Stag Dance

4.5 stars  In Stag Dance, Torrey Peters explores various shades of transness, gender identity, shame, (repressed) desire, (internalised) homophobia, misogyny, found family, community, feminism, sexuality, self discovery, in diverse settings (academic, urban, country/western, dystopian) through 3 novellas and 1 novels.  I really enjoyed this collection. Throughout the stories there's a sort of bleak and dark atmosphere where the author portrays complex and compelling queer characters.  She has such a great way with language and her writing is so vivid , this collection of stories really showcasing her versatility as an author.  Each story had their own unique writing style with a distinct vocab used to illustrate the character's experience. For example the titular novel is set in a lumberjack camp and the writing style completely throws you into a late 19th/early 20th century or western movie atmosphere.  Some elements I wasn't a fan of, like the pacing, especially in the titular story as the ending felt a bit too abrupt while the rest was a bit too long.  I was expecting a bit more horror elements in the different stories too. 
This was such an enriching and compelling read, I'll definitely check more of this author's work.