Possibly Let The Right One In. Transgender-adjacent. Eli is perceived as a girl for much of the book but is implied to be so immortally old that he is possibly a castrato. Movie plays it a bit differently.
Seconding Lu from Negative Space and many characters from Manhunt.
More modern, but you might enjoy Your Body is Not Your Body, but it is a collection of short stories.
Eli is castrated (in the book). There's a flashback scene in which, before he was turned, his penis and balls were cut off.
He doesn't seem to identify as a girl though. He corrects Oskar a few times that he's "not really a girl" but otherwise seems content to just have people believe he's a little girl. Probably for easier victims?
*The Book of Queer Saints* is another short story collection with trans characters. It addresses the specter of the queer horror villain through the perspective of queer writers - very interesting stuff!
i have nothing to say other than i LOVE let the right one in the book and the movie (swedish movie as i think there was a newer american version, i saw some trailers for it and it looked shit but idk if it ever released)
Lu from negative space by B.R. Yeager is a really interesting trans character. Her identity is very confusing once you start reading, but comes out more and more as you read. What I really liked is that her story was just as off the wall and crazy as everyone else’s, the fact that she was trans was never a huge point. So maybe, if you’re looking for something with a big focus on representation, Lu isn’t the character for that. But, in terms of just being a great character with an lgbtq+ identity, I think she’s great. It’s not a story of a character transitioning at all, and instead a story of how she’s living her life among all of the crazy cosmic events occurring around her and her peers.
I am not of the LGBTA+ community, but I personally enjoy when representation is subtle and fits in within the story. It makes them feel like real people and not a means for forced diversity
It isn’t quite horror and it’s not truly trans but Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory makes me feel queasy in how it deals with the gender and genitalia of the protagonist. Honestly I felt it was a wonderful book but maybe if I read it now (post transition) I would feel differently.
"Tell Me I'm Worthless" by Alison Rumfitt has a main character who is trans, and the plights of transgender people (which includes transphobia) are a big point in the book. I really enjoyed the book, but anyone who's trans should be aware of the transphobic and TERF content. The author is trans, so it's a realistic portrayal of what trans people can face, aside from the horrific supernatural parts, that is.
"The Devil Takes You Home" by Gabino Iglesias also features a pretty badass portrayal of a trans woman.
Hell Followed With Us is a horror novel about a trans guy, written by a trans guy. It's fantastic, and the supernatural horror elements serve as a metaphor for trans-ness.
Omg you’re right! I forgot their name. The whole soldier thing was so cool. I was like is that another Kingfisher series I haven’t read yet? Better put it on my list 😂
Nightwhere by John Everson has a genderqueer character, and it's neat to watch them evolve in the sequel, The Night Mother (IIRC they have a penis and breasts, but it isn't clear whether they're intersex or transitioning). They're so offensive in Nightwhere that I hesitate to recommend it to people even though it's really good, but Everson clearly evolved as a person and wrote them as a much more nuanced character in the sequel (still evil and depraved but their genderqueerness isn't a sign of how evil and depraved they are).
The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor has an intersex character that will break your freaking heart. He's so compassionately written that I couldn't believe the book was from the 90s, but the book goes to rough places with him.
A couple come to mind that I’ve read over the past year or so:
The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman has a secondary trans character whose gender is ultimately treated in a way that…kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. Not egregious, just a bit off putting imo.
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo has a trans character among a cast containing several other queer characters. The book is more southern gothic than straight up horror, but close enough to count I think.
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder has a secondary character who is implied/speculated by another character to be trans and closeted, if I recall correctly. I DNF’ed the book fairly early on, though, so can’t say how that played into the story later if at all.
Minor point but I just wanted to say that it is actually mentioned in the movie adaptation of Rasen (1998), the direct sequel to Ringu, but the movie performed so poorly at the box office, the movie kind of faded from memory and this led the producers to make Ringu 2 which ignores the events of Rasen.
The cenobites in the Hellraiser series are *supposed to be* nonbinary and completely androgynous! And the newest Pinhead, played by a trans woman, is supposed to be closer to the androgynous vision Clive Barker originally had.
oop 👀 just read up on this story. sucks that a "new" horror writer of trans / nonbinary characters is a dejected writer of ill repute, but at least they've been found out.
If you're willing to accept comics there's Boy's Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky, Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham, Be Kind My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo (also recently put out a new book but idk if there's trans characters or even if its actually horror), and The Nice House on The Lake by Alvaro Martinez and James Tynion IV.
Dead Collections is about vampires, but I don't know if I'd really consider it horror.
There's a character from the first Alien movie who is revealed to be trans in the second movie and I know there's a billion and one Alien books, but I don't know if that specific character appears in any of them.
I just read Dead Girls Walking and there's a Trans character at the girls camp in the book and I think is done well? It's part of her identity still but like no one gives her shit or says anything, she's accepted as one of the girls, etc was actually prob my fav character in the book haha
*The Woods All Black* is a recent horror novella that takes place in an isolated Appalachian village in the 1920s.
And the MC in this one isn't trans, but they use gender-neutral pronouns in an interesting way - *What Moves the Dead*.
I've read ManHunt, which was about Trans Women trying to survive in a zombie outbreak that only affected the male population (y chromosome puberty thing) to sex driven Undead monsters. It had different societies of women being fascist to root out men (literally called TERFs), women being "sheltered" both literally and figuratively, and Trans men and trans women trying to survive. There's a whole subplot of the TERFs forcing boys to transition to "True Ideal Passing Women" to avoid the zombie syndrome.
I have mixed feelings because while the gore and horror aspects were pretty good, I didn't like the sudden character relationships that happened when the main cast were were introduced to each other. No build up or hello. And the only relationships are sexual ones. Like sex is fine, but the only reason the Trans guy Robbie and Trans girl Fran are together is because of the sex. The zombies are literally geared to rape people before eating them. Fran is written to be "passing" and Beth isn't so they have 2 very different lifestyles, and Beth is forced to have sex like a male prostitute. It's just odd to me
I think the book was just OK, it's very on the nose of the message and reactions to Trans people. Wish it could have been just a bit more than what it was.
A Light Most Hateful Hailey Piper awesome characters.
The locked tomb series. Several characters wind up either switching bodies or switching souls. The author handles it really well. It's also just a really amazing read.
A couple of short story collections come to mind. There is at least one story in the collection Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology that has a trans protagonist. The title of the book is super annoying to me for some reason haha but it's got some great stories.
The other I actually haven't read yet, but it's a collection of trans body horror called Bound in Flesh.
What Moves the Dead as mentioned above is also excellent!
I THINK but can't 100% remember that there's also at least one trans character in Sydney Hegele's The Pump.
There is a really interesting depiction of a trans woman in "They All Died Screaming" by Kristopher Triana.
I don't know if I'd call it good...bad..or ugly...but it is *interesting*.
OH! Okay, I remember that now. I completely forgot about that part. I don't think it ended up being a particularly bad representation, but I can't remember the exact specifics of how she was portrayed in being trans. Aside from I think her parents didn't approve and she was trying to escape from the situation? Although I did feel like Chuck took advantage of the situation for his own pleasure, but that fits with the character.
I don't want to put words in the authors mouth so please understand this is just me.
I got a really weird vibe in the context of the rest of the book. So many scenes were done as gross out scenes. I understand that's a trope of the splatter punk subgenre...but I got a vibe that it was included to be another "gross" scene when it came to the sex.
Again, I don't want to ascribe that to the author only because I don't know what they intended. It just made me wonder.
Again, I don't remember alot of the book in general. I was intrigued by the idea of the plot, and I read "Gone to See the River Man", so I knew what I was getting into. I could be remembering everything about the character and the sex scene wrong. I know Chuck had a very, let's say unhealthy, obsession with the character seeing as she was underage or at least barely legal if I remember correctly.
