ice queen

Anne and iReadIndies at GCLS 2024

July 25, 2024 By Anne Hagan

Anne Hagan and iReadIndies went to the 2024 GCLS Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota and it was glorious!

Well, except for the hotel elevators…

The Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) held their annual conference in Saint Paul, Minnesota from July 10th, through the 14th at the Intercontinental Saint Paul Riverfront. It was Anne’s first time back to a live convention since the Pittsburgh con in 2019. She had to miss Albuquerque and Denver due to the adoptions of her kiddos.

It was hot in Saint Paul! Muggy even, being that the host hotel was steps from the mighty Mississippi River. And Anne thought it got humid in Ohio! The temperature didn’t deter con goers much, though. Elevators? That’s another story.

The Intercontinental, for an older downtown high-rise hotel, has plenty of room for conventions. Multiple conventions. And have them the week GCLS was on site, they did. While GCLS seemed the largest with 350+ in attendance, there was also another con (science related) in the early part of the week and then a convention of Baptists who were staying at the hotel but meeting elsewhere in the latter part of the week. Having so much going on put some stress on the hotel’s two (of only three) working elevators. Anne took the stairs down from the 19th floor a few times and many others who were able did too. Up was typically a wait. A long wait.

Conference Events

The meeting spaces GCLS used were well situated for the purposes of the con. Most events took place on the lower level which had an area that opened out at the bottom of the escalators down from the lobby where registration set up and where all the vendors set up. That’s where you could find iReadIndies.

iReadIndies distributed autographed copies of ‘Romance Springs Eternal,’ the anthology that benefits the organization, advertised for ‘Sapphic Screams‘ which benefits GCLS, allowed authors, and an editor to do giveaways at the table, and hosted authors at the table giving away or selling their books.

Readers got to meet Anne, romance author Carol Anne Douglas, eclectic author Ocean (best known for her Doll Island horror books), and Andra Palmer who writes mystery/suspense novels with a side of legal thriller as Alexi Venice.

Anne was on an AI Panel, on Thursday the 11th, moderated by editor Dor Howard who came all the way from South Africa for the con. Titled, AI the Beginning or the End of Creativity, the panel also featured authors Iris Eliot, Stacy Lynn Miller, Rita Potter, Nance Sparks, and author and technology industry veteran Aoibh Wood. Lots of interesting commentary from the panelist and from the audience in a crowded room.

On Friday, Anne was on the panel, The Rise of the Ice Queen, with moderator Kelsey Dye, editor Ruth Sternglantz, and authors Ana K. Wren, Jane Walsh, Melissa Brayden, and Milena McKay (whom Anne learned pronounces her name differently than her American English ears expected to hear it said!). The room was packed to standing room only. The GCLS crowd loves ice queens!

That’s Anne, seated between Melissa Brayden – now known as ‘Sheriff Mel’ – and Milena McKay. Not bad company to be in when you’re talking about ice queens!

Other 2024 GCLS Con Stuff

There were so many great readings, panels, presentations, and a few master classes. GCLS always has a good mix of daytime ‘con stuff’ and after hours events. Anne went to several things. Highlights for her included:

The panel Neurodiversity 2.0: Managing Multiple Identities
The AI master class presented by author and self described geek, Rachel Gold, ‘Writing in the Age of AI: Ethics, Tools and Transformation
The panel Scissor Me Timbers! Pirates, Assassins, and Gangsters, Oh My!
Inclusion in the Sapphic Lit World: Experiences from the Trans and Nonbinary Community
The presentation Accelerating Your Digital Work Flow: Leveraging AI for Social Media, Newsletters, and Websites given by the amazing Robbie Adair
The keynote address by Saint Paul city council member and accomplished poet and author, Andrea Jenkins
The awards ceremony on Saturday evening

GCLS 2025 will be in Albany, New York from July 16th through the 20th, 2025. Anne and iReadIndies both hope to see you there!

Melting the Ice: 5 Must-Read Sapphic Books with Ice Queens

October 5, 2023 By Anne Hagan

Behold the Ice Queen Banner

There’s something so appealing about the “ice queen” – that emotionally distant, mysterious female character who keeps others at arm’s length. In many sapphic stories, the ice queen slowly thaws out as another woman chips away at her frosty exterior. This popular romance trope features an initially cold heroine who gradually warms up to love through the persistence and charm of another character.

The appeal is obvious – who doesn’t love a challenge? The ice queen is unattainable, her heart locked away where no one can touch it. Her love interest must carefully navigate the labyrinth of her defenses, finding cracks in the armor and proving their worth. It’s immensely satisfying to watch the ice queen’s resistance slowly melt away as she lets her lover in. We get to experience the transformative power of love along with these characters.

Beyond the tantalizing romantic tension, ice queens are also intriguing characters in their own right. What made this woman so guarded and untouchable? Her backstory and inner complexity are slowly revealed, adding more dimension. Underneath that icy surface is a passionate heart longing for connection.

