Manhunt

I just finished Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin. A splattercore post apocalyptic novel written by trans people, for trans people. Where cis men have been turned into monsters, militant TERFs rise to power, and trans folk do what they can to survive in a post collapse New England. Oh, and JKR dies in a house fire! (lol) I was excited to read a book with TERFS as the baddies. And, I did get that. But I also got a novel whose gaze is unflinchingly honest in it's portrayal of trans people's relationship to their own and other's bodies. It authentically shows the kind of dysphoric intrusive inner dialogue that lashes out at you, and poisons your thoughts of others. While also showing deep love and appreciation for all aspects of trans bodies, even the ones we often hate about ourselves. And, that's exactly what I needed. It's brutal, exciting, disgusting, heartfelt, horrifying, funny, devastating, tender, full of blood and gore and violence, and super horny. I absolutely loved it.

The figures of Beth and Fran are very believable, rich and deep. I only read the first example of the book, and am certainly buying it, just because I want to know how they will fare. I'm sure I'll miss them when I've finished the book, which is always a sign you're reading the book of a good writer. This is fiction, I don't get what all of the fuss is about, geez, lots and lots of exciting fictional books have been written about people falling victim to fascists and nazi's, without the fascists and nazi's whining that "the book is calling for violence against them, boohoo" ;-)

not usually a fan of horror but my favorite parts of this book aren't really about "traditional" horror anyway. very honest and relatable portrayal of trans experience