femslashex | Sell Your Fandom/Pairing (and a pitch for the pinch hit list)

Sell Your Fandom/Pairing (and a pitch for the pinch hit list)

Sign ups open in a couple days, but in the meantime, take a moment talk up your favourite pairings and fandoms. Get offers! Get fans! Get someone to at least watch/read/listen to the bloody thing!

Use the comment space on dreamwidth, or make your bid on tumblr and tag it "Femslashex." We'll keep track and make a links list.

ALSO! Please consider adding your name to the pinch hit list.

All you have to do is join the group, and you'll get e-mails when we're looking for pinch hits. No obligation to claim anything, but if you want to, you can just reply to the e-mail or the notice on the group page.

Pinch hitting is a great way to help out, both because it's pinch hitters that make fests work and because if you're choosy you can pick over things before you claim them. I'm also a fan of pinch hit lists just because I like getting to see who asked for what and so on.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

* Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka | Is the Order a Rabbit?: Do you like coffee shop AUs? What about bunnies, especially angora bunnies? Or what about plenty of femslashy subtext and lots of possible f/f ships? If all that sounds good to you, then this is the canon for you! Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu!

* il sole penetra le illusioni | Day Break Illusion: A dark magical girl series, but magical girls are known for overcoming any kind of adversity no matter what, and like most magical girl series it delivers the femslashy subtext with plenty of pairings to choose from. Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu!

* Maria-sama ga Miteru: Do you like school stories with subdued drama but also with plenty of emotions? Then you may like this series! It's all about female relationships, so naturally there's plenty of pairings to choose from. Watch it on Hulu!

* Sakura Trick: Sometimes you just want fluffy f/f romance with lots of kissing and nothing but fluffy f/f romance with lots of kissing, and this series does not disappoint. There's two canon lesbian couples and even more potential pairings, and it's all happy. Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu!

* Strawberry Panic: What about romance with a little more drama? Can't get enough of school stories? Well, here's another! It definitely has the drama, but it's also heartwarming and happy. There's at least four canon lesbian couples, and of course plenty more potential pairings. It's not streaming online legally as far as I know, but it's easy to find elsewhere, and the DVD set is still readily available, as is the novel omnibus.

* Stray Little Devil: Surprise canon yuri and an angel/devil pairing - you just can't go wrong with either. It's a happy fantasy canon, and while the romance takes a bit of time to develop, the ending is quite satisfying. It's five volumes and the English release is out-of-print, but scans are easy to find online.

Edited 2014-08-22 22:59 (UTC)

Tomb Raider (2013). Lara Croft/Sam Nishimura.

Picture the scene. Two good friends, wrecked on a remote island off the Japanese coast filled with insane cultists who worship an insane goddess. One girl is kidnapped and the other spends almost the entire game trying to get her back, fighting her way through jungles, wolves, and hordes of men with grenades and assault rifles.

Here is some actual footage:

FORREAL YOU GUYS THIS IS THE FEMSLASHIEST ACTION GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED.

I've wanted to play this game for a long time and now I just might cave and get it.

Is it um, difficult though? I picked up an early tomb raider game a few years ago and ragequit it halfway through because I sucked so bad. :')

I didn't find it overly difficult. There were some frustrating combat sections, particularly the wolves (oh god, the wolves), and some of the later parts have fairly tricky puzzles but I never felt the need to turn the difficulty down. I certainly didn't find it as hair-pullingly, throw-my-computer-out-of-the-window awful as some of the 90s TR games!

Honestly, I had never managed to finish a Tomb Raider game before this one.

(Also, if you're playing on PC and really struggling, there are plenty of sites that have game saves you can download.)

Lots of great queer music nominated this year, so I thought I'd post a list of videos and songs so everyone could find them all in the one place.

Music Videos
Hopefully someone more familiar with Janelle Monae can do a guide to her works and pairings.

