Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction

by K.M. Szpara

There are fantastical stories with actual transgender characters, some for whom that is central and others for whom that isn't. And there are stories without transgender characters, but with metaphors and symbolism in their place, genuine expressions of self through such speculative fiction tropes as shapeshifting and programming. Transgender individuals see themselves in transformative characters, those outsiders, before seeing themselves as human protagonists. Those feelings are still valid. Cisgender people can never quite understand this distancing. But though the stories involve transformation and outsiders, sometimes the change is one of self-realization. This anthology will be a welcome read for those who are ready to transcend gender through the lens of science fiction, fantasy, and other works of imaginative fiction.


"...Szpara stitches together a collection that feels like a cozy blanket for trans readers who long for inclusive fiction (and for cis readers who may well wonder why there’s so much gender-essentialism in everyday SF/F)...This is a timely (which is to say long overdue), wide-ranging, and highly enjoyable collection." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Queer, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, LGBT

ebook

First published September 17, 2016

About the author

K.M. Szpara is a queer and trans author who lives in Baltimore, MD, with a tiny dog. Kellan's debut alt-/near-future novel, DOCILE (Spring 2020, Tor.com Publishing), explores the snowballing debt crisis, consent, and privilege, and can be described as "really gay". He is the author of "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time," a Hugo and Nebula nominated novelette about a gay trans man who's bitten by a vampire. More of his fiction can be found in venues such as Uncanny, Lightspeed, and Shimmer. You can find him on the Internet at kmszpara.com or on Twitter at @KMSzpara.

Reviews

[Teacup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Wow. I have yet to encounter a more excellent collection of short stories in a single anthology. Each and every one of these babies is so beautiful, heartbreaking, mind-bending. And they are all so different from one another! I had to space them out because each one was so meaty I wanted plenty of time to savor it.

It was so thrilling to see trans characters (especially ones with neo-pronouns!) simply mentioned, just as part of the story without any fanfare or the usual acrobatics required to explain/catalogue/analyze. It just felt so perfect, natural, right. Exactly what I would always want and expect to see in fiction that is exploring and pushing the farthest reaches of expression, imagination, and experience.

[Marie-Therese · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mostly good but never quite outstanding collection of stories featuring trans and non-binary/genderqueer characters.

The majority of the stories here are pleasant, moderately well-crafted, and heartfelt, but not very memorable. Exceptions include Nino Cipri's excellent, frequently republished "The Shape of My Name" (I think this is the third or fourth time I've read the story this year), Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam's old-fashioned Asian fairytale "Everything Beneath You", E. Catherine Tobler's vivid "Splitskin", E. Saxey's timely "The Librarian's Dilemma" (a new author for me and someone I'll be looking out for in future), Alexis A. Hunter's unusual, Amish-set "Be Not Unequally Yoked" (again, a new author for me and an interesting voice) and and Molly Tanzer's hilariously dark "The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad".

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

like most collections, this was a mixed bag, but definitely more hits than misses in the collection. I especially enjoyed Nino Cipri's time-travel story "The Shape of My Name," the heartfelt magic realism of A. Merc Rustad's "When Monster's Dance," and the high-school horror of Molly Tanzer's "The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad."

it's a pleasure to read a bunch of stories featuring trans characters where the primary conflict isn't transition, and it's cool that the collection samples a pretty broad spectrum of subgenres. I was disappointed at the degree the collection skews transmasculine/nonbinary, though -- I definitely could have used more trans femmes. generally speaking I was less excited about the stories included in here that were "metaphorically" trans, or that qualified on the virtue of some character using gender neutral pronouns.

it's exciting that there's now enough trans speculative fiction to make a book like this, full of high-quality writing and imagination, a reality. i hope that there's another edition next year!

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic collection of stories about trans* characters or written by trans* authors, curated by editor K.M. Szpara who did an amazing job of choosing stories that span the speculative fiction field from Lovecraftian horror to hard SF, and spans lengths from almost flash-fiction to novella length.

I wish I had the time right now to review every story in the book, because there's not a clunker in the lot. Instead, I'll just list my favorites, in ToC order:

"The Shape of My Name" by Nino Cipri
"Everything Beneath You" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
"Contents of Care Package to Etsath-tachri, Formerly Ryan Andrew Curran (Human English Translated to Sedrayin): by Holly Heisey
"Treasure Acre" by Everett Maroon
"Splitskin" by E. Catherine Tobler
"The Need for Overwhelming Sensation" by Bogi Takacs
"Be Not Unequally Yoked" by Alexis A. Hunter
"The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad" by Molly Tanzer.

