Transmutation: Stories

by Alex DiFrancesco

Transgressive, transformative short stories that explore the margins of trans lives.

Building on the success of All City, here is a wry, and at the same time dark and risk-taking, story collection from author (and baker) Alex DiFrancesco that pushes the boundaries of transgender awareness and filial bonds. Here is the hate between 16-year-old Junie, who is transitioning, and their mom's boyfriend Chad when the family moves into Chad's house on Lake Erie. And here is the love being tested between Sawyer and his dad, who named his boat after his child and resists changing it from Sara to Sawyer now. There is DiFrancesco's willingness to enter lands that are violent and comfortless in some of these stories, testing the limits of what it means to be human, sometimes returning stronger and wiser, and sometimes not returning at all as their characters surge forward into unknown spaces.

Contains mature themes.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, LGBT, Transgender, Fiction, Horror, Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published June 1, 2021

About the author

ALEX DIFRANCESCO is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, Tin House, Brevity, and more. They are a 2017 winner of Sundress Academy for the Arts' OutSpoken Competition, and were a finalist in Cosmonauts Avenue’s Inaugural Nonfiction Prize. They have recently moved to Ohio, where they are still trying to wrap their head around “Sweetest Day.”

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘He could hear something real and eternal and human. Some sort of soul in exile and torture.’

There is a cleverness to the title Transmutation for Alex DiFrancesco’s short story collection: to transform is to undergo a visible change, but to transmute is a process of moving from one state into another. These stories tend to revolve around different forms of change, with the title most notably reinforcing that the many trans characters that appear in the stories as being men or women, not simply putting on a persona of one. Which is a really empowering and important statement they make, one full of understanding and empathy. The stories here are quite varied, with plenty of magical realism, elements of horror and fantasy as well as realistic fiction, but the biggest theme that flows through them all is empathy. These are stories that give space and empathy to ‘runaways, escapees, the brutally damned, the unchosen, the cast out’ and remind us that change is often difficult and scary, and the best thing we can do for someone in the process is to give them love. While this can be a bit of a mixed-bag, the writing is sharp and engaging, the stories are inventive and exciting and it is a wonderful little book full of great representation for trans, non-binary and LGBTQ+ characters that, instead of examinations of hardship, chooses messages of hope.

This collection sways back and forth from realistic fiction and gothic narratives filled with monsters and magic, though all of them center on ideas of change. There are stories with hope, such as a father finally embracing that his child is trans, changing the name of his own boat from Sara to Sawyer in solidarity, and even darker ones such as Inside My Safron Cave show how online communities can become a network to grow, learn and share in solidarity (there is a sense of the Biblical phrase ‘blood of the sacrament is thicker than the water of the womb’ going on here about found community). The story deals with a trans girl named Junie who has to move in with her mother’s boyfriend (he tells her the men who abused her mother are less of a burden than her simply for existing), but Junie is able to obtain estrogen from friends online and finds solace in the myths of the Storm Hag, a beast living in the Lake Erie who drags men down to their doom.

‘[F]or the rest of us, it’s just surviving as we are. Impure. Imperfect.’

Depictions of monsters like the Storm Hag appear in multiple stories, being seen not as sinister but as solace. One of the best stories, The Pure is about a vampire who has a loving relationship with a trans man. DiFrancesco undoes the typical frightening lore about vampires, saying they are fear mongering propaganda created by people who simply refused to understand, which makes for a great metaphor about the negative stereotypes and political fear mongering around the trans community. Another story, A Little Procedure is dedicated to Dedicated to Rosemary Kennedy and involves a girl forced into a lobotomy by her parents when they deem her sexual permiscuity to be a threat to their tidy family image. It is a truly eerie story with the narrator becoming a doll-like creature with revenge boiling underneath her vacant demeanor.

DiFrancesco tackles other social issues beyond gender as well, with The Disappearance being one of the most powerful in the collection. It takes blatant inspiration from an article written by poet Bob Hicok (to whom this story is dedicated) that caused a lot of uproar on poetry Twitter (as does the fictional one in the story). ‘Kaj loathed the word minority, but there was no other blanket term that encompassed all of Dr. Allen’s alleged tormentors,’ they write in this story that has a person of color witness their white tenured coworker publish an article claiming white men are being pushed out of literature. This complaint surfaces often, though holds little merit as 89% of all books published in 2018 were by non-hispanic white authors (about the time Hicok wrote the article) and 2020 study done by Lee & Low revealed that 76% of the publishing industry was white (down only 3% from 2015, despite massive public marketing campaigns from many publishers claiming they valued inclusivity) with the vast majority of people of color in the industry staffing only entry level jobs (marketing being the most prominent). Anyways, the story plays with this common issue that has been very much discussed on twitter through hashtag campaigns like #PublishingPaidMe and brings it to a really surreal and effective close when the tenured professor literally begins disappearing and then is sucked up and spat out through a straw. It’s a fun story.

