Best of
Trans

2017

Femme in Public


Alok Vaid-Menon - 2017
    Femme In Public (2017) is a collection of poetry by nonbinary artist Alok Vaid-Menon. In the author's words it "is a dream of what it could look like to celebrate transfemininity in public – both in ourselves and for the people who desire us (by which I mean: everyone, across time, always)."

Aunt Sookie & Me


Michael Scott Garvin - 2017
    Young Poppy Wainwright feels much like a deck of cards, shuffled around from a boozing mother to a beloved grandmother. Finally bussed to Savannah, Georgia, to live with her grandmother’s cantankerous sister, Sookie. Through the enlightened eyes of a thirteen-year-old girl, the hilarity and insanity ensues.From the best-selling author of A Faithful Son, this rollicking romp of a ride does not disappoint.Aunt Sookie & Me: The Sordid Tale of a Scandalous Southern Belle is irreverent, hilarious, and heartbreaking. All political correctness is buried alongside the dead corpse in the family vegetable garden in this riotous book. But don’t let the folksy and fresh recipe fool you, Garvin serves up a big helping of reality, cutting through small-town bigotry and bias.

Trans Like Me: A Journey for All of Us


C.N. Lester - 2017
    Lester, academic and activist, takes us on a journey through some of the most pressing issues concerning the trans debate: from pronouns to Caitlyn Jenner; from feminist and LGBTQ activists, to the rise in referrals for gender variant children -- all by way of insightful and moving passages about the author's own experience. Trans Like Me shows us how to strive for authenticity in a world which often seeks to limit us by way of labels.

Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me


Janet Mock - 2017
    Janet Mock is adjusting to her days as a first-generation college student at the University of Hawaii and her nights as a dancer at a strip club. Finally content in her body, she vacillates between flaunting and concealing herself as she navigates dating and disclosure, sex and intimacy, and most important, letting herself be truly seen. Under the neon lights of Club Nu, Janet meets Troy, a yeoman stationed at Pearl Harbor naval base, who becomes her first. The pleasures and perils of their union serve as a backdrop for Janet’s progression through her early twenties with all the universal growing pains—falling in and out of love, living away from home, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life. Despite her disadvantages, fueled by her dreams and inimitable drive, Janet makes her way through New York City while holding her truth close. She builds a career in the highly competitive world of magazine publishing—within the unique context of being trans, a woman, and a person of color. Long before she became one of the world’s most respected media figures and lauded leaders for equality and justice, Janet was a girl taking the time she needed to just be—to learn how to advocate for herself before becoming an advocate for others. As you witness Janet’s slow-won success and painful failures, Surpassing Certainty will embolden you, shift the way you see others, and affirm your journey in search of self.

A Place Called No Homeland


Kai Cheng Thom - 2017
    In these fierce yet tender narrative poems, Thom draws from both memory and mythology to create new maps of gender, race, sexuality, and violence. Descended from the traditions of oral storytelling, spoken word, and queer punk, Thom's debut collection is evocative and unforgettable.Kai Cheng Thom is a trans writer and performance artist whose work has been published in Buzzfeed, Autostraddle, Asian American Literary Review, and xoJane. She writes regularly for Everyday Feminism.

From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea


Kai Cheng Thom - 2017
    This unique children’s book honors timeless fairy-tale themes while challenging gender, racial, and body stereotypes.

Dreadnought


April Daniels - 2017
    But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl. It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Ghost


J.M. Dabney - 2017
    It had been his way of settling into small town life after living in New York for the past twenty years. He loved the band and his small organic farm. What he didn’t love was being single, but it appeared it was his new reality. He didn’t want his ex back, although he did want something. What that was eluded him until the evening he walked into Nightingale’s Books. Small town girl Harper Sage knew pain, and she’d lived with it—she had the scars both mental and physical to prove it. It would’ve been easier to hop in her car to find safety and anonymity, but Harper stayed to prove she was stronger than hurled fists and bruising prejudice. She found herself within the safety of a close-knit group of rough bikers and bar bouncers. That didn’t mean it was all perfect. What’s a girl to do when she craves normalcy and acceptance: she just smiles. Choices are made, some with dire consequences and others that bring her closer to her dream. Will she make the right decision or finally discover escape is her best option? Author Note: This book contains scenes of violence and descriptions of self-harm. A previously published alternate cover version of ASIN B073WH7WFJ can be found here.

