Post by Tornait on Oct 16, 2018 2:40:56 GMT 8
Books always have a great impact on me, so I wanted to see if you know of some with chars that are like us – trans or genderfluid or agender or using they/them pronouns or whatever else within options. Coming-out stories, fantasy, sci-fi... we're in a modern world, but good books with these chars are still rare. Or I just looked in the wrong place so far, but either way I think it'd be great to share our discoveries!
Funny side-note: I found out that I'm non-binary through a book. Or rather, a great char going by they/them that I considered playing in an RPG, which lead to me doing research so I could do them justice. And that brought me here.
“Blackfish City” by Sam J. Miller
This one got Soq, a great young person initially working as a messenger – and going by their/them pronouns. Which isn't an issue for anyone there, even if there is some confusion placing their gender at first. But it's never revealed what they've been born as through the whole book, which I found refreshing as it doesn't matter for who they are, what they can do or how they develop.
To quote themselves: "Soq was beyond gender. They put it on like most people put on clothes. Some days butch and some days queen, but always Soq, always the same and always uncircumscribable underneath it all."
“Micah Grey” trilogy by Laura Lam
life resembles a debutante's dream. Yet she hides a secret that would
see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she
displays unwanted magical abilities - last seen in mysterious beings
from an almost-forgotten age. Matters escalate further when her parents
plan a devastating betrayal, so she flees home, dressed as a boy.
The
city beyond contains glowing glass relics from a lost civilization.
They call to her, but she wants freedom not mysteries. So, reinvented as
'Micah Grey', Gene joins the circus. As an aerialist, she discovers the
joy of flight - but the circus has a dark side. She's also plagued by
visions foretelling danger. A storm is howling in from the past, but
will she heed its roar?It's been a while since I read that one, but the main char is Gene/Micah – intersex, genderfluid and bisexual. The book show the journey of a young woman that isn't quite a woman and never felt like one, who runs away when the very essence of her being is threatened to join the circus disguised as a boy only to slowly reinvent her gender identity. It's about getting comfortable with your being, developing trust and finding a support group between similar oddballs and of course about finding and coming out to your significant other.
learns that someone else is trying to track him down—his uncle Randolph,
a man his mother had always warned him about. When Magnus tries to
outmaneuver his uncle, he falls right into his clutches. Randolph starts
rambling about Norse history and Magnus's birthright: a weapon that has
been lost for thousands of years.
The more Randolph talks, the more
puzzle pieces fall into place. Stories about the gods of Asgard, wolves,
and Doomsday bubble up from Magnus's memory. But he doesn't have time
to consider it all before a fire giant attacks the city, forcing him to
choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents. . .
.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die.
Funny side-note: I found out that I'm non-binary through a book. Or rather, a great char going by they/them that I considered playing in an RPG, which lead to me doing research so I could do them justice. And that brought me here.
“Blackfish City” by Sam J. Miller
After the climate wars, a floating city is constructed in the Arctic
Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete
with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. The city’s denizens
have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living, however, the
city is starting to fray along the edges—crime and corruption have set
in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are
spawning unrest, and a new disease called “the breaks” is ravaging the
population.
When a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an
orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced. The
“orcamancer,” as she’s known, very subtly brings together four
people—each living on the periphery—to stage unprecedented acts of
resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles
under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about
themselves.
Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent—and ultimately
very hopeful—novel about political corruption, organized crime,
technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender
identity, and the unifying power of human connection.
Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete
with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. The city’s denizens
have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living, however, the
city is starting to fray along the edges—crime and corruption have set
in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are
spawning unrest, and a new disease called “the breaks” is ravaging the
population.
When a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an
orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced. The
“orcamancer,” as she’s known, very subtly brings together four
people—each living on the periphery—to stage unprecedented acts of
resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles
under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about
themselves.
Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent—and ultimately
very hopeful—novel about political corruption, organized crime,
technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender
identity, and the unifying power of human connection.
To quote themselves: "Soq was beyond gender. They put it on like most people put on clothes. Some days butch and some days queen, but always Soq, always the same and always uncircumscribable underneath it all."
“Micah Grey” trilogy by Laura Lam
In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .
Gene'slife resembles a debutante's dream. Yet she hides a secret that would
see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she
displays unwanted magical abilities - last seen in mysterious beings
from an almost-forgotten age. Matters escalate further when her parents
plan a devastating betrayal, so she flees home, dressed as a boy.
The
city beyond contains glowing glass relics from a lost civilization.
They call to her, but she wants freedom not mysteries. So, reinvented as
'Micah Grey', Gene joins the circus. As an aerialist, she discovers the
joy of flight - but the circus has a dark side. She's also plagued by
visions foretelling danger. A storm is howling in from the past, but
will she heed its roar?
“Magnus Chase” trilogy by Rick Riordan
Magnus Chase has seen his share of trouble. Ever since that
terrible night two years ago when his mother told him to run, he has
lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, staying one
step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, Magnus terrible night two years ago when his mother told him to run, he has
lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, staying one
step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
learns that someone else is trying to track him down—his uncle Randolph,
a man his mother had always warned him about. When Magnus tries to
outmaneuver his uncle, he falls right into his clutches. Randolph starts
rambling about Norse history and Magnus's birthright: a weapon that has
been lost for thousands of years.
The more Randolph talks, the more
puzzle pieces fall into place. Stories about the gods of Asgard, wolves,
and Doomsday bubble up from Magnus's memory. But he doesn't have time
to consider it all before a fire giant attacks the city, forcing him to
choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents. . .
.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die.
From the start of the second book, this got Alex Fierro, a child of Loki who not only can shapeshift, but also internal shifts, being gender fluid and transgender. I'm a bit prejudged on how great they are because I have a RP char of mine in a shared living with her and they get along great, but for me, they offered a nice inside view on how there is more then “the” way on the non-binary spectrum.
Or to say it with her/his words: "Look, some people prefer they. They’re non-binary or mid-spectrum or whatever. If they want you to use they, then that’s what you should do. But for me, personally, I don’t want to use the same pronouns all the time, because that’s not me. I change a lot. That’s sort of the point. When I’m she, I’m she. When I’m he, I’m he. I’m not they. Get it?"