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They: A Biblical Tale of Secret Genders from Adelaide Books

a biblical tale of secret genders

by Janet Mason

They - Janet Mason
Editions:Paperback - First edition: $ 22.30
ISBN: ISBN-13 978-0999516430 Next page
Size: 5.00 x 1.00 in
Pages: 281

THEY is a groundbreaking work that will prove to be lifesaving for those in the LGBT community and enlightening and liberating to others.  In this novel, we met Tamar from the Hebrew Bible. Tamar lives as a hermit in the desert, is content with her life and is happily barren. She is attached to her pet camel. Her aversion to goat sacrifices becomes so strong that it prompts her to become a vegetarian. Tamar has a twin sister Tabitha who becomes pregnant after seducing a young muscular shepherd. Tamar plots with Tabitha to trick Judah (a patriarch from the Bible) into believing that the baby is his so that she can have status in society rather than being burnt at the stake. Tabitha gives birth to twins. Tamar becomes attached to the children (born intersex), who call her auntie, and follows their line of intersex twins.

Excerpt:

Chapter One

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"Whoever heard of a divine conception?"
Tamar rolled her eyes. She looked skeptically at her twin.
Tabitha wrinkled her brow and looked thoughtful.
Outside, the wind blew. The black goat skin walls shook. In the middle of the tent, the pole quivered. Stacked in a pile, clay pots rattled. One of the Patriarchs might have said that the gust of wind was a sign from God. But Tamar knew better. It was spring. The winds were on them. Anyone who even thought of venturing forth knew that sandstorms would drive needles into their eyes. She didn't fear God, but she did fear the wrath of the villagers. All the signs were there. No bleeding for almost three months. Sickness in the mornings and afternoons. Tabitha had been asking for fresh springs of dill sprinkled on her terracotta bowl of pomegranate seeds.
Tamar told herself she should have known.
Tabitha stared into the bowl of water that she cupped in her hands. She turned the bowl counterclockwise once, twice, a third time. She stared longer, deeper. It looked like she was staring at her reflection. But Tamar could tell that she was staring past it. God knows I have seen her stare at her reflection often enough, thought Tamar.
"I am going to give birth to twins. I will be the mother of nations. From my line, a messiah will be born," proclaimed Tabitha.
There was a snort from the other side of the tent.
Tabitha looked over to the shadows. Aziz sat on his haunches. The outline of his shaggy fur led up to his hump. He shook his head and snorted. He pulled his thick dromedary lips back into a smile. He looked over at Tamar as if to read her mind. Messiah indeed, thought Tamar. Was her sister nuts?
Aziz was more than the desert transportation that Tamar shared with her sister. Aziz was Tamar's companion, her familiar. He could angle his dong out of the tent flap to make rivers of pee in the sand -- even during the high winds. He pooped in the same bucket she did. She always emptied it in between and buried the waste in a deep hole at the edge of the tent.
"I've heard of lots of divine births," responded Tabitha. "Remember the old stories that Great Grandmother used to tell us? In the beginning there was Eve. Great Grandmother told us that after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, Eve gave birth to two sons: Cain and Abel. They argued in a field, and Cain slew Abel. Generations passed -- at least four. This was before God saw evil everywhere and caused the great flood and recreated the world with Noah and all the animals on his ark. This was generations before Abraham and Sarah came along. Years after Abel was slain, the Lord saw that his parents still missed him sorely. So he sent them a replacement for Abel -- a son who would be named Seth. Eve must have been over a hundred. There was no way she could have given birth -- unless it was a divine conception.
"That's true," mused Tamar. "Adam would have been too old to get it up."
Tabitha narrowed her eyes and looked at her sister. "That's not what I meant," she said and continued. "Then there was Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was barren all of her life. Her bleeding time had passed. So Sarah told Abraham to lie with her Egyptian maid servant and then the servant conceived a son, Ishmael. Sarah became jealous -- naturally. So, the maid servant and her son, Ishmael, went off into the desert. Then God came to Sarah and told her that she would bear a son and that he would be named Isaac. Sarah laughed at first. She was in her nineties. She had been barren all of her life. How could God change that? But he did. I remember Great Grandmother telling us that 'the Lord visited Sarah' and 'the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.' And then Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac."
"Abraham would have been too old to get it up, too. There is a theme with these old stories," commented Tamar.
"It's not only the men. The women were way past their bleeding time -- and would have been too old to conceive," replied Tabitha. "We've talked about this before. You're always blaming things on men. It's not always their fault. Besides, older men can still father a child. It's women who can't conceive after their bleeding time."
Tamar shrugged her shoulders. She looked at the flame burning on the low table. The wick had burnt down so that it was level with the narrow mouth of the lamp. She and her sister had talked about this before. Tabitha just didn't get it. Tamar sighed. It was going to be a long night.
"I never believed the stories that Great Grandmother told us," said Tamar. "She liked to make things up. Her mind wandered. She told us that she was as old as Methuselah. Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old. Besides, she just told us that Sarah was past her bleeding time. I don't remember her saying that Sarah was in her nineties. You must have imagined that.
Plenty of women give birth when they are past their bleeding time. She was probably still having relations with her husband Abraham. Although, I don't why she would. He was always saying that she was his sister to pawn her off on kings so that they would give him oxen and asses.