The whole book was wonderful, but these were the stand-outs to me.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much hit and miss anthology that probably leans more to the miss side. There are a couple of good stories, a lot of just average pieces, and a few totally confusing ones that I found impossible to understand. I’m still not clear about the balance, but felt there seemed a little one sided away from the transfeminine. Of course, I may just be mistaken about that.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Librarian's Dilemma" and "Capsule from the past" were my favorites!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This inaugural anthology collects the best transgender science fiction and fantasy short stories of 2015. I’ve been wanting to pick it up ever since I saw the author line-up; there’s a ton of great trans authors working in science fiction and fantasy, and this collection has some authors whose work I adore.

My favorite story here is actually one I’ve read before. Multiple times actually. That’s how much I love “The Shape of My Name” by Nino Cipri, which fabulous, amazing, splendid, and a whole host of other positive adjectives. I actually featured it in a list post for Queership (a now-closed blog for queer SFF) on queer time-travel short stories. Anyway, this story follows Heron, whose family has a time-machine in their backyard. I don’t want to say too much more, but please read it!

I’ve read some other stories in this collection, which isn’t that surprising as I used to write Queership’s short fiction column. Another one here, “Treasure Acre” by Everett Maroon was actually also featured on the time-travel list. Daniel has traveled back in time to find a box buried by Danielle. I skipped over it this time around, as I did with all the other stories I’d already read. I was in the mood for new tales

“Everything Beneath You” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam is another I’d read before, in which a woman of the fisher people falls in love with a goddess who says she can give her everything she’s ever wanted, but the goddess will not unbend from her own notions of propriety. I didn’t remember liking it enough the first time around to make a second read through worthwhile.

“Kin, Painted” by Penny Stirling is a story I featured on a Queership list for fantasy with aromantic protagonists. Everyone in this unnamed narrator’s family paints themselves, be it camouflage or chess boards or works of art. Their entire life, the question of what they want to paint has hung over them, even as they are unsure if they want to use paint at all. In the end, they will have to find their own way in life.

Aside from “The Need for Overwhelming Sensation” by Bogi Takács, all the other stories were new to me. “The Need for Overwhelming Sensation” is one I started a year or two ago, but it turned out to be way to sexual for me so I quit pretty quickly. I didn’t give it another attempt this time around.

Of the stories that were new to me, I think “Chosen” by Margarita Tenser was my favorite. It’s a short little story that flips fantasy’s conventions of “the chosen one” on their heads. I loved it, and I think it will appeal strongly to anyone who likes Terry Pratchett’s work.

My second favorite has to be “The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad” by Molly Tanzer, which is sort of like Lovecraftian mythos meets high school. You don’t need to be familiar with Lovecraft to enjoy it — I know next to nothing, and I still loved this story.

“The Librarian’s Dilemma” by E. Saxey was a very interesting story that’s sort of science fiction meets library science. What’s the purpose of libraries? What’s the right balance between preserving books and sharing them with the world? I wasn’t fully satisfied with the ending, but I enjoyed how the story made me think.

“The Petals Abide” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew and “The Scaper’s Muse” by B.R. Sanders were both solid, professional quality science fiction stories, but ones I doubt I’ll remember. They just didn’t have enough of an impact.

I was looking forward to reading a new story by A. Merc Rustad, “Where Monsters Dance,” but in the end, I don’t think it was one of their best. That’s not a particular slight on “Where Monsters Dance” — Rustad has so many phenomenal stories that any story that’s just “good” doesn’t stand out much in comparison.

The only story I really had a problem with was “Contents of Care Package to Etsath-tachri, Formerly Ryan Andrew Curran (Human English Translated to Sedrayin) by Holly Heisey, which was about a human transitioning to alien. I don’t think the metaphorical concept worked for me. It made me think more of those racist creeps like Rachel Dolezal who claim to be “trans-racial.”

Other stories include “Into the Waters I rode Down” by Jack Hollis Marr, “Splitskin” by E. Catherine Tobler, and “Be Not Unequally Yolked” by Alexis A. Hunter.

Like all anthologies, Transcendent was mixed, but I’m glad I read it. I’ve also got the third volume on my Kindle, so you may be seeing a review of that at some point.

