Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 332 - On the Shelf for January 2026 - Transcript
(Originally aired 2026/01/03)
Welcome to On the Shelf for January 2026.
Submissions are open for the 2026 fiction series! Technically, you still have time to write something, polish it up, and get it in before the end of the month, though I hope you’ve been looking forward to this so long that you have it all ready to go. This year I’m going to try to relax about the process and not get too anxious about numbers. Submissions already started showing up on Day 1 and I plan to stick to promoting and not angsting. Remember to review the submissions guidelines on the website (linked in the show notes) to make sure your story fits our requirements.
The new year is a time for review and the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has a lot more to review than usual this year. Retirement meant that I have more time to devote to all aspects of the Project. I blogged 109 items this year, compared to less than half of that in 2024. I fit in more interviews than any other year since I stepped back from doing a weekly show. And I’ve had the chance to do more reaching out to do cross-promotion of other podcasts, exhibitions, and projects relevant to lesbian history. This year I’ve begun the actual work of turning all this research into an organized sourcebook for authors and discovered that I have maybe 80% of the material already written up in some form. And that work has been recognized publicly in the acknowledgements of a historic romance published by a major press.
I have some ambitious goals for this current year, but one that I have little control over is getting more visibility and a larger audience for the Project. That’s where you all can help. The audience for the podcast has remained fairly static, but there are occasional blips when some particular episode attracts attention. That generally happens when someone other than me talks it up in social media. Discoverability is, as they say, a bitch. No matter how much I post about the Project, I’m only reaching the first layer of people I have direct connections with. But each of you has another layer. And each person in that layer has another layer. It would be wonderful if together we could achieve some synergy and spread the word further. As far as I know, there is no one else out there doing quite what I’m doing for lesbian history and historical fiction. History podcasts and websites tend to focus strongly on the 20th century, or discuss specific individuals. Historical fiction is an afterthought—or overlooked entirely—on websites and media promoting lesbian fiction. And only a handful of isolated anthologies have provided a market for short lesbian and sapphic historical fiction. For the people out there looking for what we offer, they are unlikely to be finding it anywhere else—not in substantial quantities. And they may not know we exist unless you help spread the word.
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year—the blog had its 10th anniversary over a year ago. That’s a very long time on the web. No matter how long you’ve been following the Project, you’ve become part of something significant and meaningful. Together, let’s make it even greater.
Publications on the Blog
This month on the blog I’ve been working through a group of articles covering various Asian cultures, with a few other items thrown in. Wenjuan Xie offers a dissertation on transgender narratives in pre-modern China, while Matthew H. Sommer reflects on an apparent global shift around homosexuality as reflected in 18th century China. Adrian Carton provides an overview of same-sex relations in Asian history, and—because it appears in the same book—I also covered an excellent review of lesbian evidence in Early Modern Europe by Laura Gowing. Leila Rupp discusses the problems and pitfalls of studying same-sex sexuality on a global level. Gary P. Leupp draws connections between the rise of capitalism and the culture of homosexuality in 18th century Japan, while Gregory M. Plugfelder tackles a specific Japanese text presenting a complex cross-gender story. Shalini Shah offers a brief survey of women’s sexuality in the Mahabharata, and we finish the month with Manjari Srivastava’s survey of lesbian themes in 19th century Urdu poetry. The full titles and citations of these articles can be found in the show notes.
Book Shopping!
No new books were acquired for the blog, but I have one on order that will be filed under “useful occupations for a fictional heroine that you may not know women were involved in.” This is Sara Lodge’s The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective which studies actual detectives and their representation in fiction.
Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
The following works of historical fiction are being released in January or have been released recently.
Genta Sebastian gives us the second installment in the Clementine saga: Dreadful Sorry, Clemintine (Clementine #2) from Macoii Publishing. I’ve revised the cover copy slightly for conciseness.
It’s 1848 and the Dennisons are traveling as a married couple by covered wagon to reach the gold rush in California. Clem, a prospector and writer who’s passing for a man, is cautious by nature. A loner by choice, she makes plans and prefers being prepared, dealing with life on her own terms. She surprised herself when she proposed one night and was married the next. Kizzy, her spirited and impulsive wife, is unprepared for the dangers on the trail, but willing to do what it takes to chase her dream, leading her into unexpected adventures.
Their marriage was based on an agreement to reach gold territory, but they are falling in love—each believing the other will leave when they reach California. Can they overcome their insecurities and speak up in time? Or will the challenges tear them apart?
The doomed voyage of the Titanic continues to be an oddly popular setting for lesbian romance, as in Steel on Distance by N.J. Knox.
Melody Ashcroft has been raised to believe that virtue is something performed—measured in posture, silence, and the careful absence of want. Traveling aboard the Titanic as a lady’s companion, she moves through first-class society with practiced ease, never once stepping outside the lines drawn for her. Saralee Moore notices everything Melody has been taught to ignore. Older, observant, and quietly unafraid of truth, Saralee understands that correctness is often just another kind of confinement.
