And saw Charlie Anders read from her new novel, The Choir Boy, a tale of an accidental transgendered-hood. It’s a clever, captivating concept: A teenage boy who loves being a choir singer counters an impending change of voice by posing as an at-risk TG teen. After securing hormones from a clinic program for at-risk teens, he preserves his voice but grows breasts. From there, all manner of reactions occur. Soft Skull Press was savvy enough to produce a short-run paperback edition for Charlie and Tennessee Jones’ collective tour and, having secured a copy, I’ll have more to say about the novel in the near future. In the meantime, try to get to one of their readings and keep an eye out for the novel’s impending hardcover release.
I haven’t said much about Brooke Stern’s spanking novel recently, so let me remedy that. Because I usually read two or three books at a time, I don’t always finish novels in a timely fashion. So I still haven’t finished Stern’s novel. However, I’ve gotten far enough to see the “damsel in distress” trick Stern’s publisher requires and I await seeing whether it’s resolved realistically. The spanking scenes become less frequent as both the protagonist’s relationship with her lover and the plot progresses, yet more points for which I await resolution. But I did appreciate Stern’s portrayal of a sympathetic hospital therapist. I’m not going to label any of these plot points as faulty — that would be hasty and unwarranted on my part — but I am curious to see whether the novel will come to an end that I like.
BTW, here’s a recent spanking article by Stern.
Another novel I’m reading is Meg Wolitzer’s The Position. It’s a fictional account of four adults whose parents authored a Joy of Sex type book in the 1970s and how their lives were impacted by the book’s notoriety. So far, it’s a good literary read but I haven’t reached the passage that Nerve saw worthy of a Henrry Miller award nomination. Nerve also interviews the author.
Last, I’m going to be traveling over the next few days, impending snow storm permitting. I have a rare extended holiday weekend and aging family members need us right now. Nothing crisis-based; just a good opportunity to tend to others. I won’t blog again until early next week, so let me leave you with these blogs: Down On My Knees, Surabaya Jane, and Freya’s House of Dreams.
I’ll add them to the blogroll when I return. And let me say in passing that I really admire Richard’s flexibility. Part-time male slave that he is, Richard follows desire before orientation, something that’s not easy to do in our must-be-pegged world, and I really appreciate that.
