From FEMINET, Felton CA 408-335-4387 or 408-335-7888
This is hopefully a complete list of fiction and literature containing
tv/ts themes or at least tv/ts characters. I pulled this together from
several different lists floating around, adding some of my own. Ones
marked "not verified", I have not been able to verify either its
existence or that it contains tv/ts themes/characters.
These are "legitimate" literature. There are many small-press
pornographic books published with tv/ts themes.
Any additions or corrections would be greatly appreciated.
Denise
*Science Fiction*
ANOTHER FINE MYTH - Robert Asprin
A hilarious, pun-filled fantasy about a young magician's apprentice
who finds himself working with a demon who's lost his powers. There
is a small scene where the apprentice disguises himself as a girl so
they can get out of town.
THE BARBIE MURDERS - John Varley 1980 (see footnote A)
Short story. Revolves around a religious sect where everyone has
their body changed to look just alike. The model and name come from
the "Barbie" doll, female body, but no genitals and no nipples on the
breasts.
THE BREAST - Philip Roth 1972
A Kafkaesque tale of a man with breast envy who turns into a
large breast.
CHANGEWINDS SAGA - Jack Chalker 1987-8 (see footnote B)
When the Changewinds Blow
Rider of the Winds
War of the Maelstrom
CROYD - Ian Wallace
Another male-female body switch book. In this one, the villaness
steals the hero's body and puts his mind into the body of a
(female)prostitute. Very deep into brain physiology and
psychology -- Wallace is/was a psychologist.
DANCING GODS SERIES - Jack Chalker 1984-5
The River of the Dancing Gods
Demons of the Dancing Gods
Vengeance of the Dancing Gods
Sword of the Dancing Gods
THE DEATH OF THE FUHRER - Roland Pucetti 1972
Hitler's evil twisted brain is transplanted into the lush body of a
beautiful young girl.
DON'T BITE THE SUN - Tanith Lee 1976
Sequel to Drinking Sapphire Wine.
DOWNTIMING - Jack Chalker 1985
DRINKING SAPPHIRE WINE - Tanith Lee 1977
First of a series about a world where a person can commit suicide,
and come back as a younger member of the opposite sex.
THE FEMALE MAN - Joanna Russ 1975
Another war between the sexes story.
FOUR LORDS OF THE DIAMOND SERIES - Jack Chalker 1981-3
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate
Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail
IDENTITY CRISIS - James Hogan 1981
Short story in Stellar 7. This takes place in a society where you
travel by renting a body (sex and appearance your choice) in another
city and having your mind transfered into it. In this instance a
husband and wife both end up in bodies of the opposite sex. Quite
good.
THE IDENTITY MATRIX - Jack Chalker 1982
THE INTEGRATED MAN - Michael Berlyn
In this one it is possible for a personality to be recorded on
a chip and inserted in another's body (the technological equivalent of
spiritual possession). Midway though the book, the principle male
character briefly inhabits a female body and finds it very
stimulating.
ISHMAEL/SALLY FORTH SERIES - Justin Leiber
Beyond Rejection 1980
Beyond Humanity 1987
Beyond Gravity 1988
The adventures of Sally Forth, a spacer, who has a man's mind, a
woman's form and a 3-foot prehensile tail. Takes place in an alien
society where it is possible to have your brain energy transfered
into a body of your own design.
I WILL FEAR NO EVIL - Robert A. Heinlein 1970
A wealthy corrupt industrialist's brain is transplanted into a
woman's body.
THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS - Ursula K. LeGuin 1969
A novel about a world where there are three sexes. A person can
choose and change their sex at estrus (period of sexual receptivity).
MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME - Rudy Rucker 1984
A strange novel about a guy who discovers the secret of everything
and is able to cause anything happen he desires. At one point he
decides what he really wants is a gorgeous female body. His feelings
about his new body made me wonder if the author really feels that
way.
THE MESSIAH CHOICE - Jack Chalker 1985
In this book, Satan is a computer. At the end of the book
the principle male character gets female genitals after his
male ones are destroyed (a common Chalker theme - female
characters with male genitals or male characters with
female ones).
MOONSTAR ODYSSEY - David Gerrold 1977
Novel about a far away planet whose denizens get to choose their sex
at puberty.
THE MORPHODITE TRILOGY - M.A. Foster
The Morphodite 1981
The Transformer 1983
The Preserver 1985
Series about a mystical world where persons are reincarnated as the
opposite sex.
OPTIONS - John Varley 1979
One of the best stories I've ever read. It was also an award winner.
