Overview

Two transgender elders must learn to weave from Death in order to defeat an evil ruler - in the debut full-length work set in R. B. Lemberg's award-winning queer fantasy Birdverse universe The Surun' nomads do not speak of the master weaver, Benesret, who creates the cloth of bone for assassins in the Great Burri Desert. But aged Uiziya must find her aunt in order to learn the final weave, although the price for knowledge may be far too dear to pay. Among the Khana in the springflower city of Iyar, women travel in caravans to trade, while men remain in the inner quarter, as scholars. A nameless man struggles to embody Khana masculinity, after many years of performing the life of a woman, trader, wife, and grandmother.  As his past catches up, the nameless man must choose between the life he dreamed of and Uiziya-while Uiziya must discover how to challenge the evil Ruler of Iyar, and to weave from deaths that matter. In this breathtaking debut set in R. B. Lemberg's beloved Birdverse, The Four Profound Weaves offers a timeless chronicle of claiming one's identity in a hostile world. About the Birdverse: The Birdverse is the creation of fantasy author R. B. Lemberg. It is a complex, culturally diverse world, with a range of LGBTQIA characters and different family configurations. Named after its deity, Bird, Birdverse shorter works have been nominated the Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree award, and Rhysling awards. The Four Profound Weaves is the first full-length work set in the Birdverse. 'The Four Profound Weaves is the anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now.' - Annalee Newitz, author of The Future of Another Timeline 'A beautiful, heartfelt story of change, family, identity, and courage.' - Library Journal, starred review 'The Four Profound Weavesby R.B. Lemberg [is] a haunting literary fantasyabout the fluidity of gender and much else.' - The Washington Post

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Praise for Four Profound Weaves The Four Profound Weaves is a balm and a call to arms. R. B. Lemberg reassures us that there's still time to find yourself, no matter how old you are; and they stir our revolutionary urges to defeat murderous dictators. But this novella is also a finely-drawn, realistic character study of people who love their communities but never quite feel at home in them. And the magical system is a sheer delight. Thoughtful and deeply moving, The Four Profound Weaves is the anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now. --Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline R.B. Lemberg writes with a luminous pen, spraying light all around their words and ideas. They create a universe where carpets and cloaks bear history and the future. A perilous chase, with assassins and gods in pursuit, reveals the fluidity of life by following the threads--both bright and dark--that weave together to create a complex and mystical journey toward friendship, family, and love. --Jewelle Gomez, author, The Gilda Stories R. B. Lemberg's The Four Profound Weaves tells the journey of a pair of aged and appealing wanderers searching for magic, art, identity, and peace. Thought-challenging points-of-view weave together stark violence, intricate powers, and the musings of long and complicated lives. The Four Profound Weaves contains imagery that glows on the page. --Patricia McKillip, author of the Riddle-Master Trilogy and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld Nobody in fantasy is doing what R. B. Lemberg is doing. Their work is generous, insightful, and focused on people--older, damaged, queer--whose stories most writers would keep in the background. This is a book about people walking into traps to find themselves, about fumbling out of stagnation and into adventure. Let this be your introduction to R.B.'s world of song carpets, deepnames, and deserts full of roving lovers. --Isaac R. Fellman, author of The Breath of the Sun Lemberg weaves a gripping tale of community, identity, betrayal, and hope. From the sweeping expanse of the desert to the confined splendor of a sinister palace, every page contains wonder. I flew through the story, breathless, needing to see what would come next, and I was rewarded with every twist in the narrative. The Birdverse is lush and gorgeous, even when painful, and The Four Profound Weaves takes the reader on a wild ride through some of the deepest and richest pockets of it. --Julia Rios, Hugo Award-winning editor I am staggered by the richness and intricacy of R. B. Lemberg's imagination. The Four Profound Weaves is an intense and emotional story of a journey of change, growth, and courage. --Kate Elliott, author of the Court of Fives trilogy Over the years, R. B. Lemberg, in their prose and poetry alike, has built a world of serpents, deserts, stars, and bones, where transformation is omnipresent and restlessness rewarded. The Four Profound Weaves is a jewel-bright tile in their ongoing mosaic. To read it is to experience apotheosis: but instead of toward heaven, we ascend toward a more total humanity. Weaves is a patient work, at times compellingly kind, at other times merciless. Always, subtly woven. Like the Nameless One in its pages, this book does not--perhaps cannot--pretend to be anything other than what it proclaims for itself: the four profound weaves--change, wanderlust, hope, death. But these aren't chronological; they're a pattern, a randomized one--and death is only the middle. --C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans, Stories Reading the first pages of The Four Profound Weaves feels like being invited into the home of a beautiful stranger. As you sit with these characters and come to know them, you too will feel know. In reading this story about recognition and transformation, I felt recognized and transformed. It's a fantastic alchemy on Lemberg's part, and their love and labor shines off the page. I don't know any writer that could so skillfully take me apart with a story, or put me back together with such care. This was a story I didn't know I desperately needed. --Nino Cipri, author of Dzanc Prize-winning Homesick A brilliantly profound and poignant quest, through haunting desert and intricate city and terrifying dungeon, that's truly about people and change. The Four Profound Weaves is a deeply philosophical story of family and society, the unnamed, and the reach that those who've passed have on them all, as they struggle to keep change alive and find an embrace at last. Hope is the song, and it's woven of R.B. Lemberg's words. --Scott H. Andrews, seven-time World Fantasy Award Finalist editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine R. B. Lemberg's The Four Profound Weaves takes the reader on a deeply resonant journey of transformation and strength. Lemberg's lyrical skill, combined with unforgettable characters and the magic of the Birdverse makes a stunning fabric over which this story plays beautifully. --Fran Wilde, author of The Bone Universe and The Gemworld series Lyrical and unflinching. --Rivers Solomon, PEN America The Four Profound Weaves is a balm and a call to arms. R. B. Lemberg reassures us that there's still time to find yourself, no matter how old you are; and they stir our a revolutionary urges to defeat murderous dictators. But this novella is also a finely-drawn, realistic character study of people who love their communities but never quite feel at home in them. And the magical system is a sheer delight. Thoughtful and deeply moving, The Four Profound Weaves is the anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now. --Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline

147;A folklorist& 8217;s eye for telling detail and a front-porch raconteur& 8217;s sense of pace.& 147;A terrifically gifted storyteller.& 151;Joe Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box & 151;New York Times Book Review An American original & 8221; & Praise for Joe R. Lansdale &

