Upright Women Wanted
2020
- american literature
- pulp western
- queer
- librarians
- revolution
- antifacism
- lgbtq young adult
- fiction, dystopian
- fiction, science fiction, action & adventure
- women librarians
The story
“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.” Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached and dust-choked, with wide empty desert under hard light and the creak of wagon wheels across long flat distances. Its vibe is brisk, defiant hope bruised by dread: a pulp western in spirit, lean and fast, with horseback chases, campfire talk and the quiet intimacy of a book wagon rolling from town to town. The prose is wry and colloquial, full of folksy turns of phrase and sharp dialogue, and the sensory world lands in dust, sweat, leather and gunsmoke. Pacing is brisk, with short chapters that keep moving and a steady undercurrent of tension. The emotional register mixes grief and rebellion with flashes of humour, following a young woman who runs toward danger rather than away from it, and her grief over a lost friend slowly turning into resolve, alongside a found family of librarian spies. Intensity is moderate to high: gunfights, bandit violence, and executions occur on the page, with grief and cruelty handled directly, though gore stays limited and romance is tender rather than explicit. It suits readers who want a queer, anti-fascist frontier adventure with heart, for a long-haul flight or a determined weekend read.
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