I have been trying to read more nonfiction, so when I saw this was up to request, I ran to it! I really found it very interesting and especially as someone who loves fantasy books that incorporate mythology and folklore into it, I really liked reading this. It was definitely a more enjoyable NF book that felt more like an informative podcast than just being spewed information. Such a cool read!

There is something inherently transgressive and seductive about folklore, about all the monsters and creatures, both good and evil, which may hide in the nooks and crannies of our culture. In Queer as Folklore Sacha Coward traces both how queer people find comfort in folklore and how folklore itself builds on the queer. Thanks to Unbound and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have adored fairy tales, folklore, legends, and myths for as long as I can remember. And I fully believe that reading them was foundational to who I am, what I value, and how I live my life. It is how I ended up now working with medieval material, much of which features similar creatures, motifs, and tropes. I have read a few books on fairy tales now, ranging from new collections, adaptations, to discussions of the tradition itself. I'd especially recommend The Fairy Tellers by Nicholas Jubber, for those interested in the tradition of fairy telling. I think that everyone who has encountered fairy tales, especially the wilder, darker, more outrageous ones, has a sense that they play with the taboo, the forbidden, the odd, the queer. They give a voice to forbidden desires, to unseemly wishes, and to hopeful dreams. So when I saw Sacha Coward's Queer as Folklore, I immediately connected to what he wanted to do.

Throughout this book, Coward explores various creatures, from the famed werewolf and vampire, to the mermaid, unicorn, and robot from a queer perspective. This is very much a book written for queer readers, in the sense that it gives them the space to see themselves reflected in the broad tradition of fairy tales and folklore. Coward mostly focuses on European folklore and addresses why in the introduction. Folklore exists across the world, but it is marked by the cultures from which it emerges. This cannot necessarily translate easily into another culture and not wanting to appropriate or misconstrue, the focus is on Europe and the West. I think this is a very valid reason and explained well by Coward, but I do hope someone writes the book on the other folklores soon, because it is a crucial piece for someone interested in folklore like myself. I enjoyed a lot of Coward's takes on the folklore and for a solid 60%, I'd say, his queer reading was apt and appropriate. I even followed him wholly when it came to including more "modern" folklore creatures like the robot, where he made a good case for its inclusion in the book. The other 40% however, I sometimes felt like he was reaching a little with his connections. At times he even stated this himself, that he saw a connection somewhere but appreciated it was open to interpretation. The nice thing about this is that it makes folklore something very open and accessible, something everyone gets to look at, work with, and use. But for a book that might be read by readers as "the word" on queerness in folklore, that stretching needed more scaffolding.

As someone who (just about) ekes out a living in academia, I have become used to a certain kind of writing style. When I write articles, or when I'm working on my PhD, I need to reference almost every claim I make, by referring to the work of other scholars or directly to the primary material from which my claim stems. Popular knowledge books, such as Queer as Folklore but also, for example Feeding the Monster by Anna Bogutskaya, do not need to reference to the same extent, or even at all. They get to claim things and make grand statements in ways I am deeply uncomfortable with, as a hopeful academic. This is in no way a critique of Coward and his work, it is clear that he has done his research, cares deeply about the material, and does not want to make incorrect statements. But when it comes to material I am familiar with, specifically Old Norse literature, I can't help but be a little piqued when statements are made of which I can't trace the origin. This came up when Coward discusses the poem Þrymskviða, in which Thor's hammer is stolen and he cross-dresses as a woman to retrieve it, and compares it to the Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I did some digging and this is apparently discussed by Iona and Peter Opie in their book The Classic Fairy Tales. It might be that, tracing folktales back to their motifs etc. one arrives at a common folktale type with the two, but they are two vastly different kinds of texts, and so this kind of stuck with me. But again, this is a me thing because I am used to a particular way of writing about these materials. Coward does provide references and background information, but Queer as Folklore is more of an introduction to this kind of material, from which you yourself need to take the next step.

