I’ve been on a quest to read more f/f science fiction romances featuring at least one Black lesbian/bi character, and preferably by Black lesbian/bi authors. The reason? To experience more variety in my SFR as well as stories with fresh perspectives. Sci-fi romance is a genre whose plots and settings vary widely, but as for the characters who populate them? Not as much.

Years ago, I read Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi. This past year, I read The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson and The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark. I enjoyed them all and became hungry for more like them.

While there may very well be a plethora of Black lesbian/bi authored f/f sci-fi romances featuring Black main characters, I’ve been having trouble finding them despite searching high and low in both traditional, small press, and self-published venues. Coincidentally, I’m a reader who loves discovering new-to-me authors and I also love being among the first to discover niche science fiction romances. That means I’m not averse to searching…and searching…and searching.

Discoverability remains a significant problem for most authors no matter how their books are published. As eager as I am to discover sci-fi romances of all kinds, I can’t read a book if I don’t know it exists. Unfortunately, books I want to read aren’t always included in curated online collections of diverse books. That’s why readers like me often have to rely on word-of-mouth.

After much searching, I found a Black lesbian romance novel with superheroes for the win!

Recently, I read The Mercy Chronicles: A Superhero at War With Herself by a Lambda Literary Award finalist, author Fiona Zedde (hat tip to Deep Deception author Cathy Pegau who answered the call when I asked for recommendations on Twitter). I didn’t hesitate at all to buy this duology.

I had seen the news of Zedde’s latest book release prior to learning about The Mercy Chronicles, but because it was a contemporary romance I assumed she didn’t write anything in the SFR category. Many authors stick to one or two romance categories, but the situation reminded me that I may have to dig deeper than usual to find SFR stories that I’m seeking at any given time.

The Mercy Chronicles includes two f/f superhero romance books. The Power of Mercy is from Mai’s point of view, while A Lover’s Mercy is from Xóchitl’s point of view. It’s basically a romance told across two books. Here’s the basic description:

The two halves of Fiona Zedde’s lesbian superhero book series come together in The Mercy Chronicles.

In The Power of Mercy, shape-shifter Mercy is a rooftop-climbing hero forced to choose between family loyalty and self-preservation.

In A Lover’s Mercy, Mai’s lover Xóchitl is used to being the strongest one in the room, but when she suddenly isn’t, can she surrender to her lover’s mercy?

In this world, superhero powers are genetic in nature. There are superheroes, of which Mai is one, and Enforcers who keep metahumans in check, a role played by Xóchitl. This world also features clans of superpowered families whose members possess various abilities.

Unlike your average comic book superhero story, The Mercy Chronicles is largely focused on two things: Mai’s family dynamics and Mai’s romance with Xóchitl. There’s a murder mystery, dark family secrets, and superhero rescues, but this is primarily a character-driven romance. Mai is a tortured character with a traumatic past as well as a complicated relationship with her mother, the head of one of the most powerful superhero families.

The Mercy Chronicles features mature themes and graphic violence for which some folks might want to seek out content alerts. Both books contain lots of sensuality, sensual details, and lush descriptions of bodies and fashionable clothing.

Some parts of the worldbuilding felt thin and there were also times the characters developed superpowers a tad too conveniently, in Deus ex machina style. Xóchitl had around five different powers that sprang up over the course of the two books. I’m all for female characters having multiple powers, but in this case, at times they existed more to serve the needs of the plot than drive the plot. But that aspect wasn’t a dealbreaker by any means.

I’m glad I read The Mercy Chronicles because I definitely met characters who had been missing from my general sci-fi romance reading. The cultural specificity was great and it’s always refreshing to read a story that expands the idea of who gets to be a superhero.

The story has decent action scenes, insightful social commentary, and offers a satisfying balance between the romance and the external plot. Overall, The Mercy Chronicles was very clear about the romance content it wanted to focus on, even going so far as to spell that out in the text at one point! Gotta love it.

Thanks for reading about my latest adventures in science fiction romance. For more information about Fiona Zedde, visit her website and follow her on Twitter.