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george_tte's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
jeninmotion's review against another edition
3.0
I had to abandon about 2/3rds of the way through. I think Casey Plett's story was hot, I like K. Tait Jarboe's, I liked Ryka Aoki's story and a couple others, but this is an incredibly uneven (and sort of badly copy-edited) collection, it was hard to be into it.
becleighton's review against another edition
2.0
This was an incredibly uneven anthology, and I was a bit surprised at how dreadful so much of it was considering Topside Press's stellar later record.
There are some I really enjoyed: Imogen Binnie and Casey Plett (of course), Ryka Aoki, Red Durkin, Riley Calais Harris, Cyd Nova, and others in which it was just nice to see some decent representation if it wasn't spectacular. Generally, the stuff by trans women was pretty decent.
But so much of this was just an odd insight into some collective trans dude id: trans dudes with names like "Kant" talking to cis women they call things like "Pussy Chick" (I'm not even making this up), and a wider array of anxious transmasculine Jock Halberslam-esque Lost Boy crap featuring unintentionally terrible characters than I thought I'd ever see in one place. It also could have done with a little less poorly-contextualised experimental work from all sides, from which the second half in particular really suffered.
It was an interesting read and I'm glad that I did read it because there's such a shortage of fiction by trans people, but it meant reading an awful lot of dreck for the gems in the midst of it.
There are some I really enjoyed: Imogen Binnie and Casey Plett (of course), Ryka Aoki, Red Durkin, Riley Calais Harris, Cyd Nova, and others in which it was just nice to see some decent representation if it wasn't spectacular. Generally, the stuff by trans women was pretty decent.
But so much of this was just an odd insight into some collective trans dude id: trans dudes with names like "Kant" talking to cis women they call things like "Pussy Chick" (I'm not even making this up), and a wider array of anxious transmasculine Jock Halberslam-esque Lost Boy crap featuring unintentionally terrible characters than I thought I'd ever see in one place. It also could have done with a little less poorly-contextualised experimental work from all sides, from which the second half in particular really suffered.
It was an interesting read and I'm glad that I did read it because there's such a shortage of fiction by trans people, but it meant reading an awful lot of dreck for the gems in the midst of it.
mechankily's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure how you write a review of this book. It's relatively unique. There aren't many books of trans fiction by trans authors, so if you want to read that, then this is one of the few options. This book can be a big fish in a small pond.
It has about 28 stories from different authors, so there's a lot there. Type of story varies as well, so it's not all the same. Relatively equal mix of trans female and trans male stories. A handful of nonbinary stories I think.
It has about 28 stories from different authors, so there's a lot there. Type of story varies as well, so it's not all the same. Relatively equal mix of trans female and trans male stories. A handful of nonbinary stories I think.
wcsheffer's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed Léger and MacLeod's anthology of contemporary trans fiction (published in 20102). I was quite impressed with the breadth of stories included ranging from more poetic biographical explorations to more mainstream short stories about superheroes featuring trans protagonists. Many of the stories featured heartbreaking portrayals of a trans person's continuous struggle with acceptance from themselves and others in a contemporary society that does consistently tells them they are wrong. It was also fun to read stories where trans identity played very little role other than basic description of the character. I would have enjoyed more intentionality from the authors on how they organized the stories are at least some explanation in the preface about why they didn't organize the stories in a discernable way.
tarae's review against another edition
3.0
In all honesty and transparency, I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 2 or 1 solely because it is what it is and I'm glad that something of its kind does exist. But 3 stars is generous just considering the quality of the writing here. And of course quality will vary among stories in any anthology, but way too many of these stories are just bad bad irredeemably are-you-kidding-me who-would-publish-this-shit bad. Some were just plain poorly written, like -- sentence-level poorly written. Some just didn't have memorable characters. A few too many centered around trans dude protagonists who were being '''wronged''' in some way by their girlfriends. At least one was a shitty Kathy Acker rip-off. One story probably had the absolute most boring narrative arch possible, in which a kid who works at a coffee shop is misgendered by stock character after stock character until finally at the story's end one customer stands up for him and says -- climax! -- "His name is Sam." Which, you know, I'm not saying that being misgendered doesn't suck, just that "this sucks" does not also inherently extend into meaning "this sucky thing will make for a compelling story." There was another story in which the climactic moment is a dude mouthing off to his doctor about his use of the phrase "biologically male." Which again, shitty! But does not! an interesting! story make!