A thing to end on, however, is something I immensely enjoyed about Queer as Folklore, which is Sacha Coward's clear passion for the material and his genuine love for his audience. Coward wants his readers to feel embraced by the material, to keep that door towards the magical, odd, and beautiful open to them. My own experience within academia means that I am familiar with the gatekeeping which can take place, where certain texts or ideas are considered capital-C Culture and therefore not for the masses. Vice versa, some material is considered low brow and therefore not given the same cultural cache that other works receive. Folklore straddles this divide, on the one hand something "of the people" and on the other something adored by parts of academia. Queer as Folklore is a relevant work in making sure folklore remains of the people, remains alive to us today and not something hidden and sanitised in books. While I have my issues with some connections and what feels like a lack of referencing to me, Queer as Folklore is an excellent introduction to folklore considered through a specific lens. If you're already familiar with a lot of folklore it might not hold a whole lot of new material, but it might suggests a new way of reading it. If you are new to folklore, take this as your starting point and enjoy digging for more info, more tales, and more delight.

Queer as Folklore is a delightful read, a book on folklore written with passion both for the tales and for their readers. The book is as much Coward's love letter to folklore as to the queer community.

Thank you to Unbound via NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book! The walkthrough of the many characters and stories that fall under “folklore” was surprising and refreshing. I’ve already recommended to some friends!

I didn’t know how bad I needed a book like this until after I experienced it. A queerness that I think a lot of lgbtq can see themselves and their peers represented (albeit in a fanciful way!)

Coward offers an interesting breadth of topics for discussion in 'Queer as Folklore'. From traditional tropes to the expanded, and expanding, mythos of Aliens and AI, Coward covers a few tales and angles with some historical analysis and a look at retellings. This is, however, quite a short book, and the overviews of these sometimes quite dense topics sometimes reads more like a high level media analysis for someone with little initial knowledge of the subject.

This is such an incredible book that finds itself at the cross-section of my interests. The writing makes it very accessible to the average reader, not relying on unnecessarily academic writing to appear to make more intelligent argument. Overall, this book provides a phenomenally research peek into the intersection of queer history and folklore (as the title suggests). I cannot recommend this book enough!

An interesting examination of folklore through the lens of queerness! I enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Simply not for me, I think. Part of this is my fault, but it just read way more as a beginner’s text than I was expecting. Definitely a fun read for someone unfamiliar with this topic but not one for an enthusiast. It was also more “essay” than I was expecting.

A good and very well researched book. I came away learning a lot about both Greek mythology, folklore and story telling in general. Only criticism I felt like it tried to explore too much and it did drag in places. I would recommend though as it did explore a lot from the queer perspective that I hadn’t considered.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Queer As Folklore walks the reader through various areas of popular folklore and mythology, connecting similar tales from cultures across the globe and pointing out their similarities and the ways in which queer people relate. I appreciated how Coward drew on a broad range of cultures, rather than focusing on the most commonly known folklore, and quoted or referenced members of those cultures on their stories.
Unfortunately, I often felt like the connection to queer culture was a bit of a reach. While some folklore figures such as fairies and unicorns do have an undeniable link to queer iconography, I sometimes felt like the discussions of the creatures and queer culture were unrelated, or only very distantly related.
Additionally, at times the writing felt quite dense. This may have been partly because I didn't see the connection between topics, but I felt like I really had to focus to take in what Coward was saying. I did enjoy the way he wrote, but it required me to pay attention.

Real Rating 4.5* of five

onster" tales, isn't it. I mean, the rise of vampire fiction as AIDS bit gay men hard is a tough sell as coincidence. Back a way we have Dr. Frankenstein building his perfect man, who then gets all freaked out because he isn't just like the other boys; we have the enduring folktale of Beauty and the Beast, as queer a metaphor as you can find; we have the Greek gods taking outlandishly unlikely forms to get off with humans.

And that's just the Western world.

In modern times there are the just barely clothed superheroes in comic-book or filmed form, flaunting their junk in our faces at $25 a ticket or graphic novel (aka comic book) with oblivious or deeply in denial boys of all ages perving on their favorite characters' amazing prowess without seeming to have a single introspective neuron firing. These hypermasculine avatars of (mostly) toxic masculinity go around destroying things with their unstoppable powers; what better way for these theater-loads of bottoms to get their desperate need to be dominated, wrecked, brutalized met safely and without admitting to themselves their need is deeply, deeply sexual? Likewise the astonishing-to-me rise of RuPaul and drag as mass entertainment...male parodies of femininity enacted for the audience's titillated amusement. There is no filmed entertainment of any sort that doesn't rely on the universal human lust for voyeurism. If I'm at all honest, that applies to literature and reading as well.

Those sour reflections out of the way, let's talk about the *fun* of it all.

The author's done a creditable job of assembling fun examples of myths and folktales that present queerness in a framework of plausible deniability, as has ever been the case. We've always been here...just have to listen to the quiet parts in between the blaring trumpets of heteronormativity. Only in recent times have we been able to say the quiet parts out loud, and it makes the control freaks and haters absolutely wild with fury that anyone could not want to be exactly like them.

Hm. I seem not to have left the sourness behind after all. Well, take the rough with the smooth, laddies and gentlewomen. I listen to unreflective heteronormativity all day every day. Listen to how it feels to be consciously aware of the receiving end of a microaggression for a change. It's never been what you meant, it's always been what the audience hears.

The audience for this survey course in queer identity is in for a treat in terms of the author's clear desire to bring us history burnished to a mellow, shadow-melting glow of inclusion. The care with which he draws lines between what modern people mean by queerness, and the often very different understandings of gender and sexuality people held in earlier times, is both commendable and clarifying. It enables us to respond honestly from within our framework to stories coming from a different framework. It's often done anecdotally, using reports of experience, so data-driven readers might not like this narrative choice. We're in the unabahedly popular arena in this book. Applying academic rigor to the way the author informs us of the existence and the resonances of queer icons in our (Western) cultural history is unwarranted.

Breadth and anecdotality (I think I just invented that word) are both strengths and weaknesses. As always. No tool cannot also function as a weapon. I did wonder at times where the heck Author Coward found his examples of modern peoples' resonances with the stories we inherited from the foreparents. At times this is my favorite thing about the read; at others, it feels...grafted on, placed too carefully to feel entirely natural.

I am mostly unhappy, to the extent I actually am, with the absence of world cultures' representation. I understand this isn't sold or described as about world cultures, but tell me in the subtitle..."The Hidden Queer History of <B>Western</B> Myths and Monsters, f/ex...that I'm not getting this broader focus. I promise I'd still buy and read it. So now you know where that last half-star went.

Still a good read, still a great gift, still something I want people to know is available for their amusement and edification.

A nice overview of the queer parts of folklore in an entertaining, breezy style. This should inspire a rethinking of some assumptions about the straightness of culture throughout history. Folklore is a broad topic, so you will likely want to do some further reading if you chance upon a subject that particularly interests you. Such a book could never cover everything.

What a delight! Sacha Coward's book explores so many incredible aspects of literature and mythology and explores them through a clear lens. Not enough people take the opportunity to learn about queer theory, and the author makes it accessible to any reader who wants to explore more about queer mythology and ancient lit. This book is poignant and educational, but also funny and entertaining above all.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Really interesting, covering a broad range of topics. Learned a lot here about the origins of specific folklore and how they intertwine with queer identities throughout history. Would definitely purchase a physical copy in the future as it’s a good one to dip in and out of for reference.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free e-arc in exchange for an honest review

This is such a cool concept for a book. Myth and folklore reflect ancient thoughts and people while this brings them to the present. It sheds a light on lesser known folklore in an engaging way while highlighting queer characters. It was enjoyable to read and I would highly recommend.

I love queer folklore and history but surprisingly had a difficult time working through this book. Theres an overload of information that left me feeling like I was slogging through it. The auther also added alot of opinions and personal interpretations that werent what I was looking for in a book like this. This book could have been shorter and more concise to hold the readers attention better, there were several chapters that were a stretch to call folklore and could have been edited out

Truly a solid and engaging look at folklore and how it appeals to modern queer people, what queerness exists in it in the past, and other ways that queerness and folklore are connected.

