Book Review: Queeird: A Collection of Unusual Trans Masculine Erotica

Genre: Erotica

Age: 18+

Format: Paperback

Queeird: A Collection of Unusual Trans Masculine Erotica is a book I really wanted to like. Unfortunately, erotica, like horror, is subjective, and this collection as a whole just did not do it for me.

The book is divided into four themes: Hallucinogens & Hexes, Aliens & Androids, Creature Features & Furries, and finally, The Inevitable Tentacles. This gives the impression of a wide variety which sadly, proved to be untrue, at least for me. There was an effort to represent trans mascs in a range of different roles and relationships, but most of them felt very same-y to me. Overall, the collection leans mlm (which isn’t inherently a problem) with cis men topping trans men.

The prose is fairly bare, which seems to be a trend in writing across genres at the moment, and I feel erotica more than any other benefits from some purple prose. I want every sense and sensation explored. I want to know what the characters smell and taste, in the closest detail possible. I want to be utterly enveloped in the experience, lost in their pleasure and desire. In a collection like this especially, that promises weird, it feels like a missed opportunity. We get vampires, werewolves, androids, and aliens, and yet it mostly feels quite vanilla.

It doesn’t help that, in most of the stories, it takes a while to actually get to the sex scenes. I wouldn’t mind a bit of buildup and teasing, but they become a bit formulaic. Either an established couple spend a long time talking about trying something new, or a couple of strangers meet each other’s eyes across a bar. And then there’s a lot of talking, a bit too much talking for me.

I want to emphasise again that erotic is subjective, because in some of these stories the problem may be that it’s just not my thing. Some of these stories are furry-focused, which isn’t my bag at all, so I am simply not the best judge of them.

There is only one story that I had a real problem with, and to illustrate it I will have to mildly spoil it, so stop reading here if you do not want this.

“Bloodthrall” is the only story in this collection that depicts a trans man/cis woman relationship, and it is the only story that depicts the relationship in a negative light.

The cis partner, Felicia, seduces her trans vampire boyfriend, Ben, into turning her into a vampire. I do not believe for a moment this was intentional, but a woman using sex to get what she wants, as a means to an end, is one of the oldest misogynistic storytelling tropes in the book.

For balance, the best story in the book for me was “The Family Secret”, in the tentacles chapter. My frustration with the lack of possibilities explored does not apply to this one, it’s delightfully odd and tactile with the tentacles.

I am sorry that I couldn’t review Queeird more positively, but just because it isn’t for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for others. If a collection like this is what you’ve been looking for, I encourage you to pick it up and support a trans author writing trans fiction.

Review by Dai Baddley

I received this arc for free in exchange for an honest review.