LINKDING

Excerpt: After we kill our father but before we leave the island, we argue. Cal doesn’t want to go; he’s afraid of the water. Even after the rest of us outvote him two to one, he refuses to move, crouching on the ground, pressing the ruined side of his face into the earth, snarling whenever we try to touch him. In the end Ari has to sit down with him and say something in a quiet soothing susurrus, like they do, and the whole time Mir is pacing in the waves at the very edge of the water, where it barely comes up to her ankles. She is moving back and forth and back and forth, with her eyes on the horizon, and when this is happening Father’s blood is still on all of our hands but mostly on hers. ➤ that's a very evocative short story title right there and it's like. yeah. that's what the story is about! ➤ a fantasy story about three teens who have escaped their powerful and abusive father figure, who are a team in escaping, who might not always like each other but who are bound together in inextricable ways ➤ the entire story takes place in a boat as they make their way away from the island, hoping to find the mainland, but it never feels static, it's always pushing you onward, as you get more hints of the backstory, of what exactly all the context is for the murder and the escape ➤ it's so good!!! ➤ also. it's told in plural first person? which is so cool. The three teens are the "we" and "us" of the narrative voice. it's so well done! I love when stories play with pov. ➤ also. trans characters! ➤ 5k words

quote: Andrew was convinced the writer had been trans. By this point his friends were tired of hearing about it, but he had no one else to tell besides the internet, and he was too smart for that. That would be asking for it. ➤ short story about a trans man who's obsessed with the m/m novels of a dead historical novelist who he's convinced was trans ➤ and about the dreams he has where he meets her and talks with her ➤ it's a story that feels unsatisfying but like, in a satisfying way? ➤ idk how to explain! it makes me want to reread it 3 more times and think about the way one's relationship with oneself is mediated through the stories one reads and loves ➤ it's really good ➤ 6k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Even from the bar's parking lot, Lan Wangji could feel the presence of the spirits inside. This place was haunted. There was evidence of demonic cultivation everywhere from the wards to Wei Wuxian's bed. Lest he crawl back into it, Lan Wangji unsheathed Bichen and climbed on.</blockquote> ➤ mdzs wangxian modern-with-cultivation au where lwj is a trans man and wwx is a trans woman ➤ and ahhhh it just makes me so emotional about how GREAT wangxian are!!! ➤ wonderfully integrated characters/plot into a world they inhabit where friends and work and weird tastes in books are part of their lives, and also, lwj and wwx find each other and are immediately obsessed with each other, finding something in each other that allow them to best be themselves ➤ so many very funny details also, at the same time that it's many feelings ➤ 10k words in length

summary: <blockquote>It was a gusty night in the hills as young lady Shi approached the scholar Ming’s estate. </blockquote> ➤ hello impeccable gothic vibes beefleaf ➤ also, doing great things with gender. also, contains MUFFING. (thank u Fucking Trans Women for teaching me about muffing) ➤ this is so beefleaf. I love them both so much <3 ➤ 2k words in length ➤ blood-drinking but not vampires

Summary: <blockquote>He watches her that night, like he hasn’t done in months, a specter outside her bedroom window, a breeze in the dark night. Her things are, as always, scattered around her bed where she dropped them upon falling asleep. He can’t help but take notice that the fan is in a place of pride, tacked up on the wall next to polaroid pictures of — he realizes with a start — the two of them. He remembers her taking the pictures, shoving that too-big retro camera in his face and squishing the two of them together tight enough that He Xuan’s cheek brushed against hers. He shakes the memory off and watches her sleep, her chest slowly rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.</blockquote> ➤ beefleaf modern reincarnation! reincarnation isn't usually my thing but I liked how it was handled here ➤ he xuan has not developed any more chill over the years between when sqx dies and when sqx is finally reincarnated ➤ he xuan's pov is very fun. the drama! the pathos! meanwhile sqx is clearly just having a nice time bonding with he-jie. beefleaf always about contrasts :) ➤ I believe in u, he xuan! you can do it! have an actual relationship with sqx!! ➤ also the gender stuff is great. ➤ 6k words in length ➤ thanks to roland for the rec!

