Jeanne Thornton

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Jeanne Thornton (born 1983) [1] is an American writer and copublisher of Instar Books and Rocksalt Magazine. Her published novels include A/S/L and Summer Fun. [2]

Contents

She has received the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers. [3] Anthologies to which she has contributed to have won a Lambda Literary Award [4] and a Barbara Gittings Literature Award. [5] Works she has written and edited have been finalists for Lambda Literary Awards for Debut Fiction, Transgender Fiction, [3] and Graphic Novel. [6]

Career

Thornton is a writer of novels and short stories, as well as a co-publisher of Instar Books and Rocksalt Magazine. [2] She has also worked as a senior editor at Feminist Press. [7]

Thornton's first novel, The Dream of Doctor Bantam, was published in 2012. [8]

Instar Books

Thornton publishes Instar Books with Miracle Jones, who she met in 2003 during college. Jones said that Instar was influenced by the Wu-Tang Clan, and Thornton explained, "maybe this is where the Wu ethos enters: finding ways to function as a small society and collective that interfaces with capitalism but sources what it does in some kind of hard-to-assimilate way that brings joy." [9]

Instar focuses on digital publishing, and has released zines, anthologies, and books. [9] [10] Besides works by Thornton and Jones, Instar has published works by Jonathan Reiss, Imogen Binnie, Anna Anthropy, and Calvin Gimpelvich. [10] [11]

Instar also released a series of small books on different internet subcultures, Remember the Internet, in the vein of 33 1/3 and Boss Fight . The books include Ana Valens' recounting of the Tumblr porn community, Megan Milks' review of a Tori Amos bootleg recording trading scene, Quinn Myers' explanation of Google Glass fans, and Noor Al-Sibai's history of MySpace. [12]

Casey Plett said Thornton's mentorship and publishing experience helped Plett enter into indie publishing with LittlePuss Press. [13] Instar Press had been distributed by Small Press Distribution before that company shut down; in response, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses gave Instar a $5,000 grant and one year membership via a new Small Press Future Fund. [14]

Summer Fun

Thornton's 2021 novel Summer Fun is a one-sided epistolary novel consisting of letters from a transgender woman in New Mexico to a fictional musician based on Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys; [15] [16] The book is inspired by Wilson's creation of the unfinished album Smile . [2] It won the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. [17]

In a starred review for BookPage, Laura Sackton wrote that Summer Fun is "dizzying and deliciously weird, it's a sprawling yet intimate story about music, hidden trans histories and the transformative act of creation." [8] Corinne Manning, for The Brooklyn Rail , deemed the book "as much mystery as cultural analysis", and it "rewards the reader by never giving us what we expect or what we think we want." [18] Kirkus Reviews said the book had uneven pacing but great ideas and prose. [19] Publishers Weekly gave a mixed review, calling the book "spirited if overstuffed". [20]

Cat Fitzpatrick described the book as a counter-history that haunts readers with the idea of "a hopeless America, one in which there is nothing redeemable, not even the art of desperate, lonely, beautiful, crazy transsexual women." Fitzpatrick described a scene where two trans women meet as having "tremendous power", especially because it occurs in the 1960s, and there is rarely historical documentation of such meetings. She contrasted this with the 1993 short film Gender Troublemakers by Jeanne B and Xanthra Phillippa, perhaps the earliest intentional document of trans social culture. [21]

A/S/L

In 2025, Thornton released the novel A/S/L, which features Abraxa, Sash, and Lilith. They meet as teenagers online in 1998 and collaborate to try making an online role-playing game that will change the world. The book covers their eventual reunion in 2016 when one of them returns to working on the game. The protagonists are transfemme. [2] [22]

Thornton was inspired by her own teenage experiences on the early internet, which provided escapism and let her join fandom communities, create queer spaces for herself, and experiment with different identities. [23] The book is written for trans audiences but Thornton describes it as useful for cisgender readers learning about the trans experience: "You’re reading across the power differential because it is going to enrich your sense of what’s going on in the world. If you’re in the truck, you don’t perceive who is under the truck. The only way you’re going to see that is to try to get better at listening and try to get better at checking the truck as you’re driving it." [23]

