Thorn Wilde

I'm very grateful for this story. It's good to see non-binary identities explored in such a thoughtful and respectful manner here on GA. Valkyrie has a talent for putting herself in the shoes of characters whose identities and experiences fundamentally differ from her own.

This story is very real, with flawed characters whose personal growth guides the plot magnificently. A well-written piece that explores aspects of the LGBTQ+ umbrella not often addressed, and does so in a thoughtful manner.

Labels can certainly be used against people, which is why I make the note of how they should be used for self-identification and not to label others. There are certain parts of our identities that define how we express ourselves, and I think being able to explain that to others can be useful. It can also be useful in order to find community with people we share experiences with. But I digress. Queer certainly works, yeah.

This is a very important topic. I could link to half a dozen YouTube videos on the subject, but they also contain feminism and I've been told in no uncertain terms in the past that I'm not allowed to bring feminism into the lounge, so I'm not gonna. Queerbaiting is definitely problematic, and also complex. On the one hand, drawing in queer audiences by giving us hope of representation and then never following through is a dick move. On the other hand, for a long time that was the only representation we had and probably helped pave the way for actual, unambiguously queer characters on screen. But now it's outdated. We need good, positive and unambiguous representation, not hints and nudges. And we certainly don't need networks and show runners who find out about popular queer ships in fandom and then play on it without ever meaning for the characters to have that kind of relationship (*cough*Supernatural*cough*). Even when we do get actual queer representation in media, it's a lot less explicit, and often full of bad tropes and tragedy, because bob forbid we see affectionate and HAPPY queer people on screen. Dare I mention Star Trek: Discovery, in which We rarely get to see characters in media who just happen to be queer. Either it's super ambiguous and possibly just queerbaiting, or it's made into a huge deal and often tragic character arcs.

Our community is so much bigger and more diverse than many of us believe. With a lot of new-ish terms and labels out there detailing identities some may not be aware of, I figured a brief list of definitions might be helpful for someone somewhere. I shall begin with the four letters everyone knows. If you're here, you already know what these mean, but I'm including them anyway. L: lesbian - a woman who is exclusively attracted to other women G: gay - a person who is exclusively attracted to people of the same gender or sex; often used to refer specifically to gay men B: bisexual/bi - a person who is attracted to people of two or more genders (we'll get to the 'or more' later) T: trans/transgender - people whose gender does not match the sex they were assigned at birth Now for the 'new' letters you often see added on at the end of the acronym these days (LGBTQIA), whose definitions you may be unfamiliar with or a bit fuzzy on. Q: queer - used as an umbrella term for everyone who belongs to a sexual or gender minority (*) also: questioning - people questioning their sexuality and/or gender identity in one way or another I: intersex - people who are born with ambiguous sex characteristics or sex characteristics that don't match their chromosomes. This includes ambiguous genitalia, sex chromosomes other than XX or XY (such as XXY, XYY, or simply X), and androgen insensitivity syndrome, to mention a few. Some people with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) also consider themselves to be intersex. Many intersex people also identify as transgender. A: asexual - a person who does not experience sexual attraction toward anyone at all; sometimes also called ace also: aromantic - a person who does not experience romantic attraction toward anyone at all; sometimes also called aro Some asexual people are also aromantic, but far from all. An asexual person can also be gay, for instance, if they experience romantic attraction towards people of the same gender or sex, even if they have no sexual attraction. The words homoromantic, heteroromantic, biromantic, and panromantic are often used to describe the romantic preferences of asexual people. Now for terms that aren't in the acronym, starting with those related to sexuality: pansexual - a person who is pansexual is attracted to people regardless of gender. This differs from bisexuality in that, as previously stated, bisexuality is attraction to two or more genders, while for a pansexual person, gender is completely irrelevant to sexual attraction. omnisexual - a person who is attracted to practically everybody demisexual - a person who experiences sexual attraction only to people they have a strong emotional connection with grey asexual - a person who normally does not experience sexual attraction but who may very rarely do so under certain circumstances Gender identities (these words generally exist under the trans umbrella): non-binary - someone who is non-binary has a gender identity that does not adhere to the binary male/female model of gender; colloquially also called enby, derived from NB genderfluid - someone whose gender identity shifts on a spectrum between the masculine and the feminine agender - someone who does not identify with any gender bi-gender - someone who identifies as both male and female genderqueer - someone whose gender identity does not adhere to ideas of traditional gender; sometimes used interchangeably with non-binary And a few more gender-related terms: cisgender - someone whose gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth; anyone who is not trans AFAB - assigned female at birth AMAB - assigned male at birth transman - someone who was assigned female at birth but identifies as male; sometimes referred to as ftm (female-to-male) transwoman - someone who was assigned male at birth but identifies as female; sometimes referred to as mtf (male-to-female) trans masculine/trans masc - someone who was assigned female at birth but whose identity lies somewhere in the masculine end of the gender spectrum trans feminine/trans femme - someone who was assigned male at birth but whose identity lies somewhere in the feminine end of the gender spectrum gender dysphoria - physical discomfort and mental distress from having a body that does not conform to one's gender (note: not all trans people have gender dysphoria) gender euphoria - the feeling of joy experienced by trans people when they 'pass' as their gender or feel comfortable in their gender expression HRT - hormone replacement therapy; causes people assigned male at birth to go through a female puberty where they grow breasts, fat and muscle is redistributed, body hair growth is diminished, and the quality of the skin changes, among other things. T - testosterone; causes people assigned female at birth to go through a male puberty where their voices drop, they grow more body and facial hair, fat and muscle is redistributed, and the clitoris grows top surgery - removal of breast tissue in order to create a male-looking chest on a person assigned female at birth bottom surgery - changing of the genitalia through plastic surgery; for people assigned male at birth, vaginoplasty; for people assigned female at birth, either phalloplasty or metoidioplasty I hope this has been helpful. A note of caution: the purpose of these terms and labels is not for you to label others, but for everyone to label themselves as they see fit. It is nobody's place to tell anyone else what or who they are. We all have the right to self-identification. If you're an author and you use some of the less common terms listed here in your stories, feel free to copy the definitions for your author or story notes, or link back to this blog entry, if you're worried that people won't understand them. * I recognise that some people are uncomfortable with the reclaiming of the word queer, which has been used as a homophobic slur for a long time. We who use it in no way mean to cause offence. Its usage within the community has grown over time and is especially useful for people who belong to more than one sexual or gender minority; instead of saying that I am trans, non-binary and bisexual, I can simply say that I'm queer and be done with it.

Maybe you'll head into non-binary territory one day.

Have you seen that film?

Speaking of Tim Burton, I recently learned that there is a whole album called Nightmare Revisited with the entire soundtrack of Nightmare Before Christmas in (mostly) rock and metal covers. Here's Rise Against's version of Making Christmas. And Flyleaf's cover of What's This: The whole album is awesome. It has The Polyphonic Spree, All-American Rejects, korn, The Album Leaf, Marilyn Manson, and just a bunch of other awesome artists.

Midwinter Graces is tied with Bad Religion's Christmas Songs for my favourite ever Christmas album.

Aww, you guys! ❤️

Thank you. I'm glad to have piqued your interest. I don't really read a lot of stories about angels either, and I haven't written anything like this before. It was a fun challenge.

Actually, the singular they has been in use for as long as modern English has existed. Shakespeare used the singular they. It's nothing new at all.

Bet you didn't know Bad Religion had a Christmas album! (Unless I posted something from it last year and forgot about it...) 20% of the proceeds for this album went to SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Because of course they did. ❤️

I’m not familiar with the artist in question, but it’s a beautiful poem. Though it’s about death, it’s also hopeful. It feels like it’s celebrating a life rather than mourning a death.

Absolutely, entirely believable!

Even though it's a relatively short story, your characters experience so much personal growth and development. I think it's remarkable and wonderful.

I think people whose sole criterion for sexual attraction is genitalia should abandon labels like gay and straight and just call themselves phallosexual or vaginosexual. Would save us a whole lot of grief. I love this story. I want to thank you for contributing to more trans and non-binary representation in the stories on this site. ❤️

Thank you. I certainly think it is.

I can imagine. Writing in first is very different from writing in third, there are certain narrative tools that don't work in both. Specifically here, what I noticed was a lot of actions performed that weren't tied to the main character by 'my' or 'I', and that seemed a bit odd and distracted me somewhat. Describing things independently of the characters doing them can work in third person, but can feel jarring in first. Like I said, though, it's a good story, and that's just a minor thing.

This was a really interesting story. Put me in mind of some episodes of Black Mirror. And also of the completely unrelated game by the same name, for the ghost stuff. A well crafted story, though the writing style tended to pull me out of the action a bit for some reason.

Aww, such a cute pup! ❤️ And a great piece. I'm a simple soul, though. My favourite Gershwin piece, which was also my first, will always remain Rhapsody in Blue.

Thanks, Gary! I'm glad it's got you interested. Many intriguing thoughts and questions there... I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

You are most welcome.

Well, you'll just have to wait and see when the next part goes up. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

Oh! That's one of the ones I missed because my health was blah. Thanks for linking, I'd been meaning to read them all.