Katharine Duckett

At the OP, the future is speaking. Through our free STEAM programs—like our Spring Studio Lab w/@brooklynmuseum.org—young creators in Brooklyn are mapping out radical possibilities for our world.

Help us raise $50K by 3/31 to uplift their voices! Donate here: https://www.octaviaproject.org/support/

I don’t usually campaign for awards, but this year I’ve decided to go for broke for a Fan Writer Hugo Award. Yay me!
1/

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo: Review by Alex Brown Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, Lee Mandelo, ed. (Erewhon Books 9781645660866, $18.95, 368pp, hc) May 2025. Cover by Noah Camp. Being queer and trans in the United States in 2025 i…

Also my review of Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo, a powerful, often joyful anthology of work about a community under siege. locusmag.com/review/ampli...
6/

Erewhon logo with the text "For Your Awards Consideration..."

Titles Motheater by Linda H. Codega The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee Tall Is Her Body by Robert de la Chevotiere The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty

Harvest of Hearts by Andrea Eames When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley rekt by Alex Gonzalez Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, edited by Lee Mandelo

Titles Ten Sleep by Nicolas Belardes A Philosophy of Thieves by Fran Wilde The Changeling Queen by Kimberly Bea The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo

From the wonderous fantasy to mind-expanding sci-fi, from the depths of horror to the magical realms of the speculative, we're proud to have an expansive list of SFF fiction eligible this year for awards consideration!

@dianapho.bsky.social @viengsamai.bsky.social

Awww, thank you!!I I so appreciate that!

2025 Books We Loved: Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity by Lee Mandelo locusmag.com/2025/12...

A stack of books before the fire (bottom to top): BECOMING EARTH by Ferris Jabr, ELRIC OF MELNIBONÉ by Michael Moorcock, THE WORKS OF VERMIN by Hiron Ennes, WHEN THE EARTH WAS GREEN by Riley Black, URANIANS by Theodore McCombs, AMPLITUDES ed. Lee Mandelo, THE SECRET MARKET OF THE DEAD by Giovanni de Feo, THE IRON BELOW REMEMBERS by Sharang Biswas, CALL AND RESPONSE by Christopher Caldwell, MAKING HISTORY by K.J. Parker

Ten highlights from my reading year! Short fiction has really dominated my mind in 2025, along with the Eternal Champion, blood-soaked operas redolent with perfume, and the Saints of Night. Plus some ecology, of course! Here's to another year of great reads!!

"AMPLITUDES HAS A LOT TO DEMONSTRATE ABOUT, AND CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUEER LIVES AND THE FUTURE - AND BY IMPLICATION, THE PAST AND PRESENT BOTH. IT IS ALSO AN IMPRESSIVE SHOWCASE OF THE POLISHED, TALENTED, AND PROFESSIONAL QUEER VOICES IN TODAY'S SPECULATIVE FICTION, SHOWING OFF THEIR CRAFT AND THE STATE OF THE GENRE WITH ATTITUDE, FLAIR, AND LUST FOR LIFE. THIS IS AN ANTHOLOGY TO BE PROUD OF: A STANDOUT COLLECTION FOR 2025." -ANCILLARY REVIEW OF BOOKS

"AMPLITUDES IS AN EXCEPTIONAL SPECULATIVE ANTHOLOGY. [...]| ENJOYED EVERY STORY IN THIS COLLECTION, AND I THINK MOST READERS WILL HAVE A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE. THIS BOOK ISN'T JUST ABOUT JOY AND IMAGINING FUTURES WHERE EVERYTHING IS BRIGHT AND PERFECT, BUT ABOUT HOW WE BUILD COMMUNITIES AND LOVE EVEN IN THE HARSHEST CLIMATES. QUEERNESS IS A COMING TOGETHER TO ASK "WHAT IF." IT IS THE PROTEST AND THE BRICK. THE LAST WORD OF THIS REVIEW SHOULD GO TO JOSÉ ESTEBAN MUÑOZ, WHOSE BOOK CRUISING UTOPIA: THE THEN AND THERE OF QUEER FUTURITY INSPIRED MANDELO IN DEVELOPING THIS ANTHOLOGY AND WHO IS QUOTED IN THE EPIGRAPH: "QUEERNESS IS THAT THING THAT LETS US FEEL THAT THIS WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, THAT INDEED SOMETHING IS MISSING." -LOCUS MAGAZINE

