#And S.T. Lynn's Black Trans Fairy Tales

[oldtvandcomics]

Reblogging mostly to have these recommendations somewhere I can find them, but if I'm already at it:

Mostly horror, but works just as well as alternate history: The two Dread Nation books by Justina Ireland. Civil War era zombies, but the real evil is racism. They were SO GOOD!! They did get some fame, too, as far as I know (I got there years late, as usual), but they could get even more popularity?

Also horror, Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black. Vampires are besieging a town, a witch needs to fight them before the protective magic runs out. It's the first in a series, but can be left as stand-alone, if you so desire. Not one of the best books that I have read, but it was a really solid read, especially since the author is self-published. (And OMG, I'm just seeing that she has a space opera book out?? I will need to get to that at some point!!) You absolutely could do worse than this book.

And look, I know that it is old enough to count as a classic by now, but OMG, people, read Imaro!!! The author is Charles R. Saunders and it was first published in 1981. It is sword and sorcery, the main character is wandering through a fantasy Africa being very cool and heroic. The worldbuilding is AMAZING, and it's honestly sad that nobody ever seems to remember that these books exist.

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 3D, MATCH 1 OUT OF 2!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Original Fairytale:

The OG, she suffered so much more than Ariel in the Disney version, and gave up her love for Christianity. When she's turned into a human her feet are in agony with every step, but she dances anyway to enchant the Prince. The Prince marries a princess who found him after the Little Mermaid rescued him. The Little Mermaid is distraught at the prince marrying another, so her sisters give her a dagger from the Sea Witch that will turn her back into a mermaid if she kills him. She refuses to kill him, and then she turns into sea foam and dies, but because she was a good person she becomes a spirit of the air and does good deeds for 300 years until she dies again, gains a soul, and goes to Heaven.

Erika:

[No Propaganda Submitted]

[transbookoftheday]

Beauty's Beast by S.T. Lynn

Belle is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She enjoys wearing her late mother’s dresses and her father helps braid her hair into any style she can think of. She loves nothing more than to curl up in the courtyard of the abandoned castle in the woods with a mug of hot tea and a new book from her favorite store in town. Her life would be perfect except for one beastly, horrible Gaston. He’s a brute of a man, arrogant, tactless, and he won’t leave Belle alone.

Relief comes from an unexpected place. The castle in the woods isn’t so abandoned, and while the Guardian who lives there can’t speak, Belle learns to communicate with sign language. She discovers a heartbreaking tale and a whole castle full of friends who quickly become extended family. Until Gaston senses Belle slipping from his grasp.

Belle knew ignoring the problem wouldn’t make him go away, and now Gaston threatens more than just Belle’s happiness. He has a sword, an ax, and an entire village of scared people storming the castle to kill the Guardian. He means to steal Belle from the first real community she’s ever found. But Belle has learned a thing or two about the magic of love, and a small man like Gaston can’t destroy that.

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: Black Trans Fairy Tales Series by S.T. Lynn

I swear I didn’t even realize that it’s trans awareness week when I picked this, I’d just read them recently and they’re AWESOME.

(The three books in order, as seen in my Kindle, after I read them.)

The Black Trans Fairy Tale series consists out of three fairy tale retellings, roughly eighty pages each, based specifically on the Disney version of these stories: Cinder Ella (Cinderella), Mer Made (The Little Mermaid), and Beauty’s Beast (Beauty and the Beast). While they all start out in a familiar way, the stories then quickly take their own path and go off in new and unexpected directions. 

They are written by “S.T. Lynn”, which is a pseudonym for author Tami Veldura.

At the time of writing, these books unfortunately only exist in ebook format, through Veldura’s website does list physical copies, both separately for each and for the three as an omnibus.

Aside of their website, Tami Veldura can be found in places like Instagram, and of course here on Tumblr as @tamiveldura.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Hi! Great initiative for a blog! Here are some more books. I think they're all indie, but it's all on Amazon.

No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll (https://www.amazon.com/Man-Woman-Born-Rewoven-Tales-ebook/dp/B07C86CX8G)

The Margin Street Zeroes series by Robin Banks (https://www.amazon.com/Margin-Street-Zeros-5-book-series/dp/B09DBW5NLF)

Transistor by Molly J. Bragg (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B4T7WHGR) (second part of a series, but also works as stand-alone)

Black Trans Fairy Tales Series by S.T. Lynn (https://www.amazon.com/Black-Trans-Fairy-Tales/dp/B0B2ZLP13J)

Baker Thief by Claudie Arsenault (https://www.amazon.com/Baker-Thief-Claudie-Arseneault-ebook/dp/B07CPRM533)

Hi thank you for the submissions, I added them to the list :)

[tamiveldura]

Friday Update!

Brief! Because I am Le Tired.

For the Anthology Workshop, I have skipped assignment #1 last week so that I could finish writing Vampire Mated, the novella I also happened to start just last week. I wrote 23k in six days and it's 50% kinky sex and it's also the fastest thing I've ever written and I LOVE it.

