The Unraveling

“A wildly inventive, funny, and ultimately quite heartfelt novel, The Unraveling is a chaotic romp of gender deconstruction packaged up in a groovy science-fictional coming-of-age tale.” —Chicago Review of Books

Otherwise Award Honor List | Longlist, British Science Fiction Award | Locus Recommended Reading List for 2021 

So much can be controlled in the future…but not a person’s heart.

In the far-off future, Fift is a Staid-gendered youth just trying to figure out life in the bustling but rigid social system of Fullbelly. And, as if mastering zir three bodies and satisfying zir twelve parents weren’t enough to handle, Fift’s taboo relationship with Vail-gendered Shria is a controversy waiting to happen.  

When Fift and Shria wind up at the center of a scandal that sparks a multilayered Unraveling of society, Fift is torn between the safety of zir family and zir attraction to Shria, between social compliance and staying true to zir feelings . . . all while zir personal crises suddenly take on global significance. What’s a young Staid to do when the whole world is watching?

Benjamin Rosenbaum brings warmth and humor to this thoughtful coming-of-age story, asking who utopias are meant for—and what can change when everyone has a voice. In a world vastly different from our own, The Unraveling is bright with possibility, joining the ranks of innovative science fiction that challenges gender, society, and culture with an expansive and creative vision of what the future can be.

Benjamin Rosenbaum has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. He is the author of the short story collection The Ant King and Other Stories and the Jewish historical fantasy tabletop role-playing game "Dream Apart", and the Jewish historical fantasy interactive fiction game The Ghost and the Golem, forthcoming from Choice of Games. He also co-hosts the podcast Mohanraj and Rosenbaum Are Humans. Originally from Arlington, VA, he lives near Basel, Switzerland, with his wife and children. He can be found online at www.benjaminrosenbaum.com