Perverts: Stories

by Mac Crane

A full-frontal confrontation of the ways we perform desire and shame—from the downright bizarre to the frighteningly relatable—by the award-winning author of A Sharp Endless Need

An employee at a hunting ground where people pay to act out hate crimes prepares to meet their girlfriend’s parents for the first time. A self-destructive client engages in an affair with their therapist, careening their relationship toward its inevitable breaking point. At a theme park where men pay to ogle women dressed as sirens, a mild-mannered boat attendant gets engaged to the star performer. And in the title story, a pregnant internet sex worker blackmails her clients into attending a disastrous party.   

Nothing is off limits for Mac Crane as they rework classic stories of rejection, isolation, and connection to suggest that the so-called pervert, by existing in the margins of society, may be the one who sees the world most clearly. Crane brings their keen eye for the unsavory to seventeen transgressive stories that are as tantalizing and addictive as the characters’ experiences. A provocative and uproarious collection about pleasure, performance, and pain, Perverts is an exaltation of the awesome depravity of queer modernity.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 7, 2026

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first book by this author, and while I appreciated a few of the unusual vignettes featured in this collection, overall it really wasn’t for me. I was hoping for something strange and thought provoking, but most of the stories were merely unfortunate situations with meandering internal soliloquies and little in the way of resolution. Three stories stood out to me. “Smear the Queer” had an interesting premise and twist ending. “The Perverts,” the collection’s titular story, likewise had unique premise and some elements of dark humor. Probably my favorite was “Alex Adams…” for its modern sapphic take on Peter Pan.

The prose is very good, and really, for some special reader, this is the right book, perhaps someone who enjoys a daydreaming style of writing and who doesn’t feel unsatisfied by too many loose ends or overburdened by an overabundance of abstractions.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mac Crane, and Random House/The Dial Press for sending me an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Luca Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crane’s workplaces are fantastical, off-kilter, and queer. A simulated ship where tourists pay to be crew, only to be theatrically attacked by "sirens" (low-budget actresses hired to simulate heart-ripping for the experience.) A rural camp where queer people are paid to be targets for the rage of hateful clients. The scenarios are strange, exaggerated, and sometimes funny, and the logic underneath them is consistently familiar: show up, perform correctly, absorb risk, get paid. Desire, violence and spectacle are all framed as professional obligations.

The standout story for me was “Personhood.” In it, a non-binary actor is hired by women to pretend they’ve had a threesome-adjacent experience with them and their husbands, who are deliberately blacked out for the occasion. The goal is simple and bleakly comic: convince the husband his greatest fantasy has come true in order to revive the original marriage.

What makes the story land is the turn toward intimacy between the actor and one of the wives, which exposes how fragile the whole arrangement really is. The moment something genuine threatens to emerge, the question of “personhood” becomes unavoidable: who gets to be real, who WANTS to be real, and at what cost?

Across the collection, Perverts reframes the idea of perversion in the realm of labor. Queerness here doesn’t exist outside of capitalism. It perverts it, bending commerce, labor, and transaction into something stranger and occasionally financially or emotionally profitable. Crane doesn’t over-explain any of this, which I love. The stories simply clock in, do their work, and let the vibes pile up. As a working-class queer, many of the stories hit perfectly.

[Newbietobyy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy!

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Diving in to the stories of Mac Crane, I was invested to see the lives of different characters: the way they live, decide or even flirt instinctively. Consisting of multiple short stories, I jumped from one 'life' to another.

I see the Perverts as an album, songs composed on different times and emotions surrounding Crane at a certain moment. I have yet experienced only a handful of albums in which I thoroughly enjoyed every song, transporting me to multiple dimensions and a sneak peek in the composer or singer's personal experiences. Unfortunately, Perverts is not one of them.

A few stories stood out from the rest. However, the majority were confusing or lack substance. I appreciated the poetic ones, a deep wrenching emotions were obviously conveyed. Strong points were: their uniqueness, quirky, and definitely way out of my imagination.

Rating: 3/10
Ease of reading: 4/10
Can't get enough of: 2/10

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Mac Crane’s writing so I was so excited to get my hands on their upcoming collection of short stories. The protagonists here are queer/dykes/nonbinary/trans, and there’s a lot of mommy issues here both from the perspective of the queer former child and the queer parent. A lot of the stories examine the body, corporality, embodiment, and objectification under capitalism. Some had speculative or satirical elements, many imagining a job related to performing for a straight/cis audience.

