Heiresses of Russ 2013: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction. Ed. by Steve Berman and Tenea D. Johnson. Lethe Press, 2013. $20. 305p. PB. 978-1-59021-170-0.

Heiresses of Russ 2013: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction is the third in an anthology series dedicated to short works of speculative fiction with lesbian main characters. Named in honor of feminist writer and critic Joanna Russ, the series is co-edited by Steve Berman, founder of Lethe Press and a prolific fiction writer and editor. Each year, a different female writer assists Berman in editing; the 2013 volume’s co-editor is Tenea D. Johnson.

In her introduction, Johnson writes that “one of the most compelling aspects of speculative fiction is its ability to fulfill otherwise unattainable desires.” Not least of these, she notes, is encountering a lesbian protagonist in the aisles of your local bookstore. A standout among the seventeen stories is the opener “One True Love” by young adult novelist Malinda Lo. Amid echoes of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, Lo’s once-docile heroine becomes a swashbuckling knight claiming her exotically-beautiful true love. Also noteworthy is “Harrowing Emily” by Megan Arkenberg, a meditation on the changes wrought by grief.

The collection closes with its strongest story “Astrophilia” by Carrie Vaughn, an after-the-disaster tale with a pastoral setting. When her wool-working household can no longer support itself, a young weaver is sent to live in a larger, up-and-coming community. There, she meets a young woman who is part of a network of astronomers, a group distrusted by the community’s leader, a man who fears the return of the ways that led to the long-ago catastrophe.

I recommend Heiresses of Russ 2013: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction for any library with a queer, speculative fiction collection.

Reviewer: Joyce Meggett, Reference Librarian, Truman College, Chicago