Happy International Lesbian Day! Here's some super brief book recs to celebrate

Books dealing with love, loss, longing and abandonment

This is How You Lose The Time War is a short but beautifully written epistolary novel between two agents on opposite sides of a time war as they slowly fall in love.

Our Wives Under the Sea is one of the most beautifully written debuts I've ever read about a woman whose wife comes home wrong after they thought she'd died at sea and how it feels to grieve the loss of someone who's still in your home.

Lucky Red is a western novel about a young girl working in a brothel who meets her first female gunslinger and falls head over heels for her, and the consequences that come with loving dangerous people.

Body horror galore

Camp Damascus is about a young woman living in a super conservative christian town built around the worlds most successful conversion camp and the horrors that are uncovered there when praying the gay away fails.

To Be Devoured is about a woman whose fascination with the local vultures turns into obsession and the urge to know what carrion tastes like overtakes her life and leads her down stranger and stranger paths.

Chlorine is about a girl whose entire life revolves around being a competitive swimmer, and how abuse, neglect, and obsession with being the best takes its toll on the young women caught up in these destructive cycles.

Flawed character studies

Big Swiss is about a woman who has a kitchen floor reset in her 40s, moves away and starts a new life as a transcriber for a sex therapist and becomes obsessed with one of his clients before inserting herself into this poor woman's life.

The Seep is a speculative sci-fi set in a future where there's been a quiet alien invasion that has given people the ability to make almost any changes to their own bodies and what that world feels like to someone who doesn't want to partake.

Milk Fed is about a woman in therapy who feels cut off from almost everything until she meets another woman who triggers in her a melding of sex, hunger, and religion and where that takes her. Huge trigger warnings for ED content. It gets tough, y'all.

Fantastical wlw books

Bitterthorn is an amalgamation of fairytales retold as a slow burn sapphic love story between a sad young girl from a cursed land and the evil witch who takes her as a companion in the latest of the generational sacrifices made to appease her.

All the Bad Apples may be set in contemporary Ireland but it is a fairytale following a young girl as she travels across the country looking for a sister she refuses to believe is dead and the people she meets along the way.

Gideon the Ninth needs no introduction on this site but for the sake of formatting - lesbian necromancers in space who find themselves in an isolated murder mystery plot. It's not a romance but it is a love story and this series will change your life if you let it.

Translated novels

Boulder is a short character study following a free spirited woman when she accidentally settles down with the woman she loves and how love and resentment can take up the same space in your chest when life doesn't turn out the way you hoped it would.

Notes of a Crocodile is a cult classic coming of age story about queer teens in Taipei in the 1980s. It was written in the 90s so please keep that in mind if you choose to read it.

Paradise Rot is about an international student studying in Australia and her growing obsession with her housemate as they share a space that allows no privacy. I've never read anything that feels stickier.

The Seep by Chana Porter

goodreads

Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity calling itself The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seep-tech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina chases after a young boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind.

Mod opinion: I've read and really enjoyed this book.

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

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if you haven’t read any of them, answer based on vibes

Book Review 30 - The Seep by Chana Porter

Okay, the last of my ‘read because they’re short and I had a goal to catch up to’ books. I, honestly, did not care for this one at all, on a few different levels. Didactic to the point of condescension, in service to a message I consider kind of repulsive. Extremely high concept setting with all manner of profound changes and revelations about the human condition that are just ignored or end up being hopelessly muddled and confused. All of it ending up as basically disposable set dressing to a breakup story that, I mean, I’m sure other people it it compelling? But just left me rolling my eyes. And the whole thing just so profoundly soaked through with a sort of woo-ish Californian-as-an-insult sensibility that puts my teeth on edge.

So the book begins with an alien invasion, the ‘Seep’ arriving on and saturating Earth, infesting 90% of humanity as well as everything else. The alien infection brings about a revolution in consciousness, making everyone infected acutely aware of the interconnections between all things and leading to an instantaneous abolition of capitalism, nationalism, and all forms of hierarchy larger than a local Home Owners Association (who can still evict you if you let your lawn get too overgrown, this is portrayed as self-evidently moral and reasonable). The Seep also allows for full bodily autonomy and the altering of one’s body at will, and also seems to have just abolished scarcity – in return, it mostly just wants to hitch along for the ride and feel human emotions, and make people happy. The plot itself is about a Trina, a woman in San Francisco spiralling into complete mental and emotional collapse after her wife decides she wants to try childhood again, and get remade into an infant with her mind wiped to be raised from birth by a couple in France (her wife/our protagonist taking this as something of a betrayal and refusing to be her mother). After falling into depression for a while, she’s told that if she doesn’t get with the yardwork her house is going to get repossessed by the community, and goes on a cross-country soul-searching midlife crisis journey in order to find herself.

Look, I’m almost certainly being way too uncharitable – most of the reviews are very positive! - but this book just did not agree with me at all. Now part of this is just that when a book gets sold as ‘compelling drama in a near-utopian setting’ and then the setting is an incoherent mess that exists mostly as set dressing without any real thought to what any of it means (souls exist, apparently! So does reincarnation!) and the actual plot could have been set in the modern day with almost zero changes, I do feel kind of let down by the book. In fact setting it in the modern day would probably have made me like the book rather more, if only because the lack of absurdist sideshows might have kept the focus on Trina and sharpened up her journey some.

Though honestly, the way the book kind of wavers back and forth between, like, ‘grief and pain are fundamental parts of being human’ and ‘death is natural and good and trying too hard to avoid it and hold on to your life is aberrant and unhealthy, also kids these days have it too easy and it’s good to have to suffer a bit and have your life indelibly shaped by your body and identity” would definitely have left a bad taste in my mouth regardless.