I know the title says I’ll highlight 5 unforgettable sapphic books featuring compelling ice queen archetypes, but there are so many great ones…and one amazing author of sapphic ice queens. You’re going to get some bonuses! You’ll find space necromancers, demon concubines, cyborg mechanics, uptight executives, a cellist/assassin and more. Join me as I explore these frigid but irresistible heroines and the women who inspire them to thaw!

Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter – My personal favorite ice queen book of all time, and Lee Winter is my favorite author of books featuring sapphic ice queens. While debate rages (and rages and rages) online about which of her books is her best, you can’t go wrong with this award winning book featuring cellist and assassin Natalya/Requiem and her prey, Alison/the mouse. I’m a mystery/suspense writer and reader at heart. Romance comes second for me. This book absolutely has it all. The twists Lee Winter pulls off you’ll never see coming because you’ll miss clues, but oh how genius and satisfying the twists are. Lee Winter is the Queen of authors who pen books about sapphic ice queens. Pick up any one of her books. You won’t be disappointed.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Necromancers in space! The icy Ninth House cavalier Gideon has great banter with the aloof Reverend Daughter Harrowhark. This is a slow, slow burn romance in a book that’s been a TikTok star for at least a couple of years, probably longer, but I didn’t start paying any attention to TikTok until sometime in 2021 when my (now) teenager wouldn’t shut up about wanting a phone so he could watch it. Published in 2019, it still rocks all the bestseller charts.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur – Uptight actuary Darcy meets free-spirited astrologer Elle. Opposites attract in this cute contemporary romance with a icy corporate woman. Also a multi-award winner including a Lambda Literary Award (Lammy). This particular book falls hard into the grumpy/sunshine trope. Too, if you love the ice queen character type (grumpy) pulled into a fake relationship trope, this is your book.

The Headmistress by Milena McKay – A chance encounter, an unforgettable night. Do yourself a huge favor and DON’T read the description of this multi-award winning novel. It’s not a fantasy about dragons, trust me. I couldn’t understand why everyone raved about it until it started winning awards and I ‘made’ myself read it. I’m so sorry I waited so long. None of Milena’s books are to be missed, but this one should be first on your list.

Queen Vs Queen Ice queens are not easy to write. All those rough edges… Can you imagine writing two of them facing off against each other? I did it along with my friends Barbara Winkes and Alysia D. Evans. We created an anthology of three full length novellas, each pairing two queens. You can read all about the making of Queen Vs. Queen here. The book is on sale all through October for only $.99 US/equivalent.

Enjoy your ice!

~Anne

The Making of Queen Vs Queen

March 12, 2023 By Anne Hagan

It was way back in March of last year when author and overall cool person KC Luck made a March Madness bracket in the iReadIndies Facebook group spotlighting some of the greatest sapphic tropes. Many readers voted on their favorite one, and after several long days, the winner was finally declared.

Guess what trope won?

Anne Hagan initiated a discussion within a group of authors around the same time, looking to bring together a big, Sapphic, shared universe boxed set project. Most of the authors were intently monitoring the results of the bracket and they began discussing how they could give readers what they desired most.

The readers wanted stories about ice queens. They considered creating multiple characters in the same world, but that would mean pitting ice queens against each other and against groups of people…Until they had a brilliant idea. They would write stories of two ice queens, starting off as enemies, then being forced to collaborate, and ultimately finding their happily ever after.

At first, thirteen authors said they wanted in. Ten of those ultimately committed to writing a 40,000ish word novella each for a boxed set project. Most thought it would be great fun to create two such similar characters.

They divided up additional tropes like age gap, second chance, and, of course, enemies to lovers, and came up with an overall premise; Conferences full of training seminars lead by presenters from the fictitious International Institute for Women in major cities where our queens could meet. They talked about including a lot of diversity. They plotted all sorts of goodies!

Guess what? The writing was not fun. The authors give kudos to Lee Winter and all of the other sapphic fiction authors who do high level ice queens so well. It’s truly hard work writing two very strong willed, opinionated, powerful, independent women in the same story…and then having them fall for each other.

Authors dropped out of the project for various reasons, but a few did because they just couldn’t write a two ice queen dynamic.

Three authors saw the project through to the end, suffering their own bumps, bruises, and rewrites along the way; Barbara Winkes, Alysia D. Evans, and Anne Hagan.

Barbara’s story is based in lovely Quebec City, Canada. Alysia and Anne’s stories share a made up large city venue and a couple of scenes, but their books are drastically different. Alysia’s ‘city’ has a decidedly UK harbor city feel, while Anne’s is based on areas in and around Baltimore Maryland in the United States and the Inner Harbor area there.

Barbara, Alysia, and Anne give you the anthology, ‘Queen Vs. Queen!’ It’s on pre-order now, releasing March 21st, 2023.

Buckle up! It’s going to be a bumpy ride!