Helicopter Story

I know this story (inadvertently) caused a flurry of controversy when it was published. I find it bafffling that anyone who actually read past the original title could have thought it was written by a transphobic cis-man. This story was clearly written by someone who has spent a lot of time thinking deeply about gender (which of course isn't to say it coudln't have beenw written by a cis-gender author, but there is a complexity and empathy in this story that might be a little out of reach for most cis-gender authors who haven't pesronally occupied a genderqueer space.) I don't love military sci fi, but I'll wade through dogfights if they are executed in the service of an interesting meditation on the idea of "constructed gender" and its relationship to idenetify, behavior, and society. Not to mention, the story has rebelliious AIs that are enigmatically devoted to planting pear trees! Good, strange fun.