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
‘Feder: A Scenario’ by Nathanaël
Decidedly cerebral, Feder doesn’t just involve the mind, it takes place there; the associative, disembodied voice of a narrator is quite nearly pure intellect
‘This is a Dance Movie!’ by Tim Jones-Yelvington
The collection as a whole speaks to any reader unafraid of a revealing dive into sexual deviancy, fickle intimacy, and evasive amour
‘Marbled, Swirled, and Layered’ by Irvin Lin
More than just a collection of recipes, Marbled, Swirled, and Layered is a slice of Lin’s life with his partner AJ, his friends and family
Cartoonist Ed Luce on Creating Comics and Promoting Body Positivity
“I’m still dedicated to writing and drawing stories that I haven’t really seen in comics, especially queer comics, that I think need to exist.”
‘Wuvable Oaf: Blood & Metal’ by Ed Luce
This collection is a visual smorgasbord, packed with one-page wrestling matches, posters, fake ads for Oaf hair care products, and…paper dolls
‘The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories’ by A.C. Wise
The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is achingly smart, sad, and weird in equal measure
‘At Danceteria and Other Stories’ by Philip Dean Walker
This short story collection is inspired by the heady mix of sex, celebrity, and sinisterness inherent in the metropolitan cities of the 1980s
‘In the Empire of the Air: The Poems of Donald Britton’ Edited by Reginald Shepherd and Philip Clark
In the Empire of the Air: The Poems of Donald Britton is a delectable volume of poetry-concentrate, dense with previously unpublished and uncollected works that immortalize Britton
‘Proxies’ by Brian Blanchfield
The subtitle to the book, aptly named, is “Essays Near Knowing.” Not essays of expertise. Not even essays of critical analysis—essays in the proximity of understanding (bodily, mentally, philosophically).
Bob Smith: On Religion, Life with ALS, His Love of Nature, and His New Book ‘Treehab’
“I want a God who’s not meaner than I am.”
‘Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983’ by Tim Lawrence
While unearthing the cultural crossroads that formed the foundation of so many vital venues, Tim Lawrence absolutely nails what early the 80s New York City club scene was all about
Renowned Playwright Edward Albee, 88, has Died
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? playwright Edward Albee has died
‘Leaving Paris’ by Collin Kelley
Collin Kelley has created a trio of interlocking novels that can be read in any order. Read Leaving Paris first and you’ll know the “end” of the story. Read them backwards and the characters become richer and the intricate plot lines reveal their origins
Queer Readers and Kim Addonizio’s ‘Bukowski in a Sundress’
Addonizio’s work is important to many LGBTQ readers because her writing persona works as an amalgamation of identities queer readers understand: the outsider, the rebel, the provocateur, the lover, and the survivor
‘The Stormwater Drains in Canberra’ by Paul Johan Karlsen
It takes some courage for a young Norwegian man from a small town to travel around the world for gay sex. In some ways, the novel reads like a fairy tale… The Stormwater Drains in Canberra may serve as a study guide for a new generation of young gay men
Appreciations: Derrick Austin’s “Summertime”
Every month, “Appreciations” looks closely at a poem or poems from recently-published books by LGBTQ poets
‘Alphabet’ Edited by Jon Macy and Tara Madison Avery
Reading Alphabet will plunge you into the welcoming rainbow of queer comics.
A Poem by Lawrence Kaplun
This week, a poem by Lawrence Kaplun
Roxane Gay’s Comic Book, Dennis Cooper’s Blog, and Other LGBT News
Dennis Cooper talks censorship, a musical based on the life of Dorian Corey of Paris is Burning, and other news
‘Love Slaves of Helen Hadley Hall’ by James Magruder
This sparkling novel owes much of its success to Magruder’s remarkable ability to manipulate words to get to the heart of all matters, especially matters of the heart
Adam Haslett: On Masculinity, Being Fearless, and the Power of Ambiguity
“Imagine Me Gone is the most personal book I’ve written, since I used the fact there is mental illness in my own family more directly than I have in anything else.”
‘Arcade’ by Drew Nellins Smith
In Drew Nellins Smith’s debut novel, Arcade, Sam, an awkward, likable late 20-something, guides us through a XXX video store on the outskirts of a Texas town
Read an Excerpt From Joe Okonkwo’s New Novel ‘Jazz Moon’
Jazz Moon is an evocative novel that maps one character’s journey of self-discovery during the height of the Jazz Age
‘The Halo’ by C. Dale Young
In a mythic landscape populated by Greek gods, wolfish men and flightless angels, C. Dale Young’s The Halo, the poet’s fourth and latest collection, explores intersecting mandalas of memory, legend and the quest for self-actualization
Garrard Conley: On Surviving Ex-Gay Therapy, Writing His Memoir, and the Year in Queer Lit
“I remember in the 90s and even early 00s, the idea was still prevalent in popular culture and the media that gay sex equaled death. When you’re in this religious environment, it complicates it even further.”
