A/S/L

Praise for A/S/L

NPR’s Books We Love
A Vulture Best Book of the Year
ELLE Magazine’s Best Queer Books of the Year
Electric Lit’s Best Novels of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Pick and Best Fiction Book of the Year
The Seattle Times Most Anticipated Books of the Year
Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of the Year
Autostraddle’s Most Anticipated Queer Books of the Month

“A hit of nostalgia that evokes the early days of gaming and the internet.”
—Cosmopolitan

“A/S/L captures the pulse of desire that spurs any genuine act of creation . . . The internet gets a great deal of hate these days, but Thornton’s novel is a gripping, emotional reminder of the almost-whimsical joy of being online in the ’90s.”
—Isle McElroy, Vulture

“Scrappy and bootstrappy, endlessly niche and DIY, the early internet was very different from the infinite scroll it has become today . . . A/S/L tells a story of delusions, obsessions and compromises, as three online childhood friends find their way and each other in a world that has changed under their feet.”
—NPR, Books We Love 2025

“Don’t let the chapters told solely through chat-room dialogue or email exchange deter you — you’ll be glad you made it to the emotional ending.”
—The Cut

“Like Thorton’s previous novel Summer Fun, A/S/L is philosophically robust. Thornton asks, What does it mean for a trans woman to be good? Who benefits? What do we owe our friends? . . . And because Thorton’s imagination is delightful, there is lots of joyful discovery. And recovery. Almost anything can be a video game, Thornton reveals—real estate, running on a treadmill, sitting in silence, asking for forgiveness, setting someone free, being free.”
—Electric Literature

“Ambitious . . . Thornton is very good on damaged transsexual lives, on the rolling disaster set in motion, not by transition, but by the way we’re punished for it . . . A/S/L lets onto the page the everyday struggles around work, housing, social life, and mental health beyond that.”
—McKenzie Wark, e-flux

“Lyrical and stunning . . . A/S/L demonstrates time and time again how deft [Thornton] is at upending and changing form to match characters and themes of the moment . . . On a craft level alone, A/S/L is a masterwork, but it resonates so deeply because of its insights into the refuge online spaces and escapism offered to closeted trans people and just how gaping a void their absence creates.”
—Autostraddle

“Thornton’s literary powers are deep and many . . . [A/S/L’s] themes are timeless: Forgetting isn’t freedom, forgiveness isn’t redemption, and in life there are no resets.”
—Public Books

“Thornton’s queer coming-of-age novel vividly takes readers back to a time when [the characters] were all just starting to realize what an important lifeline the internet could be for folks who felt out of place IRL and posits that perhaps the sense of optimism and wonder it imparted back then isn’t lost forever.”
—The A.V. Club

“When Thornton’s characters’ lives on and off screen drastically diverge, A/S/L not only satisfies nostalgia, but catapults the narrative to a whole new level . . . A/S/L cements Thornton as (dungeon) master of dynamic character-driven writing.”
—The Rumpus

“[A/S/L] draw[s] on both the melancholic and magical elements of lost connections and digital dreams . . . Bittersweet and deeply human, A/S/L affirms Thornton as one of today’s most ambitious writers in contemporary LGBTQ+ fiction.”
—GAY45

“Nostalgic yet razor-sharp . . . A/S/L (that’s ‘age/sex/location’ for any Gen Z readers) captures both the liberation and limitations of digital connection.”
—Pride Source

“A valuable read . . . Jeanne Thornton’s new novel draws on the power of the online golden age . . . how the early era of the internet was a playground of possibility.”
—Xtra Magazine

“[A/S/L is] a friendship saga rendered in glimmering prose, chatroom transcripts, and the occasional diagram . . . Expansive, ambitious, idea-driven, and full of delightful details. And as in Thornton’s previous novel, Summer Fun, characters jump off the page.”
—Lit Hub

