The Book: Scott Faraday is sixteen and has no idea that his world is about to radically change. Scott is fun-loving, in a small-town rock band, and out—but only to a select few. Isolated in a high desert town, Scott doesn’t know anyone else who is gay. When Ryan St. Charles, a troubled 17-year-old, moves to Yucca Valley, Scott’s world tilts on its axis.
Ryan is a brash seventeen-year-old who has just severed a long relationship with a man, but still considers himself straight. As Scott and Ryan’s friendship develops, Scott begins to suspect that Ryan might be covering up that he’s gay. When Scott comes out to Ryan, their friendship is transformed into his first real relationship.
Tightly focused on these two characters, Desert Sons follows the thoughts and emotion of the ups and downs of a young adult gay relationship. Filled with first-time wonder, teenage angst, and the swirl of emotions that can only be expressed by youth, readers are pulled headlong into a highly-charged drama.
“In Desert Sons, Mark Kendrick has provided all the ingredients of a good book: solid characterization, a compelling story, and a skillful evocation of place. All in all, Desert Sons is a wonderful read, realistic and moving. Highly recommended.”—Guy Willard, author of Foolish Fire and Mirrors of Narcissus
Amazon: Desert Sons
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: "I remember being fascinated with pens at an early age. That was just about the time I learned how to write in cursive. The fact that a pen would put a permanent mark on a page, as opposed to a pencil, which could be erased, was intriguing. I sought to make sure that what I wrote would be permanent and legible. Fourth grade was a pivotal period in my young life. I was enrolled in one of those experimental 'open concept' schools that year. Although they were a failed educational experiment nationwide, the concept worked on me like no other grade before or after. I took my first Spanish class then. It stuck. I read my first SF book then. It's a genre that I still read and can't get enough of. I learned how to read a map. That came in very handy once I became a Boy Scout. To this day I have a fascination with maps. We did those SRA Reading Labs modules that year, too. Boy, was I hooked on reading because of them. I wrote my first imaginative story. My life was never the same when I realized that my imagination was restless, was overflowing, and needed a voice.
I started out writing one page creative stories that had little audience (they were very imaginative, but extremely childish). In 6th grade I wrote a stage play and acted in it, too. I didn't take to acting but my imagination was on fire. Shortly after my 15th birthday the poetry Muse visited and refused to leave. She stayed with me for over 20 years. I ended up writing 15 volumes of poems (count 'em: hundreds). In high school I co-wrote a play, again which I acted in. I was also the co-editor of, and contributor to, a student creative writing anthology which sold out. Although poetry was my main creative outlet for years, always in the back of my mind a couple of novel length ideas were incubating.
Despite the fact that I had an imagination that wouldn't quit, I wasn't particularly encouraged to write. Some people have the luxury of supportive relatives. I didn't. If you're one of those people be thankful for that! For encouragement I turned to my creative friends (mostly musicians) who I felt were gods. Some of them knew that one day I would write the novels I knew were inside me.
I eventually went off to college. Thinking that I had to be practical I majored in business with an emphasis on technology. I got into the wonderful world of computer networking and ultimately became a Microsoft certified networking consultant. Spurred into action by a random conversation with an IT co-worker back in 2000, I wondered why I had let my novel ideas languish. Just a few days later I launched Word 2K and went to work. It was as if the floodgates had opened. I had waited so long, had squashed my need to write for way too many decades, that the stories started pouring out." Mark Ian Kendrick
http://www.mark-kendrick.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Stephen Clair, the notorious Earl of St. Joseph, has a lover he can’t afford, a social calendar that’s out of control and a libido that rules his life. If he can’t get control of all of them, he will fall into financial ruin. Could the youthful, handsome and dependable Jamie Riley be the solution to his problems? Jamie Riley has a secret that keeps him from accepting the sexual advances of his employer, Stephen Clair, and a past he would like to leave behind. But Stephen is a man who knows how to awaken a passion that Jamie has been trying to suppress, and carries a price that Jamie would rather not pay. But it isn’t easy to ignore passion, especially when it’s so temptingly close. Julian Jeffries, lover to Stephen Clair, has found a way of living the high life without lifting a finger. It isn’t until Julian notices that Stephen has been spending time with his latest employee, Jamie Riley, that he begins to worry about losing everything he’d schemed to have. Now Julian needs to find a way of getting rid of Jamie without raising suspicion. And, as Julian knows, the best way to do that is to dig into Jamie’s past and find something to use against him. Pearson’s charming, easygoing novel...is a well-crafted model of the genre...a breezy and solidly satisfying read. -- Richard Labonté - Books to Watch Out For
[The Price of Temptation] is a lighthearted and fun guilty-pleasure type read. -- Bay Windows
Amazon: The Price of Temptation
Amazon Kindle: The Price of Temptation
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Marlys (MJ) Pearson was born in Elizabethtown, way up in the mountains of upstate New York. After eleven barefoot years spent roaming the wilds of the Adirondacks, she moved with her family to the relative metropolis of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where she graduated with honors (and half the English prize) from St. Johnsbury Academy. After dropping out of St. John's College (Annapolis), she spent several years checking out other mountainous parts of the world (including Colorado, New Mexico, and Scotland), then returned to Maryland to study historical archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Several years in grad school at UMass/Amherst followed, before she decided to leave academia and concentrate on writing fiction. Currently, Marlys lives with her family in the Midwest, where she writes full time. Is a new book in progress? Always.
http://www.marlyspearson.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: When Sam Raintree goes to work for Bay City Paranormal Investigations, he expects his quiet life to change-he doesn't expect to put his life and sanity on the line, or to fall for a man he can never have. Book One in the Bay City Paranormal Investigation series.
Sam Raintree has never been normal. All his life, he's experienced things he can't explain. Things that have colored his view of the world and of himself. So taking a job as a paranormal investigator seems like a perfect fit. His new co-workers, he figures, don't have to know he's gay.
When Sam arrives at Oleander House, the site of his first assignment with Bay City Paranormal Investigations, nothing is what he expected. The repetitive yet exciting work, the unusual and violent history of the house, the intensely erotic and terrifying dreams which plague his sleep. But the most unexpected thing is Dr. Bo Broussard, the group's leader.
From the moment they meet, Sam is strongly attracted to his intelligent, alluring boss. It doesn't take Sam long to figure out that although Bo has led a heterosexual life, he is very much in the closet, and wants Sam as badly as Sam wants him.
As the investigation of Oleander House progresses and paranormal events in the house escalate, Sam and Bo circle warily around their mutual attraction, until a single night of bloodshed and revelation changes their lives forever. Warning: this title contains explicit male/male sex, intense violence, and graphic language.