Before I Had the Words: On Being a Transgender Young Adult


Skylar Kergil - 2017
    In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar's openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followed along as his voice deepened and his body changed shape. Through surgeries and recovery, highs and lows, from high school to college to the real world, Skylar welcomed others on his journey. Before I Had the Words is the story of what came before the videos and what happened behind the scenes. From early childhood memories to the changes and confusion brought by adolescence, Skylar reflects on coming of age while struggling to understand his gender. As humorous as it is heartbreaking and as informative as it is entertaining, this memoir provides an intimate look at the experience of transitioning from one gender to another. Skylar opens up about the long path to gaining his family's acceptance and to accepting himself, sharing stories along the way about smaller challenges like choosing a new name and learning to shave without eyebrow mishaps. Revealing entries from the author's personal journals as well as interviews with his mother, brother, and friends lend remarkable depth to Skylar's story. A groundbreaking chronicle of change, loss, discovery, pain, and relief, Before I Had the Words brings new meaning to the phrase "formative years."

The Pants Project


Cat Clarke - 2017
    Dumb. Unfair.“Girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.”I bet I read those words a hundred times during summer vacation. The problem wasn’t the last word in that sentence. Skirt wasn’t really the issue, not for me. The issue was the first word. Girls.Here’s the thing:I may seem like a girl, but on the inside, I’m a boy.

Peter Darling


Austin Chant - 2017
    Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he’s surprised to find a Neverland that no longer seems to need him.The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain James Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back. But when a new war ignites between the Lost Boys and Hook’s pirates, the ensuing bloodshed becomes all too real – and Peter’s rivalry with Hook starts to blur into something far more complicated, sensual, and deadly.

Caroline's Heart


Austin Chant - 2017
    They say it's impossible to bring back the dead, yet Cecily's resurrection spell is nearly complete and grows more powerful by the day. But when a cowboy she barely knows is fatally injured, the only way to save him is by sacrificing an essential piece of the resurrection spell—and all possibility of seeing her lover again.

Mucus In My Pineal Gland


Juliana Huxtable - 2017
    If real power begins where secrecy begins, then, as we frantically search for dick pics of Justin Bieber or our next door neighbor who we’re convinced posted the faceless Craigslist ad seeking an Asian bottom, we’re seduced into a beautiful distraction in which we are convinced, by virtue of our victorious toppling of the lives of others, that we indeed have nothing to hide.

The Station's Late Nite Princess


Alecia Snowfall - 2017
    He's even developed some feminine character voices. What not even his closest friends or Dad know is: the latest feminine voice is destined for higher purpose. Opportunity and one strange chance change his life forever. Not all things in the night go 'bump'. Sometimes you find a voice of light, when you change your dial!

Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live


Sacha Lamb - 2017
    Ian is just like Avi, but he is also all sunshine, optimism, and magic. All the things that Avi doesn't know how to deal with...yet.A romantic, #ownvoices fairy tale for trans boys.

Prom Changed Everything


N.L. Paradox - 2017
    He never expected to be dragged into a terrifying series of events that culminates in a single moment of horror, one that would forever change his life in a way no teenager should have to endure. Now Eric must face an uncertain future while combating the ghosts of the past that threaten to rip away any happiness in his life.

Before I Step Outside [You Love Me]


Travis Alabanza - 2017
    Every piece within the book is written whilst on a tube, a bus, walking, being harrassed, stared at, looked at and surviving. This collection of work is designed to be taken outside. To be read in public. To be shown in spaces. To be seen.

Kappa Delti Girls


Daring Diane - 2017
    Living the life of a loner, Danny had few friends and was easily ignored by everyone in classes. However, several people, who were unaware of his existence, notice Danny in the sorority shirt and assume that Danny is not only a girl but a member of the sorority. What happens to our intrepid hero as the school year continues. When some of the sorority girls want to befriend Danny, they create a study group. The sorority girls make it their mission to cure their new tomboy friend. As his new friends work to feminize him, Danny reluctantly accepts certain changes in clothing and personal grooming. But, he seems oblivious to the major changes all around. The girls need to take him shopping. How will the sorority deal with this new/unknown sorority member? This is a nice story where Danny learns about friendship, loyalty, love and certain truths about himself. Contains: Crossdressing, reluctant feminization, gynecomastia

How to Understand Your Gender: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are


Alex Iantaffi - 2017
    - Kate Bornstein, author of Gender OutlawHave you ever questioned your own gender identity? Do you know somebody who is transgender or who identifies as non-binary? Do you ever feel confused when people talk about gender diversity?This down-to-earth guide is for anybody who wants to know more about gender, from its biology, history and sociology, to how it plays a role in our relationships and interactions with family, friends, partners and strangers. It looks at practical ways people can express their own gender, and will help you to understand people whose gender might be different from your own. With activities and points for reflection throughout, this book will help people of all genders engage with gender diversity and explore the ideas in the book in relation to their own lived experiences.

Minority Monsters!


