
LGBT REPRESENTATION IN YA FANTASY
ELEMENTAL LOGIC



The Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks is as yet unfinished. She has written Fire Logic, Earth Logic, and Water Logic, with no as yet known publishing date for Air Logic, the final installment. What is notable about these books is the complete equality of the sexes and the total fluidity of gender and sexuality. And yet, Marks never calls attention to it, normalizing it for the reader. It's a world that believably exists completely outside heteronormative structures. The plot of the novels center around the country of Shaftal, which was conquered some 30 years before the first book, and a genocide carried out by the conquering Sainnites against Shaftal's magic users. But magic is an interited trait in the people of Shaftal, and a new generation of magic users carry out a guerrilla war against the Sainnites. Marks refuses an easy "us vs. them" mentality, though, crafting both lovable and vile characters on both sides of the conflict.