( Reviews )
Amazon: Oleander House (Bay City Paranormal Investigations)
Amazon Kindle: Oleander House (Bay City Paranormal Investigations)
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Married nearly twenty years, two entirely fabulous children, one entirely fabulous (in a manly way) husband. Been an RN for the last eighteen years. I am originally from the Alabama Gulf Coast, but have lived in the lovely Western North Carolina mountains for over twenty years now, and I love it. Like so many other female slash writers, I started out by writing fan fiction. Not telling who it involved, as it was real people rather than fictional characters (bad, bad Ally... ). I quickly graduated to original character fiction, and discovered that I liked that even better. It's the hot boy-on-boy action that flips my switch, though, so that's what I still write, for the most part.
My first short story was published in the ezine Forbidden Fruit (go to the links page and check it out!). I have since become a regular contributer to Forbidden Fruit, and have also had short stories published in the erotic ezine Ruthie's Club, as well as a story in the Torquere Press ezine Fresh Off The Vine. My books are available through Loose Id and Samhain Publishing.
http://www.allyblue.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: The "Jeff and Lloyd" Trilogy. In the sexy and provocative follow-up to The Men From the Boys, Jeff O'Brien—still in search of love and sex—navigates the circuit scene from Provincetown to San Francisco, from Montreal to Palm Springs, in the company of friends, tricks, old loves, and irresistible strangers, going any place Where the Boys Are. Jeff and his on-again, off-again lover Lloyd Griffith are both thirtysomething professionals still grieving the death of their mentor Javitz. Jeff bounces from party to party, finding it easy to forget his grief when he's on the dance floor, immersed in a sea of beautiful boys with sculpted pecs and speed bumps for abs. With him at all times is his protege, best friend, sister, and not-so-secret admirer Henry Weiner, once a ninety-eight-pound weakling who, in his late twenties, has blossomed into a hunky muscle-boy escort. Meanwhile, Lloyd deals with his own grief by rejecting the sex-and-drugs culture and buying a guesthouse in Provincetown with an eccentric widow named Eva Horner.
As the lives of Jeff, Lloyd, and Henry intertwine, each faces his own mystery. Henry's repressed feelings of love for Jeff propel him on a fascinating quest to discover his own identity amid the often seedy world of sex for cash. Lloyd experiences the dark side of the “fag hag” experience when Eva exhibits increasingly bizarre behavior. As petite as the Bride of Chucky, she might possibly be just as deranged. But the most intriguing mystery of all involves the beautiful, mysterious stranger Jeff meets on the dance floor at yet another circuit party and invites to move in. Anthony Sabe is a young man seemingly without a past, whose bright-eyed ingenuousness at first charms everyone, but later raises suspicions. Jeff, once an investigative journalist, sets out to uncover the truth about Anthony. What he finds is progressively more disturbing, raising questions not only about Anthony but also about himself.
As each of these stories intertwines, Jeff, Lloyd, and Henry deal with the myriad issues confronting gay men today: sex, drugs, grief, AIDS, barebacking, body image, commitment, one-night stands, and the search for love. The first novel to be set on the gay party circuit—a phenomenon that has in recent years been much in the media, for good and bad— Where The Boys Are evokes a world with its own language, customs, traditions, and idiosyncracies, set to a backdrop of sex, drugs, and dance music.
An evocative slice of gay life in the 21st century, Where The Boys Are is sexy, funny, and insightful—and, ultimately, about the meaning of friendship and the acceptance of self.
( Reviews )
Amazon: Where The Boys Are
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: William J. Mann alternates his creative energies between fiction and nonfiction. “The two forms require different strategies and techniques,” he says, “but ultimately I’m faced with the same challenge. I need to find the story and I need to tell it well.” His biography of Katharine Hepburn, titled Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn
, received extraordinary acclaim when it was published in 2006. The Sunday Times (London) called it “definitive.” Historian David Thomson, writing for the New York Observer, said the book “set new standards in movie biography.” Gore Vidal considered it “not only an intriguing portrait of Katharine Hepburn, but also an accurate picture of her Hollywood and the difficult business of stardom.” The New York Times named Kate one of the 100 Notable Books of 2006 Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn was named one of the 100 Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. Mann's novels set in Provincetown enjoy a devoted following Just as his nonfiction brings the past vividly to life, Mann’s novels have been praised for their keen insight on the present, especially the lives of gay American men. His first novel, The Men from the Boys
, was the best-selling gay novel of 1997, and its long-awaited sequel, Where The Boys Are, published in 2003, continues to enjoy a devoted following from readers. Other novels have received considerable acclaim as well, particularly the offbeat All American Boy
. Mann won the Lambda Literary Award in 1999 for Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines
, which tells the story of the early Hollywood icon and interior decorator to the stars. The book continues to be popular, and has been optioned as a feature film. Born in Connecticut, Mann worked briefly in Washington, DC, as a Capitol Hill aide before receiving his Masters degree at Wesleyan University. He has worked as a freelance journalist and editor. Currently Mann divides his time between Provincetown, Massachusetts and Palm Springs, California (“two of the most beautiful places on Earth,” he says) with his partner, Dr. Timothy Huber.
As of early 2008, he is finishing another novel as well as working on “the quintessential story of fame,” he says—a book called How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood
.http://www.williamjmann.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
I posted again about him, he did a wonderful video with Joseph Sinclair and my friends loved it, (Alex
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ashmedaiyou also reposted it, remember?) and another time I saw that he was on Broadway with a good play I would so loved to see, but didn't have the chance to go. And then one night, I was playing a movie on my laptop, A Four Letter Word, and there he was, doing a little role as Long John; I was so happy to see him in a movie that, when I posted about it, I sent the link to Max, and he told me that he was booked to play the same role also in the sequel, Violet Tendencies, that is my adopted movie, so you see, I couldn't avoid to ask him for an interview. You know friends, I post a lot, but I interview only few, not since I don't like all the people I post about, but since I'm always scared when I do an interview that I'm not asking the right questions, that the interview will not represent in the right way the man and his dream... But I think that Max Rhyser's interview is FANTASTIC, and not since I asked the right questions, but since Max poured his heart in it. I can't, really I can't dismember the email he sent me with his answers to fill my questions since the email is perfect as it's, and so I'm happy to guest Max, and his heart, on my LJ: "How did I decide upon New York and do I feel it is the right stop for me? Well, brace yourself...
I arrived at JFK on August 23rd, 2004. It was the rainiest August New York has ever seen. Despite being soaked to the bone, I was excited and ready to take on the world. Little did I know I was about to embark on the hardest week of my life!
I came to New York to do a Showcase in the hopes of attracting the attention of agents and casting directors - I was not so lucky. In fact none of us were... The United Council of Drama Schools in the UK had arranged a New York Showcase for the American students studying abroad, possessing a US passport I seized the opportunity. Unfortunately it was still a brand new endeavor and it failed miserably.