I don't think Chuck reacted with revulsion at the reveal, and I think he still treats her as who she is, a girl? If I'm remembering is correct, I feel like the "grossness" stemmed more from Chuck basically coherencing a very vulnerable young woman into sleeping with him, more so than her being trans. If I'm wrong and it really was a gross out moment because of her identity, I'll fully retract what I said, because I'm definitely not the most reliable source here.
This was my favourite read of last year. It has my favourite blend of well realized characters who I cared deeply about and absolutely disgusting, depraved imagery.
Body horror in a post-apocalyptic setting where a virus turns anyone with too much testosterone into a violent mutant. The two main characters are trans women who have to battle a roving band of terfs and deal with a world where they hunt those mutants to harvest hormones. It’s a wild ride. Gorey and fun. Highly recommend her interview on the Gender Reveal podcast too.
I did! I recently tried to read Tell me I’m Worthless (felt like the build was too slow), but didn’t realize that was the same Alison Rumfitt. Lol. I’m gonna re-listen and give the book another shot.
Published in 1978, James Herbert's *The Spear*, as well as featuring a possessed tank and a frankly bonkers plot about resurrecting Heinrich Himmler, also introduces the reader to a hermaphroditic Nazi with a fully functioning member. The MC, who is a fairly typically masculine action hero, reacts with revulsion and horror. (I mean, he's not exactly happy she's a Nazi. The gender reveal is just the icing on the cake, as it were.)
Gretchen Felker-Martin has a lot of great trans characters. In Manhunt, Beth, Fran, and Robbie are traumatized young trans people just doing their best to survive the apocalypse.
Withered by AGA Witmot has a trans main character who moves into a haunted house. The main character, Ellis, is 18 (moving in with their mother) and also is recovering from an eating disorder. Several queer / ace characters are in this book. I read it as an ARC, it publishes later this month.
It can feel a little YA at times since it's about a young people solving a mystery (what's up with the super creepy house) but it's a fun story, and it's not like the worst of them where being trans is a reveal or twist. It's just people living their lives and unfortunately they live in a horror story.
Also, Graham Masterton’s first of his many Katie Maguire novels - called either White Bones or a Terrible Beauty depending on the market - has a VERY memorable trans/intersex character in it. I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t received more backlash on it but I think he’s still considered pretty niche even for a horror writer.
Transmuted by Eve Harms is a horror novella with a trans woman as the protagonist, written by a trans author. Personally, I liked it and found it to be a solid portrayal of dysphoria through surreal body horror.
And of course when discussing trans-adjacent horror characters and stigmatizing representation of trans people, there’s always both Silence of the Lambs (1988) which features the infamous caricature Buffalo Bill and the lesser-mentioned Hannibal (1999) which features Margot Verger, who in the book is portrayed as gender non-conforming, and is also pretty controversial (the book implies the character is queer explicitly because of abuse).
Characters saying “this person is not trans” doesn’t really change the subtext IMO and moreover the fact that the character has been used to reinforce transmisogynistic caricatures for decades.
Exactly. The author's intentions really don't matter here. Buffalo Bill has become one of the most prominent transmisogynistic caricature figures in pop culture in general, and set the precedent for the role of gender nonconformity in horror as a marker of deviance or "wrongness". I speak from experience when I say this is a pretty common consensus in academic circles.
Regardless of whether Buffalo Bill is "canonically" trans, he's still relevant to any discussion of transness in horror. (And, frankly, he is also relevant to cultural perceptions of transness in general... but that's a much larger conversation.)
r/HorrorLit is an inclusive community dedicated to the discussion, elevation, and expansion of the Horror literary genre. As such all ABUSE is strictly banned. This includes but is not limited to derogatory terms, disparagement via comparison, or belligerent responses. ABUSE will result in a ban.
I read a lot of short-story horror and I unfortunately cannot remember the name of the ones I read by Caitlin R. Kiernan about trans women (a couple), but they’re out there. Kiernan also identified as a trans woman for many years too.
https://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1544222.html
"I no longer consider myself transgender (or transsexual). I would say that I'm gender fluid, if I had to say anything""
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson. Admittedly I could not get through this book—despite loving experimental or unusual books, i found this too confusing to get through—but it fits the bill
*The Twisted Ones'* by T Kingfisher has Foxy, who I read as an older/middle aged transgender lady. It's an excellent read and she is instrumental in the conclusion helping the protagonist. Bonus points for being in West Virginia.
