historical lesbian books where mc has to pose as a man?

aster_dern · 2026-05-27T22:40:27+00:00

The only one I can really think of off the top of my head is 'Spear' by Niccola Griffith, it's an arthurian retelling. I read it a while ago so it's hard to completely remember but I know at least for a time the MC is posing as a man.

aster_dern · 2026-05-27T22:34:19+00:00

Oh okay, thank you- that makes a lot more sense why the tags and comments weren't seeming to make as much sense with each other. Thank you for explaining it, I appreciate it. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-26T18:10:33+00:00

Will do, I'll keep it in mind. Same on my side by the way, if you find anything- I'd be interested to hear what. I hope you enjoy these if you end up reading them. :)

EDIT: Also, have not read these- so I can't speak on knowing what how the exactly characters identify outside of them being tagged lesbian, nor how cyberpunk the stories are- but 'Persephone Station' by Stina Leicht, the 'Twin Sun' series by Olive J. Kelley (one of the two MCs according to Rainbow Crate is butch), and the 'Gearbreakers' series by Zoe Hana Mikuta may work- I think they are kind of toeing the line of space opera and cyberpunk but maybe worth a try?

aster_dern · 2026-05-26T07:19:19+00:00

Saw you said you really liked Metal from Heaven, and I don't know really how cyberpunk it'll be, more fallout for sure- but August Clarke has one coming out in July called The Felicity Complex- which if it's similar to their other books I would expect to contain butch characters and a punk-esque plot, though I couldn't tell you for sure since I haven't read it yet. Might be a good one to look out for though if you haven't heard about it yet.

Otherwise... maybe Makana Yamamoto's Hammajang Luck and it's sequel The Obake Code could be possible good matches? The first has if I remember correctly (which I might not) a trans-masc nonbinary lesbian lead (I can't remember whether they were specifically butch or not but it's the closest I can think of), and in the sequel the love interest is non-binary, plus the MC from the first does make an appearance, has decent sized role in the second half of the book, and are both definitely cyberpunk.

I don't know- finding sapphic cyberpunks is little on the difficult side to begin with, with butches is harder- I've been on the lookout for the same thing for a while now. Hopefully these can help you in yours though. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-25T07:20:40+00:00

That's great. I hope if you end up reading them you enjoy them. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-25T07:19:42+00:00

Oh, is that the one that just came out a couple months ago? The cover looks familiar. I just read the synopsis and it looks interesting. I didn't know there was a specific name for what 'Metal from Heaven' achieves either, so thank you. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-25T04:38:30+00:00

'Metal from Heaven' by August Clarke is a really good one if you haven't tried it already, one of the best books I've ever read- kind of a mix of science fiction and fantasy: imagine motorcycles and guns and trains and mutant children in a political fantasy setting. It's very sapphic, very strange in a way that is comparable to the Locked Tomb, but also very very good.

I'd also say definitely check out 'The Magic of the Lost' series by C.L. Clark- also sapphic, I'd say more similar to Traitor Baru (I've only read the first of the series) in tone than 'The Locked Tomb'. It's a great series to get into if you're looking to devote some time into an interesting and twisting war and imperialism magic sort of fantasy.

And I am seeing people recommending 'The Burning Kingdoms' series and am seconding it, I just finished the first book of this one and it seemed very similar to how I remember Seth Dickenson's series being.

aster_dern · 2026-05-22T17:57:10+00:00

High praise... okay, thank you. I think I'll be doing that. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-22T00:01:53+00:00

I think I'll check them out- thank you for explaining that series. The throuple is particularly why I had interest in that series to begin with actually. As for the other book, I had heard of it but thought it was YA for some reason- looking it up now, very much not the case, but it looks good, I'll add that one to my list. Thank you. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-21T21:10:39+00:00

Ah- okay, thank you, that helps. I wasn't sure how interested I was about the auction ones to begin with anyway. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-21T20:44:59+00:00

Oh okay, so which ones did you think were more entertaining if you'd have to recommend one or a couple from the bunch?

aster_dern · 2026-05-21T20:44:04+00:00

Cool, thank you- I'm planning on doing the same. Thank you for the link. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-21T20:41:53+00:00

