#Jeanne Thornton
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Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton
From acclaimed author Jeanne Thornton, an epic, singular look at fandom, creativity, longing, and trans identity.
Gala, a young trans woman, works at a hostel in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. She is obsessed with the Get Happies, the quintessential 1960s Californian band, helmed by its resident genius, B----. Gala needs to know: Why did the band stop making music? Why did they never release their rumored album, Summer Fun?
And so she writes letters to B---- that shed light not only on the Get Happies, but paint an extraordinary portrait of Gala. The parallel narratives of B---- and Gala form a dialogue about creation—of music, identity, self, culture, and counterculture.
Summer Fun is a brilliant and magical work of trans literature that marks Thornton as one of our most exciting and original novelists.
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Jeanne Thornton
Gender: Transgender woman
Sexuality: N/A
DOB: Born 1983
Ethnicity: White - American
Occupation: Writer
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The dark comedy ‘Office Killer’ slashed its way into theaters this day 25 years ago. 🗄🔪☠️
“𝙻𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚑, 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚍, 𝚜𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙳𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐?”
#office killer#otd#1997#dark comedy#thriller#jeanne tripplehorn#molly ringwald#Carol Kane#michael imperioli#David thornton#barbara sukowa#cindy sherman
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can we talk about sandie shaw being identified as morrissey in this photo caption
#the smiths#i'm really cooking on this paper!!#and also...my hypothetical novel project where i write summer fun by jeanne thornton but about the smiths
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I just finished reading the Masters of Rome series and all of Mary Renault's books set in ancient Greece, the Alexander trilogy, and the Theseus duology, and a few by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. Do you have any recommendations for similar books or series that you've enjoyed?
i think i've answered something similar about historical fiction somewhere in /tagged/book list so i will tag this post w that so you can maybe find a more detailed answer. but. yeah here is some!
the cicero trilogy (imperium, lustrum, dictator) by robert harris <- cicero is there. if you got Really into masters of rome you might get pissed off at some of the oversimplification of politics but the cicero characterisation is Really good and also they are Fun
roma sub rosa series by steven saylor <- roman republic detective novels that turned me into The catilina apologist i am today + there are a LOT of them + yes the major historical ficgures are cool but you Will get invested in this fictional detective's wild family drama
rome trilogy?? (the key, the lock, the door in the wall) by benita kane jaro <- do it for him (caelius the world's most unreliable narrator)
augustus by john williams <- epistolary novel about Him composed of made up sources. fun.
the ides of march by thornton wilder <- also in epistolary format but with wild timeline shenanigans? i enjoyed it
dancing with the lion series by jeanne reames <- about the early life of alexander the great + they are just so detailed + i read the first book in one (1) day
the golden mean by annabel lyon <- i have not actually read this but it's been on my tbr for like one million years. about aristotle and alexander the great and maybe i will get round to it this year :/
lavinia by ursula k. le guin <- i think this is the most similar to the theseus duology in occupying a fictional space between myth and history. if that makes sense. i also read it in one (1) day
mutuals if you have any other historical fiction recommendations hi hello eye emoji ?
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hello sorry if you've been asked this recently but could you recommend some good adult trans books 👉👈 no worries if you don't!!
there are lots of good ones and i've fallen out of the loop since i left my bookstore job! there's sometimes this attitude that trans writers can only be successful in some genres but there are great trans writers in lots of genres! so have tried to include a mix of genres here to highlight some of that abundance, and because i don't know what you like so want to include many things that i think might spark your curiosity.
