Two of my friends have new books out, and both these books are about trans women, both set in the wild west! Well, Victor’s book isn’t new new, but it’s newly reissued.
Victor J. Banis‘ book Lola Dances is out for Kindle and in paperback. Here’s the blurb:
Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic and often bawdy, Lola Dances ranges from the 1850 slums of the Bowery to the mining camps of California and Montana, to the Barbary Coast of San Francisco.
Little Terry Murphy, pretty and effeminate, dreams of becoming a dancer. Raped by a drunken profligate and threatened with prison, Terry flees the Bowery to disappear into the wilderness of the West. In the rugged settlement of Alder Gulch, he stands out like a sore thumb among the camp’s macho inhabitants – until the day he puts on a dress and dances for the unsuspecting miners. As beautiful Lola Valdez, fame and fortune are within reach, and so, ultimately, is love.
I haven’t read the whole book, but I’ve read extended excerpts, and I can tell you it’s beautifully written. It does just what good fiction is supposed to do: puts you inside someone else’s experience.
Chris Garrison‘s wonderfully named Girl in the Gears (Trans-Continental Book 1) is set in an alternate West, one with the states not having united, with autogyros and such.
Actress Ida Stillwell may have been born her father’s son, but she rejected the role society cast her in. With the North American Republics on the brink of war, Ida flees her home and joins a carnival to pursue her dreams.
There she meets tomboy steam engine mechanic Duffy Hollowood. Though they become fast friends, Duffy has her own secrets. As their troubled pasts catch up with them, will Ida and Duffy make an escape together, or will they take their chances alone?
Again, I haven’t read all of the book yet. It’s quite different in tone from Lola: more action-adventure and light-hearted. It has in common with it, though, the virtue of putting the reader in someone else’s place, fearing what they fear, hoping what they hope.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Here’s one of my favorite exercises — Write the same scene from the points of view of two very different characters.
MA
Chris Garrison
June 29, 2015 at 9:47amThanks so much for the mention, Marian! Ida would be pleased to know she has a kindred spirit out there in Lola.
Marian Allen
June 29, 2015 at 12:31pmIf you don’t know Victor, you need to connect. He and I met in the Short Mystery Fiction Society. He writes all kinds of stuff, including an autobiography with the Best Title Ever: Spine Intact, Some Creases.
Jane
June 29, 2015 at 10:22amInteresting recommends.
Both sound outstanding.
As for other points of view:
the new 50 Shades book is the whole thing from HIS point of view!
Yikes. Bound to be disturbing.
I read a version of Pride et Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view, BUT he was a vampire. That actually made sense!
Marian Allen
June 29, 2015 at 12:32pmSure it made sense. Those vampires are all a buncha snobs. 😉
Jessica Nunemaker
June 29, 2015 at 4:48pmExcept for when they glitter. 🙂
Marian Allen
June 29, 2015 at 5:24pmOh, Jessica, what can you say about a poor sick bastard who is 200+ years old and still goes to HIGH SCHOOL? On PURPOSE?
Jessica Nunemaker
June 30, 2015 at 5:27pmPretty much. You couldn’t PAY ME to go back to high school! BORING! He can’t think of better things to do with his time? What in the world do you even have in common with someone that much younger than you? LOL