Nonbinary gender in fiction: Difference between revisions
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===Books and other literature === | ===Books and other literature === | ||
*''Luna: Wolf Moon'' and ''Luna: Moon Rising'', also by Ian McDonald, have a nonbinary character named Vidhya Rao.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna:_Wolf_Moon and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna:_Moon_Rising</ref> | *''Luna: Wolf Moon'' and ''Luna: Moon Rising'', also by Ian McDonald, have a nonbinary character named Vidhya Rao.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna:_Wolf_Moon and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna:_Moon_Rising</ref> | ||
*In Kameron Hurley's fantasy novel, ''Empire Ascendant,'' all people in a consent culture get to choose which of the five gender roles they identify with. Hurley calls characters who are "ungendered" by singular they pronouns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GUEST POST: Beyond He-Man & She-Ra: Writing Non-Binary Characters by Kameron Hurley |author=Hurley Kameron |work=Intellectus Speculativus |date=3 September 2014 |access-date=27 September 2021 |url= https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/guest-post-beyond-he-man-she-ra-writing-non-binary-characters-by-kameron-hurley/}}</ref> | *In Kameron Hurley's fantasy novel, ''Empire Ascendant,'' all people in a consent culture get to choose which of the five gender roles they identify with. Hurley calls characters who are "ungendered" by singular they pronouns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GUEST POST: Beyond He-Man & She-Ra: Writing Non-Binary Characters by Kameron Hurley |author=Hurley Kameron |work=Intellectus Speculativus |date=3 September 2014 |access-date=27 September 2021 |url= https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/guest-post-beyond-he-man-she-ra-writing-non-binary-characters-by-kameron-hurley/}}</ref> | ||
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* The protagonist of ''Baker Thief'', by Claudie Arseneault, is [[bigender]] and [[aromantic]].<ref name="Simkiss">{{Cite web |title=Author Interview: Xan West |author=Simkiss, Ceillie |work=Let's Fox About It |date= |access-date=5 October 2020 |url= https://letsfoxaboutit.com/author-interview-xan-west/}}</ref> | * The protagonist of ''Baker Thief'', by Claudie Arseneault, is [[bigender]] and [[aromantic]].<ref name="Simkiss">{{Cite web |title=Author Interview: Xan West |author=Simkiss, Ceillie |work=Let's Fox About It |date= |access-date=5 October 2020 |url= https://letsfoxaboutit.com/author-interview-xan-west/}}</ref> | ||
* In ''The Tiger's Watch'' by Julia Ember, the protagonist Tashi is [[genderfluid]] and uses [[they/them]] pronouns. The author notes that "Being [[Misgendering|misgendered]] and forced to change their appearance in order to hide is a source of conflict in the novel. It is not the central plot conflict, though."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/questions/738992-this-sounds-like-an-awesome-story-i-m|title=Shade asked: This sounds like an awesome story! I'm confused by the use of 'their' instead of 'her' or 'him' though.}}</ref> | * In ''The Tiger's Watch'' by Julia Ember, the protagonist Tashi is [[genderfluid]] and uses [[they/them]] pronouns. The author notes that "Being [[Misgendering|misgendered]] and forced to change their appearance in order to hide is a source of conflict in the novel. It is not the central plot conflict, though."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/questions/738992-this-sounds-like-an-awesome-story-i-m|title=Shade asked: This sounds like an awesome story! I'm confused by the use of 'their' instead of 'her' or 'him' though.}}</ref> | ||
* ''Stranger Skies'', by Katje Van Loon, has a planet whose society recognizes five genders: woman, man, [[agender]], [[trigender]], and [[genderqueer]]. | * ''Stranger Skies'', by Katje Van Loon, has a planet whose society recognizes five genders: woman, man, [[agender]], [[trigender]], and [[genderqueer]]. | ||
* ''Love Yourself: A Genderfluid Romance'', by N. R. Blythe, is a sexually explicit romance featuring a genderfluid person who goes by Cora when in girl mode and Corey when in boy mode. | * ''Love Yourself: A Genderfluid Romance'', by N. R. Blythe, is a sexually explicit romance featuring a genderfluid person who goes by Cora when in girl mode and Corey when in boy mode. | ||
