20 of the best LGBTQIA+ works of science fiction

2312 (Cover image via Orbit)

16. 2312

2312 all begins, unsurprisingly enough, in the year 2312. Swan Er Hong is an artist who is struck by the unexpected death of Alex, her step-grandmother. Alex was an important figure among the citizens of Terminator, a city on Mercury. Terminator is built on gigantic tracks in order to stay on the planet’s cooler night side that faces away from the blazing sun.

Swan, still dealing with Alex’s death, travels throughout the solar system to visit with friends and learn more about Alex’s life. While she’s on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, an artificially-controlled meteorite damages Terminator’s tracks and dooms the city to cook in the sun. Swan soon gets caught up in the mysterious conspiracy that seems to surround her grandmother’s death and the terrorist attack that destroys her former home.

The people who live throughout the solar system have no time to get caught up in gender confusion. To that end, an individual could choose from a bevy of recognized categories, from lesbian, gay, bisexual, neuter, queer, androgynous, berdache, hijra, and many more. In addition, numerous people are biologically intersex. Gender is also fluid, meaning that people are free to adjust and change their identities as they see fit.

Unlike other works of fiction on this list, the LGBTQIA+ side of things in 2312 isn’t exactly front-and-center. But, neither is it quietly shoved to the side or relegated to a few awkward conversations scattered throughout the novel. Instead, the wonderful spectrum of genders, sexualities, and more is a part of everyday life.