‘Say Bye to Reason and Hi to Everything’ Edited by Andrew Durbin
With Say Bye to Reason and Hi to Everything, Andrew Durbin collects five individual chapbooks spanning poetic and essayistic forms, by five writers, all women: Dodie Bellamy, Cecilia Corrigan, Amy De’Ath, Lynne Tillman, and Jackie Wang
‘Infidels’ by Abdellah Taïa
Abdellah Taïa’s Infidels is a story about the protagonist Jallal’s fall–out of boyhood, into love, out of innocence, into Jihad.
‘Imagine Me Gone’ by Adam Haslett
Adam Haslett immerses his novel of familial strife in contemporary ideas about racial and economic justice in America
Nicole Dennis-Benn, Marlon James, Queer Robin Hood, and More LGBT News
Being queer and Jamaican, same gender loving Robin Hood, and more lgbt news…
Saleem Haddad: On the Arab Spring and Writing About the Queer Arab Experience
“It was very challenging to write this, about such a sensitive subject as sexuality and shame, knowing that it would be read both by a Western audience and an Arab audience. So I kept telling myself: Just tell the truth.”
A Poem by Francisco Márquez
This week, a poem by Francisco Márquez.
Philip Clark on Unearthing the Poetry of Donald Britton
“If anything, the poems are testament to an eye and a mind that was looking at the world on a different wavelength: there’s a remarkable particularity of language matched with fresh and jarring images.”
‘Night Sweats’ by Tom Cardamone
Short these stories may be, but that doesn’t mean that they’re lightweight
‘Black Sheep Boy’ by Martin Pousson
What Pousson does so masterfully is to take such a dazzlingly fantastical and specific world and render it universally recognizable
Read an Excerpt from Edmund White’s New Novel ‘Our Young Man’
“Although Guy was thirty-five he was still working as a model, and certain of his more ironic and cultured friends called him, as the dying Proust had been called by Colette, ‘our young man.'”
A Poem by Nathan Blansett
This week, a poem by Nathan Blansett.
‘Our Young Man’ by Edmund White
Edmund White’s new novel examines the costs of maintaining a facade
‘How the Boy Might See It’ by Charlie Bondhus
Charlie Bondhus is haunted by
French, Arabic, English: Abdellah Taïa Discusses His Novels and Why He Uses the Language that He Does
“Though I write now in French, my feelings about this language are very complicated. I am in a constant war with it.”
‘Beijing Comrades’ by Bei Tong
Beijing Comrades is both a valuable piece of global gay history and a political phenomenon
Darryl Pinckney: On His Novel ‘Black Deutschland’ and the Complexities of Gay Desire
“It used to be that if you told your parents that you were gay, they imagined you were living these aimless nights of danger. Now you tell your parents that you are gay, and they want to meet your boyfriend.”
A Poem by Tom Capelonga
This week, a poem by Tom Capelonga.
Poet and Writer Justin Chin Has Died [Updated]
Beloved San Francisco-based poet Justin Chin suffered a massive stroke last week
‘Fox Tooth Heart’ by John McManus
John McManus’s new collection Fox Tooth Heart is a gripping, often tragic meditation on the vast distance between inner life and outer expectations
‘The Uncollected David Rakoff’ by David Rakoff
David Rakoff was here. He made us laugh, he made us weep, he made us think. The Uncollected Works are some of his best and some of his not-so-best, but they are all him and as such, to be cherished
Read an Excerpt from Michael Cunningham’s New Collection ’A Wild Swan and Other Tales’
A Wild Swan and Other Tales is a short story collection that offers contemporary renditions of popular fairy tales
Blacklight: Casey McKittrick’s ‘Murder on Faux Pas Island’: Golden Age-Style Mystery Casts Female Impersonator as Amateur Detective
In his first Pancetta Brulée mystery, Casey McKittrick pays homage to the Golden Age mysteries of the ‘20s and ‘30s, but with twist
‘And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality’ by Mark Segal
The most important lesson one can learn from Segal’s life is that, no matter what, you just have to keep on fighting
Michael Graves: On Writing, Relationships, and Practicing Hope
“[…] People are scared to talk about religion. They are less fearful of discussions concerning sex or guns. Why don’t we talk about God? Why don’t we talk about spirituality?”
‘A Poet of the Invisible World’ by Michael Golding
In A Poet of the Invisible World, we’re asked to consider the curative role of art and how experience–often painful–can bring us to a deeper understanding of life
Gay Superheros, James Baldwin’s House, and Other LGBT News
Iceman discusses gay identity with Iceman, editors discuss what more can be done to increase diversity, and more LGBT news
Two Poems by Richie Hofmann
This week, two poems from Richie Hofmann’s Second Empire, just published by Alice James Books.
