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Crawl: Stories
A darkly comic, introspective debut collection that looks beneath the surface of trans life in 2010s Seattle
People called it paradise, but baby, it wasn’t.
What to do when starting testosterone unlocks a newfound desire for men? How to respond when your boss’s boss asks if you’ve had “the surgery” and then requests you talk her niece out of transitioning? What obligation do you have to intervene in the faltering mental health of the baby trans drug dealer you’ve met only once while tripping on the acid he sold you?
The young transmasculine characters in Crawl navigate these and other questions in the dive bars, bathhouses, parks, workplaces, music venues, beaches, and college campuses of 2010s Seattle. Max Delsohn’s stories—by turns exuberant, heartfelt, tragic, and wry—portray the pleasures and pains of sex and romance, the possibilities and ambivalences of gender expression, and the joys and failures of community in a city and a time that has branded itself a radical queer utopia but proves much more complicated in reality.
People called it paradise, but baby, it wasn’t.
What to do when starting testosterone unlocks a newfound desire for men? How to respond when your boss’s boss asks if you’ve had “the surgery” and then requests you talk her niece out of transitioning? What obligation do you have to intervene in the faltering mental health of the baby trans drug dealer you’ve met only once while tripping on the acid he sold you?
The young transmasculine characters in Crawl navigate these and other questions in the dive bars, bathhouses, parks, workplaces, music venues, beaches, and college campuses of 2010s Seattle. Max Delsohn’s stories—by turns exuberant, heartfelt, tragic, and wry—portray the pleasures and pains of sex and romance, the possibilities and ambivalences of gender expression, and the joys and failures of community in a city and a time that has branded itself a radical queer utopia but proves much more complicated in reality.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2025
23 people are currently reading
3719 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
August 14, 2025
Finally a t-boy book investigating the important things like, Does T Make you gay? And of course the lesbian dating a straight girl to t-guy pipeline. These vignettes, both hilarious and poignant, were an absolute blast to read in the summer heat.
This book both pokes fun and feels deeply representative of the young queer/trans culture. The stories varied in their tone, both serious and hysterical situations. It hit on the frustrations of the community it represents; full of self-policing discourse, the odd abuser, and lots of male horny-ness. I loved the coverage of the hard realities of life without sacrificing the levity and weirdness that sex-change might bring. It really is the trans guy book I've been waiting around for!
This book both pokes fun and feels deeply representative of the young queer/trans culture. The stories varied in their tone, both serious and hysterical situations. It hit on the frustrations of the community it represents; full of self-policing discourse, the odd abuser, and lots of male horny-ness. I loved the coverage of the hard realities of life without sacrificing the levity and weirdness that sex-change might bring. It really is the trans guy book I've been waiting around for!
August 2, 2025
Obsessed. This is literally so good. I was intrigued when I saw the description and the blurbs sold it but somehow it still exceeded my expectations. These short stories are set in 2010s Seattle. All feature a similar protagonist, a once lesbian, now gay trans man, but at different stages of their self-discovery.
The writing itself is so high quality and none of the stories felt especially weaker than others. I do see a comparison to Torrey Peter’s writing in terms of writing style, the types of protagonists she writes, and the themes she explores. It's also kind of giving A Safe Girl to Love: Stories for transmascs.
I’m not transmasc but my partner is so I have read a lot of transmasc work and this collection really stands out to me. I believe this will feel very relatable to trans masc readers as well as appealing to the wider queer community.
I was also really transported to the time period and setting, parts felt super nostalgic, others highlighted how little things have changed in terms of stuff like neoliberal identity politics and community infighting.
When the chapter about The National came up I had to close my e-reader and step away, having been a huge fan of the band as a teenage dyke in the 2010s I’ve never felt so seen or personally attacked.
Everything just came together to make this a pretty perfect book for me. I can’t wait for more people to read it, and I’ll definitely be following Max Delsohn’s career going forward.
Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the eARC.
The writing itself is so high quality and none of the stories felt especially weaker than others. I do see a comparison to Torrey Peter’s writing in terms of writing style, the types of protagonists she writes, and the themes she explores. It's also kind of giving A Safe Girl to Love: Stories for transmascs.
I’m not transmasc but my partner is so I have read a lot of transmasc work and this collection really stands out to me. I believe this will feel very relatable to trans masc readers as well as appealing to the wider queer community.
I was also really transported to the time period and setting, parts felt super nostalgic, others highlighted how little things have changed in terms of stuff like neoliberal identity politics and community infighting.
When the chapter about The National came up I had to close my e-reader and step away, having been a huge fan of the band as a teenage dyke in the 2010s I’ve never felt so seen or personally attacked.
Everything just came together to make this a pretty perfect book for me. I can’t wait for more people to read it, and I’ll definitely be following Max Delsohn’s career going forward.
Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the eARC.
November 17, 2025
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐈𝐬. 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.
For everyone—idc your identity, you could be batman & I'd still hoist 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡 into your
leather-clad hands.
