This is a delightfully queer historical fantasy, technically the second novella in a series but it can also stand alone. Chih, a travelling cleric-historian, is crossing a mountain pass on back of a mammoth with a guide when they encounter three deadly shape-shifting tigers. The only thing Chih can think of to keep them at bay is a story, one about the love affair of a beautiful scholar and her tiger wife. Full of ghosts, poetry, passion and danger, the tale unwinds with the tigers correcting Chih's mistakes. But will the story last until help can arrive? I listened to this as an audio book and it was a tantalizing 2.5 hours- I am hungry for more from Nghi Vo. How fortunate that her first full length novel is due out this summer!

Set in a steampunk-infused fantasy country heavily inspired by Korea under Japanese occupation in the early 1900s, this story follows a nonbinary painter in their mid-20s who struggles to find work in the capital city of their homeland, Hwaguk. In desperation, Gyen Jebi, the artist, applies for a job in the Razanei occupational government. Their political sister throws them out of the house, and Jebi ends up working for the Ministry of Armor under a Razanei name. The Ministry of Armor is in charge of designing and upkeeping the automaton soldiers that form one branch of the military- but that's not all they do. Jebi quickly learns that Armor is developing a dragon automaton prototype, but something has gone wrong, and the previous lead artist on the project is dead. Not only that, but the magical processes used to bring automata to life are more horrifying that Jebi could have ever imagined. Soon they must decide what's more important: keeping their head down and earning a good wage under an attractive but dangerous boss; or smuggling some of the classified information out to the Hwagukian rebel forces. I absolutely loved the setting of this book, and the magic; I was less convinced by the characters and their motivations. In particular, there are a few emotional relationships in the book which either developed or devolved in ways that didn't make sense to me. The ending is also interestingly abrupt for a stand alone novel. I still recommend it, but with caveats.

Red and Blue are players on opposite sides of a war that spans all of time and multiple interwoven universe-threads. They travel up and down stream, stopping wars or starting them, saving the lives of those who will later invent vaccines or new mathematics, or preventing people who would be influential from ever being born. Neither Red or Blue are human, though they frequently take on human form during their missions. Red works for the Agency, a technology future, whose agents skip and jump lightly across spacetime in hundreds of small interventions, causing miracles and murders. Blue works for the Garden, a future based in natural biology, which favors a slow long-game approach to change, often embedding agents for the full course of a human life in key historical moments. Equal and opposite, Red and Blue begin a correspondence, initially threatening and taunting, but which soon turns philosophical and poetic. The discovery of this relationship by either the Agency or the Garden would ensure the writer's death, but they keep writing, though each letter is equally a trap and a lifeline. Is this love, or sabotage? Can it be both at the same time? I listened to this four hour audiobook all in one day and though the story has some weaknesses I enjoyed it immensely.

This is a short and engaging work of nonfiction which examines the impacts of compulsive sexuality and sexual norms. Angela Chen interviewed hundreds of people who identify within the ace spectrum, from other writers and researchers to podcasters to college students. I was particularly glad to read the chapters digging into the intersection of asexuality with disability, and the intersection of asexuality with race. The end theme of the book is simple: all of us would be more free to pursue our genuine desires if we strip away the assumptions around sex and relationships, and decide what it is we actually want, even if that doesn't looks like what society expects.

As with most anthologies, I liked some stories in this collection more than others. A few of the real stand outs included "Little Universe Machine" by Aud Koch, fully painted in exquisite watercolors; "Rendezvous with Ain" by Savanna Ganucheau which played with the concept of virtual presentations of an AI; "Love Triangulation" written by Blue Delliquanti and drawn by Jon Cairns which includes a really unique and intriguing human pilot/robotic transport relationship made possible through extensive cybernetic modifications; and "Starship", Faith Erin Hick's well executed Star Trek AU. I appreciated the authors who chose to tell stories of non-humanoid robot characters as well!

Eleanor and Park is one of those books whose humor and sadness are so intertwined it's almost impossible to keep them apart. Set in 1986, the year that the Watchmen comics were first released, it tells the story of two misfit teens who have nothing (but also everything) in common. It's a love story, one of the best I've read in quite a while, for Eleanor and Park themselves know that first loves rarely last. This book is definitely on my favorites of 2013 list.