Varley's future has sex changes as common as changing your hair
color. This story follows a lady who wants to try it as a man. It
really looks into her feelings about the differences and how her
husband reacts to the change. Highly recommended!
THE PASSION OF NEW EVE - Angela Carter 1977
In this one a group of women transform a man (Evelyn) into
a beautiful woman (the Eve of the title).
PICNIC ON NEARSIDE - John Varley 1980
Another short story in Varley's future where sex changes are easy and
very common.
REGIMENT OF WOMEN - Thomas Berger 1973
A very strange book. Set in a future where the women rule and the men
fill what we consider the female roles. To the extent that men get
breast implants, and wear dresses, makeup, etc. There are some
"transvestites", men who secretly wear pants, and a few women who
secretly wear dresses.
RINGS OF THE MASTER SERIES - Jack Chalker 1987-8
Lords of the Middle Dark
Pirates of the Thunder
Warriors of the Storm
Masks of the Martyrs
Gods of the Twilight
ROBOTECH: THE NEW GENERATION - Jack McKinney 1986
#10 Invid Invasion
#11 Metamorphosis
#12 Symphony of Light
Novelization of the popular Japanese animated science fiction series.
In "The New Generation" there is a freedom fighter named Lancer who
works undercover as a popular female singing star, Yellow Dancer.
A few of the people who know of the dual role notice that he/she
is really like two different people. After his assignment, he
continues the dual role.
SEASON OF THE WITCH - Hank Stine 1968
A man is transformed into a woman as punishment for rape.
SILENT CITY - Elisabeth Vonarburg 1988
SMALL WORLD - Tabitha King 1981
A novel about a man who is able to shrink people down to a couple of
inches. He kidnaps a couple and keeps them prisoner. There is a scene
early in the book indicating he is also a transvestite.
SOUL RIDER SERIES - Jack Chalker 1984-6
Spirits of Flux and Anchor
Emipres of Flux and Anchor
Masters of Flux and Anchor
The Birth of Flux and Anchor
Children of Flux and Anchor
TIME TRAP - Keith Laumer 1970
In this book the protagonists (a man and a woman) end up
exchanging bodies about a third of the way through the
book and don't get switched back until the end.
TRAITOR TO THE LIVING - Philip Jose Farmer 1973
In this one there is a device that allows the souls of the dead to
exchange with those of the living. Late in the book, the souls
of the protagonist and antagonist (both male) end up in female
bodies.
TRANSMIGRATION - J.T. McIntosh 1970
A book about a man who dies and is reincarnated into the bodies
of other people, including a teenage girl and a woman.
TRITON - Sameul R. Delany 1976
At no charge you can get 15 minutes of very supportive counseling
after which you get your mind and body remapped onto your currently
appropriate sex (with the idea that that can change over the course
of a lifetime).
TURNABOUT - Thorne Smith
A man and wife exhange bodies with hilarious result.
JOHN VARLEY'S UNIVERSE
A lot of John Varley's short stories take place in a future where sex
changes are simple and cheap. These stories don't have that as the
main theme, but at least mention a character who has had a sex
change.
Equinoctial 1980
Beatnik Bayou 1980
VENUS + X - Theodore Sturgeon 1960
About a planet whose inhabitants are hermaphrodites.
WEB OF THE CHOSEN - Jack Chalker 1978
Not verified.
WELL WORLD SERIES - Jack Chalker 1977-80
Midnight at the Well of Souls
Exiles at the Well of Souls
Quest for the Well of Souls
The Return of Nathan Brazil
Twilight at the Well of Souls: The Legacy of Nathan Brazil
A) A significant amount of Varley's works take place in a consistent
future where sex changes are as common as changing hairstyles.
Several more of his stories may contain mention of this theme that
I'm not aware of at this time.
B) Jack Chalker frequently uses body transformations and sex-changing as
plot devices. All of the above reportedly contain sex-changing in
some form but I haven't read all of them to verify it yet.
*Miscellaneous Fiction*
ARCADIO - William Goyen 1983
Arcadio, half man, half woman, half Texan, half Mexican, tells
his/her story of growing up in the freak show.
THE BLACKDEATH POISONING - Julian Symons 1978
BLIND DATE - Jerry Kozinski
A collection of autobiographical anecdotes and episodes of a man
ranging through society and across the world. Look for the chapter
where he meets the foxy "lady".
BOND STRIKES CAMP - Cyril Connolly
In this 1963 parody, James Bond goes drag for Her Majesty. Published
in London Magazine.
