digital miscreant
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Success! pixouls has read 13 of 12 books.
Young love is pitted against social discrimination in Perumal Murugan’s powerful and compelling novel, set in the rural Tamil Nadu …
The story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world from the #1 …
someone in my disabilities group recommended it
A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means …
I wasn't prepared to read smut, but it is a lot of smut. And it makes sense, with characters who have extensive fan fiction fandom history, how the smut is written, not just the sex scenes, but the conversations that I wish I saw more in queer mainstream published literature. Namely, conversations about dysphoria, internalized transphobia, how desiring others impacts how we identify or desire our own bodies, the loneliness of queer trans time whether you learn early or later in your life. I didn't read this for the smut, and there was so much to the story outside of the smut.
Too often I see queer trans lit where people are so accepting there is nothing said, and I do like that sometimes, I do wish not to have to struggle for being trans, but my trans experience in reality has been informed by my struggle. Too often I …
I wasn't prepared to read smut, but it is a lot of smut. And it makes sense, with characters who have extensive fan fiction fandom history, how the smut is written, not just the sex scenes, but the conversations that I wish I saw more in queer mainstream published literature. Namely, conversations about dysphoria, internalized transphobia, how desiring others impacts how we identify or desire our own bodies, the loneliness of queer trans time whether you learn early or later in your life. I didn't read this for the smut, and there was so much to the story outside of the smut.
Too often I see queer trans lit where people are so accepting there is nothing said, and I do like that sometimes, I do wish not to have to struggle for being trans, but my trans experience in reality has been informed by my struggle. Too often I see queer trans lit where people are so unaccepting that there is also nothing said but pain, but my trans experience is also informed by those who have been kind, curious, willing to be held accountable, and willing to deeply consider what accepting my existence means for how they treat themselves. Whether it's how to refer and interact with genitals, to the ways in which transition can be a constant and/or impromptu thing that one's (potential) partner might consider at any time and how that might effect how desire has been defined up to that point. In a way, it makes sense that these characters and the story have the tone of fan fic, it's often in fan fic that we see fans reimagining what might occur between characters outside of the cannon, what keeps them sustained and intertwined-- or not.
Furthermore, Sol's vampirism is not just about the fantasy of a hot, sexy, shiny vampire that lives forever. Vampirism is rather treated as a debilitating health condition that makes the barriers that he faces in managing his condition along with his relationships or housing strikingly familiar to others with chronic disabilities.
One last note, I do enjoy the mixed media of the book that emphasize a reality not predicated fully on in-person dialogue, including excerpts from bulletin boards and email chains that still do well in the format of audio.
A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in …
A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in …
It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check …
Surprised how good the ending was considering how often the podcasts end unresolved
A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means …
Well, I’m glad,” she said. “You’re exactly my type. A cute, gallant butch. Supernatural would have broken the deal.” “Well,” I said, “I’m not a butch.” “Oh, that’s what all the butches say, Sol. What is it? You like a floral shirt? You can only fix an electric car?” “Nobody can fix an electric car. They’re total black boxes, if the battery breaks down you just need to replace the unit. But I’m—seriously, Elsie—I’m a trans man. I’m not a woman.” “Oh,” said Elsie. “No, that’s very obvious. I mean, that you’re not a woman.” “Then you meant a butch man? Because I’m not that either.” “I thought you were one of those nonbinary people,” she said cautiously. “There are so many of them now.” “Well—I’m not. I’m a man. I just don’t pass.” “That doesn’t matter to me.” “Possibly it should.” “I’m sorry. What did I say?” “Nothing,” I said. “Forget it. I’m too sensitive. A lesbian asks me out—” “Oh, I’m very bi.” “Oh.” “I think you’re really gorgeous,” she said gently. “You’re a hot butch—no matter what your gender—you’re clear and steady and you have eyes like gems and veins like cloudy gems, and slim hands which are slicker and smoother than most people’s hands. You’re hot. I want to watch you write things on folders in small neat handwriting. I don’t really care what you are, you’re the kind of person I think is attractive, and I know I’m the kind of person you think is attractive. And I wanna have dinner and I don’t wanna argue about it.” “What kind of gems?” “Fuck you, I don’t know. Emeralds. Sapphires.” “My eyes are brown.” “Topaz. I came out of nineties fanfic. Will you come out with me?” “I’ll drop you an email,” I said. “And I’m not a butch.”
— Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman (12%)
Dead Collections is a book which features a trans man as the main character. He works as an archivist and finds himself turned into a vampire during the middle of his medical transition on hormones. He's stuck in a dead body that is slow to respond to any sort of medical intervention, overwhelming conscious of his limited ability to pass and exposed to lesbians who invalidate his gender either out of transphobia or overt disregard. I just love how this author captures how messy navigating things like desire can be. A lot of books will just jump to immediate acceptance or immediate hate, or leave it at pronouns and call it a day. They leave out the unsolicited stuff, the microaggressions, from people you want to love or be loved by.
In a desolate reality, one that mirrors our own in frightening ways, a lone and …
A friend on the farm recommended it
It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check …
I know this book doesn't have great reviews, but as a fan of the podcast series, I like to be immersed in the world. Sure it's confusing and winding, but that just adds to the inexplicable surreal-ness for me.
@gersande@millefeuilles.cloud hope you enjoy! and end up doing some nothing later :)
Acid Clouds: Mapping Data Centre Topologies explores the hidden infrastructures of our digital lives, exposing the political, ecological and social …
It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come …
A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in …
started this and dropped it. it's good! i just have read a lot of similar books lately.
