Nearly Roadkill

by Caitlin Sullivan, Kate Bornstein

This novel is a tale of what-appears-to-be boy meets what-appears-to-be girl. Their world is the "Net", where any persona or gender can be created. These two genderless beings, Scratch and Winc, cybersurf into various "Net" worlds, fighting government intervention on this frontier.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Transgender, Science Fiction, Romance, LGBT, Gender

382 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Bogi Takács]

review coming soon IY"H! This was totally not what I'd expected.

Update: I forgot to link to my review on Reactor, sorry about that! Here it is: https://reactormag.com/quiltbag-specu...

Source of the book: Bought with my own money

[flesher goreman]

This should be on every classic gay/trans literature booklist.

[Maria]

DNF at 20%. I’m just not clicking with this story at all, and I am finding all the cyber sex cringey and clunky instead of hot. And since that’s the primary relationship mechanism at this point in the story, I’m just not interested in continuing.

[Gabriel H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goofy, naive, messily plotted at best, definitely ~~~problematic. Written in the year of my birth, so it's about an era of the Internet that seems almost unreachably distant to me, but. There are conversations in this book I've had nearly verbatim; there's sex (cyber and otherwise) that I've had and never seen written anywhere else until this book. To be fair I am also goofy, naive, messy and problematic. I felt seen, and I can't help but say thank you to the authors, for being brave enough to write this and publish it, in all its glory.

[Sassafras Patterdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quirky look at the fluidity of gender through the (at the time) new world of the internet - fan of kate bornstein? don't miss this early work!

[Kacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild how this talked about algorithms, the government interfering with the internet, and feeding you ads based on demographics.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little relic from when we thought this newfangled internet thing would save us from gender. A fun story, it leads to interesting reflections about what has an hasn't changed about how folks interact with the information highway and their sense of self. A time when "online" had to be defined in a glossary in the back! When a broadly defined GSM Coalition only named LGBT identities! When cybering sparked rebellion! Or maybe it still does? Spoiler alert, I doubt it.
(Pairs well with A Mind Apart)

[Caitlyn Zimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was an exciting way to explore gender identity issues, and the romance in it was very adorable. It was repetitive at times due to its form, but it was still an interesting read.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, just amazing

[Miranda Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The discussion of gender and sexuality in this book— and the implications of the information age in relation to that— is so ahead of its time that it’s almost hard to believe this was originally written 30 years ago. Though the themes of this book and its discussions are incredible and thoughtfully done, the storytelling method and framing did not work for me. Maybe it’s because I was on AIM back in the day, in the chatroom sequences gave me violent, cringy flashbacks. If you go into reading this book, knowing the framing is an erotic thriller, told in a somewhat epistolary method, you can better enjoy the discussions of gender and identity in a technologically enabled world.

One other note: the audiobook telling of this is particularly challenging as the dialogue often shifts between private messages, journal entries, chat logs, and occasionally narrative. It might be easier to read and print format or e-book, but it would be really interesting if the publishers re-created this as an interactive website where you could walk yourself through the story. Perhaps they’ll do that for the 50th anniversary.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since reading, I have pleaded with every single one of my friends to order it once it comes out. It took me a second to ease into the chat log/email format, but once I was invested in the Scratch / Winc's developing romance running tangent to the increasing danger of the oppressive Eye, I ate it all up at once. Interestingly, I thought discovering their "true" identities would blemish their dynamic to me. Instead, the conversations that ensued in regards to Winc's identity, and especially Scratch's initial hesitation and even offense, were incredibly enlightening. Winc is a saint, they always had so much grace and love.

I especially love the idea of gender being friction, this malleable rubbing between two persons, that can change and react depending on the day, hour, mood, lighting etc. I identify as queer, but am currently in a "straight" relationship. Sometimes, I feel very confused about my own gender, and how this relates to my male partner. Does he view me through the lens of how he perceives women? Can I be "more" than a woman to a man, in these times, in these conditions? Can I ever be his "man", his rock, his guide? The lines, im paraphrasing, but where they roughly say, "Do you need me to be your queer boy, or your punk riot girl, or your so on and so forth?" really stuck with me. I never feel like one of these things, but a transcending experience that is morphing to my environment all the time. I think truly "seeing" someone is defying gender in every way; it is becoming pure light, really.

All that to say, this book made me feel better about being a woman. In a strange way, especially when they discuss butch, stones, etc, it made me realize that being a woman is really whatever I want it to be, whatever I design. and there will always be people who invest in that. and that's exciting. I wish i could live in a world in which everyone met everyone else on the pretense that their outside form is simply a veil, and that it is the work of all of us to dissolve that shell into the shimmering, ephemeral sea of what we feel, what we desire, what we dream of....

[Chandni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I would enjoy this book that was based on the early chatrooms of the 90's and the 2000's, but this book is INSANELY dull. The plot (whatever semblance of a plot there is) is secondary to the two main characters who refuse to conform to gender, which is quite novel for a book written in 1996. I couldn't stand any of the characters, plus reading the style the book was written in just gave me really bad flashbacks to when I used to frequent chatrooms. It was a bit cringey. I also thought the copious amounts of cybersex were really unnecessary. It was all so repetitive. I just couldn't get into this one.

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though a little dated in 2007, this book absolutly changed my life!

[Caitlin Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update : Just put up a new post on Instagram @nearlyroadkillontherun

Hey folks!
Kate Kate Bornstein and Caitlin have tried repeatedly to create an author page on Goodreads but the response has been like something, well, straight out of our book. There are four reasons why you are rejected - your task is to guess which one. If you ask for clarification you are sent the same four reasons in a different order with a different salutation. We give up. And we're pretty tech-y. (We found that many authors faced the same barriers, with requests that are years old.)
Good times!
So please join us for actual fun on our Instagram account if you want to ask questions, make comments, and generally keep up with the world of Scratch and Winc (+ goats +outlaws + idiocy + ...)
Insta: @nearlyroadkillontherun
Direct link: https://www.instagram.com/nearlyroadk...
The Fabulous Generous Press: https://www.generous.press/nearly-roa...

See you there!
And thanks so much for reading!

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, and also tough to read. I don't know that I fully grasped all of it, but the conversations about gender identity and government surveillance are still very relevant today. I sort of wish the they/them magazine framing & Drew wasn't part of the 30th anniversary edition though.