BURKE SERIES - Andrew Vlachss
Flood 1985
Strega 1987
Blue Belle 1988
Hard-boiled detective series about Burke, who frequently gets
information and help from Michelle, the almost-transexual prostitute.
CHANGING PLACES - Susan Smith 1986
A juvenile novel about Josh and his sister Jenny who swith bodies and
learn that everything is not so easy for the other sex.
CHORUS OF WITCHES - Paul Buckland 1959
A British novel of life backstage among the drag queens.
CITY OF NIGHT - John Rechy 1963
A novel dealing with homosexual transvestites and drag queens.
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE - Elizabeth Daly
Not verified.
DRESSED TO KILL - Brian DePalma and Campbell Black 1980
The same as the movie.
"EASY" BARNES SERIES - Richard Hillary
Snake In The Grasses 1987
Pieces of Cream 1987
Pillow of the Community 1988
Behind the Fact 1988
A series about private detective Ezell "Easy" Barnes. His best
informant is Angel the Sex Change, a true diamond in the raunch.
THE ENTERTAINING EPISODE OF THE ARTICLE IN QUESTION - Dorothy Sayers
A Lord Peter Wimsey short story.
THE FETISH MURDER - Avon Curry
Not verified.
FLETCH AND THE WIDOW BRADLEY - Gregory MacDonald 1981
A first-rate mystery with Fletch, a wily investigative reporter, on
the trail of a deceased executive come back miss-teriously from the
grave.
A FLORIDA ENCHANTMENT
An 1891 novel by Archibald Ganter and Fergus Redmond. It was adapted
into a play by Ganter in 1896 and was generally received as some of
the worst trash ever on stage. A woman finds a magic seed that will
transform her into a man and swallows it. A darky maid servant is
similarly transformed and some of the so-called men in the play are
changed into women.
"FRANK" AND I - Anonymous
A Victorian erotica novel about a wealthy young man who meets "Frank"
and takes him in only to learn later that "Frank" is really Frances.
FROM A VIEW TO A DEATH - Anthony Powell 1939
An English novel about a group of people, one of whom is a tv.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN - Ernest Hemingway
GLORY - Jack Curtis 1988
Another tv-psycho-murderer story.
THE GLORY HOLE MURDERS - Tony Fennely 1985
A New Orleans private detective novel. Contains drag queens as
characters.
GOODBYE CHARLIE - George Axelrod 1959
A play about a womanizer whose reincarnation is both immediate and
ironic; he comes back as a comely woman. Basis for movie of the
same name starring Debbie Reynolds.
GO TO THY DEATHBED - Stanton Forbes
Not verified.
THE HAUNTED MONASTERY - Robert van Gulik
HOTEL WITH EMPTY ROOMS - Harriet Gilbert
A man is spending the summer at a nearly empty hotel and a pretty
young "girl" arrives one night.
I WANT WHAT I WANT - Geoff Brown 1966
A novel told from the viewpoint of Roy/Wendy, a transsexual. Set in
England, the story winds up depressingly (I guess they had to in the
old days in order to satisfy the Decency Code), but on the way is
some of the best TV fiction I've ever read. "Brown" has to be a
transvestite. The lingering, adoring description of putting on the
clothes, fantasizing about them, etc. are so vivid and true, that no
outsider could have come up with such stuff. The plot's well
developed, too. In her struggle for identity, then acceptance,
Wendy leaves home <tyrant father>, goes to live on her own <when
first mail order package arrives ...well!!!>, gets along pretty well
... the doubts & dangers of passing are beautifully laid out. There
is one chapter in which Wendy meets her sister as Wendy for the first
time. Initial shock & disapproval fades to acceptance &
acknowledgement that Wendy really is very convincing and pretty.
This is the cover blurb:
I told myself that I must stop being ashamed. It was a dishonest
feeling. Really I was glad that I was as I was. It would have been
better to be a woman, but it was better to be a transvestite than
to be a man.
The book was actually produced as a movie, with Anne Heywood playing
Roy/ Wendy. It's a shame that the role wasn't done by a professional
female impersonator. The movie wasn't much of a commercial success,
anyway, and you were always conscious that the "transformed woman"
was actually a genetic woman to begin with.
JUST BOYS - James Farrell 1934
A short story.
THE KREMLIN LETTER - Noel Behn 1966
A spy novel which includes an aging drag queen.
THE LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN - Hubert Selby
A novel about the seamy side of Manhattan.
THE LAST WOMAN IN HIS LIFE - Ellery Queen 1969
Another mystery where the butler didn't do it, but the chambermaid
might have.
THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT - Agatha Christie 1924
THE MAN WHO BECAME A WOMAN - Sherwood Anderson 1963
Short Story.
MARSHMALLOW MASQUERADE - Cynthia Blair 1987
One from a young adult series about twins Chris and Susan. In this
one prom time is approaching and they get the bright idea to have
Chris infiltrate "the enemy camp" and find out what boys really talk
about, etc. So while Chris is "out with the flu", their cousin
"Charlie Pratt" comes to visit and attend their school.
M. BUTTERFLY - David Hwang
A play based on the true story about a French diplomat who had a long
affair with a Chinese opera star who was actually a transvestite.
MEMOIRS OF AN EX-PROM QUEEN - Alix Kates Shulman 1972
Haven't verified this.
MISS HIGH-HEELS - Anonymous
A Victorian erotica novel. Dennis Evelyn Beryl, a young English
aristocrat, is transformed under the supervision of his step-sister
Helen, into a beautiful young woman.
MURDER BY LATITUDE - Rufus King 1930
A "murder on a cruise ship" mystery that revolves around a young boy
who is passed off as a girl to a woman who badly wants to have a
child and can't have any of her own.
MYRA BRECKENRIDGE - Gore Vidal 1968
A wild, weird foray into the chasm between the genders and between
sanity and insanity. Myra is a sex changer out to take over
Hollywood.
MYRON - Gore Vidal 1974
A sequel to Myra Breckenridge.
NATURAL SELECTIONS - Gloria Nagy 1985
A principle character is a TS, but the subject matter of the book was
not "transsexualism". About a well to do southern family. Tells the
story starting about two generations before the TS child is born.
Then finishes with the TS later in life after the surgery. Starting
before the TS is born by about two generations is to build the story
of the family and how the child's eventual TS status affects it. The
book is excellent.
ORLANDO - Virginia Woolf 1928
A fictional biography.
PASSION PLAY - Jerry Kozinski 1979
Similar to Blind Date, but here the action is at a bar frequented by
tvs and television executives.
PHAROAH LOVE TRILOGY - Joseph Baxt
A Queer Kind Of Death 1966
Swing Low, Sweet Harriet 1967
Topsy And Evil 1968
A series about a strange detective "Pharoah Love".
PONTIFEX, REX, AND SON - R. Austin Freeman
Not verified.
PRIDE OF THE BIMBOS - John Sayles 1975
Novel about a barnstorming softball team who play in drag.
THE QUEEN IS DEAD - Glen Keyes
Not verified.
RUSHES - John Rechy 1979
Another novel of the seemier side of homosexuality, featuring
transvestites.
SKINFLICK - Joseph Hansen 1979
One of a very well written series about gay private detective Dave
Brandstetter.
SPENCE AT THE BLUE BAZZAR - Michael Allen
SPLENDORA - Edward Swift 1978
THE THIEF'S JOURNAL - Genet 1949
Deals with homosexual transvestites.
TORCH SONG TRILOGY -Harvey Firestein
A three-act play about the pre-aids gay lifestyle.
TRIPLE ECHO - H.E. Bates 1970
A short novel. The basis for the movie of the same name.
VENGEANCE IS MINE - Mickey Spillane 1950
A hard-boiled detective story with Mike Hammer delving into the
background of the Mysterious Queen Juneau.
WHISTLER SERIES - Robert Campbell
In La-La Land We Trust 86
Alice In La-La Land 87
The adventures of PI Whistler whose home turf is L.A.'s tenderloin
hich is populated by transexuals among others.
WHO IS SIMON WARWICK - Patricia Moyes
A man dies leaving an heir who can't be found. It turns out he is now
a she.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP - John Irving 1978
An honest, emotional novel of growing up male, and female in a male
dominated world. Filmed with Robin Williams as Garp and John lithgow,
who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as the transexual
Roberta.
*Comics*
BADGER
#40,41 center around "Sister Twister", an ex-nazi transexual who has
had a sex-change and become a nun.
BLACK KISS
Howard Chaykin's new comic, put out by Vortex Comics. One of the main
female characters is revealed in issue 4 to be a she-male.
CAMELOT 3000 - Mike Barr & Brian Bolland
A DC comics novel. In the future, Earth is being plundered by aliens
and needs someone to lead them. Thge spirits of King Arthur and his
Court reawaken in the bodies of some people. Tristan finds himself in
the body of a lovely female and has a lot of trouble accepting it.
Meanwhile one of his old lovers is also around and has no trouble
with the idea of a lesbian relationship.
JIMMY OLSEN - DC Comics
#95 "Miss Jimmy Olsen" has Jimmy masquerading as a female to get the
goods on a mobster.
