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    Upright Women Wanted
    Upright Women Wanted
    Upright Women Wanted
    Audiobook3 hours

    Upright Women Wanted

    Written by Sarah Gailey

    Narrated by Romy Nordlinger

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In Upright Women Wanted, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.

    "That girl's got more wrong notions than a barn owl's got mean looks."

    Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her-a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.

    The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 4, 2020
    ISBN9781541439443
    Author

    Sarah Gailey

    Sarah Gailey is an internationally published writer of fiction and nonfiction and a winner of the Hugo Award. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and The Boston Globe, and they are a regular contributor for Tor. Their most recent fiction credits include Fireside Fiction and Uncanny Magazine. Find out more at SarahGailey.com and find them on Twitter @GaileyFrey.

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    Reviews for Upright Women Wanted

    3.5/5

    804 ratings57 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Such a good premise but bad writing brought it down. Incredibly boring and characters not fleshed out at all

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I occasionally have an issue with certain period pieces, whereby a time-period for a story seems solidly established—then suddenly an out-of-place element jumps out and puts you in a tail-spin.

      This story reads like Old West, horses, wanted posters, outposts, rifles & six-shooters, posses, etc., and it works—until cars are mentioned—then suddenly you’re floundering as to when, exactly, is this story taking place. Is it Old West? Post-apocalyptic’?

      I know that authors endeavor to mix things up for creativity and freshness, and I get that. Occasionally though—for me—that device can backfire, resulting in a confusing sense of displacement that pops me right out of the story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this and my only complaint is that I would like to have more of it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A kick-ass dystopian western? Surprisingly, it works. It's fast-paced, full of action, fun, and heartwarming. However, it is more character driven than plot driven. Given that this is a short story there's not much depth to the dystopian world, but it didn't really bother me. The author specifically focuses on the main character and her education via the librarians, what she does with that knowledge, and how she grows as a person. The only thing I found wrong with it is the fact it's not a novel. 176 pages is just not enough! I want more of these characters and their cause!
    • 5/5
      This was so freaking good!!! I didn't know I needed to read an lgbt western until I did.
    • 5/5
      Queer Librarians running the resistance against a fascist government??? Yes Please!!! If you're a lesbian, love westerns, or love dystopian fiction, this book has something for you.
    • 5/5
      An intresting take on being queer. Love it. Freedom, gun fire, and love.
    • 3/5
      The story was interesting, characters were believable and quite well drawn. The narration was sing song and unsuitable for the story. Almost sounded like a robot narrating and became annoying. I wish there had been more exploration of the political situation outside of the group. War? Against gay people? Civil war?
    • 5/5
      I love this book so very much! I love all of Sarah Gailey’s work but this is by far my favorite.
    • 2/5
      I found it difficult to gauge whether I liked the book itself because I felt that the narration was totally inappropriate for the nature of the book. It’s a violent western and the narrator seems better suited to children book narration. It’s a 3 star for the book and a 1 star for the narration.
    • 4/5
      I liked this. Interesting read. Definitely short but it’s an awesome look into this interesting world. I like the main character and her grow up in this. All of the women are very BA and that was cool to read as well. Worth the fun read.
    • 5/5
      I love this so much. As a genderqueer person primary into women I have literally never seen a relationship like the one I want in meda, and this was amazing. The writing was top notch, I finished it in less than 24 hours because I just kept wanting to hear more
    • 4/5
      Good exciting novella about lesbian librarians pushing against cis heteronormative world. It’s a story about hope and perseverance. Also it’s a fan action western.
    • 3/5
      Eine gut geschriebene und actionreiche Geschichte, ein gelungener Western, von dem ich gerne noch mehr gehört hätte.
    • 2/5
      Do yourself a favour and don't listen to this audiobook. Probably you'll like it better as a physical copy.
    • 4/5
      Great book! I listened to this and at times I followed along with the book but I prefer the audiobook. I feel like it's easier to tell the characters apart. Do recommend.
    • 4/5
      Kayla from BooksandLala read this recently and her review immediately made me want to pick it up. I'm not usually a fan of stories with horses but for some reason, after some getting used to it, I really enjoyed this one.

      The librarians are not what they seem, the LGBTQ+ characters are seamlessly included in the story without too much in the way of explanation. Everyone's identity came second to their personality which is something I like to see in books; I never want someone's gender or sexuality to be their entire character.

      This is a novella so it is under 200 pages and I listened to it on audiobook from Scribd. I got through the entire thing in one sitting because there were so many action scenes and I just had to know what was going to happen.

      Sarah Gailey builds such inventive worlds and this is one that I would love to revisit if they wrote a companion or sequel.