This is a positive review -- I liked it quite a bit and found it easy to read and engaging! It was a great starter with lots of places for interested parties to dig in and research more on their own time. I'm going to mention a few things below I had quibbles with, but even though the meat of this review focuses on them, the actual times they appeared or troubled me are minimal. It's just that since this is an academic text I felt like I should mention them:

- There are a few places where a connection tends to lean on a might/may phrasing: "x might be related to y" or "a may have given rise to b". Generally, these moments are given without sources and don't go more in depth, so I can't tell whether he's theorizing this based on evidence (ie, existing arguments, connections he saw) or if it's just his opinion it could have happened that way. There are endnotes, but they're fairly sparse and usually not in these sections. If there were more throughout, or if he were clearer on what his own theories were specifically, I think I'd have more of a solid basis on where he's getting those parts from.

- As someone who's done a bit of reading into it, I found the section on demonology to be a bit lacking -- it skipped from medieval to 19th century and thus the entire of renaissance demonology, which was its own beast, which is a shame bc some of the texts I've read on it had really interesting queer anecdotes in them (there's explicitly one with a young man being followed around by a demon in love with him who is taking on all the forms of the things he wants to be to the boy, like teacher and mentor and friend etc).

- The jack the ripper section feels a bit in bad taste; other than being an unsolved mystery that has seized public consciousness there's very little of "folklore" in it, and it seems like a second thing of interest to the author (that of how queerness and queer witch hunts lead us to view more killers as queer or 'deviant' and/or provides more focus on those queer people who have killed than the many straight ones) that just was inserted in because he wanted to talk about it. And I get that! It's just that it's a real life unsolved set of murders, and although I suppose there's some supernatural theories about it, it feels a bit odd to include.

- Likewise, I felt kind of odd about part 4's modern/expanded section. On the one hand, I think you can do a whole book about modern literary trends (and include movies and superhero comics in them) and how they relate to historical queerness, but again, I'm not sure it feels in the right place for folklore, because so many of the things talked about are explicitly fiction. I'm an author. I would feel SUPER weird if my books were brought up as 'folklore' even if I am doing the thing Coward talks about here: using the folklore of the past as a basis for queerness in modern writing. I think Coward is viewing these present day fictions as folklore elements in that they're expressions of popular culture, and certainly folklore doesn't need to be 'old', but I would have preferred a look at something more focused in popular lore (ie urban legends) than something that is manually constructed by individuals to fit a genre. Something like urban legends, analog horror, etc, are designed to be a shared identity across a social group where any member can adapt or change it, but 2001: A Space Odyssey is a copywritten work that was developed by a crew and presented to represent an individual vision. Ultimately I'd love to have had the earlier sections expanded with more examples and wider time periods explored and have this one a little more focused, and then get a second book from Coward about these modern cultural queer icons and their influences, but obviously I wasn't the one writing the book!

Again, these are all the things I feel worth commenting on because everything else I was just nodding along with. A fun, easy read, written in an approachable way and quite knowledgeable. I'd definitely read more by Sacha Coward!

Thank you to NetGalley and Unbound for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a fun and enlightening book this was. As someone who realized they are queer and came out in their thirties, I am always looking for resources that help deconstruct the heteronormative upbringing I had, and what better than the queer history of folklore and mythology?

This was exceptional. I love a book that’s like a whole spothdcary of gorgeous stories. If you love folklore, fairytales and gorgeous writing, this is for you! Yay for more queer-ness to these things too! Cause the queer folk have been around for ever, so we deserve stories too!

This is an exceptional read. I wasn't quite sure what to expect – what I got was a wide-ranging, impeccably written cabinet of curiosities. A must-read if you like folklore, fairytales, history – particularly examined from a queer lens, but will appeal to everyone who loves to discover new connections and under-explored stories. I learned so much! Highly recommend.