Welcome to Litsy!

Crying about De La Pole again. Next on the schedule is crying about Katherine, and then crying about Feather, yet again.
[The first two characters are from Wyrm by Gretchen Felker-Martin, which is not in the database yet]

1. Thomas and Rohaise from Ego Homini Lupus by Gretchen Felker-Martin.

2. Indi and Beth from the tagged book.

3. Griffin and Gage from Max Graves' brilliant webcomic, What Happened Next.

All of these works are criminally under-read.

Men have turned into raping, killing zombies. Empowered and enraged TERFs are now on the hunt for transgendered women. Throw in some spoiled bunker brats. This is very much about the trans experience, written from that perspective. The premise is absolutely terrifying to me. I found this book makes you take a hard look at yourself. Violence, gore, sex, rape, transphobia, there's not much that isn't in here.

Don‘t go off the reviews. Yes, there‘s a lot of sex, violence, gore. It‘s a essentially a (not so) dystopia war novel centered between trans people/allies and very angry TERFs. It‘s frank and honest and graphic. But the characters (even some of the villains) are so heartfelt & vulnerable, it‘s hard not to become emotionally invested.

Pic is me (left) & a friend in our First Aid Kit concert tees we got at their live gig last Tuesday.

My library card expired when I was halfway through with a #AuthorAMonth title that I was really enjoying. 😣 So while I wait to get it back, trying this one I picked up last Halloween. It‘s creepy and visceral but super engrossing.

🎧 I liked this book. Others won‘t. There‘s a bunch of trigger warnings. Super adult language. And adult situations. Thematically adult.

Body horror. Cannibalism. Revoltingly blatant sex. A lot of sex. I loved the characters. 25% in and I had to go back to the beginning.

The book‘s lingo is quotable or at least memorable.

Trans guys & girls and non-binary characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👇🏻

I went into this gender apocalypse with trepidation and was soon reading with gusto. Yes, it‘s OTT violent. It also pulses with emotional truth that left me feeing gutted. Transphobia, self-hatred, and dyke drama is contrasted with community building, positive disability representation, and tenderness. Beth, a trans woman, and Robbie, a trans man, are my two favourite characters in this amazing debut. #transgirlApril #LGBTQ

It wasn‘t the few who‘d cheered who frightened her; it was the rest, watching with guarded expressions, not looking at those among their number who cried Go back to Maryland you fucking Nazis! & Fuck TERFs! The women who looked at each other in a way […] sealed forever within the cold & rigid bonds of cisness but which told her nonetheless that they couldn‘t leave too soon.
That was what scared her. The women who stayed silent.

“College,” Robbie‘s grandfather had often said with scorn, “is where they teach you how to get an NPR subscription.”

I tried… but I couldn‘t. Bailed at around 45% of the audiobook. I just found I didn‘t want to keep listening. I respect the author for the boldness of the subject matter, though! Second to last #tob23 book for me, sadly I won‘t be a full completist since I couldn‘t finish it.

An interesting concept but did not love it. A plague had turned anyone with too much testosterone into a rapist monster zombie, and two trans women are trying to hunt down enough estrogen to stay alive. The other enemy is a TERF army. Look, I get it, but pretty much every cis person turns out to be like cartoonishly evil. This was maybe more horror than dystopia.

I am not going to be a #TOB2023 completist because I read the description of this novel and I simply cannot. I don't like horror and I'm sick and tired of plagues. I'm willing to believe it's brilliant but it's not for me, not right now.

All I‘m gonna say is not my thing!

I thought this was fantastic. The book starts off on a note of exaggerated artifice & wisecracking humour, sort of pulpy camp—before becoming something more complex & urgent. I appreciated the subtle shifts in tone. There were also so many great lines. I can't get the phrase "chromosome crusaders" out of my head. I thought this balance of humour & sadness is so good; it's hard to get it right. It's sad, & a lot more than sex & gore, imo. #ToB2023

I weirdly enjoyed this ballsy (pun intended) story of apocalypse when most humans with a penis become infected with a virus which turns them into monsters. Into the power vacuum steps the Matriarchy with a militarized subgroup of TERFs who hunt not only the monsters but also trans women. Both the sex scenes and the fight scenes are lurid and gross. But I found the story underneath engaging and I admire the author‘s fearlessness. #ToB2023

This started off kind-of OK, considering it‘s really not my thing. (Gory erotica / erotic gore - is there such a genre?!) I thought it was quite cleverly done and was interested to see what the message was.