Summary: <blockquote>Jin Ling didn't mean to commit zine fraud. Surely you get a free pass if you didn't know how taxes work?!</blockquote>

<blockquote>When you needed a miracle in the old days, you would walk into the woods, or the sea, or the flat and windswept plains where reality was thin. If you had luck, charm, or raw and spiteful determination, something in the shape of a person would answer you. A bargain would be made. Eventually the thing in the shape of a person would come to collect. But the miracles remained—so long as the bargain was honored. Grey & Tender, LLP offered the classic condition: your heart’s desire in escrow, to be returned if you leave the firm. And of course, you would be given the continual opportunity to make partner, at which point the single miracle would become a drop in the bucket of all the miracles you could create for yourself. It was one of the fairer bargains. It was still a trap: to be transformed would be to become a thing that no longer needed a miracle.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Hi, we were both in Central Square on Friday, around 9:30 PM. I’m a tall trans lady with brown hair and glasses. You were standing in front of Sonia with some people. You were looking at your phone and then you looked up at me. Our eyes met for—I’m sorry, I’ve deleted and retyped this a couple times. Our eyes probably met for like a second, from your perspective. Several years ago I stayed at this inn where the innkeeper was this wizened old woman (I know that sounds dopey, but if you saw her you’d be like, “no she’s totally wizened”—serious crone hours in that inn), and I can’t really tell if I upset the old woman or if I did her some kind of favor? She was very hard to understand. Anyway, I have this curse now.</blockquote> ➤ beautiful and interesting

<blockquote>“She’s read more books than me! She’s told me that gender is a performance so many times. She knows theory words for things and she watches all those YouTube essays. Why is it a surprise to her that all of this stuff is work? None of it is natural or fun.” “None of it?” Wen Qing asks, her tone suspiciously neutral. Yanli narrows her eyes. “What are you saying?” Wen Qing’s eyes shift to the right, avoiding Yanli’s stare. “I guess I think some of it is fun.” Yanli sits back in her seat. “Huh.”</blockquote> ➤ ahhhhh t4t jyl/jzx is so good, and it's so believable the relationship jyl has with gender here!

<blockquote>You are the young wife of Sect Leader Wen, and you're on the verge of discovering something important. About your husband, yes, but also about yourself.</blockquote>

<blockquote>When the elitist institution of Ozymandias Academy and its headmaster, Vamon Kinctuarin, can’t find a solution to the city’s worsening drought, 2 self-taught magicians, Noah and his partner Manny, take it upon themselves to find a solution to the crisis.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Wei Ying makes his voice bright and says, “Well, take this one!” and deposits A-Yuan into Mo Xuanyu’s arms, and this time the look on his face isn’t just an almost smile. A-Yuan fists a chubby hand in his hair and gazes that way babies do, open and amazed. “Gah!” he says. “Gah!” Mo Xuanyu says right back. / Or: Mo Xuanyu finds a home for himself.</blockquote> ➤ love wwx's voice in this fic

➤ the one where a person finds a way to contact other universes, and uses it to discover if there are other worlds where this person transitioned genders, told entirely through the medium of text messages between Gaby and her au untransitioned self who's looking for understanding.

<blockquote>"I'm so tired," Wei Ying complains, tossing his hand down instead of Going Fish for the sixteenth time this game alone. "I can't even remember who's said what and now I'm losing, like, the easiest card game in existence." He looks tired, too. The spaces under his eyes are sunken, a bruised purple under skin that looks thin and stretched-out to the touch. Fragile. He's looked exhausted for days now, but even when they're curled up on the couch together, Wei Ying's head in Jiang Yanli's lap, humming an unrecognizable tune softly as she strokes his hair, he doesn't sleep.</blockquote> ➤ wwx going to his sister for a safe place when he's in a bad place with depression

<blockquote>Millennial vs Gen Z? Shen Qingqiu wishes. A young transmigrator has a new idol; Shen Qingqiu is very tired.</blockquote>

<blockquote>On a job, Lan Wangji gets hit with one of those pesky genital-rearranging spells. You'll never believe what happens next!</blockquote> ➤ lwj is a trans man who gets spelled to have a dick ➤ also they're public cultivators a la firefighters which honestly I love, more modern au's should do this

<blockquote>Warlock goes back to Tadfield when she's twenty-four.</blockquote>

<blockquote>People in our neighborhood are always saying what a pity it is that two such fine-looking people as my cousin Bluma and her husband have no children yet. I don’t see that they’re so fine-looking as all that. Still, I’ve often thought that if Bluma had a little bit more business of her own to worry about, she might have less time to waste getting into mine.</blockquote> ➤ It's the sequel to "Further Arguments in Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman"! Which has been sitting in my notes waiting for me to bookmark it for an unconscionable number of years! It's great! I lovvvvve the outside perspective on Yudah and Bluma, and Shaina's narration is a delight

<blockquote>My dearest Pippa, Today I walked past the flat you lived in when I first knew you, on my way to the only glassmaker in the city still working. The earthworkers were having a protest outside in the street. One of them had the long, uneven haircut you wore then. I think I would have joined their march even without seeing that eager youth, but—really, what else could I do. So I went a mile out of my way to march outside the Directorate and sing angry songs, and I nearly missed picking up my flasks before the glassmaker closed, but I knew you would approve. I love you.</blockquote> ➤ I've tagged this $other because although it's clear one of the characters is trans it's never actually clear what gender either of them is? So I can't exactly tag the gender formation of this relationship.

