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Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 269 - On the Shelf for October 2023

Saturday, October 7, 2023 - 18:55

Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 269 - On the Shelf for October 2023 - Transcript

(Originally aired 2023/10/07 - listen here)

Welcome to On the Shelf for October 2023.

Publications on the Blog

Looks like I’ve gotten out of my blogging slump, thanks to doing preparation for last month’s gothic podcast. I didn’t manage to get my hands on everything that looked promisingly gothic—and some of what I read wasn’t particularly useful for me—but as my costumer friends say, “Done is Beautiful,” and I got that episode done.

The publications I blogged for it were:

  • Paulina Palmer’s promisingly-titled Lesbian Gothic: Transgressive Fictions, which focused in part on contemporary lesbian gothic novels, though “contemporary” was as of the 1999 date of publication.
  • Christopher Yiannitsaros’s article “’I’m scared to death she’ll kill me: Devoted Ladies, feminine monstrosity, and the (lesbian) Gothic Romance” in The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies which I have to confess was not particularly pertinent to my purpose.
  • Sarah Parker’s article “’The Darkness is the Closet in Which Your Lover Roosts Her Heart’: Lesbians, Desire and the Gothic Genre” in Journal of International Women’s Studies, which focused on two specific 20th century titles.
  • And the gothic chapter in The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature, from which I’m now blogging the other chapters.

I’m not exactly on a regular blog schedule, but as you can tell from that list, I’m managing an average of more than an article per week, so let’s try to continue that. My returning energy also drove me to return to the U.C. Berkeley library for the first time since Covid, to renew my alumni library card and pull a dozen or so articles from my priority list.

Another place I got a lead on a paper is the relatively new social media site Bluesky, which I recently got an invitation to. Since I’m still settling in to the rhythms of Mastodon, I’d had some qualms about branching out into yet another venue—particularly one that has the same potential as Twitter to have a greedy and irrational CEO pull the rug out from under everyone. But the chatter suggested that Bluesky was where much of my previous book and research related social media community was reconstructing itself. And I have to say that in terms of sharing information and making chance connections, it’s already proving to be a more Twitter-like experience than Mastodon. That is, of course, part of the point: Mastodon isn’t intended to be like Twitter as a deliberate strategy. But there are aspects I miss that Bluesky is promising to give me again. (For what it’s worth, I haven’t actually deleted my Twitter accounts, but mostly I’m just posting Project promotional tweets for those who still follow me there.)

News of the Field

There’s an interesting online event coming up fast, but those who listen to the podcast promptly have time to look into it. This is a weekend online conference about Anne Lister. The Anne Lister Research Summit has presentations in a variety of formats covering a range from scholarly research to pop culture reception. It’s being held in two all-day sessions on October 14 and 15, in a time-frame that is a reasonable compromise for folks in the western hemisphere. (Here in California, the sessions run from 5:30 AM to mid-afternoon, while in Europe the hours are more from mid-day to evening.) Registration is free but you must register online to attend the Zoom sessions. See the show notes for a link.

Misc Notes

I wasn’t organized enough to have any interviews this month, though I have several leads in progress, including some very interesting non-book projects. And there are no new book purchases to tell you about this month either. Sometimes it’s feast; sometimes it’s famine.

This is your regular reminder that we’ll be running a fiction series again next year, with submissions open in January. By now, I assume you know the drill: tell all your author friends, polish up your own stories, and read the submission guidelines on the website to make sure your work has the best chance. Those who pay attention to the calendar might have noticed that we should have had a fiction episode last week, as September had 5 Saturdays. I had to reschedule due to narrator availability, but that episode will be coming out later this month.

Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction

When preparing the new releases segment for this podcast, I was relieved to find that some of the broken aspects of Amazon’s search feature have gotten a little better. A request to see only books after a certain publication date seems to be working again, as is a request to order the results by publication date. But there are still some funky things going on with keyword searches.

For example, when I asked for books with the keywords “lesbian” and “historic”, Amazon claimed that there were only two titles—but if I added the requirement that the keywords include “romance” then they promised me 400 titles! That…isn’t how adding keywords works? In any event, when I added “romance” to the filter, the result was actually only another dozen titles, not the 400 I’d been promised.

Interestingly, I was getting much better success by using “sapphic” plus “historic”. For quite some time, there have been a few books that turned up under both “sapphic” and “lesbian” and a very few that only show under “sapphic”, while searching on “lesbian” was where the most titles turned up (including a great many in other queer categories that seem to have thrown every queer keyword into the mix, whether it applied to that book or not).

While it’s interesting that authors seem to be adding “sapphic” as a keyword more these days, I’m a bit suspicious of concluding that they’re dropping the use of “lesbian”. Knowing Amazon’s past bad behavior around disappearing queer books, I wonder if searches on the word “lesbian” are being suppressed, or if books with that keyword are being excluded from search functions. This is your regular reminder that Amazon is not an ally of the queer book community. You should always have other ways of promoting your books and finding books to read. And for historical fiction, please keep in mind that the most certain way to let people know about your lesbian and sapphic historical novels is to drop me a note directly.

And with that, what are the new and recent releases that I know about?

Edale Lane has a third volume in the Tales from Norvegr series: War and Solace from Past and Prologue Press. This is a Viking-ish fantasy series involving warrior women.

A battle-hardened shieldmaiden. A pacifist healer. Can the two find love amid the chaos of war? Tyrdis is a stalwart warrior raised to value honor, courage, and military prowess. When a traumatic injury renders the powerful protector helpless, she depends on the lovely, tender-hearted Adelle to restore her from the brink of death. Is it merely gratitude or true love that draws Tyrdis to the healer?

Defying cultural norms, Adelle despises violence and those who propagate it, but when her shieldmaiden patient saves the life of her beloved little girl, she must reexamine her values. Could Tyrdis be more than a stiff, efficient killer with an amazing body?

In a kingdom steeped in conflict with their neighbors and internal strife, shocking secrets are revealed, and both women strive to ensure justice prevails. Can they overcome their differences to safeguard their friends, end the war, and fall in love, or will fate prove to be a cruel sovereign?

Coming more from the literary fiction side, we have Cities of Women by Kathleen B. Jones from Keylight Books. Although it isn’t entirely obvious from the cover copy, this dual timeline story has a sapphic romance in the contemporary storyline.

Verity Frazier, a disillusioned professor of history, risks her career when she sets out to prove that the artist responsible for the illuminations in the medieval manuscripts of Christine de Pizan was a remarkable woman named Anastasia. As Anastasia’s story unfolds against the richly evoked 15th century backdrop of moral disaster and political intrigue, yet extraordinary creativity, Verity finds little evidence of the artist’s existence, while discovering the missing pieces to make her own life whole.

Pirate stories continue to be all the rage and we have two this month. First up is a historic fantasy, Let the Waters Roar by Geonn Cannon from Supposed Crimes.

Legend tells of a witch who can grant your every desire ... for a price. Your soul, taken upon your death and stored in a stone. Harriet Landau made the deal. Now the stone containing her soul has been discovered. Her widow, Clio Landau, current captain of the Banshee, has the chance to be reunited with the woman she loves. But they aren't the only ones who have discovered the witch's secrets. If Clio can't stop a vicious captain's reign of terror, Harriet's resurrection may be very short-lived... and this time the Banshee's crew may be joining her.

And just to confuse matters, the second pirate-themed book from Carolyn Elizabeth from Bella Books also involves women pirates in a ship named the Banshee: The Heart of the Banshee. It doesn’t look like this series has a series title yet, but the previous book was The Raven and the Banshee.