It's due to the editor first week of July and I need to do some formatting for that.

Hold on to that, more of Mated to come.

This week the Anthology Workshop assignment #2 (of six) was a cozy mystery set at a beach. On my YA/fantasy penname S.T. Lynn (long time fans will recognize the Cinder Ella trilogy, now in paper and hardback https://www.tamiveldura.com/product/black-trans-fairy-tales-omnibus/) I have a short story series called the Mischief Mysteries. They're a set of cozies from the point of view of a pet rats (based on my own rats years ago).

None of the Mischief Mysteries are available anywhere. I'm holding them for now until I have enough for a substantial collection OR I can find a good trade/small press market for them.

All that to say I wrote a Mischief Mystery for the cozy assignment and turned it in today. I think it's a strong story and I have all my fingers crossed that the editor buys it (but I won't know until the workshop in August!)

Sorry to leave you in suspense 😂

The third assignment next week is MilScifi, which I love, with two incredible, intimidating editors. I have a MilScifi short story series (check out the Boundary Shock Quarterly magazine, I'm in every issue starting at 14: https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/), but I'm not dedicated to using that world if the call for subs doesn't fit. I'll know on Monday!

I'm going to take a break this weekend and play the crap out of APICO. Save the bees.

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 2D, MATCH 2 OUT OF 4!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Dr. Cadence Mbella:

See here https://lesbrary.com/danika-reviews-the-little-homo-sapiens-scientist-by-s-l-huang/

Erika:

[No Propaganda Submitted]

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1D, MATCH 4 OUT OF 8!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Doria:

This little mermaid rescued her “prince” from the Titanic, and suffers a fate very similar to the original tale.

Erika:

[No Propaganda Submitted]

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 4B, MATCH 2 OUT OF 2!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Danielle:

This is, imo, the single best retelling of Cinderella out there. She has a great character, her relationship with the prince grows organically rather than happening in a single night, and the scene with the bandits is top tier

The story is told as a historical romance instead of anything supernatural happening. Drew Barrymore is a cute Cinderella, Anjelica Houston is an incredible stepmother, and she's also really nasty to one of the stepsisters too, who ends up taking Danielle (Cinderella)'s side. Also Leonardo da Vinci is hanging around painting a portrait of Danielle at one point.

The Drew Barrymore Cinderella is fantastic. It’s got real history mixed with beautiful whimsy! I absolutely love the butterfly wings and how she spoke up for her step mother and sister at the end (and that they were still punished). I feel like I need to go watch it now.

she’s funny and smart and she’s resourceful (also her outfits are historically accurate!)

I was named after a character in Ever After (her). Vote for my mothers good taste!

[oldtvandcomics]

Hi! So. I'm not a self-published author, but I do know some people who are in the indie queer scifi scene. Here is a list of things you might want to check out:

Queer SciFi. True treasure trove for indie queer scifi books. You can even get free ebooks each month! Here is their website, and here the place where they do book reviews in particular. (You can also get them to review your books, by the way. Or sign up for that thing where they give away ebooks for free, in exchange of people signing up for your newsletter.)

#Queer Media Monday is my own writing on here, where I do a recommendation of a piece of queer media every Monday. I'm trying to keep it at least somewhat diverse, but self-published books HAVE happened in the past, and definitely will keep happening in the future, too. The ones I have:

Black Trans Fairy Tales Series by S.T. Lynn

Queer SciFi’s Annual Flashfiction Contest

Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black

Ein Meer aus Feuer by Evelyne Aschwanden (This one is in German)

Hearts of Heroes series by Molly J. Bragg

By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga by Erica Friedman (This one is nonfiction)

The Margin Street Zeroes series by Robin Banks

Asexual Fairy Tales by Elisabeth Hopkinson

No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll

Heartless (webcomic, so probably not what you are looking for)

While so far, I am the only one to post in Queer Media Monday, it was originally supposed to be a collective effort to promote queer things and get a database where people can find out what exists. You seem to be a writer and a lover of independently published stories. So if you ever want to jump in with a book or two, feel free to do so! I've made the choice to always write small essays, but you can do whatever.

Self published authors, this one’s for you!

So, I’m looking for some more books to add to my shelf and want to support self published authors at the same time!

I enjoy most genres, tbh, although I do prefer LGBTQ stories! So promo yourself to me and show me your books! ❤️

I’m also looking for more mutuals so I’ll be following all of you back if you choose to follow!

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1B, ROUND 9 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Cyn:

Give this butch firefighter a chance ✊😔

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 2B, MATCH 5 OUT OF 8!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Queen Cinderella:

I just want more people to acknowledge the 10th Kingdom tbh. But this series takes place long after her story and I think her role as a background character is kind of hilarious

One of the five Great Queens who helped bring an age of prosperity to the 9 kingdoms. Her daughter married Snow White's son. When we meet her, she's over 200 years old (and can still dance, mostly).

