Read These Trans-Inclusive Fantasy Books to Help Get Over She Who Must Not Be Named

The last thing we all needed in the midst of a pandemic, as we protest against police brutality, while black people are continually being murdered by cops, during pride month, was for our childhoods to be ruined. Well, author (and apparent Boomer spokesperson) J.K. Rowling She Who Must Not Be Named has officially Avada Kedavra’d it.

Twitter was set ablaze earlier this week when Rowling double-downed on transphobic comments. In a tweet, she stated “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

I’m gonna shout this one out, for the people in the back of the room, PERIODS AREN’T JUST FOR CIS WOMEN. Trans men, as well as intersex, non-binary and genderfluid people, can menstruate, Jo. Also, there are plenty of cis-women who don’t menstruate due to health complications or, having gone through menopause.

The unfortunate part is that this isn’t Rowling’s first brush with transphobia. LGBTQ Nation has pointed out multiple occasions where the Harry Potter author has liked transphobic tweets, including one mentioning “men in dresses” and another remarking “no fox has a right to live in a henhouse, even if he identifies as a hen.” Eek.

It was only a few months ago that Rowling sent out a pro-TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) tweet in support following Maya Forestater. Forstater, who has stated that “sex is a biological fact, and is immutable” and that “there are two sexes, male and female,” was not offered a renewal to her contract at the Centre for Global Development.

Maybe we should have seen this coming when Rowling created an entire race of “hook-nosed” creatures defined solely by money and banking? But for those of you who are just now dealing with this frustrating and infuriating news, we’ve rounded up several trans-inclusive fantasy books. They highlight queer people and specifically trans characters, and several of them were written by trans authors as well.

Here are seven trans-inclusive fantasy books to go out and read:

1. Machineries of the Empire novels by Yoon Ha Lee

2. Brew by Dane Figueroa Edidi

3. Dreadnought by April Daniels

4. The Way of Thorn and Thunder, by Daniel Heath Justice

5. The Red Threads of Fortune, by JY Yang

6. Treason of Hawks, by Lila Bowen

7. Maiden, Mother, and Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes, edited by Gwen Benaway

Have you read any of these books before? Do you have any other favorite trans-inclusive fantasy books to recommend? Let us know!

Featured image courtesy Emma Watson Instagram