It’s a bit of a shame, really – the book does gesture repeatedly at some fairly meaty issues (in a world without oppression, where you can change your body over the course of a slow afternoon, what do the identities we’ve structured society around mean?) But it just, really doesn’t do anything with that? And if the closest thing you have to a villain is basically Rachel Dolezal, is too much to ask for you to have, like, anything to say about race?

The Seep by Chana Porter

Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible.

Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.

Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.

Last year, by happy coincidence, I read The Seep by Chana Porter just before Rosh Hashanah. This year, I did it again on purpose.

At this time of year when I think about who I have been and who I am becoming, Trina's curmudgeonliness and sadness and honesty hit so hard. I cried a bunch (on the train!). I remain so in awe of this book.

I haven't started #readsofawe yet! This isn't going on my bingo card. But I'm so happy I kicked things off with it!

Another Instagram crosspost! This time for Disability Pride Month!

Note: The Tree is a sequel, but the MC sustains the injuries that make her disabled in book one

[Image: several graphics edited with a picture of The Capitol Crawl as the background. The first image has text reading "Favorite Disability Books."

The next image shows four books- All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living with Racialized Autism ed by Lydia XZ Brown, E Ashkenazy, and Morénike Giwa, The Seep by Chana Porter, Eight Kinky Nights by Xan West, and The Unbroken by CL Clark. There is also text with colorful arrows pointing to the books. The label "autistic" points to All the Weight of Our Dreams, The Seep, and Eight Kinky Nights. The label "cane users" points to Eight Kinky Nights and The Unbroken, and the label "arthritis" points to Eight Kinky Nights.

The next image has four books- The Tree by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun, Borderline by Mishell Baker, Pet by Akwaeke Emezi, and Our Bloody Pearl by DN Bryn. This image also contains labels and arrows. "Limb difference" points to The Tree and Borderline. "Mute" points to The Tree, Pet, and Our Bloody Pearl. "BPD" points to Borderline.

The next image has two books. Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century ed by Alice Wong is labeled "collected works." Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is labeled "no focus on a specific disability; about mutual aid."

The next image has four books- Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare, Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, and White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson- and more colorful arrows. "Cerebral palsy" points to both Exile and Pride and Accidents of Nature. "OCD" points to The Anthropocene Reviewed, and "anxiety" points to White Smoke.

The last image features four books, each with one label pointing to it. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor is labeled "albino." The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang is labeled "schizophrenia." Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker is labeled "Deaf." Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett is labeled "HIV+" End.]

Fave Five: Transfem Sci-Fi

Fave Five: Transfem Sci-Fi

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki The Seep by Chana Porter The Unstoppable trilogy by Charlie Jane Anders (YA) Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

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Just read The Seep. I liked the premise of this book, and particularly the prologue and epilogue (the ‘how to host a dinner party’ parts). I felt as though some aspects could have been explored a lot more; the worldbuilding could have been in greater depth and there could have been more room for character growth. However, it was also joyously strange, a lot happier than most things I tend to read these days, and quite solarpunk, and I really liked the quote: “Eventually, the conversation will flow to other things—typically, to The Past and How Great It Was, Even Though We Didn’t Know It at the Time, and The Future, that shimmering, mercurial beast, constantly breaking our hearts.”

"She couldn't bear the platitudes of the people at the hospital - time is the only healer, it gets better, blah blah blah. Time did not make it better. Time made it worse, just like it made every thing worse. Most horrifically of all, people expected her to be over it by now, as if her grief had a neat expiration date like the carton of milk she had left on the counter a week ago."

(The Seep, Chana Porter)

Just finished reading The Seep by Chana Porter and yep, it’s definitely gonna roll around in my head forever just like This Is How You Lose The Time War

The Seep by Chana Porter

Today's sapphic book of the day is The Seep by Chana Porter!

Summary: "Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity calling itself The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible.

Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seep-tech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.

Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina chases after a young boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind."

Every Taylor Swift song

One thing for those who have watched The Boy and The Heron or will watch it. The Japanese title for it is How Do You Live? And Miyazaki stated he was leaving it for his grandson, saying, "Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving behind this film".

The deaths of contemporaries and friends such as Satoshi Kon and Isao Takahata and also the expected successor of Yoshifumi Kondo were things that have always weighed heavily on the back of Miyazaki's mind.

He recognizes the industry and the occupation for how soul crushing it was, grinding up either the spirit or the physical body of those who work in it. He loves and hates the industry he stands on the peak of and fully recognizes how it will probably be the death of him. And he knows it'll leave him unable to say a lot of things to his Grandson.

So How Do You Live? is a lesson. For his grandson. For himself. For his two sons. And probably for anyone else willing to pay attention.

Hayao Miyazaki is a flawed man that makes things so important to so many people. And I think more than any other film of his, in this you get to pull back the curtain a bit and see him at work. And what should be this giant unblemished titan can be seen for what he is, a sad old man who had higher hopes for himself and has even higher hopes for the people he makes his work for.

It's a beautiful thing to see another's humanity in their work. To look past the artifice and glam of commercialized art and find humans behind it. And humans willing to show their humanity and mortality is even rarer. And something to be celebrated. So when you watch it. Or if you've watched it already. Understand that this film is Miyazaki kneeling down, weary after years of weaving dreams and making mistakes, reaching out and saying to you that he hopes you can do better. It's an old man who's made all the mistakes of the world passing it on to you, hoping you do better, and making sure you know it's okay if you don't.

How do you Live? By making mistakes. By messing up. But still moving forward. And still reaching out.

Finished my 30th book of the year!

Wish it had been good, and the platonic ideal of San Fransiscosity (derogatory), but still!