Despite some disjointed plotting and frequent clumsiness around race, this coming-of-age journey through the surreality of gender will please readers seeking speculative queer fiction. Nevertheless, Pen’s fairy tale ending hits the spot. While these slice-of-trans-life sequences are refreshing and honest, their myopic focus on Penfield undercuts the larger theme of queer interconnectedness. After an IRL encounter with Aiden leaves Pen feeling especially resentful, Pen enlists his roommates, the Witch and. Disappointingly, Blithe’s time in the Shadowlands processing his gender and racial pain is largely glossed over, as Lake instead focuses on Penfield changing his middle name from Ruth to R., outgrowing his closeted celebrity hookup, and bonding with Aiden over iced coffee. Magnificently imagined, linguistically dazzling, and riotously fun, Future Feeling presents an alternate future in which advanced technology still can't replace human connection but may give the trans community new ways to care for its own.

The Rhiz, a secret society of well-adjusted LGBTQ folks connected by a “subaltern, mycorrhizae-modeled network,” steps in, assigning Penfield and Aiden to work together to rescue Blithe from the Shadowlands.

Our pride theme was inspired by Valentino Vecchiettis Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag of 2021, which flew all of June at Central Library. In a fit of pettiness, Penfield tries to hex Aiden into the Shadowlands of despair-but the hex instead accidentally catches Blithe, another trans man and a transracial adoptee. Weve got Pride at the Library Brooklyn Public Library celebrated Pride 2022 with expanded access to queer books, brand new booklists, and some great events. Penfield is obsessed with Aiden Chase, a trans social media influencer who glows with masculinity and woo-woo self-help wisdom. Set in the near future, Lake’s quirky, chaotic debut follows trans man Penfield Henderson as he wrestles with his self-destructive impulses and stumbles his way toward finding a queer community.

Future Feeling by Joss Lake