interviews

I had meant to get caught up with my pending interviews this month (at least, caught up with recording them, but spacing out their release). It didn’t happen. For reasons peculiar to how my brain works, interview scheduling is one of the hardest parts of this job. Don’t despair—there will be interviews. Eventually.

Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction

But let’s move on to what has become the meat of the On the Shelf epiosodes: the new book listings! Things are very clustered in the Regency-to-Victorian era this month, with a scattering of later settings.

We start out with a topic near and dear to my heart: Jane Austen re-tellings. In The Lady's Wager by Olivia Hampton, Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice gets a chance to break out of her shell.

Mary Bennet is in London to try to sell the novels and the conduct book she has secretly written over the last few years. She has to sell them. The threat of being left penniless by her father's death grows larger every single day, and Mary cannot stand the idea of being dependent upon her family. The family who doesn't seem to see her as a real and valuable person. Then she meets Miss Gemma Hart, a former governess with a beautiful face and a gift for music. Not to mention, Gemma has a habit of making Mary's heart sing.

Gemma's got a past filled with painful memories. She's desperate to wager on a horse that's running in a fixed race because if she doesn't get more money, and soon, she may very well be forced into taking another position, something she just cannot do. Mary Bennet, with her big dark eyes and habit of punching men in the nose is not a distraction that Gemma can afford.

As Gemma and Mary move from London to Longbourn they find themselves risking not just their money and reputations, but their hearts. Is love a gamble worth taking? Find out in The Lady's Wager.

Helen's House (School of Enlightenment series) by Maggie Sims is a sapphic spin-off from what looks like a primarily heterosexual spicy Regency series. Based on the cover copy of other books in the series, you may want to expect some BDSM content.

Regina Carlisle has found her forever home at The School of Enlightenment as the stablemistress. She can run the stables, wear men’s trousers, and love who she wants. Despite being surrounded by lovely women, only one woman tempts her—her employer, the headmistress. Too bad about the no-fraternization rule.

The School of Enlightenment is Helen Montague’s passion. As a widow, she focused her time building the school from nothing, but now it is established, she is lonely. When the stablemistress is injured in a fall, Helen steps in to help take care of her, discovering a new desire. Although she’s in charge of enforcing the rules, Helen is now tempted to break them.

Time-travel provides the framework for The Ease of Time by Charlotte Rowan from Spectrum Books.

If Max has learned one thing from life, it’s that nothing happens without a reason. Though the reason why she was transported from 21st century East London to the English countryside in 1813 might be a little difficult to comprehend…

But inexplicably, it’s the reality she finds herself in after an encounter with a mysterious portrait. And so what if she meets a family that makes her feel like she belongs? What if to return to her own time, she has to trust a woman who could be more than she seems at first glance?

It’s not like Max was meant to stay… right?

Jane Walsh’s “Spinsters of Inverley” series from Bold Strokes Books has a third installment in The Secret Duchess.

When the Duke of Stanmere’s will reveals a nasty secret, London Society is shocked—and so is his widow, Joan. Humiliated by the scandal, Joan flees to Inverley in disguise. Surely the quaint seaside town would be the last place anyone would look for a duchess on the run. After her mother’s remarriage, fashionable spinster Miss Maeve Balfour must make a living with hands whose only labor has been arranging her hair into the latest style. With nowhere to turn and nothing to lose, she persuades mysterious newcomer Joan to let her stay in her manor house. Although entranced by worldly and seductive Maeve, Joan doesn’t know if she can trust again. As Maeve learns Joan’s secrets, she yearns to protect her from the men who have sought to destroy her. But can a spinster and a widow dare to defy a dukedom—and win each other’s hearts?

I did something of a mini-round-up of sapphic stories inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre in my episode on gothic stories. Here’s a new entry in the field: Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney from Harper Collins

Jane Eyre has no interest in a husband. Eager to make her own way in the world, she accepts the governess position at Thornfield Hall.

Though her new employer, Edward Rochester, has a charming air—not to mention a handsome face—Jane discovers that his smile can sharpen in an instant. Plagued by Edward’s mercurial mood and the strange wails that echo through the corridors, Jane grows suspicious of the secrets hidden within Thornfield Hall—unaware of the true horrors lurking above her very head.

On the topmost floor, Bertha Mason is trapped in more ways than one. After her whirlwind marriage to Edward turned into a nightmare, he locked her away as revenge for withholding her inheritance. Now his patience grows thin in the face of Bertha’s resilience and Jane’s persistent questions, and both young women are in more danger than they realize.

When their only chance at safety—and perhaps something more—is in each other’s arms, can they find and keep one another safe before Edward’s dark machinations close in around them?

