Today we are handing over the blog to queer fiction author Skye Kilaen, who is here to tell us about her favourite women loving women science fiction books!
I’ve been a geek girl since I was five or six, and as an adult, I love reading about women loving women, so why not put the two together?
Here’s a list of some of my favourite sapphic science fiction books – including the beginning of my own superpowered romance series which was out January 11th!
1. If I Were A Weapon by Skye Kilaen
My love for the X-Men and my love of queer romance have combined in this series about Deneve and Jolie, two bi/pan women who got superpowers when dying alien ships landed on Earth.
It’s near-future sci-fi, and the series focuses on their slow-burn romance along with their efforts to master their powers, avoid being kidnapped into a private army, and find a place where they can live safely. Together, so they can smooch regularly.
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited on your regional Amazon store.
2. The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
This is an extremely satisfying mashup between science fiction and cosmic horror with a queer autistic gal scientist lead.
Yasira Shien invents a new energy drive, but something goes horribly wrong with its activation and the space station she and her girlfriend are on is destroyed.
Her work is deemed heretical by the godlike AIs who rule humans, but they offer forgiveness if Yasira will help them capture her disgraced mentor.
Fantastic worldbuilding and I was rooting all the way for Yasira and Tiv to finally reunite!
Available on your regional Amazon store.
3. The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
A lovely, quiet novella about Clara Gutierrez, an asexual lesbian technician, falling in love with Sal, the female robot proprietor of an old-timey tea shop.
When Sal’s tea shop is attacked by anti-robot vandals, Clara helps Sal clean up, and a friendship is born. Katz packs a metric ton of emotion into this story.
The domesticity they fall into is so warm and reassuring, and the mutual declaration of affection is so delicate.
A true comfort re-read.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
4. Rulebreaker by Cathy Pegau
Liv Braxton, a career con-woman, infiltrates a corrupt mega-corporation to steal proof that they’re violating the law, so her crew can blackmail the company.
While Liv has always thought she was straight, the more time she spends with powerful exec Zia Talbot, the less of a barrier that seems to use seduction as a tactic to get access to the corporation’s secrets.
Both women eventually have to own up to the consequences of their bad choices, and I really liked how neither of them offers the other absolution, but rather supports the process of realizing they did wrong and must change.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
5. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I love science fiction with tangled political conspiracies, and if you do too, I strongly recommend you try this out.
Lots of queer characters, diplomats trying to uncover secrets and make audacious deals to save worlds, a colonizing power that prizes poetry, illegal neurosurgery in the “bad” part of town… really good stuff.
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare, our main character, is a fascinating character in over her head, which means her budding wlw relationship with liaison Three Seagrass is even more complicated.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
6. Silk & Steel: A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology by Various
Seventeen short stories that pair a woman who fights with her fists (or swords, etc.) and a woman who uses different skills to accomplish her goals.
Two great tastes, even better together.
My favourite science fiction stories from this collection are “Elinor Jones vs. the Ruritanian Multiverse” by Freya Marske and “The City Unbreachable” by Yoon Ha Lee, but there’s a lot to love here for any sapphic SFF fan.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
7. Silhouette by Robin Hale
When you are a bisexual genius scientist with a secret life supporting the city’s greatest superhero, you are NOT supposed to fall in love with the city’s greatest thief.
Dr Molly Fawn seems to have done just that, though. The Silhouette interrupted Molly during a heist, while Molly was on the opposite team helping Captain Commando, and the thief was just… so… pretty… I had a fun afternoon reading this.
It’s clear Hale knows the genres she’s playing with, and the story is by turns charming and suspenseful.
I would love to see some fan art of these gals.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
8. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
This science fiction and fantasy mashup has a lesbian swordfighter and necromancer solving murder mysteries in space, and it’s exactly as wild as you’d imagine from that description.
It’s also so complex that for the first third of the book, I was taking notes in a small notebook beside my bed to keep all the characters straight.
It was totally worth it, though.
The second book is yet another level of head trip, and I need to read it again to truly understand what was happening towards the end, but that’s gonna be worth it too.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
9. Rabbits of the Apocalypse by Benny Lawrence
I recently finished this post-apocalyptic novel, and I can’t get it out of my head.
It’s hilarious, profane, ridiculous, chilling, and deeply concerned for the well-being of its main characters, even the one who for much of the book plays the role of antagonist.
The lesbian main character, Casey seems like a total slacker when we first meet her, though deeply loyal to her (also a lesbian) bestie Malice and Casey’s younger sister Emily.
Casey, however, is more than she appears, and her heart and her decisions might just save the world.
Available on your regional Amazon store.
If you enjoyed this list, then I think you’ll love some of these other book lists:
- 14 Sapphic Superheroes to Save Your Day
- 10 Out Of This World Paranormal Stories
- 16 Great Reads for Lesbians and Queer Girls who Love Pirates!
Skye Kilaen writes queer romance, both contemporary and science fiction. Even her contemporaries are usually at least a bit geeky. After all, she does some of her writing in her local comic book shop.
She’s bi/pan and she currently lives in Austin, Texas because of all the libraries and breakfast tacos.