As a femme bisexual woman in a straight-passing marriage, that pervading sense of having been judged & misunderstood for reasons far beyond your control really resonated with me—albeit on a much smaller scale (my assumption being—living your truth specific to being a bi woman is generally much "easier", so to speak, than living your truth specific to being trans. I digress…).
Trying to find your footing is hard enough in the early years of supposed adulthood—only made harder if you're trying to navigate what style shoes to do it in. Go w what's most comfortable, what you know will go most unnoticed? Or what matches how you wanna be perceived? Shit, maybe a diff kinda shoe for each foot? Will it be made into some big ordeal if you wear a diff pair each day, depending on how you're feeling, or are you free to pick up whatever feels most "you" in the moment? It may sound trivial —but it’s far from when society will weaponize even the tiniest of observations as evidence of their assumptions.
Bear w my vulnerability (& 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦) for a sec...
I'd, somehow, never considered that navigating gender identity would include 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 conflict. I figured any turmoil stemmed from the 💩heads, in one way or another.
How had it never hit me that 𝘮𝘺 every waking moment having been flooded w assessing & reassessing, "trying on" & hiding from, admitting to myself then avoiding, researching (read: frantic googling bc "𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?")...yeah, not at alllllllllll unique to sexuality.
To be fair, I'm not sure this ignorance is entirely self-inflicted
—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣.
Max has given us a true 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 in his unfettered, candid & ngl pretty in your face (positive) coming of age—𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘻, 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦—stories. My reading habits skew extremely queer, yet I could count on one hand how often transmasc characters were centered. There just...aren't as many. Max explores a likely cause of this gap—intersectionality w/in already marginalized subgroups, for reasons I quite literally did not know existed in the trans community prior to reading 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡. It’s not news to me that us LGBTQIA+’ers can be shitty too, but I didn’t realize how deeply the failing of our own goes.
As you see in the convo I had w one of my besties, I’d be lying if I said this didn’t make me uncomfy at times—entirely a “me” problem. When I say Max altered the chemistry in my brain, I am not exaggerating. 𝘕𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺. 𝐀 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝.
𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 .0005 𝘴𝘦𝘤. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘭—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 & 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯-𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺-𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰.
TYSM to Max, Marisa & Graywolf Press for the #gifted copy of the gorgeous new paperback, & the opportunity to have hosted a giveaway, sharing 2 copies w friends.
For everyone—idc your identity, you could be batman & I'd still hoist 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡 into your
leather-clad hands.
As a femme bisexual woman in a straight-passing marriage, that pervading sense of having been judged & misunderstood for reasons far beyond your control really resonated with me—albeit on a much smaller scale (my assumption being—living your truth specific to being a bi woman is generally much "easier", so to speak, than living your truth specific to being trans. I digress…).
Trying to find your footing is hard enough in the early years of supposed adulthood—only made harder if you're trying to navigate what style shoes to do it in. Go w what's most comfortable, what you know will go most unnoticed? Or what matches how you wanna be perceived? Shit, maybe a diff kinda shoe for each foot? Will it be made into some big ordeal if you wear a diff pair each day, depending on how you're feeling, or are you free to pick up whatever feels most "you" in the moment? It may sound trivial —but it’s far from when society will weaponize even the tiniest of observations as evidence of their assumptions.
Bear w my vulnerability (& 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦) for a sec...
I'd, somehow, never considered that navigating gender identity would include 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 conflict. I figured any turmoil stemmed from the 💩heads, in one way or another.
How had it never hit me that 𝘮𝘺 every waking moment having been flooded w assessing & reassessing, "trying on" & hiding from, admitting to myself then avoiding, researching (read: frantic googling bc "𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?")...yeah, not at alllllllllll unique to sexuality.
To be fair, I'm not sure this ignorance is entirely self-inflicted
—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣.
Max has given us a true 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 in his unfettered, candid & ngl pretty in your face (positive) coming of age—𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘻, 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦—stories. My reading habits skew extremely queer, yet I could count on one hand how often transmasc characters were centered. There just...aren't as many. Max explores a likely cause of this gap—intersectionality w/in already marginalized subgroups, for reasons I quite literally did not know existed in the trans community prior to reading 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡. It’s not news to me that us LGBTQIA+’ers can be shitty too, but I didn’t realize how deeply the failing of our own goes.
As you see in the convo I had w one of my besties, I’d be lying if I said this didn’t make me uncomfy at times—entirely a “me” problem. When I say Max altered the chemistry in my brain, I am not exaggerating. 𝘕𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺. 𝐀 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝.
𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 .0005 𝘴𝘦𝘤. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘭—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 & 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯-𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺-𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰.
TYSM to Max, Marisa & Graywolf Press for the #gifted copy of the gorgeous new paperback, & the opportunity to have hosted a giveaway, sharing 2 copies w friends.