Addicted to You - Avicii

Can't Remember To Forget You

She Keeps Me Warm - Mary Lambert

Songs
Best Song Ever - Gabrielle Aplin

I Didn't Just Kiss Her - Jen Foster

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You - Kate Nash

The Poet Game - Ani DiFranco

Teenage Dirtbag - Mary Lambert

Edited (code) 2014-08-22 23:00 (UTC)

Akuma no Riddle is a series about two things: girls who like girls and assassins. It's the kind of stupidly fun, action-y premise that so rarely graces the yuri genre. It's an almost all-female cast with a whole bunch of f/f text and subtext. It was recently adapted into a 12 episode anime and has an on-going manga.

Teppuu is an on-going manga about women's MMA with an all-around great portrayal of women of differing personalities, a boatload of f/f subtext, and a fantastically jerkish and mean-spirited protagonist up against a plucky, well-meaning antagonist. If you like f/f rivalry ships, I have a hard time thinking of a better fandom because you have so many options (Natsuo is simply the queen of foe yay). But at the same time, there are supportive ships between women on friendlier terms if that's more your style.

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken (released simply as "Fire Emblem" in English) despite its age still stands as one of my favourite installments in the Fire Emblem franchise (and to say I love every FE game I've ever played isn't an exaggeration). Fire Emblem as a franchise tends to have a fair bit of same gender subtext and the pairings nominated for this exchange are no exception. If you don't want to, can't or simply don't have the time to play the game, transcripts of support conversations between the characters are readily available online for your perusal.

Let me tell you about Kamen Rider.

You look apprehensive.
Kamen Rider is a franchise of kids' superhero shows about guys dressing up in spandex and fighting monsters. It can be silly and thought-provoking at the same time, with a wide range of deep, complex characters.

"Guys dressing up in spandex? But this is an exchange for femslash!" Worry not. While the protagonists of every Kamen Rider thus far have been male, there are a number of likeable, shippable female characters, especially in the three shows I nominated.

Kamen Rider W (Double)

To start with, there's Narumi Akiko, the exciteable-but-dedicated self-appointed landlord of the Narumi Detective Agency, around which the show revolves. You also have the Sonozaki sisters, Saeko and Wakana, villainesses who turn into monsters that inexplicably have very prominent boobs.

As you do.
There's also Queen and Elizabeth, two high school girls who frequently provide valuable intel to our detective heroes and who are played by members of AKB-48. The nominated pairings also include two characters-of-the-week, Saeki Motoko (a senior DJ at the radio station Wakana works at) and Sudou Yukie (who, to put it in Homestuck terms, is seriously waxing pitch for Saeko).

A fun-filled romp through film noir tropes with a strong focus on family, W is a great place for any Kamen Rider newbie to start. See also: This Tumblr post I made about Wakana and Akiko.

Nominated pairings: Saeki Motoko/Sonozaki Wakana, Sonozaki Saeko/Sonozaki Wakana, Sonozaki Saeko/Sudou Yukie, Elizabeth/Queen, Narumi Akiko/Sonozaki Wakana

Kamen Rider Fourze

Fourze is about outer space. And high school. And friends. And high school friends in space. The three female members of Amanogawa High School's Kamen Rider Club -- Joujima Yuuki, Nozama Tomoko, and Kazashiro Miu -- are well-rounded and likeable, each drawing on a separate high school girl trope but at the same time far surpassing cliches.

Also, Tomoko has the hugest crush on Yuuki.

Don't take that face too seriously; Yuuki is put off by Tomoko's advances at first, but they eventually become strong friends. Sadly, Tomoko's interest in Yuuki vanishes when her designated het love interest appears... but at least it was there at all? (I take what I can get.)

You've also got Nadeshiko, a movie-only character who is extremely cute. Also? Girl Kamen Rider.

Nominated pairings: Joujima Yuuki/Nozama Tomoko, Joujima Yuuki/Kazashiro Miu, Joujima Yuuki/Misaki Nadeshiko

Kamen Rider Wizard

While a bit weaker than some of the other newer series, Wizard is still extremely fun. The bad guys? Monsters trying to make people give in to despair. And how do you become a Kamen Rider in this series? Basically by beating depression. (So maybe I'm just biased.)

