Gently written, The Ties That Bind is a story which takes its own look at both Star Trek, Trans rights, and the classic awkward Christmas Dinner. At least initially, it’s a bit of a tougher read, showing us a future where even while humanity’s among the stars, small towns are still rife with bigotry and general nastiness, but it also never forgets to show hope by concluding well. It’s nice, but it’s really quite scant, resolved remarkably quickly. I could certainly have done with it being longer.