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A review by minosh
An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color by Alma Díaz, Joss Barton, Jeffrey Gill, Jamie Berrout, Catherine Kim, Manuel Arturo Abreu, Ellyn Peña, Gillian Ybabez, Libby White, Lulu Trujillo, Saki, Jasmine Kabale Moore
5.0
This anthology is honestly a blessing and I give thanks to Ellyn Peña and Jamie Berrout and to all of the contributing authors for making it exist in the world. The range of stories in here is incredible and I wish I were better at reviewing to convey that to you. The first sentence of the first story ("The Girl and the Apple" by Jasmine Kabale Moore: "Marjorie now spoke to herself in a voice that echoed sovereignty, but was not.") hit me straight in the gut and pretty much set the tone for what was to come.
I'll try to offer a few comments. "Lord, be a Femme" entranced me with its gorgeous, (ir)reverent language framing marvelously on-point commentary. The second of Jamie Berrout's three stories reminds me strongly of her work in "Incomplete Short Stories and Essays," a fascinating exploration of a future in which trans women are protected rather than prosecuted by the law. "Collecting" was a delightful story that felt like it snuck up on me. Maybe it was the way the story is narrated from the outside, so you never get too close to the main characters, making the abrupt ending feels that much more real. Libby White's three short stories are, as another reviewer has commented, astounding in their ability to evoke an entire world and deep emotions in a tiny amount of space. "La Shooting Estrella" is heartwarming in its portrayal of unexpected acceptance yet it also raises the uncertain question of whether Alma's father will embrace her identity in its entirety; it's a rollercoaster of emotions perfect in a short story. Saki's untitled story...I'm not sure how to describe the narration but it's so unique and interesting. It has a static, detached narration that comes almost elliptically at the action-filled story being described and I could quote it for days.
Like any anthology, there are uneven spots, but that's part of why this anthology is so important (I'm thinking here of Jamie Berrout's review of Redefining Realness and the demand for trans women of color to be perfectly "polished" for non-twoc readers). This book is an anthology of the work that is being created by trans women of color NOW, an enormous spectrum (ranging from slice of life to zombie apocalypse stories) that is not being boosted publicly anywhere else. As Peña and Berrout call for a sustained movement supporting trans women of color artists within and without the genre of transgender fiction as a whole, this anthology also presents a call to action to anyone who claims to care about trans women of color: to alter the world so that there are no longer only a few tokenized trans women of color are "allowed" to participate in the literary sphere (the status quo at white-dominated presses like Topside), to create a world where the voices of trans women of color exist in a multitude, in dialogue with each other on their own terms.
I'll try to offer a few comments. "Lord, be a Femme" entranced me with its gorgeous, (ir)reverent language framing marvelously on-point commentary. The second of Jamie Berrout's three stories reminds me strongly of her work in "Incomplete Short Stories and Essays," a fascinating exploration of a future in which trans women are protected rather than prosecuted by the law. "Collecting" was a delightful story that felt like it snuck up on me. Maybe it was the way the story is narrated from the outside, so you never get too close to the main characters, making the abrupt ending feels that much more real. Libby White's three short stories are, as another reviewer has commented, astounding in their ability to evoke an entire world and deep emotions in a tiny amount of space. "La Shooting Estrella" is heartwarming in its portrayal of unexpected acceptance yet it also raises the uncertain question of whether Alma's father will embrace her identity in its entirety; it's a rollercoaster of emotions perfect in a short story. Saki's untitled story...I'm not sure how to describe the narration but it's so unique and interesting. It has a static, detached narration that comes almost elliptically at the action-filled story being described and I could quote it for days.
Like any anthology, there are uneven spots, but that's part of why this anthology is so important (I'm thinking here of Jamie Berrout's review of Redefining Realness and the demand for trans women of color to be perfectly "polished" for non-twoc readers). This book is an anthology of the work that is being created by trans women of color NOW, an enormous spectrum (ranging from slice of life to zombie apocalypse stories) that is not being boosted publicly anywhere else. As Peña and Berrout call for a sustained movement supporting trans women of color artists within and without the genre of transgender fiction as a whole, this anthology also presents a call to action to anyone who claims to care about trans women of color: to alter the world so that there are no longer only a few tokenized trans women of color are "allowed" to participate in the literary sphere (the status quo at white-dominated presses like Topside), to create a world where the voices of trans women of color exist in a multitude, in dialogue with each other on their own terms.