December 5, 2025
Wow wow a short story collection about trans masculinity in several forms written by an SU alum shouting out Dr. Susan Meyers in the acknowledgements and name dropping all the SU smoke spots, Seattle diners, etc.? That’s my shit
February 26, 2026
These stories live and breathe queer Seattle in a way that feels immersive rather than just name-dropping. Compelling, complicated characters you've probably met and themes that alternate between despair, hope, apathy, lust, love, and ambivalence, but always questions.
October 25, 2025
I loved this collection! I read this in just a couple of days, anxious to see every snapshot created here. I was fascinated and totally immersed in so many of these. So often, short story collections have a few good ones and a lot that are mid or worse, but this was a collection that kept my attention. There was something interesting explored in each one.
This brings us into the lives and minds of trans men in various stages of life and contending with life's many condundrums such as: how to cruise in the 21st century, straights in queer spaces, predatory mean gays, transmed discourse, the lesbian-to-bi trans man pipeline, and much more. As much as this is absolutely about the queer experience (and specifically trans masc experience), it also brings in class quite an bit as well as place -- Seattle is an interesting recurring character here.
I would love to revisit this again more slowly. It's absolitely one I will keep thinking about.
(Note for those who may want to know: There are a couple of Harry Potter references in the last story. But one was from a character who was being a dick and it was probably brought up again during an acid trip bc of the first reference -- and I could see maybe the intentionality of it considering what happens in the story (like why they would want to call it in *because of* the connection to JKRs transphobia. It's not overtly explained and I won't elaborate further bc spoilers but it wasn't just thrown in for giggle or the reference))
This brings us into the lives and minds of trans men in various stages of life and contending with life's many condundrums such as: how to cruise in the 21st century, straights in queer spaces, predatory mean gays, transmed discourse, the lesbian-to-bi trans man pipeline, and much more. As much as this is absolutely about the queer experience (and specifically trans masc experience), it also brings in class quite an bit as well as place -- Seattle is an interesting recurring character here.
I would love to revisit this again more slowly. It's absolitely one I will keep thinking about.
(Note for those who may want to know: There are a couple of Harry Potter references in the last story. But one was from a character who was being a dick and it was probably brought up again during an acid trip bc of the first reference -- and I could see maybe the intentionality of it considering what happens in the story (like why they would want to call it in *because of* the connection to JKRs transphobia. It's not overtly explained and I won't elaborate further bc spoilers but it wasn't just thrown in for giggle or the reference))
February 3, 2026
SU alums and/or little gay people in my phone—for the love of GOD pick up a copy of Crawl expediently.
Never thought I’d read auto fiction that (sometimes eerily) mirrors some of my own coming-of-age experiences to a T. Never ever did I think fucking Quadstock would be used as a setting in a published piece of literature. Made me nostalgic for a very chaotic time in my baby gay life.
Really excellent collection, even if you weren’t a messy gay at Seattle University home of the Redhawks in the 2010’s. But if you were—or if you were vaguely Capitol Hill adjacent anywhere from 2010-2019–boy, do I have a recommendation for you.
Favorites:
All Time Low
Moon Over Denny Blaine
Honorable mentions:
The Bubble
The Geeks
Don’t Be Boring
Never thought I’d read auto fiction that (sometimes eerily) mirrors some of my own coming-of-age experiences to a T. Never ever did I think fucking Quadstock would be used as a setting in a published piece of literature. Made me nostalgic for a very chaotic time in my baby gay life.
Really excellent collection, even if you weren’t a messy gay at Seattle University home of the Redhawks in the 2010’s. But if you were—or if you were vaguely Capitol Hill adjacent anywhere from 2010-2019–boy, do I have a recommendation for you.
Favorites:
All Time Low
Moon Over Denny Blaine
Honorable mentions:
The Bubble
The Geeks
Don’t Be Boring
August 23, 2025
I loved it even before I got to the story about two fans of The National. Fab stories full of heart and the kinds of characters I know so well as a fellow queer PNW millennial but rarely (if ever) get to see on the page.
June 4, 2025
I am so happy to see the body of trans literature expanding, and Max Delsohn's Crawl is a great addition to that work. These stories are honest and committed to speaking truths, even when those truths are difficult or confusing.
Situations like these (as presented in the book's promo material) arise:"What to do when starting testosterone unlocks a newfound desire for men? How to respond when your boss’s boss asks if you’ve had 'the surgery' and then requests you talk her niece out of transitioning? What obligation do you have to intervene in the faltering mental health of the baby trans drug dealer you’ve met only once while tripping on the acid he sold you?"
Crawl gives readers a series of portraits of trans masculine life in Seattle in the 2010s. The stories are long enough that the reader can sink into them, but there's still room for eleven of them, so the reader gets breadth as well as depth.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
Situations like these (as presented in the book's promo material) arise:"What to do when starting testosterone unlocks a newfound desire for men? How to respond when your boss’s boss asks if you’ve had 'the surgery' and then requests you talk her niece out of transitioning? What obligation do you have to intervene in the faltering mental health of the baby trans drug dealer you’ve met only once while tripping on the acid he sold you?"