In an effort to put her vengeful past behind her, Captain Branna Kelly charts a new course with the help of the Banshee’s newest officer, Julia Farrow. Her first mission on the path to redemption is to restore order at a neighboring port. Julia’s new fighting skills are put to the test when they go up against the deadly Ferryman and her cutthroat captain, Isaac Shaw. She more than holds her own, both with and without a blade, and Branna is torn between supporting and protecting her. Even during occasions of relative safety, Branna and Julia discover the greatest peril may not be to their lives, but to their love. When faces from Branna’s past come back to haunt them and Julia seeks moments of peace in another’s company, suspicion and mistrust become a blade to the heart.

After delving into the gothic genre, Marianne Ratcliffe now has a Regency romance for us: A Lady to Treasure from Bellows Press. The plot is a bit reminiscent of classic Victorian-era American-heiress-goes-to-England plots, as in Edith Wharton’s novel The Buccaneers. But this time the twist is that the heiress is looking for a husband with money rather than a title.

Louisa Silverton is the daughter of a wealthy American businessman, brought up to believe a healthy profit is the only route to happiness. With the family company over-leveraged and in need of a capital injection, she travels to England to find a rich husband.

The Honourable Miss Sarah Davenport has no time for romance. The family estate of Kenilborough is mired in debt and only she can save it. Unconventional and outspoken, Sarah is dismayed that somebody as intelligent and attractive as Louisa is willing to sacrifice herself for financial gain.

As Louisa pursues her campaign, Sarah realises her objections to the project run deeper than mere principles. At the same time, Louisa finds herself captivated by Sarah’s independent spirit. Yet to indulge their unexpected passion would surely mean the ruin of both their families. Bound by duty, will they ever be free to follow their hearts?

Mary Shelley lived such a complex and varied life that it’s no wonder that she gets fictionalized regularly. In Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein, by Anne Eekhout from HarperVia, a friendship of her youth is portrayed as a romance.

Switzerland, 1816. A volcanic eruption in Indonesia envelopes the whole of Europe in ash and cloud. Amid this “year without a summer,” eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley arrive at Lake Geneva to visit Lord Byron and his companion John Polidori. Anguished by the recent loss of her child, Mary spends her days in strife. But come nightfall, the friends while away rainy wine-soaked evenings gathered around the fireplace, exchanging stories. One famous evening, Byron issues a challenge to write the best ghost story. Contemplating what to write, Mary recalls another summer, when she was fourteen…

Scotland, 1812. A guest of the Baxter family, Mary arrives in Dundee, befriending young Isabella Baxter. The girls soon spend hours together wandering through fields and forests, concocting tales about mythical Scottish creatures, ghosts and monsters roaming the lowlands. As their bond deepens, Mary and Isabella’s feelings for each other intensify. But someone has been watching them—the charismatic and vaguely sinister Mr. Booth, Isabella's older brother-in-law, who may not be as benevolent as he purports to be…

Western Blue by Suzie Clarke from Bold Strokes Books sounds like a rather violently traumatic Western romance, so we’ll hope for a solidly happy ending for the characters.

In 1868, Caroline Bluebonnet Hutching is forced to leave her Texas home and make a new life in Nevada. But the townsmen are against her, and she can’t get the help she needs. Undaunted, she advertises for female workers, only to find that each woman who answers her ad is as desperate as she is. And she’s entirely unprepared for the one who steals her heart.

When raiders attack Isabel Segura’s horse ranch and slaughter her family, she’s left with nothing—no home, no future, no hope. When she sees Blue’s ad, a new dream sparks to life. Determined to begin again, she sets out on a journey she never could have imagined. Heroism, loyalty, friendship, and love. The odds are against this unlikely group—but never underestimate women who have nothing to lose.

The age of suffragettes, in the years just before World War I, is the setting for a historical mystery by Sarah Bell, Deeds and Words (Louisa & Ada #2).

