November for me is all about fantasy and romance. I love the coziness of both these genres, especially in autumn and winter. I have an ambitious list. I am VERY moody.
First off. I would like to say that IndigAthon is happening in November. This is hosted by Brody from Et Tu, Brody? and Michelle from Thor Wants Another Letter. This is the #IndigAthon twitter which has all the information and regular tweets about the prompts and what other people are reading as well if you want to check that out and support them.
They started this to boost more of a regular readership for Indigenous authors since rarely does the community as a whole pick up an Indigenous author’s book just because they like horror, fantasy, or poetry. This is to push on that a little bit and show people that there’s a lot of great authors out there and hopefully in the future more people will regularly add Indigenous authors to their tbr without even thinking about it. We can all do a little more reading of Indigenous authors. This year has seen a lot of anti-Native publishers, Instagrammers, and governmental actions. We could all do more inner work and check ourselves more, me included.
I will be reading the group pick Heartbeat Braves by Pamela Sanderson as well as Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, and then a graphic novel that comes out later in November. Then I also have a bunch of arc obligations. Very possibly I will only be doing IndigAThon books and arc obligations since I’m a very slow reader. Those will be priortized.
Heartbeat Braves by Pamela Sanderson
As I said, this is the group pick. I don’t ever see romances by Indigenous authors published. Yells at romancelandia: get on this! I need more romances. Pamela Sanderson is a Karuk author of the contemporary romance series Crooked Rock. This is the first in the series and the second one also looks good. Because snow obviously is best in the winter.
How To Catch A Queen by Alyssa Cole
Alyssa Cole is one of the few contemporary romance authors I will pick up without hesitation. I occassionally pick up contemporaries. I just find it’s hard to wow me with one. Cole wows me every time. She’s doing amazing things with intersectionality, colonialism, and pushing for Black love in a genre that rarely allows Black people to be royal (points at all the racist histrom authors).Not to mention her books are very swoony and magical.
The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty
So I finished the first book, City of Brass, a few days ago. I am not okay. I am still struggling with my thoughts and emotions. I need to read this sometime in November. Hopefully. I hope to get to it. No promises Hannah, if you’re reading this.
The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter
I received a final copy of this from Orbit. I loved the first, albeit with some criticisms. I am ready for the sequel. This is set in the bronze age in an African inspired setting but with a great deal of Western fantasy tropes as well. It’s military fantasy and really asks questions about violence and reliable narrators.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
I will be reading this for IndigAthon. It looks so soft and queer. I’ve also heard that it has goths and vampires *wags eyebrows*
The Princess Knight by G.A. Aiken
This is another ARC I need to get to. I read the first, The Blacksmith Queen, last year. It is hilarious. I have been desperate for more fantasy romance. I highly recommend picking these up if you like fantasy romance and you love to laugh.
The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill
Again. Another ARC I need to get to. This is adult fantasy, and from what I can tell? Romantic at that. Or at least a promise of romance. Slow burn goodness and all that. Her name is kit and she’s a captain so of couse I’m gonna read it if it has sea adventures.
Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices
This doesn’t release until November 17th but it’s got some of my favorite authors, including Rebecca Roanhorse and Stephen Graham Jones.
Eva Evergreen: Semi-Magical Witch by Julie Abe
This looks like a cup of Studio Ghibli via Kiki’s Delivery Service. It doesn’t seem to be getting that much buzz so I’d like to check it out and see if I can’t try to boost it a little more.
I also have some recommendations of Indigenous authors you could try out. Race to the Sun if you want Middle Grade. Black Sun for epic fantasy. Trail of Lightning, also by Rebecca Roanhorse, if you want post-apocalptic fantasy. Poetry? Try Arielle Twist and Joy Harjo. Horror? Stephen Graham Jones. My favorite is Mapping the Interior. Literary? The Round House by Louise Erdrich and Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria. I also would recommend picking up Love Beyond Body, Space & Time, which is a LGBTQIA SFF anthology.
I’ve been enjoying Anzar and Tiziri which is inspired by a myth from Amazigh North African mythology. Definitely start reading this anyway but if you want to read media from an Indigenous artist (Amazigh) outside of North American Indigenous groups this is a great webtoon.
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