Metal From Heaven: 2025 Lambda Literary Award Winner!

Metal from Heaven is a work of feral and furious imagination. It's pulpy, bloody, sexy, gleefully seditious and seditiously gleeful. It's a battle cry of a book; read it, and rise up -- Alix E. Harrow, Hugo Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of STARLING HOUSE
Rich with lush prose, Metal from Heaven is a murderously good tale of highway robbery and sapphic revenge, that tackles important issues head on, and hits with a powerful ending that will stay with you long after the book is closed -- C.S. Pacat, New York Times Bestselling author of DARK RISE
Metal from Heaven is a delirious shout, furious and grief-stricken and staggeringly beautiful. Clarke's voice is inimitable, shines hot and sharp in this historically-inflected fantasy about labor, anarchy, and highwaywomen. If you loved The Scapegracers, you'll love this even more -- Amal El-Mohtar, New York Times bestselling co-author of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR
August Clarke is one of the most electrifying voices in genre fiction today. In Metal from Heaven, the volume is turned all the way up. This one will blow your hair back -- Sarah Gailey,Hugo Award winner and bestselling author of THE ECHO WIFE
I know comfort books are in, and yes, they have their place, but there's nothing quite like reading something dangerous. Something rich with ideas, something challenging, something transgressive, and revelatory, something that feels like it's pushing the genre forward, something punk in the true meaning of the word, something that truly does not give a f**k what you think of it. This is that book. Metal from Heaven is a thunderous, visceral, Sapphic fever dream of a book, thick with religion, myth, and revolutionary ideologies. The prose seduces, the worldbuilding astounds, and the heart bleeds pure. This one goes on my best of 2024 lists for sure -- Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times Bestselling author of BLACK SUN
An ambitious, ferocious, sex driven fever dream. Clarke's prose is ornate, enveloping, radiant -- Megan Whalen Turner, New York Times Best Selling Author
A sprawling, glorious, ichor-bright story that reads as both an ancient legend and an anti-capitalist howl of rage. Clarke's hope for a better world spills out onto every page. You're going to love this one -- Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH
Surprising absolutely no one, Metal from Heaven is such an excellent book. I adored every heartbreak moment of Metal from Heaven. It's a bitter triumph with an oil-slick beauty. This one's for the dykes. It hits a lot of tender spots, beautifully done. If you trust me, read this book -- C. L Clark, author of THE UNBROKEN
Delicious, chaotic, and whip smart, Metal from Heaven will leave you with the burning urge to rise up and revolt against tyranny. What starts as a swashbuckling tale of horny, queer outlaws blooms into a mediation on otherworldly geopolitics and consciousness itself. August Clarke has written a freakishly original novel and I love it -- Annalee Newitz, Hugo Award-nominated author of AUTOMATIC NOODLE
Hits like a piston, loves like an outlaw, and thinks like China Mieville. Made me want to cry, left me feeling like a giant. I read this book and I must shout -- Seth Dickinson, author of THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT
Metal From Heaven goes down gritty and gets stuck between your teeth. Come in for the glorious, breakneck, fuck-you-Fordism dyke revenge story and don't be surprised when Clarke handily devastates you as the dust settles -- Em X. Liu, author of THE DEATH I GAVE HIM
With prose that drips like honey and burns like a forge, Metal from Heaven is all hungry revenge, human tenderness, and bloody political intrigue -- Bethany Jacobs, Philip K. Dick Award-winning author of THESE BURNING STARS
A masterful and tragic exploration of the intersections of violence, faith, sexuality, and power, perfect for readers of challenging political fantasy * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
Superb * Library Journal, starred review *
A bloody tale of lesbian revenge * Autostraddle *