Yuletide 2017 Recs: Canon LGBTQ+ Characters

[florianschild]

For me, this has been the year of canonically LGBTQ+ fantasy fiction (brought to you by Goodreads Lists and TV Tropes). In the spirit of that theme, here are my Yuletide recs for fandoms that feature canonically gay, bi, and lesbian characters. There are definitely other fandoms and fics that fit the criteria, so feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

A Drop of Blood (Swordspoint - Ellen Kushner)

Awesome canon where everyone-is-bisexual. This fic is a lovely character study from around the time of Swordspoint, the first book in the series.

Boys of Summer (Dragon’s Winter - Elizabeth A. Lynn)

Book summary: Canonically bisexual, shapeshifting, dragon prince and his shy, quiet bff/love-of-his-life fight a war. Fic summary: Adorable pre-canon moment from their childhood.

there is another shore, you know, upon the other side (Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette)

Fix-it fic for a cruel canon. Fic features a gay POC as the main character. He is perfection.

What she learned in whispers (The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson)

Lovely character study of Tain Hu. One of the things I enjoyed most about this canon was the way it ignored our world's gender norms and made up totally new rules, Tain Hu being a perfect example: leader of her Duchy, warrior, field commander, and all-around badass.

The Blood of Visionaries (Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey)

Sort of a fix-it fic, but still quite melancholy. What can I say, I love Vanyel and he is just so sweet here.

Le Chaleur (Atomic Blonde)

This was cool, edgy, sexy: so I think it captured the feel of the movie oh so well. I simply loved this pairing in the film; even while watching it I was looking forward to reading fix-it fics that I knew would be out there. Yay!

Nothing Else Matters (Carry On - Rainbow Rowell)

This one made me laugh out loud. I love the snark-level of these characters. If you're pining for the old days of LeatherPants!Draco, you need to get to know Baz.

Comments

[larryhammer]

A suggestion: Cut-and-Dried Sleeve (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio - Pú Sōnglíng), an original story in the manner of other tales in the collection, with a title that parodies one of a specific tale -- "cut-sleeve" was a literary way in Chinese to describe a man who preferred other men. Features a cut-sleeve protagonist who talks in cliches.

[florianschild]

Oh, awesome! Thank you so much for the rec! I'll have to check that one out.

[rosefox]

"For the Last Time" is a Broken Earth post-canon fic from the POV of a canonically trans and queer character. (MAJOR SPOILERS for the entire series.)

[florianschild]

Wonderful! Thank you for reccing this. I actually got The Fifth Season through the Yuletide book swap, so I will definitely keep this on my to-read list. (Thanks for the heads-up about spoilers!)