EDIT added in 2019: It's been 6 years since I read this book, and the world has changed, and I have changed. I'm much more thoughtful and aware of the portrayal of characters of color by white writers than I was prior to grad school (the first place I had a class specifically about race, which in itself is telling). I'm leery now of some of the descriptors used of Park, who is half Korean, and has a Korean last name as his first name. As a white writer who has already and definitely will continue to make mistakes out of ignorance, I am inclined to be forgiving to a writer I love who I think meant no harm. But I also want to listen to the critiques I have heard from Asian American readers of this book, who tell me they found parts of it racist. I heard recently that there is a film adaptation in the works, and I sincerely hope that they have at least one Korean American writer working on the script, and are also accurate with the casting.

Burgess is an autistic comic author and illustrator based out of the UK. In this, their first full length book, they talk about experiences of growing up struggling with OCD and questions about their sexuality. From a young age Burgess felt out of step with their peers, still interested comics and fantasy novels while classmates began dating and having sex. They went on to study art at college and tried dating a few times, influenced by the dominant narratives about heterosexual romance which fill almost every aspect of daily life. Burgess graduated university at the height of the 2009 recession and struggled to find work, sinking into depression and stress from trying to break some of their compulsive behaviors. One bright spot was their developing relationship with a close asexual friend which eventually bloomed into a loving, nonsexual partnership. There were many things I liked and related to in this book, but also some parts I wish had been developed further, such as when/how the author came to terms with their biromantic/panromanticness. There were a few parts of the story which where not told chronologically, which didn't help the story's flow for me. However, I am extremely glad this book exists since there is still so little representation of asexuality and mental health. I hope this book brings comfort to many readers!

I am a huge fan of Leckie's Ancillary books, the Imperial Radch trilogy, enough so that I decided to buy this book in hardback (a very rare indulgence; my shelf space is at a premium). This book introduces a new set of characters in a new human-inhabited system, Hwae. The main character is Ingrey, a young woman adopted into a politically important family who has devised a far-fetched scheme in order to impress her mother and secure a permanent inheritance. She has bought a prisoner's freedom from a high-security prison, in hopes that this person will be able to tell her the location of some high-level stolen antiques. Ingrey thought she had secured the person of Palad Budrakim, but when the former prisoner is recovered from cryostasis e claims to have no knowledge of Palad or the crimes e committed. And thus Ingrey's threadbare plan begins to unravel, leading her into the mesh of interwoven schemes around her- a stolen ship, a false identity, a murder and the beginning of an international incident of epic proportions.

I enjoyed this book, though as a stand-alone it didn't carry the same weight or reach the same scope as the previous trilogy. I also didn't think Ingrey was as strong or interesting character as Breq. However, what this new book does offer is a fascinatingly complex society which recognizes at least three genders, male, female and neman or neutral. The neman members of this society use e/em/eir pronouns which I found DELIGHTFUL- as they are the same pronouns I have been using for the past couple of years :D

An absolutely stunning collection of memoir essays. Gem after gem after gem. I was very engaged with all of the different ways Chee wrote about writing itself. In one of my favorite essays, "The Writing Life", Chee talks about taking a class from Annie Dillard at Wesleyan in 1989. I loved the specific pieces of advice and exercises he recounted- "never quote dialogue you can summarize" stuck out to me particularly strongly as a very good reminder for prose, but literally the opposite of what I feel makes a good comic script. He also describes an exercise of taking a pair of scissors to an essay, cutting out and saving only the best lines, watching the others fall to the floor. I think about this all the time- paring down my drafts to the bare minimum. I also loved all of the essays that centered around Chee's time living in San Francisco, during which he was a member of ACT UP. Further pieces include mediations on family and inheritance, gender, queerness, rose gardens, tarot cards, sexual assault and memory. I'm very curious now to go back and read some of his fiction work. I may also buy a copy of this book at some point so I can underline in it. Highly recommend.