Top 13 (14) Queer Fantasy Novels

As I was going back over my list, and recounting, I realized something.  I was perplexed as to why, even at midnight hopped up on insomnia, I had decided to wedge "The Sword of Truth" onto that list as an afterthought.  I mean, it has the random lesbians, but they're not really important.  Then I realized I had actually written "The Skull of Truth," which is a chapter book by Bruce Coville about a kid who finds a magic skull that forces people to tell the truth.  Leaving it too close to the family dinner table brings a number of shocking family secrets to life, including that his grandmother used to be a stripper and that his uncle is gay.  And as soon as his uncle outs, he realizes he has to get that skull the hell away from there, and so flees the dinner table, making his uncle think that he's really that freaked out, but it's all okay in the end.  And this was written in 1999.  For a gay character - in a kids book no less! - to be out and not have AIDS and be a nice guy who is happily settled with his patner, I give it an A.  It's hard to find books with that good of gay characters nowadays!

Now to continue my original list.

7.  The Magicians and Mrs. Quent (2008) - Galen Beckett
Character:  Eldyn the gay mage tertiary viewpoint character, who isn't really connected to main plot.
Queer Context:  The whole idea of having "male magic" and "female magic" isn't anything new, but Beckett is (as far as I know) the first to also have "gay male magic."  Lesbians, I assume, just count as women.  It is unclear whether all gay men are sons of witches and have illusion magic, or all illusionists are gay men.  In any case, the theaters are run by gay male illusionists. 
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  B-.  Yes, Eldyn's a positive character, but he doesn't really do anything; he's just kind of there because the author wanted a gay character.  Also, there are the unfortunate implications of all gay men work in the theater.  Plus, Eldyn is just kind of stupid, which is endearing in a Woobie Destroyer of Worlds hero, but makes him an annoying dope as an ordinary (ish) person.

6.  The Steel Remains (2008) - Richard K. Morgan
Characters:  Ringil the ex-hero anti-hero, and Lady Archeth, the half-human magical person tertiary viewpoint character.
Queer Context:  In at least one country (Ringil's) you get killed for being gay, unless, like Ringil, you're too important for them to dare.  Archeth's lesbianism isn't addressed in the context of society, but some king tries to bribe her with a slave girl.  Also, she's half human, so I don't count her as a discount nonhuman lesbian.  The creepy fairy beings, one of which Ringil has a fling with, don't count as gay; I think they are universally pansexual.
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  C+.  Ringil is supposed to be a dark deconstruction of fantasy tropes, and the author (who is straight) made him gay to add something off about him.  However, he does give a solid queer context for society, and includes a lesbian as well, and I don't know why he decided to make her gay.

5.  Fire Logic (2002) - Laurie J. Marks
Characters:  Everyone, except the token straight couple. 
Queer Context:  Universal pansexuality.  Despite this, most of the main characters end up in same-sex relationships.  To the point where one wonders how the human race manages to reproduce in this world.  Also implied polyamory in some cases, which is just fine in-universe.
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  B.  The "everyone is gay" aspect gets a little overwhelming, but this book is notable in that same-sex couples will refer to their partner as their "husband" or "wife" (presumeably opposite-sex couples or groups do this as well).  There isn't any sort of ceremony that goes along with it, but the fact that Marks actually uses the words is remarkable.  Even Lackey and Pierce, who try to deal with issues of gay acceptance vs. homophobia, never get into the legal aspects of same-sex relationships. 

4.  Swordspoint (1987) - Ellen Kushner
Characters:  Everyone but the villain is bi.  The main protagonist, Richard, has a male lover, and the secondary viewpoint character, Michael Godwin, sleeps around with everybody.
Queer Context:  No sexual categories.  The villain mentions at one point that he personally isn't in to having sex with men, but it's not a homophobic thing, it's just a personal preference. 
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  B-.  Taking advantage of the genre to create a world without sexual categories is nice, but not really helpful.  Also, even the "good" guys aren't nice people.  But gay characters not being defined by their sexual orientation is nice, even if Kushner takes that idea to extremes.

3.  Melusine (2005) - Sarah Monette
Character:  Felix, the crazy asshole wizard.
Queer Context:  So it's okay if Monette doesn't say "gay" but not for Lackey?  Well, yeah.  "Molly" is an actual 18th-Century word for gay people, not a Scrabble-bag cop-out.  Also, "Janus" is the two-faced Roman god, or in the Melusine world, a bisexual.  Very few fantasy authors address bisexuality as distinct from homosexuality, if they address it at all (outside of universal pansexuality).  Different countries have different views on homosexuality.  In Marathat it is frowned upon, but tolerated.  In Troia everyone's chill with it - they're ginger fantasyland Greeks.  In Kekropia they kill, torture, or imprison you - they're the hates-everything people.  In Caloxa it's taboo, but not a death sentence.
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  B+.  Felix is a wonderful jerkass.  There are enough gay molly characters throughout that it doesn't come across as "all gays are jerkasses," but he is the main protagonist.  To be fair, both the protagonists are very well-rounded (not all gays are nice people, after all; sucks to the helpful minority) and it is clear that Felix's abusive tendencies have nothing to do with his sexual orientation.

2.  Eon (2008) - Alison Goodman
Character:  Lady Dela, a male-to-female transgender who acts as a mentor to the crossdresser protagonist.
Queer Context:  Lately it's started to bother me that all the plucky crossdressing princesses are heterosexual.  Historically speaking, if you were a lesbian, you were statistically more likely to be a crossdresser.  Also, the issue of actually being transgender is never mentioned.  The inclusion of a transgender character - male to female, no less! - fleshes out the issues of gender, gender identity, and gender roles in society that the book raises.  Not to mention that Dela's role as a transwoman in her society is seen as something special and awesome by her people, and even though she is currently abroad, she's too important for anyone to give her crap about it.
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  A.  There are so many books about princesses in pants, but no one thinks to put a penis in a dress.  She is just an awesome strong female character.

1.  Beyond the Pale (1999) - Mark Anthony
Character:  Lots.  Namely, the male lead and hero, Travis, is implied to be bisexual, but rather than hooking up with the female protagonist as every other novel would have him do, he ends up with the knightly sidekick.
Queer Context:  Half(ish) the story is set in our world, the rest is in a typical medieval fantasyland, where homosexuality is frowned upon unless you belong to a certain order of knights where it's almost required.  The gay subtext is very low-key in the first book, but this is the late nineties, so I think Anthony was waiting until he had a contract and no one could do anything about it.  Besides the gay knights, there are also a gay cowboy couple, a gay Brit in the Wild West (during the time-travel episode), a transwoman seeress, an implied bisexual who has a thing with a fairy (part-human; and there are other hints) but ends up with a man, and numerous minor references scattered throughout.
LGBTQ-friendliness rating:  A.  Yes, I'm biased because this is my favorite book series ever.  But Travis is the archetypal dopey hero, and he ends up with a guy, plus a lot of other queerness happening throughout, mostly among the "good guys".  I should have made a separate category for queer presence.  Hm.

Coming up next (I'm not done with gay fantasy yet!):  Incidental homosexuality in fantasy literature.  Those minor characters are not to be discounted!

(Bottom) Top 13 Queer Fantasy Novels - Part 1

I can't believe I haven't done one of these before.    Then I started putting together a top ten, and realized that I only had 13 to choose from.  So I decided to just include them all

This list consists only of books I have read.  I have not read Fleweling's Lark on the Wing or Hambly's Darkmage, or Duane's Door Into Fire, so I can't judge where to put them on the list.  At some point, if I want to be the fantasy lit Vito Russo, I might track down the rest of the books, but for now, this is what is in my repertoire.

Criteria for "Queer Fantasy":  Must have a queer protagonist or major character.  Queer character must be out in-universe - no Dumbledore.  Also, must be human.  Vampire lesbians are cheating.

13.  City of Bones (2007) - Cassandra Clare
Character:  Alec, the gay sidekick.
Queer Context:  Real world-ish.  There’s an underground clique of demon-hunters, and it’s implied that they would be very not happy if they knew Alec was gay.  He’s kind of a straight gay, and hooks up with the one other gay character in the story, who is a flaming glittery gay mage, after minimal off-page courtship.  They have nothing in common except being the only two gay characters in the story.  Also, the story begins with him having a crush on his stepbrother, the male lead Jace, who gives Alec a pep talk and tells Alec that he isn’t really in love with him, he just likes to torture himself by falling in love with unattainable people.  And the main cast seems to be chill that Alec is gay, but no one overtly supports him, they just see it as a nonissue.  I’d be upset with the way the gay romance subplot was handled, except that the main romance subplot was just as bad; there’s an incest scare, but it turns out it was all a misunderstanding.  That’s the best obstacle you could give their relationship?  That’s totally relatable.
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  B-.  Clare at least tries, and Alec is a positive character, if not actually an accurate representation of anything.