There are a vast number of possible set-ups for sapphic romance in the 19th century and I’m always delighted to see one I haven’t encountered before, which is why I’m definitely looking forward to Don't Want You Like a Best Friend (Mischief & Matchmaking #1) by Emma R. Alban from Avon.

Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be anywhere but here.

Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games. “Let’s get them together,” she says.

It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead. “It’ll be easy” she says.

There’s just…one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other. But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be? Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage. Beth’s not mature enough for this…

Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she’s caught feelings, hard, and they’re definitely not for her potential fiancé. That’s the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.

This next book, Eve of Kilcargin by Susan M. Gaffney, has an interesting back-story discussed in the cover copy. It says “Originally written in rural New Zealand in the early 1950s, it would surely have been a landmark in lesbian fiction if it had ever seen the light of day, but was sadly incomplete at the time of the author’s death. The story of her brief and troubled life, and her only novel’s seventy-year journey to publication reads like a work of fiction in itself, with the manuscript believed lost in a fire until the 1990s, and finally completed in a posthumous collaboration between aunt and grandniece seven decades after its inception.”

It isn’t clear to me whether the credited author is the original writer or the grandniece indicated as having completed the work. I’d also be curious to know more about what aspects are the recent completion and which were original. (Alas, I can’t seem to find the author on social media or I might seek the answers to some of those questions.)

In 1919 Clara Bridewell, a widow of the Great War, receives an invitation to stay with her well-to-do aunt in the Irish countryside, to provide a stabilising influence on her unruly young cousin Eve. Upon arriving, she discovers that the family are destitute, and their sprawling country house is virtually a ruin. Clara soon finds herself embroiled in her aunt’s scheme to marry Eve to a wealthy young aristocrat in order to save the family home. But the romantic feelings she develops for her cousin, and the Irish struggle for independence from Britain, threaten to derail their plans.

 As usual, the two world wars provide gravity wells for stories set in the first half of the 20th century, for reasons explained in the cover copy for Don't Stop Me Now: Forbidden Love in Wartime by Roo Bannister.

Imagine if all the men in Britain suddenly disappeared. Imagine there was no clue as to when they might return. Imagine a world where the women were suddenly called upon to do the jobs that men have dominated for decades if not centuries.

At the outbreak of World War II, that is exactly what happened! the men were gradually all called to war while the women were encouraged to go to the factory gates, the farms, the military - anywhere they could to be of service to their country. Gladly they went, while their men were off fighting, the gals did their part to keep the country going. But what of love? What of romance?

Meet Stella, a boyish young daughter of an Irish couple settled in London. Raised on the streets of London, Stella grew up in fist fights with boys in the neighbourhood, wishing she had been born a boy and feeling out of place in her time and space. At the outbreak of war, her older brother Derek was first in line to sign up for army duty, now she feels she too must serve her country as bravely as her brother. Off to the factory she goes, meeting new friends and finding independence for the first time in her life - a whole new world in war! And then...

In walks Callie, a beautiful red head with almond shaped eyes and a cheeky grin. Stella is instantly speechless, on edge and awkward whenever she encounters Callie at the factory. What on Earth are all these squiggly tummy, burning face, tongue-tied feelings all about? And what is she to do about them? The two women encounter love in the most trying of circumstances, in a world at war with itself - how will this world treat this new love in an era when same sex relationships are still so very taboo? Illegal even. Certainly not what Stella was raised to believe in or consider as a life choice. But....how to resist this angelic, confident and brazenly attractive young woman?

In the first part of their story, Stella and Callie struggle to battle through this new land of confusion and unspoken expectations. With no one to confide in, who do the women find the right path through life in London...and then the Lakes and later still further afield. Will they ever find a moment in time to stand together honestly and truly? Or will their discovery of love, sex and relationship in the midst of global chaos be torn apart by circumstance?

You Stumble, I Fall (Generations of Love #1) by Christine Collins from Painted Hearts Publishing falls into that awkward zone of “is it historical fiction if I was alive then?” But I suppose that’s an unfair standard the older I get.

1961. Summer. At nineteen, Louise is oblivious to her attraction to women and a novice in matters of love. Living in the heart of the English countryside, she loves horses and spends her days looking after a feisty pony that needs schooling. Louise dreams of a career in medicine, but her studies have been put on hold after the sudden death of her father.

Mary, a twenty-year-old visitor to the countryside, is well aware of her own lesbian identity and is fascinated by Lou. Schooled in privilege, Mary has traveled across Europe with her family and pursued her artistic aspirations during two gap years in Florence, Rome, and Paris. However, her family's plans for her clash with Mary’s ambition to become a portrait artist, exacerbated by her father's contempt for homosexuals.