The nominated girls in this series are Daimon Rinko, an adorable and badass cop fighting to protect people; Koyomi, a mysterious amnesiac with a cute magical girl aesthetic; Medusa, the villains' second-in-command; and Inamori Mayu, yet another girl Kamen Rider.

Nominated pairings: Daimon Rinko/Koyomi, Koyomi/Medusa, Inamori Mayu/Medusa

English subs of these and more can be found at nyaa.se!

Tell me more of this character with a magical girl aesthetic.

Gladly.

This is Koyomi! That's the sort of "magical girl" I meant, btw -- kind of old-fashioned fairy tale rather than Sailor Moon. If you're looking for a more mahou shoujo genre thing, Mayu is better for that. I can ramble about her too if you want!

Anyway, Koyomi is adorable. She can come across as a weak character since her actress had some scheduling hiccups early on in the series, but she's pretty great once you take a closer look.

After an event that led to the birth of many monsters and gave the main character, Haruto, his magic powers, she showed up with no memory and with some sort of condition that led to her requiring infusions of magical energy. She doesn't know who she is or where she came from, but Haruto has given her hope for the future (Haruto giving people hope is basically What The Series Is About). She starts the series off as a very cold person, wanting nothing to do with anyone but Haruto, but she manages to grow and evolve and become a more open, kind person who cares about others. Which is one of my favorite character types ever. (She's really similar to Philip from Double, who I adore for the same reasons.)

Where she really shines is the end of the series, when the mystery behind her identity is revealed and she gets to react to that. Spoilers ahead: She's actually a magically-created homunculus of a girl who died years ago. Her father, the villain of the series, is trying to sacrifice countless people just to fully revive her as more than the shell that she currently is. Her condition deteriorates and she dies, but not before accepting her fate and insisting that nobody should ever hurt anyone for her sake again. Which may not sound like much, but it's a very refreshing twist on a theme that the Weird Mystical Deuteragonists from the past three Kamen Rider series embodied -- When they died, they got magic resurrection buttons. Well, one of them had to wait forty years, but still.

I'm currently in the middle of re-watching Wizard after having not seen it for a few months, so this explanation could definitely stand to be a lot better. But there you have it!

Magical girls of all types are actually my main fandom and I love older style ones too. Koyomi sounds very interesting. I didn't read your spoilers, but I might have to actually watch a Kamen Rider series. You also make Haruto almost sound like a Precure with the way you describe him.

So, tell me about Mayu.

I haven't seen Precure but I just relayed that comment to my roommate, who has, and he said that's about accurate.

So, Mayu! After her twin sister became a Phantom (one of the series' despair monsters) Mayu did her best to carry on. That Phantom later came after her, aiming to drive her to despair as well and create another Phantom, and despite Haruto's attempts to protect her she still wound up on the brink of despair. She overcame it on her own, though -- the first person in the series besides Haruto to do so -- and earned the right to become a Kamen Rider on her own.

After vanishing for a few episodes to practice her magic, she showed up to try and take her revenge on the Phantom who used to be her sister. She's highly driven and incredibly strong for a high school student. Plus she's the first female Kamen Rider to appear in-series (as opposed to just in a movie) and have a significant role without dying for it, and she's definitely not a disappointment.

Ketsu covered the telling about, so I will serve simply to drive by and drop some shiny transformation gifs on you of Mayu.

Ame-Comi Girls
Imagine a world like the DC universe, but with a little change. All the primary heroes and villains are women (except Trigon, he's still a man). Power Girl was raised by the Kents and protects Metropolis. Batgirl and her cousin Robin defend Gotham. Jade is the Green Lantern. Natasha Irons is Steel and the provider of Batgirl's tools. There are so many other fascinating female characters and a really fun series that has already ended. I will say the outfits are a bit fanservicey, but that is due to the comic having to incorporate the costumes from a line of statues of the same name.