Perhaps the strongest in the collection is Chuck Berry Tape Massacre, which is a really effective double narrative that coils towards a shocking conclusion. The story follows an overprotective mother isolating her young daughters from the world as well as an interview with a musician who had worked with a reclusive artist to create what became a mega indie album sensation before the band promptly disbanded (this story is dedicated to Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Magnum). DiFrancesco conjures up genius in this twisted tale that I won’t ever forget.

Transmutation has its share of highs and lows as one expects from a short story collection, but the inventiveness and empathy here really shine. This is a stunning debut that takes on an important issue and pleads for better understanding. Trans folk are murdered at such a high rate it has been declared an epidemic, and 2021 has seen the highest murder total on record. Updating this now in 2023 where the murder rate of trans individuals is alarmingly high but also many states across the country are proposing anti-trans bills and a podcaster recently gave a speech at a GOP convention calling for the ‘eradication’ of trans rights and people. There is also an extremely high suicide rate and there is much evidence that access to gender-affirming care or even support groups reduces suicide by at least 40%. I am glad DiFrancesco is here to use fiction as a rally cry for empathy and to give love instead of scorn, and this is a lovely debut.

3.75/5

[Martie Nees Record · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Speculative /Supernatural/Transgender Fiction
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Pub. Date: June 22, 2021

The ten stories in DiFrancesco’s book fluctuate between tales that are realistic, gothic, and way-out-there, meaning bizarre. The characters are in the process of becoming their real selves or changing into something new.

“Inside My Saffron Cave” is a straightforward story. It centers on a transboy, his mother, and her abusive boyfriend. This is a sad yet hopeful tale showing how in 2021 transgender teens are not as alone with their feelings as they were in the past. Because of this fact, the author has turned a melancholy tale into a positive one. DiFrancesco also gives what feels like an inside look at Battered Women Syndrome.

“A Little Procedure” has hints of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” centering on evil surgical operations. The short is dedicated to Rosemary Kennedy, which gives the reader a big hint of where the story will be heading. After the ‘procedure,’ the female protagonist speaks in a detached and quiet manner. This is deceiving because she has become a puppet-like ‘creature’ with a desire for revenge. So creepy.

“The Pure” disavows all the folklore that has been written about vampires and the myths of the undead. (Yes, I know vampires are not real). Forget about Bram Stoker's “Dracula.” Here vampires aren't scary at all. The female vampire narrator falls in love with a living transgender man. The fun in the story is how the transman is shocked that the vampire has no need and no desire to hurt him. Such an unusual way to point out the good in the world while showing the disservice that misinformation causes.

DiFrancesco is not at all shy about exploring the boundaries of magical realism. He seems to have a talent for making the unbelievable read real even though our logical minds know it cannot be. He expands our suspension of disbelief. The author devotes special attention to the subject of gender, but this book is for anyone who loves monsters, myths, legends, diversity, surrealism, fun, and even kindness. Finding kindness in these stories was such a pleasant surprise.

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[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked DiFrancesco's Psychopomps, not so much her novel. The stories here mostly have gentle surfaces that hide darker, complex subtexts. There are often hints of magic realist elements, that may or may not manifest unambiguously. I'm reminded a bit of Aickman's open-ended tales, but with queer/trans/non-white characters, and contemporary social contexts.

Not all the stories work for me, but DiFrancesco's writing is always quiet, sincere, and uncondescending. The family trauma of "Inside My Saffron Cave" is alleviated with promises of supernatural transcendence. Folklore colors the parental conflict of "The Ledger of the Deep", until the father comes to terms with the narrator's renaming. "The Pure" is an example of the kind of relatively straightforward vampire yarn that I can enjoy, especially because it doesn't use the V-word. I found "I Was There, Too" to be genuinely creepy, though I was less than happy with the ending. The titular creatures of "Hinkypunk" (apparently from British folklore) barely appear in the story; it's a beautifully executed tense southern gothic. with disappearances, racial/sexual tensions, and an ending that resolves nothing.

[3.5 stars, rounded down]

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one doesn’t quite hit 5 stars for me, but DiFrancisco writes lucid, incisive stories about trans subjectivity across bodymind and context. I think my favorite thing about this collection was the deliberate ambiguity between the speculative and the literary (as it were) — the surreal themes escalate slowly throughout the book, producing a kind of ‘transreal’ (cárdenas) space in which gender disobedience opens up the door for other ways of reimagining reality itself. Definitely check this out.

