Hot sci-fi ladies

I got a stressful RL thing done, so here is the top four of my list of sci-fi women I've totally got the hots for and would like to sleep with if they wanted me. Plus generally appreciating their character.

Approximately in the order of lusting/crushing-on, though the order varies very much depending on the day.

- Cheris from Machineries of Empire
- Leela from Doctor Who
- Breq from Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (counting her as a woman for the purposes of this list)
- Zoe Heriot from Doctor Who

So apparently I've really got a thing for badass women of action who could kill me (or my enemies) in an instant, and mathematical geniuses. Also, in visual media I enjoy nice legs and the possibility of seeing them, even if I wasn't the original object of the fan service.

Runners-up include Bill, Martha, and Victoria from Doctor Who, and Kizzy and Sissix from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but I can't draw such succinct conclusions from them. And both Red and Blue from This is How You Lose the Time War. It's harder to draw general conclusions, though Victoria adds support to the nice legs conclusion, and Red and Blue to the badass women of action. And I clearly like awesome and energetic women of colour. And feathers.

Also admittedly I might want to bed Missy if she was interested, and that would be a terrible idea.

I've started reading Empress of Forever, but it's too early to tell if I'm going to have to add to the list.

Maybe I'll do the fantasy version at some point.

Gothic book recs, anyone?

It's not like I'm not drowning in books to read already, but it must be the season: I'd terribly much like to read some Gothic fiction. Anybody got recommendations? I'd especially love things that are in the traditional Gothic romantic style, ie. ancient houses/castles/manors, mysterious manuscripts, secrets from the past, beautiful girls roaming in nightly corridors in lacy nightgowns, etc.; but also very queer. F/f, m/m, something else, give me your recs! Also ones that are properly subverting gender norms in other ways are welcome.

If can also rec traditional Gothic romance that is not so well known and you think it might have slipped my attention. I've read a fair amount of the usual 18th/19th century recs, though not all.

I'm also welcoming things that mash up Gothic with other genres, like Gothic sci-fi, Gothic second world fantasy, etc.