REBECCA LANGHAM
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AUTHOR interview: Tash mcadam

12/5/2018

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​* According to your author bio, you identify as trans and utilise gender neutral pronouns (their/them). How has your own life experience and identity influenced your writing?

I've been an avid reader my whole life, but characters with whom I could connect fully have always been few and far between. One of the reasons I started writing is to create stories that have queer and trans characters at the center, but aren't focused on gender or sexuality. I want action adventure stories with characters that truly resonate, and creating those stories has given me so much joy. I've made so many connections with youth and adults who feel the same way I do, that queer and trans stories deserve more than they're often given- as side characters or tokens, or solely defined by their gender/sexuality. Going through many different iterations of understanding my own sexuality and gender identity has allowed me to flesh out different experiences more fully, and the people I've met along my own journey have also heavily influenced my own writing. We all deserve to see ourselves as heroes, and more importantly, to be seen as heroes by others.  

* If you could re-make any Disney movie to include more gender and sexual diversity, which one would it be? 


MULAN, I'm still bitter that she's not officially genderqueer with her delightful pan boyfriend. It's so clear to me that this story deserved more depth and care for queer identities, and it would have been so important to young trans, gq and fluid people to see such an iconic character openly identify as not cis. 

* You have a series coming out soon, the Psionics. Who is your favourite character in this series? Why?
My favorite character in any series I've written is in this series! His name is Leaf and he's a pansexual transguy who makes his living as a trickster conman. He avoids fights at all costs, which makes me laugh, because I'm a martial artist and usually warrior characters are my favorites, but Leaf trumps all my tough guys by miles. He's sweet, witty, super quick and with a cutting sense of humor. He's just the best! Right now I'm actually working on a companion short story where he's the protagonist, and I'm having so much fun! His mission is to break an unknown spy out of jail, but first he has to get in... by getting arrested. While he's a major character in books 1, 3 and 4 of the Psionics, he's not a POV character, so getting to explore him more deeply is really satisfying. It's definitely going to inform my edits!  He's loosely based on a dude I met while backpacking in Australia, but I like my fictional version much better. 

* Tell us about Warp Weavers. What inspired a story about teens with super powers?
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I love superpowers, I always have done. I've always been fascinated by the with-great-power paradigm. Warp Weavers deals a lot with what it means to be chosen as a hero, what if you don't want that burden? My protagonist for the first story in that series just wants to get her missing parents back and move on with her life, but that's not the way magic works in this universe. Once you're chosen, there's no backing out. To be honest, I think the main inspiration behind this series was the closing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The idea of thousands of superpowered teens working together, making friends and fighting evil side by side, has always appealed to me. I'm a sucker for a found family. In the Warp Weavers universe, the magic comes in three strains- there are warriors, (you can probably guess what they can do), warlocks, who work magic to support their team, and finally, weavers. Weavers have the power to sense rifts between dimensions, as well as open and close those magical doorways. They're a key part in the fight against the encroaching demonic armies, as without them the doors would stay open forever, and we'd all be overrun and enslaved. 

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* How do you choose your character names when writing fiction?

Ha, I'm not sure I should answer this question. Most of my characters are named after students! I'm a teacher, and that provides a lot of name inspiration. I try really hard to not base characters on my students though, just pinch their names. Working in Vancouver is especially good for this because we have such a vibrantly diverse community I'll never end up with five main characters with similar names. 

* If you could have dinner with two of your own characters in real life, who would you choose and why?

Leaf, my amazing conman as mentioned above, and Dent. Dent is actually Leaf's adopted father, but when he's not rescuing dozens of kids from poverty, he's actually the King of the Slums. He's a smuggler, land pirate and all around swashbuckler who loves playing tricks, having fun, and making sure everyone is well fed. I think having dinner with these two would be a barrel of laughs, although I'd probably leave without my wallet, cell phone and jewelry. I wouldn't put it past them to be able to get my lip rings out without me even noticing. I consider that to be a small price to pay, though, as I'm sure that the hilarity would be well worth it.
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* Coffee or tea?

