Queer, fluid, posthuman

Elisabeth Klar and Kes Otter Lieffe describe a postapocalyptic world in their novels. In distinctive ways, queer ways of life are their subject – posthuman figures as well as dystopian lifestyles.

“There Is Us” (Es gibt uns) by Elisabeth Klar is set in a dystopian future. After an apocalypse, mutated humans and animals are living in a city. For survival, these posthuman figures need the jellyfish, Oberon, and the antlered creature Titania. The former provides light, the latter ecstatic festivities. When the jellyfish Oberon dies in a love match, the mysterious creature Müxerl takes on his role. A special rule applies in this dystopian town: you must repair whatever you destroy!

Margins and Murmurations by Kes Otter Lieffe is set in the near future. After the economic crises of the 2020s, democracy has been replaced by an authoritarian regime. Climate change is irreversible. Marginalized, queer and trans* characters are expelled. A surveillance state, reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984, controls language and nutrition and recruits sex workers for the luxury life of the elite. Pockets of resistance emerge; a queer collective intelligence is formed.

*** BIOGRAPHIES ***

Elisabeth Klar
b. 1986. Author and software developer. She studied comparative literature and transcultural communication. Recently published: Es gibt uns, Residenz Verlag 2023.

Kes Otter Lieffe
Author and queer activist. In addition to speculative fiction novels, she writes about queer ecology. She runs workshops on intersectional practice and queer organization forms. Recently published in German translation: Von wo wir kommen werden (“Margins and Murmurations”), w_orten & meer 2023.