This felt like a slightly uneven read to me, but a pleasant one overall! I'm always glad to see more ace representation in fiction, and it's lovely to go into a book knowing it will have ace experiences at its center. The stories were wide-ranging and almost all speculative, which was really fun! Space wolves, magic suits of armor, surprise snakes, mutant politics, water magic, so many cool things going on. Some of the stories were less subtle than I prefer, but I think there's something here for many different kinds of readers.

I particularly enjoyed the stories where the protagonist's asexuality (and other identities too) was a boon, helping them resist magic or change the status quo or bring arguing partners together. There are so many possibilities for fun twists!

Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection features short stories in a variety of genres depicting asexual main characters. These stories offer positive representation of a sexuality often misunderstood in contemporary culture, and historically viewed as a medical obstacle. Overall, it’s a quick read, and a lovely collection of ace authors showcasing their work.

From the anthology’s subtitle, I understood the selection of authors to be diverse, but still found I was disappointed by the lack of masculine representation, as asexual men—trans and cis alike—are often entirely disregarded in ace conversations. I found it odd that this was pointed out in the foreword, but yet not rectified. I recognize that in most categories men are the over represented category, so being disappointed by their lack may seem contrary, but as an asexual trans man myself, I requested to read this title hoping to see myself represented.

Some of the stories fell short for me, in which the asexuality was never mentioned nor inferred, or where the genre simply isn’t my preference, but some of the others shined bright enough for me to enjoy the whole collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this title.

This is a fantastic anthology of wonderfully diverse and creative short stories centered on asexual characters. The stories wildly vary in tone and genre-with fantasy, horror, and sci-fi all present-as well in presentation of the character's sexuality. Asexuality is something that is often hard to find good representation of in media, and the range seen here is frankly unheard of. In exploring ace identities, the authors give much needed representation to a group that often doesn't see themselves depicted in media, as well as some great stories, the plot of many of them were compelling and fun, and I wouldn't mind reading longer versions of most of them. My favorites were "How to Love a Sidewinder," "Give Up the Ghost," "Moonspirited," and "The Third Star," but each story was fun in its own way.

Being Ace is a refreshing and heartwarming exploration of ace identity. With stories set in multiple genres and written about diverse characters all across the asexual spectrum, I couldn't stop turning to the next page.