"DNA" by Stephanie.(an266891@anon.penet.fi). About every two weeks I get an e-mail message from someone saying, "I know you don't like TG stories, but would you mind reviewing this one?" Actually, my record with TG stories is pretty good: I think I've read six of them and rated all of them 8 or better. The reason I don't review more of them is simply a matter of time: there are a lot of other stories that I need to read and review. In addition, the good TG stories that I've read have been rather long - but worthwhile.

What appeals to me most about these stories is that they tend to be clever: they examine interesting "what if" possibilities in creative ways. "DNA," like several other TG stories explores the question, "What would it be like if a man were suddenly transposed into a woman's body?" These role-reversal stories almost always look at how a guy (or girl) feels when he/she is forced to deal with events from the perspective of the previously opposite gender. This is fun, but the basic plot has been tried many times, and it could become boring. What seems to make the idea persist is that authors look for creative complications to interject into the plot. This story has several creative ideas.

At the beginning of the story the young man gets turned into a clone of his female boss's beautiful teenage niece by a genetically engineered virus that alters the recipient's DNA. The first interesting complication is that when the boss needs someone to look after the guy/girl while she's away from the house, the only eligible candidate is the niece herself. So we have the guy/girl being looked after by a girl who is essentially his/her genetic twin. Next the guy/girl gets seduced by the boss's boyfriend. Not too unusual so far - but suddenly it becomes apparent that the virus can be sexually transmitted, and so the boyfriend starts to mutate into another clone of the niece. "Fortunately," the mad scientist manages to inject a different strand of DNA into her soon-to-be-former boyfriend. This terminates his transformation midway - so this guy/girl has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a man, but a different man than his original self. (Incidentally, all intellectual powers seem to remain those of the original owners, although emotions tend to shift with the body parts.)

Interestingly, I found several points in this story when a character became angry and could have shouted to someone else, "You can just go and fuck yourself!" This could be taken as a literal rather than metaphorical statement - in more ways than one. You'll have to read the story to figure out what I'm talking about. One unrealistic element is that when Julie gets transformed to Jim, her brain continues to reside in her head, instead of where it resides in most men.

If, like most Americans, you had a really bad biology course in high school, you will have the good fortune of thinking that the biological aspects of the story are at least remotely realistic. On the other hand, if you are like most a.s.s. readers (intellectually as well as sexually acute and inclined to be skeptical about simplistic ideas) or went to school in New Zealand, you'll realize that even if viruses and DNA worked the way they do in this story, the rest of the human body wouldn't. Don't let that bother you. Consider the story to be science fiction, and know only what the author wants you to know.

Perhaps I'm making this sound too complex - almost silly. That's the value of a story like this - it *is* silly, but silly in a very clever way. I'm not going to tell you any more about the plot. Read it yourself. I'm pretty sure the virus cannot be transmitted through the Internet - except for AOL users using Windows 95. In that case, however, you already have problems that are much more serious than having your gender changed.