i'm leaving a lot of classics off that i'm sure you've heard of or have been told to read, as well as some stuff i read that i didn't love and don't feel i can vouch for. there's also lots of good stuff for younger readers (have esp heard good things about sisters of dorley hall and when the angels left the old country) which is really heartening when i remember furtively reading the one trans novel for teens at my library when i was little! and i like that there are trans characters for younger readers now who don't have tragic endings. but anyway:
i really like anything by casey plett, particularly her novel little fish! i loved ivan coyote's rebent sinner for kind of autobiographical vignettes as well as gender failure which they wrote with rae spoon. gretchen felker-martin and alison rumfitt are big faves if you like horror, they're both so smart and unsparing. your body is not your body if you want a good taste of lots of different trans horror authors. the seep by chana porter for meditative sci-fi. the fifth wound by aurora mattia which is hard to describe but v gorgeous. paul takes the form of a mortal girl if you want something kind of carefree and horny and fun and not devastating or upsetting. summer fun by jeanne thornton if you've ever been like what if velvet goldmine were based on the beach boys. i like confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg but i think the ideal audience for this book is like transmasc grad students who are horny in a neurotic way so it's not for everyone. stone fruit by lee lai was my favorite graphic novel of 2022 and it's a really beautiful examination of breakups and caring for children as a queer person and also forgiving your family. gaylord phoenix if you like your graphic novels weird.
books from my own to-read list that i've heard good things about from people i trust (have included author names only where the title alone isn't specific enough to find the right book):
wrath goddess sing (if you like mythology remixes)
a natural history of transition (magical realist short stories)
manywhere: stories (unsettling also magical realist short stories)
chromatic fantasy (graphic novel, trans guy nun has sex with the devil and has a romance with a robin hood-type trans guy bandit)
finna (gay trans multiverse travel in an IKEA)
X by davey davis (bdsm psychological thriller)
idlewild (transmasc fujoshi tumblrinas have a toxic bestieship)
girlfriends by emily zhou (slice of life short stories)
boys weekend (graphic novel, bachelorx weekend turns into a cult murder mystery)
the boy with the bird in his chest (magical realist coming of age)
the call-out (gossipy novel in verse)
nettleblack (victorian transmasc hijinks)
the story of silence (medieval n magical french trans hijinks based on the historical poem)
unfortunate elements of my anatomy (horror short stories)
bad girls by camila sosa villada (magical realist coming of age epic)
apsara engine (south asian graphic vignettes)
future feeling (funny bizarre sci-fi)
everyone on the moon is essential personnel (cyberpunk body horror weirdness)
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This is the randomly-generated bracket for adult (i.e. non-YA) novels by trans authors! The books are as follows (in order of when I thought of them). Please boost this post! The first round will begin tomorrow, or as soon as I get at least a couple of reblogs on this.
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, Kai Cheng Thom
Little Fish, Casey Plett
Small Beauty, jia qing wilson-yang
She Who Became The Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan
An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
Future Feeling, Joss Lake
Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg
Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki
In The Watchful City, S. Qiouyi Lu
Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters
Nevada, Imogen Binnie
Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi
Summer Fun, Jeanne Thornton
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, Andrea Lawlor
Yemaya's Daughters, Dane Figueroa Edidi
Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin
The Thirty Names of Night, Zeyn Joukhadar
Machineries of Empire series, Yoon Ha Lee
The Tensorate series, Neon Yang
Sea Witch, Never Angeline Nørth
The Subtweet, Vivek Shraya
The Story of Silence, Alex Myers
Wrath Goddess Sing, Maya Deane
Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel, Julian K. Jarboe
Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey
Darryl, Jackie Ess
The Four Profound Weaves RB Lemberg
Little Blue Encyclopedia, Hazel Jane Plante
Otros Valles, Jamie Berrout
the earthquake room, Davey Davis
The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders
Running Down, Al Hess
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Transfem authors of fiction: a list
I wrote a version of this list in Swedish for a meatspace friend, figure I might redo it for a tumblr audience. The books recommended are usually novels, and in case of prolific authors, the one recommended is usually the most successful and acclaimed one. I haven't read all of these, but I'm working on it. The list is in alphabetical order after the author's last name. I added some notes to the list, to introduce the authors and their books.
