Under A Summer Sky In January (2023)

Three teens, one summer break, and the aftermath of Celeste cheating on August, with Hathor.

‘Under A Summer Sky In January’ is a sapphic teen love triangle, delving into the end of a romance, a first time, and queer friendship in the fall-out.

From critically-acclaimed writer, Neptune Henriksen, comes a nuanced romantic novella, about the complexities of teen mistakes, sapphic desire, family turmoil, and small-town queerness, over one Australian summer. 

Now available everywhere in paperback and ebook. Free ebook available below. Paperback bundle currently unavailable. Content Notes below.

Part 2 of the Queer Summer Trilogy

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Content Notes (contains spoilers)

  • Non-linear storyline

  • Coarse language from the onset and throughout

  • Major story themes of cheating, emotional betrayal, and emotional immaturity

  • Character themes of strained, and emotionally-abusive, relationships between queer teenagers and parents. Including: emotional neglect, controlling parenting, distant and dismissive parenting, and queer erasure by parents

  • Use of reclaimed queer language, by queer characters

  • One depiction of queer slurs used by a parent towards their child

  • One depiction of fatphobic language used by a parent towards their child

  • Brief allusions to a hyper-“clean” attitude towards food, from parent to teenager (one mention, general themes of underlying parental control of teenager’s eating behaviour and habits)

  • One visceral and emotional description, and depiction, of food. This is used as a metaphor for sexual desire

  • Brief allusions to the spiritual and divine

  • Brief allusions to illicit substances (drugs), both as metaphor, and as past use (no depiction)

  • Themes of not practicing one’s religion (Islam) and straying from one’s culture (Egyptian)

  • Themes of small-town queer loneliness and isolation. Depicted with era-specific communication technology and resources of 2010, 2011, and 2012. With 2011 being the story’s main setting.

  • Multiple mentions of, and allusions to, teenage sexual desire, masturbation, and urge to have sex for the first time

  • One passing mention of a mother’s experience growing up in Zimbabwe (circa 1960’s – 1980’s), and concern for her sexual safety

  • One explicit sex scene

This novella DOES NOT employ the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope.
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Paperback ISBN: 978-0-6456898-4-6
EBook ISBN: 978-0-6456898-3-9