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After a lifelong love affair with science fiction, it’s safe to say it’s one of my favorite — and most read — genres, right alongside fantasy. Whatever expertise that lends a person, I certainly have it. So when I tell you you need to read these ten sapphic sci-fi novels because they’re equal parts inventive and captivating, I mean it. They all feature sapphic protagonists, but they are also innovative additions to the sci-fi canon, full of world-building and stories that pay homage to classic science fiction tropes while breaking their own ground.
SFF as a whole is full of beautiful, queernorm worlds where queer characters can exist in a space in which their sexuality isn’t politicized or ostracized. We’ve talked about a lot of queer SFF here on Book Riot, from the best of queer fantasy to sapphic dark fantasy. Queer SFF romance abounds, and we’ve even covered queer SFF for the genre-shy. That’s a lot of great recommendations, but it does skip over one specific subgenre: sapphic sci-fi. That’s where this list comes in, because I’d say it’s high time sapphic sci-fi gets its moment in the sun. So whether your interest is in reading more queer sci-fi or expanding your knowledge of excellent new science fiction, these sapphic sci-fi books need to make their way onto your shelves.
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Lesbian Main Character / Bi Love Interest
In what will almost certainly be my favorite read of the year (and one of my favorite science fiction reads period), a group of twentysomethings obsessed with the mystery of a spaceship crew that disappeared years ago accidentally become astronauts themselves when a dark matter engine starts up of its own accord. Now Cleo and her friends must rely on their own not insubstantial skills and the knowledge of the lost captain’s AI consciousness, uploaded to the ship before the crew’s disappearance. The story is full of intrigue, found family vibes, and adventure — plus all sorts of sapphic goodness. You won’t want to put it down.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Sapphic Main Character
Kyr has trained all her life to go up against the Majoda and their deified artificial intelligence to avenge the destruction of Earth. It’s all she wants and all she can imagine for herself. Then, she’s selected to become a mother instead, to bear future soldiers for the continuation of the human race. Devastated, Kyr decides to take matters into her own hands. But when she leaves Gaea Station for the first time, the universe she discovers beyond it is not the one that was described to her. Reeling and unsure of how she should proceed for the first time in her life, Kyr makes a decision that will change her life, humanity, and the future of the universe forever.
Note that there is an on-page depiction of suicide in this book that may be hard for some people to read.
Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Sapphic Main Characters
Saras Kaveri is the first person from Earth to ever compete in the galaxy’s most prestigious cooking competition: Interstellar Megachef. Serenity Ko is an inventor in need of a comeback. She’s cooked up an idea for a new sim for food, but there’s a problem: Serenity doesn’t know the first thing about cooking. A chance meet-up brings Saras and Serenity together to create a project that could change the future of food forever — but not before it changes both of them.
The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard
Lesbian Main Characters
Aliette de Bodard’s Xuya universe is full of diverse romance and characters, including sentient spaceships. In The Red Scholar’s Wake, one such ship, Rice Fish, is at risk of losing control of her pirate fleet after the death of her wife. A recently captured bot maker and data analyst might just be the solution to all her problems. If XÃch Si can uncover who is behind the attacks that killed her wife, maybe Rice Fish can weed out the informants and keep her fleet intact. But in order to guarantee XÃch Si protection, they’ll have to marry first. It won’t be Rice Fish’s first marriage of convenience, but it may be the first to show her that relationships can be more than transactional.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Sapphic Romance
This little novella packs a big punch with its take on a sapphic space western. When a man goes missing on Jupiter, Investigator Mossa is called upon to look into the case. Her search brings her back to the colony’s university platform, Valdegeld, and her ex-girlfriend, Pleiti. Pleiti has dedicated her life to research on a possible return to Earth — something she seems to have in common with Mossa’s missing man. What does all this have to do with a conspiracy that could threaten all of Jupiter and any hopes of a return to Earth? Hopefully, Mossa’s investigative skills are up to finding out.
Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders
Queer Main Character / Sapphic Love Interest
Charlie Jane Anders is known for her incredible sci-fi, and in this YA series about a girl cloned from the galaxy’s savior, she’s showing off in perfect form. Tina has always known the aliens would come for her. She’s one of them, after all. But when the spaceship shows up, everything is far more complicated than the simple story she knew. Saving the galaxy won’t be so easy. In fact, her fist mission will be learning how to save herself.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Sapphic Romance
The only book on this list with its story planted firmly on Earth, Light from Uncommon Stars provides a different take on science fiction and what a love story can look like. A family of alien refugees running a coffee shop and a violin instructor paying off a deal with the devil cross paths unexpectedly, only to discover they have more in common than they initially thought. As Shizuka and Lan each try to take care of the teens in their lives, including a runaway trans music prodigy, they discover that parenthood comes in many different forms and that it’s possible to do better even after messing up.
Please be aware that, while beautiful, this book contains some graphic depictions of racism, transmisogyny, and abuse.
Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
Sapphic Main Characters
On a living spaceship gliding through the stars, two young women take different paths toward discovering the rot at the center of their community. As heir to her people, Seske Kaleigh is not permitted to love whoever she wants, and her love for Adalla might just get her killed. As a beast worker, Adalla is expected to help excavate and prepare the circulatory system of the new beast that will become their home. But the truth about the creatures they inhabit and rely on isn’t as simple as the stories they’ve always been told. Seske may be the only one able to change things, but it will take Adalla being sucked into the very heart of the problem to show her.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Sapphic Romance
Enemy agents in a time war, each determined to provide the best outcome for their faction, meet each other on the battlefield time and again. The notes they leave each other begin as a series of taunts and jabs but soon turn into something more. Red and Blue may be on opposite sides in this ongoing war, but what are they really fighting for? More importantly, do they really have to fight against each other?
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Sapphic Main Character
This modern sci-fi classic follows a newcomer to the ragtag crew of an old ship called the Wayfarer. Rosemary has never encountered many of the alien species she meets on the crew, but she’s happy to get lost amongst the crowd. Anything that will help distance her from her past. But the crew wants to get to know the real Rosemary. It’s not easy, but if they want to survive the dangerous new job just they just took, tunneling wormholes through space, they’ll all have to learn to rely on one another. Even Rosemary.
Still looking for more queer sci-fi? Check out 15 of the Best LGBTQ Science Fiction Books and 8 of the Best Queer Space Opera Books. And if you want more sapphic SFF, try these 20 Must-Read Sapphic Fantasy Books and 20 Books That Put the F/F in SF/F.
