Wateley may well be the greatest TG fiction shared universe ever created, and yet…the mutant experience as metaphor for the down side of the TG experience takes on such proportions that one would think Wateley to be predicated on “with great power comes great ascendency of humanity’s most base and brutal animal nature…”¹ And so much of “standard” TG fiction–with all its attendant coercion, degradation, and humiliation–seems to be written for some segment of the fetish community rather than those of us who look upon transition as liberation, the freedom at last to be ourselves.

In this field of mushroom compost and “biosolids,” beautiful flowers occasionally bloom. Such is Dani’s story, and her close association with Ma’at, the Egyptian goddess of truth, light, and order. Dani’s loving relationship with Ma’at is what Nikki/Fey could only wish for her relationship with Aunghadhail to be. Daniel’s transformation into Dani is credible because it serves a positive purpose that furthers the story, rather than being the result of an accident, disease, act of evil, or a gratuitous “just because we felt like it.” Ma’at chooses Dan(i) for reasons that make sense, and Dani gets to live the archaeologist’s dream of visiting the living cultures whose ruins Daniel spent a lifetime studying. Dani’s encounters are intensely personal, as she lives and falls in love with the people she visits. As Daniel, his life was focused on his career goals; as Dani, her experiences are the results of her personal relationships with the people and the events she meets, and her influence upon them. But parting is such sweet sorrow, and to everything there is a season; while Daniel wound up with a résumé of accomplishments, Dani sheds tears as she walks through the treasure vaults of her memories, the people she has known and the events she has experienced. This is one of woman’s greatest secrets that few men ever discover.

All is not sweetness and light, though, as Dani embarks on her new patron’s business. She witnesses much brutality, and is subjected to brutality, herself. Her powers of persuasion are often challenged as she endeavors to guide people and events in the directions that serve Ma’at’s purpose. As her avatar and agent on earth, Dani joins Ma’at’s perennial battle against Set, and the battle is very familiar to us. The conception of the cosmos as a battleground between the forces of light and dark, order and chaos, good and evil, spiritual and animal—this originated in places like Egypt and the Middle East, and has descended to us through the ages. Dani is the proper counterpart of PoetHeather’s Blade Dancer as corresponding representations of Western and Eastern world views.

The result of all this is a well-balanced blend of conflict and closeness, resistance and reconciliation…and of purpose and continuity that is greater than the life of any person or people. It is a beautifully character-driven story with the focus on how Dani grows and develops, with plenty of action, challenge, and uncertainty to keep things interesting. The author’s loving soul shines through it all, and I am reminded of stories by Sarah Lynn Morgan and Jan S. This is what I come here to read, which is so very hard to find.

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[1] “When tempted to ‘fight fire with fire,’ remember that the fire department usually uses water.” —S.I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action