Crawl gives readers a series of portraits of trans masculine life in Seattle in the 2010s. The stories are long enough that the reader can sink into them, but there's still room for eleven of them, so the reader gets breadth as well as depth.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
January 7, 2026
I love short stories and I love queer short stories. The yearning and the frankness about the world and how one experiences it is def a perspective cis people don't understand in the same way, so I like how the perspectives make me think
January 19, 2026
4.5 stars
February 3, 2026
Excellent short stories, already recommending them to everyone. Will have to re-read soon!
January 19, 2026
It’s been a long time since I read a collection of short stories and I’ve missed this genre of writing. Delsohn’s book will be on my mind for a while.
August 25, 2025
The cast of characters in Crawl are in various stages of transition regarding their masc identities, and they're all in one way or another trying to get by in Seattle. Delsohn completely nails everything in this collection: conflicting desires, messy friend groups, the city's essence itself, the uncertainty of it all... and in doing so, he hits such an all-too-real bullseye that almost feels satirical to anyone that has lived as or alongside any of these people. I saw so much of myself in some of these stories and the places they occupy in ways that had me hooting and hollering-- I inhaled this book. Definitely looking forward to seeing what comes next from Max Delsohn.
November 25, 2025
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free arc of this title! an excellent exploration on the mundane drama of the transmasculine existence. with unashamed, clear prose and complex, believable characters, delsohn paints a remarkable picture of queer life in the late aughts of seattle.
August 26, 2025
Intimate, hilarious, both sexy and devastatingly unsexy, reading this short story collection feels like sitting down and gossiping with your most interesting smart friend.
((read for work bc the store is hosting the launch, but genuinely loved it and is only the 2nd short story collection i’ve ever read))
((read for work bc the store is hosting the launch, but genuinely loved it and is only the 2nd short story collection i’ve ever read))
October 5, 2025
Absolutely phenomenal. These stories pull you in with humor and then punch you in the gut, in the best way. Delsohn’s prose sparkles on the page, bringing queer Seattle to life with tenderness and joy. I couldn’t put this one down.
October 6, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This book will be published in the US by Graywolf Press on October 21, 2025.
I’ll be honest: I almost didn’t finish Crawl. The opening story—full of dicks, bathhouses, and bottoming—wasn’t exactly my sapphic cup of tea. But when I returned to the collection a couple of weeks later, I found myself swallowed whole by Delsohn’s world: a messy, tender, wry portrait of queer and trans life in early-aughts Seattle that feels both biting and achingly intimate. Each story lingers in that uncomfortable space between becoming and belonging—where gender, sexuality, and community overlap in beautifully awkward ways.
Delsohn writes like someone turning their own skin inside out: every sentence brims with sensory detail, irony, and longing. Their characters fumble through sex, friendship, and self-recognition with a raw honesty that resists both romanticization and cynicism. In “The Geeks,” Ray can’t stop introducing himself by his dead name, even as he falls for another trans man who passes more easily. “The Machine” skewers corporate allyship with humor so sharp it hurts. And “Moon Over Denny-Blaine,” my personal favorite, revels in the glorious absurdity of queer community—the way it can hold both heartbreak and hilarity, mooning the straights one minute and crying over an ex the next.
What I love most about Crawl is how it captures the contradictions of queer life without smoothing them out for palatability. Delsohn doesn’t offer clean resolutions or perfect politics; instead, he writes toward the ache of figuring it out, of fumbling toward love and identity and something like self-forgiveness. It’s a book about bodies—awkward, desiring, transitioning, surviving—and about how those bodies carry both the promise and the failure of connection.
Even when it made me squirm, Crawl reminded me that queer stories don’t owe us comfort—they owe us truth. And Delsohn delivers that truth with both a punch and a wink.
📖 Read this if you love: darkly comic, intimate explorations of queer and trans life, messy realism, and coming-of-age narratives steeped in desire and self-discovery.
🔑 Key Themes: Gender and Sexuality, Queer Desire and Dysphoria, Community and Belonging, The Tension Between Self-Love and Romantic Longing, Navigating Queer Spaces.
Content / Trigger Warnings: Sexual Content (severe), Alcohol (minor), Drug Use (moderate), Transphobia (minor), Sexual Harassment (minor), Suicidal Thoughts (minor).
Content Note: Please note that this book contains a critical H*rry P*tt*r reference at 90% and an uncritical reference at 95%.
I’ll be honest: I almost didn’t finish Crawl. The opening story—full of dicks, bathhouses, and bottoming—wasn’t exactly my sapphic cup of tea. But when I returned to the collection a couple of weeks later, I found myself swallowed whole by Delsohn’s world: a messy, tender, wry portrait of queer and trans life in early-aughts Seattle that feels both biting and achingly intimate. Each story lingers in that uncomfortable space between becoming and belonging—where gender, sexuality, and community overlap in beautifully awkward ways.