‘The Pink Trance Notebooks’ by Wayne Koestenbaum
The collection is apparently the result of a year-long hiatus from journal writing in favor of this more immediate, unfiltered transcription of a mind at work
‘When I Was a Twin’ by Michael Klein
Good poets make us think; great poets make us imagine. And this is exactly what Michael Klein helps us do in his visceral, exultant, new collection of poetry and prose
A Queer Look at Garth Risk Hallberg’s ‘City On Fire’
The book stretches broad enough to embrace many narratives, a compelling gay narrative among them
Chelsea Manning on Trans Lit, #ReadNaked, and Other LGBT News
Chelsea Manning on trans literature, the #ReadNaked campaign, and Larry Kramer bemoans the silence around great lgbt writers
‘The Collected Black Gay Boy Fantasy #1’ by Victor Hodge
Black Gay Boy Fantasy follows the story of Neil Jordan’s gay coming of age
Reflections on the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices
We checked in with the some of this past year’s participants and asked them to provide their own personal take on their time at the 2015 Emerging LGBT Voices Retreat
Two Poems by Matthew Gellman
This week, two poems by
‘Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin’ by Andrew Wilson
This biography chronicles how success changes you: the ways in which the people fall away, as you become consumed with your new life(style) which, if not managed carefully, can overwhelm and consume
‘The Gap of Time’ by Jeanette Winterson
Winterson—whose energetic literary career began with the sui generis coming-out novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and has ranged through many forms and eras since—has written a “cover version” of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
‘Worlds Apart’ by David Plante
For readers who yearn more for good dish than spiritual pondering, it does not hurt that Plante’s “connections” are of the very best kind: Germaine Greer, Phillip Roth, David Hockney, to name a few.
Eileen Myles Gets Her Due, the Film Adaptation of ‘Dancer From the Dance’, Trans Poetics, and More LGBT News
Eileen Myles gets her due, Myles E. Johnson gives us a book for young black queer boys, and more LGBT news
Gary Indiana: On His New Book ‘I Can Give You Anything But Love’ and the Impossibility of Happy Endings
“There aren’t any happy endings! We die! How could anything have a happy ending? Life is pessimistic because we die!”
‘I Can Give You Anything But Love’ by Gary Indiana
I Can Give You Anything does, in fact, give you just about everything: travel writing; diary entries; fragments; and deliciously wicked but not inhumane portraits of a variety of noteworthy figures
‘The Boys from Eighth and Carpenter’ by Tom Mendicino
Tom Mendicino’s latest novel explores the bonds of brotherhood, literal and metaphoric, between two brothers who on the surface appear so dissimilar
Blacklight: Commentary on the Past, Present, and Future of LGBTQ Crime Fiction
“My hope is that this column will promote quality crime stories written by or about our community…”
‘Skyscraping’ by Cordelia Jensen
Captivating you in the first few pages, visionary author Cordelia Jensen has put forth Skyscraping, a semi-autobiographical novel in verse for young readers
The Myth of Fluency and a Search for New Language
Author Daniel Allen Cox on building stories, fluency, and the power of language
A Poem by Sam Ross
This week, a poem by Sam Ross
‘The Small Backs of Children’ by Lidia Yuknavitch
The plot centers on an orphaned child from a war torn Eastern European country, and how her life captivates and unsettles a group of western artists
Personal Advice from Author Dale Peck: Help, I am an Overly Jealous Boyfriend!
“Is there a way to deal with sexual jealousy?”
A Poem by Shane Allison
This week, a poem by Shane Allison
‘Hotel Living’ by Ioannis Pappos
Management consultants don’t exactly sound
‘Shirtlifter’ by Steve MacIsaac with Fuzzbelly, Justin Hall, Ilya, Jon Macy, and Eric Kostiuk Williams
These stories expand the view of the gay male experience by examining stereotypes and the realities behind them, and by sharing the real joys and frustrations of gay life.
‘Counternarratives’ by John Keene
The remarkable thing about this kind of book–this expansive, wide-reaching book–is that the writer expects the reader to be as well-read as they are, or to at least engage with the text in an intentional way
A Queer Look at Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’
The eighty-nine-year-old Lee has long been a lesbian literary icon, and her protagonist, Scout Finch, a.k.a. Jean Louise, has been—along with Carson McCullers’ Frankie Addams in The Member of the Wedding—a girl that every young American lesbian grew up reading
‘The Brink’ by Austin Bunn
The Brink is a fast-paced, slim, engrossing collection that reminds its reader of one of life’s most essential truths: we’re always on the cusp of something new, and every passing moment, for better or worse, changes us
Gore Vidal: Devil with a Soul
In Sympathy for the Devil:
‘Wuvable Oaf’ by Ed Luce
Wuvable Oaf is the tale of a big, hairy, gay ex-wrestler’s search for love in San Francisco
‘Dangerous When Wet’ by Jamie Brickhouse
Dangerous When Wet is a fabulous new memoir about a man who has it all–a great job in publishing, a longtime boyfriend, fun friends and a caring family. But Brickhouse has some serious life challenges too, including addictions and HIV
Jonathan Galassi: On Publishing, Poetry vs. Prose, and Meeting Your Literary Heroes
“I chose to write about publishing because it’s the world I know best, and because I wanted to leave a record of a way of working that really is gone now.”
