Alex Peachy

I am not. I am a cisgender, straight white man. I do have family members and friends who are transgender, and I am a committed advocate and ally for them and for the LGBTQ+ community broadly.

While the world was different when I started writing Distilled Magic, I aimed to provide a cozy, joyful story that might make the trans and queer people in my life feel better. Now, it seems needed more than ever.

I don't claim authority on trans experience. I tried to write with care, consulted with trans people before and during the writing, and hired a non-binary sensitivity reader before publication. Trans readers are the ones who can tell you whether I succeeded.

Before writing the book, I consulted with Justine, a transgender woman and personal friend, who provided early input on the story. Before publication, I hired Emeric — a non-binary, Black sensitivity reader — whose feedback shaped the final manuscript in meaningful ways. Both Justine and Emeric are acknowledged by name in the book's acknowledgements.

For the audiobook, I cast Alexis Vandom — a transgender woman — as the narrator for both Distilled Magic and Social Sorcery. She does an extraordinary job bringing these characters to life.

These aren't talking points — they're genuine acts of care that I'm grateful for and that I think are simply the right approach when writing outside your own experience.

Distilled Magic includes instances of transphobia, body shaming, gender dysphoria, misgendering, deadnaming, unaccepting family, and mentions of physical abuse. These are not the focus of the story but are present. The book also contains themes of adoption, infertility, and substance use (the Traveler's Tonic arc). There are brief scenes involving testing on animals and goblins in an alchemy context.

Social Sorcery includes a body image/fat-shaming arc with a positive resolution, a creature being killed (briefly, plot-relevant), a cat sustaining a minor injury (she recovers fully and is perfectly fine), alcohol consumption including one scene of escapism drinking, and spiders — lots of spiders, though they are very friendly ethereal spiders. There is also a recurring arachnophobia gag.

Full content warnings are included at the beginning of each book and on each book's page on this site.

Sadly, no — dragonroot is fictional. But the tea Trinx drinks in Distilled Magic was inspired by a warm, spiced milk tea with earthy, slightly sweet depth. In the real world, a well-made masala chai or a spiced rooibos comes very close to what I had in mind. Cardamom, ginger, and a hint of something smoky — that's dragonroot tea, if you squint.

A proper dragonroot tea recipe is one of the things I share with newsletter subscribers.

Both books are written for adult readers but are accessible to older teens (16+) who are comfortable with the content warnings listed above. There is no explicit sexual content. The themes are mature — identity, grief, infertility, substance consequences — but handled with care rather than graphic detail.

Several parents of trans teenagers have told me they read the books alongside their kids. That means a great deal to me.

Yes! Both Distilled Magic and Social Sorcery are available to libraries through standard distribution. If your library doesn't already carry them, you can request them — most library systems have a simple online form for purchase requests. Just ask for the book by name and author. Libraries are a wonderful way to discover indie authors, and I'm grateful for every request.