Delsohn writes like someone turning their own skin inside out: every sentence brims with sensory detail, irony, and longing. Their characters fumble through sex, friendship, and self-recognition with a raw honesty that resists both romanticization and cynicism. In “The Geeks,” Ray can’t stop introducing himself by his dead name, even as he falls for another trans man who passes more easily. “The Machine” skewers corporate allyship with humor so sharp it hurts. And “Moon Over Denny-Blaine,” my personal favorite, revels in the glorious absurdity of queer community—the way it can hold both heartbreak and hilarity, mooning the straights one minute and crying over an ex the next.
What I love most about Crawl is how it captures the contradictions of queer life without smoothing them out for palatability. Delsohn doesn’t offer clean resolutions or perfect politics; instead, he writes toward the ache of figuring it out, of fumbling toward love and identity and something like self-forgiveness. It’s a book about bodies—awkward, desiring, transitioning, surviving—and about how those bodies carry both the promise and the failure of connection.
Even when it made me squirm, Crawl reminded me that queer stories don’t owe us comfort—they owe us truth. And Delsohn delivers that truth with both a punch and a wink.
📖 Read this if you love: darkly comic, intimate explorations of queer and trans life, messy realism, and coming-of-age narratives steeped in desire and self-discovery.
🔑 Key Themes: Gender and Sexuality, Queer Desire and Dysphoria, Community and Belonging, The Tension Between Self-Love and Romantic Longing, Navigating Queer Spaces.
Content / Trigger Warnings: Sexual Content (severe), Alcohol (minor), Drug Use (moderate), Transphobia (minor), Sexual Harassment (minor), Suicidal Thoughts (minor).
Content Note: Please note that this book contains a critical H*rry P*tt*r reference at 90% and an uncritical reference at 95%.
October 13, 2025
Max Delsohn captures a niche aspect of trans masc experience and explores how transition complicates queer relationships in this short story collection.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so seen and represented in a book. I’m a trans man whose sexuality reversed on testosterone over the past two years; after being exclusively attracted to women my whole life, I suddenly found myself exclusively attracted to men. My sexuality change was abrupt, confusing, thrilling, affirming—Max Delsohn captures my experience so perfectly that I could hardly believe it. It was like someone read my inner thoughts from the past few years and turned them into a short story collection: from the disappointing forays into gay bathhouses, exciting but uncomfortable hookups, uneasy experimentation with polyamory, and the messiness that infiltrates queer relationships when gender and sexual identities are in flux.
In Crawl, Delsohn explores how queer people seek to affirm their gender identity through their relationships. What happens when transition complicates or threatens these dynamics? What is the “queer community"? What behaviors threaten or uphold this community?
I love that this book doesn’t waste time re-treading the same old stale trans narrative that’s often packaged for cis people to understand. Crawl assumes that its reader has a strong working knowledge of the trans community and mainly explores relationships between queer people. It doesn’t apologize for the fact that queerness often looks entirely nonsensical from a heteronormative framework. Sometimes, you have a “fag” and a “dyke” making out with one another, or someone who identifies as a straight woman dating a pre-transition trans man. As a gay, fraysexual trans guy engaged to a demisexual lesbian trans woman, I know full well how relationship dynamics are continuously upended by the shifting markers of our identities.
The stories in this collection are funny and well-written. All of them take place in Seattle during the 2010s, and interlocking references give these disparate stories a sense of cohesion and place. Some of the stories feel a little half-baked, like drafts that Dolsohn included to pad the collection, but others are quite strong. I will immediately pick up any novel he puts out.
I recommend this book to anyone who is queer or wants to gain an “inside” perspective into what queer community is really about.
Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so seen and represented in a book. I’m a trans man whose sexuality reversed on testosterone over the past two years; after being exclusively attracted to women my whole life, I suddenly found myself exclusively attracted to men. My sexuality change was abrupt, confusing, thrilling, affirming—Max Delsohn captures my experience so perfectly that I could hardly believe it. It was like someone read my inner thoughts from the past few years and turned them into a short story collection: from the disappointing forays into gay bathhouses, exciting but uncomfortable hookups, uneasy experimentation with polyamory, and the messiness that infiltrates queer relationships when gender and sexual identities are in flux.
In Crawl, Delsohn explores how queer people seek to affirm their gender identity through their relationships. What happens when transition complicates or threatens these dynamics? What is the “queer community"? What behaviors threaten or uphold this community?
I love that this book doesn’t waste time re-treading the same old stale trans narrative that’s often packaged for cis people to understand. Crawl assumes that its reader has a strong working knowledge of the trans community and mainly explores relationships between queer people. It doesn’t apologize for the fact that queerness often looks entirely nonsensical from a heteronormative framework. Sometimes, you have a “fag” and a “dyke” making out with one another, or someone who identifies as a straight woman dating a pre-transition trans man. As a gay, fraysexual trans guy engaged to a demisexual lesbian trans woman, I know full well how relationship dynamics are continuously upended by the shifting markers of our identities.
