Passing Strange

Passing Strange (2017) Ellen Klages

Set in San Francisco in 1940.

Haskel is an artist who makes her living doing pulp covers. She and her friends live on the edge of polite society, either because they aren’t white or because of their sexuality, but they are found family.

“Ah, Jack. You failed the three-garment test with a perfect zero, not a single piece of women’s clothing on you.”

A girl in a skirt and sweater reached for her beer and looked puzzled. “Huh?”

“The law says women can’t dress like men. If the cops check, and you’re wearing three bits of ladies’ duds, you’re in the clear.”

And I just discovered a recording of Gladys Bentley singing and playing piano on “You Bet Your Life.”

This is an interesting story, an historical, that opens and closes with bits in modern times. The fantasy world lives underneath and alongside our world.

Strangely, I found the historical bits more satisfying than the fantasy bits; there was more I wanted to know about how magic worked, but magic instead was something that existed, hidden, but wasn’t anything we were allowed to understand.

Publisher : Tor.com
Rating: 6.5/10

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