However, the second part became really confusing, perhaps because I was on audio. There were two many characters and I struggled to remember who was trans and who was cis, plus some flashbacks in time (I think?) didn‘t help.

#ToB2023 #AudioBook #grotesqueSurvivalStory

Am reading My Volcano, I own Mouth to Mouth, and Seven Moons is on its way to me (thx @Megabooks !! 💌), and I had a credit to burn— what was I to do!? I think audio might be the best strategy on this one. Maybe. Thank goodness that smellavision-listen isn‘t a thing! The rotten scent descriptions are enough to turn one‘s stomach.

Book 13 😬 I‘m so excited! Finally!

I'm usually OK with gore and violence in novels, but I didn't have the stomach to continue with this book after a few chapters. Perhaps if the story had been more compelling, I'd have persevered, but there are other #ToB2023 books waiting on my TBR stack.

I wanted to be a #tob23 completionist but I realized I was just skimming this.

Despite the billing, this doesn't feel like horror to me. It feels like revenge, gore, and erotica. It would have been easier to follow and could have developed a stronger message had the author spent as much energy on the plot as she does on the sex scenes. The science is slippery at best, and with the erratic accents and mispronunciation of town names, the narration was unpleasant to listen to. I kind of wish I'd bailed. #tob2023

Not remotely the biggest problem I have with this novel, but the narrator keeps saying "wore-chester" and it's like nails on a chalkboard. If a novel is set in Massachusetts, you really need someone to check the town name pronunciations on the audio. So far none of the characters has visited Billerica, thank goodness.

I read this in prep for Tournament of Books and as my bookspin. It is a dystopian horror story of trans characters hunting feral men and harvesting their organs. It was very disturbing and raw. The author definitely did not hold back. #bookspin #tournamentofbooks @thearomaofbooks

If there were no other books waiting for me I would have spend more time with this one but since there are a zillion books out there calling my name I read this one diagonally. I think I got the point anyhow. Revenge indeed and a lot of anger. And that repeating and repeating.

#pop23 #QueerLead #Booked2023 #TransPerson #52Booksclub23 #SurvivalStory #ToB23

I guess it's a pick?
This book turns the battle between TERFs & Trans women into a literal war. Oh, & America's a dystopia & men have gone feral because of a virus. They are hunted so their balls can be harvested for testosterone.
This is not a nuanced look into gender, identity, or internalized misogyny. It's a campy B horror movie in book form. Felker-Martin is a film critic & it shows. It's fast-paced (I whipped through it) & cinematic. 👇

Things I don't really like:
😨horror
😨violence
😨gore
😨graphic sex

Things this book has:
😨horror
😨violence
😨gore
😨graphic sex

And YET, I haven't bailed. It's like I cannot look away. 😳 #tob2023

#WeeklyForecast 01/23

Another year, new challenges! I am about to start The Night Shift because I really want to and I can use it for many challenges. The tagged one is for the #ToB23. I need to read one a week to finish them all in time.
The She-Devil is for #ReadingTheAmericas2023.

Happy new year 📚 📚📚📚

Initially, I loved this primal scream of “trans women are women, dammit!” But it eventually became very one note and has far too much graphic sex for me (I don‘t care what parts anyone has, I‘m not a fan of erotica). I also feel like it‘s a revenge fantasy, and while revenge can initially feel good, it‘s ultimately a negative, bad place to go. #tob2023

Today is my 35th birthday, reminding me life is too short to read books I‘m not enjoying. So I bailed on this horror novel from the #tob2023 shortlist. I got to 17% and it‘s just not my style. I don‘t want to listen to any more of the same. Not necessarily a critique of the book, just me knowing what does and doesn‘t work for me. And this is a nope.