The stories in this collection are funny and well-written. All of them take place in Seattle during the 2010s, and interlocking references give these disparate stories a sense of cohesion and place. Some of the stories feel a little half-baked, like drafts that Dolsohn included to pad the collection, but others are quite strong. I will immediately pick up any novel he puts out.
I recommend this book to anyone who is queer or wants to gain an “inside” perspective into what queer community is really about.
Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 12, 2026
One of my goals for reading is to expand my horizons and get out of my comfort zone. I can positively say that this expression of trans literature has certainly done that! It’s concupiscently bold, vibrant as its cover, and highlights the physical, sensual musings and inner turmoil that can come with the trans experience. As an ally with several trans friends, I try my best to be a safe space whenever possible and these narratives allowed me to see the internalization of gender dysphoria and gender identity that I’ve never experienced personally. Having met the author of this short story novel at his last book tour stop in Las Vegas, I can personally say that Crawl is as hilarious, charming, heartfelt, self-reflective, and bright as its writer. Crawl expands through several locations throughout 2010s Seattle, characters —- from those who are unabashedly themselves to those who are still figuring themselves out, and experiences, yet remains connected with the key theme of the trans masculine, queer experience. I found myself laughing and feeling connected to the characters, wishing there were more with them as the book continued (or recognizing how they’re connected!), and enjoying the bandwidth and diversity of the community (or, shall I say, babies?). I loved how the stories flowed, connected through side characters/locations, and how music (like The National!) played a pivotal role in the stories at times. Moreover, I enjoyed how the book had sides A and B, as if it were a record or some form of music itself, representing the sides of self and discovery. Each character was unique, confessing their own truths while concealing others, and it showcased the honesty of personal, introspective reflection that is relatable to now. As a whole, Crawl is a feat of short story literature that encapsulates a time period of young adolescence that is relatable, informational, and was an enjoyable read from start to finish. In fact, I have two copies of this book (thanks, Mom! And thanks to Max for drawing a crayon on my Writer's Block copy 😉), so I might loan it to friends who want to read it too!
January 11, 2026
goddd just realized i've never read transmasc fiction before despite being a gay transmasc myself! this was scarily relatable even tho all of the protagonists were so different from me - partly bc they all identified as lesbians before coming out as trans guys. this found me at a especially trans focussed time in my life as i'm currently setting up hrt appointments almost 9 years after my coming out so i had a whole new appreciation for parts of the characters
the short stories were all of a very consistent quality which also meant that none stood out immediately to me as it's usually the case. i really enjoyed "don't be boring" - god i know the feeling of meeting someone and wanting to be their friend soo bad very intimately. "sex is a leisure activity" was also interesting to me as someone who signed up to grindr as soon as they turned 18 but never had the guts to meet up with someone for casual sex. getting a glimpse into that world was also why i also liked "crawl". "the geeks" made me go insane bc i was SO into the national as a teen and cruising around in a car and listening to music comprised most of my latter teen years ahaha
the a side part of the book was great and very consistent (as mentioned before), side b had some weaker stories ("same old" comes to mind even tho it seems to resonate with most of the other reviewers) but also my favourite one. will try to read "a safe girl to love" soon as it seems like a great companion piece
rating wise i'm stuck inbetween a 3 (solely how memorable the stories were in plot and characters) and 4 (how much they still meant to me) so maybe i'll adjust my rating in the future
congrats to max delsohn for the publication and here's to hoping this isn't the last we see of him :-)
the short stories were all of a very consistent quality which also meant that none stood out immediately to me as it's usually the case. i really enjoyed "don't be boring" - god i know the feeling of meeting someone and wanting to be their friend soo bad very intimately. "sex is a leisure activity" was also interesting to me as someone who signed up to grindr as soon as they turned 18 but never had the guts to meet up with someone for casual sex. getting a glimpse into that world was also why i also liked "crawl". "the geeks" made me go insane bc i was SO into the national as a teen and cruising around in a car and listening to music comprised most of my latter teen years ahaha
the a side part of the book was great and very consistent (as mentioned before), side b had some weaker stories ("same old" comes to mind even tho it seems to resonate with most of the other reviewers) but also my favourite one. will try to read "a safe girl to love" soon as it seems like a great companion piece
rating wise i'm stuck inbetween a 3 (solely how memorable the stories were in plot and characters) and 4 (how much they still meant to me) so maybe i'll adjust my rating in the future
congrats to max delsohn for the publication and here's to hoping this isn't the last we see of him :-)
November 19, 2025
I really enjoyed this collection. It's kinda doomy and gloomy, and a lot of the story characters have very similar thoughts or backgrounds (I'm pretty sure there are at least five stories about former lesbians), but I take it that these are all autobiographical details that Delsohn included because that's the life he lived; that's his story to tell. And honestly, it was fascinating to be inside another trans guy's head for a while. I especially adored the passage about accepting your own chosen name:
All in all, I don't know if this collection would touch a cis reader the same way it touched me. It's very much written from the POV of its target audience. But I enjoyed it wholeheartedly, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the complicated psychosexual miasma that is the trans experience.
