Adult Fiction

George Orwell, 2013, paperback

Nominada por los estadounidenses como una de las 100 mejores novelas en la serie de PBS The Great American Read.

«No creo que la sociedad que he descrito en 1984 necesariamente llegue a ser una realidad, pero sí creo que puede llegar a existir algo parecido», escribía Orwell después de publicar su novela. Corría el año 1948, y la realidad se ha encargado de convertir esa pieza -entonces de ciencia ficción- en un manifiesto de la realidad.

En el año 1984 Londres es una ciudad lúgubre en la que la Policía del Pensamiento controla de forma asfixiante la vida de los ciudadanos. Winston Smith es un peón de este engranaje perverso y su cometido es reescribir la historia para adaptarla a lo que el Partido considera la versión oficial de los hechos. Hasta que decide replantearse la verdad del sistema que los gobierna y somete.

Revolutionary and visionary, these twenty-two speculative stories edited by Lambda, Nebula and Hugo finalist Lee Mandelo explore the vast potentialities of our queer and trans futures.

From self-styled knights fighting in dystopian city streets to conservationists finding love in the Appalachian forests; from social media posts about domestic “bliss” in a lottery-based, state-housing skyscraper to herding feral cats off of one’s scientific equipment; from street drugs that create doppelgangers to dance-club cruising at the edge of the galaxy—Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity interrogates the farthest borders of the sci-fi landscape to imagine how queer life will look centuries in the future—or ten years from now.

Filled with brutal honesty, raw emotions, sexual escapades, and delightful whimsy, Amplitudes speaks to the longstanding tradition of queer fiction as protest. This essential collection serves as an evolving map of our celebrations, anxieties, wishes, pitfalls, and—most of all—our rallying cry that we're here, we're queer—and the future is ours!

Featuring stories by Esther Alter • Bendi Barrett • Ta-wei Chi, trans. Ariel Chu • Colin Dean • Maya Deane • Dominique Dickey • Katharine Duckett • Meg Elison • Paul Evanby • Aysha U. Farah • Sarah Gailey • Ash Huang • Margaret Killjoy • Wen-yi Lee • Ewen Ma • Jamie McGhee • Sam J. Miller • Aiki Mira, trans. CD Covington • Sunny Moraine • Nat X. Ray • Neon Yang • Ramez Yoakeim

(Grievers Trilogy, Book 3) (Black Dawn, 6)

Community ideals and magic clash in this follow-up to Grievers and Maroons by adrienne maree brown.

Ancestors is the powerful conclusion to adrienne maree brown's Grievers trilogy—a story of how life blooms amid tragedy and hate. In the wake of a mysterious pandemic known as Syndrome H-8, the survivors of a ravaged and isolated Detroit are building a future inside the network of deserted skyscrapers that define the city’s skyline. Dune’s magic keeps a lush green wall encircling the community, and while some settle inside its safety, others grow desperate to get out, fueling the tension between shelter and confinement. As Dune’s power blossoms and her connection to the spirits of the departed deepens, she must learn how to balance the needs of her people, both living and dead.

Edited by Elly Blue, 2023, paperback

Published by Microcosm! Bicycles & Broomsticks: Fantastical Feminist Stories about Witches on Bikes A coven races—literally—to fight off the magic smog that threatens their city. A janitor at the last rocket launch site on a dying planet sends the rocket up with a special spell of comfort. Instead of casting the resiliency spell she asked for, a girl's grandmother teaches her to ride a bike. A midwife's bicycle is stolen, resulting in a fitting comeuppance. An urban witch falls for a bicycle mechanic and learns to reconcile her double life. Smash the petropatriarchy and enjoy these and more science fiction and fantasy stories in the pages of the supernatural 9th volume of the popular Bikes in Space series.  Featuring ten incredible stories by Hester Dade, M. Lopes da Silva, Monique Cuillerier, A. P. Howell, Ether Nepenthes, M. A. Blanchard, Kathleen Jowitt, G. J. Craddock, Gretchin Lair, and Emily Burton.

By: Rebecca Roanhorse, 2020, Paperback (Between Earth and Sky 1)

NOMINATED FOR THE 2021 HUGO AWARDS AND THE 2020 NEBULA AWARDS FOR BEST NOVEL

From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.R

By: Frances Wren (Author), Mia LaPine (Illustrator), 2024, Paperback (The Anatomy of Water)

Featuring over 60 illustrations, Earthflown is "a mesmerizing blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and crime noir that transcends genres," (Aiden Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Cemetary Boys).

