Morgan in the Mirror

Book excerpt: 'Passionate connections in sensual evocative language.' F.T. Johnson--'Morgan ... a likeable and credible character struggling with one of the most difficult personal dilemmas in the developed world.' Susan James--He says, "I want you." She chuckles against his ear. "I know." She nuzzles him. "Hey ... Morgan ... Tell me you have condoms. There's no way I can make lov-" His lips are buried in her hair. "Chris ... we need to talk." He only whispers because he doesn't dare speak any louder. "Oh no, we don't. Talking's for later. So where d'you keep them, huh?" She urges him, hand pressed over his groin. "Condoms ... Morgan?" He moves her hand away from him. "Christen." Aware of a shift of energy in his body, she opens her eyes. "What's up?" "Sit," he says gruffly. "Please." She sits but, tugging at his belt buckle, she reaches for him again. He detaches her fingers from his belt buckle, steps back, briefly crosses his arms before taking two steps towards the hallway and stops, as if in two minds, before reaching in his back pocket. He flips his wallet open, riffles through it to pull out a snapshot. He walks back to the sofa and holds the picture level with Christen's eyes. "Oh. Great. So why show me this now?" she frowns. "Your girlfriend?" He shakes his head and drops his weight in the armchair behind him. Christen peers at the fresh-faced woman. "So, who's the chick, then?" Tall and thin in a white T, the camera has caught the girl leaning out of a window. Her hair in short, but loose curls, looks mussed by a breeze as she smiles squarely into the camera, seemingly amused by something the photographer might have said. "That chick ... it's me." Christen's eyes snap to Morgan's face. "What d'you mean?" Her lips hold on to the smile as she peers more carefully at the picture.Saint-Clair's latest novel, Morgan In The Mirror, moves away from her usual lesbian contexts and tackles the issue of female-to-male transgenderism - a most relevant matter for the health and survival of humankind because the fear of the unfamiliar is part of the global problem of discrimination against 'the other'. Written as early as 2007, this novel is by now a classic in TG fiction.If our survival as a community is based on our ability to become compassionate, accepting human beings capable of caring for each other, even in the absence of understanding, then Saint-Clair tests our readiness by giving us Morgan, a charismatic trans man, and the challenge his personal circumstances present to the world.Gender and sexuality have never been frozen in binary opposition of either/or but has always existed as mere stations along a rick and gloriously multi-coloured continuum.Christen discovered this truism after her own surprising heart-connection with Maddy but can she now accept Morgan, her new love interest, as he stands before her at the mid-point of his transgender journey from female to male?