@forestandcrow thank you so much!! I can't wait to read this and the chocolate is delicious! @MaleficentBookDragon #jolabokaflod

#TOB23 I get why this book was chosen- it‘s in your FACE - every page meant to SHOCK & leave you uncomfortable but I honestly found it hollow for those reasons. I tend to think less is MORE & maybe if this book toned down the violence, graphic sex & language it would have left an impact on me. I just didn‘t enjoy this book at all. Not a pan but a book I only stayed with because of the shortlist & the fact that I was on an 11 hour flight ✈️

This is an interesting choice for the final #ToB2023 brackets. This horror novel turns the world upside down as transgender and other LGBTQ+ folks battle TERFs for supremacy when all the XY men have fallen victim to a virus that turns them into beasts. This was sort of brilliant but filled with graphic violence and sex. Like literally if they weren‘t fighting the TERFs or zombie men they were f***ing. A wild ride for sure!

I had too high expectations for this one.. It read a lot more thans/homopbilobic than I think the author intended, and the ending was so/so. Kinda disappointing.

Man this was a trip. I only learned after the fact that it has garnered some controversial attention. It's a really good actiony horror. But be forewarned, the easiest I can compare it to would be the gore of Edward Lee, if you know, you know. But honestly I thought was a fun read. It really picks up at the halfway and gets out of its own way.

I can honestly say that I have never read anything like this before, and I know many people aren't a fan of this book but I really liked it.

It's violent, grotesque, sexual, and the mix of dark humor throughout was great. There's so much more here than just horror. I listened to the audio and I really want to get a physical copy and read it again sometime.

#Scarathlon #Scarathlon2022 @Clwojick #TeamSlaughter #LittenListen

Society collapsed when testosterone producers all turned into feral zombie-esque creatures. Then there are TERF‘s starting war caused by fear that trans-women are time bombs if they are unable to take hormones. Cool premise, I was all about this horror book!

But it comes off as very transphobic. The witty banter between the main characters is just mean, the relationships are all toxic, and the communities/safe havens formed are all full of hate

Add Gretchen Felker-Martin's other books to the database, you cowards. I've been submitting them for over two years.

Have you all seen this one? It sounds bizarre & disturbing & awesome! #PRIDEmonth horror read? Yes, please!!

Synopsis in link ⬇️

https://a.co/d/3ugb6uG

I wanted to like this book but, to be honest, the rampant, graphic sex completely took away from the fascinating and often heartbreaking world the author was building. I‘m not squeamish or prudish but I ended up rolling my eyes constantly because the characters never seemed to stop. When the characters weren‘t screwing each other it was fascinating seeing how they interacted and survived this new world. I just wish there was more of that. 🌟🌟

A dystopian horror with a LOT of graphic violence. It is raw, visceral, & intended to shock. The writing is decent & primary character construction is fairly well executed. However, the good things get overshadowed by a heavily angry undertone. The plot is very intense without any variation in tension. This made it overwhelming & resulted in a kind of numbness. It came off a bit too heavy handed. Good underlying message, but lacks balance.

If you don't like this book, then fuck you. I mean it. 😘🥰💖

The goriest, most violent book I've ever read. Its concepts and world-building are terrifying: both the idea of this virus that turns humans with a certain testosterone level into raging homicidal rapist zombies and the TERF army that emerges as a result. This book has a lot to say about transmisogyny (today and in a post-apocalyptic setting) as well as relationships between trans women. The characterization left me a bit wanting though.

Treated myself to a little book splurge for my 30th birthday 🎉 (as if I don‘t do this once a month anyways)

Guess the horror section was calling to me 😂 💀 Good thing I don‘t fear aging 😅

I got this based on the cover.

It's full of gore, graphic (sexual) violence, cannibalism,...

Not exactly sure what put me off. Maybe that dystopian books with gore and violence aren't what I'd call horror? Maybe it was the writing style?

Interesting premise, and I like that trans and non-binary characters take center stage. I couldn‘t finish it, though. The gore was too much for me, and there was some brutal sexual violence that didn‘t do anything to further the story; it came across as being gratuitous. I found it disturbing. Some of the characters seemed underdeveloped as well. If none of this bothers you, give this book a chance; you‘ll probably like it. It just wasn‘t for me.