June 1913 Leeds, England. When a man is shot dead in an alleyway and a suffragette arrested for the crime, Louisa Knight and Ada Chapman are once more pulled into a case that hits too close to home. It’s not long before they're mired in both the investigation and their local branch of the WSPU. Amongst the suffragettes, they'll find dedicated women fighting to secure the vote through whatever means necessary, but also missing money, blackmail threats, and an unexpected familial connection. As questions arise and doubts surface, they not only have to face a difficult investigation, but a reckoning with their part in the suffrage movement.

Lovesick Blossoms by Julia Watts from Three Rooms Press tackles romance within a “beard” marriage of convenience in a ‘50s college town between two queer people. The cover copy took a little untangling in my head because the woman in the fake marriage is named Samuel and the man has a non-gendered nickname. I’m often bewildered by the percentage of fictional lesbians who have traditionally male names.

In 1953 Collinsville, Kentucky, a small college town, colleagues and neighbors of Samuel and Boots are more than willing to accept their married status, even though their official relationship is one of convenience that will never be consummated. Boots, an English professor at Millwood College for Women, has long had clandestine affairs with muscular men, while Samuel dodges questions about her disinterest in motherhood. But when Samuel meets a new professor’s wife, Frances, at a faculty party, she soon falls in love, and learns the difficulty of discretion in a town that doesn’t accept the idea of two women sleeping together.

Other Books of Interest

In the “other books of interest” category, we’ll start with Menewood (The Light of the World #2) by Nicola Griffith from MCD. This title falls in “other interest” because the queer content in the prior book, Hild, was fairly minimal and I don’t know how much there may be in this volume.

Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking's court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable Lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood. But Edwin needs his most trusted advisor. Old alliances are fraying. Younger rivals are snapping at his heels. War is brewing--bitter war, winter war. Not knowing who to trust he becomes volatile and unpredictable. Hild begins to understand the true extent of the chaos ahead, and now she must navigate the turbulence and fight to protect both the kingdom and her own people. Hild will face the losses and devastation of total war, and then she must find a new strength, the implacable determination to forge a radically different path for herself and her people. In the valley, her last redoubt, her community slowly takes root. She trains herself and her unexpected allies in new ways of thinking as she prepares for one last wager: risking all on a single throw for a better future...

Unsettled by Patricia Reis from Sibylline Press gets the “other books of interest” nod because despite showing up in a keyword search for “lesbian,” the cover copy is extremely coy about whether there are queer elements. As usual, if you’ve read the book and can give me feedback on that point, I’d love to calibrate how well my book gaydar is doing.

As Van Reinhardt clears out her dead father’s belongings, she comes across hints of an unsettling family history, along with a request penned by her father prior to his death that sends her on a genealogical quest. Examining a 1900 family portrait of her German immigrant ancestors, Van’s curiosity grows about one of the children portrayed there.

In the 1870s, Kate is a German immigrant newly arrived in America with only her brother as family. Life changes for Kate when she and her brother split. When she returns, armed with a secret, nothing is the same, for her or her brother. Together they try to forge a life working for farmers in southwestern Iowa and at Kate’s urging, her brother takes the farmer’s daughter as his wife. And as that family grows, Kate becomes Tante Kate, isolated and separate from the rest of the family—almost a servant—not even appearing in the family portrait. Van revisits the town and the farm of her ancestors to discover calamitous events in probate records, farm auction lists, asylum records and lurid obituaries, hinting at a history far more complex and tumultuous than she had expected. But the mystery remains, until she chances upon a small book, sized for a pocket—Tante Kate’s secret diary—that provides the missing piece.

The queer elements in Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue by Christine Higdon from ECW Press are explicitly noted in the cover copy, but appear to be relatively marginal to the story, which has a male protagonist.

Four working-class Vancouver sisters, still reeling from the impact of World War I and the pandemic that stole their only brother, are scraping by but attempting to make the most of the exciting 1920s. Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is a story of love and longing ― but like all love stories, it’s complicated …

Morag is pregnant; she loves her husband. Georgina can’t bear hers and dreams of getting an education. Harriet-Jean, still at home with her opium-addicted mother, is in love with a woman. Isla’s pregnant too ― and in love with her sister’s husband. Only one other soul knows about Isla’s pregnancy, and it isn’t the father. When Isla resorts to a back-alley abortion and nearly dies, Llewellyn becomes hellbent on revenge, but against whom and to what end? What will it change for Isla and her sisters? For women? And where can revenge lead for a man like Llew, a police detective tangled up in running rum to Prohibition America?

Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is immersed in the complex political and social realities of the 1920s and, not-so ironically, of the 2020s: love, sex, desire, police corruption, abortion, addiction, and women wanting more.

The last two books in “other books of interest” are marginal in terms of being considered historicals, since they’re both set in the ‘70s.

The first is A Glimpse into Your Soul by Char Dafoe.

1973, Peace River, Alberta, appears to be an idealistic place to live, rich with luscious land and a winding river that flows past the one-horse town where everybody knows everybody. Highschool sweethearts, Emma and Jillian McKinley grew up together in the small town and have loved one another for the past thirty years. Living out on the prairies, surrounded by nature and away from civilization, Emma and Jillian have had the freedom to live their true authentic relationship in peace. When a dark secret from Jillian’s past suddenly returns, threatening her marriage and upsetting the peace, Jillian takes it upon herself to tell her wife what really happened to her all those years ago.

Emma McKinley had always been a woman of action over words. Having lived her whole life in the solitude of her horses and her land, drama and danger never coalesced with her cowgirl lifestyle. When Emma discovers Jillian’s secret, the only thing on the cowgirl's mind is exacting revenge for her wife using the skills she has honed all her life—aim, shoot, leaving no trail behind.

And finally we have Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield from Wednesday Books.

It's 1976 and Jamaica is on fire. The country is on the eve of important elections and the warring political parties have made the divisions between the poor and the wealthy even wider. And Irie and Jilly come from very different backgrounds: Irie is from the heart of Kingston, where fighting in the streets is common. Jilly is from the hills, where mansions nestled within lush gardens remain safe behind gates. But the two bond through a shared love of Reggae music, spending time together at Irie's father's record store, listening to so-called rebel music that opens Jilly's mind to a sound and a way of thinking she's never heard before. As tensions build in the streets, so do tensions between the two girls. A budding romance between them complicates things further as the push and pull between their two lives becomes impossible to bear. For Irie, fighting―with her words and her voice―is her only option. Blood is shed on the streets in front of her every day. She has no choice. But Jilly can always choose to escape. Can their bond survive this impossible divide?

What Am I Reading?

So what have I been consuming in the last month? I finished up Meredith Rose’s sapphic Sherlock Holmes adaptation, A Study in Garnet. This one gets a strong recommendation from me. It’s very well written and tightly plotted. Meredith gets inside the psychology of her characters and explores the dynamics between two damaged personalities. This first volume in the series has a lot of delicious pining but no overt romance yet.

T. Kingfisher is usually an instant buy for me, and her new fairy tale fantasy, Thornhedge, got read in one sitting. The basic story is sleeping beauty, but the take on it is pure Kingfisher with an unexpected and eccentric protagonist and a semi-romantic adventure that ends up exactly where you hope it will go.

I listened to two audiobooks this month. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a cross between the 1001 Nights and “let’s get the old team together for one last heist.” A female pirate captain gets blackmailed into taking one last job and discovers that going back to sea is both more seductive and far more dangerous that she wants to deal with in later life. No significant queer content, though one character discovers trans leanings.

The new K.J. Charles, A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel is a loose sequel to The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, set in the Regency era among the smugglers of Romney Marsh. It’s a good, basic K.J. Charles male/male romance with complex and unique characters whose back-stories drive them into self-destructive behavior while pursuing a mystery. But since they both come from a place of good-hearted sincerity, they sort it all out in the end.

I hope you enjoyed as many good books this month as I did—hopefully even more than I managed!

Show Notes

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

In this episode we talk about:

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

Links to Heather Online

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