Why do people try to enforce false binaries?! :D I drink both. Usually tea on weekdays, both before and after work while coffee is more of a nice weekend treat. I have ADD and caffeine hits me pretty hard, so it's nice to have time to work off the extra buzz before having to function in public on the weekend. 

* Can you tell us about the BRAVE NEW GIRLS anthology? I understand you have a story featured in Volume 3.

It's an awesome project that is a collection of YA short stories all starring girls (trans inclusive!) who use science, tech, engineering or math skills to save the day. http://bravenewgirls.weebly.com/ you can find out more here if you like! My new story is about a trans lesbian mechanic who lives on Io (one of Jupiter's moons) and accidentally ends up embroiled with some outlaws because of a cute girl. 

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REVIEW: The Seeds of Dissolution by William C. Tracy

21/2/2018

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REVIEWED BY ANONYMOUS​

Genre: science fantasy 


Pairings: m/m/f


Queer Representation: bisexual, gender fluid, nonbinary, agender, third gender


Warnings: none--but so many enbies you might have to fan yourself


Rating: five stars





Review

After watching his parents die in a freak storm as a child, Sam's anxiety has kept him from leaving his house. When another inexplicable force of nature drags him out of his house, across space, and into the Nether--a place outside our universe--Sam must learn how to live with his anxiety amongst aliens while also discovering the magic that lives inside himself. 
 
Plot

At it's most basic, yes, this is a 'white boy goes on a journey' story. But it is so much more than that. At 400 pages, this is a high fantasy story (science fantasy, mind) with multiple POVs, a well-defined magic system (music!), and a relatable, flawed MC. The world is rich and lush, well described but never ad nauseum, the characters well rounded, and the species distinct and colorful. Tension builds steadily throughout, the ending is satisfying, and narration is easy to read. Bonus - the cover art and interior illustrations are gorgeous. I was also really pleased that Sam (our MC) does not get over his mental illness, but instead, learns coping mechanism throughout the story that help him interact more with his friends. Even at the end Sam is still gripped by his anxiety, but is able to do his part to save the day. It's rare to find books that do not treat mental illness as something to get over, but rather, allow for it to simply be a part of a character.
 
Relationship

The main relationship is a polyamorous one, between Sam and Inas (male) and his twin sister Enos. Sam is on-page bisexual (an argument could be made for pansexual, as one line notes Sam is interested in the twins for their personalities, not their forms). He is not closeted at the start, and as his interests unfold there is no mental turmoil about being attracted to another male, or being attracted to two people at once. This was all very refreshing, and it was nice to see not only aliens being fine with canon queerness, but an actual human being okay with it, too. 
 
Enbies. Enbies everywhere

I want to do a special callout to the gender representation in this book. It seems ridiculous that this is so rare in SFF, as any time you deal with new species there should never be an inherent assumption of a gender binary. And yet, SFF, especially science fiction, is rife with the strict male/female dynamic. Tracy presents species with genders of all variants, from agender, to third gender, to straight up uncategorized nonbinary, to a gender fluid main character (and no one, no one, freaking cares that they have to pronoun check every so often for this character!). None of the POV characters were outside the binary, but the world was so rich with enby characters I didn't even mind. It felt nice, for once, to be 'included' in a SFF narrative without being the reason for the narrative existing, if that makes sense. Sometimes the most useful way to show your support for a group of people is to make them everyday players, and this book does just that. 
 
The joy of self publishing
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This book is a great example of why self-publishing can be a wonderful thing. Books like this, which walk right between science fiction and fantasy, which have a YA-aged protagonist mixed with much older POV characters, and which have a high word count (book is right at 400 pages), can be a very hard sell to agents and publishers. SEEDS is exceptionally well written, avoids the pitfalls I see with many self-pubbed books (lack of editing, unattractive cover art, lack of act structure and/or through line) and delivers a quality story. The interior art, as well, is a hallmark of Tracy's stories and really adds the finishing touch to this novel. 
 
