trans – Page 4 – A. L. Lester

#AmReading

Today I’ve got gay space romance, a dystopian trilogy with extremely good trans representation of secondary characters and an alt-nineteenth century straight magical romance!

By Imperial Decree by Angel Martinez

Cheerful gay space romance.

So, I don’t usually get completely sucked in by Cinnamon Roll characters! But this time, I have, utterly. Marsh is a space-station mechanic who finds a runaway prince in the ship he’s been told to bring in for salvage. The prince is hiding from various things…his mother, over-enthusiastic, dangerous suitors, his life generally. Shenanigans ensue. It’s a lovely, cheerful read and Marsh is so nice it would usually make my teeth itch, but for some reason he doesn’t. There’s, a minor appearance by his parents, space-orchard-managing non-nonsense ladies who made me grin constantly. Recommend!

The Rampart Trilogy by M. R. Carey

Eventually hopeful dystopia with great trans representation.

This a hard sci-fi trilogy, I guess? Set in a future dystopian UK where genetic engineering has made the trees and animals so inimical to human life that the diminishing population is isolated in little villages that are held together by the remains of technology they don’t really understand. The main character is a young person just reaching adulthood at the beginning of the first book, who begins to question everything he’s told about how both the tech and his society works.

One of the things I found fascinating was that it’s initially set in West Yorkshire, which I hung around in quite a bit in my college years due to a boyfriend from Halifax (or Half Ax as it’s called in the story). I spent quite a while translating the dystopian names back to the towns and villages they’d evolved from. However, even if you aren’t familiar with The People’s Republic of Yorkshire, this will suck you in.

The second thing I loved about it was that it has absolutely brilliant trans rep. It’s clear from the acknowledgements that M. R. Carey did their research and they perfectly capture some of the the different levels of dissonance and dysphoria trans people can experience. Thirdly, it’s a rip-roaring story. It’s just…perfect. And fourthly, the covers. The covers are beautiful.

So, that’s why you should read them!

Spellswept (The Harwood Spellbook, #0.5) by Stephanie Burgis

Alt-nineteenth century straight romance. With magic!

This is a lovely little romantic prequel to what I understand is a series featuring other characters. The world-building is fascinating, an alt-nineteenth century-ish world with women wielding political power and men wielding magic. But what happens if that isn’t a hard-and-fast rule and things can change?

I really enjoyed both the characters and the premise and I’m interested in reading the main series.

More next time. I have lots to catch up on!

Am Reading

This week we’ve got a contemporary romance set on the US Carolina cost, a paranormal historical urban fantasy with talking familiars and a space opera romance with fantastic normative gender expression.

The First Step (Coastal Carolina #1) by Shira Anthony

This is a slow burn romance set against a background of the sea. One of the MCs is a pilot–a boat pilot–a skilled, dangerous job whether the sea is calm or rough. He’s part of a team who jump from little boats to the big vessels he brings safely into harbour from the open sea. The second MC is a disgraced reporter on a forced sabbatical from his sexy New York news position. He’s supposed to be writing an article about the seafood industry, but he becomes fascinated with the river pilots and their job. Justin, the pilot, isn’t out at work and their relationship grows against the background of each of the men’s past and insecurities.

I don’t usually get grabbed by stories where the romance is the main driver, but this had me from the start with its description of coastal life and the push and pull between the two MC’s personalities. The coastal setting is a personality in its own right, creating danger and tension that defines their relationship. I really enjoyed it.

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

This began as an original work posted on AO3, which is where I first came across it. I loved it then. However, now, it’s even better. A beautifully crafted high-tech universe, normalised queerness, a diplomatic marriage to cement a difficult political situation, two people who think they are doing the best for each other but aren’t communicating very well, a murder to solve with the murderers still after them, and spaceships. What’s not to like? There’s also an ‘ooops, only one tent and it’s freezing’ incident, for which we should all give thanks. It’s a story about a relationship entwined with a complex political/diplomatic high-stakes plot and it is so, so good.

I particularly liked the gender expression, which IIRC is a new addition from when I read the AO3 version.

Honestly, this is brilliant. You should read it.

Marked by Death (Necromancer #1) by Kaje Harper

This ticks all my boxes…historical, paranormal, queer. It’s the first in a new series and it sets the scene for a complicated, magic-is-normal-but-whoah-dangerous universe. One of the MCs is a necromancer–clue in the title there–and the other is a childhood friend who is pretty much having a magic-induced breakdown and goes to him for help. Shenanigans ensue. Their relationship develops against a background of threatening dark things, a threatening magical council and a not quite 1950s USA where the gay is still illegal. There was a distinct whiff of Renaissance Italy in the politics of the magical council that I really loved.

