“And you’ve only ever read stories about people like you, right? You’ve never met one of your
kind before now. Well, except for Beatriz,” she added. “Ain’t that so?”
“Yeah,” Esther answered reluctantly. She sensed a trap coming, but she couldn’t figure out how to step around it.
“All those stories you’ve read,” Amity said softly, pulling her hat back off her eyes by a few degrees. “Who gave ’em to you?”
“The Librarians,” Esther said.
“And who gave ’em to the Librarians?”
Esther thought hard about that one. The things the Librarians brought weren’t subject to the Textbook Approval and Research Council, since they only worked on schoolbooks, and they weren’t subject to the Media Review Committee, since they mostly did film and television. “The Board of Materials Approval?” she guessed.
Amity nodded. “And what do you think that Board wants you to believe about yourself?” She paused, but it wasn’t the kind of pause that wants an answer. “You might not have a happy ending coming to you, Hopalong. But if you come to a bad end, it won’t be on account of what kind of person you fall for. I’ve seen a lot more of the world than you have, and I can tell you upright: I’ve seen as many good ends as bad ones for your kind of heart.”
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey starts off a yarn about a dystopian fascist United States where resources and tech are so consumed by war effort and maintaining hegemony the country’s living standards have reverted to looking like something out of the Old West. In one dusty corner of Arizona, Esther Augustus has run away from a fiancé and the death by hanging of her best friend and more Beatriz at the hand of Esther’s father no less. Stowing herself away with the Librarians, who travel from town to town caring for and dissemination the proper books and other state approved materials, it’s a group of the upright sort of women Esther thinks she needs. And she’s right, about one thing. She’s found her kind of people.
Generally, I like queer westerns, be those takes on the past or speculative futures. Transgressive librarians likewise are golden. Though, Upright Women Wanted if I might use a quaint phrase, as this novella has a seemingly endless supply of them, feels rather like a lick and a promise.
Readers are left flat in the middle of personal and national events. As the latter is given next to no exposition (so many questions), character driven this tale is. Two of the Librarians Leda (from an organized crime family in the Northwest) and Bet (from the military Central Corridor), truth be told in a long-term relationship, by all outside appearances don’t come off seemingly as anything more than Librarians who ride together. Plus turns out a good quality Librarian has parcels that include smuggled materials and people as part of the resistance. Though when it comes to the goods on a guilt-stricken Esther, her dad’s powerful as a Superintendent, the fiancé Silas is little more than a name, Beatriz a memory barely cold in the ground and there’s more life-threatening situations and death to be dealt. Yet, the immediate focusing subject is Esther’s attraction to an Apprentice Librarian Cye (from the manufacturing Northeast that uses child labor). Cye tasked with acclimating Esther on the road has a direct personality, as they also make it clear to Esther:
“I’m they on the road and she in town. You can take time getting used to they on the road, but if you forget about she when we’re in town, you’ll have to learn how to think around a bullet.”
People cope with issues and trauma differently but, Esther’s attraction to Cye coming up at once and permeating even as chatter in certain situations had me so off kilter reading. I further double checked this title’s categories to make sure I hadn’t missed romance mentioned. Not that expecting such a strong element may help much what with the way the pacing is more a stampede.
Of course, there is a connection between death and desire in the text. Esther, the pansexual protagonist, is convinced by all the stories, education, deeds, and principals she knows that there’s only one sort of end for anybody who is somebody different. Breaking out, finding real refuge, yourself and community, those steps towards making a genuine life, and resistance even under long shadows is where the heart of this story really rests. Such is where I bet readers can feel and love this little book and its mere existence (weaknesses though it may have) too.
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey is available in print and digital (including audio) from Tor Books
“I was right about you,” Sef said in his usual cryptic way. He inhaled deeply like a drowning man filling his lungs before swimming for shore. “Curses are funny things. Immortality sounds like a gift, something sought after by a thousand foolish souls. An end to suffering. But there are so many ways to suffer. Death is the least of them.”
Forgotten Monster by J. Emery is a self-published fast-paced fantasy novel in a hate-to-love, enemies-to-lovers vein with spoiled noble Taisce, on a journey to find his errant older brother, gaining an enigmatic travelling companion in a miscreant named Sef. A search as fate has it into (ghosts of) Sef’s past, an immortal magic user whose existence has nearly become a lost legend.
I ended up hardly being able to put this book down with its frequent action and banter. The only weakness is threads here and there that aren’t especially expounded. Taisce is also more than he seems and Sef as a character could probably fill many a volume. At least I’d read about Sef’s exploits as long as he’s been alive if I could.
Forgotten Monster by J. Emery is available in print and digital
Thanks to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Flying Straightish is a novel by Nina White. It follows Lex and Domino, two space pirates who are drafted into “the clean up crew” and forced to help an organisation called the Galactic Alliance. The story jumps straight (ish… sorry I couldn’t resist) into the action, with events unfolding until our two main characters find themselves employed under a new captain and stationed on a ship which, for once, they haven’t stolen.
Lex and Domino themselves are strong characters and I liked their dynamic from the start and the descriptions of all the characters, especially the alien species, were creative and original. The plot itself was interesting, though I won’t include any details here for spoiler reasons, but I think the main strength of the novel is its leading space pirates, and all the interactions between them and the rest of the main cast.
Overall, although at times the writing was a little rough and the grammar a little off, the plot was solid and the characters shone. The writing itself was entertaining too, with sentences like “Their head tentacles were far too pleasant and exotic for trifles like gender to matter” or “And to be fair, most pirates have killed a lot of pirates. It’s a very competitive industry,” among my favourites. You can find Flying Straightish on goodreads, with links to the online shops where you can purchase it. It’s only £1.99 on the English Amazon store, or free with kindle unlimited. Currently, to my knowledge, it’s only available in ebook format.
I recommend it for anyone looking for a fun, diverse space adventure.
