#and ''fierce femmes & notorious liars'' by kai cheng thom

[read-alert]

Another crosspost from my bookstagram! Full titles under the cut!

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone -> The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Finna by Nino Cipri -> Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Legendborn by Tracy Deon -> Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom -> Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada translated to English by Kit Maude

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia -> Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by RM Romero -> Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon -> Lakewood by Megan Giddings

The Unbroken by CL Clark -> The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg -> The Gods of Tango by Caro De Robertis

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[transbookoftheday]

Fierce Femmes And Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

At once a love letter and challenge to the traditional transgender memoir, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars is a playful, surrealist dance through queer coming of age.

A haunted young girl (who happens to be a kung-fu expert and pathological liar) runs away from an oppressive city, where the sky is always grey, in search of love and sisterhood--and finds herself in a magical place known only as the Street of Miracles.

There, she is quickly adopted into a vigilante gang of glamorous warrior femmes called the Lipstick Lacerators, whose mission is to scour the Street of violent men and avenge murdered trans women everywhere. But when disaster strikes, can our intrepid heroine find the truth within herself in order to protect her new family and heal her broken heart?

[quotation--marks]

‘That’s the difference between love and hunger,’ she says. ‘Hunger is a story you get stuck in. Love’s the story that takes you somewhere new.'

Kai Cheng Thom, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars

[makingqueerhistory]

I’m actually serious about this, if at all possible, right now is a very good time to request queer books from your local library. Whether they get them or not is not in your control, but it is so important to show that there is a desire for queer books. I will also say getting more queer books in libraries and supporting queer authors are pretty fantastic byproducts of any action.

This isn’t something everyone can do, but please do see if you are one of the people who has the privilege to engage in this form of activism, and if you are, leverage that privilege for all you’re worth.

For anyone who can’t think of a queer book to request, here is a little list of some queer books that I think are underrated and might not be in circulation even at larger libraries:

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco     

Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals by William Wright    

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley   

God Themselves by Jae Nichelle

IRL by Tommy Pico        

The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World's Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages             

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom          

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow              

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

Queer Magic: Lgbt+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World by Tomás Prower            

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam   

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon 

Hi Honey, I'm Homo! by Matt Baume      

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw  

The Companion by E.E. Ottoman 

Kapaemahu by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Sacrament of Bodies by Romeo Oriogun     

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods 

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt    

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman    

Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist           

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi             

Peaches and Honey by Imogen Markwell-Tweed      

Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color by Christopher Soto

[contracat25]

Wrap-up for the #TransRightsReadathon time!

I finished three books for it, and really enjoyed them. I also started two that I am hoping to finish before the end of the month.

Feed them Silence by Lee Mandelo - I found this interesting and it def. took some turns I wasn't expecting. Also, I really like these kind of academia-focused stories that questions the darker edges of academia/science, etc, but still, let the characters be interesting. And I like Mandelo's character's ability to be messy. Also some of the themes of making connections and want really worked, and I found the aftward exploring what the book came from really interesting and insightful. So def an engaging read and I'm curious about what Mandelo writes next.

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom - I adored this! As someone obsessed with folklore and fairy tales I loved how this was written. The set-up was so well done, and the use of all of the intertwining stories and the playing with 'reality', it was just so smart. Especially the... '4th wall breaks'/reworking of the narrative in real-time. It was also just beautiful writing, Kai's narrative voice is really solid to me, I want to get a physical copy just so I can go through and highlight it. This is the second book by Kai that I've read and I really, really like her writing. Also, the audiobook was good!

Depart Depart by Sim Kern - was brilliant. I cried multiple times and laughed a few as well. Again the framework of this story is so well used and the setting is so interesting, aaaaand the writing was so good! Plus the exploration of tradition and culture and history, ugh just so interesting. Also all of the characters, but especially Noah are so fleshed out, esp. for how short this book is. Really really impressed. I'm def excited to read more of Sim's work.

I also found these three books really interesting to read at the same time in terms of some of the themes and character journeys.

I donated $25 dollars to the tGI Network of RI and $30 to Thundermist.

As March 31st is Trans Day of Visibility I'll be continuing a few books, we shall see if I can get more finished this month. I might also have a final rec list, because we, including myself, are hopefully all reading books by trans authors and with trans characters all year round.

If you participate what were some of the books you loved?

ID: The first slide is a black book with a wolf on it and a cup of tea on a metal table. The second slide is two books on a teal background.

[specialagentartemis]

What queer Asian sci fi authors would you recommend?

Yeah, to put my money where my mouth is, here are some queer SFF writers from Asia and the Asian Diaspora in the Anglosphere that I really like and highly recommend:

Nghi Vo: probably doesn’t need an endorsement from me, hah, her The Empress of Salt and Fortune is one of the most perfect novellas I’ve ever read and well deserved its Hugo win. The whole Singing Hills cycle is great. It’s a fantasy world strongly inspired by Imperial China and Vietnam, and does clever things with fantasy, folklore, storytelling, and memory. Her novels are standalone historical fantasy set in 1920s-America-with-magic and are very much about Asian immigrant/diaspora experiences in the early 20th century US. With Magic.

Yoon Ha Lee: I love his Machineries of Empire. Would love to finish that trilogy someday. But seriously it’s creative, intense military sci-fi in a magic-science space empire and is very interested in what it takes to uphold such a system.

Simon Jimenez: The Vanished Birds is sooo heartbreakingly good and I need to read A Spear Cuts Through Water soon.

Isabel J. Kim: Short story writer. Runs the gamut of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and the weird stuff in between. Creative and vivid in really compelling ways. Her first novel is in the works and I am SUPER interested. She does funky and creative things with perspective and structure in her stories. Has several stories now that are about turning popular tropes or other iconic stories around like they’re in a kaleidoscope, but her first published story “Homecoming Is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self” is probably still the most affecting to me.

Michelle Kan: Has a trilogy of novelettes called Tales of the Thread, self-described as “aromantic Chinese fairytales” that take a deliberately aro approach to fairytale retellings and fairytale style fantasy. I recommend them. (Also has a superhero novel I haven’t read.)

———

Haven’t read yet but they are on my TBR:

Aliette de Bodard: Her Xuya universe novellas, and the relationships between humans and AIs and spaceships, sound super up my alley.

Kai Cheng Thom: Author of Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir is a less traditionally sff entry but is a fabulist/surrealist take on the Trans Memoir… which I feel like I have to be in the right space for, but I do want to read it.

———

Also he’s not out as queer or anything but I can’t not recommend Ted Chiang because he writes some of the best short stories In The World and has THE most interesting and unique and compelling ideas.

———

There are also so many more authors out there I don’t know and haven’t read! But! Someday!!

[remnantglow]

happy trans day of visibility, i wanna share my favourite books i read for the trans rights readathon!

fiction:

fierce femmes and notorious liars: a dangerous trans girl's confabulous memoir by kai cheng thom (magical realism YA - a dark, humorous and surreal subversion of the "trans memoir" genre; trans MC+author)

a lady for a duke by alexis hall (cute historical regency romance; trans MC+genderqueer author)

the brides at high hill by nghi vo (fifth novella in the exquisite singing hills cycle; nonbinary MC; comes out may 7th!)

the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw (weird (<-complimentary) and gory gothic horror novella about a killer mermaid and a plague doctor; nonbinary love interest+author)

nonfiction:

none of the above: reflections on life outside the binary by travis alabanza

readme.txt: a memoir by chelsea manning

[gatheringbones]

best books of 2022 rec list:

fiction:

chouette by claire oshetsky

forty thousand in gehenna by cj cherryh

fierce femmes and notorious liars by kai cheng thom

sula by toni morrison

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily r. austin

jane eyre by charlotte bronte

villette by charlotte bronte

non-fiction:

gay spirit by mark thompson

we too: stories on sex work and survival by natalie west

transgender history by susan stryker

blood marriage wine & glitter by s bear bergman

love and rage: the path to liberation through anger by lama rod owens

gay soul by mark thompson

between certain death and a possible future: queer writing on growing up in the AIDS crisis by mattilda bernstein sycamore

the man they wanted me to be: toxic masculinity and a crisis of our own making by jared yates sexton

nobody passes: rejecting the rules of gender and conformity by mattilda bernstein sycamore

cruising: an intimate history of a radical pastime by alex espinoza

gay body by mark thompson

what my bones know: a memoir of healing from complex trauma by stephanie foo

the child catchers: rescue, trafficking, and the new gospel of adoption by kathryn joyce

the opium wars: the addiction of one empire and the corruption of another by w. travis hanes III

a queer history of the united states by michael bronski

the trouble with white women by kyla schuller

what we don't talk about when we talk about fat by aubrey gordon

the feminist porn book by tristan taormino

administrations of lunacy: a story of racism and psychiatry at the midgeville asylum by mab segrest

the women's house of detention by hugh ryan

angela davis: an autobiography by angela davis

ten steps to nanette by hannah gadsby

neuroqueer heresies by nick walker

the remedy: queer and trans voices on health and healthcare by zena sharman

brilliant imperfection by eli clare

the dawn of everything: a new history of humanity by david graeber and david wengrow

tomorrow sex will be good again by katherine angel

all our trials: prisons, policing, and the feminist fight to end violence by emily l. thuma

if this is a man by primo levi

bi any other name: bisexual people speak out by lorraine hutchins

white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide by carol anderson

public sex: the culture of radical sex by pat califa

I'm glad my mom died by jenette mccurdy

care of: letters, connections and cures by ivan coyote

the gentrification of the mind: witness to a lost imagination by sarah schulman

skid road: on the frontier of health and homelessness in an american city, by josephine ensign

the origins of totalitarianism by hannah arendt

nice racism: how progressive white people perpetuate racial harm by robin diangelo

corrections in ink by keri blakinger

sexed up: how society sexualizes us and how we can fight back by julia serano

smash the church, smash the state! the early years of gay liberation by tommi avicolli mecca

no more police: a case for abolition by mariame kaba

until we reckon: violence, mass incarceration, and a road to repair by danielle sered

the care we dream of: liberatory & transformative justice approaches to LGBTQ+ health by zena sharman

reclaiming two-spirits: sexuality, spiritual renewal and sovereignty in native america by gregory d. smithers

the sentences that create us: crafting a writer's life in prison by Caits Meissner