Overall, this book should appeal to readers across science fiction and fantasy, as well as YA and adult readers. Queer readers, especially those outside the gender binary, will feel right at home in the Nether, and there is plenty of 'standard' fantasy fare to keep general readers interested. I'm very much looking forward to the next installment!

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REVIEW: The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin

13/2/2018

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Princess Esofi of Rhodia and Crown Prince Albion of Ieflaria have been betrothed since they were children but have never met. At age seventeen, Esofi’s journey to Ieflaria is not for the wedding she always expected but instead to offer condolences on the death of her would-be husband.

But Ieflaria is desperately in need of help from Rhodia for their dragon problem, so Esofi is offered a new betrothal to Prince Albion’s younger sister, the new Crown Princess Adale. But Adale has no plans of taking the throne, leaving Esofi with more to battle than fire-breathing beasts.

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Category: Romance
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Word Count: 65000
Pages: 175
Sex Content: N/A
Pairing: FF
Orientation: Pansexual
Identity: Cisgender

REVIEWED BY REBECCA
​RATING: FIVE STARS

I thoroughly enjoyed this very palatable fantasy story from Effie Calvin. Written in third person through two different perspectives, the story follows two women who have found themselves engaged to be married for the sake of political stability and magical protection against dragon invasions. What's not to love about that kind of plot? Esofi has always known she would marry the heir of Ieflaria and the thought has never really bothered her, but when her betrothed, Albion, dies unexpectedly, Esofi's vision of the future needs to shift as she becomes engaged to his younger and less responsible sister, Adale.

The world-building is quite rich, particularly the spiritual aspects of Calvin's imaginative world. It took me a little while to understand the different deities, but it wasn't a chore, and I had a decent grasp of the mythology by the end. I did wonder at Esofi's attitude towards science, in that I expected part of her character growth to include her becoming more open to alternative perspectives about healing, but that plot point didn't seem to go anywhere - but this is a series and you can't address every little idea in the first book.

The political, social, and religious situations are fascinating and there's plenty to explore throughout subsequent books. But at the same time, I felt quite satisfied with the self-contained story in Book 1. There was a good balance between descriptions of settings, character interactions, and action sequences. I usually take quite a while to finish books because of my children and my work commitments, but I finished this one quite fast because I kept putting off other things in life to read, having been pulled right in.

Personally, I would have liked to see a little more of the resolution between Esofi and Adale towards the end - as it seemed there would have been some "off page/screen" interactions after the climax and I felt slightly left out having not seen at least the discussion where they resolved (or didn't? Won't ruin it all for you) their conflicts. I'm guessing the unicorn played a part, but I'm not sure. This is a minor point of personal preference though, and everything is wrapped up very effectively.

Overall, The Queen of Ieflaria is an engaging, turbulent story set within a rich and imaginative fantasy world that I easily fell in love with. I'm keen to see what other books this author will write in future.

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    ABOUT C.B.

    Book reviews, Author Q&As and more as shared by an Australian lesbian. My core interests lie in genre fiction: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror etc.
    ​
    My aim is to help provide more exposure to those books that  may not fit neatly into the usual "lesfic" boxes (EG: pansexual women who engage with different aspects of their sexuality, non-binary characters, books with very little romance etc.) or books that don't conform to the most popular tropes that tend to dominate the LGBTIQ+ publishing world.

    That said, I'll put up pretty much any review that I'd like to share. Most will have some sort of rainbow content, but not all. I am a reader who likes to talk about books -- that's really what this little corner of the web is for, to talk about books.

    ​Email: celestialbooks [AT] rebeccalangham.com.au

    Twitter: @ceLEStialsff

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