Nominated Ships: Avril Palmer/Kara Jor-El, Barbara Gordon/Kara Jor-El, Barbara Gordon/Kara Zor-El, Jade Yifei/Kara Zor-El, Jessie Quick/Raven Roth

Ever After High
Do you know which version of fairy tales are real? All of them. In Ever After fairy tales are done over and over again by each generation. The variations in the stories are caused by different generations doing things slightly differently. However, Raven Queen, the next Evil Queen, doesn't want to poison Apple White, the next Snow White, and be evil. Raven would rather practice music than magic. Apple finds security in her role of the next Snow White, though she is brilliant and even able to convert words into binary in her head. There is so much femslashy possible between the book version and the cartoon version.

Nominated Ships: Apple White/Raven Queen, Blondie Lockes/Cedar Wood, Cerise Hood/Duchess Swan, Darling Charming/Faybelle Thorn, Duchess Swan/Melody Piper, Cerise Hood/Raven Queen, Madeline "Maddie" Hatter/Raven Queen

And now that I have your attention, can I interest you in Dallas? Yes, the continuation of the 80s primetime soap.

...no! Wait! Come back! Look at how pretty Emma and Pamela are! Look at the tenderness in Pamela's kiss and the pure joy in Emma's smile!

And now let me tell you that is the enemy ship. And that it's not even the femslashiest part of the show. No, that honor goes to Pamela's mothers-in-law, Ann and Sue Ellen. (Fun fact: there is a lesbian bar in the city of Dallas that is named after Sue Ellen.)

I don't want to give you the wrong idea, of course. Ann and Sue Ellen aren't married or anything; why they're Pamela's mothers-in-law is a whole other thing. No, they're just BFFs and sisters-in-law who are painfully in love with each other. And their ex-husbands know it. When Ann's ex-husband wants to torment her, he goes after Sue Ellen. When Sue Ellen's ex-husband wants to save her from her self-destructive ways, he tells her Ann needs her. When Ann and Sue Ellen aren't rescuing each other or supporting each other through crises, they're spending the night drinking tea by the fireplace while the (adult) children they (badly) co-parent are off causing mayhem.

Also, they are adorable. And pretty.

Chihayafuru is a character-driven coming of age story with one of the loveliest female protagonists in the sports genre. It's a josei manga/anime about people who play karuta, a card game based off of the Hyakunin Isshu poems, centered on a girl whose dream is to become the Queen - the best player in the world. It's full of wonderful f/f relationships that are just waiting to be given queer readings. There are many shades of romantic friendships, rivalries, and mentor-mentoree relationships that can be found in all the awesome femslash ships! This is also a great fandom if you enjoy poly shipping because poly subtext can be read absolutely everywhere. Everyone should watch or read this and then request/offer it because I have a mighty need.

click img for gif credit

A brief run-down of the ships I nominated, to try and entice you:

