{"id":1847875,"date":"2026-03-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1847875"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:00:00","slug":"this-genre-bending-trans-novel-holds-a-dark-mirror-to-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1847875","title":{"rendered":"This genre-bending trans novel holds a dark mirror to reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/768\/0-0-768-512\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442522.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/life-culture\/article\/69980\/1\/jaw-filler-novel-trans-fiction-charlie-markbreiter-maz-murray-interview-book\" data-article-id=\"69980\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.49\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jaw Filler\" class=\"img\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/768\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442522.jpg\" width=\"768\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">the authors<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-26T09:00:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"26 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"26\">26,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - life-culture\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>This genre-bending trans novel holds a dark mirror <span class=\"nowrap\">to reality<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>We spoke with authors Charlie Markbreiter and Maz Murray about trans genre fiction, Justin Beiber, how optimisation cultured developed into eugenics, <span class=\"nowrap\">and more<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-26T09:00:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"26 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"26\">26,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-26T09:00:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"26 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"26\">26,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/SamMoore\">Sam Moore<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Sean Hastings, the protagonist of <em>Jaw Filler<\/em>, is a detective who deals with bizarre, inter-trans community drama and missing persons cases. In his attempt to find Character, who has dropped off the face of the earth, he finds himself in the First Trans Commune in Sim World, a digital cult where trans influencer Kevin leads the community in Releasing, the practice of letting trauma go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the digital world bleeds into reality, a rich tapestry of chaotic trans characters wage war against their trauma, their exes, and themselves. But looming even larger is VSI, a shady Big Tech company certain that Releasing can be turned into something more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Jaw Filler <\/span><\/em><span>is a portrait of a world perilously close to our own, where lives are lived online, people are turned into commodities, and the perfect product can solve your problems. But no matter how much they want to, these characters can\u2019t leave reality behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the wake of the book\u2019s London launch, and in anticipation of a US release through <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asterismbooks.com\/product\/jaw-filler-maz-murray-charlie-markbreiter\"><span>Asterism<\/span><\/a><span>, authors Charlie Markbreiter and Maz Murray talk to\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Dazed<\/span><\/em><span>about writing their first novel, trans genre fiction, the link between optimisation culture and genetics, and Justin Bieber.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f2824ee-49da-4ce5-ac0f-b4180120b651\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442520.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.33\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jaw Filler\" class=\"img\" height=\"2250\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442520.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">The cover of Jaw Filler, a new book by Maz Murray &amp; <span class=\"nowrap\">Charlie Markbreiter<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Montez Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>How did this book come about, and what was the genesis of your collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz Murray: <\/strong><span>Me and Charlie met through Twitter \u2013 RIP \u2013 in, like, 2019, and we were chatting about things that come up on Twitter that annoy you. Trans assimilation seemed a concern at that time. And Charlie suggested we write something together and put it out on his Tinyletter or whatever it was.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We wanted to do something genre-y and plotty, because most trans literature then was memoir, and we wanted to see something really ridiculous instead. We thought having this kind of detective format would also be fun to play with in terms of masculinity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie Markbreiter: <\/strong><span>This is not a trans novel; this is a detective novel. To be clear, I have nothing against life writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Some of my best friends are life writers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Same! I don\u2019t dislike auto-fiction. I dislike that all trans writing, regardless of genre, is interpreted as auto-fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>So from early on, we used those pulpy affects: the detective stuff, the mystery. Every chapter has a cliffhanger. We wanted it to feel like one of those old serialised, in-a-newspaper stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are references in the novel to things that are quite contemporary, like the anti-trans laws and the shifting landscape of social media. How did the book evolve through the writing process?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie Markbreiter:<\/strong><span>Like Maz was saying, we began writing this book in 2020 or 2021, then stopped for a bit until [publishing press] Montez approached us in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And at that point, the political landscape was so different: because the threat was no longer \u2018you can be incorporated, but conditionally\u2019. It was \u2018we actually don&#8217;t want most of you here<\/span><em><span>\u2019.