Five fantasy novels that should have made me realise I was a lesbian

even though they don't have any lesbians in them

In the grand tradition of coming out narratives, it took me a while to realise I was queer. Like, proper queer, not just “trying stuff out”.

We could blame lots of things for the delay. The dearth of queer representation in the 90s and 00s (we had to rely almost entirely on subtext, hello Xena), society, my brain. But looking back, there were clear signs. How much I liked Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Missy from Bring it On. So basically, how much I liked Eliza Dushku. My witch phase. My obsession with The Craft. How I really *wished* I was a lesbian because lesbians were super cool. Yeah, the signs were not subtle.

The thing is, on some level I must have known, but it felt so impossible. I immersed myself in fantasy and sci-fi as an escape from reality and the idea of genuinely liking someone who liked me back (not just pretend liking because it’s what you’re meant to do) felt exactly as possible as discovering that I had magic powers and a companion dragon that would let me ride on its back. I’m not even alone in that experience! I’ve bonded with people at parties about this.

These are five fantasy (and sci-fi) novels that should have given me some hints that my own identity was not of the hetero variety, despite the fact that these books do not, so far as memory serves, contain any characters that are not canonically heterosexual.

1. Alanna the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

horses are super gay

For those poor souls who are unfamiliar with this literary masterpiece, it is about a girl who dresses up as a boy in order to learn to be a knight. Do I need to explain further? She was a girl. Who looked like a boy. But underneath her boy like veneer: boobs! Which she strapped down with a binder.

just like Christina Ricci in Now and Then

She also absolutely kicked arse, was the BEST fencer in all the land, and had to wrestle with the tragedy of puberty. Not only an icon but highly relatable. Sure, she has some boyfriends, some male loverrrs, (three in her life, the SCANDAL of more than one) but that just made it all the more queer.

2. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

cats are super gay

A cult classic in Australia, this is about a girl in a post-apocalyptic future with telepathic powers that include being able to talk to animals (the queer dream, or is that just me?). Okay so we need to unpack the levels of exactly how gay this series is (without in fact, being gay at all).

Firstly, the most important relationship Elspeth has is with a cat. Like, sure she makes some friends, gets a boyf later and all, but I think we can all agree that Maruman (the cat) is really the most important secondary character. This is extremely gay. I don’t know if you’ve seen lesbians with their pets? But you can just trust me.

Then, Elspeth and anyone with powers is called a “misfit”. And she bands together with a group of other misfits and creates a found family and a community that engage in social justice warrior actions. And are pacifists. Is it possible to get more lesbian than that? I really should have had an inkling.

3. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

swans are gay???

Sure, on the surface this looks like a beautiful fairytale based heterosexual romantasy. And when you dig deeper it kinda looks like that too. But! The trauma! The angst! The soul destroying pain and “no we mustn’t” of it all. This is what queers live and breathe. True story: one time on a date, me and my date told each other our childhood trauma and then immediately hooked up, (okay, fine, it was more than one time). This is our LANGUAGE.

4. Dragonclaw by Kate Forsyth

dragons are gay

So first of all, this series is about Witches. I could just stop there really; witches are intrinsically gay.

gay

These are also witches that are outlawed and tortured if they are caught which makes it even gayer. But also, our main character, Isabeau, develops an intense and fraught relationship with our mysterious, sexy and beautiful antagonist Maya. (WHO is mainly a villain due to the patriarchal oppression she experienced growing up). While our other protagonist is a martial arts expert, a scarred warrior and a total badass. And she can (sort of) fly! Okay, that part isn’t really that gay, it’s just cool.

5. The Ancient Future by Traci Harding

stonehenge is gay

Honestly, maybe this book should have been first on the list? I mean, it has the whole witch thing with a nod to the triple goddess. But also, it involves a cool tomboyish martial arts expert (she has a black belt in tae kwon do, she’s unstoppable) going back in time and basically training the knights of the round table in kickboxing. But first beating them all in unarmed combat. Sure, she marries sort-of-King-Arthur (I think his name in this was Maelgwyn or something?) but we didn’t come for that. We came for the badass kickboxing and the girl who takes pride in her muscle gains.

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In these enlightened times, sometimes we get fantasy novels that actually contain canonically queer characters, and it’s AMAZING. Tamora Pierce (see above) has a major character realise she’s a lesbian in a later series, there’s Priory of the Orange Tree and She Who Became the Sun, it’s waking up! But back in the day all we had was vibes and subtext, and we lived on them.

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Since rewriting 'Jack and the Beanstalk' at age two to feature a heroine named Lisa, Samira has been both seeking and creating stories with powerful female protagonists. A graduate of the University of Wollongong's Creative Writing and English Literature program, she was shortlisted for the 2020 Write It Penguin Fellowship. In her science fiction and fantasy writing, she creates complex heroines navigating extraordinary worlds, with queer characters at the heart of her stories. Her debut post-apocalyptic novel, Wastelands, is forthcoming in 2025.

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