My last few months in London had been extremely successful. I graduated from Mountview Academy of Performing Arts a few months early to get out and work professionally. A very high-powered Agent, Dawn Sedgwick, had swooped me up after my final year Showcase in London and I began working in Fringe Theatre and immediately booked work on a BBC sitcom, MY HERO. Things were booming for me!
( Max Rhyser )
And so after the immediate and huge success in London, the failure of the New York Showcase was unbearable. As my week came to an end I knew I had to stay in New York! I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it. Going home would have been to easy! And so, I took my plane ticket and very cinematically ripped it in half!
My adventure began...
Fortunately I knew a few people in New York and so I couch-surfed for several months, then ended up subletting a few apartments, the craziest of which was the eleven person loft on the border of SOHO and ChinaTown. We often joked that we were like the REAL WORLD without the MTV funding.
I took every job that came my way. I worked as an assistant at a Fashion PR office by day and as a busboy by night. I became very caught up in New York life, the excitement, the opportunities, the "Life!" Within six months however I began to realize that although I was living a wonderful life I wasn't fulfilled. I missed acting and so my dream came back into action.
I had always been intrigued by MEISNER and so enrolled in the two year program at the William Esper Studio. I got new head shots and joined the First Look Theatre Co. And voila, the PR assistant by day and busboy by night started booking work! Various Off-Off Broadway shows, readings, student films and then RAZORTOOTH. Amazing! I was on a plane heading to Hollywood to shoot a film, a horror film, no less! I played an escaped convict in South East Florida, searching for freedom, saving some kids along the way, and eventually, I was eaten alive by a giant killer mutant eel! Life was GOOD!
( Max Rhyser )
I took the opportunity of being in LA to do some television work and earn my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card.
So to answer your question... YES, New York is "the right stop for me!" Although my staying in New York was never the plan, and despite the hardship of my first week, New York is home. I have in fact never felt as at home anywhere else. They say New York is harsh and that you either love it or hate it. I LOVE IT! It's funny, deep down I have always felt like a New Yorker, now I am. And although it is nice to take a break from the city every now and then, I always come running back "HOME!"
I do however miss Europe and if I wasn't pursuing acting I could easily imagine myself returning to Paris and being an American in Paris, la vie en rose!
As far as California versus New York goes, I'm not so sure, Certainly two very different cities filled with very different people. I have a lot of actor friends who make the move to LA and within months or years come running back. There are a few, however, who love it and stay.
LA is film and television and New York is primarily stage... so LA is definitely going to happen somewhere down the line. I however want to make the move to LA with a very big job waiting for me when I arrive. It seems that to be a struggling actor is much more bearable in New York... there is such a HUGE amount of actors in LA that even finding a "money-job aka survival-job" is hard and competitive because there are millions of unemployed actors all competing for the same waitering, bartending, temping jobs.
I also just think I am much more of a New Yorker by nature and that LA would only suit me if it were to be accompanied with a mind-blowing acting job.
( Max Rhyser )
That being said there is much much less tv and film work in New York, although recent tax-breaks on filming in New York is starting to improve things, and as such, it is harder to secure work on the East coast.
New York is real, LA is shallow, I often hear, and I am much more interested in the real!
As far as a typical day in the life of Max goes, well, that's a tough one. Let me address your question regarding modeling before proceeding to my daily life...
I fell madly in love and moved to Montreal, Canada in pursuit of that love. Without working papers and without speaking French a la Quebecoise, acting was virtually impossible. I instantly secured an agent and manager, as a result of an audition I had my first week there but I would not be able to work without papers. And so, modeling seemed like the best way to make money and it was! I joined NEXT and booked a lot of work. It was pretty amazing and at every photo shoot I kind of felt like the star of a miniature film. When my pursuit of love ended I returned to New York, the city of supermodels... I signed with 'Q" which was amazing but was up against a lot of serious models and so despite the work I was getting I was spending too much time modeling and it didn't seem worth it! I discussed it with "Q" and they willingly released me from my contract...
Ok, so daily life, without modeling castings all day every day... Pretty crazy!
( Max Rhyser )
I wake up at the crack of dawn to meditate and exercise, anything from going for a jog to doing yoga or spending a couple of hours at the gym.
Then I try to sit down for a few hours and write.
Auditions are few and far between but as my resume increases so do the frequency of my auditions, work begets work and so I am always working! Always moving forward.
When I am working on a play, sometimes two plays simultaneously like this last July, I rehearse and rehearse, running from show to show, grabbing a bite somewhere along the way, and then crashing, exhausted after a loooooooong day, in bed.
I sometimes think of myself as Chekhov's eternal student as I am always studying. Acting is a craft, a muscle, it needs training and exercise and so I am always seeking to expand my knowledge, strengthen my craft, hone up on my skills and be the best I can be.
( Max Rhyser )
I am currently blessed to have Jennifer Gelfer as my acting mentor. She is an amazing and talented woman who has come to mean the world to me. She just started the Beverly Hills Playhouse New York, the East Coast division of the original Beverly Hills Playhouse started by Milton Katselas many years ago. It is there that I do MASTER SCENE STUDY.
I am also working with a very gifted man named Brad Calcaterra at The Studio exploring my inner demons and developing my one-man show in a class called RISK! It is AMAZING...
There are other workshops I do sporadically but these two classes are my main source of inspiration.
Friendships as well as family are very important to me. Unfortunately I am quite far from most of my family and so in an attempt to make my friends my family in New York, I always set aside a little time to make sure we see each other on a weekly basis.
And then of course I live in New York, there are always new exhibits, shows, films, galleries and restaurants (Huge fan of food!!!) opening up and I take advantage of that as much as I can, never enough, but I try!
( Max Rhyser )
Lastly, there is always the question of money and supporting oneself in a city like New York. I am very open to a wide array of work and so I take on a lot of different jobs when there is a slow month acting wise, the most common of which is bar tending. In New York we work for tips and so making a good drink and having a nice smile adds up very quickly and keeps the bank account flowing smoothly! Ah yes, the life of an actor.
And you're right, it is mostly not that simple. Living the life of an artist never is, and so we do things, jobs, as a means to an end. We work hard because we dream big!
They say the three most stressful experiences in life are moving home, breaking up with a partner, and looking for a new job. Unfortunately in acting, you are always looking for a new job! Even the super successful actors are always looking for their next project... Oy Vey!
Something I have begun to feel about acting is that you are always at the mercy of several people at once, the agent, the manager, the casting director, the director, the producer, the Network, there can be five rounds of auditions before you get the part... that is a lot of people you have to convince that you are the single best actor for the role!!!
Within that process I sometimes feel like I have no power, I get tired of selling myself sometimes, and that is why I have started writing and producing, taking back some control. I have always been a writer and it wont be long before I publish some of my work but now I am writing screen-plays, the first of which, TAKE MY HAND, will be completed shortly. Producing TAKE MY HAND will be the launch of my film company - very exciting indeed.