Tab Kimpton - 2017
    Greetings explorers, and welcome to Alphabet Soup Land!Want to learn about the not-so-invisible Bisexual Unicorn? The secrets of the Asexual Succubus? Or the previously unfathomable fathoms of the Genderqueer Merperson? If so, you‘re in the right place!Packed full with comics of mythical monster, field notes and information sections; this spotters guide of LGBT* and Queer creatures is the perfect companion for any adventurer.Parental guidance: Contains some adult language and frank discussions about gender and sexuality.

Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation


H. Melt - 2017
    Featuring poetry and interviews, this collection is a testament to the power of trans poets speaking to one another—about family, race, class, disability, religion, and the body. This anthology includes a range of trans experiences and poetics, expanding the possibilities of what it means to be both trans and a writer in the twenty-first century.

Having Her Back


Ann Gallagher - 2017
    He’s used to moving every few years, and thanks to social media, he can stay in touch with the friends he leaves behind. But shortly after he leaves Okinawa, his best friend, Brad Gray, cuts off contact and disappears. Four years and two bases later, Brad resurfaces—and announces his family is coming to Trevor’s base in Spain. But a lot’s changed in four years, and Trevor is stunned to find out Brad is now Shannon. Their reunion isn’t quite what either of them had hoped for, but they quickly find their footing, both relieved to have each other back. Except nothing is ever all sunshine and roses. The military is a small world, and there’s no keeping Shannon’s transition a secret. Parents warn their kids away from her. She can’t attend school on-base for fear of harassment or worse. And although her parents try to hide it, being ostracized by their only social circle while they’re thousands of miles from home is taking a toll on them too. More and more, Shannon leans on Trevor. But she’s also drawn to him, and he’s drawn right back to her, feeling things he’s never felt for anyone before. Trevor’s scared, though. Not of dating a trans girl. Not of damaging his chaplain father’s career or reputation. After finally getting his friend back, does he dare take things further and risk losing Shannon a second time?

What Runs Over


Kayleb Rae Candrilli - 2017
    Unfurling and unrelenting in its delivery, Candrilli has painted “the mountain” in excruciating detail. They show readers a world of Borax cured bear hides and canned peaches, of urine-filled Gatorade bottles and the syringe and all the syringe may carry. They show a violent world and its many personas. What Runs Over, too, is a story of rural queerness, of a transgender boy almost lost to the forest. The miracle of What Runs Over is that Candrilli has lived to write it at all."When Roethke said 'energy is the soul of poetry,' he might have been anticipating a book like What Runs Over, which is so full of energy it practically vibrates in your hand. Here, Candrilli’s speaker sticks their tongue 'into the heads / of venus fly traps just to feel the bite,' then later, burns holy books in the backyard and rolls around in the ashes until they become 'a painted god.' This is the verve of an urgent new poetic voice announcing itself to the world. As Candrilli writes: 'This is what I look like / when I’m trying to save myself.'"-Kaveh Akbar

Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility


Reina GossettMiss Major Griffin-Gracy - 2017
    Trans visibility is touted as a sign of a liberal society, but it has coincided with a political moment marked both by heightened violence against trans people (especially trans women of color) and by the suppression of trans rights under civil law. Trap Door grapples with these contradictions. The essays, conversations, and dossiers gathered here delve into themes as wide-ranging yet interconnected as beauty, performativity, activism, and police brutality. Collectively, they attest to how trans people are frequently offered “doors”—entrances to visibility and recognition—that are actually “traps” accommodating trans bodies and communities only insofar as they cooperate with dominant norms. The volume speculates about a third term, perhaps uniquely suited for our time: the trapdoor, neither entrance nor exit, but a secret passageway leading elsewhere. Trap Door begins a conversation that extends through and beyond trans culture, showing how these issues have relevance for anyone invested in the ethics of visual culture.

Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard


Alex Bertie - 2017
    He's also transgender, and was born female. He's been living as a male for the past few years and he has recently started his physical transition.Throughout this book, Alex will share what it means to be in his shoes, as well as his personal advice to other trans teens. Above all, he will show you that every step in his transition is another step towards happiness. This is an important and positive book, a heart-warming coming-of-age memoir with a broad appeal.

To My Trans Sisters


Charlie Craggs - 2017
    Lambda Literary Award Finalist - LGBTQ AnthologyDedicated to trans women everywhere, this inspirational collection of letters written by successful trans women shares the lessons they learnt on their journeys to womanhood, celebrating their achievements and empowering the next generation to become who they truly are.Written by politicians, scientists, models, athletes, authors, actors, and activists from around the world, these letters capture the diversity of the trans experience and offer advice from make-up and dating through to fighting dysphoria and transphobia.By turns honest and heartfelt, funny and furious or beautiful and brave, these letters send a clear message of hope to their sisters: each of these women have gone through the struggles of transition and emerged the other side as accomplished, confident women; and if we made it sister, so can you!