[Sawyer Lovett · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are incredibly beautiful, nuanced, varied. Alex DiFrancesco uses words like weapons, delivering the most tender knockout to their readers. This book is a testimony to the eleventy jillion brutal and beautiful ways there are to be queer, human, and sometimes inhuman. This book is a slow burn and I read the stories slowly, carrying them around in my heart and head, giving them time to simmer.

[Carley Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in two hours. It's a perfect collection of short stories, each one different and surprising and perfectly crafted. Alex weaves in trans themes, but this book is for anyone who loves monsters, myths, legends, mutability, and change.

Everyone should be paying attention to Alex. They are one of the best writers working right now in fiction.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transmutation is a Alex DiFrancesco's debut collection of short stories that confronts the question of normalcy and the ways in which it haunts us.

Each story in this collection is strong on its own: a daughter lobotomized by her parents for being too sexually liberated, a son who is surprised when his father in rural Ohio is able to understand and accept his gender transition, and even a magical realist parable about the monsters we carry with us. The stories are beautifully written and meaningful but in some ways can border on juvenile (especially the story about a vampire...)

A nice, quick read, this collection is great for those with short attention spans who are looking for a book where they can read a story here-and-there when they have time.

[Abyssdancer (Hanging in there!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short stories are incredibly intense, sometimes bizarre … and extremely thought provoking … I would need to pause inbetween stories and vacuum the rug or start a load of laundry to clear my brain for the next barrage of intensity … many of these stories will stay present in me for a long time … especially “The Chuck Berry Tape Massacre,” which redefines the idea of an overprotective mother, and “A Little Procedure,” in which a forlorn daughter is brutally punished for bringing shame to her family …

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this inventive collection of short stories spanning speculative, horror and contemporary tales, often with explicitly trans main characters. Full of emotion and ambiguous endings, these stories left me with much to chew on.

[Jaye Viner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp and incisive, these stories evoke the complexities of a surprising variety of life stages, perspectives, and genres to explore trans characters existing in relation to the people they love, who love them, their world, and their journeys.

[Alyson Podesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

the creepy ones were my favorite.... however the chuck berry tape massacre one did Mess Me Up

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time finally checking some of Alex DiFrancesco's work out, even though I have been eyeing their work for a while now and I am incredibly glad I finally got around to it! This short story collection features a few really interesting stories exploring transness and transformation in a variety of ways. Sometimes the change is about gender, sometimes about state of being, sometimes about loss of ability, sometimes about transforming into a monster. What I found fascinating is that the stories also explore a variety of genres, while always incorporating these theme of transforming. Furthermore, I really adored the way the book was structured, swaying back and forth between stories firmly rooted in the real world horrors whereas others dove deep into the otherworldly.

My short review for each seperate short stories include spoilers, so proceed with caution.

Inside my Saffron Cave follows a young trans girl who is unable to get blockers or transition due to oppressive state laws. At home she is struggling with her abusive stepfather and finds some solance in the local myths of the Storm Hag and online friendships. It is rather short for how much it explored and definitely one of the stories I would have liked more of. I think if we had dived a little deeper, it would have been more interesting. (TW for transphobia, emotional child abuse and past physical relationship abuse)

A Little Procedure is dedicated to Rosemary Kennedy and the connection between this story and her botched lobotomy are very clear and heartbreaking. In this short story a young woman is considered too sexually promiscious by her family and "fixed" through a lobotomy, the ending was one I enjoyed. I also really adored the horror of this one. (TW for misogyny, lobotomy and murder)

The Disappearance follows a professor who deals with his fall from fame as a poet by lashing out towards poets from marginalized communities until his disappearance becomes not just metaphorical but literal. Very fun and enjoyable and one of my fav stories in here.

The Ledger of the Deep follows a trans man coming out to his father, who does not take the name change well, due to old sailor supersititons that changing your name "deceives" the Sea Gods and will lead to bad luck. This is a very heartbreaking story, especially since the main character doesn't have a very supportive relationship, as his girlfriend is a lesbian, who cannot accept his new identity. The ending was sweet. (TW for deadnaming and misgendering)

The Chuck Berry Tape Massacre is really fun, following the story of a mother, who isolates her children due to rampant fear of the outside and contamination, mixed with music reviews of the Chuck Berry Tape, a tape that has become infamous for its dark history. This story is incredibly tense and connecting the two stories was really well done. One of my favorites. (TW for child abuse, unsanitarity and child neglect)

The Pure follows a vampire, who falls in love with a trans man and an enranged father, who wants to know what the vampire did with "his daughter", sweet and really fun. (TW for transphobia and attempted murder)

Perseus Denies follows a man, who cannot cope with the fact that his wife left him. Very haunting.

I Was There Too follows a white man working in a prison as a cleaner where he is tasked with cleaning the cell of a neo-nazi, who was arrested for slaughtering his friends, and the meme that haunts them both. Very unsettling and very good, one of my favorites. (TW for white supremancy, neo nazi culture, facism, 4chan, intrusive thoughts)

Hinkypunk follows a young child during visits to the grandmother's estate in the south and encountering the human monsters of our society. The haunting is hidden and very gothic and I adored the writing in this one. One of my favorites. (TW for racism, homophobia and murder)

The Wind, the Wind follows a group of soldiers traveling through the lands to fight a war, but they are all haunted by their own ghosts. Really interesting set up and I would have loved a longer version of this one. Also one of my favorites. (TW for anti-roma racism and facism)

[Areeb Ahmad (Bankrupt_Bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I didn't have the words for it, the first time we saw it. It was a taste in my mouth, the hollow bitterness that settled into the back of my throat after Grandmother let me sip her coffee in the morning, but also somehow the oil-slick feel of butter on corn from the garden that stretched down one side of the property."

As its title suggests, the stories collected in Transmutation are concerned with change and transformation, from one shape to another, one state of mind to another, the characters poised on the cusp of a defining moment in their lives, their actions irrevocable as they move towards a radically altered future and re-invent their old relationship with their pasts. This transition isn't just limited to gender affirmation—Jack in "The Pure", June in "Inside My Saffron Cave", Sawyer in "The Ledger of the Deep"—but also vampirism, zombification, disintegration, or mental illness.

Whether it be "The Dissappearance" where the cishet white male writer is literally fading away, "Perseus Denied" where a Medusa-esque figure weathers away in isolation, "A Little Procedure" whose central figure is given this experimental treatment to 'correct her behavior' so that their family's reputation is maintained or "The Wind, The Wind" where people die and then turn into monsters. Most of these stories have macabre elements, uncanny shifts that make you really uneasy. It is a quite terror, a horror that one can confront only from edges, perhaps transcend it.

My favourite story was "The Chuck Berry Tape Massacre" which gave vibes of White Tears by Hari Kunzru. In its parallel running split-narrative, a mother becomes increasingly paranoid and confines both her children within the house for years while a tape recording of the daughter's voice becomes a widely circulated obsession that results in a one-off hit from a now-defunct band. I also really liked "I Was There, Too", which is this collection's most disturbing story perhaps, about a prison worker whose paths cross with an incarcerated killer claiming he was possessed by a (slender man like) spectre. A solid, engrossing colletion on the whole.




(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

[Erin Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this! The author’s style of short story is what I like. Dark, weird. Though there are some that are more straightforward than others.

My favorites were A Little Procedure, The Ledger of the Deep, The Pure, and Hinkypunk.

[El · Rating 5 out of 5]

did this book give me nightmares? absolutely. were they worth it? 100%.

[Nikhil Sethi · Rating 4 out of 5]

jesus christ

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle with short story collections. The first few were so good…and then this kind of went off the rails for me. The author is definitely talented and tells a visually captivating story every time.
Sawyer’s story warmed my soul.

[Effie (she-her) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αρκετά άνιση συλλογή. Μερικά απ' τα διηγήματα ήταν πολύ καλά, άλλα σχεδόν αδιάφορα.

[Devin Willson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a thoroughly enjoyable collection!

[t · Rating 4 out of 5]

really liked the more speculative ones!!

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

(corrected to read better - October 2024)

I have very divided feelings about this collection, some of the stories are really exceptionally fine and others are the sort of adolescent, tortured, misunderstood, painfully beautiful/skinny boy and vampire fighting off prejudiced parents, etc. 'Goth' tale that is so old and clichéd as to be embarrassing. Also in several of the stories the trans aspect is pushed to the fore but it isn't what is most central, for example, in 'The Ledger of the Deep' the story revolves around one member of a lesbian couple who is transitioning to male and her (I don't mean to cause any offence by using conventional gendered terms - I just find using terms that may be gender neutral such as 'they' confusing because they are plural) and the conflicts she has with her father over renaming a boat, which he had called Sara after her when she was a child, to Sawyer the name she goes by now. But, for me, the really interesting part of the story was unexplored, the growing tension of Sawyer's partner who, as a lesbian, finds her partner's increasingly 'male' body unattractive.

There are many trans characters in the stories and I was disappointed that so many revolved around fears of horrors like being lobotomised or given electric shock treatment - the boggy men fears of of a self dramatising teenager still safe within middle class support systems - rather than the real fears, dangers and challenges of a real person struggling with low wages, no health insurance and little recognition or legal protection even before their trans nature comes into play.

I believe the author has every chance of becoming a really first rate writer - some of the stories in this collection are stunning - but he needs to gets a stronger grip on his vision.

[Laura Sackton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tricky one to rate. The first four stories were absolutely phenomenal. Some of the best short fiction I've read in a while. They were, in my opinion, perfection. I had to pause between each one, just to take in all the layers of beauty and meaning and character in them. Truly stunning. But then, out of the whole rest of the collection (five or six more stories), there was only one I really liked. Honestly this book felt like two entirely different books to me. The first four stories were deeply queer and featured queer and trans characters of amazing nuance. And the rest of the stories were weirder and a bit more magical (something I loved, actually!) and a lot less queer. Or the queerness was just buried and I couldn't find it. Either way, they didn't resonate with me the way those first stories did. I certainly recommend this book; other people may have a different reaction. And the writing was gorgeous. But this is so often the problem with short story collections. I was disappointed by the second half of book because I loved those first four stories so, so much.

[Joshua Gage · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is a complaint to be had with this collection, it’s that it’s simply not enough. DiFrancesco is such a profoundly talented writer, able to cram so much into their stories, that the reader is able to breeze through this collection in a few hours and be left aching for more. Anyone interested in the potentials of horror both as entertaining fiction, but also as literary art, should read this collection as soon as they are able. While Alex DiFrancesco is certainly not a new writer, this collection shows them exploring very rich and profound territory that hopefully will both challenge and shape the future of horror writing. Readers should count themselves lucky to be able to witness this change firsthand.

Full review here: https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/...

[John Waanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some intriguing short stories

Each story has a different theme, but each paints a picture and leaves an impression. Great collection.
Some of them, I found relatable. Some I found foreign. Some were just weird. But all worth reading.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Transmutations” by Alex DiFrancisesco


A young girl finds comfort in the idea of a lake witch. A vampire reflects on her own journey against that of her beloved. An eerie tape tells an unexpected story. Alex DiFrancesco’s collection of short stories rattles with queerness, both in characters and contexts, making this a collection wholly unlike anything else you might read. 


I had read a couple of these stories in isolation but never made it through the full collection. What strikes me the most about DiFrancesco’s writing is the casual way they play with sentence structure and tone, many of the pieces ringing almost casual in how they communicate to us. Yet, there’s still significant craft to that choice, shown in the way the stories build a haunting and hauntological experience, an eerie and foreboding sense that something once here is not but the presence lingers. For me personally, I did find that there were a couple of duds in the collection but overall this was a well-crafted and quick read that you can either burn through or let it burn in you. DiFrancesco’s writing will appeal to many different types of readers, but I highly recommend it for those who identify with trans and queer experiences in literature.

[Felix Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading a collection with trans representation, but this book disappointed me. One of the few stories that stood out was “A Little Procedure”; of the others, some felt that they could be great in longer form, like “The Pure” and “The Hinkypunk”, and others fell completely flat, like “Perseus Denied” and “The Wind, the Wind”. Overall, they mostly felt like things I would have written as a teenager, especially the bit in “The Pure” about threatening a parent with literal death in a forced attempt to make them accept their trans child- did not sit right with me. Will not be keeping this book.

[Jenny Jaybles · Rating 5 out of 5]

So absolutely beautiful. Every story in this is like a beautiful sad punch in the gut. Every character reminds you of someone or feels like someone you could meet and then they would make you think about these stories and you would feel close to them or feel like you have a secret understanding. Please read this book.

[KD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection, a lot of these stories are already simmering in the back of my mind. I'll need to come back for a re-read.

Favorites from this collection: Inside My Saffron Cave, The Disappearance, The Ledger of the Deep, and The Pure. Although I'd like to special shout-out the stories "A Little Procedure" and "I Was There, Too" for being particularly haunting.

4.5

[alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5/5]

An impactful story collection because each story deepens the previous one(s), creating something greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are already eerie, affecting, otherworldly yet real (or maybe it's real yet otherworldly) in a simultaneous direct, off-kilter manner.

[Judah · Rating 2 out of 5]

generally, for me, lacking in depth and character. symbolism often comes across as heavy handed and clumsy. this was gifted to me by a friend who said it “reminded them of me” but i think it’s literally only cause some of these characters are trans