But for now my focus in on starting my own Theatre Company. Last year I had my producing debut with BURN THIS by Lanford Wilson in which I played Larry. At the start of 2010 my Theatre Company will launch with the Industry Staged Reading of THE TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS in which I am playing David. My Theatre Company, the name of which I cannot yet reveal will aim to push the lines of comfortability, it will provoke and excite, it will question the way we, as humans, think and live our lives. I hope it will affect people and make them better, in some tiny way, perhaps some grand way, it will make them more tolerant of one another. I aim for a better world and want to contribute my life to achieving that.
So, yes, I am extremely busy with a lot of projects and working very hard at all of them. I love it and I could not be happier! I DO, therefore I HAVE, therefor I AM!
Ha Ha, wow, as for dream roles and collaborators, in truth, the list is endless but that is a very good question Elisa and one that I will sit down and think on long after this interview is finished. There are sooooomany amazing artists that i would love to work with but for now I will just say that I need to get on to TRUE BLOOD, and finally, live out my vampire fantasy, and bite some juicy necks!
My most recent bookings in film:
Heads and Tails
Mosaic of Scars
The Dreamer
The Teacher
Violet Tendencies
Stage:
Dawn
Too Much, Too Far, Too Soon (the film version is set to film this February!)
In an effort to prioritize my writing and producing career I have been turning down a lot of projects, you cannot do it all, well I probably could but not at the level of brilliance I seek to achieve in my work. Saying NO can be hard but often opens the possibility to say YES to something else.
Life is never easy but always exciting and I am incredibly grateful for everything I have. Gratitude is very powerful, and easily accessible to us all!
Of course I miss Europe, how can you not? And of course I miss my family - they are an incredible support and I am very blessed... but this is my life, I am seizing it by the horns and making my dreams become my reality... I like to say that I am not sacrificing one thing for another but rather committing to what is important in the now.
I will definitely stay in touch with you and keep you posted on what is going on with me. For now, and always, I send you love and light.
Namaste, Max."
So friends, I was or not right in loving Max? I think this interview is not only a good insight in the life of a young man with ambition and heart (a perfect combination), but also a master piece on the life of so many young men out there. I will always cherish this post, I think it teached us a lot.
You can find Max at:
http://www.maxrhyser.com/
( Max Rhyser )
( Max Rhyser )
The Book: A long way from the usual ghosted celebrity autobiography, this is Julian Clary's debut as a writer of huge talent - perhaps closer in style to Fay Weldon or Muriel Spark than Dale Winton. Julian has led a unique life. From boarding school, where unholy monks taught him the rudiments of glamour, alternative living and brutality, through to art school in London while the punk and alternative comedy revolution was in full swing, finding out by practical trial and error whether he was gay or straight, his huge success and fame as probably the most high profile gay man in the country and, during the same period, the pain of losing those close to him and the high price of his fame. This is the first time he has voiced his private life and he will bring to its telling all the elegance, economy and integrity that have always informed his comedy. And, possibly, the odd double entendre. Amazon: A Young Man's Passage
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Since graduating from Goldsmiths College University, London in the Eighties with a degree in English Drama, Julian Clary has gone on to become one of the country's most recognisable entertainers, and during his 17 years in showbusiness has turned his hand to comedy, acting, presenting, writing and even performing as a novice dancer on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where he reached the final. Julian has appeared on Television programmes ranging from Friday Night Live (Ch4), Sticky Moments and Terry and Julian, It's Only TV But I Like It, four ITV Christmas pantomimes,The National Lottery show, Come And Have A Go and Who Do You Think You Are? for BBC1.
He has toured the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand many times and also appeared in Boy George's memorable West End musical, Taboo and as the Emcee in Cabaret at London's Lyric Theatre. His indelible impact on the entertainment world was recognised in 2001 when he was awarded 'the big red book' by Michael Aspel on This Is Your Life.
His Autobiography, A Young Man's Passage
, was published by Ebury Press in June 2006 and was a Sunday Times bestseller, and his first Novel, Murder Most Fab: You'd Kill to be that Famous
, was published in 2007. He has just finished dancing with Lilia Kopylova on the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour and his second novel, Devil in Disguise, has just been published by Ebury Press in May 2009. http://www.julianclary.co.uk/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: "I love the long distance run, when you feel like you’re about to die…and then you reach this place where you feel like there are no boundaries for you anywhere…" In many ways, Jason Peele is like any other teenager. He hits the books, hangs with his friends, flirts with girls, and omits the full truth of his life from his Aunt Audrey and Uncle Steve, who have raised him since his parents died. But there’s one way that Jason Peele is very different: when he dreams at night, it isn’t about girls; it’s about David Bowie. At sixteen-years-old, Jason is just beginning to understand that he might be gay.
The one place Jason feels comfortable is on the track where he can run fast and hard. He loves the feel of the wind at his back, of his legs propelling him furiously around, the roar of the crowd in his ears. But now, even his sanctuary feels threatening. It isn’t just the jerks who call him “faggot” in the locker room. A new guy has joined the team, and everything about him will challenge the way Jason sees life. From late-night showings of “La Cage Aux Folles” to reading Gandhi, he’s running a new race on an uncertain course, and only one thing’s for sure—his senior year is going to be unforgettable…
With A Secret Edge, Robin Reardon delivers a sexy, sensitive coming-of-age novel about identity and courage, love and honor, anger and hope, and the many ways the truth can really set you free.
“As sexy as it is surprising. A Secret Edge is a refreshing spin on the coming out story as well as a memorable new love story for the new millennium.” --Brian Sloan, author of A Tale of Two Summers.
( My Review )
Amazon: A Secret Edge
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Robin Reardon is an inveterate observer of human nature and has been writing forever — childish songs, poems, little plays. If you enjoy Robin’s books, you should read her open letter: THE CASE FOR ACCEPTANCE: An Open Letter to Humanity. In this work Robin uses reason, physical and social sciences, psychology, various other provable disciplines, and religious scripture to remove any rational objection to homosexuality. The letter also takes a stab at explaining why so many people refuse to let go of their gut-level, knee-jerk negative response to gays, and how their very humanity could help them. How it could help everyone.
By day Robin works as a communications manager for an international financial institution, creating strategic communications approaches specializing in intranet delivery of internal communications. Interests outside of writing include singing, photography, and the study of comparative religions. Robin writes in a butter yellow study with a view of the Boston, Massachusetts skyline.
http://www.robinreardon.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: In the tradition of Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero, Tom Dolby has written a searing debut novel about going after what you really want without losing yourself in the process. Powerfully written, keenly felt, The Trouble Boy heralds an exciting new voice in fiction. "This is about fame and celebrity and the lengths to which people will go to have a taste of it..."
