7 LGBTQ+ Novellas to Read Right Now

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

I am just one of many who have fallen in love with Wells’ Murderbot series, and for good reason! She has created a unique sci-fi experience centered around a delightfully compelling security robot who would rather watch soap operas than kill people. This is the first book in a series of novellas (and one novel), so you can several bite-sized stories that both satisfy and leave you wanting more!

Read my review here.

FINNA by Nino Cipri

I love IKEA, but I couldn’t resist a tongue-in-cheek novella set in a comically brutal capitalistic sci-fi setting with wormholes, alternate Swedish-furniture box store realities, and two exes sent to find a missing grandma. It’s hilarious, haunting, and a lovely look at queer relationships post-breakup.

Read my review here.

Alice Payne Arrives & Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield

This duology of novellas centers on two women of colour, one of whom is a queer masked highway(wo)man. There is time travel shenanigans that are philosophical in the first book and adventurous in the second, and I hope a third Alice Payne novella will be published in the future!

Read my review here and here.

Burning Roses by S.L. Huang

Combining Eastern and Western fairy tales, this novella stars two middle-aged lesbians who are not in love with each other! Rosa (Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi pursue dangerous creatures and deal with the regrets of their past…which are not quite so far in the past as they may have hoped! If lesbians are poorly represented in media, middle-aged lesbians are even less so. I am desperate for more!

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

An Asian-based fantasy with a queer love triangle between a woman, a princess, and a fire elemental that is about finding your purpose and choosing to be more than the small role that life and love can sometimes assign you.

Read my review here.

Trans-Galactic Bike Ride edited by Lydia Rogue

An anthology of short stories about space bikes with trans narratives. Each story is unique, from werewolves and mailmen to launching a bike into space like a rocket, but the anthology is edited perfectly into a cohesive whole.

Read my review here.

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

A queer feminist sequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this novella focuses on Prospero’s daughter when she leaves the magical island and returns to normal life, where she solves the mystery of her mother and falls in love with a woman named Dorothea.

Read my review here.