Read This! An Excerpt From Patrick Nathan’s ‘Some Hell’
Some Hell is a harrowing novel about a gay teen’s coming of age
‘My Cat Yugoslavia’ by Pajtim Statovci
For a reader looking for fiction that also serves as social criticism, My Cat Yugoslavia is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant
A Poem by James Cihlar
This week, a poem by James Cihlar
‘Kingdom Come: A Fantasia’ by Timothy Liu
The poems in Kingdom Come become progressively more luminous—even as they insist on their carnality
‘Babybel Wax Bodysuit’ by Eric Kostiuk Williams
All three stories in this collection deal with “peeling back the wax bodysuit” (an analogy to the wax covering of Babybel cheese), i.e. all the multiple layers we use to hide both our fears and our egos
‘The Kiss of Walt Whitman Still on My Lips’ by Raymond Luczak
Almost generous to a fault, Luczak’s poems salute Whitman and at the same time he respects him enough to question some of his underlying notions of love, community, and self
‘The Troubleseeker’ by Alan Lessik
The Troubleseeker is a potent mash-up of contemporary history, Greek mythology, Caribbean Santería, and queer eroticism
‘Running’ by Cara Hoffman
Running has plenty of dazzle; it races atop remarkable sentences. But at its core are two people who, accustomed to getting by on nothing, have no idea what to do with the bounties that befall them: success, family, love
‘Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me’ by Bill Hayes
Bill Hayes has managed to tell his own moving story and to include Oliver Sacks, his partner of seven years, as a very active character but not the exclusive focus
‘After the Blue Hour’ by John Rechy
After the Blue Hour is a clever psychodrama that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction