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 3B, MATCH 3 OUT OF 4!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Ella:

Listen, is the book good? No. Does the idea of a trans Cinderella slap? Yes.

Sam:

Best of the early 2000s modern Cinderellas. Not even Disney?! Hillary Duff and Chad Micheal Murray do the whole Cinderella story in High School! Everyone in it is amazing. Sam can wear roller skates and go to a masquerade ball in the same night! And she is exposed as Cinderella which is different from the typical story line where the stepfamily tries to keep her identity hidden. And she makes it rain! In a drought!

So the love interest in this is the worst but Hilary Duff is pretty iconic. The moment that she came out to the dance in the dress and the 2000s pop song is playing… it made my childhood.

She's a classic. She's Hilary Duff. She got a kiss in the rain during drought.

Because she still has the stepmother (and dead father) and step-sisters who treat her horribly and the charming "prince"/football star, but she actually saves herself! As far as I remember, there is no shoe fitting scene, Austin finds out in another way - from emails that Sam's sisters find and spread around school. But Sam stands up to her stepmother after finding a letter (and will) from her father and sorts her life off before getting the guy.

And, to be terribly honest, I've never been a fan of Cinderella stuff, but I did like this film. Probably because of the change to the story and Hilary Duff. And Sam's best friend Carter.

[transbookoftheday]

Mer Made by S.T. Lynn

Erika is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She loved to wear her mother's dresses and tight corsets, but that was before the disease took her mother away. Erika's father doesn't see a daughter, he sees a confused son that needs a new start in a new city across the ocean. Erika has no place to go, so with the last of her mother's dresses she packs for months on a sailing ship.

Halfway across the ocean, Erika's life is forever altered. She sneaks on deck in her mother's dress in the dead of night and a superstitious deckhand throws her overboard, dress and all. But drowning at sea isn't how Erika plans to die. She cuts a deal with a sea witch for more than her life--for the first time, she is transformed into the woman she's always known was inside. Her dress becomes a mermaid tail and all it took was her voice.

She should have known living her authentic life wouldn't be so easy, though. The witch wants more than Erika's voice, she's on the hunt for the undersea throne, the seat of power. Ariel, the last daughter of the king must marry in three days or the first place Erika has ever called home will be destroyed. The magic of true love is the only thing that can save them now.

[transbookoftheday]

Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

Ella is transgender. She's known since she was young; being a woman just fit better. She was happier in skirts than trousers, but that was before her stepmother moved in. Eleanor can't stand her, and after Ella's father passes she's forced to revert to Cole, a lump of a son. She cooks, she cleans, and she tolerates being called the wrong name for the sake of a roof over her head. Where else can she go?

An opportunity to attend the royal ball transforms Ella's life. For the first time, strangers see a woman when she walks down the stairs. While Princess Lizabetta invited Cole to the ball, she doesn't blink an eye when Cinderella is the one who shows. The princess is elegant, bold, and everything Ella never knew she wanted. For a moment she glimpses a world that can accept her, and she holds on tight.

She should have known it wouldn't last. Dumped by her wicked stepmother on the farthest edge of the kingdom, Ella must find a way to let go of the princess and the beautiful life they shared for an hour. She'll never find her way back. But it's hard to forget the greatest night of her life when every rose she plants is a reminder.

[oldtvandcomics]

I second the POST ABOUT BOOKS YOU LIKE. Also, write reviews. But most importantly, POST ABOUT THEM. For most authors, word of mouth is all they have.

Talking about. My own Queer Media Monday initiative. I post one queer media thing every Monday. If anyone would like to join, that would be the original idea. Just, you know, to keep the word of mouth going.

Trans books I've written about before are:

Black Trans Fairy Tales series by S.T. Lynn

Hearts of Heroes series by Molly J. Bragg (You want book 2, Transistor. They can all be read independently of each other, there is just a shared universe)

Margin Street Zeroes series by Robin Banks

No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll

And trans media on screen:

Doctor Who (I suggest you start with the Twelfth Doctor for the genderfluidity, series 8)

Paradise Lost (2018) (Not technically trans, as Imã explicitly states that he identifies as a man, but he is also so effeminate that it definitely counts as challenging the gender binary.)

But what I'm doing is a bit like trying to empty an ocean with a teaspoon. So yeah, SERIOUSLY, either join in or start your own thing. There is so much beautiful culture out there, and it needs our support to flourish.

A short mod update: I've been running this blog for a month by now and posted 176 books and currently queued 60 more. I'm so happy for every submission and especially enjoy reading your comments and tags. I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this blog as well. Please keep recommending books if you know any that aren't on the goodreads list yet. If you're an author and want to submit your own stories here, please do so (including self published or indie books or books that don't have a goodreads page). Please buy the books you like especially from a local independent bookstore or the author's personal website if possible, support the authors you find interesting, request the book from your local library, write a review or make fanart or just talk about how much you like them in the tags and replies and reblogs. Thank you all for your already wonderful interaction with this blog, it's really lovely. And remember: There can never be too many trans books and there can never be too much love for them ❤️