One of the things speculative fiction can do is give us a new way to look at a controversial topic.  The romance Static uses speculative fiction to look in a thoughtful and compassionate way at issues of gender identity and sexuality.  It also delivers a satisfying, sexy, romance.

Static isn’t science fiction so much as it’s alternate history.  In the world of Static, some people are shifters.  They can shift back and forth between male and female.  This shifting is something they can resist doing, but only with great discomfort.  Shifters don’t just shift their bodies – their entire gender identity shifts.  Shifting is a unique experience, separate from any identity such as gay, straight, bisexual, or transgender.  Shifters can get an implant that stops their bodies from shifting, but it doesn’t stop their emotional states from shifting.  Shifters face an enormous amount of discrimination and consequently most shifters hide their identity.

Our story concerns a couple, Alex and Damon.  Alex is a shifter, but has kept this a secret from Damon, who only knows Alex as a woman.  Alex and Damon have a shaky relationship – they tend to avoid resolving conflicts, and Alex frequently retreats into alcohol and silence during periods of depression.

All this gets shaken up when Alex’s parents, who believe that shifting is sinful, drug Alex and have a black market implant inserted to prevent Alex from shifting.  Damon finds a strange man at Alex’s house – one who is quickly able to prove that he is Alex but who is also suffering terrible side effects from the procedure.  Damon gets Alex past this first medical crisis but they are left with the following relationship trials:

1. Damon is understandably perturbed that Alex lied to him all this time even though Damon had always made it clear that he was fine with shifters.
2. Alex is deeply depressed and terrified and in pain and being shunned at work, so he’s sort of a pill to be around.  It’s understandable but difficult.
3. Surgery to remove the implant is risky and expensive and may not work.  This means that Alex might never be able to shift again.
4. Damon is not gay, so although he is able to relate to Alex as the person he knew pretty quickly, they are still sexually incompatible.

Damon and Alex’s previous technique of ignoring any conflicts until they go away is not going to cut it here.  So they have to move from a relationship that is somewhat superficial to one of true communication and partnership.  It’s a nice twist to the usual relationship pattern of having people meet for the first time, or go from being friends to being lovers.  This couple goes from being exclusive but still pretty casual lovers to being a healthy, strong, couple who is deeply in love, because it’s that or break up – and they very much don’t want to break up.

The thing I loved most about this story is that it took the subject material seriously and didn’t allow shortcuts or cheap shots.  The power of love is indeed powerful but Damon’s sexual orientation is also taken seriously – when Damon and Alex’s relationship does (re)turn to a sexual state, it’s earned.  To a certain degree there are aspects of the HEA that feel a little convenient, especially as regards Alex’s sister, but for the most part the characters have to work hard for their happiness.  I was especially pleased that part of Alex’s HEA involves dealing with Alex’s drinking problem and getting treatment for depression.  In this story, love is what helps us find the energy and hope and willpower to deal with our problems – it’s not a magic wand that solves everything by itself.

In the afterword, the author says that she had nine beta readers who identified as genderqueer in some way.  The research shows.  As someone who is trying to educate myself more about gender identity issues, I appreciated reading something that felt thoughtful and insightful.  Even the sex seemed like real sex.  I’m no expert on the mechanics of gay sex, but a couple of m/m’s I’ve read had me baffled.  I couldn’t picture what the authors were describing – were those positions actually possible?  Not that they were any more unrealistic than a lot of m/f sex scenes (dude, the hymen is not made of reinforced concrete).  It was refreshing to read a sex scene that seemed both erotic and biologically possible. 

This story clearly comes with a moral but it’s also a good story, plain and simple.  I’m giving it an A- because there were some rushed moments (Alex quits drinking more or less behind the scenes).  Also the moral is not subtle.  But on the whole I was very impressed and moved by this lovely, challenging romance!

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