★ 2025-03-22
A trans man in future New York considers the legacy of his trans parents.
“Who were these two people?” asks Griffon Keming, the protagonist of Fellman’s fourth book, set centuries into the future. “Who were these two people? Revolutionaries, or half-revolutionaries. Survivors, or half-survivors. They spoke a language that was half one thing and half another, and they had spent half their lives together.” Griffon, a transgender man, is writing about his parents, Etoine and Zaffre Zipporah Keming, who are also transgender, and who took Griffon in when he was younger and fleeing his abusive father. Griffon’s parents have died, and he has resolved to discover more about them; the novel switches perspective between Griffon and Etoine, the latter through diary entries that he wrote, partly while in prison for allegedly trying to overthrow the ruler of the city-state of Stephensport, where he and Zaffre lived when they were younger, before moving to New York. Etoine’s diary reveals his longtime friendship with Zaffre, and their roles in the city-state’s revolution movement, while Griffon reflects on his childhood growing up as closeted and trans: “In fact, through my whole adolescence, I stayed a little girl….Everybody liked me this way, and I proceeded invisibly through the world.” Fellman’s worldbuilding is subtle but beautifully done; he captures the essence of a future New York that is covered in canals and also brings Stephensport to life. His dialogue sparkles, particularly in sections featuring Etoine and Zaffre bantering and bickering and others where they tenderly reassure a young Griffon. Most notably, though, Fellman paints a tender portrait of Griffon and his journey to coming out as trans, which he handles with real compassion and insight. This beautifully written, self-assured novel is a major accomplishment.
Expansive and empathetic, this novel is a stunner.
A delicate, ardent portrait of two aging trans revolutionaries and the son they never expected.” —Jenn Shapland, National Book Award finalist
“A glittering, empathetic story about the pains and pleasures of loving eccentrics....Marvellous, and heart-breakingly unsentimental.” —Jennifer Giesbrecht, author of The Monster of Elendhaven
“Notes from a Regicide is a dazzling meditation on art and desire....it is also quite simply the best kind of book there is—dangerous because it is beautiful, and because it is true.” —Jedediah Berry, author of The Manual of Detection and The Naming Song
“Fellman’s revolutionary world is unapologetically queer and laced with past, present, future, and most of all, love. Hands down my favorite book of the year. It’s some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read and the characters will welcome you home with open arms. This story is for us.” —J. R. Dawson, author of The First Bright Thing
“A unique and powerful book, perfectly blending fiction and memoir....Triumphantly painful and beautiful in equal measures.” —Caitlin Starling, author of Last to Leave the Room
“A triumphant and blistering chronicle of found family, love, and resistance. Brimming with wit and queer joy amidst the violence of rebellion, Notes from A Regicide is a multigenerational saga set in a distant (but eerily recognizable) future." —Booklist, starred review
“Expansive and empathetic, this novel is a stunner.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Fellman paints an intimate and vivid portrait of a queer family weathering a dystopian world in this triumphant sci-fi novel.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Unapologetically queer, [Notes from a Regicide] is a somber, joyful treat of a tale that clearly comes from a place of knowing, and one that will linger in your memory.” —Kit Mayquist, author of Tripping Arcadia
“Weird, wonderful, and warm without ever losing its bite. Notes from a Regicide [is]...a messy labyrinth of heart-wrenching, lived-in detail.” —Mattie Lubchansky, author of Boys Weekend
“This novel is a revolving door of love and revolution, spinning so quick, the two become indistinguishable, the kind of book that propels a generation.” —Emme Lund, author of The Boy with a Bird in his Chest
“Isaac Fellman’s enchanting and wholly original Notes From a Regicide is a dystopian trans saga and a loving yet unflinching reflection on family.” —BookPage
“Fellman (The Two Doctors Górski) writes a literary sci-fi novel about trans identity that will appeal to fans of Charlie Jane Anders or Izzy Wasserstein’s These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart, and those who were fascinated with the play on histories and identities in T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier series.” —Library Journal
More Praise for Isaac Fellman
“[A] thoughtful, acerbic, bracingly hopeful book.”—The New York Times on Dead Collections
“Utterly refreshing and thrilling. Dead Collections is a marvel that left me feeling as if miracles might lurk behind every doorway and inside every old box of papers.” —Charlie Jane Anders
“Unique and emotionally deep.” —Kirkus Reviews on Dead Collections
“This is dark academia at its most oppressive and intense. . . marvelously staged and meticulously examined.” —The New York Times on The Two Doctors Górski
“Confident and lyrical, The Two Doctors Górski is an academic gut-punch. A superb blend of the devastatingly familiar and exquisitely fantastical.” —Caitlin Starling, best-selling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence
“Wonderful voice, memorable characters and very interesting metaphysics. Couldn't put it down.” —Jo Walton on The Two Doctors Górski
“This brilliant, haunting tale packs a punch.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review on The Two Doctors Górski
“Fellman continues to showcase a skill for capturing psychological depths with flashing concision. . . . a new direction in Fellman's already impressive use of the speculative to think through questions of identity.” —Locus on The Two Doctors Górski
“An introspective masterpiece of low fantasy. . .[and] literary fantasy at its finest, a deeply contemplative and multilayered novel that explores the real psychological struggles of identity, imposter syndrome, and the trials of academic life.” —Grimdark Magazine on The Two Doctors Górski