Oh, and there are familiars. Talking familiars.

That’s it for this week!

#AmReading

I’m so behind on these, I’m very sorry! This time I have queer sci-fi!

A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright

I loved this. It’s a brilliant plotty space-opera with additional gay romance. The characters are beautifully realised, there’s a middle-aged female space-ship captain with a trick hip as a main character and the world-building is drip-drip-dripped in rather than delivered in a big ‘here is my universe’ clump. Identity-wipe, political machinations, mysterious enemies and big guns. What’s not to like?

Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen

So this was weird and complicated. I really liked it. It follows someone who is initially a child and then has their growth accelerated to make them an adult for /complicated plot reasons/. It’s got a racing story and some extremely gruesome bits which I found heart-wrenching, so be warned. However it also has brane-like universe bubbles that have different rules of physics and-or existence, an extremely cool selection of aliens and different technologies and a plot that twisted my tiny mind n the best way. I should add…it has genderfluid and enby characters and the main character is ace.

Taji from Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper

This is my first R. Cooper book and I am now wondering why I waited so long to start. It’s a ‘queer human in a world of genderfluid aliens’ story and the dislocation and loneliness of the main character really resonated with me in this dislocated and lonely covid-time.

Taji, the human embassy translator, is an academic who’s been subbed in to cover for the murdered previous incumbent. He’s in love with one of the Shavian embassy guards. There’s a mismatch of cultural knowledge and expectations and failed communication between them that interweaves with a fantastic, exciting political-machinations plot that I loved. A lot of the plot is based around a minority of the Shavian’s tendency to ‘go shehzha’ for their lover…to become mindlessly desirous of them during the first phase of a relationship. It was interesting and I thought done really well–it had a cultural and political impact on the story and the relationship between Taji and his lover.

That’s it for this time!

interview: Leigh M. Lorien, #ISORoommates

Today we welcome Leigh M. Lorien, who’s here to chat about her new release #ISO Roommates! I’ve also included an excerpt right at the bottom after the interview after Leigh’s bio.

Hello and first of all, thank you for letting me stop by! I’m super grateful for the opportunity. (Ally: You are most welcome!)

For anyone who follows this blog regularly, you may have read the post in February featuring Nell Iris and Ofelia Grand discussing their recent releases for the #Love submission call from JMS Books. I’m here to talk about my release for that same series, titled #ISORoommates (for anyone who missed Nell & Ofelia’s post, the theme of the #Love submission call was “love in the age of social media” and the story had to include some form of social media, real or not, and the title of each story starts with a hashtag, thus my title, #ISORoommates, wherein ISO means “In Search Of”).

In #ISORoommates, Marc and Sora meet when they move in to a new house. They each have their own reasons for the move, but both expect the new situation to be better—and it is, until the two of them butt heads over shared work spaces and polar opposite organization techniques (if you can call “throwing things around” an organization technique).

The story came to me while on a six-hour drive with my sister. She and I are both creative souls. We hoard craft supplies. We hoard things that could be craft supplies, someday. We hoard shiny things, cool rocks, bits of wire, random junk we find on the ground. We hoard cardboard boxes because, you know, that’s a really good box! You can never have too many boxes.

But our ideas of organization could not be more different. I lose everything I touch. Sometimes I don’t even need to touch it. I just think about it, and it is spontaneously absorbed into the chaotic abyss of my house, never to be seen again. My sister, on the other hand, is an organization junkie. She loves order. She has drawers and shelves and cabinets, things are labelled neatly, and everything has a place.

While discussing artsy habits, the concept of an opposites attract story featuring a disastrous, disorganized artist and his tidy opponent crept into my mind.

When I started writing this lovely artist character, he let me know he’s also transgender.

Aaaaand autistic.

Cool buddy, no pressure.

Sora isn’t the first trans character I’ve written, and he definitely won’t be the last. He’s not the first autistic character I’ve written, either. He is, however, the first autistic transgender artist I’ve written, so it felt a good deal like ripping my own heart out and smearing it all over the page.

Autism presents differently depending on gender. Most [neurotypical] people’s understanding of autism comes from the symptoms typical to cisgender boys and men, which are diagnosed and portrayed far more often. Cisgender women, and those of us assigned female at birth, often go undiagnosed and unnoticed since our presentation is different than what society “expects” autism to look like. Since Sora isn’t a cis man, I was able to use my own experiences to inform his character. The lack of social interest, withdrawing, panicking, hyper-focus, and meltdowns are all things that I’ve experienced as an AFAB person on the spectrum.

