Oyeronke Oyewumi’s Invention of Women is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the social construction of gender. In an accessible and riveting book, she explains how Westerners have misinterpreted the organization of Yoruba society, imposing gender categories on a culture that is actually organized based on seniority. I write fiction about how societies could be constructed differently, but this is the real deal.

Light from Uncommon Stars is a wonderful yummy book about marginalized people, particularly trans women, thriving. It is beautifully done, nonviolent, and hopeful. I particularly appreciated the small, affirming acts of allyship that pepper the book. Highly recommend.

The Creative Interventions Toolkit and its associated Workbook are some of the most fantastic resources I’ve encountered for people who want to apply nonviolent principles in their own lives and communities. They provide both frameworks and stories of people who have found nonviolent paths to safety.

Until We Reckon is my other top recommendation for people interested in nonviolence. It is an essential challenge to the myths American culture has about what keeps us safe and how. Strongly, strongly recommended.

Covered with Night is another fascinating read for anyone interested in different ways of responding to serious harm. It is a gripping historical account of how the Anglo-American colonists and the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois) approached justice very, very differently in the aftermath of a murder. This is a must read for anyone interested in how justice could have been different not all that long ago.

Anyone interested in gender must, must, must read Rhea Ewing’s Fine. It is a compilation of interviews with people from across the gender spectrum about their experience with gender and how they make sense of it. The comic/graphic novel format adds brilliantly to the reader’s exploration of what gender is and how it works.

Content advisory: some interviews include the interviewee’s experiences with transphobia.

I never particularly liked Wuthering Heights, but Tasha Suri’s remix of it is fantastic. What Souls are Made Of takes Catherine and Heathcliff’s story and asks what community would they have needed to set them on a better course. The result is so healing, and I love the book so much.

Content advisory: racism and colonialism, abuse

So I’m going to recommend basically anything by Courtney Milan, but if I had to pick a book, it would be Countess Conspiracy. Or Suffragette Scandal. Or the next recommendation on this list. So maybe I give up on picking one, but Countess Conspiracy is my gold standard for consent. It also has some of the most romantic not-having-sex scenes ever. Both it and Suffragette Scandal are deeply feminist and revolve around claiming one’s own power.

Content advisory: explicit consensual sex. Very consensual!

Okay, so if I really, really had to choose only one Courtney Milan book, it would be Trade Me. Beautifully written, it wrestles intimately with class and privilege and family relationships. It is also an amazing and sexy romance.

Content advisory: explicit consensual sex.

Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg is a fantastic meditation on the mysteries of life and death told through the intertwined stories of two transgender elders. If you’re interested in gender and SFF, be sure to read this as well.

Content advisory: the main characters have to deal with transphobia.

The Queen of the Conquered duology by Kacen Callender dives into the moral turmoil of being a black slave owner in a fictional version of the Caribbean. It explores layers of power and the internality of wrestling with being both the oppressor and the oppressed. A must read for anyone interested in wrestling with the moral complexities of means versus ends.

Content advisory: Slavery was horrific, and the author doesn’t shy away from it. Violence, exploitation, and abuse.

Another book by Kacen Callender, Felix Ever After is a wonderful YA book about growing up as a transgender teen and grappling with identity, love, and life. It is a very sweet romance and also an excellent resource for cis gender readers to better understand the impact of things like misgendering and deadnaming.

Content advisory: The main character has to deal with transphobia.

The Calyx Charm is the third in May Peterson’s Sacred Dark series, but it works just as well as a standalone novel. It’s a beautiful, vulnerable book that deals intimately with trauma and the feelings and realities faced by trans people. It’s also a lovely romance with protagonists who consistently treat each other with respect and compassion.

Content advisory: Reference to past trauma, child abuse, sexual assault, war. Mostly off screen violence.

Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice series is another sci-fi series that plays with gender in unusual ways.

Content advisory: violence, mass murder.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik does a brilliant job of building and slowly revealing a world that operates logically and consistently on values completely different than our own. It is also beautifully written.

Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri is an amazing book that wrestles with the legacy of colonialism and reclaiming the past. One of the things I love about her work, both this and the preceding book Empire of Sand, is how the romance is integral to overcoming the political challenges the protagonists face. The setting, based on Mughal India, is particularly refreshing given the predominance of European-based fantasy worlds. It is also beautifully written.

Content advisory: violence, historical atrocities.

Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole is my favorite of her work. It’s a story of struggle, resilience, and romance of a Black cabaret owner in 1917. It rounds out feminism beyond white women and race beyond black and white.

The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin wrestles with oppression as a structural force with brilliance that I haven’t seen matched in sci-fi/fantasy. It is also an incredibly brutal trilogy that I almost couldn’t read. If you can handle the first chapter without nightmares, though, it’s worth the read. Alternatively, her Inheritance trilogy is similarly brilliant with less graphic brutality.

Content advisory: graphic murder of children, mass slaughter, no parent/child pairs are both still alive at the end.

The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner also turns gender expectations on their heads and deals with the theme of demanding justice for sexual assault even if it means upending the political status quo.

Content advisory: sexual assault.

The Curse of Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my all time favorites. The world building, especially the cosmology, is tremendous. Her Miles Vorkosigan series is also a long time favorite of mine, as is her Sharing Knife series.

The Ship of Magic series by Robin Hobb is another one of my favorites. Fantastic world building and character development, nice romantic elements, and excellent epic fantasy.

Content advisory: sexual assault, some violence.

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith is a delightful romp. No content advisories on this one, but a vivid and unusual narrator and a delightful romance.

On a completely different note, I have to recommend a middle grade book Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis. It is incredibly cute and involves dragons and chocolate, two of my absolute favorite things. It also does a great job resolving the central conflict without violence.

Also on a middle grade note, Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons series is a long time favorite from my childhood. Again, dragons! And fun flips of standard fairy tale tropes.