High Heels in a Minefield


N.L. Paradox - 2017
    Eat, sleep, draw, and geek out over anime and manga with his small circle of friends. So when one of those friends suggested engaging in some cosplay for an upcoming Comicon as some of their favorite anime characters, it sounded like the perfect summer activity. That was until he found out just which character he was supposed to be. What started as a fun idea quickly turned into a mixture of inner conflict and self-discovery that Ray had never known even existed and served as the root for one of the most dramatic and uncertain changes in his young life. The question was, would this rollercoaster be a fun-filled thrill-ride, or a complete derailment of everything in his life.

Trans Allyship Workbook: Building Skills to Support Trans People In Our Lives


Davey Shlasko - 2017
    Revised, updated and expanded for 2017 - the new Trans Allyship Workbook is everything you've been wanting to read about trans allyship! A workbook to help you build your understanding of trans communities and develop concrete skills for supporting trans people in your life, with over 100 pages of explanation, activities, illustrations and reflections including:- New sections on intersectionality, singular they, and philosophies of allyship - Tips and "best practices" for the special allyship situations of parents, teachers, healthcare providers and therapists - Tons of new color illustrations - New activities - it really is a "workbook" - to help you deepen and practice your allyship skills - Extensive glossary to get updated on recent evolutions in trans terminology - Resource lists to help you take the next steps in your learning, whether for personal or professional development

Lou Sullivan: Daring To Be a Man Among Men


Brice D. Smith - 2017
    Unless they were transgender pioneer Lou Sullivan (1951-1991). In this heart-wrenchingly inspirational biography, Brice D. Smith reclaims one of the most tragically overlooked people in LGBT history. Sullivan marched for Civil Rights, embraced the 1960s counterculture, came of age in the gay liberation movement, transformed medical treatment of trans people, institutionalized trans history, forged an international female-to-male (FTM) transgender community and died from AIDS at the epicenter of the crisis. He overcame tremendous obstacles to be who he was and dedicated his life to helping others do the same. An activist to the end, Sullivan inspired a generation to rethink gender identity, sexual orientation and what it means to be human.

Rainbow Islands


Devin Harnois - 2017
     Sixteen-year-old Jason chooses exile and expects a hardscrabble life but instead finds a thriving, supportive community. While exploring his identity as a transgender boy he also discovers adventure: kraken attacks, naval battles, a flying island built by asexual people, and a daring escape involving glow-in-the-dark paint. He also has a desperate crush on Sky, a spirited buccaneer girl, but fear keeps him from expressing his feelings. When Jason and his companions discover the Republicans are planning a war of extermination, they rally the people of the Rainbow Islands to fight back. Shy, bookish Jason will have to find his inner courage or everything and everyone he loves will be lost forever.

The Reluctant Sister (Reluctant Series Book 3)


Melanie Brown - 2017
    I enjoyed the attention so much, that I became Ed’s real girlfriend for a few weeks that summer. I put all that foolishness behind me until my senior year in high school, when due to an accident, the school became one cheerleader short. My sister Diane was a star cheerleader at the school back in her day. Since I used to help her practice, the cheerleader coach thought I was the best choice for an emergency one night substitute. My fake boyfriend is starting to feel less fake. Being a girl just seems to come naturally to me. What am I? A boy or a girl? I’m not sure anymore…

Dalí


E.M. Hamill - 2017
    Dalí’s path as a peacemaker seems clear, but when their loved ones are killed in a terrorist attack, grief sends the genderfluid changeling into a spiral of self-destruction.Fragile Sol Fed balances on the brink of war with a plundering alien race. Their skills with galactic relations are desperately needed to broker a protective alliance, but in mourning, Dalí no longer cares, seeking oblivion at the bottom of a bottle, in the arms of a faceless lover, or at the end of a knife.The New Puritan Movement is rising to power within the government, preaching strict genetic counseling and galactic isolation to ensure survival of the endangered human race. Third gender citizens like Dalí don’t fit the mold of this perfect plan, and the NPM will stop at nothing to make their vision become reality. When Dalí stumbles into a plot threatening changelings like them, a shadow organization called the Penumbra recruits them for a rescue mission full of danger, sex, and intrigue, giving Dalí purpose again.Risky liaisons with a sexy, charismatic pirate lord could be Dalí’s undoing—and the only way to prevent another deadly act of domestic terrorism.

