Today I saw a request for important queer sff books from 1980-2020, and as I went through my reading history to come up with suggestions, it really struck me what a sea-change there was in publishing, about 15 years ago or so. When Ash by Malinda Lo came out in 2009 I remember it was a big deal because there was nothing else like it out there - a YA fairy tale retelling where the main character had a same-sex love interest which got no homophobic responses in-world.

But throughout the 2010s there were more and more queer sff books published, and now I think the vast majority of the sff I read is queer in some way or another!

I love how much queerness I get to read about these days, so easily, and it's wild to think that so recently it used to be relatively hard to find, just a few precious jewels amidst all the cisheteronormativity. I read Ash, even though I didn't love it, because it was so exciting to find; and now I can actually afford to be picky!

@soph_sol my dad and i have similar taste in sff so i often gift him stuff i read and loved or have been meaning to read—the january before last he texted me “so did you intentionally gift me three books with lesbian main characters or is this what sff is like now?” and i was thrilled to report it was the latter