Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic edited by g. haron davis

Synopsis

Perfect for fans of All Out and Cemetery Boys, this anthology claims a seat at the table of fantasy literature for trans and gender nonconforming stories.

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you’ll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.

Featuring stories from:

AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy

g. haron davis

Mason Deaver

Jonathan Lenore Kastin

Emery Lee

Saundra Mitchell

Cam Montgomery

Ash Nouveau

Sonora Reyes

Renee Reynolds

Dove Salvatierra

Ayida Shonibar

Francesca Tacchi

Nik Traxler

Review

Anthologies are always a mixed bag, but Transmogrify is a wider range than I expected. The first four stories are high school related. One about being expelled from magic school, one about being magic in normal school, and two actually set in magic school. Once you’re used to the theme, we move on to something else.

Several stories explore cultures and contexts with very strict gender roles. Men do certain jobs, women do certain jobs, and being nonbinary means being excluded from both. There’s one where broomstick sports requires an even balance of boys and girls. Another about a kid who wants to join the boys track team after coming out as trans.

The Hallow King is set on Halloween night and is light horror, for all you horror fans out there. The rest are various flavors of fantasy. There’s a list of content warnings at the beginning but no breakdown by story, so you might stumble across a trigger with little warning. Transphobia and/or misgendering occur in most of the stories. The last story includes mentions suicide and glosses over it more than I like.

The audiobook has four different narrators, alternating between stories. They’re all good and well suited to their particular stories. Just don’t do what I did and marathon the whole book in a couple days. Some of the stories really need some time to digest and savor.