Classical vs. Modern Education: A Vision from C.S. Lewis


Steve Turley - 2017
    But what if you knew what the ideal education looked like? Now you will!!! C.S. Lewis, the beloved author of the Chronicles of Narnia series, guides us on a journey that contrasts classical and contemporary education approaches. Lewis explains that while the cultivation of virtue was central to classical education, modern education stifles such moral formation by teaching a scientifically-inspired mechanistic vision of the world. By rediscovering classical education, Lewis argues that the affections of our students can be trained to love what's truly lovely and thereby experience human flourishing. Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn... How to assess different educational approaches What is meant by the classical emphasis on virtue formation How our notion of the educated person has changed over the centuries The consequences of modern education for what it means to be human How to get involved in classical education How to access available classical education resources And much, much more! The BEST possible education is at your fingertips!!! Take action today and awaken your child to a world of educational flourishing!!! Download Today!!!

Glamour Boutique


Torrey Peters - 2017
    You can only lose your virginity once, right? Not if you’re Amy—a trans woman caught in loops of dissociation—so that she has sex for the first time multiple times, in multiple ways, through multiple levels of presence, in a search to own and redeem the self-inflicted pain of her past.From Torrey Peters, author of The Masker and Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones, comes a novella that dives into the labor of naming your pain when there’s no easily identifiable source of trauma.

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity


C. Riley Snorton - 2017
    Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives—ones lived by African Americans such as Lucy Hicks Anderson and James McHarris. Their erasure from trans history masks the profound ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. In Black on Both Sides, C. Riley Snorton identifies multiple intersections between blackness and transness from the mid-nineteenth century to present-day anti-black and anti-trans legislation and violence.Drawing on a deep and varied archive of materials—early sexological texts, fugitive slave narratives, Afro-modernist literature, sensationalist journalism, Hollywood films—Snorton attends to how slavery and the production of racialized gender provided the foundations for an understanding of gender as mutable. In tracing the twinned genealogies of blackness and transness, Snorton follows multiple trajectories, from the medical experiments conducted on enslaved black women by J. Marion Sims, the “father of American gynecology,” to the negation of blackness that makes transnormativity possible.Revealing instances of personal sovereignty among blacks living in the antebellum North that were mapped in terms of “cross dressing” and canonical black literary works that express black men’s access to the “female within,” Black on Both Sides concludes with a reading of the fate of Phillip DeVine, who was murdered alongside Brandon Teena in 1993, a fact omitted from the film Boys Don’t Cry out of narrative convenience. Reconstructing these theoretical and historical trajectories furthers our imaginative capacities to conceive more livable black and trans worlds.

LGBTQ Stats: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People by the Numbers


Bennett Singer - 2017
    Deschamps and Singer—whose previous books and films on LGBTQ topics have won numerous awards and found audiences around the globe—provide chapters on family and marriage, workplace discrimination, education, youth, criminal justice, and immigration, as well as evolving policies and laws affecting LGBTQ communities. A chapter on LGBTQ life around the globe contrasts the dramatic progress for LGBTQ people in the United States with violent backlash in countries such as Russia, Iran, and Nigeria, which have discriminatory laws that make same-sex activity punishable by prison or death.A lively, accessible, and eye-opening snapshot, LGBTQ Stats offers an invaluable resource for activists, journalists, lawmakers, and general readers who want the facts and figures on LGBTQ lives in the twenty-first century.

the earthquake room


Davey Davis - 2017
    When k realizes that she has infected her girlfriend, bea, with a disease, she loses herself in a masochistic quest for atonement, leaving bea to contend with her fears about an increasingly precarious world by herself. Literary and adventurous, lyrical yet anchored, Davey Davis’ work explores the meanings of responsibility, romantic love, and queer resistance in a late-capitalist hellscape where futurity is always in question.

Out of the Twilight


Adrienne Nash - 2017
    For at least nine years of his short life, he has suffered from a mouldering discontent without actually identifying why he is so unhappy. The youngest by far of three children, he would be the last to leave home. His father’s death and his exam results decide him to find employment rather than further education. Working with the fun girls of the Returns Section, triggers his salvation from a life of despair.

Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2016


Bogi TakácsLee Mandelo - 2017
    Featuring stories by Merc Rustad, Jeanne Thornton, Brit Mandelo, and others, this anthology offers time-honored tropes of the genre--from genetic manipulation to zombies, portal fantasy to haunts--but told from a perspective that breaks the rigidity of gender and sexuality.

