The Made-Up Man

Fiction. LGBT Studies. Self-pity will only get you so far. When Alyson Salky finds that her lover is having an affair with her best friend—and he takes the dog with him when he moves out—and a man with worse credentials is hired over her at work, it's time to make some major life decisions. She keeps running into the neighborhood fortune teller, Madame Hope, who promises she can make Alyson's wishes come true—any wish, so why not a big wish? As far as Alyson can determine, the problem with her life is that she's getting all the crap that women get, and none of the free passes that men get. It's time to switch—it's time to see what life is like as a man—and while Madame Hope can get that done for her (in exchange for her soul), nothing really goes as planned. The devil, it turns out, has a sense of humor. But who will have the last laugh?

"A daring, challenging, intelligent novel that skewers gender stereotypes and expectations as it blasts society's lazy complicity in its everyday misogyny. And it's a novel that you should read. Like now."—Paul Tremblay

"This book allows us to examine the reality of what it means to be a man or a woman. I am reminded in part of the work of James Tiptree, Jr and Joanna Russ. THE MADE-UP MAN is a worthy companion."—Ann VanderMeer