Nota Bene this list is based on my personal research, and largely reflects my own tastes in fiction, as in what I've read and considered reading. And it is of course not at all complete. And it's a transfem authors list, so no transmasc authors no matter how worthy. And it's about authors of fiction, not memoirs or non-fiction. So no Christine Jorgensen, even if she wrote a book I want to read. And Jan Morris gets in based on her two Hav novels, not her more prolific non-fiction work. Links are to my reviews on this blog if they exist.
Anders, Charlie Jane - SF/F writer, debuted with Choir Boy (2005), but most famous for All The Birds in the Sky (which won a Nebula).
Aoki, Ryka - her latest sf/f novel Light from Uncommon Stars is her most popular, but she has published both fiction and poetry before.
Becker, Saga - Våra Tungor Smakar våld (Swedish author, her book is untranslated, although quite good)
Binnie, Imogen - Nevada
Daniels, April - Dreadnought and its sequel Sovereign. Novels about a teenage trans girl superhero.
Deane, Maya - Wrath Goddess Sing
Felker-Martin, Gretchen - Manhunt (horror novel)
Kaveney, Roz - Tiny Pieces of Skull (also wrote the Rhapsody of Blood fantasy series, plus numerous poetry collections and non-fiction)
Kiernan, Caitlin R. - Usually categorized as a horror author, written numerous novels and short stories since her debut novel SIlk in 1998. The most acclaimed are probably her novels The Red Tree and The Drowning Girl (which won the Bram Stoker Award)
Leitz, May - Fluids and Girlflesh (review forthcoming)
Morris, Jan - Hav (mostly wrote non-fiction, history books and travel literature, Hav is an omnibus of her two novels about Hav, both "imagined travelogues" about a fictitious country)
Peters, Torrey - Detransition Baby
Plett, Casey - Little Fish (Lambda award winner)
Pollack, Rachel - Prolific writer of several kinds of books, including a pioneering career as a sf/f writer. Did her fictional debut with a short story in a 1971 anthology (credited under her deadname) and published her first novel Golden Vanity in 1980, which are literally the earliest pieces of fiction by an out trans person (not memoir or non-ficton) I've been able to find. So very much a pioneer. Her most acclaimed book is probably Godmother Night (1996) which won the World Fantasy Award. Also wrote comics, most notably Doom Patrol.
Rumfitt, Alison - Tell me I'm Worthless
Serano, Julia - 99 Erics (her debut as a novelist after years of pioneering transfeminist writing and poetry)
Thornton, Jeanne - Summer Fun (Lambda award winner)
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I would love some book recs! especially queer literary fiction!
Amazing!! I would love to share :) Also responding @ anon who asked for my trans book recs. This is for you too!
Since this is so long it'll probably get cut off on the dashboard, tl;dr there will be 1) list of trans-authored books and 2) a list where I talk about queer authors more generally (which includes some trans people that don't have trans characters in their books (yet)).
Trans Books by Trans Authors
Sketchtasy by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Nevada by Imogen Binnie
The Pervert by Remy Boydell (graphic novel)
X by Davey Davis
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
Transmuted by Eve Harms
Future Feeling by Joss Lake
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K Jarboe
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones by Torrey Peters
The Masker by Torrey Peters
Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante
A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett
A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
Little Fish by Casey Plett
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom
The Black Emerald by Jeanne Thornton
Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton
Small Beauty by jia qing wilson-yang
The above are all trans-authored books that have trans characters in them. They are mostly lit fic with a few dips into genre here and there. I have bolded some of my faves!
For queer book recs/authors more generally,
Poppy Z. Brite, the pen name of Billy Martin, who is gay and trans. He has some great 90s horror novels, in particular Exquisite Corpse, a gay serial killer thriller/romance.
Dennis Cooper, writes gay "extremist" fiction, my fave of which is The Sluts, which takes place entirely on an early 2000s gay escort forum.
Shola Von Reinhold, another trans author, wrote one of my fave books I've read this year, LOTE, which is textually extremely transgender, but I don't think explicitly "labels" the mc as trans, so I'm putting it in this list. I usually use 'dark academia' as a pejorative but this would be dark academia in the best sense of the word. Involves lots of research into weird stuff, hyperfixations, and very little academia.