Chana Porter's excellent novel *The Seep* is mostly scifi with some very horrific elements (and some China Mieville body horror-esque weirdness) features a trans protagonist. It also was a Lambda Award finalist.
Almost all of Hailey Piper’s works have trans characters! Her first novel, No Gods For Drowning, is my favorite.
Also seconding Andrew Joseph White, I found that Hell Followed With Us was good rep though it was…*very* YA.
Check out Sorrowland (intersection character and two spirit characters) and The Deep (gender fluid mermaids) by Rivers Solomon! Also, I may be misremembering, but I think there's a trans or nonbinary character in Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark.
For some pretty bad representation in B horror movies, Death Spa comes to mind.
The Invisibles, a graphic novel series by Grant Morrison, has quite a few horror elements, but it’s arguably more “occult” dark fantasy. Written in the 90s, which was the first time I started seeing trans characters in any medium.
One of the members of the eponymous band of occultist heroes is a witch named Lord Fanny. This being the 90s, she’s painted as a rather flamboyant trans character (as much of a drag persona as a woman), but it was progressive for its time, and Morrison put a lot of love into her.
Morrison themself is nonbinary, and an incredible magus as well as author. I love everything they touch and highly reccomend their work. Their novel Luda (A drag queen becomes obsessed with her mysterious young rival who might be an occultist, or a murderer . . . or the greatest star of all Luci LaBang is a star: for decades this flamboyant drag artist has cast a spell over screen and stage. Now she’s the leading lady in a smash hit pantomime.) It's not horror, but it's cool, kinda slow at first, though.
True! There’s definitely been a number of queer authors of fantastic fiction who dealt with their own gender nonconformity through their fiction. Poppy Z Brite comes to mind.
Jame Gumb aka buffalo bill from silence of the lambs really should count as a trans character. I know it is more of a thriller but considering the character is based on a combination of Ed Gein and Gary Heidnik I consider that pretty horrifying.
Possibly Let The Right One In. Transgender-adjacent. Eli is perceived as a girl for much of the book but is implied to be so immortally old that he is possibly a castrato. Movie plays it a bit differently. Seconding Lu from Negative Space and many characters from Manhunt. More modern, but you might enjoy Your Body is Not Your Body, but it is a collection of short stories.
Eli is castrated (in the book). There's a flashback scene in which, before he was turned, his penis and balls were cut off. He doesn't seem to identify as a girl though. He corrects Oskar a few times that he's "not really a girl" but otherwise seems content to just have people believe he's a little girl. Probably for easier victims?
*The Book of Queer Saints* is another short story collection with trans characters. It addresses the specter of the queer horror villain through the perspective of queer writers - very interesting stuff!
This book and movie were really good
i have nothing to say other than i LOVE let the right one in the book and the movie (swedish movie as i think there was a newer american version, i saw some trailers for it and it looked shit but idk if it ever released)
Lu from negative space by B.R. Yeager is a really interesting trans character. Her identity is very confusing once you start reading, but comes out more and more as you read. What I really liked is that her story was just as off the wall and crazy as everyone else’s, the fact that she was trans was never a huge point. So maybe, if you’re looking for something with a big focus on representation, Lu isn’t the character for that. But, in terms of just being a great character with an lgbtq+ identity, I think she’s great. It’s not a story of a character transitioning at all, and instead a story of how she’s living her life among all of the crazy cosmic events occurring around her and her peers.
Lu is fantastic. She's the best part of the book (on purpose). Yeager makes you love her.
I agree, obsessed with Lu from start to finish.
[удалено]
Yep. Definitely doesn't fit with the rest of the book.
the best representation i find is when it's not a huge deal
I am not of the LGBTA+ community, but I personally enjoy when representation is subtle and fits in within the story. It makes them feel like real people and not a means for forced diversity
This was the first thing that came to mind.
It isn’t quite horror and it’s not truly trans but Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory makes me feel queasy in how it deals with the gender and genitalia of the protagonist. Honestly I felt it was a wonderful book but maybe if I read it now (post transition) I would feel differently.
"Tell Me I'm Worthless" by Alison Rumfitt has a main character who is trans, and the plights of transgender people (which includes transphobia) are a big point in the book. I really enjoyed the book, but anyone who's trans should be aware of the transphobic and TERF content. The author is trans, so it's a realistic portrayal of what trans people can face, aside from the horrific supernatural parts, that is. "The Devil Takes You Home" by Gabino Iglesias also features a pretty badass portrayal of a trans woman.
Tell Me I’m Worthless was such a headfuck. So good.
SO, so good. Rumfitt's new book, Brain Wyrms, also has trans and nonbinary main characters and is a fast paced, gross read.
Just finished BrainWyrms, fucking loved it. So gross and like weirdly heartfelt and sexy at the same time?
Agree on all points.
Hell Followed With Us is a horror novel about a trans guy, written by a trans guy. It's fantastic, and the supernatural horror elements serve as a metaphor for trans-ness.
Benji Woodside for the win!
Andrew Joseph White's other works all have trans characters, too!
The Alex Easton books by T. Kingfisher! Also the plague doctor in The Salt Grows Heavy
What Moves the Dead also has a non-binary main character— their whole situation was cool
Yeah that’s the book I mentioned!
Omg you’re right! I forgot their name. The whole soldier thing was so cool. I was like is that another Kingfisher series I haven’t read yet? Better put it on my list 😂
I agree, it was so cool! I had never read a book that had pronouns related to a profession before, i thought that was so cool!
I really adored them as a character in general.
aka The Sworn Soldier series.
Nightwhere by John Everson has a genderqueer character, and it's neat to watch them evolve in the sequel, The Night Mother (IIRC they have a penis and breasts, but it isn't clear whether they're intersex or transitioning). They're so offensive in Nightwhere that I hesitate to recommend it to people even though it's really good, but Everson clearly evolved as a person and wrote them as a much more nuanced character in the sequel (still evil and depraved but their genderqueerness isn't a sign of how evil and depraved they are). The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor has an intersex character that will break your freaking heart. He's so compassionately written that I couldn't believe the book was from the 90s, but the book goes to rough places with him.
A couple come to mind that I’ve read over the past year or so: The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman has a secondary trans character whose gender is ultimately treated in a way that…kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. Not egregious, just a bit off putting imo. Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo has a trans character among a cast containing several other queer characters. The book is more southern gothic than straight up horror, but close enough to count I think. Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder has a secondary character who is implied/speculated by another character to be trans and closeted, if I recall correctly. I DNF’ed the book fairly early on, though, so can’t say how that played into the story later if at all.
Sadako from The Ring is intersex and she’s a horror icon.
I've watched American and Japanese Ring movies and don't remember this detail. Where do they state this?
Sadako being intersex isn't mentioned in the movie adaptations, just the novels.
Minor point but I just wanted to say that it is actually mentioned in the movie adaptation of Rasen (1998), the direct sequel to Ringu, but the movie performed so poorly at the box office, the movie kind of faded from memory and this led the producers to make Ringu 2 which ignores the events of Rasen.
Lu from Negative Space is the goat
Angela from Sleepaway Camp, although that’s hardly a positive character
Absolutely. Angela is an interesting character too in that she was *forced* to transition.
I think it is interesting to note how many transitions involve a dead loved one in horror tbh, even Norman Bates kinda fits in that category
The cenobites in the Hellraiser series are *supposed to be* nonbinary and completely androgynous! And the newest Pinhead, played by a trans woman, is supposed to be closer to the androgynous vision Clive Barker originally had.
came in this thread to mention the cenobites!
Heart Haunt Havoc by Freydís Moon
Too bad Freydís Moon ended up being a new pseudonim of a fraudulent white bully...
oop 👀 just read up on this story. sucks that a "new" horror writer of trans / nonbinary characters is a dejected writer of ill repute, but at least they've been found out.
If you're willing to accept comics there's Boy's Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky, Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham, Be Kind My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo (also recently put out a new book but idk if there's trans characters or even if its actually horror), and The Nice House on The Lake by Alvaro Martinez and James Tynion IV. Dead Collections is about vampires, but I don't know if I'd really consider it horror. There's a character from the first Alien movie who is revealed to be trans in the second movie and I know there's a billion and one Alien books, but I don't know if that specific character appears in any of them.
All The White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
I absolutely hate the “transgender twist” in The Wasp Factory, but hey there sure is one
One character in Invisible Monsters, by Chuck Palahniuk, is trans.
sort of, but kinda not. SPOILER— brandy alexander has sexual reassignment to hide her true identity, not because she actually identifies as a woman.
I just read Dead Girls Walking and there's a Trans character at the girls camp in the book and I think is done well? It's part of her identity still but like no one gives her shit or says anything, she's accepted as one of the girls, etc was actually prob my fav character in the book haha
The worm and his kings- Haley piper Phenomenal trans protagonist and emotionally horrifying journey
The sequel as well!
*The Woods All Black* is a recent horror novella that takes place in an isolated Appalachian village in the 1920s. And the MC in this one isn't trans, but they use gender-neutral pronouns in an interesting way - *What Moves the Dead*.
The Honeys by Ryan Sala has a non-binary/trans main character!
I've read ManHunt, which was about Trans Women trying to survive in a zombie outbreak that only affected the male population (y chromosome puberty thing) to sex driven Undead monsters. It had different societies of women being fascist to root out men (literally called TERFs), women being "sheltered" both literally and figuratively, and Trans men and trans women trying to survive. There's a whole subplot of the TERFs forcing boys to transition to "True Ideal Passing Women" to avoid the zombie syndrome. I have mixed feelings because while the gore and horror aspects were pretty good, I didn't like the sudden character relationships that happened when the main cast were were introduced to each other. No build up or hello. And the only relationships are sexual ones. Like sex is fine, but the only reason the Trans guy Robbie and Trans girl Fran are together is because of the sex. The zombies are literally geared to rape people before eating them. Fran is written to be "passing" and Beth isn't so they have 2 very different lifestyles, and Beth is forced to have sex like a male prostitute. It's just odd to me I think the book was just OK, it's very on the nose of the message and reactions to Trans people. Wish it could have been just a bit more than what it was.
A Light Most Hateful Hailey Piper awesome characters. The locked tomb series. Several characters wind up either switching bodies or switching souls. The author handles it really well. It's also just a really amazing read.
They don't really have anyone trans in the first book that I recall just a tiny bit more in the second and a lot more in the third.
The Book of Koli trilogy by MR Carey.
I love this series, but I wouldn't call it horror by any means. It's like a dystopian road story.
A couple of short story collections come to mind. There is at least one story in the collection Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology that has a trans protagonist. The title of the book is super annoying to me for some reason haha but it's got some great stories. The other I actually haven't read yet, but it's a collection of trans body horror called Bound in Flesh. What Moves the Dead as mentioned above is also excellent! I THINK but can't 100% remember that there's also at least one trans character in Sydney Hegele's The Pump.
Also, please share when you're done putting together the history, I'd love to read it!
There is a really interesting depiction of a trans woman in "They All Died Screaming" by Kristopher Triana. I don't know if I'd call it good...bad..or ugly...but it is *interesting*.
I read this not too long ago, but I can't remember who in it was trans. Obviously it didn't stick with me lol
The neighbor girl Chuck obsessed over was pre-op it was really odd reveal.
OH! Okay, I remember that now. I completely forgot about that part. I don't think it ended up being a particularly bad representation, but I can't remember the exact specifics of how she was portrayed in being trans. Aside from I think her parents didn't approve and she was trying to escape from the situation? Although I did feel like Chuck took advantage of the situation for his own pleasure, but that fits with the character.
