No More Worlds to Conquer
A Short Story being an Alternative Retelling of History
By Maryanne Peters

Themed Birthday Party
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Alison would never have been able talk me into it, but it was my father’s input that settled it.

“You aren’t making enough effort to get on with my wife,” he said. “And don’t keep on calling her Alison. She is your mother now. Call her Mom.”

The Accidental Soprano
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

They said that I was fortunate that the injury did not cause lasting damage, but that was before it changed my life. I am not bitter towards the surgeons that repaired my neck. I have used surgeons since, and I am grateful to them. Surgeons have to do what they do to let us live, or to normal lives.

Planters Moon
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I should have thought about it. Crops that grow above ground and lie upon it, like watermelons or pumpkins grow best if you plant on a planter’s moon - on the waxing moon, the night before the full moon. Above ground they grow. I should never have buried Lionel Palin on that night.

Flowers
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

A florist is not a job for a young man, or so my father told me. It was just that I was always a delicate person. I still am.

There is something about flowers that touched me deep in my soul. This is something that is made by nature to look pretty, smell enchanting and taste sweet. What is there in all creation that exists purely for joy? Well, perhaps there is another thing – certain nerve endings. Did you know that flowers are the sex organ of a plant? It is all about sex in the end.

Speak Now
A Short Story from "Romance and Other Crimes Vol. 3"
By Maryanne Peters

It was hard not to like L’Roy with his easy strength, his ready grin and his smooth butternut complexion. L’Roy Shipney and I were on the same road gang in New Mexico, working out of the county jail with sixteen other inmates repairing a culvert that had been damaged in a flash flood when the whole business began.

Tradeswoman
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I was a tradesman when I was a man. I was a roofing contractor. I knew that when I became a woman I would have to give up that job. That is not because women can’t be tradespeople - and we all know that transwomen can do anything women can – it was because I wanted to do something feminine. I thought that it was important to me to leave that rugged part of my life behind me.

Girls’ Vacation
By Maryanne Peters

I just thought that pushing him all the way would finally put an end to this whole crossdressing thing. I had tolerated his crossdressing for our entire marriage but with the kids having left the family home it was as if he had a license to wear women’s underwear constantly, and to act like a woman in the kitchen. It seemed that he had only been constrained by the thought of our children learning of his perversion. My opinion did not matter.

Worm
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Humans have been visited by intelligent creatures from another galaxy. So many people talk about it, so it must be true, and it is. There are many crazy stories out there but so many of them have a kernel of truth. The truth is harder to understand when it is smaller than we imagine.

Putting up my Hair
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

When I was a young boy, I wore my hair long. My mother did not discourage me because she said that my hair looked lovely, which is what I thought too. But my father hated it. He was always telling me to get it cut and I always resisted. I suppose that says something about my relationship with my father – I felt that he was proud of my older brother, but not me. As far as I was concerned, that made his opinion questionable, so I always questioned him.

My Father’s Debts
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Gambling is an awful addiction, just as bad as heroin. It takes over the mind and you steal from your work, from your family, from anybody to provide money to feed your habit.

My father was an addict and he would play anything. Poker, blackjack, roulette, even slots or the simple draw of a card, roll of a dice, or toss of a coin. It was like wait for the ball to drop or the card to turn was a rush. I have seen it - the wide eyes and the moist brow.

Roommate Wanted
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Much to the disgust of my parents I decided to move into the apartment that my wealthy grandfather had left me in his will and lead a debauched life in the city.

I remember that my father said to me – “We cannot change the fact that you are gay. We can only say that we love you and that we ask you to be careful in choosing the people that you associate with.”

Jock to Joanne
The image is from Flonker on Deviant Art
By Maryanne Peters

“You know, the worst thing is that you look better than me,” said Rafe. “I have been cross-dressing for years and I finally get my old friend the big jock from school to dress up and … you’re simply gorgeous! I’m a bit envious.”

Stewardess Forever
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I always thought of it as just a fetish. I was a compulsive crossdresser, a transvestite who had found a special way to get my thrills. I wanted to appear to be an airline stewardess.

I remember as a small boy being bounced on the naked knee of a beautiful air hostess (as they were in those days) or perhaps that was just a dream? Anyway, I was fascinated by them from a young age.

Forget Silicone
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I had always had a crazy crush on Gerry. I suppose it was because he was like me in many ways – quiet and home loving. I suppose that the big difference was that I was I gay, and while I hoped he was too, he wasn’t.

We met through gaming. We had an online team of three guys and the third guy suggested that we get together and look at playing at a live e-sport event. I guess that Gerry and me came across as more outgoing on line, because when he met us in person he realized that it would never work.

Sheltered
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

She struck me as being the very height of feminine sophistication as she sat at the bar. She was dressed well, in an expensive dress that was sexy without being slutty, and she wore her soft blonde curls up on top of her head to reveal her slender neck and her ears with pearl drops dangling.

I had been talking to the barman previously and he saw me looking at her.

“She is taken,” he said. “She is waiting for her fiancé – the surgeon who turned her into a woman.”

Reborn a Maiden
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I don’t think that it is necessary to go into all the details of what I did at Pennsic 2022. It is all irrelevant now anyway. But what I do need to do is explain some of the background as to why I could not stay away from Pennsic 2023.

All about Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

He slipped out and fell onto the mattress beside her. She was smiling and so was he.

“You really can go on top next time if you like,” he said.

“I’m too big,” she said, with a sly smirk. “I’d be frightened I might crush you.”

“You’re no taller than me, I don’t mind telling you that I absolutely love your body. It is so smooth and soft. You’re not fat. You’re just a lot of woman.” Was he teasing her. She looked over at him to check.

Sunny
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

They used to tease me at school and called me “Stunty” because I was small. It was like my growth was stunted all over – not just height but weight too. And I was slow to puberty. Stunted development – stunted all round, so they said, but when you are small you learn to handle things with humor, or at least that worked for me. I guess I just decided to turn my nickname on its head and learn to live with it. So, I decided to seek my fortune as a stunt man in Hollywood.

Something Borrowed
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

That is my sister Amelia. You can probably see the family likeness. And that is me – dressed as a bride. And looking at Amelia in this photo it now seems pretty clear to me that this was what she wanted all along, although maybe not dressed this way.

Bikini Bottoms
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Re-engineered
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Dominic Grady came from a long line of engineers, and he was smart enough to follow that line. Not as smart as others in his family, like his older brothers Rod (structural engineer) and Paul (environmental engineer), but smart enough not to let the family down.