"EDITOR MANDELO HAS PULLED TOGETHER 22 STORIES FROM SOME OF THE STRONGEST SPECULATIVE FICTION AUTHORS WORKING TODAY. THE WRITING IS CRISP, CLEAN, AND EVOCATIVE THROUGHOUT. EVERY TALE OPENS ONTO A DIFFERENT VISION OF THE FUTURE - SOME FAR-FLUNG, OTHERS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, AND EACH AS COMPELLING AS THE NEXT. ALTHOUGH THE MOOD SHIFTS FREQUENTLY THROUGHOUT THE ANTHOLOGY [..] EACH STORY IS A POIGNANT, UNFLINCHING LOOK AT WHAT COULD BE FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY. A RADICALLY QUEER ANTHOLOGY OF TRANS JOY AND SUFFERING." -KIRKUS MAGAZINE STARRED REVIEW

"FOR ALL THE HOPE, HAPPINESS ISN'T ASSURED; THE COLLECTION HELPS READERS SHED NECESSARY TEARS ALONGSIDE HEALING LAUGHTER. THEY CAN CHUCKLE AT A TEENAGER'S FOOLISH PLAN THAT MANAGES TO TRANSFORM INTO A REBELLION AND CRY SHAMELESSLY A FEW STORIES LATER OVER A DIGITAL GHOST OF THE TRUEST FRIEND; CEREBRAL SCI-FI THAT TRADES PLACES WITH A CHEEKY STORY RIFFING OFF CAMPY '80S MUSIC. RELIGION HERE CAN BE BOTH TRAUMATIC AND TRANSFORMATIVE. VERDICT: THIS IS A RARE ANTHOLOGY IN WHICH EVERY STORY SHINES. A MUST HAVE FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES SPECULATIVE FICTION." -LIBRARY JOURNAL STARRED REVIEW

Thanks as always to the critics and reviewers who wrote so generously about Amplitudes!

Enthusiastically thumbs-upping everything on this list, and am also delighted for Amplitudes to be in such good company

(ps: the recommended-for notes did make me snort laugh)

Science fiction and fantasy (header) Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity. ed. by Lee Mandelo. Erewhon. May 2025. ISBN 9781645660866. pbk. 384p. $18.95.

Thanks to Library Journal for shouting out Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity as one of their “Stellar Selections: Best Books of 2025!” @erewhonbooks.bsky.social

www.libraryjournal.com/story/Stella...

A young king vulture standing on a table with his back toes crossed over each other

Yolo often stands with his little back toes crossed, which I find ridiculously cute!
You can see vultures don't have bulky feet and talons built for grasping/carrying like other raptors. Their more chicken-like feet are meant for bracing on food to pull at it with their powerful beaks, instead.

Amplitudes sales image, $3.99 at Kindle til 11/30

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity "The Republic of Ecstatic Consent" by Sam J. Miller "Trans World Takeover" by Nat X Ray "The Orgasm Doula" by Colin Dean "The Shabbos Bride" by Esther Alter "MoonWife" by Sarah Gailey "Forever Won't End Like This" by Dominique Dickey "They Will Give Us a Home" by Wen-yi Lee "There Used to Be Peace" by Margaret Killjoy "Fettle & Sunder" by Ramez Yoakeim "Six Days" by Bendi Barrett "The They Whom We Remember" by Sunny Moraine "When the Devil Comes From Babylon" by Maya Deane "Copper Boys" by Jamie McGhee "A Few Degrees" by Ash Huang "Where the World Goes Sharp and Quiet" by Ewen Ma "Circular Universe" by Ta-wei Chi, trans. Ariel Chu "Blueprint for the Destruction of Solitude" by Paul Evanby "The Garden of Collective Memory" by Neon Yang "Sugar, Shadows" by Aysha U. Farah "A Step into Emptiness" by Aiki Mira, trans. CD Covington "pocket futures in the present past" by Katharine Duckett "Bang Bang" by Meg Elison

An update from the team at @erewhonbooks.bsky.social!

