I'm with the Band


Melanie Brown - 2016
     Because of the accident, Mike's voice hadn't changed – he had a great set of pipes but he sounded like a girl. He shouldn't have volunteered to sing lead on the demo tape because now the band needed him... to be their new girl singer!

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.

Bullied Boy


Daring Diane - 2018
    Self-image, body changes, and social changes chip away at individual’s self-confidence. Withdrawal and hiding can often seem like the easiest escape. You cannot escape from life. An excellent student, our hero is ripped from his friends and everything he knows when his father is moved across the country for his job. Intent on re-establishing the mother’s employment, the parents appear to withdraw from their high school student as he is dropped into a situation where he knows no one. Everyone experiences physical and emotional problems but our protagonist is ashamed of his body and won’t even talk to his parents who seem oblivious. Wearing baggy clothes, coats and hoods, it is easy to hide his body and isolate himself since he knows no one. Others assume he is overweight, shy or has acne problems. The strangely dressed student is a magnet for bullies and everyone else ignores him. Teachers might have gotten involved or pushed him to participate in class, but as an excellent student, grades are not an issue. Life evolves into a strategy to be left alone and survive another day. Because of this, attacks are not reported. An accident at school will expose our protagonist’s secrets to a classmate. How that classmate responds will change our protagonist’s life. There are still bullying and attacks, but with newfound confidence, our hero will deal with things differently. Can this quiet, isolated person evolve into an example and build real friendships while accepting life’s little hurdles? This series of books contain examples of high school life that help the reader to identify and deal with bullying behavior in a high school setting. The books in this series are intended to be safe reading for teens and tweens. Thank you for reading on Daring Diane Disclaimer This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Becoming Robin: A Tale of Self Discovery


Zoe Taylor - 2017
    A cross-country move away from everything Robert has known followed by a chance encounter trigger a different sort of existence. Can "Robin" adapt or will it all come tumbling down?

Fashion Class


Karin Bishop - 2011
    But Kevin learns that he has a flair for fashion—and he learns that he is a girl in heart, that he is transgender. With the support of his mother and friends, he starts a journey to a career in fashion—as Katie.

Run, Clarissa, Run


Rachel Eliason - 2011
    Clark is harassed daily at school for his effeminate behavior and appearance. He has no friends and a brother that is as likely to be on the teasing as to prevent it. When Clark is offered a job babysitting for the Pirella family, it seems like a godsend. The money is good. He bonds with the girls almost instantly. The father, Tony, works in computer security. Tony and Clark strike up a friendship based on a mutual love of computers and hacking. As Tony becomes aware of Clark's transsexuality and his growing feminine alter ego, Clarissa, things become incredibly complicated. Will Tony be Clarissa's salvation, or her undoing?

Summer Fun


Jeanne Thornton - 2021
    She is obsessed with the Get Happies, the quintessential 1960s Californian band, helmed by its resident genius, B—-. Why did the band stop making music? Why did they never release their rumored album, Summer Fun?Gala writes letters to B—- that shed light not only on the Get Happies, but paint an extraordinary portrait of Gala. The parallel narratives of B—- and Gala form a dialogue about creation–of music, identity, self, culture, and counterculture.Summer Fun is an epic and magical work of trans literature that marks Thornton as one of our most exciting and original novelists.

A Boy Like Me


Jennie Wood - 2014
    It is the best and worst day of his life. Determined to impress Tara, Peyton sets out to win her love by mastering the drums and basketball. He takes on Tara’s small-minded mother, the bully at school, and the prejudices within his conservative hometown. In the end, Peyton must accept and stand up for who he is or lose the woman he loves.“A classic love story! Wood gets all the details of a trans individual coming-of-age into this novel. From the feelings about clothes, to the relationships with parents to the negotiations of life at school, this story rings true. Wood takes care with her setting and makes life, as painful and joyful as it can be, realistic. This novel is a great examination of what it means to come to terms with who you are and what it means to be true to yourself.” – Alex Myers, author of Revolutionary

Cinderella Boy


Kristina Meister - 2017
    . . except for one tiny issue. When his sister Delia comes home to find him trying on her clothes, he fears her judgment, but she only fears his fashion choices. One quick makeover later, Declan is transformed into Delia’s mysterious cousin Layla and dragged to the party of the year, hosted by Carter, the most popular boy in school.When Carter meets Layla, he fumbles to charm her. He adores her sense of humor and her poise. But when she vanishes in the middle of the night, he’s left confused and determined to solve the mystery of who she is.As their school year begins, their high school embraces a policy of intolerance, and both Declan and Carter know they must stand up. Carter is tired of being a coward and wants to prove he can be a knight in shining armor. Declan is sick of being bullied and wants desperately to be himself. If they team up, it could be a fairy-tale ending, or a very unhappy ever after.