* ''Sexarchate: Hot Equations'', by Lia Meyers, is a sexually explicit sci-fi with a nonbinary character. From the same publisher (Less Than Three Press), ''A Party for Lola'' by Caitlin Ricci and ''Beginnings'' by Alexa Black also contain nonbinary characters.<ref>https://lessthanthreepress.tumblr.com/search/non-binary</ref> However, these books may be hard to find, as the publisher closed down in 2019. | * ''Sexarchate: Hot Equations'', by Lia Meyers, is a sexually explicit sci-fi with a nonbinary character. From the same publisher (Less Than Three Press), ''A Party for Lola'' by Caitlin Ricci and ''Beginnings'' by Alexa Black also contain nonbinary characters.<ref>https://lessthanthreepress.tumblr.com/search/non-binary</ref> However, these books may be hard to find, as the publisher closed down in 2019. | ||
* ''The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water'', by Zen Cho, has a nonbinary protagonist.<ref name="readsrainbow">{{Cite web |title=Book Recs: Twitter's Favourite Trans Books |author= |work=Reads Rainbow |date=13 May 2020 |access-date=2 November 2020 |url= https://readsrainbow.wordpress.com/2020/05/13/book-recs-twitters-favourite-trans-books/}}</ref> | * ''The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water'', by Zen Cho, has a nonbinary protagonist.<ref name="readsrainbow">{{Cite web |title=Book Recs: Twitter's Favourite Trans Books |author= |work=Reads Rainbow |date=13 May 2020 |access-date=2 November 2020 |url= https://readsrainbow.wordpress.com/2020/05/13/book-recs-twitters-favourite-trans-books/}}</ref> | ||
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*''Halfway Human'' by Carolyn Ives Gilman is from the perspective of Tedla, an adult nonbinary character in a high science fiction setting. It is worth noting that this portrayal deals with the genderless (called "blands") as a sub-class of people.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1082276.Halfway_Human</ref> | *''Halfway Human'' by Carolyn Ives Gilman is from the perspective of Tedla, an adult nonbinary character in a high science fiction setting. It is worth noting that this portrayal deals with the genderless (called "blands") as a sub-class of people.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1082276.Halfway_Human</ref> | ||
====2004==== | |||
*''River of Gods'', a sci-fi novel by Ian McDonald, is set in India in the year 2047. The novel includes subplots about [[Hijra]]. The pronoun "yt" is used for genderless characters. | |||
====2008==== | ====2008==== | ||
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====2009==== | ====2009==== | ||
* Rose and Timothy in the ''Wolf House'' series by Mary Borsellino are nonbinary, as confirmed by the author, although different identity terminology is used in the text.<ref>{{cite tweet|last=Borsellino |first=Mary |user=sharpest_rose |number=1252789205551288320|date=21 April 2020|title=Rose and Timothy in Wolf House are both nonbinary, though the term wasn't in as wide use in 2008 so they use other language to describe it.}}</ref> | * Rose and Timothy in the ''Wolf House'' series by Mary Borsellino are nonbinary, as confirmed by the author, although different identity terminology is used in the text.<ref>{{cite tweet|last=Borsellino |first=Mary |user=sharpest_rose |number=1252789205551288320|date=21 April 2020|title=Rose and Timothy in Wolf House are both nonbinary, though the term wasn't in as wide use in 2008 so they use other language to describe it.}}</ref> | ||
*The short story collection ''Cyberabad Days'', by Ian McDonald, a follow-up to his 2004 novel ''River of Gods'', contains [[Hijra]] characters. | |||
====2010==== | ====2010==== | ||
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* ''A Boy Called Cin'', by Cecil Wilde, is a romance novel told from the point of view of Tom, a mostly-closeted genderqueer billionaire who falls for a trans man.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609104330/https://justlovereviews.com/2017/07/22/trans-book-month-corey-alexander/| url=https://justlovereviews.com/2017/07/22/trans-book-month-corey-alexander/|archive-date=9 June 2019|last=Alexander|first=Corey| authorlink=Corey Alexander|title=A Baker's Dozen of Stories Centering Non-Binary Characters}}</ref> | * ''A Boy Called Cin'', by Cecil Wilde, is a romance novel told from the point of view of Tom, a mostly-closeted genderqueer billionaire who falls for a trans man.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609104330/https://justlovereviews.com/2017/07/22/trans-book-month-corey-alexander/| url=https://justlovereviews.com/2017/07/22/trans-book-month-corey-alexander/|archive-date=9 June 2019|last=Alexander|first=Corey| authorlink=Corey Alexander|title=A Baker's Dozen of Stories Centering Non-Binary Characters}}</ref> | ||