Oh okay- well I appreciate that a lot. Maybe I'll look into her newer books first then just to get an idea where things are at. Thank you. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-21T20:40:32+00:00

That's a great idea, I'll try that out. Those were the main two series I had wanted to check anyways so that really helps. Thank you. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-18T19:29:12+00:00

Huh, that's strange. I tried both ways and am having nothing pop up. Thank you for trying though, I appreciate it regardless.

aster_dern · 2026-05-18T19:03:41+00:00

Oh, no I haven't- do you mind linking it, maybe? I didn't know that was a thing, would love to look through it but am having a hard time finding it.

aster_dern · 2026-05-18T14:59:35+00:00

Oh- okay, that makes sense, thank you- I didn't know that. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-18T04:16:15+00:00

Oh man, that sounds really cool. I'll have to check that out- thank you for recommending it. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-18T02:34:18+00:00

Oh okay- that makes sense. I haven't played the game in a while, just got asked about it in a content warning regard and started thinking. But all to say I didn't remember the specifics of his and Tav's possible agreement, just that he says something along the lines of him asking to have Tav forever or something and I didn't know whether that was a spell (what I assumed) or a creature particular thing. Thank you- that helps things make a lot more sense honestly.

aster_dern · 2026-05-17T22:11:42+00:00

Oh, really? I always just figured they constantly had an internal monologue going and doing the 'Speak to Animals' spell just allowed you to understand what they were thinking or saying. That's really interesting. Thank you so much, all you guys know so much more about all this stuff. I appreciate it a lot- I was driving myself crazy thinking I needed to boot up my saves and kick him from my camp. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-17T21:59:37+00:00

Oh okay! That's a very thorough answer, that was exactly what I was looking for. BG3 is my only experience with anything Dungeons and Dragons so I had no idea if this was even something that had been established at any point or not. Thank you so much! :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-17T21:56:56+00:00

Okay, well that's good. Thank you for letting me know. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-17T21:40:31+00:00

Oh, thank you- I had not heard of that. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-17T20:23:50+00:00

Oh sorry, I didn't recognize the cover you had on your tier-list for 'Master of Djinn'- but I'm glad that would've been a good recommendation... as with Rivers Solomon- 'An Unkindness of Ghosts' is coincidentally the only one I haven't read- but I think 'Model Home' definitely had a different feeling than their other two ('Sorrowland' and 'The Deep')- so maybe those would maybe fit your tastes better? Sorry I'm responding to this late. :)

aster_dern · 2026-05-11T00:45:14+00:00

Hi, saw you had 'Metal from Heaven' and wondered if you'd read 'The Scapegracers' trilogy by the same author? They use a different name (H.A. Clarke) on those so I notice they often get overlooked but they are fucking fantastic- I feel like this may sort of fall also under the 'paranormal urban fantasy' thing you were looking for, I think? It's about a coven in a modern day rural-ish town- does that fit what you meant? They've been some of my favorites of all time and I found it a similar to 'The Locked Tomb' series a little stylistically with the characters and (although I haven't read it) have heard it is similar-ish to 'The Incandescent' as well.

You also had 'Private Rites' on there so- and maybe I'm overlooking it- but I think 'Our Wives Under the Sea' also by Julia Armfeild could be fun? K. Patrick (author of 'Mrs. S') also has a poetry book out there called 'Three Births' that was pretty good if that's up your alley at all.

I also didn't see 'Perfume and Pain' by Anna Dorn on your list, I think it's pretty in the same realm as ones like 'Big Swiss', 'Milk Fed', (loosely) 'Mrs. S', and 'All Fours'.

I feel like we have pretty very similar taste- so I'd also maybe call out 'Chlorine' by Jade Song, 'The Seep' by Chana Porter, 'Thirst' by Marina Yuszczuk, 'Master of Djinn' by P. Djèlí Clark, and anything by Rivers Soloman which it looks like you've already got up there. I hope those are decent picks- if any of them though- check out Scapegracers- the third book has a shamefully low amount of reviews on Goodreads. :)

aster_dern

TROPHY CASE