BILLY'S PICK

A machinima fever dream inside of a detective noir inside of a searing critique of modern trans life. Do the authors hate their characters? Love them? Love to hate them? Unclear. I was gripped at every turn and thrilled by every detail that happened to land too close to home.  - BB

'You don't need dysphoria to be trans. You don't need a body at all.

When Sean Hastings, (the first) transgender private detective, is asked to investigate the disappearance of Character, he enters the First Trans Commune in Sim World, a virtual reality community imagineered by transfluencer Kevin and bankrolled by VSI, a mysterious tech company.

At VSI, representation matters, which is why Taylor, the token QTPOC face, runs their latest project. Haunted by the death of his cis gayguy college bestie and their shared diasporic dilemmas, Taylor sees potential in Kevins ability to Release trauma into the virtual world, while Casey, Seans ex, seeks Releasing as the latest Long Plague miracle cure. Then femme fatale Mitchelle reappears, and the plot thickens.

A pulpy neo-noir romp through the anxiously assimilated transmasculine id, Jaw Filler asks: who is VSI, and what do they really want? Can you be your own dad? And if Characters mind is trapped in Sim World, then where is his body?

Jaw Filler is one of the winners of the Hodler Prize.

Paperback | 351 pages | 4.75" x 7.25"