Review from The Illustrated Page.

[india :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok i think im gonna stop reading short stories. i thought i would like them because i like short chapters, but they never give me anything or leave an impact. i think horror short stories are the only ones i like sense it doesnt require a lot of background. also these were just so anticlimactic like there was barely one that stood out to me at all. The one i liked the most was probably Contents of Care Package... it was short and sweet but left an impact - coming out as an alien race and leaving the life youve known behind, the story told by letters from your loved ones and their different opinions/coming to terms with this. It did a good job of being a metaphor for transitioning. I like this quote from the story Everything Beneath You: "I did not wish to be a man. What I wished was to be wombless, to never be forced to carry that burden. To not have this empty part inside me waiting to be filled." I hate pregnancy: what it could do to me, what it means for me, how i am expected to feel about it, how it dictates my life. My least favorite was probably The Petals Abide. I had no idea what it was saying or what it meant or what was the point, i almost skipped it without finishing. I thought Treasure Acre was depressing. The Librarian's Dilemma had the most hope for me because of course my job. I enjoyed Jas's motivation to free information to make it more accessible to the world but also the flipside bc that would also mean making racist/homophobic/etc information available as well. The ending fell flat for me.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is one of my absolute favourites at the moment, and I won't shut up about it. I was a little concerned by the messy/overcrowded cover that these stories would be unimpressive or unremarkable. I was also worried that they'd only been included because of their transness and not because of their talent - but thankfully this was not the case!! Out of the 15 stories, I loved 8 of them. (the others were still very well written, but just weren't my specific brand of sci fi). I can't get some of the motifs out of my head - and the first story (The Shape of my Name by Nino Cipri) is a standalone ebook by Tor... which I promptly purchased just to support the author (and then re-read). I also realised, by researching the later volumes in this Transcendent series, that several high profile sci fi authors are trans or queer, which I was previously unaware of. This made me really happy - knowing that in a genre I love, people are distinguished first and foremost for their writing. This book broadened my understanding of gender itself, and (I hope) deepened my compassion for others. It's so human, even when it's alien.

[Salamanderinspace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection! It reminds me of a Best of SFF anthology. It's not an easy or light read--I had to skip a couple stories because they were too poetic, too dense, too smart for me. The ones I did read were excellent, though.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting short story collection focussing on fantasy and sci-fi stories with trans characters. There‘s a wide variety of trans stories, from the clearly defined featuring both characters that transitioned through means of our current modern medicine and some through magical or futuristic means, to the allegorical where transness is not the focal point and only implied. I liked that there was such a big variety of trans narratives includes.
I found myself really enjoying quite a few of the stories here such as the sci-fi time travelling story „The Shape of my Name“ by Nino Cipri, the unsettling sci-fi apocalypse „The Petals Abide“ by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, the body-switching war novel „into the waters I rode down“ by Jack Hollis Marr and the gothic short „The Librarian‘s Dilemma“ by E. Saxey, which were all highlights of this anthology to me.
Unfortunately as is the case with many trans anthologies I‘ve picked up recently there is definitely a skew towards transmasculinity in this one as well. Some of the nonbinary characters never have their agab mentioned, but those that do are only ever afab. Furthermore only one story „into the waters I rode down“ features an explicitly trans female character, who mentions her transition. „Where Monsters Dance“ has a trans woman LI (but unfortunately her role in the plot is minimal and she mainly serves as a damsel) and The Scaper‘s Muse features a sci-fi transition from a formerly male body to a female one, but as the character has repeatedly changed their body and gender through sci-fi means beforehand I would not necessarily claim them as a trans woman. I sincerely hope that that is something that has been improved upon in the future releases.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13667162

All in all, I found the collection a superior mix of stories with no klunkers. A handful of stories were "merely" slightly more than average but most ranged from great to near perfect. As a whole, the anthology took on more than simple transgender changes and playing with male and female roles. There were totally elevated from the bulk of TG TF stories that I read a steady diet of at the end of the 20th century. There was no mind control, body horror, or rapist turn-abouts in these pages that I might see from Big Closet or the Transformation Story Archives.

My least favorite stories were INTO THE WATERS I RODE DOWN, EVERYTHING BENEATH YOU, and CONTENTS OF CARE PACKAGE TO ETSATH-TACHRI, FORMERLY RYAN ANDREW CURRAN (HUMAN ENGLISH TRANSLATED TO SEDRAYIN). Each of these stories were better than average, which is what you want to see in a "best of" collection. There just seemed to be something that wasn't clicking with me.

