BETWEEN THE LINES In her 2022 debut horror novel, "Manhunt," author Gretchen Felker-Martin gives readers a unique take on the zombie apocalypse story told through the eyes of a group of transgender folks trying to survive a mysterious virus that preys on "anyone with enough testosterone in their system to put out a decent crop of back hair." While it is unclear how the virus started, those familiar with zombie lore will recognize its hallmark symptoms. "First, relentless hunger pangs.
Mood swings. Fever. Dermal fissures that wept pus and cloudy blood before scabbing over, bursting, and scabbing again until the skin was nearly an inch think in places," Felker-Martin writes.
Obviously, "Manhunt" is not shy about getting a little gory. Protagonist Beth and her friend Fran are two trans women who spend their days roaming the East Coast hunting zombified men and harvesting their testicles, which are rich in the estrogen their bodies need to keep the virus at bay. While it is possible to get the requisite estrogen by eating the organs, Beth and Fran enlist the help of another friend, Indi, who is able to distill the estrogen into a more palatable supplement for those in need.
Hilariously, the paperback edition of this novel bears the tagline: "The End of the World is Nuts." In "Manhunt's" dystopian story, society as we know it has collapsed, allowing for the rise of insular communities of wealthy "bunker brats" and militant clusters of trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs.