There was only one story that was really great in every way, Casey Plett's "Other Women." It was complex and full of characters that felt real and was funny but not hokey and at the same time managed to be one of the only stories to deal with sexual assault. Which is weird, because sexual assault and rape are actual real fucked up things that happen to trans people? And this anthology is full of stories about dudes who are bored with their service jobs and stories about goofy cartoonish trans superheroes and stories about dead/undead lovers or time travel that don't make literal OR metaphorical sense. But really, I'm okay with having wasted my time reading every awful story I did because at least I got Plett's story out of it! Maybe don't read this anthology and just buy her book instead. To be fair, there were a handful of other stories that I did enjoy, even if I wasn't floored by them. Notably, Susan Jane Bigelow, Red Durkin, and Imogen Binnie's stories. I wanted to like Ryka Aoki's story but it fell real flat for me at the end.
I know that good writing by trans authors exists in the this terrible world, so I'm chalking the failings of this anthology up to the editors. I'm going to guess that they didn't do great outreach for this project. Which is also evident in how little race or class is even mentioned in any of these stories. I do appreciate that they wanted to publish writers who are less established and have never published before but good grief I knooooooow there are unpublished writers out there who are writing good stories. I know it! My one hope is just that now that Topside Press is a little more established they could do a second collection that might attract better writing. And actually my one other hope is that a couple of trans women edit it because I am NOT here for Tom and Riley.
There was only one story that was really great in every way, Casey Plett's "Other Women." It was complex and full of characters that felt real and was funny but not hokey and at the same time managed to be one of the only stories to deal with sexual assault. Which is weird, because sexual assault and rape are actual real fucked up things that happen to trans people? And this anthology is full of stories about dudes who are bored with their service jobs and stories about goofy cartoonish trans superheroes and stories about dead/undead lovers or time travel that don't make literal OR metaphorical sense. But really, I'm okay with having wasted my time reading every awful story I did because at least I got Plett's story out of it! Maybe don't read this anthology and just buy her book instead. To be fair, there were a handful of other stories that I did enjoy, even if I wasn't floored by them. Notably, Susan Jane Bigelow, Red Durkin, and Imogen Binnie's stories. I wanted to like Ryka Aoki's story but it fell real flat for me at the end.
I know that good writing by trans authors exists in the this terrible world, so I'm chalking the failings of this anthology up to the editors. I'm going to guess that they didn't do great outreach for this project. Which is also evident in how little race or class is even mentioned in any of these stories. I do appreciate that they wanted to publish writers who are less established and have never published before but good grief I knooooooow there are unpublished writers out there who are writing good stories. I know it! My one hope is just that now that Topside Press is a little more established they could do a second collection that might attract better writing. And actually my one other hope is that a couple of trans women edit it because I am NOT here for Tom and Riley.
katebrarian's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of stories by and about trans* and otherwise-non-gender-conforming individuals and it is AWESOME.
There are some gorgeous coming-of-age stories, great reflections on gender and society, some sad and heart-wrenching stories. There are some stories where being trans* or genderqueer are very central, and some where it's barely mentioned. But my favourite ones were the hilarious and weird and unexpected ones. Like the one about Captain Macho, the superhero, learning how to be a superheroine. Or the one about the girl attempting to win a wing-eating contest to get her ass out of Alabama. Or the one about the machine that transports people to a queer dimension, built from instructions in the necronomicon that require lesbian sex to reveal themselves...or the one about the demon hunter who lost most of her magic power when she started on estrogen. Yep. Brilliant.
There are some gorgeous coming-of-age stories, great reflections on gender and society, some sad and heart-wrenching stories. There are some stories where being trans* or genderqueer are very central, and some where it's barely mentioned. But my favourite ones were the hilarious and weird and unexpected ones. Like the one about Captain Macho, the superhero, learning how to be a superheroine. Or the one about the girl attempting to win a wing-eating contest to get her ass out of Alabama. Or the one about the machine that transports people to a queer dimension, built from instructions in the necronomicon that require lesbian sex to reveal themselves...or the one about the demon hunter who lost most of her magic power when she started on estrogen. Yep. Brilliant.
danikaellis's review against another edition
5.0
This anthology is across the board very well-written, and the subject matter is far overdue. In short, I loved this book. In full, check out my review at The Lesbrary.
xgebi's review against another edition
2.0
It's probably me because this is a third or fourth fiction book about trans people by trans people which I read/tried to read and wasn't thrilled about it. I guess for me transness isn't that big deal to build story around it. I guess it's me.
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