Kirkus Reviews describes A/S/L as "dazzlingly creative and heartfelt", saying Thornton has a "skillful command of worldbuilding" across virtual and physical worlds, and she "writes with profound, incisive authority about relationships". [24] Erin Vachon, reviewing for The Rumpus , says the book "boasts a ’90s chatroom scene that is so funny and sharp on gender dynamics, it should be textbook reading on constructing dialogue." [7] Autumn West, in a Library Journal review, says it is "a one-of-a-kind book, with a great idea propelling it, though it could have been executed more clearly." [25] AudioFile praised Thornton's narration of A/S/L's audiobook. [26]

Personal life

Thornton grew up in Texas. [23] She is a transgender woman. [27] [28] She came out to an online community in 2006 and more widely in 2010. [23] Thornton lived in Austin, Texas from 2011 to 2014. [9] [27]

Awards

Awards Received
YearAwardWorkThornton's roleResultRef.
2022 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction Summer FunAuthorWinner [17]
Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction Finalist [29]
2018 Barbara Gittings Literature Award Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers ContributorWinner [30]
Lambda Literary Award for Anthology Finalist [5]
2019 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Graphic Novel We're Still Here: An All-Trans Comics AnthologyEditorFinalist [6]
2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2016ContributorWinner [4]
2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender FictionThe Black EmeraldAuthorFinalist [3]
2018 Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ WritersSelfWinner [3]
2012 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction The Dream of Doctor BantamAuthorFinalist [3]

Bibliography

Writer

Editor

Contributor

References

  1. ↑ Young, Royal (October 12, 2012). "Jeanne Thornton's Cult Heroine". Interview Magazine. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Spencer, Ryan (October 2, 2025). ""Conjuring and Reality": An Interview with Jeanne Thornton". Public Books . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jeanne Thornton and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan Named Winners of the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers". Lambda Literary. May 7, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Transcendent 2". Lethe Press. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Boureau, Ella (March 6, 2018). "30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Previous Winners". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Vachon, Erin (May 13, 2025). ""Three Initiates": On Jeanne Thornton's A/S/L". The Rumpus . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Sackton, Laura (July 25, 2021). "Summer Fun". BookPage. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 Spencer, Ryan (July 27, 2021). "Retelling an American Legend: Jeanne Thornton Interviewed by Ryan Spencer". BOMB . Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Seidlinger, Michael J (April 20, 2017). "The Great 2017 Indie Press Preview". Electric Literature. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  11. ↑ Snitzky, Dana (January 3, 2019). "Eleven Books to Read in 2019". Longreads. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  12. ↑ Tiffany, Kaitlyn (March 22, 2021). "You Probably Don't Remember the Internet". The Atlantic . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  13. ↑ Stewart, Sophia (February 14, 2025). "How Women Keep Reinventing Independent Publishing". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  14. ↑ Anderson, Porter (January 21, 2025). "CLMP Awards Small Press 'Future Fund Grants' to 35 Publishers". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  15. ↑ Manning, Corinne (July 2021). "The Sound of America: Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun". The Brooklyn Rail . Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  16. ↑ Rudolph, Christopher (July 30, 2021). "The Psychedelic "Summer Fun" Book About Trans Life in a Tiny Desert Town". NewNowNext . Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  17. 1 2 Schaub, Michael (June 13, 2022). "Lambda Literary Award Winners Are Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  18. ↑ Manning, Corinne (July 30, 2024). "The Sound of America: Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun | The Brooklyn Rail". brooklynrail.org. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Summer Fun". Kirkus Reviews . June 1, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton". Publishers Weekly . April 27, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  21. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Cat (February 14, 2022). "Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton". Strange Horizons . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  22. ↑ Liontas, Annie (May 6, 2025). ""A/S/L" Is an Ode to the Transfemme Gaming Community, Full of '90s Nostalgia". Electric Literature . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Cadenas, Kerensa (April 1, 2025). "The internet is toxic for queer and trans people. In 'A/S/L,' it's a haven". Xtra Magazine . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  24. ↑ "A/S/L". Kirkus Reviews . February 15, 2025. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  25. ↑ West, Autumn (March 1, 2025). "A/S/L". Library Journal . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  26. ↑ "A/S/L". AudioFile . Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  27. 1 2 glambourine (December 17, 2012). "I am Jeanne Thornton, a transgendered author living in Austin, Texas. I just published a novel with O/R Books about a youthful lesbian relationship doomed by what's essentially the Church of Scientology. I also draw comics. AMA". Reddit - Ask Me Anything. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  28. ↑ "The Rumpus Interview with Jeanne Thornton". The Rumpus.net. November 7, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  29. ↑ "The Ferro-Grumley Awards". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved January 19, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers | Awards & Grants". American Library Association. October 25, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
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