Phoebe S.

Phoebe’s Bookshelves

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Phoebe is Currently Reading

Phoebe S. is currently reading

Go Tell It on the Mountain

by James Baldwin

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Apr 04, 2025 07:52PM

Phoebe S. is currently reading

Gossamer Axe

by Gael Baudino

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progress:

(page 14 of 351)
— Mar 20, 2025 06:12AM

Mar 20, 2025 06:12AM

Phoebe S. is currently reading

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic: An LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fantasy Anthology of Unforgettable Adventures

by g. haron davis (Goodreads Author)

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Phoebe S. said: " I was really excited for this book. Keyword, was. Now I'm not sure.

The editor responded to a critique of a lack of transfem representation that was relatively mild in a three star review (essentially what I put if the book was still pretty engaging) I was really excited for this book. Keyword, was. Now I'm not sure.

The editor responded to a critique of a lack of transfem representation that was relatively mild in a three star review (essentially what I put if the book was still pretty engaging) with a Twitter thread that essentially ended up calling trans women men. Their defense? "oh, i'm a sarcastic s.o.b."

Look, no one collection is going to be emblematic of the entire trans experience. And I get that. But if you don't feature trans women in your collection, own it. Don't hide behind queer identity being messy to avoid critique. Gender fluidity and shifting identity can be a thing and you still may have a glaring absence in your work. And ESPECIALLY don't reiterate TERF talking points and then go all "I'm a little birthday boy" about it. That's not cute and doesn't help your case.

My problems with the collection itself is likely to be small. I don't want to buy this anymore, but I likely was going to request a library copy anyway. Writers gave their all for this, their opinions are not the editor's, and I intend to write as fair a review as I can. That being said, the well has kind of been poisoned by the editor. If anything, I'm sure the nbi, genderqueer, genderfluid, etc. people and trans men in this collection didn't sign up to essentially be called "women lite" by the editor and sarcasm is a poor excuse for doing that to them. I just want to read it more because they definitely deserve better than this.

EDIT: Wow, I didn't expect this to be the second most liked review on the book's page, but, um, yeah. I've mellowed a bit on this, but the editor at least has some unexamined transmisogynistic biases, but then, we all have some biased. Still, y'all have asked for receipts, so here they are. It's worth noting Lydia's review did use the term "binary trans," and that could've been critiqued, but it wasn't.

Direct Link to Lydia's Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

g.'s response (note particularly the "~female~" authors bit. They've since claimed otherwise, but I just don't see how that can't be taken as anything other than contempt directed at transfems in context. If you claim it's a good faith effort to include transfems in the sequel, why say you're being petty at all?): https://web.archive.org/web/202304262...

g.'s apology: https://twitter.com/ghd_twt/status/16...

g.'s explanation: https://twitter.com/ghd_twt/status/16... ...more "

progress:

(2%)
"OK, g.'s letter is fairly boilerplate, but, like, so is every other letter from the editor I've read. & it's one of the more entertaining prefaces/intros, so that's good. Love the TWs." — Jan 01, 2025 03:25PM

Aug 29, 2023 12:59PM · see review

See all 17 books that Phoebe is reading…

Phoebe’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for Repression Queen: A Memoir About Gender Transformation Erotica

Repression Queen: A Memoir About Gender Transformation Erotica by Harper O'Neill

1 highlight

I recognize there’s no happy ending in death, even in a story about rebirth. For all the stories I wrote to convince myself that rebirth was possible, it only existed when the self is allowed to die. Do I die here? Does Kayla die? The ...more

Phoebe’s Quotes

“That is Christianity at heart: a single miracle surrounded and sustained by stories, like an island surrounded by the sea.”
― Yann Martel, The High Mountains of Portugal

2 likes

“To a very great extent human history has been the story of the unequal accumulation of harvested wealth, shifting from one centre of power to another, while always expanding the four great inequalities. This is history. Nowhere, as far as I know, has there ever been a civilization or moment when the wealth of the harvests, created by all, has been equitably distributed. Power has been exerted wherever it can be, and each successful coercion has done its part to add to the general inequality, which has risen in direct proportion to the wealth gathered; for wealth and power are much the same. The possessors of the wealth in effect buy the armed power they need to enforce the growing inequality. And so the cycle continues.”
― Kim Stanley Robinson, The Years of Rice and Salt

21 likes

“Is this what makes people old, then? Not age, or decrepitude, but grief?”
― Joseph D. Carriker Jr., Sacred Band

0 likes

“Love is a house with many rooms, this room to feed the love, this one to entertain it, this one to clean it, this one to dress it, this one to allow it to rest, and each of these rooms can also just as well be the room for laughing or the room for listening or the room for apologizing or the room for intimate togetherness, and, of course, there are the rooms for the new members of the household.”
― Yann Martel, The High Mountains of Portugal

16 likes