      4 out of 5 stars!
    • 4/5
      I wanted this to be longer. I loved the idea of dangerous librarians particularly if they are as queer as these ladies are.
    • 4/5
      That was so much fun!! Loved the concept and the characters. Wished it was a little bit longer and that the author explored the characters a little more, but still enjoyed every second of this audiobook
    • 3/5
      It could stand to be a bit longer and would benefit from more world-building, but this tale of lesbian, gun-toting Librarians in a dystopian western setting makes due with simplicity.
    • 5/5
      A really exceptional book from an exceptional author. If you're here for 'queer librarian spies fighting fascists' then you will not be disappointed. Esther is a queer woman looking to escape her fate by joining the librarians, traveling women who ostensibly deliver 'approved media' to smaller communities in a post civil decline west. Her journey as she learns who the librarians really are and learns who she is (and allowed to be) herself, feels so earnest and earned. I sometimes have a problem with novellas where the plot feels too unfinished or leaves me hanging--not here. The pace never drags, and somehow Gailey managed to pack a whole novel's worth of reversals and revelations into one novella.
    • 3/5
      This novella has a western vibe while actually set in a dystopian future in which the United States has crumbled under autocratic rule that discriminates against LGBTQ people (ok, maybe not so far in the future?).  Esther hides in a wagon belonging to The Librarians after the execution of her lover Beatrice.  The Librarians officially travel the southwest distributing "approved" reading material but in fact are gun-slinging lesbian women and enby people with ties to pockets of resistance. It seems like a very short story for all of its ambition, but has some great moments, and can be disarmingly sweet and hopeful
    • 3/5
      The book was good, a fun western romance with a twist. The audio version of this was 2 ⭐️, a high pitched baby voice..so bad.
    • 1/5
      I wanted to like this book. The cross-genre western / future distopia / LGBQT romance / subversive librarians fighting against injustice. It had the potential to be really entertaining.

      Instead (and I may be in the minority here) it was flat, plodding and boring. I really got the visceral sense of riding a horse across the monotonous Arizona desert - and not in any sort of good way.

      This book was short, but took me a while to read. I just couldn't get into more than a page or two before turning to an alternate book to read.
    • 4/5
      This book was a giveaway from Tor and I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I remembered that Sarah Gailey wrote the Hippo westerns -- which were the most brilliant idea, but I didn't care for the writing.

      This little book was a bit of a revelation, though, and I think maybe my issues with her writing are solved by the novella format. I liked the new future/western/dystopian setting. I liked that we never really found out the answers/backstory to a lot of what was happening in the world. I like imagining badass lesbian librarian gunslingers -- who doesn't? And I think this was a good balance of Esther's internal struggles and fast paced adventure. I also really enjoyed Cye, the ornery non-binary mentor.
    • 4/5
      This is a fun book, not great literary value, but fun. It takes place in a future America, where the conservatives one, turning America into a weird fascist state where all media can only be distributed by the Government and the country is in a war - with who, it doesn't say. As for people, "deviancy" isn't allowed - that goes from reading unapproved material, to being trans or gay.Where the book shines is that it straddles a line without being preachy. There is good, there is bad. However, its fairly juvenile, with a fairly simple message about being yourself, unless its a matter of survival.
    • 4/5
      Interesting genre- and gender-bending Western/scifi/LGTBQ novelette about a futuristic Balkanized America where bands of roving "librarians" distribute more than "approved" reading materials. They are also active agents in a vaguely-described "resistance" movement and a haven for free-thinkers of all stripes. Gailey sometimes reaches a bit too far trying for quasi-Western dialogue (particularly when describing firearms), but it's overall a quick read with a fresh viewpoint.
    • 3/5
      Digital audiobook narrated by Romy Nordlinger.From the book jacket: The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing. They’ll bring the fight to you.My reactionsI picked this up because I needed a book to satisfy a challenge and this was readily available at the library. What an interesting plot!Esther Augustus is trying to escape an arranged marriage to a man who was previously engaged to her best friend – a woman Esther was in love with. This future America is a dystopian fascist environment. The librarians who discover Esther hiding in their wagon are divided but allow her to stay, and Esther quickly discovers that, like her, they are lesbians. They are also spies for the resistance and their journey to Utah will be fraught with danger, from routine checkpoints to a posse intent on capturing one of them. There are many elements of traditional westerns in this work, from campfires to gunfights. But Gailey gives us a few surprises. One of my favorites is that Utah is the home of the insurrectionists who fight against the existing regime. I could see this being adapted to a film. Romy Nordlinger does a find job of narrating the audiobook. She brings the librarians to life.
    • 4/5
      Short novel, long novella - just over 100 pages of writing - of an alternative history or dystopian near future, it's not quite clear which, where the US conservative right wing has been in established power for some time. Many of the men are off at the State Sponsored War, and the rest run the communities and households. All resources are devoted to the War Effort, so most communities are small towns living simple lives in a very Wild West sort of manner. One of the few national communications are the Travelling Librarians, who bring approved materials to each community. They are usually spinster women as men can't be spared from the War effort. The story starts with Our Heroine hiding away in a librarian's van, after her illicit girlfriend was caught with some Unapproved material and publicly hanged- a somewhat extreme response even by the prevalent standards. She just wants to get away to an upright populace where her feelings wont get her into trouble, and what could be more approved than the Librarians. It's cleverly written so that we gradually see the Librarians may be more than they first appeared, an although the Wild West violence is somewhat comical the characters shine.
    • 4/5
      Interesting, unique, and compact novella. Dystopian wild west with lesbian librarians on horseback smuggling people for the resistance.Got this as a blind book pick after asking for something quirky and different. This is that in spades. Absolutely worth a try and as others have said, wouldn't mind another visit to this world to check on Esther.