12.  Ash (2009) - Malinda Lo
Character:  Ash, a lesbian Cinderella.
Queer Context:  Queer retelling of Cinderella.  Only I feel cheated because I was expecting her to hook up with a princess, and instead she hooks up with the Huntress, which is a completely created role and not really kosher.  And then she breaks a curse by sleeping with a (male?) fairy thing, which is really not feminist.  I mean, gaining independence from the male presence by submitting to it?  Solving problems with prostitution. 
I don’t remember how people react to their relationship; I think it’s one of those worlds where homosexuality in society is not talked about, and so I have no idea if Ash had any context for understanding her desires. 
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  C+.  There's no context for the lesbian relationship, which makes it hard to relate to.  Also, the end with the fairy.

11.  Wolfcry (2006) - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Character:  Oliza, the shapeshifter princess.  Has some really scary genetics, but conveniently ends up in a non-procreative relationship with a woman.  Each book in the series has a different viewpoint character, and this one is hers.
Queer Context:  Not given in the previous three books or even foreshadowed in this one.  Just all of a sudden the princess is gay, and mostly everyone’s fine with it.  Do they allow gay marriage?  What are the social stigmas?  No other characters are gay, and no word for gay is given.  I assume the author knows more than was revealed in the books; she has a wife, and I usually like to know the queer context of anything I write.  Granted, I usually end up with queer characters.
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  B.  Oliza isn't tokenized at all, and it's obvious she was a character first and became queer in the writing.  It's just a little sudden and lacking in context.

10.  Tithe (2002) - Holly Black
Character:  Corny, the gay sidekick.  In later books, his boyfriend Luis, and lesbian sidekick Ruth.
Queer Context:  Real world.  With fairies.  Black is one of those authors who makes sure some of her characters are gay, because some people are gay.  Always the unwaveringly supportive sidekicks, though.  Yay for helpful minorities.
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  B.  Corny was based on Black's gay friends, who are geek-gays and not flaming queens, and he's a fairly well-fleshed out character.

9.  Magic’s Pawn (1989) - Mercedes Lackey
Character:  Vanyel, the only gay Herald who actually does anything interesting.
Queer Context:  Lackey always tries to include a random queer in every book.  Someone once called her out on having way more gay men than lesbians.  She counted them up and said they were actually about even.  However, only two of her queer characters achieve major character status, and both are gay men.  Homosexuality is severely stigmatized by wider society, but any named character who is “good” is fine with it.  Nor are the parameters for the stigma clearly defined; vaguely religious, but considering it’s a massive fantasyland pantheon, you’d think there would be some variation.  Also, this is one of Lackey’s few stories where the protagonist dies at the end, and it’s the gay one.  However, I find her tragedies are at least slightly better than her happy endings.  Oh, and there are the random forest people who seem to be universally pansexual, and a gay couple of the forest people serve a sort of mentor function for Vanyel.  And the other gay major character, Firesong (in later books) is also of the forest people.  The people in “bad” countries are more homophobic than in the “good” countries.
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  C.  Because it's 80's, and preachy.  In the context of the 80's, I would give it an A for effort, though.  And the other major gay is a flaming queen.

8.  The Will of the Empress (2005) - Tamora Pierce
Character:  Daja, the lady blacksmith mage, has a sexual revelation when she is kissed by a woman.
Queer Context:  The first series was originally published in the 90’s.  The characters were ten, but they were being raised by a lesbian couple, who I did not realize was a lesbian couple until I read this book and they directly referenced it.  I wish they had been more out in the earlier books, that I read when I was ten; it would have made my life a lot simpler.  One thing I do like about it is that it includes a queer protagonist by retcon in a children’s book; me reading those books as a child and then reading the later one after coming out was a rather validating experience.  Even though the queer character is like “I had no idea I was gay” and you’d think being raised by a lesbian couple she’d have enough context to figure herself out.  Really, it’s the author deciding to make her gay a decade later when society has progressed enough and it’s in a YA novel.  Because Pierce is another who makes sure to include gay minor characters all the time.
LGBTQ-friendly rating:  B+.  Lark and Rosethorn spent the 90's in the closet, and I resent them for that.  Also, because since the author obviously decided "They've hit puberty!  Let's make one gay!" she decided the butch blacksmith should be a dyke, and not the feisty seamstress or the grouchy bookworm.  I will say, though, I really appreciate the character existing in a non-queer context first; so many gay characters (in fantasy and out) are introduced at puberty when they are struggling with sqhishy hormonal feelings.  Yes, we were once kids too.

Coming soon:  1-7.  What are my favorite gay fantasy novels?