- Ayase Chihaya/Oe Kanade: Cute girls being cute friends and also totally crushing on each other. Kanade became the first recruited member of Chihaya's new karuta team when Chihaya recognized Kanade's passion for classical poetry. Chihaya at one point says that Kanade is the most dateable of the club members. They are so different - Chihaya is constantly exuberant while Kanade is a traditionalist who cares a lot about manners and propriety - but their friendship is so heartwarming and mutually supportive and if you care about misfit girls who care about each other and want to help each other achieve their dreams, this is a ship that you will like.
- Ayase Chihaya/Sakurazawa Midori: Midori is the coach of another school's karuta club. Before the series began, she challenged the Queen four years in a row, never beating her. She takes Chihaya under her wing further down the line. Chihaya's clearly got an innocent schoolgirl crush, and I think Midori would figure it out and not really be sure what to do or feel about it. She clearly sees a bit of her younger self in Chihaya, so there is a lot of interesting potential there for misplaced pining mixed up with ambition and regrets and nostalgia. Midori's a bit of a cynic, clearly, and a hardened and experienced player who spent a good part of her life trying and failing to achieve the same dream Chihaya's so earnestly working towards, and I want this dynamic to be explored a million times more than it is in the fandom right now.
- Ayase Chihaya/Wakamiya Shinobu: Shinobu, a karuta prodigy, is the current Queen, and Chihaya will have to beat her in order to achieve her dream of becoming Queen. Their relationship refuses to be categorized as purely a rivalry or a (romantic) friendship, and there's a healthy dose of idol worship for good measure. They've been bizarrely obsessed with each other since the first time they met, and each girl has had an enormous impact on the other, which only becomes more obvious every time they meet again. Chihaya is showing Shinobu the magic of friendship and teamwork, while Shinobu is showing Chihaya exactly what level of play she can aspire to and spurring her on to reach that level. They're also both weird nerds, and Chihaya dreams about her "like, on a daily basis"!! What more could you ask for?!?
- Hanano Sumire/Oe Kanade: Sumire is an underclassman who joins the karuta club simply to pursue one of the guys in it, and she and Kanade clash until Kanade shows her the magic of poetry and inspires her to take karuta seriously as part of her romantic quest. Sumire is an ultra-modern girly girl while Kanade is demure and traditional, and I love to think of them doing goofy things like going over classical poetry while getting their nails done. They haven't known each other for too long and yet have already formed an unlikely friendship that's at times brutally honest as well as supportive.
- Inokuma Haruka/Sakurazawa Midori: Haruka is the Queen Midori faced off against many times (unsuccessfully.) There's no way these two don't have huge, dramatic history together. Two adult women still heavily involved with a relatively low-profile sport, they come off to me as old-friends-turned-rivals-turned-lovers who eventually drifted apart and made Real Lives for themselves, but who still clearly care about each other and the sport. I also like the idea that for each of them, karuta is inseparable from the other.

I can think of at least four other ships I could have nominated, but we had a limit. Anyway, I hope I piqued someone's interest, either to offer/request something here or just to pick up this series for more general reasons! Besides the potential for femslash, it's a really great series that I recommend to everyone.

Cì Qîng | Spider Lilies (2007)

Do you like tattoos? Do you like being really sad but getting a mostly happy ending? I have a movie for you.

I don't want to give away too much so here is a barebones summary: Spider Lilies is the story of a camgirl named Jade who stumbles on her childhood crush, Takeko, working in a tattoo parlour. Unfortunately, Takeko is still working through a lot of difficulties in her life and past trauma. The movie is really beautiful and has a lot of emotional pay-off. And the end leaves us all with perfect opportunities to create fanwork speculating on how Jade and Takeko's lives move forward.

It's also just generally beautiful.

Watch Spider Lilies!!!!

Spider Lilies is a very beautiful, wonderful movie, so everyone should watch it, and it does look like the English DVD is still in print. I also recommend the director's other film, Drifting Flowers, which is also very good.

Ooh, I actually hadn't heard of Drifting Flowers, but I'm definitely going to try and watch that one too!

Dumbing of Age! This is why we read Dumbing of Age. If you like your fictional relationships gentle and/or healthy, look elsewhere. Ruth/Billie is the best clusterfuck in the world.

I’m not going to lie to y’all. I’ll give just about anything a try if you tell me there will be ladies kissing other ladies in it. Hell, I will watch some questionable content simply for ladies that fandom knows are totally getting it on with one another even though the show runners are completely in denial about that fact.

But sometimes, it feels like not quite enough, living off that longing glance stern attractive woman A gave female character B, her flighty and equally attractive “rival”, six episodes ago.

AND THEN...

SUDDENLY a show featuring queer ladies that the creative team behind the show actually knows are gay, the show where they did that on purpose and the ladies are like "We're going to investigate crime AND be for realsies in love with each other." I ask you, what more could you want?

(gif source)

Nikki and Nora are former New Orleans police detectives, now private investigators. Nikki’s free-spirited, flirtatious, and bad-ass. Nora’s slightly more snarky and straight-laced but equally badass. (Also, superficial but worthy of note: she has a voice that makes me want to claw out my own eyeballs BECAUSE HEARING IS ALL I NEED.) They investigate crimes together. And also make out, take baths together, YOU KNOW, LADY STUFF.

