Nina Varela

Crier's War is set a century after automata overthrew and largely replaced humans, and pairs the daughter of the automaton sovereign with a human servant who has come to kill her.

Varela builds the class politics properly, so the romance has to work against a genuine power difference rather than a misunderstanding.

The duology is queer at its centre without that being the conflict. She also writes screenplays, and the structure shows in how tightly the scenes are cut.