This is so true! I am alive today because I grew up in science fiction. Dangerous Visions anthology had transgender characters getting better-than-real treatment in a future science world. Had gblt characters in stories, other sources had them. I remember Elric of Melnibone was an obsession for a while for me, the one swordsman hero I could really identify with so much more than Conan.
Because Elric of Melnibone had birth defects with his albinism that gave him Chronic Pain/Fatigue. Stormbringer was an effective treatment - with the sword he didn't have those symptoms, if he killed with the soul sucking sword he got amped up to Superman levels and could beat Conan. The moral issue of Stormbringer vs. much less effective "sorcerous" treatments that had to be taken daily was good and interesting - medical ethics there on an abstract level.
But he was a sympathetic character and a hero who was like me.
This is why I'm working on a fantasy series with a transman hero - he is loosely based on me but given better-than-real transition and larger than life hero problems. One of my goals with him was "a hero for boys like me, just as good as Batman or Conan or any of them."
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regna
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Date: 2014-02-26 05:37 pm (UTC)Because Elric of Melnibone had birth defects with his albinism that gave him Chronic Pain/Fatigue. Stormbringer was an effective treatment - with the sword he didn't have those symptoms, if he killed with the soul sucking sword he got amped up to Superman levels and could beat Conan. The moral issue of Stormbringer vs. much less effective "sorcerous" treatments that had to be taken daily was good and interesting - medical ethics there on an abstract level.
But he was a sympathetic character and a hero who was like me.
This is why I'm working on a fantasy series with a transman hero - he is loosely based on me but given better-than-real transition and larger than life hero problems. One of my goals with him was "a hero for boys like me, just as good as Batman or Conan or any of them."