‘It Starts with Trouble: William Goyen and the Life of Writing’ by Clark Davis
During his lifetime, William Goyen’s fiction elicited praise from the likes of Joyce Carol Oates and Truman Capote. He published five novels, several collections of short stories, a book of poems, and a respectable—if not abundant—body of nonfiction.
Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall: On the Queer Aspects of Hip Hop
“I think the reality of hip hop is that women and queer people and a lot of folks who we think about being in the margins have always been at the center of the culture.”
‘Muse’ by Jonathan Galassi
Jonathan Galassi does a superb job of offering a meticulously observed peek behind the curtain of the book publishing world, complete with an eclectic cast of outsized characters.
‘I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Part One: My Own Private Portland’ by Annie Murphy
The title of Murphy’s zineI Never Promised You a Rose Garden alludes to Portland’s nickname, “The City of Roses,” at the same time warning readers this book is not about petals and perfume.
‘The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into the Spotlight and Made History’ by Robin Givhan
The changes wrought by the designers and American fashion industry since Versailles make the reader realize, contrary to frequent accusations of frivolity, how serious the world of fashion can be.
“I want no ending,” and Neither Will You: ‘Chord’ as Continuation and Expansion of Rick Barot’s Exceptional Canon
The poems are sensuously complex, perhaps the most complex of Barot’s canon
‘To the Dark Tower’ by Francis King
To the Dark Tower, Francis King’s first novel, was published in 1946
‘Boo’ by Neil Smith
Smith ventures to convey a reality about bullying and mental health that is far braver than any you’ve ever read, as Boo is a spelunking adventure deep into the caves of life, death, good, evil, mortality, loss and grief.
‘Smash Cut: A Memoir of Howard & Art & the ’70s and the ’80s’ by Brad Gooch
In his new memoir Smash Cut, novelist and biographer Brad Gooch recounts his experiences in New York City during the turbulent ’70s and ’80s
‘The Man With the Overcoat’ by David Finkle
It is October, on an
Yarrott Benz: On Revisiting a Harrowing Adolescence and Writing His New Memoir ‘The Bone Bridge’
“Whether I like it or not, the story of The Bone Bridge is the defining story of my life.”
‘Visions and Revisions: Coming of Age in the Age of AIDS’ by Dale Peck
Peck compiles and re-edits material principally presented as stand-alone essays in their original publication, weaving a sort of non-linear portrait of the period during which HIV/AIDS was typically a terminal illness
‘Things Half in Shadow’ by Alan Finn
Alan Finn mines the fertile history of post-Civil War Philadelphia and the country’s obsession with Spiritualism during that period to craft a superbly rich, historically-detailed whodunit in Things Half in Shadow
‘Lost Boi’ by Sassafras Lowrey
Lost Boi is a counterculture fairy tale, but the way Lowery turns all expectations upside down and finds hope in the darkest corners is the real magic here.
‘Delicious Foods’ by James Hannaham
To describe Hannaham’s novel by referencing other writers would be too easy, and perhaps unfair. With Delicious Foods, James Hannaham has himself become a reference point.
Read an Excerpt from Larry Kramer’s ‘American People: Volume I’
This month, Farrar, Straus and Giroux is releasing the long-awaited new novel from author Larry Kramer, The American People: Volume 1: Search for My Heart: A Novel.
‘JD’ by Mark Merlis
Jonathan Ascher, an acclaimed 1960s
‘I Left It on the Mountain’ by Kevin Sessums
I Left It On the Mountain is a spiritual page-turner.
Mark Merlis: On His New Novel ‘JD,’ His Writing Process, and the Autobiographical Details in His Work
“I don’t know how other people work, but all my work is trial and error. You start out on the path to the book you think you want to write, and you may run into a dead end—like the dumbest rat in the maze—or you may find an opening to a vista you never imagined.”
‘Daydreamers’ by Jonathan Harper
Jonathan Harper’s debut collection Daydreamers is aptly named: each story contains the ruminations of young men drifting through their lives, either making bad choices or failing to choose
‘Call Me Home’ by Megan Kruse
Call Me Home, as the title implies, focuses very strongly on the idea of home. It’s place-based for sure, but in this novel, who we call home is even more important.
Pioneering Religious Leader and Writer Malcolm Boyd, 91, Has Died
Malcolm Boyd, a noted gay spiritual leader, activist and writer, has died
‘Don’t Let Him Know’ by Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy’s Don’t Let Him Know is a multi-generational story venturing deep into the hidden pasts of a single family over the course of decades.
‘The Autumn Balloon’ by Kenny Porpora
Porpora deploys a deft hand and straightforward tone that lifts what could have easily been a maudlin, self-pitying—or, in the opposite direction, self-congratulatory—narrative into a memoir that should be moved to the top of everyone’s to-read list immediately.
