The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (153 pages)
Billed as “equal parts historical horror, trans romance, and blood-soaked revenge, all set in 1920s Appalachia,” Lee Mandelo’s The Woods All Black is the story of a trans man, Leslie, who comes to the doctorless hamlet of Spar Creek to administer vaccines and care for the sick in the aftermath of World War I. There, he meets Stevie, an androgynous and angry teenager targeted by the local church as an incorrigible tomboy. But there’s something evil lurking beneath Spar Creek’s home-grown atmosphere, and maybe even something monstrous.