<\/span><\/em><span> So in 2021, there was more focus on assimilation and infighting, which were, in part, ways of navigating that conditional assimilation. But if you can be rejected outright for being trans \u2013 which is more likely, as anti-trans legislation in the US increasingly occurs at the federal and not just state level \u2013 then it doesn\u2019t matter how cool or chill you are: you\u2019re still out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But this wasn\u2019t just about trans people: the other big related shift we were noticing, in the 2010s, was the underpinning of\u00a0 influencer logic but also that everything was optimisation, since it was now easier than ever before to data-mine your and everyone\u2019s body. Like, if you just download this app and add protein powder to your smoothie, you can girlboss and you will make seven figures, and if you don\u2019t, it\u2019s your fault.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Maz once described our book as a portrait of the Biden era, which I thought was so smart. Because 2010s optimisation wasn\u2019t actually fully replaced by 2020s eugenics; they just synthesized into an even more personal and impersonal horror.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>If you can be rejected outright for being trans \u2013 which is more likely, as anti-trans legislation in the US increasingly occurs at the federal level \u2013 then it doesn\u2019t matter how cool or chill you are: you\u2019re still out<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>There\u2019s a really interesting tension between physical and digital community, where what looks on the surface like a utopia is revealed to be more sinister. I\u2019m curious about how that plays out and if there are any ways of defining <\/strong><strong><em>trans community <\/em><\/strong><strong>that the book is responding to.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>The virtual world in the book is mostly through the eyes of Character, who\u2019s using it as a therapy tool. And you know, no spoilers, but he ends up pretty isolated. He traps himself inside his childhood and relives in it a new way where he almost doesn\u2019t have to be trans. And I find it interesting because there\u2019s a later period where Character interacts with more people. And I was almost imagining it as, like, his projections of people he&#8217;s seen in real life who are maybe sexier and cooler than him and he feels very attacked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Who among us?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>All of us\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>It was fun to play with the marketing of the virtual world versus what Character chooses to do with it. And early on in the book when the Detective is looking for Character, he finds Kevin\u2019s weird apartment with all these people in it, and some of them are, like, paid hangers-on. So it does give you an opportunity to have these silly, satirical, intra-community conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And then the times in the book where there <\/span><em><span>is<\/span><\/em><span> a kind of trans community is the life that Mitchelle has built for herself in this made-up Middle America. We were thinking about trans people who don&#8217;t live in a major city, and the communities that creates. And a little bit from my experience, like when I was living back in Essex during COVID and\u00a0 the trans people that I knew there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m really interested in the references in this book; things like Justin Bieber, and the Dazed\/Out100 photoshoot&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>We\u2019re never gonna make it onto the list now\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Can I ask, what\u2019s your relationship to Justin Bieber? Are you British? I don\u2019t wanna assume\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I have no strong feelings about his place in the culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>I mean, credit to Charlie for a lot of the Bieber-isms. It was fun to give Kevin a male diva as a reference point. He\u2019s someone who pops up a lot in trans memes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Bieber is fascinating to me, because he\u2019s the ultimate manifester.<\/span><span>\u00a0He sincerely Beliebes that if he can imagine a more positive outcome, it will happen. And sometimes, that really does happen. And sometimes, of course, it can\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>During the 2010s, trans people were [using the internet] to connect across geographical distance, learning about packing and tucking, whatever. But it was a fantasy to think that could compensate for what was happening in the actual world<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>One of the things I really like here is that nobody is set in stone; even post-transition nobody gets a neatly packaged solution to their problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>Yeah, I think what was fun to play with in the book is all the characters who have Done The Thing, they\u2019ve transitioned, but they&#8217;re still stuck in their minds, they still have to go on living. And they all kind of represent a different stereotype of a trans narrative: Mitchelle\u2019s the very dramatic one, and I found Taylor\u2019s transition interesting, where he doesn\u2019t transition for the reasons someone else would. But that\u2019s so trans to do that? <\/span><em><span>Oh, I transitioned to be like my friend.