LGBTQ Literature is a Readers and Book Lovers series dedicated to discussing literature that has made an impact on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. From fiction to contemporary nonfiction to history and everything in between, any literature that touches on LGBTQ themes is welcome in this series. LGBTQ Literature posts on the last Sunday of every month at 7:30 PM EST. If you are interested in writing for the series, please send a message to Chrislove.
A little over a year ago I was faced with finding a productive way to spend the pandemic. Given that I am in my 70s and at that time was recovering from a serious fall (foot and arm injuries) and a nasty urinary infection, it was obvious that anything physical was not in the picture. As a retired mathematics professor I figured stimulating my brain was the way to go. What better way to do that than reading?
I discovered very early on that having so much time to read was itself a problem. It didn't take long before I had read the most recent book in the offerings of several different authors I had been following. I discovered that almost unanimously their next book would be available in November of 2021. I hate that. Don't you?
Okay, What then? I decided I needed a specific project. I decided to survey the state of transgender fiction.
Now, back when I transitioned (1992-1994). Transgender fiction was quite awful. Most of it was centered on forced feminization/BDSM, which didn't interest me in the least. From what I have gleaned from shopping at Amazon, that sort of offering still exists. Still not interested. For better stories one had to turn to something like the 1976 play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean by Ed Graczyk, or a side plot in John Irving's The World According to Garp (1979). Irving is still at it (see In One Person).
I wanted to avoid any of the varying degrees of pornographic that are available (the type of thing which paints us as sex perverts in the eyes of the right wing), so I took a cue from a high school friend who is an acclaimed author of young adult fiction. Her name is now Randall Platt. You should check her out sometime.
So even at the age of 72 (now 73), I immersed myself in YA transgender literature. I found a couple of authors to recommend. I also discovered that I still have issues with the genre.
First up is an author who goes by the single name Shiraz.
I'm a 50 year old with a passion for writing after a career in law enforcement. I've been writing fiction since 2008 and have now written over a million words but Unaccounted Gains (Books 1 & 2) are the first to be published. Book 3 of Unaccounted Gains is currently being rewritten for Kindle and a fourth book will follow.
The series I recommend has so far 5 volumes and is called Tammyverse since the central character has renamed herself Tammy Smart. Tammy is in the upper sixth form at a private school in the Scottish Highlands. She comes out in order to portray Anita in a local production of West Side Story. Besides school, she also works part time in a local women's clothing shop. Her supportive father is a retiring banker, while her unsupportive mother is having an affair with an Albanian gangster. She has a lot of support in the community, but not everything goes well. There are attempted kidnappings, a physical attack on opening night of the play by one of the teachers at the school and other odd events in the village of Thurso. She becomes involved with both the local police and British Intelligence agents. Peace is on the horizon but it seems the path to reach it is winding, with a lot of potholes.
Karin Bishop started writing as a child, and won her first national writing award in sixth grade. She edited and wrote for her high school and college creative writing magazines, but then life got in the way and she didn't write fiction for years--she wrote for hire. Magazine articles (in music and travel), advertising copy, corporate newsletters and software manuals paid the bills. She was always interested in the discovery of a person's true nature and sexual identity, and began exploring different genres and structures to tell those important stories.
Many, but not all of Ms. Bishop's novels are YA. There are almost 40 of them. Most of the gender variant teens are quite intelligent and many have an unusual skill or a talent. Sometimes a character learns they are intersex. Sometimes a transition occurs with the aid of magic or pseudoscience, which didn't please me.
Ms. Bishop's transgender characters are mostly quite likable and there is usually a supportive parent or grandparent.
So what are the issues I mentioned. In Tammyverse, Tammy Smart is quite wealthy. She is her employer's landlady, for instance, as well as owning other property in Thurso and in London. In the first few volumes she lives with the matriarch of clan McPherson, so there are ever present household staff. Need I say that is rarely the case for most transgirls? I also was not as interested in clothing and makeup as the author appears to think I might be.
Ms. Bishop is also quite enamored of describing clothing and makeup. And her characters are uniformly unathletic, small and the target of bullies when they were younger. I can't speak for all transwomen, but that was not the case with me. Additionally, none of the characters have any interest in a lesbian relationship. One comes to suspect that Ms. Bishop thinks heterosexual is the 'appropriate' sexuality for a woman.
I did not encounter any YA fiction featuring an ftm individual, except tangentially to the main story in a couple of Ms. Bishops stories. But if you are looking for something in the ftm literature, a search this morning revealed a nonfiction account Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition by P. Carl, which looks quite good, though I have yet to read it.
LGBTQ Literature Schedule (2021):
If you are interested in taking any of the following dates, please comment below or send a message to Chrislove. We’re always looking for new writers, and anything related to LGBTQ literature is welcome!
January 31: Chrislove
February 28: Chrislove
March 28 April 4: Chrislove
April 25: rserven
May 30: OPEN
June 27: OPEN
July 25: OPEN
August 29: OPEN
September 26: OPEN
October 31: OPEN
November 28: OPEN
December 26: OPEN
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE