Transmasc Reading Wrap-up for 2025

 

Recommended Transmasculine Reading #1

In my series of essays, Trans Men/Mascs in Storytelling, I cover harmful representations of transmasculinity. I also cover what I would describe as…complicated. Media that I believe has merit and that to some extent features transmasculinity, or is read as such by many to do so, but that does not do so in enough depth that I could recommend it for someone looking to see transmasculinity portrayed/discussed.

So where can we find depictions of transmasculinity that are explicit and carry a satisfying level of depth? It took months of reading, but I have compiled a list featuring twenty different authors/creators.

The following is a compiled list of the bad, the complicated, and the good, arranged in order of what I would least recommend, to what I would most recommend. Let it be known, however, that I believe all of these pieces of media/art are valuable in understanding the perception of transmasculine people, and they are all listed here as my opinion is not objective, this is here for you to aid you in finding the stories (fiction and nonfiction) that you are looking for.

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

A generally insensitive and frustrating read where the leading trans man is treated as “not really a man” and is sexually assaulted on page with the resulting message being “this is what he must go through to be himself”.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’s portrayal of a transmasculine serial killer, Paul Millander (written by Ann Donahue and Anthony E. Zuiker)

Paul Millander is painted as deeply manipulative, breaking his mother’s heart by transitioning, and later murdering her before taking his own life; he very much echoes the idea of an evil lurking behind a docile veneer.

Blue Eye Samurai co-written by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green

While a deeply interesting show about complicated, flawed people who do not fit into boxes, the show portrays Mizu as a “crossdressing woman” whose masculinity is an extension of his lust for violence, and his rejection of womanhood is done so in violence and bloodshed.

Monster Hunter Wilds directed by Yuya Tokuda

The supporting character and fan favourite Erik is widely read as transmasculine by fans, heavily in part due to the English voice actor being nonbinary. This example is unfortunately not strongly implied as canon, nor am I fond of the idea that his having an “androgynous” voice and design combined with him being strongly autistic coded equaling transmasculine coding as…that is obviously playing into some stereotypes. It is however a fun game and Erik is an excellent character.

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag directed by Jean Guesdon, Ashraf Ismail, and Damien Kieken

This game features the supporting character James Kidd who is a fictionalized interpretation of the real life golden age pirate Mark Read. Mark Read is not widely regarded as a trans man by historians, that is however my interpretation of him. James Kidd falls into the “woman disguising as a man” trope, but to date is the least feminized portrayal of Mark Read I have found. The game overall is clearly well researched and well written.

The Witch’s Flute, a Trans Pied Piper Retelling by Dani Finn

This short story features the minor character Rhett, who becomes a love interest in the final paragraphs. Overall this is a very charming retelling centering the self actualization of a nonbinary protagonist. While I recommend it generally as a trans read, Rhett has a very small role and while his inclusion is important, he has too little page time to serve as a recommendation of transmasculine representation.

Trans/Rad/Fem by Talia Bhatt

This collection of transfeminist essays features one in particular that discusses transmasculinity, while the essay is grounded and relatable, it does not discuss the struggles of transmasculine people in depth nor does it cite writers who do/have done so. It is an excellent resource for understanding the experiences of transfeminine people, and in particular it pushes back against orientalist interpretations of “third genders”, so I would recommend it if you are looking to read about this. I cannot recommend it as a resource on antitransmasculinity/transmasculine experiences, however.

Journal of a Transsexual by Leslie Feinberg

This autobiographical account of Feinberg’s lived experiences after living as a man for some time and now no longer living as a man (I view this with nuance, Feinberg had a complicated relationship with gender and pronouns, and that relationship altered over time) was written in solidarity with and support for people altering their gender via hormones and surgery should they want to. It is both a painful and hopeful recounting of Feinberg’s experiences being othered in the 1980s as someone visibly gender nonconforming. I strongly recommend it as a resource for understanding the experiences of our trans and queer elders, and while the experiences are relatable to various extents for transmasculine readers (and trans readers broadly), it is something I’d sooner recommend for understanding a nonbinary/gender nonconforming experience than an explicitly transmasculine one.

Untethered: Winnie and Crela #4 by Dani Finn

Anders is a reoccurring character in Finn’s Winnie and Crela series, but it is in volume four that he is explicitly portrayed as a trans man. He is an eccentric man, one of the few men Winnie is comfortable around. He is strongly autistic coded in a way that feels genuine and his friendship with Winnie grows as she begins to understand the trans people around her more. An interesting feature of this story is that Winnie is somewhat ignorant of trans experiences, and we see that voiced in her perspective, but she grows her understanding as she spends more time with Anders, and of course, her trans girlfriend Crela.

Sheldon Shags a Shoggoth by Ezra Owain

This erotic short story features a trans man as the protagonist. It is the beginning of a series of stories featuring Sheldon as he embarks on various monsterfucking adventures. He becomes more “monster” as he progresses, inheriting shapeshifting abilities, the beginning of which is in this story where he is gifted a device that allows him to shape his genitalia however he pleases. This falls into the “magical penis” trope, which I understand is hit-or-miss, but the focus of the themes is our trans man lead growing more comfortable with his body.

The Prince’s Dearest Guards by Beau Van Dalen

This gay polyamorous novella follows Prince Hal as he falls in love with his two appointed guards on a ceremonial trip they take to get to know each other. It is for the most part a light-hearted erotica, but I find the portrayal of gender euphoria and dysphoria very well done here. The euphoria on the beach when they go skinny dipping and Hal’s guards are fully accepting of Hal as a man regardless of his body, and the mid sex scene dysphoria that was…a little too relatable.

Come Hell or High Water by T.C. Rasch

This military sci-fi thriller features a trans man as one of the main supporting characters, Jacs. He is a Lieutenant Colonel at the service of Captain J. Kyla Cole. His transmasculinity is laced in through subtext for most of the novel, becoming relevant particularly in the eleventh hour when he interrogates/watches over a nonbinary antagonist. Ze (said antagonist) says cruel and antitransmasculine remarks to get under his skin, yet the two find solidarity when in peril and he saves zir from a grim death.

A Loki Trade by Fern V. Bedek

In this novelette the deuteragonist, Sten, is a closeted trans man that gets body swapped with an eggy trans girl, Mackenzie. The found family aspect of this story is especially charming and by the end the two are comfortably living as their true, gay selves. This is one of the few stories I’ve found that features a trans man and a trans woman with a sibling-like relationship.

Coaster Kisser by Radiant G

This is a visual novel/dating simulator where you play as a popular rollercoaster and you date other rollercoasters. It is a charming and lighthearted love letter to theme park rides. There is no real antagonist, except in one route, and he is a catty and selfish trans man, an ice devil themed coaster named Hell Froze Over. He is a refreshing portrayal, a fun villain whose villainy has nothing to do with his transness. I also believe it is reasonable to interpret one of the love interests, Rival Revival as transmasculine nonbinary.

The King’s Mushroom by Achilles King

Akira is the main character of this erotic novelette. He is a trans man, and a knight who gets caught trying to eat a king oyster mushroom by the Fae king himself. The Fae king whisks him away to become his “pet” and following this we have multiple erotic scenes that push the boundaries of what a human body can take. In particular, I like how King handles body horror, which is strong when the two meet and the Fae king feeds Akira the mushroom. This story is a unique form of escapism in that Akira no longer needs to live a certain way to be seen as a man, his body and sexuality is openly accepted by the Fae king who also has his needs attended to.

Boy Next Door by BT Hearst

This short story is a nostalgia filled 80s porno between a trans man and the middle aged man he does yardwork for. Mike and Bill’s relationship is purely hedonistic with an entertaining age-gap dynamic. Even though this is short, the worldbuilding of this small town and these two men’s lives is strong enough that I got a strong sense of who they were and the environment they lived in.

I Knelt Before Him by Shane Blackheart

Blackheart tends to be a favourite of mine. This extreme horror short story focuses on a nameless trans man as he is tortured by the angel Supplicium. The torture is gnarly, gory and erotic–very much symbolic of the religious trauma many trans people carry. The trans man is forced to tell his story while being tortured, and instead of a happy ending with some semblance of relief, the trauma and violence is portrayed as a cycle.

Good Lord! Everyone at the Reunion For My Religious All-Girls School is a Trans Man… And They’re Hot?! by WhatNames

This incredibly titled visual novel/dating sim focuses on the player character, who is a cis woman (though she reads quite eggy), as she goes to the “wrong” high school reunion that all of her old classmates who have come out as trans planned. She has the option to date Elias delos Santos (her high school best friend), Angel Devin (someone she wasn’t particularly close to, Angel is also transmasculine nonbinary), and Liam Goodwin (her former rival). I found Liam’s route to have a satisfying emotional climax, Liam being catty and often inconsiderate of others, crumbling under the emotions of never feeling like he could impress you. The player character is written the most eggy in Elias’ route, and I love the focus on communication we see in Angel’s route, all are excellent for different reasons.

Boyfriends, Volume #1 by Refrainbow

Boyfriends is a popular webtoon gone print that focuses on character and relationship tropes as the backbone of the romantic comedy. It has excellent comedic timing, requiring me on multiple occasions to put the book down while laughing. Goth is an edgy and sometimes playfully mean trans man. His transness is normalized and very accepted by his boyfriends, there is no “I see you as a man” romantic moment, they clearly already see him as one. The scene at the beach volume one closes on has a beautiful shot of Goth with his top surgery scars exposed, his boyfriends assuring him that he looks good. I strongly recommend this lighthearted and heartwarming read.

All Roads Lead to This by Kay Claire

This is a dual point-of-view romantic comedy novel focusing on Cedric and Rueben as they go on a road trip through South Africa on a quest to pick up a couple extremely rare plants. Cedric is a trans man who explores his femininity via fashion, he also has anxiety and I found the portrayal of anxiety very strong and full of empathy in this book. His and Rueben’s story is a heartwarming romance featuring a couple erotic scenes, outside of the romance this story also features well written familial relationships and friendships.

Trying to Kill the Sun by T.F. Author

This slow burn romance is best described as a genre hybrid. It is a dystopia, a super hero vs villain story where we are on the side of the villains, but it is at its core, a love story about healing from trauma and confronting your abuser. The main character, Noah, is a trans man who gets framed as a criminal, the supervillain he would fight (alongside the superhero Captain Miracle) for show, Anatoly, comes to his aid. Through living with Anatoly for some time, the two bond and eventually fall in love. Both have trauma from sexual assault/abuse and this is one of the few stories I’ve come across that portrays that trauma with emotional depth while also giving them a bittersweet, but hopeful ending.

It Happened One Light by Gabriel Hargrave

This novella focuses on a post mortem romance between a trans man and a trans woman, Benjamin and Danica. Benjamin is a reaper who’s job is to help Danica’s soul move on to the other side; she cannot, however, and the two are forced to live together. Their friendship and romance grow as they travel through time and help other souls move on. Even though this is a short book, it talks about grief and love with meaningful depth, and per usual, Hargrave’s comedic timing shines through in multiple scenes that had me nearly cry-laughing. This story is full of deeply relatable trans experiences, love, sex, and ends on a devastating cliffhanger.

Open Wound by Shane Blackheart

This was a surreal read. It is the sequel to Everything is Wonderful Now, and here we follow Sean and Vexis as Vexis takes him through various traumatic memories and has him confront them. Sean is a transmasculine portrayal close to my heart, one of the few I see myself in. Vexis is also a fascinating character, they are a non-human nonbinary entity whose story is told as we see Sean grow. They have an unhealthy relationship and the sex between them is both hedonistic and emotional. Overall, this story is a memorable exploration of horror and trauma.

Pick Your Gender by Ambrolen

This text-based game focuses on you, the player, as a closeted transmasculine person throughout various stages of your life. The core motif is you picking what gender you play as in video games. Throughout, you meet other trans people who influence you, and eventually you come out to your partner. This game grapples with the often glossed over experiences transmasculine people face in coming out, such as being accused of “just having internalised misogyny” and the antitransmasculinity within queer spaces. It has a happy ending and will either hit home, or open your perspective to the often common experiences of closeted/coming out transmasculine folk.

Amped Up! by Opalin Hubay Pickens

This novel focuses on a nonbinary protagonist, Olena, and the romance and friendship she experiences as she becomes more confident, confronts her mental health issues, and takes part in a heist to collect information that will ruin a corrupt President’s career. In the third, and longest, part of the book, one of the friends she makes is a trans man named Arthur. He is an artist with the power to bring his drawings to life, and though he is a supporting character, we get to learn his story and see his relationships with the rest of the cast grow. At its heart, this novel shows us a diverse group of queer people giving love and care to one another in a country run by a President against their existence, and through teamwork, they all have a happy ending.

The Appendix: Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture by Liam Konemann

This book is so slim that I thought I would tear through it–however, it forced me to slow down with how Konemann expertly discusses his experiences as a trans man, and how consistently being exposed to transphobia, even while being stealth, affected him. In particular, the discussion of Brandon Teena and how his horrific murder still affects us today hit very close to home. The majority of young transmasculine folk are exposed to his story earlier than they are any other stories featuring transmasculinity. In the end, despite everything, it is filled with hope and talks about joy as resistance. We could use some more of that.

Nimona by ND Stevenson

I went into this story (initially the movie, then the comic) not expecting to feel as connected to it as I did. Nimona is a shapeshifter who cannot simply stay “in the form of a girl”, she needs to reshape herself to feel truly at home in her body, and for that she is seen as “a monster in the form of a girl”. Her story takes place in a society scared of what they don’t know, and through her grief and pain at being rejected and viewed as a monster, she turns into a fearsome beast. It is by finally being seen as her true self by Ballister, that she chooses to sacrifice herself to save everyone from The Director’s destructive fear (she was so willing to kill her own people if it meant killing Nimona). The movie is far more on the nose about the trans undertones in the story, but they exist in the comic just as strongly, I would argue. While often not read as a transmasculine narrative, I find it deeply relatable as one due to how Nimona is perceived by everyone around her.

The Southern Magicks by Ashton K. Rose

This is the story of Dexter, a trans man who wields death magic, after he has sustained heavy memory loss. He discovers that what he believes to be his past is a lie, and he works with an ex lover (who he had forgotten), Cory (who we find out is transmasculine nonbinary), to uncover his past and exonerate him from crimes he’s been falsely accused of. This is the kind of story where you cannot trust anyone, not even the point-of-view character, it also laces trans experiences throughout it as subtext that aids the main story. Dexter is married to a man from a wealthy family, and even though he is a man, he is still expected to fulfill the role of a wife. Cory is often made to use his sexuality to get information out of people, that even though he is generally viewed as a man, he is “androgynous enough” to fill a role he shows disdain towards. They are both complicated and flawed, making this paranormal thriller a unique and exceptional experience.

Everything is Wonderful Now by Shane Blackheart

This novel is perhaps one of the closest to my heart. We follow Sean through childhood as a young and not self realised trans boy, and all the complicated experiences that come with not fitting into the mold of the “little girl” he was expected to be. This novel is heavy on exploring religious trauma, abuse, and bullying. It swaps our expectations, portraying an angel as an antagonist and a demon as a caring figure in Sean’s life. A little over halfway into the book it cuts to Sean as a young adult, trying to survive after being disowned by his parents. Heavy on occult and religion, this book features one of the most nuanced and relatable transmasculine protagonists I’ve read.

It Sucks to be Us by Tofurocks

This text-based game has one of the most phenomenal stories I’ve experienced. You are playing as a closeted and partially self realised trans man who attends a sapphic Halloween party. You quickly leave, however, and meet someone on your way out, you and him end up being forced to wait at the same bus stop, where you bond. What route you land on in the game depends on how bold you are with this stranger, and how much you avoid focusing on negativity, you are rewarded for both. Xinyu talks to you about how he detransitioned due to his ex convincing him to “stay a butch lesbian”, he at one point asks you if he “disgusts you” for being a man. There is a moment when you are on the bus with him when you talk about how you engaged with feminist theory and became convinced that your “wanting to be a man” was internalised misogyny. In the best ending of the game, you spend the night at his place and take Testosterone together, your bonding helping each other become determined to be your true selves.

This short list is only the beginning, I have much more to read. My hope for this is that it gives you a place to start, and has a little something for everybody. I noticed many repeated themes, the most common being the relationship between transmasculinity and monsters, the idea that we “become a monster” or become akin to one, or see ourselves as one for shedding womanhood.

I started cataloguing media featuring transmasculinity due to the high frequency of other transmasculine folk telling me they had an extremely hard time finding any stories or nonfiction they could see themselves in, I also have this struggle. Optimistically, I have amassed a much longer to-read list for this project than I thought I would. Our stories are out there, these are only my beginning steps. We can build the canon of our art, we just have to keep creating it.

For those still here, I also write fiction. I have a novella out called Flowers for a Vinok, Roses for a Babushka, Poppies for a Grave. It was a story I never thought I’d write, one that came from many complicated emotions I was unpacking while I created it. It follows a transmasculine Cossack named Amvrosiy in a three act tragedy as he grows from a little girl to a man, falls in love, and then dies protecting his village. While the ending is bitter, tragedy to me is a vehicle to explore emotions I otherwise cannot. And while I wrote Amvrosiy’s story with much anger and horror, I reflect on it with hope and somberness.

What I am able to create, fiction and nonfiction, I only want for it to be a start, or a speck in our progress. Better things will be created after this, I hope I am able to see them.