The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard Paperback – October 16, 2012

Imaginative, emotional, and dynamic, this collection of short stories runs you through a huge number of diverse new queer fiction authors, with stories as varied and fascinating as their writers.

A wonderful collection of stories, really covered a wide range of topics.

As with any anthology, there are stories that are hit or miss. In regards to this book, many of the stories are a miss. They offer good ideas for stories (e.g. loss of male privilege, the fetishization of Asian women when that privilege is lost after post-op gender reassignment surgery, and one story where a superhero goes through gender reassignment surgery).Some stories begin with these good ideas or a story that will leave you thinking, and then they just stop (e.g. the superhero story). Other stories aren't really stories, but thoughts from the fictional characters.I'm currently writing a script about a Eurasian/Hapa man who goes through gender reassignment so this book was right up my alley. The aforementioned story in "The Collection" about the Asian woman who underwent surgery was an inspiration for my own project and happened to be one of my favorites from this book.I may return to read that particular story again. Unfortunately, in my own opinion, there could have been stronger stories.

This work of fiction is a milestone in itself focusing on trans* protagonists in every story, and all the way the standard is very high. I would gladly recommend it to everyone interested in queer fiction.