COLLAPSE
Reviews:The Prairies Book Review on Amazon wrote:

A taut, gripping, deeply intriguing tale...
Mason reimagines the life of Tamar from the book of Genesis as she takes readers on a stunning journey, vividly evoking the world of Old Testament women and intersex individuals. Content and happily barren, Tamar occupies a far different world from other women in the society, living as a hermit in the desert with her pet camel. When her twin sister Tabitha, a widower and the daughter-in-law of Judah, becomes pregnant after seducing a shepherd, Tamar connives a cunning plan to save her from being burned alive at the stake for the crime of adultery. Tabitha gives birth to intersex twins: Perez and Zerah. Tamar becomes attached to the twins and follows their line of intersex twins. Familiar passages from the Bible come alive as Tamar questions the validity of many stories and wonders about the unanswered questions in the Bible (Eve's so-called birth from Adam's rib, the gender identity of the Garden of Eden's serpent, the reference to God as a man). As in the Legends of the Jews, Tamar in the novel is also endowed with a prophetic gift which allows her to know the future of her descendants (later in life) before she takes rebirth as an intersex. Mason vividly brings the period alive with rich details and poignantly evokes the strong bonds the women form as a sect. Mason's narrative is fluid and her prose clear and elegant. Excluded from the public sphere and silenced by men, the women in the book are forced to stay dependent on men. But the female protagonists (Tamar, Judith, the Mother) in the book are fiery, cunning characters who know their ways around the stronger sex, becoming a resonant symbol of womanly strength, love, and wisdom. Mason's depiction of the lives of the women (living with the fear of casting as witches and getting burned alive on stakes for minor transgressions and prohibited from learning to read and write among other) explores deep roots of misogyny and issues of gender inequality (which are still prevalent in many communities), striking an occasional melancholy tone. Without reverting to religious jargon, Mason's book narrates the passions and traditions of the early Israelites while her characters' gender fluidity leaves readers to contemplate their perceptions of present-day members of LGBT community. A book that is sure to garner Mason plenty of fans. Highly recommended to lovers of literary fiction!

Emily Pena Murphy on Amazon wrote:

Janet Mason demonstrates a critical insight into scripture and theology, as well as the ability to create engaging characters, in “They,” an exploration of gender fluidity set in Biblical times. The author’s wry sense of humor pervades the work and challenges conventional understanding of the Christian tradition. This reader especially enjoyed the imaginative transition between the story’s first and second parts, which transports the reader through time and space in mystical fashion. Feminists, spiritual progressives and the general reader will find “They” both thought-provoking and entertaining.

Sue Lenaerts on Amazon wrote:

If you’re looking for a totally unique LGBT novel, I know THEY will entertain and satisfy

Using the vehicle of biblical lore, Janet Mason spins a tale about a line of intersex twins and gender fluidity in her novel THEY. I am fascinated by Mason’s ability to weave together biblical historical stories with modern concepts of sexuality and gender. She paints an ancient world full of mysticism, harmony and strife through the perceptions of her non cis-gendered characters.

As a reader unfamiliar with the bible, I 'm sure I missed some of the references to religious myth. But as a reader who loves a good story, I loved Mason’s characters and how they moved through their world.


About the Author

Author: Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage (Thorned Heart Press); The Unicorn, The Mystery, a novel (Adelaide Books);  THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books); Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters (Bella Books).  Mason is also an Unitarian Universalist lay minister and book reviewer for BookTube and Spotify.