Again, three reviews to catch up with myself.

Shipbirth by Aliette de Bodard (a Vietnamese-French woman)

from Asimov’s, February 2011

A transgender protagonist! Another first for 2011. Someone told me they did not expect to see any trans characters in this year’s crop, so this was a pleasant surprise. This is not a token mention, either; the character’s gender identity is a major part of the story.

In the future, Aztecs rule space (can I say YAY?). Their society is strongly gender-segregated, but it’s relatively easy for people to change their gender if they so desire. The main character was born female, he presently identifies as male, but he constantly feels out of place. I read it as a story about a gender-fluid or possibly androgynous person in a very much binary-gendered world, but the author might have had something else in mind (note: spoilery discussion after the link). I’m a bit confused by the author’s explanation of the main character having made the wrong decision – to me it looked like choosing either gender would’ve been a wrong decision.

Spoilery quote that should sway you toward my own position : “In the end, he was a man–unable to bear the shame of killing an unarmed woman. In the end, he was a woman–made to give life, to yield life, but never to take it.”

The main plot is about women giving birth to spaceship components. I kid you not. I like body horror, so I read with rapt attention.

What I’m concerned about is how I don’t seem to agree with anyone on how to interpret this story, including, apparently, the author? Many people say it is a good portrayal of a transgendered person – which I disagree with, and which the author explicitly disclaims. But the concept of non-binary gender did not even enter the equation…?

Princess Courage by Nadia Bulkin (an Indonesian-American woman)

A high fantasy story where the empire-builders are presented in an unfavorable light. A nice deconstruction of subgenre tropes – tropes which should be stomped on and ground into dust as far as I’m concerned, I’m not a fan of high fantasy to say the least. So that’s great so far, but unfortunately the story itself is not very engaging beyond that.

I think this is a case of preaching to the choir: I don’t need to be convinced that classic high fantasy is racist and colonialist, so I found the story didactic and the fantasy elements somewhat boring. I confess I have no idea how the general readership would react…

At Livia’s Bar by Pierre Mejlak (a Maltese man) – also available in Maltese

from Words without Borders (Dec 2011, “The Fantastic”), translated by Antoine Cassar

This story is about worldbuilding. Quite literally! I think one can interpret it in an entirely non-speculative manner, but I’m also OK with calling it speculative fiction. In any case, it’s short, poignant and beautiful, so you should read it right now!