While yesterday’s all-retailer ebook sale for Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity only lasted for 24 hours, the $3.99 price will continue to be available until Nov. 30th on Kindle. Apologies for the confusion, everyone 🖤

A white text box on a futuristic blue, pink, and purple background: "Katharine Duckett’s delightful, chaotic “pocket futures in the present past” deserves special mention as a story of literal queer futurity: in it, time travel permits objects, letters, and finally direct contact between queer people of different eras. It’s funny: lively, grounded in theory, smart and messy, briskly paced and full of surprises. It asks: What if queer people could reach backwards in time, try to change history and liberate people in both eras? To what extent are we already achieving this through the queer yearning for possibility—rediscovering lessons from the past, carving spaces for the future, in communication across eras? —Jessica Finn, Ancillary Review of Books"

And if you need a little more convincing to check it out, here's what @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org had to say about this "delightful, chaotic" story of queer time travel in Amplitudes ("a standout collection for 2025"): ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/05/30/s...

The cover of Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity.

'Tis the season for eligibility posts!

As you're reading for awards this year, I'd love for you to consider my short story "pocket futures in the present past" & the other works in Amplitudes, edited by @leemandelo.bsky.social.

Cover art for Amplitudes, over a pastel rainbow heart Canva background

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity "The Republic of Ecstatic Consent" by Sam J. Miller "Trans World Takeover" by Nat X Ray "The Orgasm Doula" by Colin Dean "The Shabbos Bride" by Esther Alter "MoonWife" by Sarah Gailey "Forever Won't End Like This" by Dominique Dickey "They Will Give Us a Home" by Wen-yi Lee "There Used to Be Peace" by Margaret Killjoy "Fettle & Sunder" by Ramez Yoakeim "Six Days" by Bendi Barrett "The They Whom We Remember" by Sunny Moraine "When the Devil Comes From Babylon" by Maya Deane "Copper Boys" by Jamie McGhee "A Few Degrees" by Ash Huang "Where the World Goes Sharp and Quiet" by Ewen Ma "Circular Universe" by Ta-wei Chi, trans. Ariel Chu "Blueprint for the Destruction of Solitude" by Paul Evanby "The Garden of Collective Memory" by Neon Yang "Sugar, Shadows" by Aysha U. Farah "A Step into Emptiness" by Aiki Mira, trans. CD Covington "pocket futures in the present past" by Katharine Duckett "Bang Bang" by Meg Elison

For #transawarenessweek, a bump for Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity!

Featuring contributors from across the globe, including both familiar and fresh voices, it gathers 22 speculative stories about queer and trans futures—and I hope at least one of them will hit for you 🖤

Katharine dressed as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew of the Muppets, with green face and body make-up, round black glasses, a white lab coat, and red tie, blows bubbles. Her wife, dressed as Beaker, with a round orange foam nose, white lab coat, and spiked-up red hair, wears Beaker's signature expression of surprise as the bubbles blow past her. They are in a bar decorated for Halloween.

Katharine dressed as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew of the Muppets, with green face and body make-up, dark green nails, round black glasses, a white lab coat, and red tie, holds and examines a purple vial with a wide-eyed expression. Her wife, dressed as Beaker, with a round orange foam nose, white lab coat, and spiked-up red hair, looks at the camera in surprise. They are in a bar decorated for Halloween.

Already trying to figure out what to propose as a couples' Halloween costume for next year, since my wife will only agree if the ensemble does not a) require her to wear make-up or wigs and b) allows her to mostly wear own clothes. This year's Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew may be hard to top.

🎉 We're thrilled to share that we've received funding from the Stonewall Community Foundation 🎉

The Stonewall Community Foundation funds work that makes differences on issues affecting LGBTQ+ lives.

