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By Rebecca, June 16, 2010 3:42 am

A partially obscured shot of a female face. How original for a book dealing with a trans character...

I just finished reading Almost Perfect, a young adult novel about a high school senior, Logan, who falls for a girl, Sage, that he eventually learns is trans. It’s well-written and believable, told from the first-person perspective of Logan, and does a good job of being injecting humor without being light or unrealistic. As someone who is a trans fiction aficionado, it was very refreshing to find a trans main character in a book that isn’t sensationalist or belittling. Or overly optimistic and picture-perfect.

There will be spoilers beyond this point, so consider yourself warned. If you’re looking for a recommendation, I would definitely recommend Almost Perfect. But a title like that should tell you that it has an ending which is – at best – bittersweet.

Continue reading 'Review: Almost Perfect'»

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By Rebecca, April 9, 2010 4:19 am

For the last week or so, I’ve been making my way through Angharad’s epic piece of trans fiction, Easy as Falling off a Bike. It follows the tale of Cathy, a trans woman in her early twenties, as she’s pushed toward transitioning, love, and, well, I’ll let the author describe it:

Stella, someone who could get women drivers a bad name, literally knocks Charlie off his expensive racing bike. She discovers that Charlie, a research field biologist, has a secret. He’s gearing up to transition as a woman, only he’s too frightened to do it. Stella takes control and her brother, Simon not only fancies ‘Cathy’ but falls in love with her.

Follow the mayhem, as this romantic and at times adventure story rambles all over the place as they pursue their lives. Keep the tissues handy, it has pathos, humour and real life, as Cathy deals with the triumphs and tribulations of being a woman.

Continue reading 'Trans fiction: Easy as Falling off a Bike'»

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By Rebecca, March 25, 2010 6:40 pm

It has been quite a while since I’ve done a post on trans fiction, hasn’t it! The LGBT literary site Lamnda Literary had a post a while back by Cheryl Morgan titled Is There, or Should There Be, Such a Thing as ‘Trans Lit’? The post has lots of interesting links to authors who have written on or about trans issues, including links to various trans comics and trans fiction sites. (Some of which I’ve linked to from this blog, and some of which I’d never seen before. Check out both the main post and the comments.)

But I have to admit, I was (and am) a little confused by the question Morgan is asking. It seems self evident – even in the links within her post, not to mention those in the comments – that there is trans literature being generated. (Morgan seems to define ‘trans lit’ as ‘fiction,’ a definition I don’t have any problems with.) More broadly, she seems to be creating divisions where none need be:

Yet what would “trans literature” be like? When we talk about the literature of an identity group we mean that members of the group want to read about people like themselves. African-Americans want books with African-American protagonists; lesbians want books with lesbian protagonists; and so on. But the trans community is very diverse, and different parts of it have very different needs. Cross-dressers, for example, often read, and write, erotic fantasies about cross-dressing. Pre-transition transsexuals reportedly read memoirs and theory voraciously in order to find out if transition is right for them, and how to survive it. Post transition, however, they often settle happily into their preferred gender and have no further need for trans books. They are often content identifying with characters of their preferred gender and don’t want to be reminded of what they see as a painful past life.

Those who regard themselves as in a third gender, as gender-free or gender-fluid, and those who are intersex, will probably want books about people like themselves. Obviously there is a real need for a literature for them. However, they are only a part of the trans community (and apologies to any of them who do not want to be regarded as part of it), so the market is even smaller.

Continue reading 'Trans Lit – searching for our reflections'»

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By Rebecca, January 6, 2010 8:12 am

I’ve been reading through a bunch of the Whateley Academy stories over the last few weeks and came to the realization that their organization leaves much to be desired.

I’ve been enjoying the stories a lot, and much of what I’m doing now is rereading pieces I’ve encountered before. Specifically, I’d say the story arcs of Toni, Nikki, Jade, Ayla, and Sara are the most well written, along with the other various stories by those characters’ authors.

But while the order of the stories at Crystal Hall is OK, there have been pretty consistent occasions where I’m not sure if I missed something because the information isn’t supposed to have been revealed yet, or if I missed something because I didn’t read another story I didn’t know was a precursor. Characters traveling freely between authors just furthers the issue.

I know multiple stories covering the same period of time make a simple timeline pretty much impossible…but if anyone over at Crystal Hall is reading this, some sort of order guide would be just lovely! (Or, lacking that, having the date ranges listed along with the story descriptions, so you could know what calendar period the story spans.)

