Pride Dragons & Nonbinary SFF Recommendations

All the locals know of the stories about the lake, the world beneath it that’s half-water and half-air. Lore Garcia and Bastián Silvano have actually been to that alien, magical world, however. Bastián half grew up there; Lore’s only seen it once, but it changed their life forever. But when the under world of the lake begins to come to the surface, Lore and Bastián must work together to stop if if they don’t want their secrets exposed. And to start, that means after seven years of not speaking, they have to find some way to reconcile.

Aliens have been trying to destroy Huaxia for years; to defend itself, the country builds Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that must be piloted by a male-female team–and during battle, the women often die from the mental strain. Yet Zetian offers herself up as a pilot-concubine as soon as she turns eighteen, seeking vengeance against the pilot that murdered her older sister. When she goes into battle with him, it is she who emerges alive–and as an Iron Widow. Punished for her refusal to give in and die, she’s paired with the notorious Li Shimin–but she’s not done fighting yet, and turns her gaze toward Huaxia itself.

This collection of short fiction from Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (who has authored a lot of short fiction and has several other collections to check out) focuses on SFF that is positive and upbeat. And of course, there are still robots.