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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.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 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!
September 12, 2026
Max Delsohn brings the queer scene of Seattle to life in this collection of stories focusing on ftm trans characters. He's incredibly witty and I loved the on-page banter, appreciating it even more in some of the darker stories where it was sometimes the only spot of sunshine. The collection is divided into side A and side B, like an old cassette, and I personally felt like the stories of side B were darker. I liked side A more but all of the stories were entertaining, and I feel like this is one of those rare anthologies where every story is gold.
I checked into the author immediately after finishing CRAWL and was very disappointed to see that they don't currently have any other books out. I hope they do soon because they're incredibly talented and definitely an author to watch.
4.5 stars
I checked into the author immediately after finishing CRAWL and was very disappointed to see that they don't currently have any other books out. I hope they do soon because they're incredibly talented and definitely an author to watch.
4.5 stars
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
June 25, 2026
this was delightful!! my favorite story from the collection is Maude. love some t boy representation
July 8, 2026
Great concept, but could not stay engaged AT ALL. Characters are all over the place and short stories don’t flow at all. Cool that it’s based in Seattle though
August 9, 2026
best book ive read in awhile it shall be passed along to my friends
February 3, 2026
Excellent short stories, already recommending them to everyone. Will have to re-read soon!
April 24, 2026
“He’d hated the sundress, but he had tried to love the butterflies” (195).
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.
March 22, 2026
going to be thinking about this book for 12 years
Read
July 3, 2026I assumed that these stories would feel familiar to me (a big American city's queer scene) but they felt new. Constants: trans men, Seattle geography, 2010s millennials. With this spine the stories roam free.
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.
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.
March 7, 2026
so this was.....fine? it wasn't amazing, or good, just kind of middle of the road. the stories all bled together bc the narrative voices/subject matter/plot developments were nearly identical and very run of the mill contemporary lit fic. I would, however, read another book by Max and we definitely need more transmasc/trans male literature out in the world.
favs: sex is a leisure activity, the geeks
favs: sex is a leisure activity, the geeks
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))
May 2, 2026
Best book I’ve read this year so far? This book made me laugh out loud. It also saw right through me and helped illuminate parts of myself that are still coming to the surface. Perfect short story collection.
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!
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