Part of Series
When Judith gets dumped by her girlfriend, she feels like her world has imploded. It will take the love and care of her queer chosen family, and the support of her best friend Shiloh in particular, to help her cope with the havoc that this break up has wreaked on her life. This chosen family love story illuminates the ways we can find hope amidst devastating change, if we are supported by folks who understand and care for us as we really are. This chosen family love story is 6,000 words and contains Jewish, bisexual, fat, autistic, non-binary, and chronic pain representation. It is a prequel to Their Troublesome Crush and includes many of the same characters. It was previously published in the anthology Queerly Loving, Volume 2. Early praise for Tenderness: “So poignant and sad but uplifting at the same time. I love seeing a queer found family coming together to comfort one of their own.” –Small Queer, Big Opinions “Engulfing and warm, ‘Tenderness’ is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and was gloriously inclusive…watching Judith become more herself was the truest gift of this story.” –Dena Celeste “Made me feel safe, accepted, and loved. I will be treasuring this story for the rest of my life.” –BookDeviant “Gorgeous, gentle, and hopeful in exactly the ways I needed.” –Mo
Author
Xan West is the nom de plume of Corey Alexander, an autistic queer fat Jewish genderqueer writer and community activist with multiple disabilities who spends a lot of time on Twitter. Xan's erotica has been published widely, including in the Best S/M Erotica series, the Best Gay Erotica series, and the Best Lesbian Erotica series. Their work has been described by reviewers as “offering the erotica equivalent of happy ever after”, and “some of the best transgressive erotic fiction to come along in recent years”. Xan’s story “First Time Since”, won honorable mention for the 2008 National Leather Association John Preston Short Fiction Award. Their recent collection of queer kink erotica, Show Yourself To Me, is out from Go Deeper Press, and has been described by M. Christian as “a book that changes what erotica can and should be.” Xan blogs about trans representation in literature, kink, queerness, disability, and writing at https://xanwest.wordpress. com/.