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>During the 2010s, there was this narrative that the <\/span><em><span>internet<\/span><\/em><span>that had created transness, eliding eg the impact of some aspects of medical transition suddenly, accidentally being covered through the Affordable Care Act in 2010. And to some extent, yes, trans people were connecting across geographical distance, learning about packing and tucking, whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it was a fantasy to think that could compensate for what was happening in the actual world. Not just because transitioning virtually because you can\u2019t transition in life \u2013 as happens in our book \u2013 doesn\u2019t fully work, but because the technology required to build that internet was being used to build military tools and AI, the very technology used to destroy and extract from our offline realities along imperialist lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Has writing this book changed your relationship to the internet?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>My answer is brief because I can really smugly say that I deleted my Twitter. Part of it was principle, part of it was that my joke tweets weren\u2019t doing very well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie<\/strong><span>: We often talk about quitting the internet in really individualising ways. So it&#8217;s easy to be like, \u2018oh, it&#8217;s just me. I just love the lights and the beautiful colors and the clicking sounds too much\u2026\u2019<\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>But there\u2019s also a real economic reason that you\u2019re on your phone. Because even though you get to write for a magazine, they still expect you to promote your articles. So even if you were like, \u2018I am so mentally healthy and I have total self control and I\u2019m just gonna leave social media because it\u2019s so easy\u2019, there would be a professional cost by design.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you want people to take away from this book?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>By the end, we show somewhat apolitical, non-committal characters who\u2019ve got by in chaotic ways taking quite decisive action that has political impact. And I also think it\u2019s subversive to have a happy ending.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>I hope people get whatever they need from it. If you get this book and\u00a0<\/span><span>never read it and it sits on your shelf as a beautiful object and people can be like, \u2018I\u2019m noting the intellectual status symbol\u2019, <\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span>that is great. If people read it and they\u2019re just like, \u2018wow, this made me feel less depressed today\u2019, that\u2019s also great. Like, I have loved writing since I was a child and I\u00a0feel really blessed that I got to do something like this, and blessed that people want to engage at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montezpress.com\/catalogue\/books\/jaw-filler\/\">Jaw Filler<\/a><em> is out now.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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unpacks the highs and lows of limerence<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69943\/1\/trans-drivers-kansas-1700-licenses-invalidated-us-america-trump\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"One Battle After Another\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/203-0-809-538\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442062.jpeg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">\u2018I\u2019m not giving up my rights\u2019: Why Kansas is coming for trans drivers<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69942\/1\/how-to-cultivate-your-own-taste-books-film-fashion-taste-tiktok-culture\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span 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src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-0-1024-681\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441757.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">How to not freak out about meningitis, according to an expert<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69732\/1\/zakia-sewell-finding-albion-myth-folklore-quest-hidden-britain-interview-2026\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Zakia Sewell (Buster Grey Jung)\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-580-2250-1496\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438559.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">This new book brings Britain\u2019s folk history out of the shadows<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69882\/1\/month-offline-smartphone-support-group-unplugging-flip-offline-detox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Matrix\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/73-0-818-544\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441382.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Would you try the 30-day flip phone challenge?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Sean Hastings, the protagonist of <em>Jaw Filler<\/em>, is a detective who deals with bizarre, inter-trans community drama and missing persons cases. In his attempt to find Character, who has dropped off the face of the earth, he finds himself in the First Trans Commune in Sim World, a digital cult where trans influencer Kevin leads the community in Releasing, the practice of letting trauma go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the digital world bleeds into reality, a rich tapestry of chaotic trans characters wage war against their trauma, their exes, and themselves. But looming even larger is VSI, a shady Big Tech company certain that Releasing can be turned into something more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Jaw Filler <\/span><\/em><span>is a portrait of a world perilously close to our own, where lives are lived online, people are turned into commodities, and the perfect product can solve your problems. But no matter how much they want to, these characters can\u2019t leave reality behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the wake of the book\u2019s London launch, and in anticipation of a US release through <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asterismbooks.com\/product\/jaw-filler-maz-murray-charlie-markbreiter\"><span>Asterism<\/span><\/a><span>, authors Charlie Markbreiter and Maz Murray talk to\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Dazed<\/span><\/em><span>about writing their first novel, trans genre fiction, the link between optimisation culture and genetics, and Justin Bieber.