My favorite stories were, BE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED, THE THING ON THE CHEERLEADING SQUAD, and WHERE MONSTERS DANCE. So generally, for me, the stories improved as I got deeper into the book. I tend to think anthology editors like to sort from Better to Best, but I need to talk to more editors to see if this is usually the case. I was really excited to have purchased this.

[Artur Nowrot]

In comparison with 2 and 3, I think this anthology missed my sensibilities a bit. Some stories struck me as a bit too earnest and sentimental, others - too unnerving ("The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad"). It seemed to skew more towards fantasy and urban fantasy/horror, though, which I liked, as those are my preferred genres.

Personal highlights:
"The Shape of My Name" by Nino Cipri
"The Librarian's Dilemma" by E. Saxey
"Chosen" by Margaret Tenser

[Steve Stivaktis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Transcendent has the same problem as every short story collection, which is the general difficulty for a single reader to appreciate all stories equally due to plain taste, it's definitely worth reading, mostly because I've been searching for proper representation of trans folks since day one and I've never found it. And while some stories deal with the matter in a rather awkward way, to say with caution, and some others only have it in the background, there are some others that satisfied me deeply with their portrayal of fellow trans people.

I'm going to point out specifically A. Merc Rustad's "Where Monsters Dance" for its powerful feelings and queerness and upsetting themes, despite including my pet peeve of finding out the trans character's dead name, Jack Hollis Marr's "into the waters i rode down" for its atmosphere, and most of all Margarita Tenser's "Chosen", which is not only brilliantly laconic but also sums up the entire aesthetic of what I'm looking for in a fantasy story.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A broad range of styles makes up this collection of sci-fi and fantasy fiction by genderqueer authors. Some felt more accessible than others to me. Some involve the experience of being trans or genderqueer in a literal, straightforward manner, while others are more metaphorical. None of them hold your hand--they aren't pedestrian stories attempting to define transgenderism, the process of transitioning, or the struggle to be accepted by one's family, peers, or society. All of those subjects are touched on, but none of them make a story in this anthology. Some stories are inextricably tied to the trans experience, but for others, it's one detail to enrich the story. Some of the highlights are "The Shape of My Name," "The Librarian's Dilemma," "Where Monsters Dance," and "The Thing on the Cheerleading Squad."

[Brandon Desiderio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these stories will stay with me forever. This is a superb anthology for a taste of many different voices that tackle or subvert the speculative fiction genre in divergent ways. Szpara rocked it with deciding on these stories to include! Among my favorite were these, hands down:
-Be Not Unequivocally Yoked by Alexis A. Hunter (probably my favorite overall!)
-Where Monsters Dance by A. Merc Rustad (close second favorite!)
-The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri (!!!!!)
-The Librarian’s Dilemma by E. Saxey
-Everything Beneath You by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
-The Petals Abide by Benjamin Sriduangkaew
-Splitskin by E. Catherine Tobler

...I really can list the entire table of contents, honestly. Such good stuff! Can’t wait to reread this in the years to come. And to follow many of these authors’ careers! Including Mr. Szpara’s!

GET A COPY! You won’t regret it.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got through this book because I felt it was something I should read, as a trans person who is a science fiction and fantasy fan. And there were a couple of stories I did like, but a lot of the stories were utterly incomprehensible, or seemed incomplete: like they were a fragment from something that could have been an interesting story, but nothing at all complete. There was one story that kind of read like a transphobic joke---it was about a man who decides he's really an alien and goes off to live with aliens in an alien body---and the only transfeminine character I noticed in the whole book (there may have been others I just failed to recognize as such) seemed to exist solely as a plot device, being kidnapped to give her cis girlfriend an excuse to go looking for her.

[Niccolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

To have trans and gender-weird narratives normalized is bigger than cisgender people can even imagine.

Wow! What an excellent collection of stories from some uber talented people. My favorites were:

The Librarian's Dilemma - E. Saxey
The Shape of My Name - Nino Cipri
Kin, Painted - Penny Stirling

Being able to read about trans people who are more than props and whose narratives are more than about villains and tragedies is an experience trans people crave. That this is speculative fiction with most of these stories set in fantasy/sci-fi worlds makes it hard to envision myself as these characters in the way most people get to envision themselves as characters, but to have trans and gender-weird narratives normalized is bigger than cisgender people can even imagine.