At twenty-two, Toby Griffin wants it all-fame, fortune, an Oscar-winning screenplay and a good-looking boyfriend by his side. For now, what he's got is a freelance writing job at a tanking online magazine, a walk-up sublet in the East Village and "the boys," a young posse of preppy Upper East Siders with a taste for high fashion, top-shelf liquor and other men.
But for Toby, downing vodka cranberries and falling in and out of lust with a series of guys he knows as Subway Boy, Loft Boy and Goth Boy is getting old. So is being pursued by his best friend Jamie while secretly desiring his co-worker, Donovan, a sexual adventurer who seems intent on conducting his own Kinsey report in bedrooms across the city. That all changes when Toby gets the chance of a lifetime-working as a personal assistant to hip, ruthless film mogul, Cameron Cole. Picking up Cameron's steamed veggies and typing up his memos is Toby's entrée to the big time, moving in a dizzying crowd of celebrities and power makers. Suddenly he's swilling champagne with scenemakers like publicist Ariana Richards, Hollywood bombshell Jordan Gardner, and club performer Lola Copacabana. In this decadent, drug-fueled world of VIP lounges, endless networking and relentless hype, Toby discovers that nothing is what is seems and that anything and anyone can be spun into PR gold. Though he's making friends with all the right people. Toby realizes that succeeding in Manhattan isn't as easy as he thought-until the one tragic night that changes his future forever and puts him in a position of power he never could have imagined.
But with Toby's name suddenly becoming Page Six material, his life is coming unglued. And as his professional contacts betray him and his friends reveal troubling secrets, his choices become that much harder-and that much more important. Now, in his first year on his own, Toby Griffin is about to learn the price of getting everything he ever wanted...
Amazon: The Trouble Boy
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Tom Dolby is the author of the novels The Sixth Form
, The Trouble Boy, and the Secret Society series, including the novel Secret Society
and its upcoming sequel. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tom was born in London and raised in San Francisco. Tom is a graduate of the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, where he received his BA in the history of art. He currently divides his time between Manhattan’s West Village and Wainscott, New York, where he is working on the next book in the Secret Society series, as well as a novel for adults. http://www.tomdolby.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: An officer, a gentleman...and a sodomite. The first two earn honor and respect. The third, a noose.Even as he falls in love with his shipmate, David Archer realizes it is a hopeless passion. Not only is William Marshall the son of a minister, his first act aboard ship was to call out and shoot an older midshipman who made offensive advances. Davy realizes that Will would probably not shoot him if he expressed his feelings, but their affectionate friendship would surely end, once Marshall learned of Archer's "unnatural" yearnings. William Marshall has never given much thought to any feelings beyond duty, loyalty, and honor. For a young Englishman in 1796, the Navy is a way to move beyond his humble origins and seek a chance at greatness. Captured by accident when their Captain is abducted, Archer and Marshall become pawns in a renegade pirate's sadistic game. To protect the man he loves, David Archer compromises himself-trading his honor and his body for Marshall's safety. When Will learns of his friend's sacrifice, he also discovers that what he feels for Davy is stronger and deeper than friendship. The first challenge: escape their prison. The second: find a way to preserve their love without losing their lives.
"Ransom", the first book in the Royal Navy Series by Lee Rowan (author of "Tangled Web" from Running Press), introduces readers to the appealing characters of Lieutenants Marshall and Archer. Become part of the story as they discover their shared love against a backdrop of intrigue, mystery, and danger.
( Reviews )
Amazon: Ransom
Amazon Kindle: Ransom
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: "I've been writing since childhood, but professionally only since spring of 2006, after learning my craft writing fanfiction for some 30 years. In earlier times I'd have been called "a lady of a certain age," old enough to know better but young enough to do it anyway. A confirmed bookaholic with a spouse of many years, I'm kept in line by a cadre of cats and a dog who get me away from the computer and out of the house at least once a day. Until I was in my 40's, I thought romance was utterly unrealistic--a pretty dream, but little more. What I'd seen of relationships didn't seem worth the effort or the pain. A big-hearted dog and a few wonderful cats kept my own heart going, until, in the first weeks of the new millennium, I fell in love with a friend I'd known most of my adult life. How did that happen? Well, I'd just written Ransom, and I could not find anyone who was willing to read it and give me feedback. I got that--and a lot more besides!
We're halfway through our tenth year as life-partners. In 2007, we moved to Canada, where our marriage is legally recognized. Real love isn't just a pretty dream. It's a lot of work--but it's worth every minute.
The stories I write are usually--not always--about two men, which may seem odd subject matter for a woman who's married to another woman. But I write the sort of stories I want to read. While many girls were dreaming of wedding dresses and wondering what they'd name their children, I was dreaming of running away to sea or riding across the prairie, and wondering what I'd name my horse. I was intrigued by how people lived before cars, TV, modern medicine, and excited by stories of adventure.
Love, honor, courage... those aren't male qualities or female qualities. They're the very best human qualities, and I think we all have the capacity to experience them, no matter how different we may be when it comes to sex, age, color, or any of the other tiny subcategories. We are all human, and we all have dreams.
I'd like to share some of mine, and so I write." Lee Rowan
http://www.lee-rowan.net/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: One sunny morning Los Angeles bookseller and aspiring mystery author Adrien English opens his front door to murder. His old high school buddy (and employee) has been found stabbed to death in a back alley following a loud and very public argument with Adrien the previous evening. Naturally the cops want to ask Adrien a few questions; they are none too impressed with his answers, and when a few hours later someone breaks into Adrien's shop and ransacks it, the law is inclined to think Adrien is trying to divert suspicion from himself.
Adrien knows better. Adrien knows he is next on the killer's list.
"Lanyon has joined Joseph Hansen in power and is now poised to surpass him." Drewey Wayne Gunn, author of The Gay Male Sleuth
( Reviews )
Amazon: Fatal Shadows
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Josh Lanyon is the author of the Adrien English mystery novels, including The Hell You Say
, winner of the 2006 USABookNews awards for GLBT fiction and a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and Death of a Pirate King
. He's also responsible for the ground-breaking the just-released M/M writing guide Man, Oh Man!: Writing M/M Fiction for Kinks & Cash
. Josh lives in Los Angeles, California, and is currently at work on about a zillion other writing projects, as well as his new M/M Manuscript Evaluation Service.
http://www.joshlanyon.com/
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
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The Book: The last year of the 20th century, and 18-year-old Adam Westman finds himself "on the verge of manhood," as his best friend Dart likes to say. He lives in the exact center of center-less Los Angeles with his depressed father, Greg, and imaginative younger sister, Sandra. When Greg suddenly dies, more than everything changes and the relatively smooth orbits of family and friends are altered when Adam needs them most. In the middle of the drama, a man in uniform appears-and he is more than interested in Adam. This man, a policeman, is warm, witty and wise. He is 6 foot-something, dirty blond, and . . . well, he's a California Boy trapped inside the body of a 38 year-old man. But how can Adam consider the possibility of a relationship when he is dealing with his father's death, his friends' (and his own) pre-pre-pre mid-life crises, his mother's ambivalence, and his little sister's need for him? Then again, how can he not? Half-Life is about being-or at least feeling-young and old at the same time. About loving, or wanting to love, but knowing that life and love are both as exuberant and seductive yet two-dimensional and illusory as a billboard along any of Los Angeles's endless freeways.