Sora’s love interest-slash-opposite, Marc, comes off as quite a dick initially, but it was very important that he be anything but. If I’m writing a transgender or autistic character in a relationship, they’re going to have a healthy, supportive partner. There’s no other option in my mind. Marc is not perfect, but no one is. The important thing is that he doesn’t question or belittle any aspect of Sora’s identity.

Anyway, if that’s not enough to sell you, did I mention there’s car sex? Who doesn’t love some good car sex.

#ISORoommates

The only thing Sora wants is to be left alone to do his art. When he moves into a house with three other people, he knows he’ll have to make some adjustments, but he didn’t count on one of his roommates being a neat-freak with no regard for personal boundaries. If there’s one thing Sora can’t stand, it’s other people telling him how to live his life.

Marc is excited to move in with new people. After his last break-up, he’s keen on being independent and focusing on his own hobbies. His new house has a garage, so he’ll finally get to work on his car! But Marc’s enthusiasm falls apart when he realizes his disorganized artist roommate, Sora, intends to work on his projects in the garage, too.

The two men could not be more opposite… or more similar. They each do their best to ignore the other, but the longer they spend together, the harder it becomes. It’s only a matter of time before sparks start to fly—but their differences may be too much to overcome. Can two fiercely independent men learn to let another into their space, and into their hearts?

Buy #ISORoommates

Meet Leigh!

Leigh M. Lorien is a queer author who got her start at the tender age of five, writing and illustrating her own Sonic the Hedgehog stories. Fortunately, her writing has improved in the subsequent decades. Nowadays, Leigh’s stories primarily lean toward science fiction, fantasy, and urban fantasy, but she has had some contemporary pieces sneak out of her head. Regardless of genre, her books will usually include sarcasm, strong relationships (romantic and platonic), polyamory/non-monogamy, magic, music, animals, mental illness, and less-frequently-represented queer identities.

Twitter

Excerpt of #ISO Roommates

Within just a couple minutes, Marc had grouped the paints into the standard color categories in rainbow order, plus pink, black, white, and gray. It was still just a rough pile of mess on the floor, but it was one step closer to tidiness. Sora leaned over, shifting onto hands and knees so he could examine the blue and green groupings. The way he looked, the way he sifted through, was haphazard and frantic, with no logical process.

“Stop it,” Marc said. “You’re just making it worse. Go logically.”

“What?”

He couldn’t believe he was teaching a fully grown adult how to look for something. In quick, small groupings, he shifted tubes from right to left, eliminating some based on brand or bottle shape, pausing longer on ones that matched one category to determine if they were what Sora wanted. When he reached the end of the blues and greens and hadn’t found the right one, he straightened up.

“At least now you know for sure that it isn’t here.”

“But it was here! That’s what’s killing me. I swear, I remember seeing it in one of these boxes when I was carrying them in here.” He groaned and lay back on the cold concrete floor with his hands over his face. “Sorry, this is just really frustrating. I’m always losing things. I hate it.”

“Maybe you should keep your stuff more organized.”

“Thanks, Mom, that helps.”

Marc frowned at the sharp tone. “Hey, no need to be a jerk about it.”

“I don’t have the time or energy to organize. I work. I have deadlines. I barely have time to sleep.”

Something about the way he said it sent a twinge of sympathy through Marc’s chest. While he couldn’t imagine, personally, being able to function in the disaster that Sora worked with, he did know what it was like to run yourself ragged trying to be in three places at once.

“I could help, if you want.”

Sora lifted his hand from his face and looked up the great distance to meet Marc’s eyes… or, something thereabout. He never quite made eye contact, Marc had noticed. Sora’s eyes and cheeks were red from the pressure of his hand, or maybe from the frustration of losing the paint he needed.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m okay though.” He sat up and started throwing the paints back in the box, just as haphazardly as they’d been before he’d dumped them—completely ignoring what Marc had tried to do to help him. Marc sighed and cast another glance at the disastrous workbench. There were a few bottles of paint sitting there among everything else, half hidden by a pile of canvases. Marc stepped over the mess on the floor and picked up each bottle in turn, checking the color. They were all blues and greens… and there, lying on its side behind all of them, was phthalo green.

“Hey,” he said. Sora looked up. “This what you need?”

“Holy shit!” The man sprang to his feet, wide-eyed. “Where was it?”

Marc gestured vaguely to the other paint bottles. “Behind stuff.”

“Jesus.” Sora took the bottle from Marc’s hand and held it to his chest like a precious item. “Thank you. Sorry.”

“Anything else you need help finding in this train wreck?”

“Not at the moment.”

