On the Shelf for December 2025 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 330
On the Shelf for December 2025
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode # with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
Accomplishments and upcoming milestones
A podcast that listeners may be interested in: Our Dyke Histories
Recent publications covered on the blog
Levin-Richardson, Sarah. 2013. “Fututa Sum Hic: Female Subjectivity and Agency in Pompeian Sexual Graffiti” in The Classical Journal, 1083. pp.319-45.
Walker, J. 2006. “Before the Name: Ovid’s Deformulated Lesbianism” in Comparative Literature 58.3, pp.205-222.
Castle, T. 1983-4. “Eros and Liberty at the English Masquerade, 1710-90” in Eighteenth-Century Studies, XVII, 2: 156-76.
Friedman-Rommell, Beth. 1995. “Breaking the Code: Towards a Reception Theory of Theatrical Cross-Dressing in Eighteenth-Century London” in Theatre Journal 47, no.4: 459-79.
Howard, Jean E. 1988. “Cross-Dressing, the Theatre and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England” in Shakespeare Quarterly 39: 418-40. (Also appears in: Howard, Jean E. 1993. “Cross-Dressing, the Theater, and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England” in Crossing the Stage: Controversies in Cross-Dressing, ed. Ferris, Leslie. Routledge, London.)
Andreadis, Harriette. 2006. “Re-Configuring Early Modern Friendship: Katherine Philips and Homoerotic Desire.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 523–42.
Kramer, Rene. 2015. That Mysterious, Remisse Knot: Katherine Philips’s Unincorporated Fraternity. Honors Thesis.
Stevenson, Mark & Wu Cuncun (eds. and trans.). 2013. Homoeroticism in Imperial China: A sourcebook. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-0-415-55144-1
Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
Souvienne by Aldwin Beckett
Without Apology (Jane Smith #3) by Charlotte Taft
Inverts in a Violet Room by Peter Forrester
Whispers of the Heart: Lady Eleanor's Secret by Rhia Kampus
Hiding the Flame by Angela M. Sims
On the Edge of Uncertainty by E.V. Bancroft
Brought to Heel by Ella Witts & Serah Messenger
Pearl Bound by Natalie Bergman
What I’ve been consuming
Network Effect by Martha Wells
System Collapse by Martha Wells
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott
A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo
Raised for the Sword by Aimée
Call for submissions for the 2026 LHMP audio short story series. See here for details.
This month we interview Maya Dworsky-Rocha and talk about:
The historic context and terminology of anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews
Cultural clashes and conflicts around ideas of gender
The historic work of Daniel Boyarin and Jewish gender stereotypes
Maya’s use of non-binary characters to reflect these ideas
The symbolic uses of eating, temptation, and impurity in the story
”Authorizing” queer desire via projection
Maya’s writing partnership as Sylvia Barry
The Devil and the Jews by Joshua Trachtenberg
A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
Twitter: @LesbianMotif
Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
Website: http://alpennia.com
Email: Heather Rose Jones
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Maya Dworsky-Rocha Online
Website: https://www.sylviabarrybooks.com/
Bluesky: @mayadrocha.bsky.social
TikTok: @mayadrocha