Perfect Hair


Tommi Parrish - 2016
    The locations and bodies are exaggerated to reach a more realistic and sensorial state. This is an awesome debut comic."— Dash Shaw, author of titles such as Cosplayers, Doctors, Bodyworld, and Bottomless Belly Button"Parrish has one of my favourite traits in a cartoonist: intense passion for the craft. They are rapidly evolving and experimenting wildly and it’s joyful to watch."— Simon Hanselmann, author of NY Times bestselling titles such as Megahex and Meg and Mogg in AmsterdamPerfect Hair, the debut graphic novel by Tommi Parrish, is a vivid set of vignettes that balances emotional honesty with a keen cultural awareness. Deploying their bold, innovative style to navigate topics such as fear, loneliness, identity, body politics, and more, Parrish is a promising newcomer from the burgeoning Australian altcomics scene. Tommi Parrish is a cartoonist, illustrator, and art editor based in Melbourne, Australia. Their work has appeared in various anthologies, magazines, mini comics, gallery shows in New York, Argentina, and throughout Australia, as well as the online column Advicecomics. They are also the art editor of the Australian literary journal The Lifted Brow.

Continental Divide


Alex Myers - 2019
    His parents reject him. His girlfriend rejects him. Feeling trapped and miserable, Ron decides to leave Harvard and travel west to work on a Wyoming ranch to prove to his parents, his ex, and himself that he can live unequivocally as a man. As he embarks on this journey of independence, Ron must deal with the constant fear and anxiety of being discovered as a trans man as he enters a world more dangerous than he ever imagined.

Chained Melodies


Debrah Martin - 2012
    CioranIf chaos theory applied to anyone, it’s Will and Tom. Best friends since childhood, life takes very different courses for them until they’re thrown back together in the middle of their own individual chaos. Surviving the terrors of war in Northern Ireland and the heartbreak of childlessness and a broken marriage, Tom learns that bravery isn’t about daring death, it’s about facing life. For Will, it’s about being yourself – or in his case, herself, as he starts an unusual journey towards being just that; the woman, Billie.Chained Melodies is the extraordinary story of how two men find not just courage, but self-belief and the true nature of love."Touching and almost heart-breaking, this is a novel to tickle your heart strings."“...breath-taking and intriguing...”“...a 'must read" novel.'”“..quite beautiful, with a certain poetry in the tone."

Transgression


Theo Fenraven - 2013
    His acting career is taking off. Public recognition is picking up. Now more than ever, he understands how key reputation is to his success. But his relationship with his co-star, Kris—arranged around publicity rather than genuine feelings—is suffocating him. She once understood his needs, but her demands are beginning to grate with every shrill order she gives.Zach has a secret. The breakout star of a new medical series, he’s been hiding his orientation from co-stars, friends and family, the studio, and his fans.On the recommendation of a friend, Zach seeks out Sky Kelly, a well-connected herbalist whose concoctions are natural magic, as is her stunning beauty. On the surface, she has it all: her own house, a thriving business, and good friends, but the things she had to do to get there are a time bomb ticking away, and when it goes off, she'll be teetering on the edge of a chasm that can put her right back where she started.Sky has secrets. Like, she’s got a Y chromosome and the original equipment to go with it. Like being a highly paid escort. Like, if Zach is seen with her in public, it could ruin his career. Like someone becoming so obsessed with Sky, that obsession threatens them both. Secrets... everyone is hiding something, and instead of finding The One, it could be The End.

Circle of Change


Laney Cairo - 2009
    The thing is, Kim is not only gay, but he's transgender, too. He's unhappy and lost in his female body, and his mother has agreed it's time for him to undergo hormone therapy and possibly surgery.Things get even more complicated when university student Dash joins Kim's mother's coven. Dash is immediately attracted to Kim and they wind up going out together, but when Kim reveals he's a female to male transgender, Dash reacts badly.With all the other things going on in their lives, will Kim and Dash be able to try again and find happiness with each other?

Sex in C Major


Matthew J. Metzger - 2017
    fantasies.He knows chasing those fantasies is only going to end in disaster, but he can't seem to stop his self-destructive spiral. He’s a transgender man struggling to come to terms with the intersection of his identity and his sexual fantasies as a submissive. He needs someone to take control before he loses it completely.Daz can take control. He can teach Stefan everything there is to know about sex and submission, but for some reason, he can't get inside Stefan's head. Daz can stop Stefan’s self-destruction but not the fear that fuels it.Stefan needs to know who he is before he can accept what he is. And it's Yannis -- Daz's aromantic, asexual, stern, and sarcastic partner -- who has the answer.