This is a very mixed bag of stories, some are very interesting and draw you in while some felt, to me at least, as if they were trying too hard to be edgy and hip. These are all stories about Gender and Gender appearance and dealing with alternative ways of looking at and dealing with gender. It resonates a bit as being a book that would end up on Gender Studies courses in University, but would be possibly dismissed because of the Fantasy/SF content.
The collection starts with Enough Rope by Poppy Z Brite, which she describes as being semi-autobiograpy, "not exactly a piece of fiction, but not exactly not, either", quite interesting and made me think a lot.
Pinkland by Graham Joyce is a virtual to real meeting story. Interesting but just didn't resonate with me.
Angela Carter's Reflections is quite surreal but absorbing, thinking about it "absorbing" is possibly a bad word choice for the story of parallel worlds but apt.
Paul Magrs' Nude on the Moon is interesting but it fell flat for me.
Cecelia Tan's Juno is interesting for it's look at life before acceptance of being gay. It's also interesting in how sometimes we focus on the package rather than the content.
Fay Weldon's Down the Clinical Disco has a fun sting in the tail. The story felt a little pedestrianian until that moment.
Mary Flanagan's What's Normal has an interesting look at a man being hunted and haunted by a previous flame. Readable but I had to re-read part to remember what it was about.
Ruth Rendell's The New Girlfriend is an interesting look at transvestistism and how assumption can wreck your day.
Joyce Carol Oates story of an unknown man is heartbreaking and while very short, quite perfect.
Lisa Tuttle's blend of fiction and fact is interesting. The pivotal Dress after which the piece is named (A Dress) sounds absolutely beautiful.
Michael Blumlein's Humenotera is a truly wierd blend of wasps and clothes making. But interesting at the same time.
Patricia Duncker's James Miranda Barry 1795-1865 is another fact and fiction blend and left me with a feeling that there was more to write there.
Melanie Fletcher's Hermaphrodite takes Zeus and gets revenge on his wandering ways. My favourite story.
Nicholas Royle's Jack is a story that could be true but I'm not sure I'd like it to be.
Sue Thomas' The Talent for Virtuality is an interesting exploration of virtual worlds and fiction and our perception of people from the few clues we get online. Could have been more interesting as an essay about virtual worlds or pure fiction but the blend just didn't quite work for me.
Carol Emshwiller's Sex and/or Mr Morrison was a strange one, a look at nakedness and weight.
Yann Martel's story Self is taken from his novel of the same name and deals with his early issues with who he felt attracted to and his parent's reaction to this.
Lucy Taylor's Hyena Winter asks what would happen if it was possible to change gender and how would it affect relationships. Interesting and one of my favourites.
A L Kennedy's Failing to Fail is an exercise in disguising gender.
M M Hall's The Sweet Reward deals with appetite, for food and sex, alternating between two people and plays mind games.
Neil Gaiman's Changes is an interesting look at what happens when a drug that can do one thing becomes a tool for sexual exploration.
Geoff Ryman's Omnisexual is usual Ryman fare, very psychedelic.
Overall not a bad anthology, there were some stories that I really did like, particularly Hermaphrodite which was fun.