Margins and Murmurations


Otter Lieffe - 2017
    Forced to leave their home, Ash and Pinar, elder leaders of the Resistance, have made a new, quieter life in the forest. But nothing lasts forever.These best friends answer the calls of the past – and the future – to rejoin their community and face their oppressors head on. As a movement, they organise for dignity and self-determination. Together, they fight to survive. - - - Written by a trans woman and (former) sex worker, this speculative fiction novel puts transgender, sex work and femininity at the centre. In this sensitive exploration of exclusion, Otter Lieffe calls us to renew our struggles against oppression and to proudly reclaim the margins that so many of us call home.

Of Mongrelitude


Julian Talamantez Brolaski - 2017
    Composed in a hybrid style, it makes the argument that everything can and does come into ‘englyssh’: ancient and invented languages, european and indigenous, tongues not yet named. All of this ‘made up as medicine’, as ceremony for all creatures, as literal song. Julian T. Brolaski is the author of Advice for Lovers (City Lights 2012), gowanus atropolis (Ugly Duckling Presse 2011), and co-editor of NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards (Litmus Press / Belladonna Books 2009). Julian lives in Oakland, and is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in the country band The Western Skyline.

Flaunt


E. Davies - 2017
    was supposed to give Nic Montero a fresh start. After escaping his family, coming out as a gay trans man, and excelling in computer programming out of desperation to get financially stable or die, everything should be easy. But joining gay culture now, post-transition, feels impossible... until he runs into the force of nature that is Kyle. Everything Nic isn't, Kyle embodies. Green hair, garters and cut-off shorts, sports jerseys, and all, brash Kyle is the most gorgeous man he's ever laid eyes on, and he pulls Nic headlong into the center of his world. If only Nic felt like enough for a man like Kyle. “One-night stands are my only option.” Loud, loving, and too much for most men to handle, Kyle Everett catches eyes and occasionally scorn... even at his job at the local HIV charity, Plus. His days and nights are spent at work, his precious spare moments spent with his son, Kevin, when it's his turn to co-parent, or his best friend, drag queen River. He only has money or time for cheap flings, but the lanky otter who walks into his life makes Kyle want to hold him for longer than a night. He knows what it's like for Nic to be without a family, but he isn't brave enough to let this man into his life... until his charity is targeted by bigots, and Nic's there for him. “I'll stay with you if you're brave enough to be you.” Nic spent his twenties avoiding family and even his own femininity, but his yearning is impossible to ignore. Kyle's used to flying solo, but Nic offers him safety and fills gaps in his life he never realized existed and now can't stand. Living in close proximity, they can't run from their attraction, but they're each used to being rejected, with the emotional scars to prove it. Can two men who feel like they're not enough and too much find something just right? Flaunt is a standalone gay romance novel with a happily ever after ending.

Becoming Kerry


Lynn Kelling - 2017
    He’s crushing himself to fit into the boxes others have put him in: dutiful son, good boyfriend, real man. But even the small rebellions he’s fought for himself—moving into a sketchy part of town and becoming an exotic dancer—aren’t giving him the freedom he needs. Ewyn Garrity, a security guard at the gay club where Kerry dances, has found himself in protecting others. Everyone thinks he’s straight, but Ewyn doesn’t fit into simple boxes, either. When he meets Kerry, he makes a not completely innocent offer of company after work.Ewyn and Kerry hit it off, each finding something he desperately needs in the other. But when Kerry is forced to confront the pain and self-doubt that keep him crushed in his boxes, he’s afraid that no one, not even Ewyn, will be able to love who he is when he finally, truly becomes Kerry.Novel (M/M, M/Genderqueer - See publisher's page for content labels.)

The Look of a Woman: Facial Feminization Surgery and the Aims of Trans- Medicine


Eric Plemons - 2017
    While facial surgery was once considered auxiliary to genital surgery, many people now find that these procedures confer distinct benefits according to the different models of sex and gender in which they intervene. Surgeons advertise that FFS not only improves a trans- woman's appearance; it allows her to be recognized as a woman by those who see her. In The Look of a Woman Eric Plemons foregrounds the narratives of FFS patients and their surgeons as they move from consultation and the operating room to postsurgery recovery. He shows how the increasing popularity of FFS represents a shift away from genital-based conceptions of trans- selfhood in ways that mirror the evolving views of what is considered to be good trans- medicine. Outlining how conflicting models of trans- therapeutics play out in practice, Plemons demonstrates how FFS is changing the project of surgical sex reassignment by reconfiguring the kind of sex that surgery aims to change.

Tally the Witch


Molly Landgraff - 2017
    All he was looking for was a way to help his ailing sister. And yet, when a witch offers Tal - Tally - a chance to become everything she’s always wanted to be, Tally can’t refuse, and soon she’s learning real magic, summoning a familiar, and even meeting fairies! But not everything is bright and happy for Tally and her new friends, and soon enough Tally will have to learn the true power of friendship!

'Owning Lili'


Adrienne Nash - 2017
    Then he goes to France, en route to his father and finds lightning does strike twice, for feeling ill already, he is mugged in Lyon. Every cloud, they say, has a silver lining and he is found unconscious by Mathilde who unwillingly at first, takes care of him. It is when he mentions reading about 'Lili Elbe' Mathilde has a clue to what really affects her charge. Somehow Chris finds the strength to assert his real persona. Best of all he meets Emily. As a consequence, his life changes completely and what had been a bleak future, becomes full of joy and hope.

Prayers for My 17th Chromosome


Amir Rabiyah - 2017
    

The Unstill Ones: Poems


Miller Oberman - 2017
    Award-winning scholar-poet Miller Oberman's startlingly fresh translations of well-known and less familiar Old English poems often move between archaic and contemporary diction, while his original poems frequently draw on a compressed, tactile Old English lexicon and the powerful formal qualities of medieval verse.Shaped by Oberman's scholarly training in poetry, medieval language, translation, and queer theory, these remarkable poems explore sites of damage and transformation, both new and ancient. "Wulf and Eadwacer," a radical new translation of a thousand-year-old lyric, merges scholarly practice with a queer- and feminist-inspired rendering, while original poems such as "On Trans" draw lyrical connections between multiple processes of change and boundary crossing, from translation to transgender identity. Richly combining scholarly rigor, a finely tuned contemporary aesthetic, and an inventiveness that springs from a deep knowledge of the earliest forms of English, The Unstill Ones marks the emergence of a major new voice in poetry.

He/She/They - Us: Essential information, vocabulary, and concepts to help you become a better ally to the transgender and gender diverse people in your life


Jessica Soukup - 2017
    Transgender and gender diverse people and their families, friends, work associates and others just want to find themselves and live in peace. This book is glue to hold people together through the process of self exploration. It covers basic vocabulary, concepts, challenges and some ways to be a supportive ally. It was written for the layperson not well versed in the terms and language of gender and transition. It attempts to begin to provide some answers for the questions everyone has.

Lost in the Snow


Adrienne Nash - 2017
    He had a reputation with the girls and for his daring. His annual skiing trip was a chance for him to show off his athleticism and his devil may care attitude. Too much adrenalin is a dangerous thing and leads many a young man into trouble. When you are skiing off piste, in uncharted territory and in a snowstorm, adrenalin might help you get through it or it might get you into deep trouble. So it was that he found more trouble than he ever imagined and a changed life. A trans novel.

FARM GIRL (Crossdressing, Reluctant Feminization, First Time)


Nikki Crescent - 2017
    When he finally gets called in for an interview at a ranch, just outside of town, he couldn’t be happier—that is until he shows up for his interview and finds out they thought he was a woman when they read his resume. Unfortunately, they aren’t hiring men. When he comes across the wig store on his way home from the failed interview, it seems like it must be the work of fate. But can Riley really transform into a convincing farm girl? And is it really worth the job?

Always Be You


RoAnna Sylver - 2017
    He doesn't know many things for certain, even his place in Parole as it hangs in a fragile balance far above an ever-burning fire. But he has no doubts about how he feels about Rowan (who appears in the short story The Library Ghost in the collection Life Within Parole, and will again in Book 2: The Lifeline Signal). Trust and intimacy like this is hard to find, and their connection quickly becomes one of the sweetest and most reassuring parts of his strange life. So far, sexuality hasn't been part of it, not for either of them. But like many things in Parole and beyond, attraction/sexuality/sensuality are more complicated than they first appear. This is a story about an asexual couple navigating consent, sorting out sometimes-confusing layers of attraction, and discovering new things about themselves and one another - like the fact that their orientations don't entirely match up. But even if their sexualities are farther apart than they realized, it doesn't mean they have to be anything but close.

The Passing of Little Tough Guy


Adrienne Nash - 2017
    His father is in prison, his mother in a mental hospital and he lives in a children's home. He knows his future is without hope and he acts tough and fights rough. He is coming to the realisation that he is on the path to nowhere and then three girls step into his path, three nice girls who treat him to coffee and then a little friendly ridicule. Kayleigh decides to take the boy home and Pete's life changes forever.

Survive Like the Water


Lyd Havens - 2017
    Divided into four thematic parts, Survive Like the Water describes trauma using everyday occurrences and objects, and asks necessary questions about healing as a lifelong process.

