The cover of A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton. Designed by Emma Ewbank. It has the title, and the author, in bold writing: black then off-white. Along the bottom right-hand side there is a small, slightly covered image of a white person in a little make-up and a red turtleneck. They are crowded by pixilated pinks, blues, purples, yellows and - all the colours - shifting into the overall cover of the book. They have their eyes closed, looking peaceful.
![“A lot of people in the [video gaming] community are trans [...] the way that kind of online upbringing where everybody kind of starts online, where you’re from, what your background is, these things matter in some ways, but they’re obscured in many more ways.” Jeanne Thornton, author of A/S/L, in her interview with Transmuted. The complexities of queer romance are explored with the brilliance of genuine human experience [...] homo-trans-phobia, patriarchy, classism; the seemingly infinite issue of forming and maintaining personal boundaries. All with a respectful author-reader dialogue, showcasing Jeanne Thornton’s profound ability to reflect upon ‘what it is to be human’ - or more specifically... ‘what it is to be queer’.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a6hxdlgsctpeefindp4emlxr/bafkreiedjufkhikkspe3ebmvvg6po4kuk3ex3kjnj6wk6kh6czcm7zu7we)
“A lot of people in the [video gaming] community are trans [...] the way that kind of online upbringing where everybody kind of starts online, where you’re from, what your background is, these things matter in some ways, but they’re obscured in many more ways.” Jeanne Thornton, author of A/S/L, in her interview with Transmuted. The complexities of queer romance are explored with the brilliance of genuine human experience [...] homo-trans-phobia, patriarchy, classism; the seemingly infinite issue of forming and maintaining personal boundaries. All with a respectful author-reader dialogue, showcasing Jeanne Thornton’s profound ability to reflect upon ‘what it is to be human’ - or more specifically... ‘what it is to be queer’.
![It’s hard to get past the perfect pairing of the subject of transness as explored through the setting of American gaming and internet culture in the 90s. [...] People believed whatever they wanted to and didn’t worry about the mess it made. Today, the difference is, people choose bigotry in spite of access to relevant information rather than due to a lack of it. I walked away from this book wishing I could load my progress from an earlier save. That I could go back with what I know now and be the person I always hoped would rescue me. But I can’t. Instead, I will continue. I will be me, imperfect and failing in more ways than I have yet realised... Not a hero, but not hiding either.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a6hxdlgsctpeefindp4emlxr/bafkreiawhq7pgbprea7i5rstu7jnsukocee4xojte4jjkfyfytihsoibmy)
It’s hard to get past the perfect pairing of the subject of transness as explored through the setting of American gaming and internet culture in the 90s. [...] People believed whatever they wanted to and didn’t worry about the mess it made. Today, the difference is, people choose bigotry in spite of access to relevant information rather than due to a lack of it. I walked away from this book wishing I could load my progress from an earlier save. That I could go back with what I know now and be the person I always hoped would rescue me. But I can’t. Instead, I will continue. I will be me, imperfect and failing in more ways than I have yet realised... Not a hero, but not hiding either.
![I did not grow up playing video games, and I was not even born when the story takes place, therefore I cannot understand many of the references of the book. It did however trigger some memories for me... “This small room, this TV laughing through the wall, this tiredness. One day, false things will fall away.” - A/S/L, Jeanne Thornton. Jeanne Thornton’s narration of trans experience as a process of active redefinition of what is possible and what counts as real. Thornton [...] blesses us with a nuanced commentary of self-acceptance as a nonlinear process that can be aided as well as hindered by community. Further down the plot, the multi-character, multi-context structure of the book isn’t a mere stylistic choice: it reflects Thornton’s belief that trans experience is inherently plural and choral. ... it prompts us to look at the complexities of community-building instead of romanticising it.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a6hxdlgsctpeefindp4emlxr/bafkreid2xmxj2oiz2v3vnh3nvdwavcnhcjczgkivyxzxg4vlysknl7mhgy)
I did not grow up playing video games, and I was not even born when the story takes place, therefore I cannot understand many of the references of the book. It did however trigger some memories for me... “This small room, this TV laughing through the wall, this tiredness. One day, false things will fall away.” - A/S/L, Jeanne Thornton. Jeanne Thornton’s narration of trans experience as a process of active redefinition of what is possible and what counts as real. Thornton [...] blesses us with a nuanced commentary of self-acceptance as a nonlinear process that can be aided as well as hindered by community. Further down the plot, the multi-character, multi-context structure of the book isn’t a mere stylistic choice: it reflects Thornton’s belief that trans experience is inherently plural and choral. ... it prompts us to look at the complexities of community-building instead of romanticising it.
A Trans-Collective Review of 'A/S/L' by Jeanne Thornton featured in Transmuted issue 11!
Read the full review on our site - go to the link in our bio, or to www.transmuted.co.uk/articles
You can grab a copy at deadinkbooks.com/product/a-s-l/
#asl #jeannethornton #deadinkbooks #transmuted #trans