( Reviews )
My review: Half-life is not an easy story, above all for who, like me, has suffered a loss of a dear one: how can Adam behave in that way to the loss of his father? The book follows two weeks in the life of Adam (starting the 6 of June 1999, 6/6/99, you can up turn the date and it is always 6699, it's just a case?), a 18 years old gay boy from Angelito, an imaginary suburb town of Los Angeles.
Adam being gay is not the main issue of the story, and this maybe makes this book different from the usual coming of age stories; Adam has not hidden secrets, unbearable pains or vengeance feelings. Adam is gay, but so is his best friend Dart and his friend Fran, who has two "moms" and a girlfriend. Adam is gay and it seems that no one has a problem with it... and maybe this is the problem: Adam craves the attention of his family, but they are inhexistent. When Adam's mother divorced from her husband, she apparently divorced also from her children and now they see her every other weekends, if she is not too taken with her work and with her new up-class lifestyle and husband. Adam's father is depressed, he didn't expect his life to be like that, he loves his children, but now that they start to be independent, he seems to not have any more reason to live. He is clearly in a down fall phase and it seems that only Adam sees that.
Adam wants to be a teen, he has the right to be a teen, but in this situation it's not possible for him; his teen years are running away, high school is near to end and adulthood is around the corner. All his friends are craving to reach the point, all of them but Adam. And to make the thing worst, Adam meets Jeff, 38 years old cop and gay. Where Adam is older than his age, Jeff is younger. He realized later in his life what he wanted to be, and so now he is still in a growing phase, he is still learning from life and he is still building his future.
There are big life changing events in the book, but it seems like they are in an undertone; it's like if you are waiting for something to happen, time is hanging up, but when something happens, it's not yet the trigger event, and so you go on waiting for the next one. In the end nothing happens and all happens... since what it seems big from a near perspective, in the bigger game of life is only a little piece without importance.
Half-life is more a novel about details than the telling of the "great discovery" of Adam; Adam doesn't need to grow, he just did that. Maybe this is the most unsettling thing of the book... the reader is waiting for something that will change Adam, and instead all happens around him, and he stays alike; he has so much protective layers around him that nothing apparently arms him... but then, it's only two insignificant weeks... a great loss, graduation, a new lover... for everyone else but Adam, changing life events, for Adam a reason more to add a protective layer around him. What, or who, or when he will let go all his layers you don't know. (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/36430
Amazon: Half-Life: A Novel
The Author: Aaron Krach is an artist and writer who lives in New York. He was born in Michigan (but left after a few months). He grew up in L.A. (where "Half-Life" is set). And now he calls Manhattan home. Krach is a features editor at House Beautiful magazine. He was a senior editor at Cargo magazine. And editor of Empire (the gay, not the film) magazine. He's written for a random assortment of publications: Time Out New York, Out magazine, InStyle, thePosition.com, CBSHealthwatch.com, The Independent Film and Video Monthly, TVTS, Oui, DOX: International Documentary Film, indieWIRE, A&U magazine Instinct, HX, The Villager, Downtown Express, and TWN (Florida). The former editor of Empire Magazine and arts editor of Gay City News.
His photography and installation art has been show from San Diego to Copenhagen. His last solo show was at DCKT Contemporary in New York City.
http://www.aaronkrach.com/
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External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: At fourteen, Kit St. Denys brought down his abusive father with a knife. At twenty-one his theatrical genius brought down the house. At thirty, his past and his forbidden love — nearly brought down the curtain for good. This is a compelling Victorian saga of two men whose love for each other transcends time and distance and the society that considers it an abomination. Set in the last twenty years of the 19th century, The Phoenix is a multi-layered historical novel that illuminates poverty and child abuse, theatre history in America and England, betrayal, a crisis of conscience, violence and vengeance, and the treatment of insanity at a time when such treatment was in its infant stage. Most of all it is a tale of love on many levels, from carnal to devoted friendship to sacrifice.
""The Phoenix" was many years in the making, and it’s my pride and joy. There is more than one phoenix in this story. … Kit himself, who becomes someone else, though always struggling not to be consumed by the flames of his past. … the deep but troubled love between Kit and Nick, a relationship that crashes and burns more than once … Kit’s identity itself and finally his very existence seems to disappear in flames, leaving Nick to recover on his own. If I had to put it into just two words, I’d say: Destruction. Regeneration. I hope readers will come to care as much about the characters as I do." - Ruth Sims
( Other Authors Weigh In... )
Amazon: The Phoenix
Amazon Kindle: The Phoenix
The Author: Ruth Sims has lived her entire life in conservative, Republican, tiny-town Midwest USA surrounded by corn, wheat, and soybean fields. It's a strange place indeed for a Liberal Democrat to have sprouted. Like Emily Dickenson she's never seen a moor and never seen the sea but she's seen plenty of silos, Amish buggies, whitetails, and amber waves of grain. She'll battle anybody who says the flat, fertile land of the Midwest doesn't have its own kind of beauty. Though many years past schooldays, her education is continuous and far-ranging, with interests ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, from Shakespeare to groan-inducing puns and limericks. Her library has many shelves of history, biography, drama, and reference books. Her special love of drama is apparent in The Phoenix, and her passion for Classical and Romantic music comes to life in Counterpoint: Dylan's Story.
Words, imagination, books, music, and writing have always been the means by which she could slip into more exciting lives than her own. When the chance finally came for her to write full-time, she was able to focus on the stories that have been in her head for years. Her many characters are thankful to escape; it was getting crowded in there.
http://www.ruthsims.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
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The Book: The body of a teenage boy is discovered in a Kansas field. The murder haunts Donna—a recent widow battling cancer—calling forth troubling details from long-suppressed memories of her past. Hoping to discover more about "disappeared" people, she turns to her son, Scott, who is fighting demons of his own. Addicted to methamphetamines and sleeping pills, Scott is barely holding on—though the chance to help his mother in her strange and desperate search holds out a slim promise of some small salvation. But what he finds is a boy named Otis handcuffed in a secret basement room, and the questions that arise seem too disturbing even to contemplate. With his mother's health rapidly deteriorating, he must surrender to his own obsession, and unravel Otis's unsettling connections to other missing teens . . . and, ultimately, to Scott himself.