Brontez Purnell writes lit fic about black gay men, and has another one of my fave books, Since I Laid My Burden Down, as well as probably the best title in this list: Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger. Those were both smallish press releases, I believe, but he's gotten more attention recently via his FSG short story anthology, 100 Boyfriends.
Sarah Schulman. If you are on Tumblr hopefully you already know about her. If you haven't read any of her fiction, I'd recommend Rat Bohemia, Empathy, and People In Trouble (this is the book Rent was based off of).
Brandon Taylor is very popular on twitter but I feel like I haven't seen much about him on tumblr. I really liked his debut novel Real Life, which follows a gay black postgrad student in a midwestern PhD program full of mostly white people. He also has an anthology, Filthy Animals, full of linked stories that take place in a similar setting.
James Baldwin. Another classic author. If you haven't read Giovanni's Room, go read it.
Carmen Maria Machado has a stunning memoir, In The Dream House, about lesbian domestic violence. She also writes speculative fiction stories, some can be found in the collection Her Body and Other Parties.
Eric LaRocca is gay horror's current darling due to his breakout hit Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, about an online long-distance lesbian d/s relationship. He's been pumping out the books recently, all with great titles and covers.
Jean Kyoung Fraiser released a debut last year that was in my top faves as well, Pizza Girl, a coming-of-age story about a just-married and recently pregnant 18 year-old who works (you guessed it) as a pizza delivery girl, and develops a crush on an older woman, one of her customers.
Venita Blackburn wrote How to Wrestle a Girl, a black lesbian coming-of-age short story anthology. Also a recent release. I really loved the writing in this one.
...Okay, I think that's most of the big hitters for me at least! Going to give a few honorary mentions: Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park, translated from Korean, about the life of a young gay man in Seoul. Also anything by Joe Koch, who writes horror, nothing specifically gay/trans that I have read yet, but The Wingspan of Severed Hands is really beautiful stylistically.
And just one more, since it's October: The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zarate, published in the 90s and translated from Spanish, a gay reimagining of Dracula's sea voyage to England.
#queer fiction#lgbt fiction#book recs#idk if there are any tags people use lol well whatever#hope you can find smth you like :)#ask#currently reading
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List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡
(no pressure at all— just a fun lil joyful game if you’re so inclined 🥲🖤)
very fun ask to get hmm! lets see
music for sure <3 been listening to a lot of disco lately + practicing guitar a lot more, so thats been fun!
my friendss who i love so much and are the best ppl i could ever ask to surround myself with :^)
my baby sister 😭😭 who just turned 4 jesus christ shes growing so quickly i love her so much
warm weather :) the sun has been shining lately and it has been so good for my mood!
good books! currently reading summer fun by jeanne thornton, becoming a man: half a life story by paul monette, and rereading the little prince :D (summer fun honestly might be my new fave book, its insanely well written)
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listen listen listen i am reading Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton right now and i am halfway through and it is so fucking good like so so fucking good. please read it, it's so amazing. it's a novel about being an obsessive fan of a band (in this case, a fictionalized version of the beach boys) and also a novel about being trans and also a novel about alienation/loneliness and the ways in which transness exacerbates that rut but also how to get out of it and it's so fucking good.
it was pitched to me as a novel that asks "what if brian wilson of the beach boys was actually a trans woman?" and i was basically sold at that but it's so much more than that because it's that question from the point of view of a trans woman who's an obsessive fan of this fictional band with a long lost final album and it's told through letters she's writing to the leader of the band sort of dear mr henshaw-style recounting the story of the band and then also her own life and her desire to find the band leader who vanished from public eye after the band broke up and the fact that it becomes an actual possibility when the leader's granddaughter shows up at her workplace by chance one day.
anyway i'm not doing it justice just read it, it's so good.