RANMA 1/2 - Rumiko Takahashi
A Japanese comic. A young boy, Ranma, discovers that when dowsed with
hot water he turns into a girl. For some strange reason his father,
when dowsed with hot water, turns into a Panda.
WHAT THE-?! - Marvel Comics
#2 has Woof'R'Eam (Wolverine) disclosing that he likes to wear women's
underwear.
*Classical Mythology*
ACHILLES
The great leaders of poetry and art as well as drama, among whom we
have Homer, Statius, Aeschylus and Sophocles, would portray the
adventures of the mighty Achilles in female dress. That is, the noble
Achilles was known to be a female impersonator. A Roman poet wrote
that his mother once dressed him in female garments, called him
Pyrrha, taught him the art of femme mimicry and helped him adopt
mannerisms of deception so that he could live as a woman among the 50
daughters of King Lycomedes. This enabled him to escape the military.
This is but one written fact on female impersonation that has
survived the many centuries. There is much written proof about
Achilles in female dress even after the threat of military drafting
was over!
ADONIS
Adonis, a modern symbol of masculinity, was bridegroom to Aphrodite,
but also served Apollo as a girl.
DIONYSOS
Also known as Bacchus. Traditionaly considered androgynous.
HERCULES
According to historians, Hercules shed his male habits, put on
female clothes and then labored under the rulership of Eyrystheus.
Another story has Hercules undergoing effemination in order to serve
Omphale.
HERMAPHRODITUS
Son of Hermes and Aphrodite. He was very handsome and when, as a young man
he left home, the Naiad Salmacis fell passionately in love with him.
He repulsed her, but when, later on, he inadvertently bathed in her
spring, she embraced him and pulled him down into the pool, praying
to the gods that she and he might forever be united. Their bodies
joined into one, becoming a hermaphrodite. As a result of
Hermaphroditus' prayers to his parents, the spring exercised a like
effect on all men who bather in it thereafter.
JUPITER
Jupiter changed himself into a female and posed as Diana.
PENTHEUS
After imprisoning Dionysus, Pentheus is inveigled into going up Mt.
Cithaeron and spy on the Maenads, whom he suspected of sexual
licence. While the women of his family, under the influence of
Bacchic frenzy, roamed the mountains with the Maenads, Pentheus,
disguised as a woman, climbed a tree to watch their revels. His
mother and aunt saw him there and in their madness, thought him a
lion and tore him to pieces.
THOR
In Norse mythology, Thor was a female impersonator. In one story, the
Giant Thrym had Thor's hammer Mjolnir stolen while he slept and hid
it eight miles under the earth. He agreed to return it if Freya was
delivered to him as his bride. Freya was unagreeable, so Heimdahl
suggested they send a phony Freya. Thor dressed in Freya's bridal
garments and Loki travelled as her bridegroom to trick Thrym and get
Mjolnir back.
TEIRESIAS
Besides TV, there is a famous mythological TS story about Teiresias;
namely, he stumbled on a pair of copulating snakes (this is the same
symbol as in the caduceus of Hermes & the modern medical profession)
killing the female in process. He was "punished by being turned into
a woman" and later was called on to settle an argument between Zeus &
Hera as to whether men or women enjoyed sex more. He backed Zeus's
contention that women like it better, and Hera blinded him. (Zeus
gave him prophecy in recompense; somewhere in all of this he had his
gender re-reassigned, probably "automagically" at the end of seven
years or something like that.) The point of Zeus' position is that it
was "justification" for keeping women in purdah (not the Greek word
for it, but it gives the right idea.)
VENUS CASTINA
This Goddess responded with sympathy and understanding to the
yearnings of feminine souls locked up in male bodies. When the
Scythians pillaged her temple at Ascelon, she's alleged to have been
so enraged that she made women of the plunderers and decreed that
their posterity should be similarly affected.
ZEUS
Zeus supposedly posed as a woman in order to seduce a lesbian.
EAST INDIA
According to legend in the Mahabharata, a king was transformed into a
woman by bathing in a magic river. He went on to bear 100 sons to go
with the 100 sons he had previously fathered. He later refused to be
changed back because he felt "a woman takes more pleasure in the act
of love than does a man". Unlike Teiresias, he was granted his wish.
JAPAN
When the Sun Goddess met her unruly brother Susanoo, she dressed in
male clothes.
YUMA INDIAN
The Sierra Estrella, a mountain was said to have a transvestite
living inside and both that mountain and another nearby had the power
to "sexually transform men".