(This is all separate from my love/hate relationship with trans fiction, which I’ll try to cover more in another post.)

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By Rebecca, November 24, 2009 9:10 pm

I had my showing last night of Trans Form, the show I’m working on for Dec 11-13. (Obligatory plug.) A few friends and artistic peers came to see it, and I really needed their feedback. I hadn’t shown a lot of the new material to anyone, so it was an absolute relief to hear that, on the whole, the show works (and is worth $10). I also really appreciated the feedback they gave last night, and hope to talk more with all of them about places it could be improved.

I bring all that up because I am feeling better about the show, but I’m still feeling like I’m in something of a funk more generally. And, with a recent comment on an older post about trans fiction, I’m reading some new stories and finding them feeding some of the same escapist urges I’ve mentioned in the past.

Continue reading 'The Siren Call of Trans Fiction'»

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By Rebecca, May 7, 2009 2:56 pm

I’ve been posing that question to a number of different people, and here are some of the responses I’ve received. (Disclaimer: The ‘poling’ I’ve been doing, if you can even call it that, is not in any way scientific. I did not ask for demographic information, and this anecdotal collection was self-selected from people who do read trans fiction to begin with.)

- I never had the courage to come out & someone else forcing me will probably always be just a fantasy.

- There is no sexual stimulation in reading these stories(for me) & the sexually explicit ones are sometimes a turn off. I think, for me, it is just good reading about subjects that are near & dear to me.

- [Trans fiction] stories help me have an imaginary life like I really want.

- I do not think that I am alone to have those stories with us when we have gone to bed. I just hope that they have been as inspirational to others as they have been to me.

And, of course, the seven ‘E’s:

1. Explore – reading to find new ideas or expressions, to help figure out where one is on the gender continuum.

2. Experience – to share the thoughts and feelings others have about themselves.

3. Expand – to widen one’s horizons about the various lifestyles and choices.

4. Erotic – to engage in a sexual experience which may result in another E – Ejaculate.

5. Escape – to lose oneself in the fantasy of others when there is no chance of it happening in real life.

6. Evolve – to help oneself move forward toward a real life goal.

7. Excuse – to let someone else take charge – to not be responsible for your actions.

How about you, gentle reader? Why do you read trans fiction? (Or write it? Or don’t read it? Or any other thoughts on the subject?)

As a reminder, I’m collecting my thoughts on, and links to, trans fiction here. Enjoy!

-R

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By Rebecca, April 28, 2009 10:49 pm

I just added a new category to my Trans Fiction page, ‘Offline Media,’ for listing books/movies/etc and placed Supervillainz there. Here’s what I wrote:

From the author’s site: “Supervillainz is a madcap adventure story of a Scooby gang of queer twenty-somethings pitted against a gang of superheroes who believe one of the kids is responsible for their brother’s death.” I think this book is really important becuase it’s about a group of characters who happen to be trans, and while their status as trans feeds the story it isn’t really the core element. That said, the writing wasn’t amazing – it was good, and I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t blow me away. I do, however, look forward to Goranson’s next book. Buy it now from Chicago’s feminist bookstore, Women & Children First!

As a reminder, the Trans Fiction page is where I’m collecting thoughts on trans fiction, as well as examples that I think are worth reading.

-R

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By Rebecca, April 8, 2009 10:34 am

I was recently reading Scrambler J’s Diane Castle’s stories over at the Whateley Academy site, Crystal Hall. (Note: someone pointed out in the comments that, although Scrambler J originated the character and stories I’m referencing, they’re now being written – including the one I quote below – by Diane Castle. Sorry for the confusion!) I  was struck by the following passage, written from the perspective of a teenage boy who, after manifesting an X-Men-style mutation, has been sent to live with a relative (who, unbeknownst to him, is trans):

What the hell had I gotten myself into?  Greg had gone nuts and had turned into a female impersonator or something.  I may have said that aloud, since the brunette gave me a nasty glare.

“Trev, this is my wife Janet.”

I stared at the brunette, “And are you a guy with a dick too?”

She glared back.  “You are such a prejudiced little fuck!  No, I’m a woman.  I’m what we call a ‘GG’.  That means genetically female.  I just happen to love your sister Gracie.  We’ll see whether I love her enough to put up with a piece of shit like you!”

I tried again.  “Greg…”

“Grace!” they both snapped at me.

