Farther Reefs: Ten Stories of Ocean Adventure, New Relationships, and Nautical Mystery

by J.S. Fields (Editor, Contributor), Heather Tracy (Editor), Sarah Day (Contributor)

The seas spell freedom.

Pirates and kraken, boats and submarines, deadly sirens, mermaids, and the women who face them all. These are our heroes.

High seas adventure, fantasy, and magic weave together in this sapphic anthology focusing on the joy of the unbounded oceans.

If you like diverse stories with lesbian and sapphic heroines exploring oceans, battling sea monsters, and seducing pirates, buy Farther Reefs today!

With stories by: Sarah Day and Tim Pratt, Kim Pritekel, Kyoko M. Sara Codair, William C. Tracy, N.L. Bates, Robin C.M. Duncan, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Margaret Adelle, and J.S. Fields.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Short Stories, Romance, Science Fiction, Queer, Pirates

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2022

Reviews

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have had the good fortune of reading the anthology Distant Gardens, where lesbians interact with sentient plants and planets, then you have already met some of the authors that literally “jumped on board” to contribute to this newest lesbian/ocean/water related collection of short stories: Farther Reefs.

“So, a treasure hunter, a hardened sea captain, and a merman walk into a bar. Isn’t that how all good tall tales begin?” from For Want of Treasure by Kyoko M.

Absolutely! Farther Reefs contains 10 tall tales that involve lesbians as the principal characters who get involved with small sail boats, kayaks, tall ships, submarines, pirate captains, mermaids, Sirens, a Prince of Atlantis, Krakens, dragons, sunken treasure, deserted islands, water controlling demons, erupting volcanoes and believe it or not, there’s even a boat haunting ghost! (I’m still trying to wrap my head around the implied/impending threesome in that story: "Haunting Georgie" by Sara Codair.)

Sexual heat varies from low to mild with the first heart pounding kiss of WLW soft lips to HOT when the second in command is naked and trussed in ropes and lying helpless across the captain’s bunk. Can you say: Aye, Aye Mistress!?!

Overall, I was impressed with the characters and the near immediate submersion (pun intended) into each contributing author’s story. There is one skeletal bone of contention I have with one or two stories though, but to my way of thinking there is no way you’ll have two lesbian women, stuck on a ship out in the middle of an ocean who have the hots for each other, go for YEARS without attempting to seduce one another.

I give it two weeks, tops.

Maybe it’s just me and my elder years of experience speaking here, but for any card carrying, toaster oven toting lesbian it’s almost always a meet and shake hands, eye each other across a crowded room for maybe an hour or two, then slip away quietly for some hanky panky and have a U-Haul truck on speed dial gassed up and ready to go for that second date!

You should give this a read ... it's a lot of fun and a great way to entertain yourself during a quiet afternoon. It'll arouse your imagination, and probably some other body parts as well!

I’ll definitely re-read Farther Reefs… it’s that good! And I am really hoping they’re putting together Worlds Apart: A Universe of Sapphic Science Fiction and Fantasy Book 3! Any word on that Mr. Tracy?

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

The same team who brought us Distant Gardens in 2021 chose the sea and its creatures for its new anthology, Farther Reefs. As J.S. Fields writes in the introduction, “There are fewer nail polish jokes this time but a lot more mermaids, which seems like a pretty fair trade”, and yes, it is. And not just mermaids…

Ten stories (by eleven authors), all sapphic, with various degrees of steam (the spiciest is at the end). I enjoyed most of them (one I skimmed because I was a bit bored, but that’s a matter of taste I think) and some I really really loved: The Salvage Sirens by Sarah Day and Tim Pratt, Haunting Georgie by Sara Codair, Jack of Diamonds by N.L. Bates, in part because it reminded me of Shell Game by Benny Lawrence. I need to read more stories by these last two authors since their Distant Gardens offerings were among my favourites as well.

What’s terrific about these collections is how each author manages to create a whole world in just a few sentences and going from one story to the other feels like travelling between worlds.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Read all my reviews on my blog (and please buy from the affiliation links!): Jude in the Stars

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn’t read the prior in the series but will have to now. The stories collected here were excellent, ranging from haunting and lyrical to gritty. Plus the nautical theme throughout lent itself to an engaging variety of story elements, including pirates and demons and mermaids and scientists. A book that gave me a similar vibe was the Underwater Ballroom Society

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Christopher Gerrib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure - the editor of this anthology and I share a publisher. However, I did buy my copy at retail and was not asked to post a review.

I really like this book! The concept is a bit narrow - "sapphic science fiction and fantasy at sea." However, the ten stories included are universally good. There are several stories of female pirates and their girlfriends, which are fun, and two stories involving mermaids. (There's also a merman who's in a polyamorous relationship.) Finally, there's a magical quest story, "The Sun Eater" which is quite memorable.

Overall, a highly-enjoyable anthology.

[William Tracy]

Hi Folks!

I'll use this space to provide updates to the anthology, as needed!

The audiobook has just been released on November 1st, so if you want to hear these great stories read to you by an amazing voice talent, check it out on Audible!
https://www.audible.com/pd//B0BL25BGLG

[Joseph Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good anthology. The tales are interesting and the characters are generally well-developed. Also, the world-building, by story, makes you unsure: are you on earth in the past, a future earth, or somewhere else in the galaxy?
Generally worth a read. Quick and easy to go through.

[SeasaltRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s hard to rate an anthology because each story is unique.

My favorites were The Salvage Sirens by Sarah Day and Tim Pratt and Jack of Diamonds by NL Bates.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pirates, Sea Creatures and Ghosts - Oh my!
Anything involving sea, ocean or water in general is covered by ten stories relegated with piracy, merfolk, magic, supernatural, and sea creatures. Whichever type meet your needs is covered in this anthology of Father Reefs. It does involve out of the box thinking as it does involve mostly lesbian or other alternative matches. The stories themselves are well written and creative.

I received a complimentary copy to leave an honest review.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a great collection of sea stories, it did what I was hoping for from the cover. Each story was really well done and did it's job well. I had enjoyed the first collection as well so this was no brainer.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jastuart314gmail.com · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I came to getthis title. #1/ I'm not into most short stories. #2/ I'm uncomfortable with graphic sexual scenes.

I really tried to read with an open mind, but it just didn't work with me.

[Selina Mist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack of Diamonds, Testing the Waters, For Want of Treasure, Haunting Georgie, and Caught were good reads, 4 stars. The rest were meh, 2 stars.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this anthology to be quite uneven in the story quality. All had some interesting ideas but some had much better characters than others. The pronoun use was a bit confusing in some of the stories. This was a factor in the readability of the stories as well.

I received an advance copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily