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Mainstream Books with TG Characters:
Elizabeth Eyre and Susannah Stacey
By Elizabeth Parker
I'd like to introduce you to a great
English writing team, Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey,
who write as Elizabeth Eyre and Susannah Stacey for two
different series. These authors have a strong penchant
for disguises, and an eye for the skills one needs to
impersonate a member of the opposite sex effectively.
The first series is set in Renaissance Italy
and features Sigismondo, a fighter with a formidable intellect, who
has earned the trust of many nobles. His sidekick, Benno, who looks
and acts like a village idiot, actually misses very little. And their
sometime companion, Angelo, is a deadly assassin with the face of an
angel.
The first book of the
series, "Death of the Duchess", features a
complicated plot of Medici-like proportions. Hours before a wedding,
a bride is stolen and her handmaid is murdered. Since the wedding was
political in nature, designed to join two warring houses, strife is
imminent if Sigismondo cannot sort out the various mysteries. When
the Duchess is murdered in her own bedroom, seemingly by one of the
warring parties' sons, the fuse is lit. Sigismondo figures out that the bride might be held
in a nunnery, and impersonates a nun to gain entrance. Now Sigismondo
is a big man, a warrior, but his transformation, mostly through
acting is a lesson to us all. As we all know, clothing is only part
of the battle of passing successfully. Mannerisms, facial expressions
and vocal techniques complete the arsenal and Sigismondo has mastered
them completely. Sigismondo and
Benno do successfully rescue the young bride, but on the way back to
the Duchy they encounter two assassins, one of whom is Angelo. After
initial conflict, they join forces and plan a strategy for unlocking
the remaining mysteries and freeing the innocent son. Part of the
plan involves Angelo impersonating "Angela", their maid. He
is quite pretty, having long blonde hair and a feminine face, with
only crooked teeth to ruin his look (no orthodontists in Renaissance
Italy!). He remains Angela through much of the story, and does not
mind using his feminine wiles on men, including kisses. Angelo is our
transvestic ideal: attractive as a man to women and pretty as a woman
to whomever he chooses to impress. This is one of the best mainstream TG books you'll
ever read; it has a novel setting, likable and interesting heroes,
and a number of good transgender scenes. It is a little difficult to
obtain, but seems to have been popular enough to keep around in
libraries and used book stores. In
"Axe for an Abbot", the fifth book in the
series, Sigismondo is tricked into killing Bernabo, a member of the
warring Pantera family, who is attempting to steal La Feconda, a
priceless cross. To make amends, Sigismondo vows to return La Feconda
to its rightful home in the shrine of the Virgin of Scheggia. But
Sigismondo's plans are thrown into disarray when the Abbot Bonifaccio
is killed with an axe belonging to Sigismondo. This results in a
group including Sigismondo, Benno and Angelo being sent to Rome to
deliver the news of the Abbott's death to the Pope. A very
complicated plot gets even more convoluted in Rome, but of interest
to us is how Angelo helps out. Many people are vying for possession
of La Feconda, and when a corrupt monk steals it, Angelo is called
upon to get it back. He does so by donning the dress of his current
lady love, a prostitute, and luring the monk to a secluded room. He
pulls off the impersonation magnificantly, to the point that the monk
never knows his lady of the evening was no lady. When
Sigismondo finally gets to make the pilgrammage to the shrine of the
Virgin of Scheggia, Angelo goes along as a demure female pilgrim. He
gets to share the bed of a beautiful fellow traveller, but apparently
keeps control of himself as his bedmate never discovers his secret.
Angelo is a true professional! This book is still in print and
easily found.
The authors also
write under another pseudonym, Susannah Stacey. Under this name they
write a series about British police Superintendent Robert
Bone. In "Body of
Opinion", the victim, a beautiful blonde woman, is
discovered during the scene of the crime investigation to be a man.
The man turns out to be Alex Hervey, a journalist who has made many
enemies. He apparently was quite successful in his female masquerade,
and enjoyed his impersonation to the point of doing much of his
research dressed as his female assistant, "Alix Hamilton".
As Bone investigates, he discovers many motives, among them the
victim's wife, who may have thought Alix was Alex's lover. There are
several mundane motives as well, but the truth contains many ironies,
including some which hold meaning for us as transgendered
individuals. This book is also still in
print. Many thanks to Brittany Rose,
who let me know about Elizabeth Eyre. If you've found a good series
with transgender characters, let me know at 72117.571@compuserve.com.
I'll introduce you to some gay crossdressing fiction
next month. Bibliography Eyre,
Elizabeth, "Axe for an Abbot", St. Martin's Press, March
1996, ISBN: 031213925X Eyre, Elizabeth, "Death of the
Duchess", Harcourt Brace, March 1 1992, ISBN: 0151241023
Stacey, Susannah, "Body of Opinion", Pocket Books, March
1, 1991, ISBN: 067173427X |