Fictionmaniacal

I had a conversation with a friend when the first Fantastic Four movie came out. He was a big time comic book fan, and was really into the old Silver Age Jack Kirby/Stan Lee stuff. Anyway, he was going on and on about how awesome the movie was and I was like, “What, you can’t be serious?” He then spent twenty minutes trying, and failing, to explain to me why it was such a cool movie. Finally he gave up. “It’s the best we’re gonna get, so I have to like it,” he said, exasperated.

And that was my point to him. No, just because you’re a fan, you don’t have to like it. You don’t have to even tolerate it. And you certainly shouldn’t apologize for it. In fact, being a fan means you should ask for more, for better. Your standards should be higher than the rank and file, because you know what the Fantastic Four can be. But for some reason, when you’ve invested a certain amount of your identity into something, and especially if that something places you into a community that might be marginalized by society at large, you become more willing to take what’s available. You settle for “good enough”. You happily swallow the table scraps that are fed to you.

That’s how Fictionmania, and trans-fiction in general, makes me feel.

It wasn’t too long ago, a friend of a friend linked me a piece of trans-fiction while we were chatting in YIM. She assured me it wasn’t like the other stuff, that it was actually good. I was dubious. For starters, the title of the serialized piece was Camp Kummonawannalaya (spelling may vary), which apart from being gratuitous, was also very derivative (back in the days of the original ECW, there are a was a female wrestler who went by that moniker”¦ and yes, I’m writing an article criticizing trans-fiction while simultaneously confessing a past fondness for professional wrestling. Savor the irony). Anyway, I decided to peruse part one of the story, just in case my friend’s friend asked me what I thought of it.

And guess what? It was total crap. Girl meets boy, talks him into coming to summer camp with her”¦ except (wait a beat for the big surprise), it’s an all-girl camp. Hijinks ensue. Or so I presume”¦ I didn’t actually make it to the camp.

Then yesterday a friend of mine points me to her blog. She reveals in this blog that she not-so-secretly has been writing a serialized story at fictionmania. Her stated goal was to see what would happen if something “real” were to make its way onto the site And being her friend, and especially since she directed me to this blog specifically, I figured I better give it a look.

And guess what? It too was total crap. Closet crossdressing guy takes a job at an office where he’s the only man. The women decide it would be fun to dress him up and make him work as a woman. Hijinks ensue. Or so I presume. I honestly couldn’t make it as far as the first day of work.
To date, there’s only been one instance of this particular formula that’s ever captured even a smidgeon of my interest in any way that wasn’t purely hormonal”¦ a story called The Reluctant Girlfriend. I forget the author, or even where I saw it, but it was understated in comparison to most others, even tinged with a little sweetness. And although better than most, it was still ultimately puerile fantasy, a story in service to crossdressing, and not the other way around.

So here I am, like my comic book loving friend, wanting to like something. Unlike my friend, however, I am unable to do so. I want fiction I can relate to. I want fiction that is both literate and compelling, featuring one or more trans-protagonists, without pandering to this fan-fic level of juvenilia that seems to proliferate Fictionmania and the other story sites. I want a Fantastic Four that is actually good. And also that just happens to let Reed Richards accessorize better.

Can someone tell me where to find that?*

* And don’t anyone dare mention C.C. Olsen’s Deception. I haven’t read it, but I’m not going to shell out $10+ for any self-published book that features its author’s face more than twice on the front cover. I doubt that the term “vanity press” could ever be used more apropos. Of course, if someone wants to provide me with a comp copy, I’ll be more than happy to put my stagnating literature degree to use and review it for TGForum.

 

Category: All TGForum Posts, Transgender Opinion