* In ''Defying Convention'', also by Cecil Wilde, one of the main characters, AJ, is a [[femme]] genderqueer person who uses singular "they" pronouns.<ref name="Evans2017">{{Cite web |title=My gender didn't exist in fiction when I was growing up – so I wrote myself into existence |author=Evans, Alison |authorlink=Alison Evans |work=the Guardian |date=27 February 2017 |access-date=2 November 2020 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/28/my-gender-didnt-exist-in-fiction-when-i-was-growing-up-so-i-wrote-myself-into-existence}}</ref> | * In ''Defying Convention'', also by Cecil Wilde, one of the main characters, AJ, is a [[femme]] genderqueer person who uses singular "they" pronouns.<ref name="Evans2017">{{Cite web |title=My gender didn't exist in fiction when I was growing up – so I wrote myself into existence |author=Evans, Alison |authorlink=Alison Evans |work=the Guardian |date=27 February 2017 |access-date=2 November 2020 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/28/my-gender-didnt-exist-in-fiction-when-i-was-growing-up-so-i-wrote-myself-into-existence}}</ref> | ||
* In ''Love Spell'', by Mia Kerick, the protagonist Chance is out as [[gay]] but feels uncertain about their gender identity, "being stuck in the gray area between girl and boy".<ref name="good_Love">{{Cite web |title=Love Spell |author= |work=goodreads.com |date= |access-date=9 October 2020 |url= https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25550836-love-spell}}</ref> | |||
====2016==== | ====2016==== | ||
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* ''Documenting Light'', by EE Ottoman, is a romance between the characters Grayson and Wyatt; Wyatt is nonbinary.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31922116-documenting-light</ref> | * ''Documenting Light'', by EE Ottoman, is a romance between the characters Grayson and Wyatt; Wyatt is nonbinary.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31922116-documenting-light</ref> | ||
* In ''The Lauras'', by Sara Taylor, teenaged Alex says they have never felt like a boy nor a girl. Content note: there is a graphic scene in which a man sexually assaults Alex.<ref name="good_Darq">{{Cite web |title=Darque Dreamer's review of The Lauras |author= |work=goodreads.com |date=6 September 2017 |access-date=9 December 2020 |url= https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2110137433?book_show_action=true}}</ref> | * In ''The Lauras'', by Sara Taylor, teenaged Alex says they have never felt like a boy nor a girl. Content note: there is a graphic scene in which a man sexually assaults Alex.<ref name="good_Darq">{{Cite web |title=Darque Dreamer's review of The Lauras |author= |work=goodreads.com |date=6 September 2017 |access-date=9 December 2020 |url= https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2110137433?book_show_action=true}}</ref> | ||
* In the young adult fantasy book ''Ida'', by genderqueer author [[Alison Evans]], the main character's partner, Daisy, is genderqueer.<ref name="Evans2017" /> | |||
====2017==== | ====2017==== | ||
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* In the novel ''Star Wars: Last Shot'', Taka Jamoreesa is nonbinary and uses [[singular they]] pronouns. This was confirmed by the author on Twitter.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=djolder|number=1305540927008788483|title=This is still happening in translations and it's such a disappointment (See the translation and tweet below in the thread). Taka Jamoreesa is nb. Their pronouns are they/them. That's it. Find a way, translators, editors, publishers. Any other gendering is incorrect, it's erasure.|date=14 September 2020}}</ref> | * In the novel ''Star Wars: Last Shot'', Taka Jamoreesa is nonbinary and uses [[singular they]] pronouns. This was confirmed by the author on Twitter.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=djolder|number=1305540927008788483|title=This is still happening in translations and it's such a disappointment (See the translation and tweet below in the thread). Taka Jamoreesa is nb. Their pronouns are they/them. That's it. Find a way, translators, editors, publishers. Any other gendering is incorrect, it's erasure.|date=14 September 2020}}</ref> | ||