Sharing a stateroom and a life temporarily removed from home, their intimacy grows in glances held too long, hands brushing in passing, and conversations that circle around what cannot yet be named. Among women who prize reputation above honesty, Melody begins to feel the ache of living untouched. Saralee, who has already learned what it costs to want openly, knows desire does not disappear simply because it is denied. When catastrophe fractures decorum and survival strips society bare, the distance between them becomes impossible to maintain.
Nan Sampson continues the Magical Underground series with A Djinn and Tonic (that’s “Djinn” as in genie) from Last Chance Books, in which historic figures get tangled into magical adventures with a couple of witches, romping through the exploration of Egyptian tombs.
“Come at once. Carter’s unleashed hell in Egypt.”
It's New Years Eve,1922.
Parisian witch Celeste Bérenger’s seaside holiday plans with her partner Tolly are upended by a frantic telegram from Tolly’s ex-husband, begging for help.
Leaving the undead Lord Byron in a snit at being left at home, Celeste accompanies her partner to Egypt. There, faced with an ancient Celtic demigod trapped in a scarab ring, and the vengeful spirit of an ancient Egyptian priest hell-bent on destroying those who caused his death, Celeste and Tolly are plunged into a world of cursed artifacts, duplicitous sphinxes, and a deadly conspiracy.
The two witches must rely on their magic, their wits, a pair of independent donkeys, and the unshakeable power of their love to save a servant of the goddess Epona and stop a power-mad priest from conquering a nation.
And speaking of repeating themes, it feels like we’ve had a number of stories focusing on the world of professional dance in the last half year, now including Gold and Grace by Eline Evans.
Paris, 1926. Emilie has only ever had one dream, and that is to be a principal dancer at the Copenhagen Royal Ballet. A decade of hard work and determination has brought her from a childhood on the streets to dancing on a stage, but just when the position as soloist seems within reach, her frankness gets her fired.
Hoping to find a new position as a dancer, Emilie travels to Paris, where she meets the scandalous painter Gerda Wegener and her circle of bohemians. Among them are Aurélie, a beautiful cabaret dancer and courtesan, and the mysterious artist Isabelle. Emilie, who is otherwise no stranger to female company, is drawn to them both in a way she has never felt before.
Ballet de l’Opera hires Emilie as an ensemble dancer, but when her association with the seedier parts of Paris society becomes known, she’s fired once again. In need of money, she takes a job as a cabaret dancer until she can find another ballet position.
Emilie’s friendships with Aurelie and Isabelle develop into a romance between the three of them, but their situation becomes ever more dangerous as Aurélie’s rich benefactor, the powerful Bertrand, grows jealous and violent. When tragedy strikes, they set out on a perilous journey into French high society for revenge — a journey that might cost Emilie her newfound love and her dreams of becoming a principal dancer.
When I was listing upcoming Jane Austen-inspired novels for the last episode, I hadn’t yet encountered the description of Emma R. Alban’s next novel, Like in Love with You (from Avon) as “Mean Girls meets Northanger Abbey.” Based on the date of the setting this doesn’t appear to be connected with her two previous romances.
When country-bred Catherine Pine relocates to Bath in 1817, she and her mother come face-to-face with her mother’s arch nemesis, Lady Tisend, and her daughter, the wildly popular and gorgeous Lady Rosalie. Though once her very best friend, Mrs. Pine alleges Lady Tisend ultimately did her a great injustice. Twenty-five years later, she sees the perfect opportunity for retribution:
Catherine will win the favor of Lady Rosalie’s suitor, Mr. Dean. Together, Catherine and her mother will ruin the Tisends’ lives, secure Catherine a fruitful match, and launch a fully triumphant return to Bath. It’s the perfect plan for revenge. Only Catherine soon discovers that there’s more to Lady Rosalie’s mean streak than meets the eye. Lady Rosalie is by far the wittiest, cleverest, most intriguing young woman Catherine’s ever met, and she’s utterly smitten.
Meanwhile, Rosalie feels trapped in her perfect life as Bath’s favorite daughter and resident mean girl. There’s no challenge anymore, no excitement, no surprise. But when she notices newcomer Catherine gunning for her spot as queen bee, Rosalie finally feels a spark again. She determines to meet Catherine’s challenge with gusto, because Catherine ignites something in her. Something Rosalie absolutely doesn’t want to extinguish.
As their mothers force them into increasingly absurd contests of wit and feminine charms to win Mr. Dean’s affections, Rosalie and Catherine instead find themselves falling for each other, scheme, by barb, by catty jab…
Can their sizzling rivalry really become a match to last?
The Debutante Dilemma by Jane Walsh from Bold Strokes Books is the latest in that author’s extensive series of Regency-era romances. At least I’m guessing it’s a Regency? American heiresses marrying British nobility is a motif more belonging to the turn of the 20th century, so I may be wrong on that point.
Lady Emily Calloway has everything a debutante could want, including a fairy tale engagement to a fabulously wealthy lord. Her wedding should be the highlight of the Season—until her fiancé’s older brother announces his own upcoming nuptials. Society is riveted to learn that the heir to a dukedom will marry an unknown American.
Seething with envy, Emily is burdened with the task of introducing her rival to London Society…and is shocked to discover her own attraction to the beautiful heiress.
