Jaw Filler

"You don't need dysphoria to be trans. You don't need a body at all.’ When Detective Sean Hastings is asked to investigate the disappearance of Character, he enters the First Trans Commune in Sim World, a virtual reality cult community imagineered by transfluencer Kevin, and bankrolled by a mysterious tech company, VSI. Haunted by the death of his cis gayguy college bestie and their shared diasporic dilemmas, Taylor, VSI’s token QTPOC face, sees potential in Kevin’s ability to Release trauma into the virtual world. Meanwhile, Casey, Sean’s ex, hopes Releasing will cure their Long Plague. Then femme fatale Mitchelle reappears. And the plot twists. A pulpy neo-noir romp through the anxiously assimilated transmasculine id, Jaw Filler asks: who is VSI, and what do they really want? Can you be your own dad? And if Character’s mind is trapped in Sim World, then where is his body? ‘There’s something faintly Brazil about Jaw Filler: wilful and breakneck, self-aware yet never cynical, paranoiac but always coyly – unarguably – plausible. Calling it a pastiche would be stupid. To do so would overlook not only the ravenous delight Jaw Filler takes in the melange of its genre conventions, but also, more importantly, its surgical commitment to grounding a narrative in what I can only succinctly describe as genocide-reality. Murray & Markbreiter have achieved the extremely contemporary and impossible to falsify: true camp darkness.’ - Hesse K., author of Disquiet Drive 'Jaw Filler instantly joins the canon of outlier literature: jaw-dropper, more like.’ - Isabel Waidner, author of Sterling Karat Gold 'Jaw Filler strikes a rare and clever balance: it lampoons its genre while flawlessly exemplifying it. Filled with femme fatales, hard-boiled detectives, and corrupt corporate supervillains, Charlie and Maz have crafted an immersive, twisting neo-noir that surprises to the very last word. Hilarious as it is riveting, Jaw Filler exploits the most exciting themes of the classic crime thriller, like mistaken identity and lovers’ scorn, and applies them to contemporary queer life in a way that feels surprisingly natural and profound. It’s like The Sluts meets Double Indemnity but everyone is trans. I had an absolute blast.’ - Macy Rodman ‘Maz Murray and Charlie Markbreiter’s Jaw Filler is a sharp, satirical neo-noir that blends pulp detective tropes with...