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Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Babies on the Go by Linda Ashman
The Balloon Boy of San Francisco by Dorothy Kupcha Leland
Bandits of the Trace by Albert E. Cowdrey
The Book That Eats People by John Perry and Mark Fearing
Buffalo Before Breakfast (Magic Tree House #18) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Clue of the Tapping Heels by Carolyn Keene
Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer
Do Not Open This Book! by Michaela Muntean
Dragon's Teeth by Alex Irvine
Keys to the City by Joel Kostman
Guy Time by Sarah Weeks
Immaculate Deception by Courtney J. Webb
Is There a Monster Over There? by Sally O Lee
Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty
Letters to Rosy by C. Ellene Bartlett
The Man Who Lost His Head by Claire Huchet Bishop
Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House #3) by Mary Pope Osborne
My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
Out of Time by John Marsden
Promotion Denied by Joseph W. Hoffler
Scary Party by Sue Hendra
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis
Shadows on the Walls of the Cave by Kate Wilhelm
Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer
Swim to Me by Betsy Carter
Tigers at Twilight (Magic Tree House #19) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Travesties by Giselle Renarde
War, Women and the News by Catherine Gourley
The Wing on a Flea by Ed Emberley

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The Travesties: 04/07/10

Sometimes the randomized approach to reviewing I implemented last summer causes unfortunate gaps in reviews. I'm afraid the last (and my favorite) story in Like Twin Stars, "The Travesties" by Giselle Renarde got lost in the shuffle, only coming up now for review.

Sebastian, an up and coming researcher in the travesity intersex variant dreams of co-authoring a paper with the expert in the field. However when he meets her he is saddened and disgusted at her underlying hatred of the very people she studies. He realizes he must rethink his position.

Travesties (a pun on transvestite) are people who can change their displayed gender at will. To simplify things for normals their names mark their status. Sebastian disheartened by what he learns about the research project, befriends one of the subjects: Cam/ille. The slash in the middle of the name shows how the name is shortened when the subject is displaying a male gender.

This being a story in an explicitly erotic collection does have a sex scene but it comes near the end and is really secondary to the exploration of the bigotry faced by the travesties (and by extension anyone who doesn't conform to traditional gender role binaries). Its emphasis was on social commentary in lieu of setting up sexual situations, is what earns it the place as my favorite of the three stories.

I received the ebook from the publisher for review.

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