The New Lesbian Pulp

A collection of reinvented queer pulp fiction by writers like Sarah Schulman and Lorraine Hansberry that’s so edgy it draws blood.

Lesbian pulp fiction thrived in the oppressive 1950s, telling subversive stories of lonely sapphic women who find connection, passion, and revenge. In The New Lesbian Pulp, editors Sarah Fonseca and Octavia Saenz revive the genre for today, layering nuance into classic tropes while dialing up the melodrama, romantic peril, and collateral damage.

In these pages – which pair revived classics from Lorraine Hansberry and Alice Dunbar Nelson with new stories from Sarah Schulman, Grace Byron, Shamim Sharif, and more – vigilante lesbians gather roadkill for revenge, a woman and her former high school bully hook up and commit murder, Brooklyn witches cruise kink parties for human sacrifice, and a sinister kidnapping goes horribly wrong (or horribly right).

Here, gathered just for you, are some of today’s best lesbian pulp stories. Don’t be afraid. Pick them up.

About the Author

Sarah Fonseca is a writer, editor, and film programmer based in New York City who has dispatched from Cannes, New York Film Festival, and Sundance. With one eye on queer cinema history and the other on its future potential, Sarah has contributed a volume of interviews, reviews, and critical essays to LGBT and mainstream film publications including Condé Nast’s them, The Advocate, Film Comment, and Museum of the Moving Image’s Reverse Shot. She has also published short fiction with Evergreen Review, Bosie Magazine, Cleis Press, and Math Magazine. Currently, Sarah is pursuing graduate studies in history at The City College of New York and printed matter studies at UCLA’s California Rare Book School. Find her at @sontagians and sarahfonseca.com.

Octavia Saenz (she/they) is an editor and cartoonist based in El Paso, TX. She creates speculative fiction and visual narratives about queer life and temporality. Octavia grew up in Puerto Rico and has a BFA in Creative Writing and Illustration from Ringling College, as well as a Lambda Fellowship. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @shrimpwonder.

Trish Bendix is a GLAAD-nominated writer and regular contributor to the New York Times. Her book Sappho Was a Pop Star is forthcoming from St. Martin's Press in 2027.