‘Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity’ by Robert Beachy
This is an important book, and an impressive feat of scholarship drawing on nearly five hundred sources, with twenty-two pages of notes and sixteen pages of photographs.
‘The God of Longing’ by Brent Calderwood
Understated, ironic and occasionally playful, Brent Calderwood’s poems in The God of Longing are vivid and calm
Author Craig Gidney on Illuminating Race and Diversity in Speculative Fiction
“‘Death and Two Maidens’ was my response to my research on African-descended Victorians. I wanted to write a penny dreadful story that went beyond the usual (pale-skinned) cast.”
‘The Vines’ by Christopher Rice
“[…] Rice’s latest novel […] creatively blends his first talent for mystery and suspense with his heritage and own imaginative horror to produce a captivating horticultural nightmare. […]”
A Poem by Ed Madden
This week, a poem by Ed Madden.
‘Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe: A Biography’ by Philip Gefter
Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe: A Biography is a book-length argument for Wagstaff’s importance in the world of American art.
‘Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh’ by John Lahr
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is first and foremost a perceptive and edifying look at Williams’ life.
‘Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague’ by Joyce Brabner and Illustrated by Mark Zingarelli
“In her new graphic novel, Joyce Brabner continues writing in the vein of the American Splendor comics she co-wrote with her husband Harvey Pekar, discovering stories, heroes and suspense in the daily activities of herself and her friends.”
‘Trespass’ by Thomas Dooley
Dooley has a particular heartbreaking family story to relate, of children abused, of the traumatized adults who find themselves in closets both metaphorical and literal
Brontez Purnell: On His New Book ‘The Cruising Diaries,’ Silencing the Critics, and the Joys of Writing About Sex
“I like writing in a way that can sometimes be dark yet still be generous to the human condition…”
‘Wilde in America: Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity’ by David M. Friedman
“The book’s central thesis is that our modern-day cult of celebrity, in the Kardashian sense of unaccomplished people famous for being famous, had its beginnings in Wilde’s American tour.”
‘Fearful Hunter’ by Jon Macy
“[….] this is a young adult romance, only it’s about a Druid and werewolf that fall in love, and includes gods, magic, shape-shifters, rednecks, and punks. There’s sex, but it leans towards erotic and romantic rather than explicit or hard-core.”
‘O, Africa!’ by Andrew Lewis Conn
Moving deftly from Coney Island to Africa to the first-ever Academy Award ceremony and back, O, Africa! is an engrossing and thought-provoking novel about self-discovery and the occasionally dangerous power of the movies.
‘They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full’ by Mark Bibbins
Julie Marie Wade gives you ten reasons to read Mark Bibbins’ newest book.
‘The Possibilities of Mud’ by Joe Jiménez
The speaker in The Possibilities
Read Jericho Brown’s Introduction to ‘Prime: Poetry & Conversation’
“For a poem to coalesce, for a character or an action to take shape, there has to be an imaginative transformation of reality which is in no way passive.”
‘A Room in Chelsea Square’ by Michael Nelson
Boredom is one thing you definitely won’t experience reading A Room in Chelsea Square. You might even be enlightened. The goal of satire after all is to foster change.
Remembering Assotto Saint: A Fierce and Fatal Vision
“[Saint] knew he had to chronicle the black gay voices of AIDS or they would be lost. He had to collect the bits and pieces that would create a different kind of names quilt–the angry verses, the embittered stanzas, the breathy last couplets of the dying.”
‘The Snow Queen’ by Michael Cunningham
“In The Snow Queen, Cunningham reminds us that no matter the form in which love arrives, we should consider ourselves lucky.”
‘The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America’ by Edward White
“The Tastemaker is essential reading for anyone interested in how America emerged from the cultural shadow of Europe in the last century.”
Lambda’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices: The 2013 Fellows Reflect
Lambda Literary checked in with the some of this year’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices participants and asked them to provide their own personal take on their time at the retreat.
Jon Macy: Queer Visual Splendor
“What people don’t get is that adult themes are not just restricted to prose; they are perfectly suited to comics as well.”
Graphic novelist Jon Macy took some time to talk with Lambda Literary about the power of queer comics, creating erotic material, and his Lambda Award winning graphic novel Teleny and Camille.
‘7 Miles a Second’ by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger, and Marguerite Van Cook
The resurrection of David Wojnarowicz,
‘Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director’ by Jack O’Brien
Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director details Jack O’Brien’s induction into theater through the Association of Producing Artists (APA) Repertory Company , his movement from an actor into a director, and his emergence as a major presence in the theater world in the 1970s.
Q&A With Self-published Writer Tom Schabarum
Last year was big one
Jay Bell: Something Like Love
Jay Bell, the winner of
‘Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns’ by David Margolick
It’s a sadly familiar story in American literature: an alcoholic gay writer of great talent comes to a tragic end. Think Hart Crane. Think Charles Jackson. And now think John Horne Burns, the subject of David Margolick’s enlightening biography, Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns (Other Press).
John Schuyler Bishop: The Strange Loves of Henry David Thoreau
“In all I read about him, Thoreau never really became more than the wooden icon who tramped the woods and wrote brilliant essays. But he was a living, breathing, gay man who yearned for love…”
A few bold scholars have explored the mystery of Henry David Thoreau’s love life, but author John Schuyler Bishop has now written a novel about it, appropriately titled Thoreau in Love.
‘Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father’ by Alysia Abbott
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father (W.W. Norton & Company) by Alysia Abbott manages to pick up the nearly moribund genre of the AIDS memoir, give it a good dusting off, and then send it back out into the world with something like a fighting chance.
‘Sacrilegion’ by L. Lamar Wilson
It’s far too easy to see an elision of religion and sacrilege in the title of L. Lamar Wilson’s bombshell of a collection, Sacrilegion (Carolina Wren Press), and thereby overlook the third member of a trinity: legion.
‘He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices’ by Stephen S. Mills
An important thematic element emerges
‘Obscenely Yours’ by Angelo Nikolopoulos
It can be hard to
‘Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club’ by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The seven stories in this
‘Harvard Square’ by André Aciman
[,,.] André Aciman’s greatest accomplishment with his latest novel: the crafting of a thoroughly inclusive love letter to those who have ever felt excluded.
‘The Master of Us All: Balenciaga, His Workrooms, His World’ by Mary Blume
How does one write a biography of someone who has been dead for 40 years, was a bit of a recluse their whole life, and whom few people really knew. If you are Mary Blume, and the subject is Cristobal Balenciaga, one of fashion’s most unique designers, you focus on the fashion itself…
‘Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema’ by Daniel Humphrey
Daniel Humphrey, in his new book-length study on the Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman, points out that since Bergman’s films were brought to America in the 1950s, gay men have been watching them in a unique way…
Remembering Taylor Mead: Queer, Beat Poet, and Warhol Superstar
While many of Mead’s contemporaries from the Warhol days either died young or moved on to different things, Mead continued to live his eccentric and artistic life in lower Manhattan, painting, and writing poetry…
Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, and Dreams Come True
Missionary Position Companions (Nich’ooni) is
‘Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? Confessions of a Gay Dad’ by Dan Bucatinsky
Families don’t just happen. Gay,
‘Farther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson’ by Blake Bailey
Blake Bailey has dissected complex, self-destructive literary lives in his biographies of Richard Yates and John Cheever, and Farther and Wilder will no doubt add to his reputation as the premiere chronicler of tormented American writers.
‘A Horse Named Sorrow’ by Trebor Healey
A Horse Named Sorrow has the musicality of a punk rock anthem; as a reader, you experience the same sensation of seeing your favorite underground band perform live, singing along with the unforgettable lyrics that have defined your youth…
David McConnell: Murder, Discovery, and Punishment
“Murder is the complete annihilation of another person. Not to be simplistic or flip, but it’s the ultimate way of saying ‘I want to be alone!'”
David McConnell’s new book, American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men (Akashic Books), ostensibly about men who kill gay men, contains insight after insight into the culture of masculine identity.
‘Appetite’ by Aaron Smith
At this year’s AWP, I
‘Skin Shift’ by Matthew Hittinger
The distinctive poetic vision creates
Read Eileen Myles’ Excerpt from Lambda’s ’25 for 25′ E-book
Read Eileen Myles’ excerpt from Lambda’s Literary’s 25th anniversary anthology, 25 for 25, an E-book featuring some of the community’s leading LGBT authors.
‘Proxy’ by R. Erica Doyle
Don’t be deceived by the
‘Spreadeagle’ by Kevin Killian
The acknowledgements section of Kevin
‘American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men’ by David McConnell
As this country again focuses
‘Slow Lightning’ by Eduardo C. Corral
So much has already been
‘The Talking Day’ by Michael Klein
The Talking Day is a nuanced, poignant, humane and absorbing collection, making supple use of the intricacies and exquisite radiance of language.
Doug Paul Case, “Ode”
Today, a new poem by Doug Paul Case.
Case lives in Bloomington, where he’s an MFA candidate at Indiana University and web editor of Indiana Review. His poems have appeared in Sou’wester, Harpur Palate, Juked, and Ilk.
GunnShots: Winter 2013
Several winter evenings passed enjoyably
Writer and Critic Donald Richie, 88, has Died
American ex-pat, writer, and critic Donald Richie, author of the memoir The Japan Journals, 1947-2004, died on February 19th, 2013 in Toyko. He was 88.
‘What Comes Around’ by Jameson Currier
From an adolescent crush on a swimming instructor to the imagined drowning of a high maintenance boyfriend, Currier explores every aspect of relationships – the good, the bad, and the very dysfunctional – each set in a literary landscape perfectly crafted for the lovelorn.