“Umm, okay, I don’t understand.  You were my big brother.  You drove a really nice Bentley.  You played basketball for Chilton.”  I took a breath and asked, “What the hell happened to you?”

They looked at each other and did that ‘silent signals’ stuff that Mother and Father sometimes did in front of us kids.  Janet finally said, “Maybe you’d better explain, Gracie.”

Greg – I mean, Gracie – sighed, “Did you ever wonder if I was just a little different from the other guys?”

I admitted, “Well, no.  I just always thought you were great.  As a big brother.  I mean, you were nicer to your little siblings than most of the older brothers I knew…”  I thought for a minute and realized, “Hey!  You never dated anyone!  I mean, Paul went through the girls at Chilton like a buzzsaw, and David’s dating Melinda Hughes-Carling, and I took Ravenna Sainte James to the junior high prom, but you hardly ever dated anyone!”

“Right,” Gracie said.  “I was having a hard time dealing with my own sexuality.  I realized around about kindergarten or first grade that I was in the wrong body.  I really wanted to be one of the kids who got to wear the pretty party dresses and style their hair with their mommies.  Instead, I had to be Greg.  I had to be someone I wasn’t, in a body that felt all wrong.  And it just got worse as I got older.  Proms and weddings were the worst.  I had to wear a stupid tux and a choking necktie.  The girls got to wear the most gorgeous dresses…  It was torture.  It was like working in a bakery and having my mouth sewn shut so I could never taste all the delicacies that were laid out in front of me.”

(Emphasis mine.) I’d like to offer this as an example of why trans fiction is valuable to me – it’s an opportunity to read about the experience of being trans, something that I can relate to and that isn’t found in tons of fiction.

As a reminder, I’m compiling my thoughts about trans fiction at this page on this blog. Feel free to stop by and check out my musings, as well as my reading list, and let me know if there’s something I should take a look at.

-R

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By Rebecca, March 29, 2009 12:48 am

You may have noticed a new addition in the upper right (for those of you not reading via RSS). I keep coming back to trans fiction in posts, so I figured I should just make a (semi) static page linking to my blog posts on the subject, as well as authors/stories/sites I like.  So, here it is! I’ll try to remember to make individual posts when I  update it, but no promises…

-R

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By Rebecca, February 23, 2009 12:39 am

Edit, 3/28/09 – I’m attempting to organize my thoughts on trans fiction here. That page contains links to all of the blog posts I’ve written on the subject, as well as a (growing) collection of links to sites focusing on trans fiction, and particular trans-themed authors/stories I like.

As I’ve mentioned once or twice, I have a tendency to read trans fiction when I’m feeling down. (And, apparently, a meta-tendency to write about said tendency…) I’ve been feeling down lately, and reading more trans fiction, and wanted to share some thoughts. (I’ll write another post to share some links, which I know is what you’re really after…)

I said in a previous post that, “…for me, forced-feminization stories are feeding a desire to have someone else take control of my transition and do it for me.” I still think that’s true, but I’m also realizing that there’s an aspect of sympathizing with characters who feel horribly awkward as women. I’ve wondered why I don’t feel more drawn to fiction involving involuntary female-to-male transformations. Wouldn’t that allow me to feel more sympathy with the protagonist? She would be trapped in the body of a man, and struggling to get back into her rightful body as a woman. (Many forced-feminization stories follow the reverse plot.)

But I don’t really care to read about a character who needs to learn how to pee standing up, or play football, or discover the joys of the male orgasm. I want to read about someone who is struggling to remember to pee sitting down, and how to dress appropriately, and female sexuality. Because all of those things are sure as hell confusing to me.

And I do think it’s unfortunate that so many trans fiction stories involve involuntary transformations, because I do enjoy reading about characters who are actually trans, and not just thrust into a trans-themed universe for the purposes of the plot. (I’m realizing I need to do another ‘trans fiction’ list (and non-fiction, I suppose, to add a nested parentheses) and divide it in that sense – trans characters, and forced-femme characters, but I don’t have the energy to do it tonight.)

So yes, as I said before, I do enjoy fantasizing about having someone step in and take over the transition. That’s definitely part of what I’m getting out of forced-feminization stories. But I hadn’t realized I’m also connecting with characters who don’t really have the first clue about what being a woman means. And I think there’s a hope that, if I read enough pieces where the protagonist figures that out, I might too.

-R