20 of the best LGBTQIA+ works of science fiction

Santa Olivia (Cover image via Grand Central Publishing)

14. Santa Olivia

People may know author Jacqueline Carey best for her sensual Kushiel’s Dart series. But, she’s a well-established author with quite a few novels and series to her name. Santa Olivia is a particularly fun and fascinating example of Carey’s oeuvre.

Santa Olivia mashes up a variety of genres and conventions, from science fiction to fantasy, to post-apocalyptic dystopias, to werewolf stories. Plus, it’s got some darn good LGBTQIA+ protagonists.

Santa Olivia is a border town that, officially speaking, does not exist. It’s deemed “Outpost No. 12”. After an epidemic hits the land, tensions between the United States and Mexico escalate to a violent degree. After the dust settles, a “barrier zone” is established between the nations. People living in this zone are faced with a choice: leave their homes, or stay and renounce their citizenship. Given the dire financial straits of some residents, quite a few decide to stay.

Protagonist Loup Garron is one of those residents. She’s been genetically modified for superhuman strength and an inability to feel fear. She’s also a boxer, dealer of vigilante justice and all-around boss. That’s a pretty handy set of skills, given that life in her hometown is fairly rough and tumble. Her success as a mysterious boxer may also be her ticket out of town (the local general is fairly obsessed with boxing) and a way for Loup to track down her long-gone father.

Amongst all the violence and superhuman drama of her small town, Loup also manages to entangle herself in some romance with another woman. It’s all part of her life as an astonishing, brave, and somewhat wild young adult in a hostile land.