I will say the stories in the first half didn’t work as well for me but I feel like it picked up with the title story and by the end I did have an appreciation for the stories as a whole package. I think I prefer Crane’s novels but still had a lot of fun with these. My favourites were Siren Island, The Cycle of Pitiless Impulses, Personhood, and Alex Adams.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

[Noelle De Martini · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!
I am a huge Mac Crane fan so I was super excited to read this. Reading a collection of short stories is something new for me but I liked the variety of it all. I did find that the later stories were more engaging than the ones in the beginning of the book.

The Cycle of Pitiless Impulses, Alex Adams (the dyke who never grew up) , and Catcher were my favorite! Honorable mentions to Julie & The Butch and Topping is Not For the Grief stricken.

Some of the others resonated less with meand weren’t as memorable , but I really liked the weirdness/queerness/strangeness of it all. Excited to see how everything looks when it’s published!

[Jordan Stash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of “Perverts” by Mac Crane.

Perverts is a collection of short stories, some showcasing highly relatable topics, and others exploring bizarre scenarios.

Of the stories in this book, “Personhood,” Topping is Not for the Grief-Stricken,” “The Perverts,” and “Harmony” were the standouts and the only few I enjoyed. These few were entertaining and provocative. Most importantly, they had a clear story that was being told.

Most of the other shorts felt incomplete, sloppy, or downright confusing and made little sense. Overall, I disliked majority of the stories in this book and honestly found it difficult to get through.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun short story collection w/ queer & trans protagonists that pushes at what is truly perverse in modern society. is it the people throwing a blackmail-fueled sex party or the companies laundering in hatred and staffed my broke queer employees who get beat up for a living? there's stories about queer time, the internet, falling in (and out of) love, family expectations & elaborate sexual fantasies! my favorites were smear the queer, alex adams, and i have no record of your ass.

if you liked manywheres by morgan thomas, you'll like this!

thanks to netgalley for the arc

[mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

the best of this is definitely in the back half. a wide range of wild stories, and unsurprisingly to me i liked the longer ones that really pulled me into their crazy little worlds. favorites were cycle of pitiless impulses (definitely my top favorite), alex adams, personhood, and i have no records of your ass. great prose all throughout, though some of these had little to stand on. reminded me of rejection by Tony Tulathimutte, unfortunately just not as good or polished. still quite a promising writer with incredible ideas.

[sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was such a strange collection of stories and is totally out of my usual genre of books but GOD did i enjoy this! each story had a life of its own and made me feel a bit uncomfortable (not in a bad way btw!) and had me rethinking the ideas of "pleasure" and "perversion" outside of how they're usually seen in a more negative light. i'll definitely be picking up more of this author's work in the future!

big thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an early arc copy!

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is my issue with so many short story collections, the quality between stories felt uneven. Some I loved, including Smear the Queer, Siren Island, and Alex Adams, the Dyke Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. Unfortunately, the rest didn’t make a huge impression on me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bizarre collection of short stories, some of whom had me laughing out loud and others had me cringing! My favorite was "The Future Wives," but all of them kept me guessing as they are unlike anything else!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Erin Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything Mac Crane writes so it’s no surprise I devoured this collection. The stories are weird! deranged! poignant! tender! smart! incisive! and queer as hell! All my favorite things! I can’t wait for everyone to read and love this as I did

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really know what to expect from this book of short stories. To tell the truth except for a couple of stories like 'Futurewife', the book was quite boring. I stopped reading it about three fourth through.

[Jeremy Reppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should not come as a surprise given the book’s title, but this collection of short stories is rather odd/unusual. Some of the stories made no sense to me. The quality of the stories varied which is typical in a short story collection. My favorite was probably “Your Damning Yelp Review.”

[Andrea (looseleftlesbian)]

Not for me

[Kim Narby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been digesting this book for days and already cannot wait to reread it. Perverts is a call back to Crane’s debut novel. Many of these stories are more speculative, examining the use of queer bodies in a capitalist society, and how shame can shrink a person, even away from those they love. The narrators are dry and hilarious as they navigate a world that doesn’t seem built for them. This book made me rethink a lot of what I thought I knew about gender and sexuality and shame. Personhood and Alex Adams were standouts to me, but I’ve marked pages in every story in the book. Every queer person should read this book, but it was clearly written, with love, to the trans community.