“Melancholy and tinged with magic . . . bittersweet and moving . . . With A/S/L, Thornton has written her most compelling book yet.”
—Full Stop

“A moving and philosophical look at the internet, the personas found there, and the nature of unfinished art.”
—Vol. 1 Brooklyn

“Nostalgic and enchanting, Thornton’s newest novel explores the emotional complexities and lasting impact of formative adolescent bonds through stunning prose and an unforgettable cast of characters.”
—Oxford Exchange (Tampa, FL)

“A heartfelt, melancholy, and insightful novel about early Internet culture, nostalgia, queer and trans identity, and the physical and virtual spaces that shape us.”
—AudioFile Magazine

“A deeply evocative novel that pulses with the ache of queer longing, the glitchy hum of ’90s internet culture, and the fractured beauty of trans survival . . . Thornton’s prose captures the jagged edges of trans becoming, blending dreamy, poetic moments with raw and disjointed passages that reflect the precariousness of forging an identity in a world designed to erase you.”
—Diversishelf

“A/S/L is an absorbing, thoughtful read . . . Insightful, ambitious, memorable.”
—The Lesbrary

“A wholly unique reading experience, combining coding lexicon, pixelated maps, friendship drama, and complex trans representation into a bold, emotional package . . . A must read for videogame lovers looking for gut-wrenching characters.”
—The Turnaround Blog

“Thornton’s nostalgic, tender prose explores trans identity, friendship, and unfinished quests . . . This is a love letter to the ’90s and found family.”
—That Love Podcast

“Beyond astonishing, imbued with witchery, lust, the isolation and connection of a game, devastating heartbreak, and the ageless, aching wrap of friendship and time. I can’t remember the last time a trans novel affected me this deeply. I can’t remember the last time any novel affected me this deeply. Jeanne Thornton is like a literary sorceress becoming more and more powerful with every new volume.”
—Casey Plett, author of Little Fish

“If we see the Great American Novel less as a singular achievement than as a genre—lengthy and humanistic, concerned with individual destinies as a means to addressing What It Means To Be An American Now—then it is no exaggeration to say Jeanne Thornton is the greatest living Great American Novelist.”
—Cat Fitzpatrick, author of The Call-Out

“For those of us in that generation that first grew up behind computer screens in the intimacy of strangers, the book is a vital touchstone. Characteristic of Thornton’s work, A/S/L doesn’t cheat, nor dumb down the complicated circumstances of its characters and their obsessions; she makes legible even the most esoteric of obscura. The novel is unapologetically authentic and unflinchingly honest.”
—Bill Cheng, author of Southern Cross the Dog

“A dazzlingly creative and heartfelt novel . . . Thornton has a skillful command of worldbuilding, both in the physical world and within chat rooms and 2D video games. She writes with profound, incisive authority about relationships, not only between trans and cisgender people . . . but also about the dynamics that exist within trans communities, as well as among co-workers, families, and, perhaps most importantly, friends.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Ambitious and playful . . . As Thornton chronicles the characters’ sex lives, relationships, and gender transitions, she explores their deep-seated longings and regrets . . . The determinedly upbeat tone carries the reader along, as do the novel’s dynamic stylistic elements, such as old-school online chat threads and low-bit illustrations of the game.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Intricate . . . [A/S/L] traces the lives, problems, woes, and tribulations of the game makers. Thornton has created a one-of-a-kind book, with a great idea propelling it . . . The story increases in power and interest as it develops.”
—Library Journal


Praise for Jeanne Thornton

“I suspect [Summer Fun] will come to be considered the Pet Sounds of trans literature: a masterpiece that feels both astonishingly new and comfortingly familiar.”
—Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

“In Summer Fun, Jeanne Thornton, that slow-burn superstar, has dropped a punk’s pop masterpiece.”
—Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

“Summer Fun is a fully realized vision so strange and compelling that even in writing this blurb I still can’t quite shake the sensation of having genuinely known these characters, if only for a short and magical while.”
—Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox