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ladybusinessLast year I wrote an essay about cozy SFF. I started out writing a passionate defense of cozy SFF, then I wasn't quite happy with it and put it on the shelf for a while. When I got back to it, I realized there were some things about the current moment of cozy SFF that I don't really like. So I had to edit my piece. But even then I felt the conversation was getting away from me.
I've only become more frustrated with what's being marketed as cozy SFF and the discourse around it. I find the stuff being published isn't digging into the themes that I want to see. Meanwhile the discourse is both dismissive and full of moral panic. I think both that domestic labor and community building are important and worth telling stories about and shouldn’t be dismissed, and that it's ok to read soft comforting stories. I wish people would calm down a bit.
In my essay I defined cozy SFF this way: “Cozy SFF generally has small stakes, focusing on small moments, not the fate of the world. These lower stakes generally go along with much less on-screen violence in these stories. Another key aspect of cozy SFF is that it focuses on community-building. And finally, cozy SFF honors the importance of domestic labor and other undervalued jobs”. In retrospect I don’t think this definition was very helpful because it was more about what I want cozy SFF to be than about what cozy SFF actually is. And because I ignored the issue of feelings, but how cozy SFF makes people feel is important to the conversation even if people can have wildly different emotional reactions to the same work. I find the the subjectivity of emotional reactions leads to very frustrating conversations, and I wanted to ignore that, but it’s important to how people talk about cozy SFF whether I like it or not.
However my definition does make a good framework for a rec list. So here are some works that fit at least in part with the above definition, though most of them are not being discussed as cozy SFF. Many of these are short fiction, where there’s a lot of lovely work about these themes, but short works are generally not part of the discourse around cozy SFF. Others of these don’t get marketed as cozy because they have the wrong vibes, or big stakes, but still have themes of domestic labor and community building.
This is not intended as a complete survey of the field, just a few things that I like that include these themes. Also my ability to engage with new fiction has been sporadic since 2020 so there aren’t as many recent works as I’d like.
”The Witches of Athens” by Lara Elena Donnelly
This is a long-time comfort read of mine, a story with coffee shops, queer romance, and sisterhood. The stakes in this are very personal and there's a focus on maintaining and building relationships. Also I love that the central relationship here is the sisterhood between the witches!
“Fandom For Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
This story about a robot making friends through transformative fandom is a great example of a story about building communities! It’s super charming. Online communities have been very important to me so I especially enjoyed that aspect.
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
This book perfectly fits the second two parts of my definition of cozy SFF, there is so much domestic labor and community building in here! But the stakes are huge, literally the fate of the planet Earth! This book really highlights why domestic labor and community building matter. Even when the world is at stake people have to eat, and eating together can help bring about solutions to very large problems.
Chalice by Robin McKinley
This is another book with bigger stakes but also a lot of domestic labor and community building. Mirasol, the main character, is a beekeeper who unexpectedly became the Chalice, a job with both practical and metaphysical components. I love all the descriptions of beekeeping and Marasol’s cottage!
“Panhumanism Hope and Pragmatics” by Jess Barber and Sara Saab
In the comments of my original post, people talked about wanting to read stories that are personal in scope and have positive outcomes even though they are set in worlds where things are terrible. This is a story along those lines. In a post-climate disaster two people meet as teens. This is the story of their relationship over time as they both try in their own ways to make the world a little bit better.
When The Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
This book is everything that I talked about in my definition of cozy, but I would still hesitate to call it cozy because tonally it's a bit darker, and there's some onscreen violence. But it's great! It's about an angel and a demon who leave their shtetl to help a young woman who has gone missing in the US. I love how Jewish this book is, and how it includes both Jewish religious traditions (The Angel and Demon are study buddies and argue about Torah all the time) and Jewish labor organizing (planning a strike is an important part of the story). It’s also a story about people gradually building connections to a wider community.
Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night by Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian
This is a contemporary fantasy novella about two people who have to go on a quest to save their mutual boyfriend. Along the way they met many members of the boyfriend’s community who they wouldn't have interacted with otherwise. It’s also full of domestic details, getting the kids places on time, serving dinner, silly mugs. None of these details are lingered on but they all build a picture of the characters. I love that this book makes me and so many other people feel seen for aspects of ourselves we rarely see reflected in fiction!
Please tell me about your favorite SFF that engages with themes of domestic labor and/or community building!
I've only become more frustrated with what's being marketed as cozy SFF and the discourse around it. I find the stuff being published isn't digging into the themes that I want to see. Meanwhile the discourse is both dismissive and full of moral panic. I think both that domestic labor and community building are important and worth telling stories about and shouldn’t be dismissed, and that it's ok to read soft comforting stories. I wish people would calm down a bit.
In my essay I defined cozy SFF this way: “Cozy SFF generally has small stakes, focusing on small moments, not the fate of the world. These lower stakes generally go along with much less on-screen violence in these stories. Another key aspect of cozy SFF is that it focuses on community-building. And finally, cozy SFF honors the importance of domestic labor and other undervalued jobs”. In retrospect I don’t think this definition was very helpful because it was more about what I want cozy SFF to be than about what cozy SFF actually is. And because I ignored the issue of feelings, but how cozy SFF makes people feel is important to the conversation even if people can have wildly different emotional reactions to the same work. I find the the subjectivity of emotional reactions leads to very frustrating conversations, and I wanted to ignore that, but it’s important to how people talk about cozy SFF whether I like it or not.