“All right.” With a half-smile, Marc left the man to his devices and went back to his own project. This time, though, he couldn’t find the same deep concentration he’d had before. He kept glancing at Sora, though he wasn’t sure why. That one little comment about barely having time to sleep… the distress at the state of his workspace… An idea had crept into Marc’s head. He wasn’t sure if it was there for the right reasons, but it was there now and it wasn’t going away.

Buy #ISORoommates

interview: Shelly Greene

Today we have Shelly Greene visiting! Welcome, Shelly. What brings you here today!

Just fun! Programming isn’t a new release, but I think it’s the kind of thing your readers might like, so I just wanted to get it out there. (I have newer stuff as well, but Programming is the only one so far with a transgender character.)

What started you writing?

In second grade, my teacher gave me a folder of writing prompts that I could work on when the other kids were doing worksheets. That wasn’t the first time I wrote stories, but it did cement writing as something I enjoyed and wanted to do more of. Within a couple years I was hand-writing “novels” in pretty journals, and I was unstoppable from there. I was out of college before I finished something I thought I could actually sell—and I did! When I was thirty years old, haha. I’m never going to be a household name, but my writing brings me a lot of joy and a tiny trickle of pocket money. I call that victory.

Where do you write?

I can write almost anywhere. I get a lot done during downtime at work. When I worked retail, I would write on scrap paper and hide it in my pockets. Sometimes I end up writing on my notes app after I’ve gone to bed. Most of it gets done on my laptop at my desk, though. I keep everything on a flash drive that lives in my pocket wherever I go.

What do you like to read?

I mostly read fantasy and science fiction, and have a special fondness for things that blend the line between the two, like Star Wars and the Dragonriders of Pern books. My top three favorite authors, the ones whose new releases I will drop everything to read, are Lois McMaster Bujold, Jim Butcher, and Patricia Briggs.

What are the three books you’d take to a desert island? Why would you choose them?

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold – I get hungry for this book if I go too long without re-reading it.

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher – I love the entire Dresden Files series, of which this is the third. It’s a favorite because I feel like it’s where the series really hit its stride.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen – a change of pace from the others! It’s hard to beat Austen for character development and use of language.

Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?

I’ve been in writers’ groups in the past, but mostly didn’t find it that helpful. In a writers’ group of any size, it takes so long for it to be your turn to be critiqued! And it’s hard to know whether to trust the other members’ judgments of your work, especially when you’re not familiar with their writing yet. So I’ve long since given up on writer’s critique groups. I am very active as a fanfic writer, though, and that’s quite a wonderful, lively community! You can definitely find critique partners (“betas”) if you ask around for one, or you can just put stuff out there and not worry too much about it being polished. It’s all just very supportive, and it’s hard to beat the immediate gratification of people commenting on things within hours of posting!

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I live within two miles of three of my siblings, so they’re most of my social life. I especially like to spend time with my adorable preschool-age nephews. They are a handful, but I love them to pieces. I also have a dog, an adopted senior Corgi/Golden Retriever mix. All fluff, no legs! And I do spend more time watching Netflix than I probably should—my current favorites are WandaVision, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and of course, The Great British Baking Show.

Tell me a little bit about Programming? What gave you the idea for it? How long did it take to write? What did you enjoy about writing it? What did you hate?

Programming isn’t my most recent release, but it is the one I think is most suited to your blog. This one had a very convoluted journey into its final form. Once upon a time, I took two male movie characters from a modern-day canon setting, made one of them an android because the actor had once played an android, and made a sci-fi fanfic out of it. Some time later, I “filed off the serial numbers” to make the story more original and see if I could sell it; that’s when the main characters became female instead of male. One day I saw an anthology submission call at a small queer press for science fiction stories. By the time I’d rewritten the story to fit the submission call, giving it a whole new setting and theme, it had become a very different creature from its fanfic origin. It was accepted for the anthology, only for the publisher to fold before the anthology was ever published. So my twice-reworked former-fanfic 8,000 word novelette ended up being published as its own thing by a different publisher, JMS Books. Bit of a wild ride!

Programming

Simone, a female-identifying android, is part of a scientific team sent ahead of the first colony to return to Earth, which is finally habitable again after centuries of radiation recovery. She mostly finds her human crewmates irritating, and the most irritating by far is Dr. Lucy Zhong… who slowly becomes Simone’s best friend, more important to her than anyone else has ever been.

When Lucy is fatally injured, she kisses Simone during her last moments of consciousness, and only then does Simone realize they may be more than friends. Can Simone go against her programming to save the woman she loves?

Buy Programming

Find Shelly!

I am most active on tumblr, at turtletotem.tumblr.com. You can also find me on Goodreads.