The assassins apprentice

[nicole99]

Has anyone read the Farseer books by Robin Hobb?

One of my favourite characters comes from that and the live ship traders series - The fool. One aspect of The Fool that I really enjoyed was that they were in a way non-binary. The main character fitz always assumes the fool is male, but it is suggested that may not be the case. In the live ship traders the fool presents as Amber the wood carver, who is seen as female. And then a following trilogy the fool becomes Lord Golden a foppish gentleman. Never particularly gendered in any one way, very colourful, very clever, very queer and in love with the homo-phobic Fitz.

Who is your favourite non-binary piece of fiction?

[Lady Smith]

'Who is your favourite non-binary piece of fiction?'

That is a very good question Nicole.  It would be a very long time since I last read a book that explored other genderedness.  I can remember reading some science fiction/speculative fiction many years ago set in societies that weren't binary gendered, though unfortunately I can't remember either the author's names or the book titles.
When I was going through transition I wrote some stories about gender difference and especially non binary gender difference and while even now I still think they are good pieces of writing most are too personal for me to ever think about publishing.

[nicole99]

There is this amazing movie called Orlando. Made in 1992 staring Tilda Swinton, an immoral who during the movie their tranforms from male to female. I probably saw it in the early 90's so it is a bit fuzzy but I remember that transformation.

[Lady Smith]

I'm going to have to track that movie down Nicole

[Lady Smith]

http://nonbinary.org/wiki/Fictional_depictions_of_nonbinary_gender

nonbinary.org has a page that lists books, films & etc that have a non-binary theme.

[Allison Wunderland]

There is this amazing movie called Orlando. Made in 1992 staring Tilda Swinton, an immoral who during the movie their tranforms from male to female. I probably saw it in the early 90's so it is a bit fuzzy but I remember that transformation.

Orlando is Virginia Woolf, a classic.

[nicole99]

Technically Dr who could be seen as bi-gendered, or non-gendered, or all gendered....as they can regenerate as pretty much anything.

The Master as Missy was gorgeous, so loved that character.

[Aazhie]

I'm not sure if it's exactly non binary but I LOVED Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  The wizards in a particular order have to have a secret to keep their power, otherwise they lose their magic and can be killed by another blue star mage. It's kind of Highlander: 'there can only be one', except the focus is much more on Lythande as a person.  She poses as a man as her secret and while she seems happy to have a female body, she also seems to have no problem being treated like a man. I believe her secret is so shocking because it is lore in the Blue Star mages that only men (rather biological males) can join this order, Lythande becomes one through a loophole or deception and then must retain the identity to keep her power.
I found this one interesting since there were many historical figures who were born female but cross dressed for their own reasons- many people claim the historical figures did so to be more free and have power, but I feel like they certainly had room for being transgender/bigender/something else along the gender spectrum.  It had a nice feel to it and Lythande was really relatable for me.  They are a strong willed and intelligent individual- mostly a person who fights for a good cause, but also a total action hero/heroine/wish there were a non gendered form of the word XD

I think it's nonbinary in the sense that Lythande is content with themselves as a person and I do really see them as someone who is pretty solidly non typical as far as personality and behavior compared to other characters who are pretty easily one particular gender or another.  Just unique and a fun fantasy collection

[nicole99]

That sounds really interesting, is that part of the thieves world series? 

I don't think I can get past the child abuse allegations though...

But I think that character resurfaces in other books as part of the thieves world series written by other authors.