Where there's desperation, there is profit.

When Ethan saves the life of a firestarter, it's nothing unusual. He's the only healer on call at the hospital – and that gunshot wound isn't going to regenerate itself. But his patient turns out to be Corinna Arden, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire controlling Britain's water supply. Her twin, Javier, is a man who (a) starts sending Ethan flowers at work, (b) seems terrified of a secret, and (c) has the cheekbones and earnestness to make up for both.

Ethan indulges in (what he thinks will be) a brief, harmless romance – but is swept up in a deadly collusion over Project Earthflown: the largest reconstruction tender since London clawed its way out of the rising sea.

Determined to follow the money, Ollie is a journalist who finds a corpse at the end of a too-convenient tip. The fate of water – and who profits – might depend on the perennial question: has Ethan lost his mind, or is he just an idiot?

Earthflown is a love story that tries – and fails – to leave the water crisis behind. Set in post-flood London, futuristic medicine meets a bit of magic in this bittersweet scifi-fantasy debut.

JOAN AND SADIE’S ROMANCE CONTINUES IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF THE VECTOR CITY SUPERS TRILOGY.

You can’t just walk away from villainy…

Things are going great for Joan Malone since hanging up her Spark suit. She’s found love with the best girlfriend in Vector City. The food truck she and her twin brother opened a few months ago is a success. So what if she’s having nightmares about turning on her cohorts from her Supervillain days? And maybe it’s been a hard transition from the world of Supers to being a normal, everyday citizen. She’ll gladly deal with a few growing pains to have the quiet life she’s always wanted.

Sadie Eagan is one step closer to all her dreams coming true. Her amazing girlfriend has superpowers. She’s supporting Joan’s new business endeavor at the food truck. Sure, she could be working on her own plans to open a café, but it’s not the right time. What if she fails?

When new Villains arrive to cause chaos in Vector City, the Superheroes need some help from the former Supervillains. Joan doesn’t want to jeopardize her peaceful situation, but she can’t turn away from being Spark. Even when it puts her at odds with old friends.

Villain activity pushes Sadie’s coffeehouse farther out of reach, and also cuts into her at-home time with Joan. Being involved with Superhero affairs means coming to terms with what they both really want. It’ll take some unlikely allies to show Sadie and Joan the extraordinary lives they can have if they’re brave enough to risk getting burned.

La inclasificable novela que ha ganado el Premio Locus 2020 al debut del año y ha sido finalista de los premios Hugo, Nebula y World Fantasy a la mejor novela.

El Emperador necesita nigromantes. La nigromante de la Novena necesita una espadachina. Gideon tiene una espada, unas revistas guarras y ninguna paciencia para tonterías con los muertos vivientes.

Después de haber sido criada por profesoras antipáticas y osificadas, sirvientes vetustos y una infinidad de esqueletos, Gideon está lista para abandonar una vida de servidumbre y un más allá como cadáver reanimado. Mete su espada y sus revistas guarras en la maleta y se prepara para su audaz escapada. Pero su némesis de la infancia no piensa dejar que se libere así como así.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, reverenda hija de la Novena Casa y extraordinaria bruja de los huesos, ha sido convocada. El Emperador ha invitado a los herederos de cada una de sus leales casas a una prueba mortal que someterá a examen su inteligencia y sus habilidades. Si Harrowhark Nonagesimus tiene éxito, se convertirá en una sirviente inmortal y todopoderosa de la Resurrección, pero ningún nigromante ha sido capaz de conseguirlo sin la ayuda de su caballero. Sin la espada de Gideon, Harrow fracasará y la Novena Casa terminará por desaparecer.

Y hay cosas que es mejor dejar muertas.

15+ pages of new, original content, including a glossary of terms, in-universe writings, and more!

A USA Today Best-Selling Novel, and one of the Best Books of 2019 according to NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, BookPage, Shelf Awareness, BookRiot, and Bustle!