Miss Rebecca Tremblay might have left a trail of broken hearts behind her in New York, but she is determined to make a fresh start in London. Marrying a marquess will settle her restless ways, if only she can deny her forbidden desires for sophisticated and elegant Emily.
If Emily and Rebecca yield to their passion for each other, they must make a choice that will change their futures forever. Will ambition prevail—or their hearts?
We seem to have an abundance of second books this month. Rob Osler offers a second installment in his Harriet Morrow Investigates mystery series: The Case of the Murdered Muckraker (Harriot Morrow Investigates #2) from Kensington Books. I’ve trimmed down the cover copy for this one as well.
Chicago, 1898. In the midst of the Progressive Era, twenty-one-year-old junior detective Harriet Morrow is determined to prove she’s more than a lucky hire as the Prescott Agency’s first woman operative. But her latest challenge—a murder case steeped in scandal—could become a deadly setback . . .
The mystery has more twists and turns than her morning bike commute, with a muckraker found murdered in a southside tenement building after obtaining evidence of a powerful politician’s corruption. With the help of Matthew McCabe, her only true confidante at the agency, and growing more protective of her budding relationship with the lovely Barbara Wozniak, Harriet will need to survive rising threats to assert her place in a world that’s quick to dismiss her—and find a killer who’s always one step ahead.
What Am I Reading?
And what have I been reading? It’s a fairly long list this month, in part due to the reading I did for the Jane Austen episode.
I checked out Rob Osler’s first mystery, The Case of the Missing Maid, and found that while it was competently written, the author went a bit overboard in showing off the detailed background research. I had listened to the first installment of Brittany N. William’s 17th century YA fantasy a few months ago and followed it up with Saint-Seducing Gold. I still love the setting and the diverse representation in the series but I felt the emotional beats were hammered at in a repetitive way. Even more disappointing was Susanna Gregory’s medieval murder mystery A Plague on Both Your Houses, which is unfortunate because I’d picked up four books in that series in an audiobook sale and now I’m disinclined to listen to the rest of them. In contrast, the reason I didn’t finish Alexandra Vasti’s Earl Crush (connected to her sapphic romance Ladies in Hating) was purely personal taste, having to do with the extreme proportion of sex scenes to plot. Fortunately, I finished the year on a positive note with Olivia Waite’s sci-fi mystery Murder by Memory, which has the bonus of a strong sapphic presence among the characters.
Interspersed with these were the books I read for the Austen episode, which had brief reviews in that show: Emma: The Nature of a Lady by Kate Christie, The Scandal at Pemberley by Mara Brooks, The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub, and The Lady's Wager by Olivia Hampton.
Interestingly, retirement doesn’t seem to have drastically increased my fiction reading; I read about the same number of titles in 2025 as I did in 2024, with about a third of them falling roughly in the category of sapphic historicals, which is higher than the 2024 rate. I can’t help it—I reflexively count things and calculate statistics!
Author Guest
This month we’re happy to welcome M.K. Hardy to the show. We actually recorded this interview back in October, but because I had a couple interviews that tied in with specific other content, it got pushed back to this month.
(Interview transcript will be added when available.)
Show Notes
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
- Summary of the Project in 2025
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- Xie, Wenjuan. 2015. (Trans)Culturally Transgendered: Reading Transgender Narratives in (Late) Imperial China. Dissertation.
- Sommer, Matthew H. “Was China Part of a Global Eighteenth-Century Homosexuality?” in Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, vol. 33, no. 1, 2007, pp. 117–33.
- Carton, Adrian. 2006. “Desire and Same-Sex Intimacies in Asia” in Gay Life and Culture, A World History, ed. Robert Aldrich. Universe Publishing, New York. ISBN 978-0-7893-1511-3
- Gowing, Laura. 2006. ”Lesbians and Their Like in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800” in Gay Life and Culture: A World History ed. Robert Aldrich. London: Thames and Hudson. 125-43
- Rupp, Leila J. 2001. “Toward a Global History of Same-Sex Sexuality” in Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 10, No. 2: 287-302
- Leupp, Gary P. 2007. “Capitalism and Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century Japan.” in Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 135–52.
- Pflugfelder, Gregory M. 1992. “Strange Fates: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Torikaebaya Monogatari” in Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 47, No. 3 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 347-368.
- Shah, Shalini. 1991. “Women and Sexuality in the Mahabharata” in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 52: 138-144.
- Srivastava, Manjari & Manjari Shrivastava. 2007. “Lesbianism in Nineteenth Century Erotic Urdu Poetry “Rekhti”” in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 68, Part One: 965-988
- Book Shopping
- The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge
- Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
- What I’ve been consuming
- The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
- Saint-Seducing Gold by Brittany N. William
- A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory
- Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti
- Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
- Emma: The Nature of a Lady by Kate Christie
- The Scandal at Pemberley by Mara Brooks
- The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub
- The Lady’s Wager by Olivia Hampton
- Call for submissions for the 2026 LHMP audio short story series. See here for details.
- This month we interview M.K. Hardy and talk about:
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
Links to Heather Online
Links to MK Hardy Online
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