DANGEROUS THINGS IN FEMININE PLACES;
twelve trans(gressive) tales of transformation

It has always been frustrating to me how the horror genre is dominated by the fears of cisnormative audiences.
Many plots in the horror genre involve the bodies of cisgender people being violated, transfigured, surgically-modified, or otherwise “ruined” in ways that reinforce cisnormativity as the standard. Trans identities and bodies are conspicuously absent from these narratives, unless we are the objects of revulsion. This erasure is curious in a genre that so often deals with sudden, frightening bodily rebellion.

When trans women are represented in horror, it is almost exclusively in a capacity that “others” us by depicting our bodies as objects of cis repulsion and terror, specifically when seen through a phallocentric lens that constantly asserts the gender binary as the only reality. These harmful stereotypes have shaped what I refer to as “the archetypal faces of the monstrous trans-feminine.”

These archetypes are common cultural depictions of trans women created by cisgender writers that perpetuate anti-trans biases, such as: “the Source of Cis Sorrow” (which reminds us how hard it is to love a trans person), “the Trap” (which reinforces trans women as devious and deceptive gender-bending men in dresses, seeking to sexually prey on unsuspecting cis victims), “the Self-Castrator” (which posits that trans identity is so challenging, self-surgery is sometimes our only escape from the self-hatred and confusion), “the Annihilating Androgyne” (wherein identity and fantasy are conflated, creating a genderless “other” that is purely seen as a threat to cisnormative life), and “the Forcibly-Feminized” (where cis men are “transformed into women” as a way to emasculate and avenge a wrong).

By exploring these familiar tropes, we can gain insight into how trans women are perceived, and interrogate negative presuppositions about bodies and identities that transgress traditional gender norms.

Desperate for fresh portrayals of trans women in literature, I decided to write stories where I could subvert predictable cis expectations with a distinctly-trans lens that centers the fears, desires, experiences, identities, bodies, and dreams of trans-femme characters. In these narratives, the daily anxieties associated with transgender identity and expression are hyperbolized into nightmarish post-modern fables that reveal the terrors of existing as a trans woman in a cisnormative world: puberty is not an affirming rite of passage, but a bodily insurrection; gender, identity, sex, and bodies exist in a metamorphic state; traumatic memories can be interacted with in a virtual world; gender deviance is a crime punishable by death; the human form can be designed and altered; love can transcend anatomy, or sublimely corrupt it; “passing” can mean the difference between life and death.

Portraying cisnormative society and its expectations as the true villains allows for the examination of fears that are rarely seen in mainstream horror because of how antithetical they are to the anxieties of an average target audience.

Inspired by the works of Caitlin R. Kiernan, Angela Carter, Carmen Maria Machado, and Clive Barker, the twelve stories in this up-coming collection combine science-fiction, body horror, and fabulism to explore the shifting masks of identity, the plasticity of flesh, and the shadow-space between the two. These tales echo with the laughter of trans women in moldering cemeteries; pulse with the desires of trans women in virtual-reality worlds; writhe with the sorrows of trans women in the homes of those we love; shudder with the fears of trans women in every city and town as we struggle to exist in a world that considers us deviant, predatory, unstable -

“dangerous things in feminine places.”

C O N T E N T S

• The Painted Lady: Cleo, a teen runaway with aspirations of fame, finds her dreams coming true when a renowned fashion agency offers to represent her; but, upon signing her contract, she learns she has signed away much more than her image, and finds herself wondering to what lengths she will go to shed her past self and molt into the next Painted Lady, a living manifestation of the god her agency worships.

• A Passing Glance: After being denied FFS, Charley struggles to blend into an increasingly-hostile cissexist society where being detectably-trans is violently policed and criminalized. To cope with her anxieties, she signs up for the Transform-Me Program, a personal assistant app which promises to help users effectively pass - little does Charley realize that the opportunity to pass always comes with a risk of failure.

• Doll Parts: After dying alone and unfulfilled, Desdemona wakes to find her consciousness inhabiting a female android body; having never transitioned in life, she elected to experience life as a woman upon her death as part of an AI program. As she navigates her new normal, her mind and cyborg shell find themselves at odds, vying for dominance. All the while, a killer known only as the Doll Slayer is targeting local trans women, and Desdemona believes she is the only one who can bring him to justice.

• What to Expect: Reeling from a series of recent tragedies, Julia agrees to become a beta tester for an immersive virtual reality trauma therapy app designed to let users interact with and work through painful memories. However, she soon finds herself unable to distinguish reality from the simulation, all while experiencing glitches in both worlds that trap her in a loop of her own unresolved pain. As the terror mounts, Julia begins to wonder if the Moebius Program may be something more sinister than a mere VR world.

• Red in Tooth & Nail: Scarlet’s idyllic marriage begins to dissolve into an abusive nightmare where her only escape from her violent husband is in her art studio. After a particularly vicious fight, Scarlet finds comfort in an online community that quickly supports her and advocates for her to artistically work through her suffering, creating pieces based on her experiences. However, as the buyers’ suggestions become more shocking and gruesome, Scarlet is forced to decide between artistic vision and her sanity.

• A Girl Like Me: After being released from the hospital where she was kept following a mental health crisis, Zoe struggles to recall her past and adapt to her new life, but finds herself plagued by dreams of a place she has never been, as well as the sensation of being followed daily. As she works to uncover the identity of her stalker and the location of her dreamscape, she discovers secrets about her life that have been hidden from her for years, all revolving around a mysterious company known as the Anima Corporation.

• Timelines: In the aftermath of a global virus, one woman makes a cross-country trek to locate a sanctuary city where other individuals with immunity can safely rebuild society. Along the way, she encounters the androgynous results of the pandemic - humans whose biological sex has reversed after infection, and who seek to eradicate the immune at all costs. 

• All That Glitters: Candy is a teenager desperate to transition and be seen for who she is, which leads her to sign up for the SPLNDR* dating app. SPLNDR provides users with a virtual reality where they can design their own avatars and find virtual romance in a world of their own creation. However, as Candy immerses herself in the system, she finds that not all is as it seems in the SPLNDR-verse, and that not reading the Terms of Service may have signed her up for a lifetime of terror at the hands of users who register for the program with the express intention of targeting trans players. (*SPLNDR: Specific Pleasure and Location Nexus for Digital Romance)

• Dangerous Things: Using only diary entries, photographs, and newspaper clippings, a prisoner awaiting extermination for Gender Deviance in a detention facility must piece together the facts of their life for a chance to survive what may only be a game after all.

• Invisible Friends: Tonja is a recently-married woman struggling to bond with her husband’s troubled trans child, Ivy, who insists that her imaginary friend is real. After a particularly harrowing experience involving a home invasion brings Tonja and Ivy closer together, Tonja begins to suspect that there may be more to the story of “the Crying Girl” than Ivy’s childhood fantasy.

• Venus in Verdigris: Harper is an anthropologist visiting the newly-discovered planet, Verdigris, which scientists suspect may have once been home to intelligent life After unearthing ancient ruins, Harper becomes infected by an alien pathogen and is quarantined. As her condition worsens and her body transforms into something new, she learns that the search for extraterrestrial life may have not needed to be any further than her own body.

• Homecoming: Vanessa is happily engaged and leading the life of her dreams following her escape from a religious cult as a teen - however, her happiness is interrupted by her fiance’s conservative parents inviting them to an unexpected family reunion. After being outed at the gathering, Vanessa finds herself trapped on the isolated estate where her father-in-law has been perfecting what he refers to as “the De-Transition Chamber,” an escape room designed to “cure” trans people.