Upright Women Wanted

by Sarah Gailey

Overview

A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist!
A 2021 Locus Award Finalist!
A 2020 ALA Booklist Top 10 SF/F Pick!
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick!
Book Riot's Best Books of 2020 So Far!

Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | NYPL | Booklist | Bustle | Den of Geek

In Upright Women Wanted, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.

“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.

Praise for Upright Women Wanted

"A good old-fashioned horse opera for the 22nd century. Gunslinger librarians of the apocalypse are on a mission to spread public health, decency, and the revolution."—Charles Stross

"A dazzling neo-western adventure. . . . Gailey’s gorgeous writing and authentic characters make this slim volume a pure delight."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250213655
Publisher:	Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	255,322
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey is an internationally published writer of fiction and nonfiction. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and The Boston Globe, and they are a regular contributor for Tor.com and Barnes&Noble. Their fiction credits include Fireside Fiction, Tor.com, and The Atlantic. Their debut novella, River of Teeth, was published in 2017 via Tor.com and was a 2018 Hugo and Nebula award finalist. You can find links to their work and social media on their website.
Hugo Award-winning and bestselling author Sarah Gailey is the author of the novels The Echo Wife and Magic for Liars. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and The Boston Globe, and they won a Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. Their fiction credits also include Vice and The Atlantic. Their debut novella, River of Teeth, was a 2018 finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/18/2019

Gailey (Magic for Liars) pits librarian spies against the oppressive government of a future Southwestern America in this dazzling neo-western adventure. After Esther Augustus’s best friend and crush Beatriz is executed for possessing unapproved reading materials, Esther’s father, the superintendent of the Lower Southwest Territory, arranges for a political marriage between Esther and Beatriz’s fiancé. Esther flees by stowing away in the caravan of the Librarians, state employees who distribute approved literature to isolated towns. Once discovered, Esther is shocked to learn that the Librarians are actually a hotbed of queer subversion: stern Bet and motherly Leda are a long-term lesbian couple, and their cranky apprentice, Cye, is nonbinary. The Librarians agree to take Esther to Utah, an insurrectionist camp, after picking up a “package” of other refugees. Along the way, Esther grows disillusioned with the homophobic government propaganda she’s read all her life and develops feelings for Cye. During a brazen attempt to prove herself useful to the Librarians, Esther stumbles upon frightening information about one of the refugees they’re escorting, plunging them all into danger. Gailey’s gorgeous writing and authentic characters make this slim volume a pure delight. Readers will relish this showcase of Gailey’s striking talents. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist!
A 2021 Locus Award Finalist!
A 2020 ALA Booklist Top 10 SF/F Pick!
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick!
Book Riot's Best Books of 2020 So Far!

Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | NYPL | Booklist | Bustle | Den of Geek

"A dazzling neo-western adventure. . . . Gailey’s gorgeous writing and authentic characters make this slim volume a pure delight."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A breezy, rousing and unrelentingly fun gallop.” –NPR, Best Books of 2020

Praise for American Hippo: River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and New Stories

"Fun and charming with killer hippos and even better characters." —Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of seedy westerns will greatly enjoy this tale of gold-tusked hippos and the miscreants who ride them." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

01/01/2020

Esther Augustus has fled town after her lover was hanged for possessing "unlawful materials"—also known as resistance propaganda. Stealing off in the librarians' wagon, Esther believed that becoming one of the "morally upright" and chaste women who brought approved reading to towns across the country would save her from herself. Except that librarians Leda and Bet are a couple and in charge of bringing parcels—women escaping dire situations—across state lines to the resistance areas in Utah. When one of their "parcels" turns out to be even more trouble than first expected, Esther and the librarians load up their pistols, ready for a fight. Esther jumps from the frying pan into the fire, just where she needed to be to discover how to be her own woman. VERDICT Gailey sets this adventurous novella that twists a historical trope into a singular story in an alternate future Southwest populated with bandits, shoot-outs, and fierce queer people. Readers will root for these rowdy librarians.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal