Nicky’s never getting on oestrogen. She’s too late. The waiting lists are years long, and private clinics are shutting down. She’s rotting in the apartment she shares with her childhood friend Daniel, the insufferable twink Jeff, and Kyle with his helicopter mother and arranged marriage—and there’s no way out.
Until Daniel knocks on her door with news of an underground online contest. It awards hormones and surgeries to anyone willing to grow the biggest breasts—so long as they claim they’re cis men, and no fellow competitor can prove otherwise. The prize for these men? A million dollars. For Nicky? Her salvation.
Except not all’s as it seems. Daniel is actually Katherine, a trans woman terrified to come out—what if she loses her oldest and only friend? Jeff, hopelessly enamoured with Kyle, turned to the contest to make himself more attractive. And for Kyle, only a million-dollar victory could unshackle him from the life of an eldest desi son.
As their lies and desires set the roommates on a collision course, the question remains: what kind of man would compete to take oestrogen? Answer carefully. Online, someone is always watching. Sisters of Dorley meets Stag Dance in this absurdist, satirical drama exploring transfeminine love, community, and identity in times of panic, scarcity, and crackdown.
Blurb:
>Esha Arora is the last person anyone would have expected to acquiesce to an arranged marriage. Outspoken, opinionated and forward-thinking, she has made her thoughts on these archaic institutions known to anyone who’d lend her an ear. To her traditional family’s surprise and joy, however, when a good rishta for her hand comes along, Esha agrees to abruptly quit her MFA program in the States and returns to India to be wed. Her mother wastes neither time nor expense in preparing for the most bombastic wedding money can afford—she has more than a few friends to outdo and impress, after all!
>In the pursuit of extravagance, Esha’s mother arranges a dance instructor for her, to train her to perform a Bollywood-style, choreographed dance routine at the wedding, as is en vogue. Despite Esha’s lack of enthusiasm, her mother will not be swayed. Knowing that the wedding isn’t actually about her wishes, Esha reluctantly agrees, deciding that if she’s going to put on a show for her relatives, she might as well put on a good one.
>That’s when Billu, a cyclone in a salwar and dance instructor extraordinaire, bursts into the dull monotony of Esha’s pre-wedding existence. To her shock and delight, Esha finds herself enjoying her lessons with Billu, in addition to every other moment with her that she finds herself trying to steal away. Slowly, it begins to dawn on Esha that she isn’t nearly as resigned to her marital fate as she once thought—but can she un-make a commitment to her family so easily? Will she be able to confess her feelings to Billu before the latter exits her life, or will she be consigned to her role of dulhaniyaa?
>A Bollywood-inspired desi lesbian romance, 'Dulhaniyaa' is a story of class, queerness, and the struggle to accept your identity even when it seems to be in conflict with your family and culture.
Following the death of her wingmate, Operator 5431N4 accepts experimental new enhancements in order to compensate for her decreased utility to the state. Having only ever trained as part of a paired unit, she finds herself not knowing how to exist outside of it.
It is fortunate that her new exo-suit seems perfectly able to compensate for her deficiencies, able to cover her weaknesses, enhance her mobility, and complete her in a way that she believed no longer possible. Even so, despite her stellar performance, it seems that interfacing with the suit has unexpected feedback and consequences ...
Attack Dog is a short, brutal story in the realm of queer body horror, inspired by the works of various transfem creators.