#squash rambles#i'm halfway through and the moment the brian wilson-esque character has the real breakthrough moment#sees another trans woman for the first time and recognizes herself there like oh man it's SO GOOD
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ok what contemporary authors should i read if the best stuff i read this year was ali smith seasonal quartet and how to be both. i have so little knowledge of contemporary lit and so much of it looks rancid idk how to find the stuff that’s good
#by good i mean in terms of writing quality but i do also like the subject matter of ali smith's books#other best book i read this year was summer fun by jeanne thornton#have not really loved anything else published in the last 5 years that i've encountered
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Statcat's official list of favorite Cats performers
(I'm horrible with specific ranking so performers are listed in alphabetical order gfiuedw)
Alonzo: Jason Gardiner, Matt Huet
Bombalurina: Erica Lee Cianiculli, Rosemarie Ford, Chelsea Nicole Mitchell, Christine Cornish Smith
Cassandra: Lexy Bittner, Emily Pynenburg, Mette Towley
Demeter: Nora DeGreen, Kim Faure, Juliann Kuchocki, Aeva May, Madison Mitchell, Cornelia Waibel
Electra: Lili Froehlich
Grizabella: Tayler Harris, Jennifer Hudson, Elaine Paige, Mamie Parris
Gus: Christopher Gurr, John Mills, Tony Mowatt
Jellylorum: Sara Jean Ford, Kayli Jamison
Jemima/Sillabub: Arianna Rosario, Ahren Victory
Jennyanydots: Eloise Kropp, Susie McKenna, Emily Jeanne Phillips
Macavity: Daniel Gaymon
Mistoffelees: Jacob Brent, Tion Gaston
Mungojerrie: Danny Collins, Max Craven, John Thornton, Drew Varley
Munkustrap: Robbie Fairchild, Michael Gruber, Matthew Pike, Kade Wright
Old Deuteronomy: Ken Page
Plato: Daniel Gaymon, Tyler John Logan
Rum Tum Tugger: Jason Derulo, John Partridge, Hank Santos, Siegmar Tonk
Rumpleteazer: Jo Gibb, Shonica Gooden, Bonnie Langford, Taryn Smithson
Skimbleshanks: Jeremy Davis, Geoffrey Garratt, Steven McRae, Christopher Salvaggio
Tumblebrutus: Daymon Montaigne-Jones, Devin Neilson
Victoria: Phyllida Crowley Smith, Francesca Hayward, Yuka Notsuka, Georgina Pazcoguin
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tagged by @boudicca 😘 mwah
currently reading: technically summer fun by jeanne thornton but i havent picked it up in a long time. i want to start a new book maybe crying in h mart
favourite colour: olive green
last song i listened to: immunity by alex g
last movie i watched: alice 2022 i only watched cause keke palmer is in it
sweet spicy or savoury: see i'll never understand questions like this that take completely different things and pit them against each other. i dont have a preference between these cause they all have different purposes and are equally enjoyable depending on context. bitch
currently working on: making friendship bracelets and very slowly knitting a sweater
tagging: @gender444 @eternalsummer2006 @maakorsha <3
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I was tagged in a get to know you better game by @myrskytuuli Thank you!
Rules: answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.
Last song I listened to - Born a girl by Manic Street Preachers
Currently reading - fiction: close to the end of Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun, turns out reimagining Brian Wilson as a trans woman is a good idea for a novel.
nonfiction: Christopher Lee's Tall, Dark and Gruesome. His autobiography, well-written and fun so far, and pretty sure it's Lee himself writing it, and not a ghostwriter, so that's fun.
Currently watching - Night of the Living Dead. After playing Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark and Half-life, i felt that I should explore the romero-style zombie's roots.
Currently obsessed with: The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, as you might tell if you follow my blog. I love my fucked-up incestous murder cannibal siblings.
Tagging: @formicarum-rex @my-little-girlboss @jjeremysstash @0w0tsuki @mutalieju tho no pressure whatsoever and i know that's less than nine people but who cares.
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