"Gender is flexible and surprising in 12 stories of characters transformed by the trappings of a different sex. ...[E]ach one is guaranteed to make the reader question the roles and qualities often assigned to gender and sex. Jones... provides a strong start for Circlet's new Gressive imprint of works that explore outside the gender binary."-Publishers Weekly
History, literature, and mythology are replete with stories of those who, for one reason or another, disguise themselves as the opposite gender, or are transformed into that which they are not. From Bugs Bunny's dress-wearing shenanigans, to Mulan's impersonation of her father, from Tamora Pierce's Alanna of Trebond, to M*A*S*H's Klinger, this collection's antecedents are everywhere.
For centuries, readers have thrilled to the tale of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights. Taken as a bride by a king notorious for executing each wife after the marriage's consummation, Scheherazade spins stories for him to avoid that fate. But what if someone was not as they seemed? Through tales of magical transformation, cross-dressing, and gender bending, our storytelling heroine postpones her death even as she entertains and enlightens her audience.
As editor Michael M. Jones writes in his introduction, "For this collection, I looked for a wide variety of things. First, all stories had to be fantasy. High, low, dark, historical, romantic, urban, mythical--just about anything goes as long as it has those fantastic elements to it. Second, I wanted stories in which the protagonist or other major characters are disguised or transformed, or otherwise challenge traditional gender roles ... heroes and villains, warriors and tricksters, drag queens and cross-dressers, cisgendered, transgendered, and everything in-between. The authors who responded knocked the requirements right out of the park."
With stories by:
Tanith Lee
Sarah Rees Brennan
Shanna Germain
Alma Alexander
C.S. MacCath
Paolo Chikiamco
Tiffany Trent
Melissa Mead
Aliette de Bodard
Lyn C.A. Gardner
Sunny Moraine
David Sklar