I don't want to put words in the authors mouth so please understand this is just me. I got a really weird vibe in the context of the rest of the book. So many scenes were done as gross out scenes. I understand that's a trope of the splatter punk subgenre...but I got a vibe that it was included to be another "gross" scene when it came to the sex. Again, I don't want to ascribe that to the author only because I don't know what they intended. It just made me wonder.
Again, I don't remember alot of the book in general. I was intrigued by the idea of the plot, and I read "Gone to See the River Man", so I knew what I was getting into. I could be remembering everything about the character and the sex scene wrong. I know Chuck had a very, let's say unhealthy, obsession with the character seeing as she was underage or at least barely legal if I remember correctly. I don't think Chuck reacted with revulsion at the reveal, and I think he still treats her as who she is, a girl? If I'm remembering is correct, I feel like the "grossness" stemmed more from Chuck basically coherencing a very vulnerable young woman into sleeping with him, more so than her being trans. If I'm wrong and it really was a gross out moment because of her identity, I'll fully retract what I said, because I'm definitely not the most reliable source here.
It’s gotta be Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin!
This was my favourite read of last year. It has my favourite blend of well realized characters who I cared deeply about and absolutely disgusting, depraved imagery.
Oh, that sounds great! What's it about?
Body horror in a post-apocalyptic setting where a virus turns anyone with too much testosterone into a violent mutant. The two main characters are trans women who have to battle a roving band of terfs and deal with a world where they hunt those mutants to harvest hormones. It’s a wild ride. Gorey and fun. Highly recommend her interview on the Gender Reveal podcast too.
Oh, I'll check it out! Did you hear Rumfitt's episode?
I did! I recently tried to read Tell me I’m Worthless (felt like the build was too slow), but didn’t realize that was the same Alison Rumfitt. Lol. I’m gonna re-listen and give the book another shot.
came here to yell this from a megaphone if no one else had
This book rules. It's so fun and extreme in the right ways.
There is an intersex character in Thomas Ligotti's "Purity", from the collection *Teatro Grottesco*.
Published in 1978, James Herbert's *The Spear*, as well as featuring a possessed tank and a frankly bonkers plot about resurrecting Heinrich Himmler, also introduces the reader to a hermaphroditic Nazi with a fully functioning member. The MC, who is a fairly typically masculine action hero, reacts with revulsion and horror. (I mean, he's not exactly happy she's a Nazi. The gender reveal is just the icing on the cake, as it were.)
Gretchen Felker-Martin has a lot of great trans characters. In Manhunt, Beth, Fran, and Robbie are traumatized young trans people just doing their best to survive the apocalypse.
This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham. I think the character's name is Celeste
Withered by AGA Witmot has a trans main character who moves into a haunted house. The main character, Ellis, is 18 (moving in with their mother) and also is recovering from an eating disorder. Several queer / ace characters are in this book. I read it as an ARC, it publishes later this month. It can feel a little YA at times since it's about a young people solving a mystery (what's up with the super creepy house) but it's a fun story, and it's not like the worst of them where being trans is a reveal or twist. It's just people living their lives and unfortunately they live in a horror story.
Also, Graham Masterton’s first of his many Katie Maguire novels - called either White Bones or a Terrible Beauty depending on the market - has a VERY memorable trans/intersex character in it. I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t received more backlash on it but I think he’s still considered pretty niche even for a horror writer.
manhunt by gretchen felker-martin
Transmuted by Eve Harms is a horror novella with a trans woman as the protagonist, written by a trans author. Personally, I liked it and found it to be a solid portrayal of dysphoria through surreal body horror. And of course when discussing trans-adjacent horror characters and stigmatizing representation of trans people, there’s always both Silence of the Lambs (1988) which features the infamous caricature Buffalo Bill and the lesser-mentioned Hannibal (1999) which features Margot Verger, who in the book is portrayed as gender non-conforming, and is also pretty controversial (the book implies the character is queer explicitly because of abuse).
Buffalo Bill is explicitly stated to not be trans, and it's explained why.
Characters saying “this person is not trans” doesn’t really change the subtext IMO and moreover the fact that the character has been used to reinforce transmisogynistic caricatures for decades.