However my definition does make a good framework for a rec list. So here are some works that fit at least in part with the above definition, though most of them are not being discussed as cozy SFF. Many of these are short fiction, where there’s a lot of lovely work about these themes, but short works are generally not part of the discourse around cozy SFF. Others of these don’t get marketed as cozy because they have the wrong vibes, or big stakes, but still have themes of domestic labor and community building.
This is not intended as a complete survey of the field, just a few things that I like that include these themes. Also my ability to engage with new fiction has been sporadic since 2020 so there aren’t as many recent works as I’d like.
”The Witches of Athens” by Lara Elena Donnelly
This is a long-time comfort read of mine, a story with coffee shops, queer romance, and sisterhood. The stakes in this are very personal and there's a focus on maintaining and building relationships. Also I love that the central relationship here is the sisterhood between the witches!
“Fandom For Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
This story about a robot making friends through transformative fandom is a great example of a story about building communities! It’s super charming. Online communities have been very important to me so I especially enjoyed that aspect.
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
This book perfectly fits the second two parts of my definition of cozy SFF, there is so much domestic labor and community building in here! But the stakes are huge, literally the fate of the planet Earth! This book really highlights why domestic labor and community building matter. Even when the world is at stake people have to eat, and eating together can help bring about solutions to very large problems.
Chalice by Robin McKinley
This is another book with bigger stakes but also a lot of domestic labor and community building. Mirasol, the main character, is a beekeeper who unexpectedly became the Chalice, a job with both practical and metaphysical components. I love all the descriptions of beekeeping and Marasol’s cottage!
“Panhumanism Hope and Pragmatics” by Jess Barber and Sara Saab
In the comments of my original post, people talked about wanting to read stories that are personal in scope and have positive outcomes even though they are set in worlds where things are terrible. This is a story along those lines. In a post-climate disaster two people meet as teens. This is the story of their relationship over time as they both try in their own ways to make the world a little bit better.
When The Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
This book is everything that I talked about in my definition of cozy, but I would still hesitate to call it cozy because tonally it's a bit darker, and there's some onscreen violence. But it's great! It's about an angel and a demon who leave their shtetl to help a young woman who has gone missing in the US. I love how Jewish this book is, and how it includes both Jewish religious traditions (The Angel and Demon are study buddies and argue about Torah all the time) and Jewish labor organizing (planning a strike is an important part of the story). It’s also a story about people gradually building connections to a wider community.
Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night by Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian
This is a contemporary fantasy novella about two people who have to go on a quest to save their mutual boyfriend. Along the way they met many members of the boyfriend’s community who they wouldn't have interacted with otherwise. It’s also full of domestic details, getting the kids places on time, serving dinner, silly mugs. None of these details are lingered on but they all build a picture of the characters. I love that this book makes me and so many other people feel seen for aspects of ourselves we rarely see reflected in fiction!
Please tell me about your favorite SFF that engages with themes of domestic labor and/or community building!
Cozy SFF Original Stories by Other People
Date: 2025-05-30 01:45 am (UTC)This science fiction story has a compelling plotline based on human colonists scattered across an alien planet, but the focus is deeply personal and communal, with an overall hopeful tone.
"Child of a Wandering Star" by Derin
You’re not supposed to do it, of course, but it’s not unheard of for parents to try to ensure good destinies for their daughters by timing their conception carefully. Most hatchings take place under somewhat clear skies, so the gods that bear witness to the young larvae and claim them for their paths are stars. And stars are notoriously regular in their habits, for the most part; if you want a sturdy and caring daughter born under Zimma, or a strong leader under Yorlu, then it’s all a matter of timing.
But there’s always a gamble.
https://derinstories.com/child-of-a-wandering-star/
This prompt call always has a theme of fluff and comfort. Fills are usually fantasy, occasionally science fiction or something else. At least one gets posted free, and people can sponsor more if they wish.
Feathering the Nest by
Send me a prompt and I’ll write a thousand words, though I only promise a coherent scene, not a full plot. It’s meant to be soft and pleasant, comforting and reassuring in whatever ratios the reader asks for.
This is cozy science fiction with an emphasis on relationships in community, and no more than trivial levels of conflict.
Green Skies G.T. by
Cozy Science Fiction - The monthly logs of G.T., a sentient apartment dwelling, and it's inhabitants.
This webcomic is among the coziest werewolf stories I've found, also given to beautiful artwork. It has a relatively low level of violence and a high level of everyday activities and relationships.
"How to Be a Werewolf" by Shawn Lenore
Since being bitten by a strange wolf as a child, Malaya Walters has attempted to live a quiet life…hopefully a life free of attempting to eat her family or the customers at her family’s coffee shop. Being the only werewolf she’s ever known, Malaya has managed her condition by keeping tight control on herself and the world around her, with lackluster results. That is, until a strange guy wanders into her shop one day and introduces her to a whole world she never knew existed…
How to be a Werewolf is a long form, ongoing story, started in February 2015. It's a story featuring complex characters who are all figuring themselves out (and sometimes each other out) and trying to learn to not be afraid of whatever comes next.