A review by undertheteacup
Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, by K.M. Szpara
5.0
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.
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.