Once I mentioned how important Gemma Files became to me for her fearless inclusion of strong, gay characters as protagonists in a narrative, which prior to “A Book of Tongues” has featured a binary couple almost exclusively. I can’t speak about every book ever published, but it certainly felt like it was the only book willing to take Weird Western with its tough setting and tough men, definitive symbols of masculinity, and show raw masculinity didn’t suffer from homosexuality.
“A Book of Tongues” taught me to seek out defiance in fiction and counter-trope work in books, which brings to Anne Lyle and “The Alchemist of Souls”. Those interested may find my review in full HERE, because I look as in-depth as I could in the themes I talk about here and why Anne Lyle deserves more attention as a writer. Frankly, I don’t consider “The Alchemist of Souls” one among the many alternative history books out in the open, but a rather smart and detailed look at alternative sexuality in an era regarded as prude, asexual and restricted.
Non-binary sexuality, gender and relationships receive little coverage in general, but tend to be a completely overlooked element in historical fiction, because homosexuality and every other big word to describe non-binary behavior outside heterosexuality are rather new concepts, so it’s not a bit of a stretch to imagine a rather conservative sexual past. History, however, brims with many examples of alternative sexuality, sexual identity and gender. This juxtaposition between how we color our perceptions about sex in the past and what historical artifacts suggest sex was like has been a great interest of mine.
