Stage Dreams

Having read and loved As the Crow Flies, I have been looking very forward to reading this book by the same creator. Stage Dreams is a fun piece of historical fiction that features two queer women trying to find their way in the Old West. The first, named Flor, is a Latinx bandit who robs stagecoaches under the sobriquet of The Ghost Hawk. During one escapade she kidnaps Grace, who happens to be a trans Civil War deserter from Georgia. Because getting any ransom for her is a moot point, Flor instead uses Grace in a plan to defraud some Confederate robber barons who have designs on the New Mexico Territory.

Over the course of the book it is fun to see the two characters bounce off each other in their scheme and also develop a romance. They begin to see what the other can do, and they also show just how resilient and resourceful they both are. They are vibrant characters who really come to life through the vivid facial expressions, excellent line work, and the unique art style done with colored pencils. Of course, their scheme brings complications and things do go off the rails, but all resolves relatively well. The ending is also very open-ended, and it begs for a sequel.

I am a big fan of of this book's creator Melanie Gillman, who also teaches in the Comics MFA Program at the California College of the Arts. They have been doing a webcomic named As The Crow Flies, a celebrated work, nominated for Eisner and Ignatz Awards, the recipient of a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators, and named Best Book in the Middle Grades category for the 2018 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. They speak more about the creation of Stage Dreams in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Kirkus Reviews summed it up, "An engrossing escapade with a heart-stealing queer romance." Suzanne Krohn called it "a fun and thoughtful adventure romance."There are more reviews available on GoodReads, where it has a 3.87 star (out of 5) rating as of this review.

Stage Dreams was published by Graphic Universe, and they offer an excerpt and much more here.