Trans Rights Readathon-- Last Day!
Today is the last day of the readathon! There's so much to read, and less than 12 hours to read it... but I'm so excited to have read 9 trans books and raised $600 for the Trans Health Legal Fund so far. THANK YOU to everyone who has donated and pledged!
Have your searched #TransRightsReadathon on your social media of choice yet? Because I have to tell you... the sheer outpouring of posts across all platforms is a joy to behold. And there are so many, many book recommendations to discover!
I just finished reading The Trans Space Octopus Congregation by Bogi Takács, a "Hungarian Jewish agender trans person (e/em/eir/emself or singular they pronouns) currently living in the US as a resident alien." I think it's important to include these various ways e identified emself while talking about eir short story collection, because every single one of the identifiers e put in eir bio e also put into the pages of this book. These speculative fiction short stories range from hard sci-fi (including specific research paper references on the real-world research that inspired them!) to mythic, and Bogi seamlessly blends genres in ways that are beautiful and profound. Faith and magic and science knit together to form fascinating worlds, characters, and conflicts. I was enthralled.
At the heart of many of the stories in The Trans Space Octopus Congregation are some common themes-- when exercising power is nurturing vs. destructive, the transformation of bodies, whether religion really needs to be rigid, the evolution of technology for good or ill... the failings of colonialism and why fascism will fail. And there are sentient octopuses and planets, sea monsters, spaceships, prayer and cybernetics. There's also an emphasis on world building instead of romance and sex, which I found fun to read. I would happily hand this book to anyone I know looking for queer spec fic books marketed for adults that don't focus on romance-- and I know a whole lot of folks looking for that!
What I'm Reading Next: Finna by Nino Capri
Why I'm Excited About It: I've heard people talking up this book for years now. I'm so curious why so many folks whose opinions I respect love it so much! (Really, all I know about it is that it's a portal adventure story with some fight-the-system vibes set in a not-Ikea store. I'm excited to discover more!)
If you haven't pledged yet, it's not too late! Just let me know how much you'd like to donate by the end of the day... today is the last day of the readathon! Tomorrow, I'll be selecting the winner for the book giveaway, which could be ANY book I've mentioned this week, and letting everyone know our grand total. I'm hoping to read 1-2 more books by the end of the day... cheer me on and enter the giveaway by commenting below!