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f2824ee-49da-4ce5-ac0f-b4180120b651\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442520.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.33\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jaw Filler\" class=\"img\" height=\"2250\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442520.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">The cover of Jaw Filler, a new book by Maz Murray &amp; <span class=\"nowrap\">Charlie Markbreiter<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Montez Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>How did this book come about, and what was the genesis of your collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz Murray: <\/strong><span>Me and Charlie met through Twitter \u2013 RIP \u2013 in, like, 2019, and we were chatting about things that come up on Twitter that annoy you. Trans assimilation seemed a concern at that time. And Charlie suggested we write something together and put it out on his Tinyletter or whatever it was.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We wanted to do something genre-y and plotty, because most trans literature then was memoir, and we wanted to see something really ridiculous instead. We thought having this kind of detective format would also be fun to play with in terms of masculinity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie Markbreiter: <\/strong><span>This is not a trans novel; this is a detective novel. To be clear, I have nothing against life writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Some of my best friends are life writers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Same! I don\u2019t dislike auto-fiction. I dislike that all trans writing, regardless of genre, is interpreted as auto-fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>So from early on, we used those pulpy affects: the detective stuff, the mystery. Every chapter has a cliffhanger. We wanted it to feel like one of those old serialised, in-a-newspaper stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are references in the novel to things that are quite contemporary, like the anti-trans laws and the shifting landscape of social media. How did the book evolve through the writing process?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie Markbreiter:<\/strong><span>Like Maz was saying, we began writing this book in 2020 or 2021, then stopped for a bit until [publishing press] Montez approached us in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And at that point, the political landscape was so different: because the threat was no longer \u2018you can be incorporated, but conditionally\u2019. It was \u2018we actually don&#8217;t want most of you here<\/span><em><span>\u2019.<\/span><\/em><span> So in 2021, there was more focus on assimilation and infighting, which were, in part, ways of navigating that conditional assimilation. But if you can be rejected outright for being trans \u2013 which is more likely, as anti-trans legislation in the US increasingly occurs at the federal and not just state level \u2013 then it doesn\u2019t matter how cool or chill you are: you\u2019re still out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But this wasn\u2019t just about trans people: the other big related shift we were noticing, in the 2010s, was the underpinning of\u00a0 influencer logic but also that everything was optimisation, since it was now easier than ever before to data-mine your and everyone\u2019s body. Like, if you just download this app and add protein powder to your smoothie, you can girlboss and you will make seven figures, and if you don\u2019t, it\u2019s your fault.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Maz once described our book as a portrait of the Biden era, which I thought was so smart. Because 2010s optimisation wasn\u2019t actually fully replaced by 2020s eugenics; they just synthesized into an even more personal and impersonal horror.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>If you can be rejected outright for being trans \u2013 which is more likely, as anti-trans legislation in the US increasingly occurs at the federal level \u2013 then it doesn\u2019t matter how cool or chill you are: you\u2019re still out<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>There\u2019s a really interesting tension between physical and digital community, where what looks on the surface like a utopia is revealed to be more sinister. I\u2019m curious about how that plays out and if there are any ways of defining <\/strong><strong><em>trans community <\/em><\/strong><strong>that the book is responding to.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>The virtual world in the book is mostly through the eyes of Character, who\u2019s using it as a therapy tool. And you know, no spoilers, but he ends up pretty isolated. He traps himself inside his childhood and relives in it a new way where he almost doesn\u2019t have to be trans. And I find it interesting because there\u2019s a later period where Character interacts with more people. And I was almost imagining it as, like, his projections of people he&#8217;s seen in real life who are maybe sexier and cooler than him and he feels very attacked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Who among us?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>All of us\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>It was fun to play with the marketing of the virtual world versus what Character chooses to do with it. And early on in the book when the Detective is looking for Character, he finds Kevin\u2019s weird apartment with all these people in it, and some of them are, like, paid hangers-on. So it does give you an opportunity to have these silly, satirical, intra-community conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And then the times in the book where there <\/span><em><span>is<\/span><\/em><span> a kind of trans community is the life that Mitchelle has built for herself in this made-up Middle America. We were thinking about trans people who don&#8217;t live in a major city, and the communities that creates. And a little bit from my experience, like when I was living back in Essex during COVID and\u00a0 the trans people that I knew there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m really interested in the references in this book; things like Justin Bieber, and the Dazed\/Out100 photoshoot&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>We\u2019re never gonna make it onto the list now\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Can I ask, what\u2019s your relationship to Justin Bieber? Are you British? I don\u2019t wanna assume\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I have no strong feelings about his place in the culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>I mean, credit to Charlie for a lot of the Bieber-isms. It was fun to give Kevin a male diva as a reference point. He\u2019s someone who pops up a lot in trans memes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>Bieber is fascinating to me, because he\u2019s the ultimate manifester.<\/span><span>\u00a0He sincerely Beliebes that if he can imagine a more positive outcome, it will happen. And sometimes, that really does happen. And sometimes, of course, it can\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>During the 2010s, trans people were [using the internet] to connect across geographical distance, learning about packing and tucking, whatever. But it was a fantasy to think that could compensate for what was happening in the actual world<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>One of the things I really like here is that nobody is set in stone; even post-transition nobody gets a neatly packaged solution to their problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>Yeah, I think what was fun to play with in the book is all the characters who have Done The Thing, they\u2019ve transitioned, but they&#8217;re still stuck in their minds, they still have to go on living. And they all kind of represent a different stereotype of a trans narrative: Mitchelle\u2019s the very dramatic one, and I found Taylor\u2019s transition interesting, where he doesn\u2019t transition for the reasons someone else would. But that\u2019s so trans to do that? <\/span><em><span>Oh, I transitioned to be like my friend.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>During the 2010s, there was this narrative that the <\/span><em><span>internet<\/span><\/em><span>that had created transness, eliding eg the impact of some aspects of medical transition suddenly, accidentally being covered through the Affordable Care Act in 2010. And to some extent, yes, trans people were connecting across geographical distance, learning about packing and tucking, whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it was a fantasy to think that could compensate for what was happening in the actual world. Not just because transitioning virtually because you can\u2019t transition in life \u2013 as happens in our book \u2013 doesn\u2019t fully work, but because the technology required to build that internet was being used to build military tools and AI, the very technology used to destroy and extract from our offline realities along imperialist lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Has writing this book changed your relationship to the internet?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>My answer is brief because I can really smugly say that I deleted my Twitter. Part of it was principle, part of it was that my joke tweets weren\u2019t doing very well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie<\/strong><span>: We often talk about quitting the internet in really individualising ways. So it&#8217;s easy to be like, \u2018oh, it&#8217;s just me. I just love the lights and the beautiful colors and the clicking sounds too much\u2026\u2019<\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>But there\u2019s also a real economic reason that you\u2019re on your phone. Because even though you get to write for a magazine, they still expect you to promote your articles. So even if you were like, \u2018I am so mentally healthy and I have total self control and I\u2019m just gonna leave social media because it\u2019s so easy\u2019, there would be a professional cost by design.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you want people to take away from this book?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Maz: <\/strong><span>By the end, we show somewhat apolitical, non-committal characters who\u2019ve got by in chaotic ways taking quite decisive action that has political impact. And I also think it\u2019s subversive to have a happy ending.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlie: <\/strong><span>I hope people get whatever they need from it. If you get this book and\u00a0<\/span><span>never read it and it sits on your shelf as a beautiful object and people can be like, \u2018I\u2019m noting the intellectual status symbol\u2019, <\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span>that is great. If people read it and they\u2019re just like, \u2018wow, this made me feel less depressed today\u2019, that\u2019s also great. Like, I have loved writing since I was a child and I\u00a0feel really blessed that I got to do something like this, and blessed that people want to engage at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montezpress.com\/catalogue\/books\/jaw-filler\/\">Jaw Filler<\/a><em> is out now.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69980\/1\/jaw-filler-novel-trans-fiction-charlie-markbreiter-maz-murray-interview-book&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/768\/0-0-768-512\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442522.jpg&#8221;] Courtesy of the authors March\u00a0 26,\u00a0 2026 Life &amp; Culture \/ Q+A Life &amp; Culture \/ Q+A This genre-bending trans novel holds a dark mirror to reality We spoke with authors Charlie Markbreiter and Maz Murray about trans genre fiction, Justin Beiber, how optimisation cultured developed into eugenics, and more March\u00a0 26,\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1847875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1847875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847875\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1847875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1847875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1847875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}