True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century


Emily Skidmore - 2017
     In 1883, Frank Dubois gained national attention for his life in Waupun, Wisconsin. There he was known as a hard-working man, married to a young woman named Gertrude Fuller. What drew national attention to his seemingly unremarkable life was that he was revealed to be anatomically female. Dubois fit so well within the small community that the townspeople only discovered his "true sex" when his former husband and their two children arrived in the town searching in desperation for their departed wife and mother. At the turn of the twentieth century, trans men were not necessarily urban rebels seeking to overturn stifling gender roles. In fact, they often sought to pass as conventional men, choosing to live in small towns where they led ordinary lives, aligning themselves with the expectations of their communities. They were, in a word, unexceptional. In True Sex, Emily Skidmore uncovers the stories of eighteen trans men who lived in the United States between 1876 and 1936. Despite their "unexceptional" quality, their lives are surprising and moving, challenging much of what we think we know about queer history. By tracing the narratives surrounding the moments of "discovery" in these communities - from reports in local newspapers to medical journals and beyond -- this book challenges the assumption that the full story of modern American sexuality is told by cosmopolitan radicals. Rather, True Sex reveals complex narratives concerning rural geography and community, persecution and tolerance, and how these factors intersect with the history of race, identity and sexuality in America.

A Portrait in Blues


Jayy Dodd - 2017
    This is a collection examining gender and identity: the physical & performative, an attempt to upend & interrogate its intimacy or lack thereof. Selected and introduced by jayy dodd.

Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic


Tobi Hill-MeyerDaemyn Edward Hamilton - 2017
    A genderqueer sissy fantasizes alone about connection in their hotel room. A trans woman adjunct professor and sex worker is hired for a sex party held by her college’s philosophy department. A trans boy has a Craigslist hookup with a queen embarked on detransition. A bodiless AI announces its gender, takes a lover, and works to revolutionize the world. Presented here are thirty stories—edited and with an introduction by Tobi Hill-Meyer—that offer revolutionary erotic fantasies by trans people, about trans people, and for trans people at the crossroads of history, biology, anxiety, and love.

Dating Tips for Trans and Queer Weirdos


Sophie Labelle - 2017
    Dating Tips for Trans and Queer Weirdos is about the relationship between Ciel and Eirikur from the webcomic Assigned Male by Sophie Labelle.

The Secrets I Keep


Alex Casso - 2017
    Through it, Alex Casso bares their soul and proves that, despite everything, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Portland Diary: Short Stories 2016/2017


Jamie Berrout - 2017
    Each narrative unfolds its heightened, speculative version of the everyday reality we find ourselves in as racialized people, queer and mentally ill and colonial subjects, enemies or collaborators to the Western imperial machine, disposable labor for a capitalist system that is devouring the world. In “Mansion,” the story that opens the book, an unpaid intern falls into a nightmare after realizing how little she’s worth to the local Human Rights Campaign-esque nonprofit she’s been sacrificing herself for. And the book progresses through dystopian futures, ecastatic visions of liberation, narrow escapes, and betrayals until the last story, “Waiting Room,” where a trans woman and an android woman form a bond while waiting for the surgery consults that promise to bring them a measure of freedom.

Lipstick For Her Leather


Sally Bend - 2017
    Driel, Jessie Ash, Kylie Gable and Claudia Acosta.

Rain, Volume 4 (Rain, #4)


Jocelyn DiDomenick - 2017
    It SHOULD be. But she is reaching out to members of her family she hasn't spoken to in a while at the same time. That may or may not complicate things. Fortunately, she has her friend (and sister figure?) Emily in her corner as well. Okay, maybe there's still drama to be had, but expect some laughs and plenty of cute moments along the way too.Volume 4 includes from chapters 23 through 27 as they are seen online at DeviantArt, SmackJeeves, and Comic Fury. Also included is an exclusive bonus chapter that won't be seen online, and a special, personal story from the author.

Walking on Water


Matthew J. Metzger - 2017
    Father says there’s nothing, but Calla knows better. Something killed that cloud; someone brought it down.Raised on legends of fabled skymen, Calla never expected them to be real, much less save one from drowning—and lose her heart to him. Who are the men who walk on water? And how can such strange creatures be so beautiful?Infatuated and intrigued, Calla rises out of her world in pursuit of a skyman who doesn’t even speak her language. Above the waves lies more than princes and politics. Above the sky awaits the discovery of who Calla was always meant to be. But what if it also means never going home again?

TherƎ is a Case that I Am


Torrin A. Greathouse - 2017
    

Rachel's Christmas Boat


Sophie Labelle - 2017
    When Lulu's Dad tells her that she's going to change her name to Rachel and be a lady now, Lulu has a major worry: what if Santa doesn't find out in time to fix all the tags on Rachel's Christmas presents? Lulu decides to take matters into her own hands and make sure that her Dad gets the lovely Christmas she deserves for being a most wonderful person.