*'' Starless'' by Jacqueline Carey includes a major character who discovers their own identity and unique relationship with gender while travelling all over their world in an effort to prevent an ancient consuming darkness. They encounter a number of different cultural expressions of gender and expected gender roles and eventually find their own place among them. | *'' Starless'' by Jacqueline Carey includes a major character who discovers their own identity and unique relationship with gender while travelling all over their world in an effort to prevent an ancient consuming darkness. They encounter a number of different cultural expressions of gender and expected gender roles and eventually find their own place among them. | ||
* Eli/Ellie, the protagonist of ''Genderfluid: A Cinderella Story'' (by Bridget Quinones) is, as the title says, [[genderfluid]]. Note: story contains transphobic violence and the T-slur.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45880850-genderfluid</ref> | |||
====2019==== | ====2019==== | ||
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* ''Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams'', by Ceilidh Michelle, is a coming-of-age novel starring a [[nonbinary woman]].<ref name="BZM">{{Cite web |title=First Fiction Friday: Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams |work=All Lit Up |date=25 October 2019 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2019/First-Fiction-Friday-Butterflies-Zebras-Moonbeams}}</ref> | * ''Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams'', by Ceilidh Michelle, is a coming-of-age novel starring a [[nonbinary woman]].<ref name="BZM">{{Cite web |title=First Fiction Friday: Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams |work=All Lit Up |date=25 October 2019 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2019/First-Fiction-Friday-Butterflies-Zebras-Moonbeams}}</ref> | ||
* ''The Nap-Away Motel'', by Nadja Lubiw-Hazard, has a supporting character named Ori who is nonbinary.<ref name="NapAwayMotel">{{Cite web |title=First Fiction Friday: The Nap-Away Motel |work=All Lit Up |date=16 August 2019 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2019/First-Fiction-Friday-The-Nap-Away-Motel}}</ref> | * ''The Nap-Away Motel'', by Nadja Lubiw-Hazard, has a supporting character named Ori who is nonbinary.<ref name="NapAwayMotel">{{Cite web |title=First Fiction Friday: The Nap-Away Motel |work=All Lit Up |date=16 August 2019 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2019/First-Fiction-Friday-The-Nap-Away-Motel}}</ref> | ||
* In the mystery-fantasy book ''Out of Salem'' by Hal Schrieve, the protagonist Z Chilworth is nonbinary and recently became a zombie. Content note: the story contains body horror, family abuse, suicidal ideation, police violence toward children and marginalized groups, fatphobic and homophobic bullying, and discussion of medical abuse.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40585222-out-of-salem</ref> | |||
====2020==== | ====2020==== | ||
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* Alani Baum, the protagonist of [[John Elizabeth Stintzi]]'s ''Vanishing Monuments'', is nonbinary. Stintzi realized they themself were nonbinary during the writing of this novel.<ref name="VanishingMonuments">{{Cite web |title=Debut author John Elizabeth Stintzi talks poetry, gender identity, and their love of the unconventional |last=Porter |first=Ryan |work=Quill and Quire |date=April 2020 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://quillandquire.com/authors/debut-author-john-elizabeth-stintzi-talks-poetry-gender-identity-and-their-love-of-the-unconventional/}}</ref> | * Alani Baum, the protagonist of [[John Elizabeth Stintzi]]'s ''Vanishing Monuments'', is nonbinary. Stintzi realized they themself were nonbinary during the writing of this novel.<ref name="VanishingMonuments">{{Cite web |title=Debut author John Elizabeth Stintzi talks poetry, gender identity, and their love of the unconventional |last=Porter |first=Ryan |work=Quill and Quire |date=April 2020 |access-date=24 July 2020 |url= https://quillandquire.com/authors/debut-author-john-elizabeth-stintzi-talks-poetry-gender-identity-and-their-love-of-the-unconventional/}}</ref> | ||
* ''The Four Profound Weaves'', by [[R.B. Lemberg]], has a nonbinary side character.<ref name="readsrainbow" /> | * ''The Four Profound Weaves'', by [[R.B. Lemberg]], has a nonbinary side character.<ref name="readsrainbow" /> | ||
* In ''The Empress of Salt and Fortune'' and ''When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain'' by Nghi Vo, the character Chih is nonbinary.<ref name="Ladd">{{Cite web |title=Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo |last=Ladd |first=Christina |work=The Nerd Daily |date=29 December 2019 |access-date=19 October 2020 |url= https://www.thenerddaily.com/the-empress-of-salt-and-fortune-nghi-vo/}}</ref> | |||
====2021==== | ====2021==== | ||