I wouldn’t lie to y’all about ladies in the bath.
(gif source)

And this show is GOOD. REALLY GOOD. Think Castle but with two ladies though that doesn’t take into account the fact that it absolutely has it own unique flavor. Nikki & Nora has a groove all its own. It's set in New Orleans and has a strong sense of place and it has a delightful cast of quirky supporting characters and relationships.

Nikki & Nora manages to recognize that two leads in a steady relationship can be interesting and fun — they have delightful banter and really sweet relationship-y scenes and their bond is evident whether they’re on the case or in a personal scene. Also it's fun and it never takes itself too seriously, the two leads have OFF THE DAMN CHARTS chemistry, etc. etc.

All the tropes I (and you! and you?) love about cop shows are there: hurt/comfort? check! “I hate it when they run.” check! flirty undercover? check!

(gif source)

So you want to watch some Nikki & Nora? It all starts with the 2004 unaired pilot that leaked online. While I love the pilot, it is a little dated and they obviously had to make some concessions to appeal to a network. So, if you’re not wild about the pilot, please don’t let it stop you from viewing the web series because, as much as I dig the pilot, the web series is approximately ten trillion times more awesome than even that.

The current web series is up on a site called Tello. There is a subscription fee. It's $4.99 a month and all seven episodes of Nikki & Nora season one are up so you could pay for one month and watch it all. That said, there are 17 total series on Tello so you might just be tempted to keep your subscription. Did I mention the whole channel is entirely queer lady content? Well, it is. If you have the money, I whole heartedly argue that it's worth supporting because giving Tello money means more stuff like Nikki & Nora in the future.

Look, you want this in your life.

(gif source)

Where to Watch
2004 pilot (40 min episode) - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xstego_nikki-and-nora-2004-unaired-pilot_shortfilms
2013/14 web series (7 episodes about 10 min each, requires subscription) - http://www.onemorelesbian.com/tello/webseries/nikki-nora/

Let me try to sell you on Sun Sword.

The Sun Sword is a series of six novels by Michelle West, part of her wider Essalieyan/Annagar universe. They are giant-ass fantasy tomes, chock full of intrigue, magic, politics, battles, gods, demons, and oh, yes, women. Lots and lots of women, fighting and scheming and exercising agency however they can. Some of the ones that have been nominated (in a variety of pairings) include:

Mirialyn ACormaris, daughter of the King and Queen of Wisdom, which in the Empire of Essalieyan is a bit of a conundrum because the Kings and Queens aren't actually expected to like each other enough to procreate together. She's not in line to the throne--that would be the Queen's son with someone else--and no one is quite sure what to do with her. She can't marry; that would muddle the line of succession. Instead, she applies herself to the arts of strategy and war, becoming a master swordswoman and an adviser to the throne. And she expects to spend her life pretty much alone. . .

. . . until Alina di'Lamberto shows up and the two become best friends. Alina is the sister of one of the most powerful nobles in the Dominion of Annagar, the Empire's southern neighbor. She's a bitter, sharp-tongued spinster (who is very, very good with knives) in a country that treats its women as chattel and expects them to be soft and graceful ornaments. When Annagar loses a war with Essalieyan and Esselieyan demands hostages from each of its noble families, Alina's brother is only too glad to ship her north. After all, she doesn't meet the standards set by women like . . .

. . . Teresa di'Marano, the serra's serra, known across the Dominion as the epitome of grace, wit, and style. Perplexingly to many, she has never married, and in her middle years still resides under the protection of her brother Sendari, whose harem she rules with a silk-clad steel fist. That's because she has a magical gift--the ability to compel anyone to obey her merely by speaking--that her family was loathe to let out of their control, but also because she dearly loved . . .

. . . Alora en'Marano, her brother's wife, a fierce woman who loved her husband and her sister-in-law and saw no reason why she couldn't have relationships with both--and therefore did, at least until, before the series begins, she died giving birth to . . .

. . . Diora en'Leonne, who Teresa raised to be everything Teresa was and more, and thus became the wife to the ruler of the Dominion. The Dominion's sharp separation of male and female worlds, however, means she barely knows her husband. It's her harem--the female slaves her husband gathered before he wed her--that earn her love and devotion, and her passion for them that ultimately propels the plot of the series. Along the way, she forms lasting bonds with many other women, including . . .