Amazon: We Disappear: A Novel (P.S.)
The Author: Scott Heim (born 1966) is an American novelist from Hutchinson, Kansas, currently living in Massachusetts. Heim's first novel, Mysterious Skin, was published in 1995. He grew up in a small farming community there, and later attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, earning a B.A. in English and Art History in 1989 and an M.A. in English Literature in 1991. He attended the M.F.A. program in Writing at Columbia University, where he wrote his first novel, Mysterious Skin
. HarperCollins published that book in 1996, and Scott followed it with another novel, In Awe
, in 1997. Scott has won fellowships to the London Arts Board as their International Writer-in-Residence, and to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab for his adaptation of Mysterious Skin. He is also the author of a book of poems, Saved from Drowning
(1993). After living eleven years in New York, he relocated to Boston in 2002. Mysterious Skin
was adapted for the stage, premiering in San Francisco; it was subsequently adapted to film by director Gregg Araki and Antidote Films. Scott's third novel is We Disappear (HarperCollins), published in February 2008. Heim's fiction, nonfiction, and reviews have appeared in The Village Voice, Out, The Advocate, Interview, Time Out New York, Nerve, Christopher Street, The Minnesota Review, and many other periodicals.
http://heim.etherweave.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
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I just received this notice from Charles Flowers, Lambda Literary Foundation: "Dear Friend,
With great sadness, I report that New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris passed away on Thursday, July 23, while on tour for his eleventh novel.
I don't know many details yet, but it's believed it was a heart attack. I've spoken with Lisa Moore of Redbone Press and Don Weise of Alyson, both of whom knew him well, and we're all just stunned.
I worked with Lynn for over ten years as his editor and came to be his personal friend as well, so this loss strikes very close for me. Lynn had a very big heart, which he revealed in his storytelling and in his interaction with his audience. Attending a Lynn Harris reading was a family affair, and there were always flowers, tears, and loads of laughter. His novels often changed his reader's lives, and he truly was grateful for his ability to help people. I will miss him, his laughter and his big heart."
E. Lynn Harris was an openly gay African American author, most known for his depictions of African American men on the down low or in the closet.
Born in Flint, Michigan, he had homes in Houston,Texas, Atlanta, Georgia and Fayetteville, Arkansas. In his writings, Harris maintained a poignant motif, occasionally emotive, that incorporated vernacular and slang from popular culture.
Harris became the first black male cheerleader while attending the University of Arkansas. After graduation, he became a computer salesman with IBM for a time.
Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a reputable publishing house for his first work, Invisible Life, so he self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his car trunk. Since then, five of his novels have achieved New York Times bestseller status.
Alongside fiction, Harris had also penned a personal memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted? (From Wikipedia)
http://www.elynnharris.com/
Bibliography
Invisible Life
(1991 Self Published – 1994 Mass Marketed) Just As I Am
(1995) And This Too Shall Pass
(1997) If This World Were Mine
(1998) Abide With Me
(2000) Not A Day Goes By
(2000) Money Can't Buy Me Love (2000)
From the Book Got to Be Real - 4 Original Love Stories by Eric Jerome Dickey, Marcus Major, E. Lynn Harris and Colin Channer
Any Way the Wind Blows
(2002) A Love of My Own
(2003) What Becomes of the Brokenhearted: A Memoir
(2004) I Say a Little Prayer: A Novel
(2006) Just Too Good to Be True
(2008) 
E. Lynn Harris last book is: Basketball Jones
(2009): E. Lynn Harris has wowed and seduced more than three million readers with the wicked drama and undeniable heart in his novels. Now he’s back with another winner sure to top the bestseller lists—a rip-roaring tale of sex, secrets, betrayal . . . and blackmail. Aldridge James “AJ” Richardson is living the good life. He has a gorgeous town house in always-flavorful New Orleans, plenty of frequent-flier miles from jet-setting around the country on a whim, and an MBA—but he’s never had to work a regular job. He owes it all to his longtime lover, Dray Jones. Dray Jones the rich and famous NBA star. They fell in love in college when AJ was hired to tutor Dray, a freshman on the basketball team. But Dray knew if he wanted to make it to the big time, he must juggle his public image and his private desires. Built on a deep, abiding love, their hidden relationship sustains them both, but when Dray’s teammates begin to ask insinuating questions about AJ, Dray puts their doubts to rest by marrying Judi, a beautiful and ambitious woman. Judi knows nothing about Dray’s “other life.” Or does she?
In Basketball Jones, E. Lynn Harris explores the consequences of loving someone who is forced to conform to the rules society demands its public heroes follow. Filled with nonstop twists and turns, it will keep readers riveted from the first page to the last.
The Book: Imprisioned for 'inflammatory writings' by the totalitarian Theocracy, shy intellectual Ashleigh Trine figures his story's over. But when he meets Kieran Trevarde, a hard-hearted gunslinger with a dark magic lurking in his blood, Ash finds that necessity makes strange heroes... and love can change the world. Amazon: The God Eaters
The Author: Jesse Hajicek lives in a decrepit old house in St. Paul with other members of Studio Whipping Boy. He was born in 1972 and still not sorry. (From the backcover)
I really try to find more info on this author, that, BTW, offers his book as free download on the website, but I only can find a lot of link but not bio info. So if you want to browse his online, here you can:
Website: http://chartreuse.studiowhippingboy.com/
LiveJournal: http://gomichan.livejournal.com/
Community: http://community.livejournal.com/riversi
From the author's website:
Will it befoul my virgin eyes?
This novel, like just about everything else I do, is full of sex, violence, and foul language. If you don't want to see sex, violence, and foul language, don't read it. Traditionally, I should also include an additional warning about the fact that it contains GAY HOMOS OMG!!! But you know what? If you can't handle gay characters, I don't actually care whether you get your prejudices stepped on.
Does this have anything to do with Metanoia?
If you read my webcomic, Metanoia, some elements of 'The God Eaters' might seem a little familiar. Truth is, I feel there's a story I need to tell, and I keep trying to tell it; Metanoia is only the latest attempt. Maybe I'll be satisfied this time, or maybe after the comic is done I'll find another way to try. There's this subtle slice of understanding, this particular angle on pain and redemption and love and endurance... well, if I could explain it, I wouldn't need all these do-overs to write it, I suppose. Anyway, yes there are similarities, and no, it's not because I have some kind of ex-child-prostitute assassin fetish.
Can I play too?
Hell yeah. If you feel like drawing or writing things related to my world and/or characters, go right ahead. Just make sure to give me credit for laying down the bottom groove, okay? And of course I'd love it if you'd tell me so I can link up.