Logically, Ray had plenty of reasons to forgive himself. He had been introducing himself as Jessica for the past twenty-two years. He imagined an especially vast groove in his brain where the name Jessica, in the myriad voices of family and friends and strangers of his past, dwelled like a great, territorial beast, at all times ready to leap out of his mouth. By comparison, Ray meant nothing to him yet. No one had called him Ray during an argument, no one had asked Ray if he was really listening or cried out Ray as they came. Ray could not exist for him without the voices of other people. He hated Jessica, but Jessica had long delighted and infuriated, stopped listening, got lost. Jessica had been called upon. Jessica had been seduced, dumped, loved.
All in all, I don't know if this collection would touch a cis reader the same way it touched me. It's very much written from the POV of its target audience. But I enjoyed it wholeheartedly, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the complicated psychosexual miasma that is the trans experience.
October 15, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the eARC!
While browsing NetGalley, I found Crawl through a Carmen Maria Machado blurb. When I learned that these stories involved the trans experience in a notably queer city, I was sold.
These stories follow different characters as they navigate (mainly) identity, love, and friendship. My favorite story was Maude and the character’s stream of consciousness as they wrestle with what they should identify as. Every new tale brought something affirming. Whether I’d felt or thought the same way or have known someone who went through something similar, it felt good to feel not alone in my thoughts or experiences. What really made this collection great is how authentic it was. I mean… we’ve all met awful straight men who can’t seem to grasp the concept of boundaries, right?
The characters felt juvenile at times, but that felt intentional and is not reflective of the writing style. As someone who can probably still be considered a baby gay, I understand why there’s a sort of immaturity when 20 somethings are trying to figure their shit out.
Collections like these are so important. I wish I’d had access to stories like these when I was in high school and college. I never knew how badly I was looking for myself and my identity in the books I read until I finally came across characters that felt like me.
Ultimately, I want to hear more from Max Delsohn. His voice is one to watch.
While browsing NetGalley, I found Crawl through a Carmen Maria Machado blurb. When I learned that these stories involved the trans experience in a notably queer city, I was sold.
These stories follow different characters as they navigate (mainly) identity, love, and friendship. My favorite story was Maude and the character’s stream of consciousness as they wrestle with what they should identify as. Every new tale brought something affirming. Whether I’d felt or thought the same way or have known someone who went through something similar, it felt good to feel not alone in my thoughts or experiences. What really made this collection great is how authentic it was. I mean… we’ve all met awful straight men who can’t seem to grasp the concept of boundaries, right?
The characters felt juvenile at times, but that felt intentional and is not reflective of the writing style. As someone who can probably still be considered a baby gay, I understand why there’s a sort of immaturity when 20 somethings are trying to figure their shit out.
Collections like these are so important. I wish I’d had access to stories like these when I was in high school and college. I never knew how badly I was looking for myself and my identity in the books I read until I finally came across characters that felt like me.
Ultimately, I want to hear more from Max Delsohn. His voice is one to watch.
November 12, 2025
Max Delsohn’s Crawl is an arresting collection of short stories that combine young adult ennui with the search for meaning and identity. These stories feel and read like lived experiences, and I sometimes wondered which events were autobiographical and which were the product of the author’s imagination.
There is a recurring theme of unrequited desire, a desperate need for love and sex that propels the narratives. In ‘Don’t be Boring,’ that desire meets recreational drug use, and the line between freewheeling fun and assault becomes blurred. It’s a story that will likely trigger some readers. In fact, the entire collection has more triggers than an NRA convention, but the subject matter is navigated sympathetically, and trauma is never minimized.
The author weaves pop culture references into the stories, which adds another element of authenticity. In fact, one of the strongest stories, ‘The Geeks’, uses popular indie band The National as a lynchpin to drive the story. References to The National, Youth Lagoon, and cool Seattle clubs are handled deftly and don’t come across as pandering or, worse still, cringeworthy.
There is a recurring theme of unrequited desire, a desperate need for love and sex that propels the narratives. In ‘Don’t be Boring,’ that desire meets recreational drug use, and the line between freewheeling fun and assault becomes blurred. It’s a story that will likely trigger some readers. In fact, the entire collection has more triggers than an NRA convention, but the subject matter is navigated sympathetically, and trauma is never minimized.
The author weaves pop culture references into the stories, which adds another element of authenticity. In fact, one of the strongest stories, ‘The Geeks’, uses popular indie band The National as a lynchpin to drive the story. References to The National, Youth Lagoon, and cool Seattle clubs are handled deftly and don’t come across as pandering or, worse still, cringeworthy.
October 24, 2025
I really loved this book. It's partly that it's just on the merits a terrific book: beautifully written, really funny, an argument for the relevance of the short story, a pleasurable sendup of liberal hypocrisy. But also, while I have really complex feelings about "representation," that personal recognition, when it's around an experience that's not only highly specific but also frequently misrepresented, can feel really special. You shouldn't only read this book if you're an early- to mid-stage trans masc person baffled by your body and desires, because it has many broader charms and speaks to a much wider audience (who among us has not been baffled in this way??). But if you do happen to be that guy, or you were at some point, or you think potentially you might be later on, it is really a treat.