<blockquote>It turns out that having the right name and piles of cold hard cash means you can buy almost anything. Happiness, however, isn’t for sale, but Daphne is lucky enough to know the recipe.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Fuckos in this stupid town think nobody notices how when the tide just keeps coming in without going out again that "some" neighborhoods get sunk forever as an "unfortunate side effect of coastal flooding" while others become the sexy hip cool new "seafloor village." I'd cackle every time some bullshit golden-brick seawall crumbles and takes another mansion with it, but now there's straight-up UNDERWATER house tours for a zillion dollars a ticket, the same way they used to show off their giant Christmas trees and shit but even more pretentious cause now I guess they host in designer scuba gear. "Oh, this old thing? Blub blub, there's sand in my butt, no wait it's diamonds, ha ha!" (That's how they talk probably.) MEANWHILE where MY shitty old apartment used to be is now an undersea God-damned HOTEL AND CASINO.</blockquote> I don't think I've ever read something like this before? VERY strong sense of voice, and I liked the validation of anger in the face of ➤ injustice and oppression.

<blockquote>Pop-star uber-sensation Jaim Janan rockets off to promote their third album atop a SpaceX Dragon VII capsule today, where they will stream a live musical performance from orbit, some 350 kilometers above the Earth. Before today’s launch, when asked if they were feeling nervous about the trip, the young pop star coolly responded, “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” It’s not clear how many of Jaim’s obsessive fans, or “Janatics” as they are sometimes known, recognized the star was quoting twentieth-century pop legend Elvis Presley [click for bio]. But by mid-afternoon #TruthIsLikeTheSun was the most popular hashtag on Twitter. —Naydeen Johnson for The Washington Post</blockquote>

<blockquote>Laurence is happy in Scotland, happy with Tharkay and Temeraire and their new life. Mostly.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The night is humid and warm, sticks to our skin like a wet T-shirt. Luz pokes the fire with a piece of scrap metal she found lying by Gunner’s feet. It sends a swarm of sparks flying into the air. Taking that as an invitation, others come flocking to our little circle. No matter the temperature, the kids gravitate towards the fire at night, so I always try to have one going near sundown. “Give us a poem, Daddy?” the new kid says, one of Luz’s strays. His name is Roy. He’s probably a little older than Luz. Maybe in his twenties. I think of asking for something in return—the kids need to learn the rules of this world, and better I teach them in my way than someone else in theirs—but I hold back. Just this once, I feel like giving one away.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Jade was the sort of backwoods girl who had a map of the countryside tattooed on her heart, and she could feel it in her bones when the pieces of her world shifted. So when the new family moved into the house across the road that late summer, she felt ripples of wrongness radiating out from them and their too-bright clothes, their bizarrely old-fashioned wood-paneled station wagon, and their rolling words that felt just a little to the left of normal. “Time travelers,” said Jade’s brother, watching them from the window the day they moved in. Jade stood nearby, not daring to move or breathe.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The reality I was born in ceased to exist when I was three years old. So Mama and I moved to a different reality. We moved a lot, actually.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Anne was always the only girl.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Telimezh has devoted himself to the Emperor's service, but he has always kept something back- a secret that he fears, if exposed, would strip him of every honour.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Once, I dreamed that I had a son named Sheldon, and my grief tore a hole in the fabric of the world.</blockquote> ➤ In which Sarah finds connections to an alternate universe where she was born a cis woman (Sarah's a trans woman) and has a kid. Sarah is ultimately happy with the universe she's in because she has her partner Janet

<blockquote>Hannah and Melanie: sisters, apart and together. Weather workers. Time benders. When two people so determined have opposing desires, it’s hard to say who will win—or even what victory might look like. This stunning, haunting short story from rising star Alyssa Wong explores the depth and fierceness of love and the trauma of family.</blockquote> ➤ Timeloop, basically, though it doesn't follow fandom's rules about how they're supposed to go. Which is fine, just disconcerting at first because I've had genre expectations trained into me! ➤ Also: Melanie is super definitely trans, and I love the deft way it's shown without ever saying the word or making a huge deal out of it.