‘Robert Duncan in San Francisco’ by Michael Rumaker
This isn’t a memoir solely about the physical presence of Robert Duncan. It’s also about those who he inspired…
‘Not My Bag’ by Sina Grace
Retail is a service industry,
‘The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting’ by Philip Hensher
The Missing Ink, is very much concerned with the loss of individuality and character—a sad phenomenon that has been brought about by, among other things, the dominance of the keyboard.
‘Dinner with Lenny: The Last Long Interview with Leonard Bernstein’ by Jonathan Cott
A seemingly inexhaustible mix of talent, genius, exuberance, and mischievousness, this is the Bernstein that leaps off the page in Dinner with Lenny (Oxford University Press).
‘A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths’ by Tony Fletcher
In his introduction to A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of The Smiths (Crown Archetype), author Tony Fletcher makes the claim that, of all the books concerning The Smiths, this is the first one that focuses on the whole band rather than lead singer Morrissey or guitarist Johnny Marr.
Lambda Literary Goes to the Movies: Filmmakers’ Favorite Books
In continuation of “Lambda Literary Goes to the Movies” week, here’s what some of our favorite directors had to say about the LGBT books they love…
R. Zamora Linmark, “5/31/2012”
A new poem by R. Zamora Linmark treats us to a rainy day at the movies.
R. Zamora Linmark is the author of Rolling The R’s and Leche and three collections of poetry published by Hanging Loose Press. He divides his time between Honolulu and Manila, where he is currently working on a novel, revising a play, and completing his fourth poetry collection.
‘H’ by Jim Elledge
When Walt Whitman declared, “Through
Gay Latino Poet Richard Blanco has been Chosen as the 2013 Inaugural Poet
Poet Richard Blanco (Looking for the Gulf Motel) has been chosen to be the nation’s fifth inaugural poet. The Presidential Inaugural Committee made the official announcement Wednesday morning. Blanco is the youngest poet “— as well as the first Latino — to take part in an inaugural ceremony.”
GunnShots: Celebrating Great Gay Mysteries
“These are my candidates for the ten best gay mystery series and the ten best standalones. In looking back over them, one thing strikes me forcefully: all my choices share one or both of two things in common: a commitment on the sleuth’s part to something greater than his ego and a representation of the process of his self-actualization.”
‘The Scientists: A Family Romance’ by Marco Roth
Marco Roth grew up in
‘Oddly Normal: One Family’s Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality’ by John Schwartz
New York Times journalist John
Thom Nickels: Affliction, Morality, and Liberation
“Like it or not, we
Daniel Mendelsohn: Beyond Borders, Beyond Identities
“I learn things when people
‘Far from the Tree’ by Andrew Solomon
In Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search For Identity (Scribner), psychologist Andrew Solomon poses a fundamental question: How do you nurture a child who is nothing like you?
‘Music for Porn’ by Rob Halpern
Music for Porn (Nightboat Books) is a linguistic symphony of the fetishization and politicization of the body of the “soldier” and an exploration of intimacy and desire.
‘SATANICA’: Pleasure Seekers Wanted
At a loss on what
‘Lovetown’ by Michał Witkowski
The phrase “too many queens, not enough spotlights” should give a glimpse into the anarchic feel of Michał Witkowski’s debut novel, Lovetown.
The self-proclaimed ‘queens’ of Lovetown, who exclusively refer to each other by feminine names, revel in what they see as the glorious heyday of Polish Communist-era sex, equal measures grim and liberating.
‘Penetralia’ by Richard Foerster
“I’ve loved the dead too
Queer Rites: November 2012
While reading Salman Rushdie’s Joseph
‘These Things Happen’ by Richard Kramer
“A lot can happen in a day sometimes,” says Wesley Bowman, one of two teenaged boys at the center of Richard Kramer’s witty and often moving first novel, These Things Happen (Unbridled Books). This opening line, of course, is prescient. A lot does happen in each of the few days that frame this story, in which the adults in Wesley’s life are forced to reevaluate their understanding of themselves.
‘States of Independence’ by Michael Klein and ‘The Pillow Book’ by Jee Leong Koh
Chapbooks are often a prelude,
Shawn C. Nabors: To Love and Be Loved
“I’ve really had to dig deep to bring to the fore situations that society may be afraid to confront like two young black men openly expressing their sexual selves on stage.”
Shawn C. Nabors is a young emerging actor, playwright and poet from Brooklyn. His first play, deliciously titled Cake, will appear Off-Broadway this summer at the American Theatre of Actors. We’ve reached out to Shawn to learn more about the play and his artistic self.
Tory Adkisson, “First Harvest”
This week, a poem by Tory Adkisson.
Adkisson recently earned his MFA from The Ohio State University and recently has had work featured in Cave Wall, Linebreak, and 32 Poems. A Southern California native, he currently lives in Athens, where he attends the PhD program in literature and creative writing at the University of Georgia.
Alex Dimitrov, “You Are The Party I Want To Go To”
This Valentine’s Day, we’re pleased to bring you Alex Dimitrov’s love poem for fellow poet Dorothea Lasky.
