Torrey Peters, the critically acclaimed author of Detransition, Baby, returns with a brilliant, mind-blowing book which collects three stories and a novella, each of which defy gender norms and genre norms alike. Stag Dance solidifies Peters’ reputation as one of the best contemporary queer writers with four thrilling and deeply felt tales of people who are forced to confront the gendered expectations of their worlds or else risk annihilation.
In “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones,” Peters tries her hand at speculative fiction. This story imagines a gender apocalypse where a virus has wreaked havoc on hormones and turned everyone trans. The twist? The virus started because the narrator (patient zero)’s ex wanted revenge for their messy breakup. The next story, “The Chaser,” is a teen romance which elevates the genre, showing its potential for sublime tragedy. Two roommates at a boarding school begin an affair which quickly falls apart, as affairs between closeted teenagers are wont to do. The drama which unfolds is as scintillating as anything out of Gossip Girl or Dawson’s Creek.
The title novella, “Stag Dance,” is the centerpiece: a swashbuckling western tall tale that follows a Paul Bunyan-type lumberjack who feels more feminine than the world allows him to be. When the camp throws a dance at which some attendees will be allowed to play the roles of women, the narrator sees his chance, but things go awry when he has to compete for attention with a lithe pretty boy who has already wooed much of the camp. Finally, in “The Masker,” Peters plays with horror, as a young trans woman attending a queer gala finds herself torn between an experienced older trans woman and a masked fetishist, and is forced to decide what queerness really means to her.
The real draw of this book is Peters’ masterful writing. Peters fully embodies each voice, such that all four narrators feel distinct and viscerally real. The variation of genres means each piece is its own entire world for readers to get lost in, though this isn’t to say that the book feels disjointed. Certain images, such as pigs, repeat throughout, providing cohesion. Overall, Peters’ vision is one where gender roles are never stagnant, and the world is made new by queerness.