March 18, 2026
I was so hopeful (given the beautiful cover) that I’d be able to add this to the despairingly small collection of works by trans men that speak to me, but alas, no. I don’t feel like I got anything out of this collection of short stories and the characters - the characters all kind of seemed to be the same and the themes just did not resonate with me. I think this largely has to do with the tonality of the writing.
I wish trans male authors could be serious for once and stop always trying to be funny, aloof, and charming, because more often than not, as is the case with Crawl, it lands as obnoxious with a Buzzfeed-esque tone.
Still, while it’s not my cup of tea, I like seeing trans male authors getting published and I’m sure this will appeal to many millennial trans men and baby trans men searching for narratives of the culture.
I wish trans male authors could be serious for once and stop always trying to be funny, aloof, and charming, because more often than not, as is the case with Crawl, it lands as obnoxious with a Buzzfeed-esque tone.
Still, while it’s not my cup of tea, I like seeing trans male authors getting published and I’m sure this will appeal to many millennial trans men and baby trans men searching for narratives of the culture.
July 5, 2025
It's a rare joy to like every story in a collection and I thought every story in Crawl was wonderful! Max Delsohn does a really great job writing stories that give us enough to sink our teeth into while never leaving us feeling like they were cut short. Each story follows a new protagonist who is in a different place with their gender identity and they vary in tone from quite silly to serious. Also the stories are all set in the 2010s and although that was not very long ago the stories feel nostalgic and get at that time period so well.
I'd recommend this book to everybody - it was awesome. Thank you to Graywolf for the advanced copy and I am looking forward to the publication on October 21st.
I'd recommend this book to everybody - it was awesome. Thank you to Graywolf for the advanced copy and I am looking forward to the publication on October 21st.
October 19, 2025
***Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review***
These stories capture trans folks and queer life in a specific location and during a specific time. I got the sense that if I had been in Seattle during the 2010s and part of the scene, I would have appreciated this book far more because of the personal connection. There were references that I felt were supposed to evoke something in me that I think I missed out on, and that's a bit of a bummer. That said, the author does a good job filling in details around it so that the outsider reader can gain some picture of what it was like. The characters themselves were a mixed bag of memorable and forgettable, but that's expected in a collection of stories.
These stories capture trans folks and queer life in a specific location and during a specific time. I got the sense that if I had been in Seattle during the 2010s and part of the scene, I would have appreciated this book far more because of the personal connection. There were references that I felt were supposed to evoke something in me that I think I missed out on, and that's a bit of a bummer. That said, the author does a good job filling in details around it so that the outsider reader can gain some picture of what it was like. The characters themselves were a mixed bag of memorable and forgettable, but that's expected in a collection of stories.
November 18, 2025
Excellent. These stories portray experiences under discussed even within the queer lit space— trans masculinity, a new attraction to men after starting testosterone, ambiguity of self— in a way I found zippy and satisfying and weird. Loved the attention to drugs, something I haven’t explored excessively in lit.
The thing I’m most impressed by in Crawl is how Delsohn uses language and form to really swallow the reader. This book, really pushed me to where its characters were— I genuinely felt horny when the narrators were, or tripping when they were, etc etc. that’s really quite rare in literature, or at least it is for me.
Delsohn also has a real gift for pacing— these stories all end at exactly the right place, exactly the right level of propulsion.
The thing I’m most impressed by in Crawl is how Delsohn uses language and form to really swallow the reader. This book, really pushed me to where its characters were— I genuinely felt horny when the narrators were, or tripping when they were, etc etc. that’s really quite rare in literature, or at least it is for me.
Delsohn also has a real gift for pacing— these stories all end at exactly the right place, exactly the right level of propulsion.
December 20, 2025
4.5 stars
What a pleasant surprise! I almost never buy books on a whim. I have such a massive TBR that there’s never any need to just browse the bookstore and choose something I’ve never heard of.
This book caught my eye though. I fell for the cover, and the subject matter sounded interesting enough so I thought why not.
I usually don’t love short story collections as much as full length novels because I don’t like it when short stories just end with no payoff. This collection didn’t bother me that way though for whatever reason. I enjoyed almost all of the stories and characters and I liked reading from the perspective of trans men, which I never have before.
I would definitely read more from this author.
What a pleasant surprise! I almost never buy books on a whim. I have such a massive TBR that there’s never any need to just browse the bookstore and choose something I’ve never heard of.
This book caught my eye though. I fell for the cover, and the subject matter sounded interesting enough so I thought why not.
I usually don’t love short story collections as much as full length novels because I don’t like it when short stories just end with no payoff. This collection didn’t bother me that way though for whatever reason. I enjoyed almost all of the stories and characters and I liked reading from the perspective of trans men, which I never have before.
I would definitely read more from this author.
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