Dimitrov’s first book of poems, Begging for It, is forthcoming from Four Way Books in early 2013. He is the recipient of the Stanley Kunitz Prize for younger poets from The American Poetry Review and the founder of Wilde Boys, a queer poetry salon in New York City. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Yale Review, Slate, Tin House, and Boston Review.
‘A Waste of Time’ by Rick Worley
This is the tale of a big-headed narrator bunny, a sex-n-drug crazed fox, a teddy bear best friend, and ill-fated robot lovers that drink, smoke weed, look at porn, bonk guys and snort things they later regret. Or not.
‘Folsom Street Blues: A Memoir of 1970’s SoMa and Leatherfolk in Gay San Francisco’ by Jim Stewart
Jim Stewart brings together stories, poems and photographs that gives readers of today a glimpse into the early days of the leather community and the beginnings of a post-stonewall gay community in San Francisco.
‘Jack Holmes and His Friend’ by Edmund White
Jack Holmes and His Friend does not re-open Edmund White’s The Boy’s Own Story trilogy, nor, like Fanny (2003), does it venture into the genre of the historical novel. What Jack Holmes and His Friend does do is continue White’s long and distinguished use of semi-autobiography to produce fine literary fiction.
‘Halsted Plays Himself’ by William E. Jones
Los Angeles-based artist and experimental filmmaker William E. Jones has brought together a variety of materials that will help, hopefully, to revive an appreciation both for Halsted’s work as well as of the man himself.
Jon L. Jensen, “Sestina Dickinson Would Never Write”
This week, four new poems by Jon L. Jensen.
Jon L. Jensen has spent the last decade in Harlem, New York, but his poetic universe has never escaped the badlands of his native Wyoming. He also works as an essayist and translator of Russian verse, holding degrees in Classics, Russian and Rhetoric. In former lives, he has worked as Mormon missionary trying to save Evangelicals in the Deep South and as a Peace Corps volunteer trying to teach HIV prevention to sex workers on the streets of Moscow. The poems included here are a part of a book-length manuscript, The Flannel Lord.
‘Lightning People’ by Christopher Bollen
A fun fact about lightning: a strike lasts for about 30 microseconds.
Lightning People starts with a similar flash. The narrator of the prologue, Joseph Guiteau, speaks in conspiratorial terms, suggesting a link between a rise in lightning-related Manhattan-area deaths and the fall of the Twin Towers.
‘Circuit’ by Walter Holland
Towards the end of Walter
Greg Nicholl, “Moments Lifted”
Today we’re pleased to feature
‘The Songs of António Botto’ trans. Fernando Pessoa, ed. Josiah Blackmore
Poets, whether by design or
Josh Aterovis: Falling in love with Nancy Drew
And Being the Black Sheep
Book Lovers: Suspicious Tricks
A Queer Diagnosis Suspicious Diagnosis
Andrew Demcak, “Tattoo”
Today, two poems by Andrew
Metaphysical Journals & Radical Faeries
Explorations in Queer Spirituality My
‘Under the Poppy’ by Kathe Koja
Daringly provocative and entertainingly risque,
BookLovers: Valentine’s Day
Life Comes for the Normal
‘Lord of the White Hell (Book One)’ by Ginn Hale
Wicked Gentlemen and Feral Machines author,
‘Blood Sacraments’ ed. by Todd Gregory [NSFW]
For men who are into
‘Slut Machine’ by Shane Allison
Slut Machine (Queer Mojo) by
L. Lamar Wilson, “In the Lion’s Den”
This week, two poems by
‘A Passionate Engagement’ by Ken Harvey
Those watching the marriage equality
GunnShots: Winter 2011
A Roundup of Gay Crime
Book Lovers: Bad Romance
Hate: A Romance, the Prix
Angelo Nikolopoulos, “Daffodil”
For a splash of color
‘Double Bound’ by Nick Nolan
In his exciting debut novel,
Book Lovers: Holiday Romance
“Oh the weather outside is
Michael Klein, “Happiness Ruined Everything”
Kicking off this December, two
‘Spore’ by Thom Nickels
The fifth novel by Philadelphia
Timothy Liu, “Blind Date”
Today we’re pleased to feature
RJ Gibson, “Poem With Bodies In It”
This week’s poem by RJ
‘Secret Historian’ By Justin Spring
While I may not remember
Benjamin S. Grossberg, “The Space Traveler’s Husband”
Today we’re featuring work by
Alex Dimitrov, “James Franco”
Kicking off this month’s Poetry
‘Grant Wood: A Life’ by R. Tripp Evans
One of the most famous
Charlie Vázquez, “Bronx Dharma”
This week we’re featuring work
‘Oscar Wilde in America: The Interviews’ by Matthew Hofer and Gary Scharnhorst
From the publication of Frank
Brent Goodman, “Attack of the Handsome Bad Guys”
For today’s inaugural post, two
