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Publisher Description
Discover the infinite realms of asexual love across sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary stories
From a wheelchair user racing to save her kidnapped girlfriend and a little mermaid who loves her sisters more than suitors, to a slayer whose virgin blood keeps attracting monsters, the stories of this anthology are anything but conventional. Whether adventuring through space, outsmarting a vengeful water spirit, or surviving haunted cemeteries, no two aces are the same in these 14 unique works that highlight asexual romance, aromantic love, and identities across the asexual spectrum.
81 Reviews
3.5
sammy
Created 22 days agoShare
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“I was really excited to dive into a collection of aro/ace stories, but a lot of them just didn’t click with me. I do think this book does an amazing job of representing asexuality across many genres and minority groups so that everyone can find themselves in one of these stories.
Most of the stories focused on characters overcoming the feeling of being seen as ‘broken’, which is often the case in real life. But, I think it’s more worth exploring worlds that normalize these identities and represent what an aro/ace person’s relationships could look like.
I also want to note my favourite stories from this anthology: Across the Stars by Akemi Dawn Bowman, Well Suited by Rosiee Thor, and Give up the Ghost by Linsey Miller. Overall, Across the Stars stayed with me, the characters were well-established and felt authentic, and the narrative flowed from beginning to end without feeling over- or underwhelming.”
Kit Rambles
Created 27 days agoShare
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“I was really looking forward to this one — I’m an ace adult and I know it’s aimed at younger readers, but as someone who hasn’t had a lot of representation I was excited to explore a whole book of it. Which is why it was a little disappointing to discover that this not only not what I was hoping it would be, I can’t say it does a great job of fulfilling its own brief.
The good: you will find a lot of narratives about ace people in here, from a diverse collection of authors and covering many different genres. There is magical realism and both urban and secondary world fantasy, science fiction, contemporary, and even a mini thriller plot. All of the stories are own voices and I really enjoyed some of the stories found here. There is both romantic and explicitly aromantic love here. I am very glad this collection exists.
The bad: For an anthology with the brief of centering ace love . . . it does a fantastic job of centering ace isolation. It is a theme I relate to, and there were a few it really worked for (such as “Give Up the Ghost,” in which the main character capitalizes her dehumanization by other people even though it’s wearing on her, or “No Such Thing as Just,” in which the tension between a boyfriend who wants to fix the MC and a more accepting friend drives the story), it felt relentless in a way I didn’t enjoy in an ace positive collection. I had to out the book down a few times. There are more community building focused stories in here, but they’re mostly back loaded. There are a number where the character’s ace identity is incidental, which I didn’t mind, but also two where asexuality is neither mentioned explicitly nor alluded to, which felt very out of place in a collection about representation (even if I really enjoyed one of the stories, “Sealights,” in its own right).
The highlights for me were:
-“How to Love a Sidewinder,” in which the main character, who has been cursed by a friend who misunderstood her view of the relationship, visits her mother for advice,
-“Well Suited,” a courtly fantasy featuring a lie to get out of having to choose an escort to the MC’s debut, and her dearest friend enchanting a suit of armor to cover for her to unexpected results,
-“Smells like Teen Virgin,” probably the strongest story in the collection, in which a monster slayer’s virgin blood keeps attracting monsters and the idea of purity in the first place is kind of deconstructed, and
-“The Third Star,” which explicitly uses the word queerplatonic and features a poly trio trying to come to terms with each other and an unknown entity in a survival situation.
There is a lot to enjoy in this collection, and I’m very glad it exists, but it does not hit the way I hoped it would.”
psi_phi
Created about 1 month agoShare
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Dance
Created about 2 months agoShare
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About Linsey Miller
Madeline Dyer is a novelist, poet, and anthologist. She is the editor of the Being Ace anthology and co-editor of the Unbound anthology. She is also the author of the Aces in Love series (written as Elin Annalise). She has a herd of Shetland ponies, loves anything ghostly, and can frequently be found exploring wild places. At least one notebook is known to follow her everywhere she goes.
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