Buzzfeed Best Book Releases of the Week Foreword Book of the Day Autostraddle Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way in 2020 Publishers Weekly Top-10 Titles of Fall 2020 Book Riot 10 Great Adult LBGTQ+ Fantasy Books of 2020 Ms. Magazine Reads for the Rest of Us 2020 Washington Post Gift Guide 2020 UK Guardian Gift Guide Locus Recommended Reading List [STARRED REVIEW] DEBUT. VERDICT: Nebula-nominated Lemberg's first novella, set in their deeply queer Birdverse universe, presents a beautiful, heartfelt story of change, family, identity, and courage. Centering two older transgender protagonists in the midst of emotional and physical journeys highlights the deep, meaningful prose that Lemberg always brings to their stories. --Library Journal [STARRED REVIEW] Lemberg writes deeply considered, evocative portraits of their characters, handling sexuality and gender especially well. This diverse, folkloric fantasy world is a delight to visit. --Publishers Weekly [STARRED REVIEW] R. B. Lemberg spins a world of singing gods, desert nomads, and magic humming in the wind . . . Impressive world building renders the shifting hues of the desert sands and the cold stone of The Collector's palace in tight prose. --Foreword The Four Profound Weaves contains imagery that glows on the page. --Patricia McKillip, author of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld What a treat: the full-length debut set in R.B. Lemberg's super-queer Birdverse universe! It's a wonder of identity, evolution and bravery in a time when we need it most. --Ms. Magazine A complex and mystical journey toward friendship, family, and love. --Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories R. B. Lemberg's lyrical skill, combined with unforgettable characters and the magic of the Birdverse makes a stunning fabric over which this story plays beautifully. --Fran Wilde, author of The Bone Universe Go read this story, tell it to your friends, and help us get to that future that we so desperately need. --Trans Narrative, L. A. Lanquist Let this be your introduction to R.B.'s world of song carpets, deepnames, and deserts full of roving lovers. --Isaac R. Fellman, author of The Breath of the Sun I am staggered by the richness and intricacy of R. B. Lemberg's imagination. The Four Profound Weaves is an intense and emotional story of a journey of change, growth, and courage. --Kate Elliott, author of Court of Fives Both sweet and fierce, devastating and gentle in its truths. --M. Crane Hana, author of The Purist The Four Profound Weaves is a jewel-bright tile in [Lemberg's] ongoing mosaic. --C. S. E. Cooney, author of Bone Swans, Stories In reading this story about recognition and transformation, I felt recognized and transformed. It's fantastic alchemy on Lemberg's part, and their love and labor shines off the page. --Nino Cipri, author of Homesick Lemberg's gorgeous prose sets The Four Profound Weaves apart as one of the most beautifully written fantasies of the year. --Locus A balm and a call to arms . . . Thoughtful and deeply moving, The Four Profound Weaves is the anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now. --Annalee Newitz, author of The Future of Another Timeline ] A haunting literary fantasy about the fluidity of gender and much else. --Washington Post If the plot is the warp of a story, then the weft of this novella is Lemberg's exquisitely crafted, luminescent prose. --Maria Haskins, author of Odin's Eye When I finished this novella I cried because it was so joyful and beautiful and moving that for the first time in a long while I caught a glimpse of the path forward. --Jason Sanford, author of Sublimation Angels Lusciously detailed world-building and gorgeous language. --Deborah J. Ross, author of Collaborators Both ethereal and ephemeral: graceful, delicately wrought, and fleeting. --SYFY Wire A brilliantly profound and poignant quest, through haunting desert and intricate city and terrifying dungeon, that's truly about people and change. --Scott H. Andrews, editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies For me, the greatest fantasies--the works that I want to reread again and again--both provide a window onto ourselves and our own world and also transcend what we think we know and understand. The works I reread, and want to share, provide moments that open my chest to existence. The Four Profound Weaves does this often. --Strange Horizons With elegant prose and an understanding of human nature in all its genders, Lemberg weaves a golden tale of human longing, friendship, and hope. --Traveling in Books Modern speculative fiction at its best, exploring important issues through compelling characters, fantastic settings, and exciting stories. --The Fantasy Hive Powerful, magical, lyrical, and beautifully original --Beauty in Ruins Theirs is a story of survival and triumph, of redemption and transition, and Lemberg delivers it in a deeply woven, and obviously personal, narrative. --The Novel Approach A delightful world, nuanced representation of trans characters and a gorgeous story. --Chain Interaction 5/5 stars. This will certainly be touted as a queer nonbinary transformational story (and it is that), but it's so much more. --Nonstop Reader Lemberg weaves a golden tale of human longing, friendship, and hope. --Traveling in Books It is a work that promotes hope and healing, and it is one of those rare books that can be accurately termed deeply wise. --The Temz Review A beautiful debut masterpiece of inclusivity and diversity . . . The Four Profound Weaves already has established itself as a queer must-read. --RevUU Magazine

Author Information

R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender immigrant from Eastern Europe and Israel. Their stories and poems have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction!, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Uncanny Magazine, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology, and many other venues. R.B.’s work has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, and other awards. You can find more of their work on their Patreon (patreon.com/rblemberg) and a full bio at rblemberg.net

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