. . . Margret of the Arkosa, heir to the Arkosa Voyani, one of four matriarchal tribes who wander the deserts of the Dominion and stand apart from the rest of that realm. Although Diora and Margret eventually become as close as sisters, their early acquaintance is prickly at best, because Diora's polished manners and always (externally) calm demeanor are a polar opposite to Margret's rough and wild nature. Even for her famously volatile clan, Margret is easy to anger, thanks in part to her poor relationship with . . .

. . . Evallen of the Arkosa, her mother and matriarch, who loves her daughter but always puts the needs of her people over the needs of any individual, even her daughter--or herself. That's been true since she was a much younger woman, when she first became friends with Teresa di'Marano, and it's all the more true now, because this is an epic fantasy novel and the fate of her people (and of the world) hangs in the balance. Saving it will take the concerted efforts of all the above, and, beyond all else, will be the life's work of . . .

. . . Evayne a'Nolan, half-human seer, who sacrificed any chance of a normal life to wander adrift in time and space, always there when a piece needs to be moved and never able to linger past the play. And by "pieces," I mean, of course, people. Evayne's job is to manipulate others into doing What Must Be Done, even if that means sacrificing their own lives. She regrets it, bitterly--but not enough to prevent her from doing it. Even when that means ensuring the birth of . . .

. . . Kiriel di'Ashaf, daughter of a human woman and the Lord of Hell, who is necessary to save the world but may just decide to destroy it instead if no one can convince her that it's worth preserving. Raised in the hells and with very little sense of social order beyond "the weak obey or are killed by the strong," she falls in with a group of mixed-gender Essalieyanese black-ops soldiers whose flexible morality just might be able to accommodate her kill-first approach to life, and with . . .

. . .Jewel Markess ATerafin, who's made a life of rescuing others and may be the only one to see a better nature worth cultivating in Kiriel. Jewel is an orphan and a street rat, but her precognitive powers brought her to the interest of House Terafin, one of the leading noble/mercantile powers of Essalieyan. When she joined the House, it was on the condition that they take, with her, the gang of street children she protected. Most of them are still with her, but . . .

. . . Duster, Jewel's right-hand woman when it came to combat, died before the series began. Duster's nature was almost as dark as Kiriel's--which just may be why Jewel is so intent on rescuing Kiriel, since she still bitterly regrets Duster's loss. The two, after all, go back a long, long way, to when they were very young girls who had to save each other. (See: the House War series. But that's a lot more women, not nominated here!)

If any of the above sounds interesting to you, the first book is The Broken Crown.

Having just talked up an enormous series, let me mention a stand-alone science fiction novel for those who don't have the time to read 4,000+ pages.

The book is Courtship Rite, by Donald Kingsbury. And before I promote it, I feel I have to warn for it: this is a book about polyamorous cannibals. If that information intrigues you or fills you with glee, read on! If not, uh, this is probably not the book for you.

In addition to polyamorous cannibals, Courtship Rite contains: questionable libertarian politics, clunky prose, dubcon, noncon, and underage.

So now that I have told you all the reasons not to read it, why should you read it? Really awesome women.

Courtship Rite takes place in a world where the ideal relationship is a six-way marriage. Marriages are expected to build over time, starting with a couple and extending from there, but the maran-Kaiel family can't do anything the easy way. Instead, three brothers decided to marry each other--and then start collecting wives.

The first, Noe, is a spoiled rich girl--and a skilled strategist, microbiologist, and diplomat with a love for extreme sports.

The second, Teenae, is a child-bride bought from slavers. The brothers think she'll be more biddable than Noe and find instead that she's a terror who can only be appeased with promises to teach her higher mathematics, her greatest passion.

For a third, the family has its eyes on Kathein, a brilliant chemist/engineer--until, for political reasons, the head of their tribe orders them to abandon that courtship and marry Oelita instead.

Oelita is out-clan, a wandering philosopher, and a vegetarian--which, in context, means she doesn't eat people. To every other character in the book this is a horrifying heresy. The head of the tribe thinks that by marrying Oelita, the maran-Kaiel can control her efforts to spread her heresy. The maran-Kaiel come up with a different plan: kill Oelita and marry Kathein as planned.

Shockingly, this does not go smoothly, particularly once various family members meet Oelita and decide they quite like her after all. . . .

And then, further mucking up the works, there's the se-Tufi Who Walks in Humility. Humility is one of the Liethe, an all-female tribe of cloned assassin/courtesans who secretly control the world's politics. Like the rest of her tribe, she unquestioningly follows the orders of her elders . . . until she meets the maran-Kaiel and decides there might be some things she'd like out of life for herself after all.

There's no sex on page between any of the women, but the co-wives all clearly love each other and have relationships with each other independent of those with their husbands. They talk, they play games, they do science, they cuddle, they kiss, they eat babies (did I mention the cannibalism?), and, despite having distinctly different personalities and interests, form a believable family. It's a fandom that cries out for domestic F/F fluff . . . with, of course, cannibalism.

Hehe, I started to read this book a year or two ago but got distracted and never finished it. This description totally makes me want to pick it back up!

Yesss. My work is complete!

Like time travelling android revolutionaries? Then Janelle Monae is probably your jam, literally. Like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (with slippage between Janelle the musician, Janelle the persona, and Cindi the character), Janelle Monae is Cindi Mayweather. an Alpha Platinum 9000 android from the future who is sentenced to death for falling in love with a human, Anthony Greendown, goes on the run and travels through time, eventually becoming the leader of the android revolution. Given that the story concept from the few albums out (Metropolis the Chase Suite ep, The Archandroid, and The Electric Lady) is in no way linear and is mostly alluded to, that's about all you need to know, and there's ample room for extrapolation, and most importantly in this case, lots of basically original femslash.

Ladies appear throughout Monae's songs and videos (most links to YouTube):

Mary (possibly the same Mary mentioned briefly in the songs Q.U.E.E.N., Sally Ride, and Mushrooms and Roses),
Badoula Oblongata (a fellow revolutionary played by Erykah Badu in the Q.U.E.E.N. video),
the Electro Phi Beta android sorors Assata 8550 and Melanie 45221 (from the interlude skit "The Chrome Shoppe" on the Electric Lady),
all of Cindi's fellow android sisters (seen in Many Moons and the album artwork (scroll to the bottom) for the Electric Lady),
and the Electric Lady (and the screaming female fans from Dance Apocalyptic
the woman looking for some undercover lovin' in Givin' Em What They Love
the woman in Dorothy Dandridge Eyes,

These posts from Autostraddle and Persephone magazine do a great job of pointing out the queerness of her songs (with additional lyrics and links) and you can find all of her videos on YouTube.

Like adorable and hilarious lesbian romcoms with a charmingly low budget scifi B movie aesthetic? Then consider Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, the story of 3 lesbian space aliens (and one shy human greeting card store employee) who find love and heartbreak on Earth while being tracked by the "men in black." Here's the trailer and links to places to rent the film, and it's also streaming on Netflix.

Peking Opera Blues (1986)

It’s tragedy and comedy bundled together into a tour de force; stars a trio of very different women who join together under unusual circumstances; features gorgeous costumes and fight sequences (acrobatic opera swordplay! more srs bsns gunplay!); cheerfully plays with gender roles of the time period; and okay, it’s just plain fun. Have a primer! Watch the trailer!

Edited 2014-09-24 22:15 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sell Your Fandom/Pairing (and a pitch for the pinch hit list)

no subject

Tomb Raider - Lara/Sam

Re: Tomb Raider - Lara/Sam

Re: Tomb Raider - Lara/Sam

Re: Tomb Raider - Lara/Sam

Music Videos and Songs

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

pls ship my chihayafuru ships: the comment novel.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Nikki & Nora

Sun Sword series

Courtship Rite

Re: Courtship Rite

Re: Courtship Rite

Janelle Monae and Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

no subject