Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue
| "Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Charlie Jane Anders | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Boston Review |
| Publication date | October 30, 2017 |
"Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue" is a science fiction story by Charlie Jane Anders. It was first published in Boston Review, in their 2017 Global Dystopias anthology.
Synopsis
[edit]Rachel is a trans woman who is captured by an agency that forces detransition by means of brain transplants — where she discovers that the person supervising her torture is her childhood friend Jeffrey.
Reception
[edit]"Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue" won the 2018 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award,[1] and was on the Honor List for the James Tiptree Jr. Award.[2] Gardner Dozois compared it to Kafka's The Castle.[3]
Publishers Weekly considered it "astoundingly good".[4]
In 2020, Anders stated that she has only read the story aloud once, as she finds it too traumatizing; as well, she reported that "other trans people have told [her] that they had to lie down after reading it."[5]
Origin
[edit]Anders has described the story's genesis as her own anxieties over the then-pending inauguration of Donald Trump.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Anders Wins 2018 Sturgeon Award, by Mike Glyer, at File 770; published June 23, 2018; retrieved May 1, 2019
- ^ 2017 Honor List, at the Tiptree Society; retrieved May 1, 2019
- ^ Gardner Dozois Reviews Short Fiction, by Gardner Dozois, in Locus; published February 12, 2018; retrieved May 1, 2019
- ^ Global Dystopias, reviewed at Publishers Weekly; published December 4, 2017; retrieved May 1, 2019
- ^ a b Never Say You Can’t Survive: How To Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories, by Charlie Jane Anders, at Tor.com; published May 12, 2020; retrieved December 14, 2021
External links
[edit]- Text of the story, at Boston Review
- Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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- Short stories by Charlie Jane Anders
- 2017 short stories
- Theodore Sturgeon Award–winning works
- Transgender literature
- 2010s LGBTQ literature
- LGBTQ-related horror literature
- LGBTQ literature in the United States
- LGBTQ speculative fiction
- LGBTQ short stories
- 2017 LGBTQ-related literary works
- Science fiction short story stubs
- 2010s short story stubs
- LGBTQ fiction stubs