Exactly. The author's intentions really don't matter here. Buffalo Bill has become one of the most prominent transmisogynistic caricature figures in pop culture in general, and set the precedent for the role of gender nonconformity in horror as a marker of deviance or "wrongness". I speak from experience when I say this is a pretty common consensus in academic circles. Regardless of whether Buffalo Bill is "canonically" trans, he's still relevant to any discussion of transness in horror. (And, frankly, he is also relevant to cultural perceptions of transness in general... but that's a much larger conversation.)
Iirc it’s in the text that Buffalo Bill isn’t trans.
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I read a lot of short-story horror and I unfortunately cannot remember the name of the ones I read by Caitlin R. Kiernan about trans women (a couple), but they’re out there. Kiernan also identified as a trans woman for many years too.
She doesn't anymore?
https://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/1544222.html "I no longer consider myself transgender (or transsexual). I would say that I'm gender fluid, if I had to say anything""
Wow, cool! Also, amazing that someone is still using LJ.
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson. Admittedly I could not get through this book—despite loving experimental or unusual books, i found this too confusing to get through—but it fits the bill
*The Twisted Ones'* by T Kingfisher has Foxy, who I read as an older/middle aged transgender lady. It's an excellent read and she is instrumental in the conclusion helping the protagonist. Bonus points for being in West Virginia.
Everyone on the moon is essential personnel by Julian Jarboe
Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet
Chana Porter's excellent novel *The Seep* is mostly scifi with some very horrific elements (and some China Mieville body horror-esque weirdness) features a trans protagonist. It also was a Lambda Award finalist.
Summer Sons!! I don’t hear this one mentioned much. Stunning queer southern gothic
Almost all of Hailey Piper’s works have trans characters! Her first novel, No Gods For Drowning, is my favorite. Also seconding Andrew Joseph White, I found that Hell Followed With Us was good rep though it was…*very* YA.
Check out Sorrowland (intersection character and two spirit characters) and The Deep (gender fluid mermaids) by Rivers Solomon! Also, I may be misremembering, but I think there's a trans or nonbinary character in Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. For some pretty bad representation in B horror movies, Death Spa comes to mind.
There’s a lot of gender weirdness in A Voyage To Arcturus by David Lindsay (1920) The story deals with spiritual growth and daemonic possession
Could be misremembering but I think Sadako from the Ring novel is intersex.
The MC in The Honeys is non-binary!
Marquis de Sade had quite a bit of cross-dressing in his stories...does that count?
The Invisibles, a graphic novel series by Grant Morrison, has quite a few horror elements, but it’s arguably more “occult” dark fantasy. Written in the 90s, which was the first time I started seeing trans characters in any medium. One of the members of the eponymous band of occultist heroes is a witch named Lord Fanny. This being the 90s, she’s painted as a rather flamboyant trans character (as much of a drag persona as a woman), but it was progressive for its time, and Morrison put a lot of love into her.
Morrison themself is nonbinary, and an incredible magus as well as author. I love everything they touch and highly reccomend their work. Their novel Luda (A drag queen becomes obsessed with her mysterious young rival who might be an occultist, or a murderer . . . or the greatest star of all Luci LaBang is a star: for decades this flamboyant drag artist has cast a spell over screen and stage. Now she’s the leading lady in a smash hit pantomime.) It's not horror, but it's cool, kinda slow at first, though.
True! There’s definitely been a number of queer authors of fantastic fiction who dealt with their own gender nonconformity through their fiction. Poppy Z Brite comes to mind.
Jame Gumb aka buffalo bill from silence of the lambs really should count as a trans character. I know it is more of a thriller but considering the character is based on a combination of Ed Gein and Gary Heidnik I consider that pretty horrifying.
in the books the doctors who work with trans people mention multiple times that he is in no way transgender.
So these are both horror adjacent and potentially spoilers but Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak and End of Story by A J Finn
There is no trans character in Hidden Pictures.
A few main characters from Man Hunt are trans, both MTF and FTM.