Birdverse

Birdverse is a secondary world fantasy universe in which I have been working for some years. I have only recently started marketing Birdverse work in earnest.

Here are some of the themes that I tackle in Birdverse:

queer families; cultures in conflict and contact; trade; academic approaches to magic; the environmental impact of magic; intersections of magic and class; nascent social movements; revolutions; religions in social context; the evolution of social science disciplines; linguistics; approaches to consent.

Women and queer protagonists abound in Birdverse; nonbinary and trans protagonists also make frequent appearances.

Here’s what is available and/or finished:

Bridgers (novel, on submission): a multicultural tale of revolution and linguistics.  You can read more about Bridgers in this interview.

“Held Close in Syllables of Light” (novelette, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): YA with three queer teens on a trading quest gone awry.

“I will show you a single treasure from the treasures of Shah Niyaz” (poem, Goblin Fruit) – many women work together to create the greatest treasure ever woven, even though they know what fate awaits it. (Rhysling Award nominee).

“Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds”  (novelette, on submission) – continues the story started in “I will show you a single treasure.” Grandmother-nai-Leylit has something to hide. (queer families; grandparents/grandchildren, autism, trans*/nonbinary issues, carpets).

“The Book of How to Live” (novelette, on submission) – Efronia Lukano is a commoner without magic. Will her brilliant inventions gain her student status at the university? And if not, what shall she do? (academia, neuroatypicality, class struggle, revolution, very many queer women).

“Geometries of Belonging” (wannabe novella, almost ready to go) – a famous mind-healer is called to help a young patient, but is it all just a carefully wrought intrigue against his lord? (consent, mind-healing, autism, D/s).

“A Portrait of the Desert in Five Personages of Power” (novella, in progress): A very old royal personage, running around the desert on stilts, discovers the antihero fast asleep in the sands. (trans characters, supermages, consent, the magical history of Birdverse).

What I’d like to add to this page, as time permits and if there is interest:

• Deepnames
• Pronunciation of personal names in Birdverse

 

 

Rose Lemberg is an immigrant, linguist, mother, and geek. She edits Stone Telling with Shweta Narayan, and has recently edited The Moment of Change, an anthology of feminist poetry, for Aqueduct Press. For a quick taste of Rose's work, try the Sampler.