The Paradox of Breathing While Trans

March 8, 2021

Detail of the cover of Pinned Down by Pronouns, ed. T. Amato and M. Davies I didn’t transition gracefully — executing all the steps from boy-life to girl-...

"Literature's Most Famous Transsexual" Is a Rapist

March 1, 2021

Raquel Welch as Myra Breckinridge There aren’t any words for how much I loathe Myra Breckinridge. I first read Gore Vidal’s novel probably 15 years ago, and...

The Alt Ending of All the Birds in the Sky (Part 1)

February 22, 2021

Japanese cover art to All the Birds in the Sky, by artist Akane Malbeni. For years, I’ve been promising to reveal ALL about the alternate ending that I...

7 Wrong Lessons That Creators Learned from Game of Thrones

February 15, 2021

This is a picture of Game of Thrones, which belongs to HBO and stuff. Hard to believe we’re coming up on the tenth anniversary of Game of Thrones’ premiere...

I Used To Stand On a Stage and Tell Lies About Famous Authors

February 8, 2021

image: Litseen Today is the one-year anniversary of the last Writers With Drinks, which happened on Feb. 8, 2020. (Writers With Drinks is a live spoken word...

The Hottest New Trend in Brazilian Speculative Fiction

February 1, 2021

Sertãopunk book cover art by Jorge Ribas One thing I love about science fiction and fantasy is that we’re always adding new subgenres to the mix, as writers...

I wrote a book that I hope nobody reads

January 25, 2021

Lately, I keep having the same conversation with other trans artists and activists who were around in the early 2000s. I always tell them that their work...

Lupin Has One Huge Advantage Over Superman

January 18, 2021

Netflix’s Lupin Arsène Lupin, the famous French gentleman burglar, is having a moment right now. There’s a hit Netflix series, featuring a dazzling...

Discovery Has Become the Queer Star Trek I Always Wanted

January 11, 2021

Sometimes I wonder about the alternate reality where Star Trek introduced its first openly LGBTQ+ characters in 1987. This definitely could have happened....

No Movie or TV Show Ever Portrays the 1980s I Remember

January 4, 2021

The eighties! They sure were great, weren’t they? We had classic video games, everything was neon including the clothing, kids rode bicycles, blockbuster...

The Story I Like To Tell About My Father

December 29, 2020

My father died last spring. We think he had covid, but we'll never know for sure. I didn't talk about it much at the time, because I didn't feel up to having...

Some Good Things That Happened In 2020

December 21, 2020

Remember that movie My Favorite Year? I saw it as a kid and all I remember is Peter O’Toole being super-drunk in like twenty directions. Well, needless to...

Most Television From Before 2000 Is Trapped in the Uncanny Valley

December 14, 2020

I recently broke down and bought a bunch of classic Doctor Who stories on Blu-ray, and then figured out how to watch Blu-rays on my computer monitor. I had...

In Praise of Burnout

December 7, 2020

I used to think burnout was this mythic thing that happened to some unlucky people somewhere else. But over the course of my life, I’ve gotten pretty...

I Can't Get Over How Gorgeous This Character Art Is

November 30, 2020

I’m so jazzed for you to meet Tina! She’s been living in my head for nearly five years, and she’s only gotten bigger and more fascinating. Tina Mains is the...

LGBTQ+ Civil Rights Laws Won't Protect Us From Hyper-Capitalism

November 23, 2020

I’ve been using fiction to deal with my political anxieties for a long time. After George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004, I decided the only way to deal with...

I'm So Freaking Grateful For My Trans Communities

November 16, 2020

Trans March San Francisco. Photo by Marlo Gayle. It’s Transgender Awareness Week, and I wanted to take this opportunity to say: trans people are beautiful...

The Year of the Woman... and What Happened Next

November 9, 2020

I was in Washington DC the night Bill Clinton won the presidency. I had just voted for president for the first time ever, plus I had also volunteered for his...

Save your local bookstore. It's more important than you know.

November 2, 2020

Today's newsletter was almost a political screed, because politics are on my mind, for reasons. But instead, I decided to offer a bit of a distraction, and...

Why Secret Identities Are Still Super Important

October 26, 2020

Why do so many superheroes have secret identities? It’s a huge part of the genre—but at times a superhero’s alter ego seems to be nothing but a throwback to...

The Teacher Who Saved My Life (and Made Me a Writer)

October 19, 2020

Over at Tor.com, I’ve been writing essays about how to use creative writing to get through tough times, and I’ve included some stuff about my writing career....

21 Hot Takes About Batman

October 12, 2020

Many years ago, I drew a version of the classic Batman storyline Knightfall in crayon for this contest.Batman. He’s everywhere in pop culture. His cape...

The Cis Women Who Helped Me Become The Woman I Am

October 5, 2020

My first professional photoshoot, from when I was just starting my transition. Photographer B.Z. Petroff did everything she could to help me feel safe in my...

Personal essays and pop culture musings from Charlie Jane Anders

September 19, 2020

Yes, I finally started a newsletter. I think I’m the very last person on the planet to do this, which means I’m probably like nine months too late. But this...