[lgbtqreads]

hi! i'm trying to fill in my reading list for the trans rights readathon - i was wondering if you have any recommendations for lesser known trans books by authors of colour? (preferably adult, but i'll take YA too!)

Sure! Check out The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom, Cinder Ella by ST Lynn, The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar, and I believe it's only available on audio, but check out Sunset Springs by Kacen Callender. In YA, I'll add The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons, Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia, and Not Your Villain by CB Lee, though that one's a sequel - I'd read Not Your Sidekick first.

[npdclaraoswald]

Another crosspost from my Instagram! This time for International Women's Day! As far as I know, all of these authors identify as women, but please let me know if I'm wrong!

Details of the authors and their books under the cut, because this would be a long post otherwise

Kai Cheng Thom, author of From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by (illustrated by Kai Yun Ching), Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World, and A Place Called No Homeland

Darcie Little Badger, author of Elatsoe and A Snake Falls to Earth and contributor to Love After the End: An Anthology of Two Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead and Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time edited by Hope Nicholson

Angeline Boulley, author of The Firekeeper's Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed

NK Jemisin author of the Broken Earth Trilogy (The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky), The City We Became, Far Sector (illustrated by Jamal Campbell), How Long 'til Black Future Month?, and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Seanan McGuire, author of Into the Drowning Deep (under a pseudonym) and The Wayward Children series (Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Beneath the Suger Sky, In an Absent Dream, Come Tumbling Down, Across the Green Grass Fields, Where the Drowned Girls Go, and Lost in the Moment and Found)

Octavia Butler, author of Kindred, The Earthseed Duology (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents), and Fledgling

Talia Hibbert, author of The Brown Sisters Trilogy (Get a Life, Chloe Brown; Take a Hint, Dani Brown; and Act Your Age, Eve Brown)

Rebecca Roanhorse, author of the Between Earth and Sky Trilogy (of which I have read Black Sun and Fevered Star), Race to the Sun, and Tread of Angels and contributor to Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Lietich Smith

Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves Duology (The Marrow Thieves and Hunting by Stars), Empire for Wild, and Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

I have also read the Marvel Indigenous collection that Little Badger and Roanhorse contributed to and McGuire's Ghost Spider series, but as Marvel continues to support Isreal, I continue to not support or promote Marvel

[trans-axolotl]

tagged by @librarycards to share my nine favorite books I've read this fall!

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance by Rashid Khalidi

Disability Politics and Theory by AJ. Withers.

Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire edited by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze

What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World by Sara Hendren.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

Nobody Needs to Know: A Memoir by Pidgeon Pagonis

Black Madness :: Mad Blackness by Therí Alyce Pickens (Technically read this before the fall as well but reread it again and it's so good I wanted to put it on the list!)

The Future is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

I also feel like I read a lot of really meaningful articles + interviews + poems this fall, so I'm also going to add my top nine short form pieces that I read as well.

Out of My Hands: A musician in prison pines for his bass. by David Annarelli.

Diaries of Blood: The secret artists within Israeli detention facilities. by Eman Al-Astal.

Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi

Ableism Enables All Forms of Inequity and Hampers All Liberation Efforts by George Yancy interviewing Talila A. Lewis

Occupied Land is an Access Issue: Interventions in Feminist Disability Studies and Narratives of Indigenous Activism by Jess L. Cowing

Perfect Storm: A time to refrain from embracing by Richard Hunsinger.

Sick4Sick by torrin a. greathouse

Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People are Dying by Noor Hindi

Languaging Memory by leena aboutaleb

tagging anybody else who wants to! too tired to tag individual people, sorry.

[transbookoftheday]

Transfem Book Recs for International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day! Here are some transfem book recommendations for you:

Book Titles:

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier

Joy, to the World by Kai Shappley and Lisa Bunker

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Just Happy To Be Here by Naomi Kanakia

Me and My Dysphoria Monster by Laura Kate Dale and Hui Qing Ang

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

For the Love of April French by Penny Aimes

Fake It by Lily Seabrooke

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Fierce Femmes And Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

Princess of the Pomegranate Moon by Emily Wynne

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

The Ojja-Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio and Jenn St-Onge

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor

Into the Gray by Margaret Killjoy

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

[quotation--marks]

Picking locks is a glorious thing. To be able to open sealed doors is the greatest and most important kind of magic, because it allows you to interact with the world on your own terms.

Kai Cheng Thom, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars