The Lobster Dance

LOOK AT THIS 80S-TASTIC COVER

Welcome, readers, to the June 2015 edition of the Beyond Binaries Book Club! This month (and for the next few months), we’ll be taking a look at non-binary gender expression in Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lionness quartet, starting with Alanna: The First Adventure (1983).

The mild spoiler below is necessary to explain the “beyond binaries” aspect and why we chose this series for our club.

What’s the Beyond Binaries Book Club?

Long version here.

Our focus is on books (and media) about characters with sexualities, gender identities, or gender expressions that aren’t strictly male/female or gay/straight. That is, characters who are bi/pansexual/queer-identified, or whose gender expression or identity is not strongly fixed to the gender binary (may include agender, transgender, gender-nonconforming, gendervariant, genderfluid, intersex [as identity], non-binary, genderqueer, et al.). We tend to read speculative fiction novels (as opposed to non-fiction, including autobiographies), but graphic novels, comics, and short stories may be on our list.

Alanna: The First Adventure

Hop in, citizens, as we take a detour from the sci-fi worlds of Ancillary Justice to the swords-and-sorcery world of Tortall with everyone’s favorite angry knight, Alanna of Trebond.

I have no idea how I managed to make it well into adulthood without having read this series. It’s got all my favorite tropes: cross-dressing! sword-fighting! witty feminist repartee!

Unlike most “cross-dressing as disguise” books, Alanna’s gender expression as an adult isn’t binary, and this makes some characters very uncomfortable. But, oh, readers, she has the snappiest of retorts for mansplainers. The snappiest. Despite the pairings in the book being heterogamous*, there’s a ton of good material about finding a partner who likes you for you and isn’t intimidated by your rippling biceps, manner of dress, and razor wit. Why didn’t anyone buy me this book when I was ten?

“From now on I’m Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I’ll be a knight.”

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page.
But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies.

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna’s first adventure begins — one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land.

The Goddess has her hand on you! Reconvene on July 1 for a talk about book one!

*Don’t worry–we’ll talk about what parts were way ahead of their time and what parts are problematic.