As queer and trans youth face additional challenges, the Octavia Project is deepening supports.

“Review by Alex Brown STORIES OF QUEER AND TRANS FUTURITY Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, Lee Mandelo, ed. Being queer and trans in the United States in 2025 is both a herculean effort and an experience of profound joy. Every day brings some new horror aimed at eradicating my rights as a person, putting eugenics back on the law books, and dragging us back into the closet and chaining the door shut.”

They take away our access to medication and medical treatments, they legalize discrimination against us, they sneak conversion therapy riders into budget bills, they try to drive us out of the workplace, out of bathrooms, out of public life. And yet we survive. We celebrate each other, we speak truth to our identities, we rally together to protect and support each other, we throw grand parades and honor our brick-throwing elders. Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity is the perfect antidote to the terrors of the real world. In his introduction, editor Lee Mandelo distills the theme of this anthology into the question: "But what if things were different?" Different doesn't necessarily mean easier, but it does mean it doesn't have to be like it is now. This anthology dares the reader to ask what we would change and why. It asks us to imagine a world where things might not be better but where we strive toward it anyway.

Since it’s up on the @locusmag.bsky.social site now, I do wanna shout out this review of ‘Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity’ by @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social—what a joy it was to see the anthology described thusly 🥹🥹

locusmag.com/review/ampli...

Our fundraiser ends today! If you have $10 or $20 to put toward leadership opportunities for young women and trans and nonbinary youth in Brooklyn, now's your chance to make a gift. donorbox.org/build-our-yo...

📣 We have 4 more days to reach our $6,000 goal by 8/29! Together, we can launch our Youth Advisory Board and center the voices of OP alumni! Join us in supporting young leaders like our Teaching Fellows.

👆 Make a gift today and support this critical work through the link in our bio 👆

📣 We're halfway to the $6K we need to fund our new Youth Advisory Board! This leadership initiative will center the voices of OP alumni, including Fellows like Xylon.

Ready to support the next generation? Help us make our goal by 8/29! https://donorbox.org/build-our-youth-advisory-board

Last night, we celebrated a new generation of OP alumni at our Summer Showcase! To keep serving them year-round, we're launching our Youth Advisory Board this fall.

Can you help us raise $6K by 8/29 for our alumni leadership initiative? https://donorbox.org/build-our-youth-advisory-board

If you're in or around NYC, come out to the @octaviaproject.bsky.social's Summer Showcase! It's going to be a lot of fun (and psst, there's an afterparty--DM me for details).

Our Institute participants became community scientists this week at Billion Oyster Project! They gained experience supporting NYC's best “ecosystem engineers”: the oysters that boost ecological resilience by fostering biodiversity, filtering water, & acting as natural storm barriers.

Our Institute participants are building new worlds with guidance from @nkjemisin.bsky.social! Through the lens of mythmaking, students examined what our collective stories communicate about power and social roles. How can we subvert existing myths and craft new narratives?

We’re continuing our explorations of the city around us with urban planning workshops at the Institute. Through sharing real and speculative stories about the impact of rising temperatures on on urban environments, we’re working together to imagine cities of the future. 🌇

At the OP, New York City is our classroom! Last week, guest teachers in architecture and urban planning helped Camp participants discover the ✨everyday magic✨ present in their communities with generative mapping exercises, model building, and observations of public spaces.

Speculative fiction lets us enter realms beyond our own world. On a field trip to the Museum of Arts and Design, our Campers visited the "Empathic Universe" of artist Saya Woolfalk, who uses fantastical worldbuilding techniques to bring new beings & immersive landscapes to life.

Casey holds up a copy of Amplitudes: Stories Of Queer And Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo.

Casey holds up a copy of It's Not The End Of The World by Jonathan Parks-Ramage.

Casey holds up a copy of Summerhouse by Yigit Karaahmet.

Casey holds up a copy of Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee.

Today is the perfect day to pick up your next favorite book! Check out some titles we're so excited to have on the shelves (Queer nature! Apocalyptic horror! MELISSA FEBOS!)