Regarding audiobooks/regular books I can make a reccomendation.
Gideon the Ninth is a very fun peice of space fantasy that has a great mix of humor, worldbuilding, characters, intrigue, and drama.
Every few generations the greatest necromancer and the greatest swordfighter from each of the nine planets are summoned to an ancient palace to uncover the mysteries that are contained within. Gideon the Ninth is the story of one of those events, told from the perspective of the person who is by far the least qualified to be there. The main character is a lesbian, and there are a couple of other gay characters as well and it takes place in a world where being gay is NBD. The author, Tamsyn Muir, is a lesbian.
Spoiler-y Content Warnings
___Major character deaths occur as well as the deaths of a few children, however I think the author handles the subject carefully. There are some depictions of disability as well as terminal illness, IIRC there is some drug use and alchohol, a little bit of sexual themes too but nothing explicit.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (a pseudonym for Senan Mcguire) is a suspensful cryptid horror story about a bisexual marine biologist that seeks the truth of what happened to her sister, who was attacked by mermaids.
A little bit Jurassic Park a little bit Atlantis: The Lost Empire and a little bit X Files. It’s at times very tense, a little goofy and always pretty nerdy (to be clear its a “scientific journals and cosplay” nerdy rather than “bazinga and funko pops” kind of nerdy). Overall the story is a romp and I read it in like three days.
Content Warnings
Major characters die, the hunting and killing of animals is portrayed, people are drowned, ableism, meat is eaten in some scenes, theres a few segments where the reader takes the perspective of someone who struggles and dies, there’s some depictions of past ableist and homophobic parental abuse. Thats all I can recall off the top of my head.
(Sorry for the word vomit, I wanted to talk about a couple of my favorite books)
Addendum:
In Into the Drowning Deep there are a pair of deaf characters. I am not deaf and I can’t judge whether or not those characters (written by an author who is also not deaf) are good portrayals. However I want to mention this because those two characters, and the scenes from their perspectives were some of my favorite parts of the novel.
Drowning Deep is cool and funny, I like that adding lesbians (ONE OF WHOM IS AUTISTIC WOOOOAH) to a Resident Evil style b-movie shlock horror story improves it considerably. I think it fails basically as horror but is worth the read.
I think Drowning Deep succeeds at horror if you have related phobias. Deep water, submerged objects, and being on boats all scare the shit out of me so I was sweating the whole time lol.
Oh yeah water I guess it bugs me that the prologue has a broad daylight description of its signature monster, but damn I’m kinda surprised you made it through if you have those phobias. Grats!
I can definitely say that the rest are pretty good, if not better in some ways. I can’t say anything about the plot without spoiling but Harrow the Ninth is partially written in second person, like “you did this” and “you felt that” and it can be really offputting but once you figure out why those chapters are written that way it’s a really cool twist on the story. Nona the Ninth is also good! I haven’t finished it though, it has a very different tone from the other two books.
oh I meant I haven’t read the other books you suggested.
I will recommend the entire Locked Tomb series to anyone and everyone. Harrow absolutely was a bit weird to get into because of the second-person writing style, but it slowly became obvious why it was in second person throughout the book, and then on subsequent rereads, I’ve actually thoroughly enjoyed the strange perspective it offers.
It’s pretty bad for films. Books are about the only place there is a decent amount out there. But Ash would know more.
I don’t look for rep personally but I’m from the void
There are games here and there with varying levels of trans rep, like probably Heaven Will Be Mine is worth exploring, or maybe Unsighted? I glanced basically every trans related film I could find though and decided none of them were worth it. There’s also not much in the way of anime or manga featuring trans people, big rip.
bullshit
The entire reason I drilled down and focused on books is because I think the way self publishing goes means they’re so far out ahead in terms of rep. There would not be a TV series of Unjust Depths and there would not be a film of Fluids, you see ✨
Thank you for the game recommendations, I will look into those.
Yea I’m sure, honestly I just have issues with reading (possibly dyslexic). Maybe this will finally be what pushes me to make audiobooks a part of my day.
I have dyslexia and dyscalcula I can relate to having a tough time with reading. I also love a good book but I need to want to read before I can. I also can’t really do audio books…
(I do wanna say I relate to this a lot, because while I am a bookworm (nerd) it would be really funny if I could also get my monthly dose of from playing games and shit too)
I don’t know, I am way more likely to watch a movie/tv show or play a game then read a book (sorry theory nerds). I’m kind of new to this whole trans thing so I guess things that go well with that? And I suppose transfem stories more then transmasc.
There’s Guilty Gear Strive with Bridgett. Not sure how much story is actually in-game though and Bridgett is just one of many characters.
There’s animes with trans or gender queer characters, but they almost universally are problematic to an extent (authors sometimes refused to acknowledge they’re trans and some of the fans will deny it, for example). So don’t know if I can give any strong recommendations. If you want to watch them anyways, feel free to ask.
I solved this for myself using an app called librera, I set the font to one I find easier to read and the text size is very big and scrolls down instead of pages, I also use the integrated tts ability, I like tts voices after tweaking them enough to make them sound nice
So that’s how I’m reading unjust depths, it’s worth the read
Looking for recommendations for trans/queer narratives. I’ve recently watched I saw the TV glow and played Celeste and am looking for more.
I am unlikely to read a book, just being honest here. If there’s an audiobook available maybe.
https://www.tumblr.com/velvette-reloaded/727647872921829376/the-sisters-of-dorley-book-1-in-audio-is-fully
I found this audio book of sisters of dorley. A novel I am now evangelizing for. It is the best trans-narrative I’ve ever read.
Thank you! I’ll put it on my list.