WINNER of the 2020 Crawford Award
Finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards

“Unlike anything I’ve ever read. ” ―V.E. Schwab

“Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” ―Charles Stross

“Brilliantly original, messy and weird straight through.” ―NPR

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth, first in The Locked Tomb Trilogy, unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

THE LOCKED TOMB SERIES
BOOK 1: Gideon the Ninth
BOOK 2: Harrow the Ninth
BOOK 3: Nona the Ninth
BOOK 4: Alecto the Ninth

(Grievers Trilogy, Book 1) (Black Dawn, 1)

★ "It’s a strong precedent that will leave readers eager for more." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Grievers is the story of a city so plagued by grief that it can no longer function.

Dune’s mother is patient zero of a mysterious illness that stops people in their tracks—in mid-sentence, mid-action, mid-life—casting them into a nonresponsive state from which no one recovers. Dune must navigate poverty and the loss of her mother as Detroit’s hospitals, morgues, and graveyards begin to overflow. As the quarantined city slowly empties of life, she investigates what caused the plague, and what might end it, following in the footsteps of her late researcher father, who has a physical model of Detroit’s history and losses set up in their basement. She dusts it off and begins tracking the sick and dying, discovering patterns, finding comrades in curiosity, conspiracies for the fertile ground of the city, and the unexpected magic that emerges when the debt of grief is cleared.

Dept. of Speculation meets Black Mirror in this lyrical, speculative debut about a queer mother raising her daughter in an unjust surveillance state

In a United States not so unlike our own, the Department of Balance has adopted a radical new form of law enforcement: rather than incarceration, wrongdoers are given a second (and sometimes, third, fourth, and fifth) shadow as a reminder of their crime—and a warning to those they encounter. Within the Department, corruption and prejudice run rampant, giving rise to an underclass of so-called Shadesters who are disenfranchised, publicly shamed, and deprived of civil rights protections.

Kris is a Shadester and a new mother to a baby born with a second shadow of her own. Grieving the loss of her wife and thoroughly unprepared for the reality of raising a child alone, Kris teeters on the edge of collapse, fumbling in a daze of alcohol, shame, and self-loathing. Yet as the kid grows, Kris finds her footing, raising a child whose irrepressible spark cannot be dampened by the harsh realities of the world. She can’t forget her wife, but with time, she can make a new life for herself and the kid, supported by a community of fellow misfits who defy the Department to lift one another up in solidarity and hope.

With a first-person register reminiscent of the fierce self-disclosure of Sheila Heti and the poetic precision of Ocean Vuong, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is a bold debut novel that examines the long shadow of grief, the hard work of parenting, and the power of queer resistance.

Ursula K. LeGuin meets The Road in a post-apocalyptic modern classic of female friendship and intimacy.

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

(Grievers Trilogy, Book 2) (Black Dawn, 3)

★ "brown’s sensational second contribution to AK Press’s Black Dawn series.... Equally thrilling and thought-provoking, this will put readers in mind of speculative greats like Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delaney." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

A tale of survival, of moving beyond seemingly insurmountable devastation toward, if not hope itself, then the road to hope. 

In the second installment of the Grievers Trilogy, adrienne maree brown brings to bear her background as an activist rooted in Detroit. The pandemic of Syndrome H-8 continues to ravage the city of Detroit and everyone in Dune's life. In Maroons, she must learn what community and connection mean in the lonely wake of a fatal virus. Emerging from grief to follow a subtle path of small pleasures through an abandoned urban landscape, she begins finding other unlikely survivors with little in common but the will to live. Together they begin to piece together the puzzle of their survival, and that of the city itself.

This cyber-erotic romantic thriller, written by two queer icons in the 1990s, has been "rebooted" for today's readers.

In this rowdy cyber-romance originally written in the 1990s, two people meet online and fall in love in every guise they can manage. As Scratch and Winc go from anonymous lovers to accidental heroes and gender outlaws, they expose the shadowy Web stretched between technology and capitalist greed, nearly becoming roadkill on the internet superhighway. With a little help from their friends including a brave teenager and a mysterious hacker, these darling rebels fight government intervention and find chosen family in this eerily prescient tale.

The 30th anniversary “reboot” edition includes an updated lens for today’s readers, as GenZ investigative journalist Drew uncovers what just might be the greatest queer love story of all time. Like Octavia Butler's PARABLE OF THE SOWER, Margaret Atwood's A HANDMAID'S TALE, and George Orwell's 1984, the return of NEARLY ROADKILL is right on time with urgent lessons for our contemporary landscape.