Today on the site, we’re digging inside the brand-new lesbian SFF anthology Fiery Deeps, edited by J.S. Fields and Heather Tracy! Here’s the background:
Fire is Power!
Quest to the heart of the earth, cross flaming rivers, and brave the fire with our heroes to discover unlimited strength! From fantastic underground cities, to superheroes, to magic of the forge, titanic forces of nature collide in this lesbian-centric anthology focusing on the power of women.
Contains stories by: William C. Tracy, J.S. Fields, Robin C.M. Duncan, Sara Codair, N.L. Bates, Rosiee Thor, Maya Gittelman, Heather Tracy, N. Romaine White, and Dee Lyle!
Buy it: Amazon
And here’s a peek inside the collection from some of its contributors!
“The Fire Swamp is for Lovers” by Rosiee Thor
When I set out to write “The Fire Swamp is for Lovers” I intended it to be a buddy comedy about a sword lesbian and her emotional support himbo on a quest for love. It turned into a meditation on worth and the way capitalist society bleeds us dry of inherent value. Sometimes when I write, I interrogate concepts or structures that I find frustrating, but this time I was really interrogating myself and my preconceived notions about my own worth. Whoops! That isn’t to say it isn’t still a comedy! I packed this personal therapy session full of jokes, a hot swamp witch, and fire-breathing chickens, too!
“The Flamesmith” by William C. Tracy
This anthology is all about fire, and power, and feeling. I’m normally not the most character-driven writer, but this story begged to be pulled into existence simply by the relationship between the two characters. One cannot feel, and the other chooses not to. Flame can melt or weld two objects, but it’s as dangerous as it is powerful. I wanted to explore how a smith, who uses flame and dance to create magical artifacts for both good and ill, might see a person who has come begging with an impossible wish. The challenge to achieve that which has never been achieved is tempered against the risk of burning oneself out. I’m usually a heavy outliner and plotter, but this story flowed from the very beginning, much like a metal heating up until it’s a liquid. I can’t wait to share this tense, challenging, love story with you.
“Aubade” by Maya Gittelman
I think of fire as the tension between creation and destruction: violence and hearth alike. The forge felt like the perfect place to explore this in a fantasy setting—a profession that builds tools for a society and weapons to destroy it, at once. The Longest Johns’ “The Hammer and the Anvil” mingled with Balin failing to persuade Thorin Oakenshield that no ancestral homeland is worth sacrificing a life, much less one of peace and plenty. The characters took shape: a dwarven forger who only ever wants to create, not destroy. And the Chosen One whose violent destiny necessitates a weapon only that dwarf can forge.
What if instead of seeking distant glory, this life was enough? No one has the birthright to inflict violence, and it’s jarring to reflect on how much of my childhood literary fantasy canon takes empire as a given—even, in the “right hands,” a good.
Aubade: an ode to daybreak. The cycle twisting anew.
“Aubade” is my response to violent capitalism and the perceived inevitability of war. Queer love as generational curse-breaking, as a fundamental subversion of the norm. Queer love as its own happily for now and ever after. Unflinching community as the closest thing to heaven on earth we ourselves have the capacity to build.
Queer love that inspires a fresh story we get to write ourselves. Not scribbled into the margins, but as epic and transformative as any odyssey. Queer love as inevitable and spectacular as the dawn.
“Phoenix Tail’s Rescue” by Sara Codair
The idea for “Phoenix Tail’s Rescue” came to me at a time when I thought I was done with writing for good. I love animals and admire the people who dedicate their lives to helping them. I thought, if I’m going to write another story, it’s going to be about someone who works in animal rescue. Then I got an idea for a fire-proof shapeshifter who loses her clothing while rescuing a cat from a burning building and meets a hot lady fire-fighter in the process. It turns out I’m not quite done with writing yet.
“In the Mantle, an Inhale” by N. L. Bates
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed as a writer is the ability to play with form. From the outset, I knew I wanted to capture a bit of that playfulness in this story. When I stumbled across a piece of science journalism about the formation of diamonds, I knew I’d found my framework—a volcanic process that takes hundreds of thousands of years.
I also knew I wanted to explore an established relationship, rather than a new romance. So I took a historically male-dominated profession—mining—filled it with smart, capable women, and sent them mining for diamonds. That’s how I wound up with “In the Mantle:” a story about a mountain and a marriage, both buckling under the inexorable force of extractive capitalism.
Writing it felt a bit like putting myself through a meat grinder—appropriately enough, since the characters go through a meat grinder of their own. It’s a story about hard times getting harder, under the auspices of an entity that only cares about its bottom line. But ultimately, it’s also a story about renewal: for the characters, for their relationship, for the earth itself. And I, for one, think we need stories like that right now.
Fiery Deeps released September 17th from Space Wizard Science Fantasy as part of the Worlds Apart universe and is available for purchase now!
