Discotopia | Diverse Books | In the Watchful City

In the Watchful City

S Qiouyi Lu

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"This masterful work positions Lu among the vanguard of contemporary futurism and speculative fiction."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

In the tradition of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, debut author S. Qiouyi Lu has written a multifaceted story of borders, power, diaspora, and transformation with In the Watchful City.

The city of Ora is watching. Anima is an extrasensory human tasked with surveilling and protecting Ora's citizens via a complex living network called the Gleaming. Although ær world is restricted to what æ can see and experience through the Gleaming, Anima takes pride and comfort in keeping Ora safe from harm.

When a mysterious outsider enters the city carrying a cabinet of curiosities from around with the world with a story attached to each item, Anima's world expands beyond the borders of Ora to places—and possibilities—æ never before imagined to exist.

But such knowledge leaves Anima with a question that throws into doubt ær entire purpose: What good is a city if it can't protect its people?

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Hi there party people and disco dancers,\ \ Happy Non-Binary People’s Day to my non-binary pals!\ \ Here’s a list of my fave books by BIPOC non-binary authors to celebrate.\ \ Face by Joma West\ \ \ \ Disclaimer - Joma is my sibling! That doesn’t stop this from being a brilliant dystopian conceptual sci fi though, published by Tor, blurbed by Sylvain Nuevel and it even had a conference paper written about it.\ \ It’s an unsettling, Black Mirror-esque story set in a world where no one can touch, babies are designed, and online social status dictates wealth and prosperity. Joma is third culture and non-binary.\ \ In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu\ \ \ \ I’m always going on about this amazing, bizarre bio-cyberpunk novella about a human who surveils a totalitarian city state through a biological network, and has aer perception of the universe and aer own history challenged by a mysterious story collector. The story is Asian-inspired and both MCs have neopronouns, as does the non-binary author (ae/aer).\ \ The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang\ \ \ \ This is book 1 in a 4 novella fantasy series about the twin children of a regent who are, like everyone, non-binary at birth until they choose their gender when they’re older, but unlike everyone, possess special powers. As they grow, they disagree on gender, power and politics, with ramifications for the whole empire. Neon Yang is Singaporean and non-binary.\ \ Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xirin Jay Zhao\ \ \ \ I’m a huge Iron Widow fan, and I also loved this middle grade fantasy from the same non-binary author. Queer Chinese-American, Hui Muslim teenager Zachary finds he is connected to the spirit of the First Emperor of China, and must got on a quest to close a portal to the underworld.\ \ Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender\ \ \ \ I adore this YA novel Black trans boy navigating first love and identity. It does feature a transphobic subplot, so be warned, but the romance is wonderful and Felix feels so real. I promise you’ll be smiling at the end! Kacen Callender uses they/them pronouns and is queer, trans and non-binary. The story also features a demiboy character.\ \ This reminds me that demigender awareness day is in December so I’d also like to do a post for that. This is the only book I’ve read so far that features a demigender character so please do let me know if you have recs!\ \ Much love,\ \ Disco

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Read and loved all of these! Books listed: Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min Cafe con Lychee by Emery Lee Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee Portrait for a Thief by Grace D. Li In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo Silver Under Nighfall by Rin Chupeco Iron Widow by Xirin Jay Zhao Books for ESEA heritage month (UK), AAPI month (US) and Asian heritage month (CA). #booktok #aapiheritagemonth #asianbooks #mmromance #eseaheritagemonth

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The Trans Rights Readathon starts today, and here is my TBR. Not pictured: Queen of Faces by Petra Lord and Awakened by A.E. Osworth. What will you be reading?\ \ \ \ Join for free or login