When a character (or a real person) says they "want to be a woman," what exactly makes a person a "woman" as they want to be?

Hi,

I have a female character from France who has an unusual ability, once she's met someone she can track them wherever they go. She has the French equivalent nickname Bloodhound because of that. I've looked up bloodhound and got a really rough translation, 'du sang le limier'. I'm pretty sure that's not going to be accurate.

Now I'm not stuck on the name Bloodhound, if there is something that would be more appropriate for France's culture, but mean essentially the same thing I'll happily go with that.

Would someone be kind enough to give me a hand with this?

I have a 4200-word short story, "A Post-Scarcity Christmas," in the new ebook bundle Santa's Secret Transfic Stash Vol. 3. The bundle has twenty-one stories totaling over 180,000 words. My story is available in epub and pdf format for $2, but buying the bundle for $8 would be a lot more fiction for your money.

Here is an excerpt from my story:

Thirty-seven years ago I had just finished a vigorous workout at my club. A friend mentioned that he'd just had lunch with a mutual friend neither of us had seen in several years. That friend had been out of work for over a year and was going back to school to complete his PHD.

The folks who manage this site keep track of what has entered public domain:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/

and even reprint what they consider significant.

That last of the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories is now included.

lets hope its a good one, with plenty of cheer (to paraphrase Noddy Holder)

I do hope this story has not been abandoned by the author.

So this morning, I felt the need to start the new year off right, and so I showered, shaved, and brushed my teeth - all activities that I have struggled with.

And then I looked at my calendar and realized the new year starts tomorrow . . .

It's drafted! Book five, The Light Between, is finally drafted!

If I had more energy, I'd go run about like a lunatic yelling, "Eeeeeee!"

Other than one lunch and errands run on Wednesday, this whole week Monday until now morning to night was dedicated to finishing it before the New Year hit. Omg! Made it! With one day to spare!! I couldn't sleep at all last night due to brain being stuck in high gear on all the details and planning out the final set of scenes completed today. So I may be somewhat loopy at the moment. :)

Sorry I haven't been producing any chapters right now.

We've had a lot of cold, snowy weather in Eastern Washington lately. As a result, my thumb with an old bullet would has been aggravated as well as my back, keeping me from doing much on a computer or a piano.

I hate arthritis!

I promise the moment I can type proficiently again, I will be doing so.

All those in the USA and Canada. How bad is the "weather bomb" Is it as bad as the news reports say?

Have we heard if Angharad is going to stop publishing "The Joiners"? I'm really liking this story and would like to see it continued.

Teddie

Happy last day of Hannukah or Chanukah or however you write it to my friends. A Nes Gadol happens in Twas the Night my Chanukah story

Rami

It’s that time of year. For many it brings happiness and joy.

People write about it. There is songs about it.

And yet I sit here crying because of what else it brings.

Memories.

In October of 1997 my mother started experiencing headaches. At first we brushed this off as she would get them from time to time. Indeed one morning as I was leaving for work at a new job my brother was there and my mother came into kitchen with a horrid headache. I couldn’t be late for work so I told him to take my mom to hospital to get checked out. He was not working that day.

I have a tummy upset and so far I've had to rush off to the loo 3 times while I've been trying to write. I just can't concentrate tonight so if I have time tomorrow I may try and finish then. I'm sorry, but I really don't feel well. Merry Christmas to you all.

Been listening to the MET's Christmas version of the Mozart's The Magic Flute. I have always enjoyed this opera and we actually saw it performed in Vienna. I decided many years ago to see if I could adapt the story for this site. I did, and I think it worked out quite well. I wove the very famous but archaic Adventure Game into it. The story is "Cynthia and the Queen of Knight." Take a look at it. You might find it very enjoyable. It is part of the "Cynthia Chronicles."

It wasn't bad but I echo some of the critiques: it defnitely had some bloat and some of the action could have been trimmed. Honestly while the beginning connected the end of the first tailing into the other I don't think it was terrible though it could have been trimmed a bit. I don't want to get into the plot much except Jake now has a family and it really gets into that dynamic.

I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and hope that 2023 will be an improvement over 2022.

This has been a hectic and challenging year for me. I had great plans to release a book a month - such are the plans we make, eh?
I still am working on so many books, I might just finish a few in 2023 - I'm not being as optimistic as I was last year, as there are too many things to stop me.

But, I have actually finished one, just in time for Christmas - Fading Memories

So I have submitted "the girl with the scars in her eyes", and "Gibraltar falls" to a Canadian magazine.

I will know if they accept it sometime in the next 6-8 weeks.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

I got an interesting email the other day from Karen Lea. She was letting me know that life has slowed from its craziness, retirement I guess, and after reading some kind words from me she wanted to let me know that she got inspired and re-examined her tale "Educating Danielle". Anyway, long story short, she has had it professionally edited and it has been formatted and she has placed the first half on Amazon. She has completed the tale.....it was previously unfinished...... and the second half she hopes to have up around Christmas.

Posting the first chapter of the new Masks book has driven home that I have not done this in a while. I'm having to re-learn stuff I should already know. I hope folks - including those who manage this site - bear with me.

- the final countdown begins!

This is the start of an idea for a story, based on "Educating Special Boys in the Feminist Republic" by Torrey Grover. It's about a kid who doesn't really identify as a boy, but also doesn't identify enough as a girl to be brought into the program for "special boys". I'm posting it here in my blog, instead of with my stories, because I haven't heard back from Torrey yet, but I'm also wondering if people think it's close enough to the original story for it to work in the universe Torrey created.

Looking for a story, but only vaguely remember the details.

Seriously? This little item is being advertised as gender free on my Facebook feed.

Since Sunday the temperature has rarely reached 0c!

The novel by Ursula K. LeGuin, of course. I saw it referred to recently and realized that I didn't remember anything but was sure I had read it. It turns out that I had read it more than once as my old paperback is quite battered. This story from over fifty years ago seems as if it could have been written with todays headlines in mind. My favorite of her Hainish universe books remains The Dispossessed, but anyone thinking about gender or the national political discourse on the meaning of patriotism will be intrigued by this book.

Dr. Big McLarge Huge tells it like it is (well, with some exaggeration):

https://www.empoweredcomic.com/comics/1670081235-EMP10%20p.4...

Yes, it's amazing so many supers (both heroes and villains) make it to retirement age at all, much less remain legally competent in their senior years. Remember that Energia has already had one (fortunately mild) concussion.

There seems to be a problem with Samantha Michelle's Storysite (Samantha MD).
I have tried at least once a day for the last 10 days to view it looking for new stories and have not been able to.
A message appears that the server isn't responding.
I hope is all is well with Samantha and hopefully it is just a minor equipment problem.
And yes, I did see the newest part of her latest story was posted Friday.

Okay so today I was doing a little taxi service for Sharon and Sam, and while they were out shopping in a mall Mom and I went to the food court and got supper.

On our way back to the car, a little boy, maybe about 3 or 4, came up to me and proudly showed off the candy cane he had.

I told him "wow", the kid's dad grinned and kind of blushed, and mom and I went on our way.

Every once in a while, God throughs a little goodness my way, to remind me its not all darkness in the world, and today I really needed it.

I've been under the weather the past two or three days. I thought the cough I had was due to the damp weather combined with the dust raised by the work I'm having done in the basement. Said coughing was bad enough that I had to use my inhaler a few times.

Barney Frank popped up on TV celebrating the Same Sex Marriage act.

My stomach turned at the sight of him.

Am I wrong or did this twisted old man not set back trans rights several decades when he caved to get LGBQ equality passed?

Jill

Roommate/caretaker requirements:
I have a large bedroom whom I am willing to give a trans girl a good place to live, all utilities paid, and shared food bills. Full laundry and kitchen. Dogs/cats are welcome.

In exchange I would need someone with a car. she would be required to run occasional errands, do minor housekeeping, and take out the trash.

For at least the last fifteen years, the majority of websites have used a "freemium" approach to business. They sell advertising to cover their costs while not charging for the content. This leads people to believing everything on the internet is free.

It isn't!

BC costs money to maintain. The 200,000 unique visitors a month it attracts allows Erin to sell advertising. However, that advertising only generates a fraction of the revenue needed.

Well hello, my lovelies.

I am still alive, for the moment.

I did survive 2 rounds of Covid & at least 4 shelter quarantines & close contact, because of outbreaks.

It has been some time, since I updated you & believe it or not, things have slightly gotten better….. but nothing is without its consequences.

Most of my time is spent either writing, or watching movies on my computer. All too often I recognize scenes and situations from one movie story in another. I wonder if there is some group that keeps track of these things and use their lawyers to keep from getting caught impinging on copyrighted material from another work? "Marvel" seems to spend lots of time skirting the edge of legality. There was an author on BCTS who featured Strap on Wings in their work, and then died in Europe. I have seen those wings in more than one Marvel movie. Interesting.

and time marches on!

I was looking at my stories, and I didn't know I last posted 5 years ago. I hope, that nobody forgot my stories. I got 4 more chapters, and I have about 4 more stories written.

This only affects a small select few here on this channel with most of this info. Some may be informative to most trans. I still wish to share. If the VA you are going to doesn't full fill your needs then check with another one. Three years ago Amarillo informed me I had aged out of TG care. They would treat me as a vet but not trans. Switched to OKC and received more support than I knew what to do with. Keep in mind I was supplying them with forty years of knowledge about the mental and medical knowledge of trans in return. Most my doctors knew, some they didn't.

Maybe I was really in a bad accident, lying in a hospital bed, out of my mind on painkillers.

November, coulda done without your legacy!

I spent a lot of yesterday trying to piece together a “meeting of the minds” between Jennifer Monroe and Travis Miller. Travis was one of the guys who left her for dead on the side of road in Missoula, Montana. Three years later, she returns to Missoula to confront her past tormentor:

I want to know if this is a good example of “gas-lighting”:

“It Can Only Go Up From Here”
Chapter 8 “Not Just a Girl” (snippet)

of mice and men....

I really ... really wish I could have a father/daughter relationship with my dad. When I first came out to him, I wasn't especially surprised when he had issues with me saying I was his daughter. But ... it's been a few decades since then. I'm pretty lucky, when compared to others, because my dad is willing to see me, and tells me he loves me. But, deep down inside me, there's still a little girl who wants to be held and cuddled by her daddy. I guess that may sound silly for a 58 year old woman to say, but that's how I'm feeling right now.

Would my friends here please consider this? Samirah Johnson - known here as Violetfyre and on Facebook as Meave (Her primary FB account was hacked at the same time as mine)

Samirah lives in the Richmond area and has had virtually no help from her family The note below references her circumstances.

Amy Schnieder won the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions. She outplayed a formidable field to win the $250,000 prize.

She has become the most successful female Jeopardy contestant ever, and is Jeopardy's first trans champion.

Jill

I am thankful for all of you, readers, writers and supporters. And not forgetting our staff and helpers. Or absent friends like Bob Arnold.

This month marks the 23rd year I have been privileged to help present BigCloset/TopShelf as a friendly place to read, write and discuss TG fiction.

Thank you all,
Erin