Imagine a Queer Future - Booknook
Booknook is, going forward, the segment of the Pandemonium Blog that pertains to Books, and book shaped objects. We're giving things cute names this week!
This is a book we don't carry yet. It's called Imagine Queer Worlds and its a roleplaying game/tool that helps its reader/players worldbuild along axis of gender, sex, and identity within cultures and environments. It can be enjoyed on its own, or used to build a world your playgroup can explore in another game once you've hammered out enough details.
Imagine Queer Worlds is a spark in the dark, that can illuminate the possibilities of worlds we could live in, where people can exist as themselves with dignity and autonomy. I say could because we don't live in that world yet, so like the dreamers of yesterday, we're gonna have to start our journey there by imagining it.
(Is the book perfect? No, but is it trying real hard? Yeah. People are constantly growing and learning, and there needs to be room for them to do that.)
Luckily, we are not alone in our imagining. We dream alongside authors and illustrators and designers who can compose all of those hopes and yearnings into beautiful, communicable ideas that wear the guise of stories and games. In preparation for Pride month, we've compiled a handful of titles where queerness survives (and even sometimes thrives) in futures and worlds just waiting to be explored!
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The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
This is the story Misery Nomaki (she/they), a nobody from a nowhere mining planet. Misery has abilities they shouldn't though: they can bend the will of stone, a dangerous magic that only saints are said to have. These abilities lead Misery to the center of the Empire, where rumors spread that Misery is the next Messiah, and where those in power seek to use Misery to win a terrible war.
Amid a nest of vipers, Misery grows close to a rebellious royal, Lady Alodia Lightning, and decides to embrace the legacy the prophecies speak of. True or false, for better or worse, Misery Nomaki will be the Ninth Messiah.
The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made a final concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a "living saint". But this decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover hir comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.
A Prince without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara
A prince born into violence, seeking peace.
Prince Ashoka is the youngest son of the tyrannical Emperor Adil Maurya. Considered an outcast by his father for his rejection of the emperor's brutal onslaught against the witches of the empire, Ashoka longs for change. When the sudden and unexpected death of his father leaves the monarchy in disarray, Ashoka is sent to govern a tumultuous region annexed by Emperor Adil that is terrorized by nature spirits--a task many see as doomed to fail. Suspected by a disdainful governor and evaded by distrustful witches, Ashoka must question his rigid ideals and fight against becoming the one person he despises the most--his father.
A witch shackled by pacifism, seeking revenge.
Shakti is a mayakari: a witch bound by a pacifist code. After witnessing the murder of her aunt and village at the hands of the emperor, Shakti hurtles down a path of revenge, casting a curse with unexpected consequences. Posing as a maidservant in the famed palace of the Mauryas and armed with newfound powers beyond her imagination, Shakti attempts to dismantle the monarchy from within by having the royal progeny ruin themselves and turn their father's legacy into nothing but ash.
In a world where nature spirits roam the land, and witches are hunted to extinction, Ashoka and Shakti will be forced to grapple with the consequences of power: to take it for themselves or risk losing it completely.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.
When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.
But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.
As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon and co.
The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society "and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award-nominated song "The Deep" from Daveed Diggs's rap group clipping.
Yetu holds the memories for her people "water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners "who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one "the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities "and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past "and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity "and own who they really are.
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Thank you so much for reading! Since you've made it this far, I'll take the opportunity to remind you that Pandemonium is doing its annual BAGLY (Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth) promotion, where 25% of sales from specially marked books, games, and accessories. To see some of the products that are part of this month-long celebration of Pride, here's a handy link to the website you're already on, and since you're already here, there's really no reason you shouldn't look right now.
Might as well; you'll just have to come back later.
Have a Safe and Happy Pride Everyone! We'll see you in the future!
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Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite book is On the Shoulders of Giants and Other Stories by Adrian Tchaikovsky and various.