Regarding audiobooks/regular books I can make a reccomendation.
Gideon the Ninth is a very fun peice of space fantasy that has a great mix of humor, worldbuilding, characters, intrigue, and drama.
Every few generations the greatest necromancer and the greatest swordfighter from each of the nine planets are summoned to an ancient palace to uncover the mysteries that are contained within. Gideon the Ninth is the story of one of those events, told from the perspective of the person who is by far the least qualified to be there. The main character is a lesbian, and there are a couple of other gay characters as well and it takes place in a world where being gay is NBD. The author, Tamsyn Muir, is a lesbian.
Spoiler-y Content Warnings
___Major character deaths occur as well as the deaths of a few children, however I think the author handles the subject carefully. There are some depictions of disability as well as terminal illness, IIRC there is some drug use and alchohol, a little bit of sexual themes too but nothing explicit.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (a pseudonym for Senan Mcguire) is a suspensful cryptid horror story about a bisexual marine biologist that seeks the truth of what happened to her sister, who was attacked by mermaids.
A little bit Jurassic Park a little bit Atlantis: The Lost Empire and a little bit X Files. It’s at times very tense, a little goofy and always pretty nerdy (to be clear its a “scientific journals and cosplay” nerdy rather than “bazinga and funko pops” kind of nerdy). Overall the story is a romp and I read it in like three days.
Content Warnings
Major characters die, the hunting and killing of animals is portrayed, people are drowned, ableism, meat is eaten in some scenes, theres a few segments where the reader takes the perspective of someone who struggles and dies, there’s some depictions of past ableist and homophobic parental abuse. Thats all I can recall off the top of my head.
(Sorry for the word vomit, I wanted to talk about a couple of my favorite books)
Addendum:
In Into the Drowning Deep there are a pair of deaf characters. I am not deaf and I can’t judge whether or not those characters (written by an author who is also not deaf) are good portrayals. However I want to mention this because those two characters, and the scenes from their perspectives were some of my favorite parts of the novel.
Drowning Deep is cool and funny, I like that adding lesbians (ONE OF WHOM IS AUTISTIC WOOOOAH) to a Resident Evil style b-movie shlock horror story improves it considerably. I think it fails basically as horror but is worth the read.
I think Drowning Deep succeeds at horror if you have related phobias. Deep water, submerged objects, and being on boats all scare the shit out of me so I was sweating the whole time lol.
Oh yeah water
I guess it bugs me that the prologue has a broad daylight description of its signature monster, but damn I’m kinda surprised you made it through if you have those phobias. Grats!
Big recommend on Gideon the Ninth, haven’t read the others but I bet they’re good.
I can definitely say that the rest are pretty good, if not better in some ways. I can’t say anything about the plot without spoiling but Harrow the Ninth is partially written in second person, like “you did this” and “you felt that” and it can be really offputting but once you figure out why those chapters are written that way it’s a really cool twist on the story. Nona the Ninth is also good! I haven’t finished it though, it has a very different tone from the other two books.
oh I meant I haven’t read the other books you suggested.
I will recommend the entire Locked Tomb series to anyone and everyone. Harrow absolutely was a bit weird to get into because of the second-person writing style, but it slowly became obvious why it was in second person throughout the book, and then on subsequent rereads, I’ve actually thoroughly enjoyed the strange perspective it offers.
Thank you, I will see if I can find audiobooks of those, they both sound very interesting. This isn’t word vomit at all
You’ll be almost completely skint for films and TV, and mostly skint for games
I knew there wasn’t a lot of trans people in media but I didn’t expect to already be running out :sadness:
It’s pretty bad for films. Books are about the only place there is a decent amount out there. But Ash would know more. I don’t look for rep personally but I’m from the void
There are games here and there with varying levels of trans rep, like probably Heaven Will Be Mine is worth exploring, or maybe Unsighted? I glanced basically every trans related film I could find though and decided none of them were worth it. There’s also not much in the way of anime or manga featuring trans people, big rip.
bullshit
The entire reason I drilled down and focused on books is because I think the way self publishing goes means they’re so far out ahead in terms of rep. There would not be a TV series of Unjust Depths and there would not be a film of Fluids, you see ✨
Yea I’m sure, honestly I just have issues with reading (possibly dyslexic). Maybe this will finally be what pushes me to make audiobooks a part of my day.
I have dyslexia and dyscalcula I can relate to having a tough time with reading. I also love a good book but I need to want to read before I can. I also can’t really do audio books…
(I do wanna say I relate to this a lot, because while I am a bookworm (nerd) it would be really funny if I could also get my monthly dose of
from playing games and shit too)
Two games I enjoyed with trans characters were Tell Me Why and If Found…. I didn’t find the rep problematic but I’m an ignorant gay so who knows.
Do you have any specific preferences?
I don’t know, I am way more likely to watch a movie/tv show or play a game then read a book (sorry theory nerds). I’m kind of new to this whole trans thing so I guess things that go well with that? And I suppose transfem stories more then transmasc.
You should ask Cromalin tbh, she’d be better at this than me
There’s Guilty Gear Strive with Bridgett. Not sure how much story is actually in-game though and Bridgett is just one of many characters.
There’s animes with trans or gender queer characters, but they almost universally are problematic to an extent (authors sometimes refused to acknowledge they’re trans and some of the fans will deny it, for example). So don’t know if I can give any strong recommendations. If you want to watch them anyways, feel free to ask.
I solved this for myself using an app called librera, I set the font to one I find easier to read and the text size is very big and scrolls down instead of pages, I also use the integrated tts ability, I like tts voices after tweaking them enough to make them sound nice
So that’s how I’m reading unjust depths, it’s worth the read