[alexander shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

My hold on the second volume ended up coming in prior to this one, but as they aren't linked through plots or anything, it doesn't really matter what order you read things in. I did find more stories enjoyable and relatable in this volume than the second one, with less focus on experimental story forms. The stories themselves didn't all feel inherently trans-focused, at least in relation to character gender, but Szpara made a note in the introduction around expanding our conceptions as trans people as to who gets to write trans stories and also the various things trans can mean, especially when it comes to speculative fiction where magic and science can do so much more than in the "real" world.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection of stories! Great diversity of plot and characters, across time and space and gender lines - it was a wild ride at times, and I was here for it. 😍

Things used to be pure inside me. Separated. When I was a boy, I was wholly a boy. When I was a horse, I was wholly a horse.



I laughed out loud at parts, and felt my heart wrenched at others. As with all anthologies, some stories stuck with me more than others, but there were none that I didn't enjoy in some way. ❤️

[Danni Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I hoped it would be; the most engaging stories in this collection were actually all ones I’d read previously. I just felt like there was a lack of stories I could relate to, which seemed odd for a collection of trans spec fic, and while I don’t expect to connect with every story in any anthology, I just felt like there were an awful lot of stories in this one where I could barely follow what was going on let alone connect with the narrative. I’ll give the next volume a try though, maybe that will be better!

[Rebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I primarily read SFF and a fair amount of it, so I'm always wary of short-story collections by multiple authors - not unusual to find one story that's really well written, then a few misses in terms of writing/editing. So, I checked out Transcendent with tempered expectations. I was more than pleasantly surprised; I really enjoyed this collection! I'm not sure how to describe the stories, except to say I was sad when I realized I had reached the end. It looks like there is a series of these anthologies, lucky me (and lucky you!)

[clairvoyantpegasus]

Finished! Is this my very first anthology? This is such a solid, sturdy collection of stories celebrating, tenderly portraying, mundanely painting lives of diversity, steeped in speculative fiction, magic, fantasy, Gothic, and everything else as beautiful. I feel like the first half was stronger than the latter, but there's just so much in it for everyone to peel and devour, and I sure will be looking into all the authors' other works + more volumes of Transcendent! Highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of speculative fiction with ambition and heart.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several of the stories in here are fantastic! Others weren't as engaging for me. Some of my favorites include:
Nino Cipri's "The shape of my name"
Everett Maroon's "Treasure acre"
Bogi Takacs's "The need for overwhelming sensation"
B R Sanders's "The scraper's muse"
E Saxey's "The librarian's dilemma"
Margarita Tenser's "Chosen"
A. Merc Rustad's "Where monsters dance"
Molly Tanzer's "The thing on the cheerleading squad"

[W.L. Bolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a much needed collection. I agree that the stories were a mixed bag, but I enjoyed the majority of them, and the ones I didn't like were more because of style than anything else. The stories represent a wide variety of sci fi and fantasy; I've read or listened to a few in other publications/podcasts. I definitely recommend this book.

[Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

So like with most anthologies some stories awesome some not so much but the reason I’m only giving it 2 stars is because the “need for overwhelming sensation” a story that was about bondage and had the POV character calling someone master - felt like someone made a story about 51 shades of gray in space added a line about not assuming pronouns and called it a day

[celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many anthologies, you may find some things that you really adore, and others that are just... so-so. It still feels plesantly surprising to have so much trans speculative fiction in the same place.
Particular stand-outs for me (that make the anthology worth picking up!!) were Nino Cipri's "The Shape of My Name" and E. Saxey's "The Librarian's Dilemma."

[Benji · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really mixed bag. There were a few stories I liked but none I loved and quite a few I disliked. Short SFF stories are hard because the reader has to quickly learn the rules of your world and there may not be enough words to adequately or satisfyingly explain it. More than once I finished a short story and thought “wtf was that about”

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a collection of short stories in a while, and first with the collection being a mix of authors in even longer. It proved a welcome change of pace. While not every story resonated, these were thought provoking and well written, spanned a nice mix of themes and genres, and were unified not only in their representation but also in their imagination

[Gabriel Vidrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t quite sure how to rate this book. On one hand, it’s transgender fiction, and it deserves all the stars. On the other...there were some stories I just didn’t “get.” Maybe that’s a flaw on my part, as short stories tend not to be my favorite. In all, though, I enjoyed most of them.