Opportunity, sexual tension, proximity, and the glorious countryside ignites their passion.

Other Books of Interest

One book falls in my “other books of interest” category. At first I thought this was another fantasy-Viking-era story, but the setting seems to be entirely the modern world. It’s the intrusion of ancient Norse gods that gives the historic impression—that and having a historic re-enactor as a protagonist. Check out Kiss of Death by Bryony Rosehurst.

Maeve thought she would have more time...

A seemingly unremarkable woman from the north of England struggling to make ends meet, she attends York’s Viking Festival every year to participate in a battle reenactment. But when she wakes up wounded and bloody in the middle of the empty battlefield, she finds the world to be a much darker place than she realised.

Hel has many names. The Goddess of Death is just one of them. Cast out by Odin, her duty is to take souls back to her kingdom of Helheim, where they can live out their afterlife peacefully. But when she sets out to claim a shield-maiden, it quickly becomes clear that something is wrong. Jorvik has changed drastically since the last time she was here, and Maeve is no ordinary warrior.

As the storm rages, they find themselves unable to get back to the gates of Hel and must question if the universe has other plans for them — plans that might have something to do with the volcanic eruption happening not far from Hel’s home. With the world crumbling and Maeve filled with grief, the strength of Maeve’s unclaimed spirit is dwindling quickly, but their relationship only develops as they battle through tempests and face the Norns, confronted by some harrowing truths and monsters along the way. Will the Fates allow them to reach Helheim in time, or will Hel lose the woman she is quickly falling in love with?

I’ll finish up the new release listings by taking a bit of license in mentioning a new French translation of an existing book. Because, you see, it’s L'Héritière des Secrets the first translated edition of my debut novel Daughter of Mystery. The translator is Anne Bénédicte Damon and it’s published by Homoromance Editions. I’ll include the French-language cover copy in the show transcript. I am totally over the moon to have the book translated and am grateful to Anne for her interest in pursuing this project.

Margerit n'attendait de son parrain, le baron Saveze, qu'un petit héritage, juste de quoi se constituer une dot. Au lieu de cela, le baron lui a laissé la majorité de sa fortune et les services d'une épéiste redoutable, ainsi que la haine de l'homme qui s'attendait à être son héritier. La nouvelle fortune de Margerit lui donne la liberté de réaliser son rêve d'étudier la thaumaturgie dans la ville de Rotenek, pour apprendre les Mystères des Saints. Barbara était fière d'être la duelliste du baron, mais pensait que sa mort la libérerait. Aujourd'hui, son destin est lié à celui de Margerit. Ce qui commence comme un devoir devient bientôt plus dangereux pour son cœur que la pointe d'une épée. Lorsque les études de Margerit les entraînent toutes les deux dans un complot impliquant la succession royale, il faudra un miracle pour les sauver. Heureusement, les miracles sont ce que Margerit est venue apprendre à Rotenek.

What Am I Reading?

And what have I been reading in the past month? Once again, it’s been all audiobooks. First up is Emma Donoghue’s Learned by Heart, a novelization of the schoolgirl romance between Anne Lister and Eliza Raine. As they say, there are no spoilers in history, and the sweet love story spun out in Donoghue’s always-elegant prose is inevitably tragic, with its hints of the story that might have happened.

I continued my collection of K.J. Charles’ gay historical romances with a couple of her earlier titles: Think of England and Wanted, A Gentleman. Both of them involve characters with marginalized ethnicities (Jewish in the first case, and Black in the second case) with a rather harshly unflinching look at the realistic prejudices of the times. Wanted, A Gentleman also has one of Charles’ favorite tropes: an unreliable protagonist—but I’ll leave the specifics alone to avoid spoilers.

I listened to a historic mystery, Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley, as an introduction before reading a spin-off novella that features a sapphic couple in Victorian London. Alas, the premise of the series, with a cook to an upper class family as the amateur detective, was hard to swallow—at least as presented in this story. The protagonist spent so much time running around investigating, it’s impossible that she wouldn’t have been sacked the second day on the job. Other than the spin-off, I’m not likely to continue following the series but I have hopes to enjoy that one when I find time to read in print.

I hope you’ve all been finding books you’ve enjoyed, whether historical or not. I hope to post a blog about some of my favorites from this year. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make the time to get caught up on reviews.

Show Notes

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

  • Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • Other Titles of Interest
  • What I’ve been consuming
  • Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue
  • Think of England by K.J. Charles
  • Wanted, A Gentleman by K.J. Charles
  • Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

Links to Heather Online

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