Cover Art by Sarah Cloutier
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
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The Book: Arnold Hawley, a gay, African–American poet, has lived in NYC for most of his life. Dark Reflections traces Hawley's life in three sections — in reverse order. Part one: Hawley, at 50 years old, wins the an award for his sixth book of poems. Part two explores Hawley's unhappy marriage, while the final section recalls his college days. Dark Reflections, moving back and forth in time, creates an extraordinary meditation on social attitudes, loneliness, and life's triumphs. Amazon: Dark Reflections
Amazon Kindle: Dark Reflections
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Samuel R. Delany is a New York novelist and critic, whose first novel was published when he was twenty. His tenth, Dhalgren
(1975), currently available from Vintage Books, has sold over a million copies. His more recent fiction includes Atlantis: Three Tales
(1995), Hogg
(1995), and Phallos (2004); and his collected short stories, Aye, and Gomorrah
(2004), is currently also available from Vintage. Delany has repeatedly won the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He is a recipient of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a Life-time Contribution to Gay and Lesbian Writing and the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award. His book Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
is a staple of gay studies courses. Besides his prize-winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water
(1988), much of his nonfiction has been collected in three volumes, from Wesleyan University Press, Silent Interviews
(1992), Longer Views
(1996), and Shorter Views
(2001). His most recent non-fiction book, from Wesleyan, is About Writing
(2006). He is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Temple University in Philadelphia and teaches at the Naropa Summer Writing Program, in Boulder, Colorado. (From Wikipedia)Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
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*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
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The Book: Rigby John Klusener is hitchhiking to San Francisco. The year is 1967, the town is Pocatello, Idaho. Fresh out of high school, Rigby John is leaving behind his bohemian ex-girlfriend, his prayerful mother, his distant father, and the hay dust of his harsh farm town Catholic upbringing. As he stands by the side of the road desperately waiting for that one ride out, he reflects on the events that brought him there: the discovery of love, friendship, literature, and all the small joys that set him free. At once a tale of sexual awakening, racial enlightenment, and personal epiphany, Now Is the Hour is the disarming and sweetly winning story of one unforgettable teenager who dares to hope for a different life. A risky assay into the traditional bildungsroman, with this straightforward, but luminous tale. - Publishers Weekly
Spanbauer writes this fairly traditional coming-of-age story with a raw energy that makes it compelling. - Kirkus Reviews
Sophisticated, funny, poignant, sexy coming-of-age novel... - Booklist, ALA
Full of hope, sadness and humor, this is an extended ballad in the voice of an appealing narrator - People Magazine
Vividly reflecting...Grade: B+ - Entertainment Weekly
Spanbauer is a generous writer..."Now Is the Hour" is an engaging novel. - The Seattle Times
"Now Is the Hour" is at once beautiful and hilarious. - The Oregonian
Amazon: Now Is the Hour
The Author: Tom Spanbauer is a Critically Acclaimed author and the founder of Dangerous Writing. As a writer he has explored issues of race, of sexual identity, of how we make a family for ourselves in order to surmount the limitations of the families into which we are born. His three published novels Faraway Places
, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award for best fiction, and In the City of Shy Hunters
, and the last published, Now Is the Hour, are notable for their combination of a fresh and lyrical prose style with solid storytelling. As a teacher his innovative approach combines close attention to language with a large-hearted openness to what he calls 'the sore place'--that place within each of us that is the source for stories that no one else can tell. His introductory workshop is an underground legend among emerging writers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The community of writers that has formed around him is dedicated to the proposition that "Fiction is the lie that tells the truth truer."
Tom lives, writes, and teaches in Portland Oregon.
http://www.tomspanbauer.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
1) Acting is not your main career, am I wrong? How did you end being an actor and also screenwriter in CIAO?
Yes, I am actually a graphic designer. Acting and screenwriting is one of the things I always wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid. But of course it takes some work to turn a fantasy like that (hard, especially for somebody italian that wants to work in the US) into reality.
Practically director Yen Tan asked me to collaborate on the screenwriting and audition for the part.
( Alessandro Calza in CIAO )
2) Between being an actor / screenwriter and a webdesigner, what do you prefer?
I have been designing/drawing since I was a kid and later on I have been designing in different fields, from architecture to web to lighting systems and so on. I guess that's in my DNA and will ever be something I do on a daily basis.
But I always disliked the idea of being forced to stand on just one side of the fence.
The industry is full packed of 'gay creativity' that works behind the stage to make the world more appealing in different areas like fashion, cinema, music, design.
Modeling and acting is the way for me to keep the balance.
( Alessandro Calza )
3) Do you have any other projects on in the movie industry?
There's a couple of things in the air but you know, it's the kind of stuff you can't talk about...we're all superstitious when it comes down with these sort of things.
( Alessandro Calza )
4) I browsed your website, and found a lot of pictures, ranging from almost personal to professional shot... but I didn't understand if you are proposing yourself as a model, or if it's only for your pleasure ;-) Could you tell me something more about those shots?
What I am doing is self portrait. Photography is about a style (the photographers') applied to different subjects. Self portrait is about different styles applied to the same subject.
Using the same subject stimulates you to evaluate different ways of seeing the subject cause you easily exhaust your palette after you start.
It has a huge load of interesting implication.
Call it... visual twittering
( Alessandro Calza )
5) I know that you are from Genoa and that you lived there when you were filming CIAO. And now? Do you still live there? If yes, how is it to live in a provincial Italian city while moving online in an international circle of friends? (I'm curious to listen to your answer to compare with my situation, I live in Padua, that, more or less, I believe is quite similar to Genoa)
I still live here. It is good and bad. Being in a very understimulating environment push you toward studying and self improvement. That's why basically monks live the way they do.
I think I unconsciously never made the choice to move somewhere bigger, more crowded and busy because I knew if I got caught in the stream of the big city, I would have never had the focus to do the things I like to do.
The internet is a good support. Today you can do things in a different way. It would have been impossible 20 years ago.
( Alessandro Calza )
6) Want to tell us something personal about you? How old are you, what do you like, who do you like (this last is probably the question my friends want to know most of all ;-) )
I'm 38, born in Genova... I like a lot of stuff, in a way I can tell you through the years, there's almost nothing I didn't like sooner or later. Music, as 95% of the people, stay in the top 5 I guess.
Who I like...you mean men? Let's stay within cinema so it is easier. I like Colin Farrel in Tigerland, James Gandolfini in the Mexican, Mel Gibson in Mad Max 1, Jeremy Piven in Entourage... a broad range. I had a thing for Takeshi Kitano, but now he's too old :)
Colin Farrel in Tigerland
( Alessandro Calza's men )
7) This year the Gay Pride parade in Italy was in Genoa. Did you attend?
It was the first time of the gay pride in Genova, it has been an important event. The parade has been fun and definitely sober, which is not surprising since Genova is the capital of understatement. Unfortunately I had to hear Lella Costa mixing up the spirit of the day with her personal views about the 2001 G8 events.
I hope this gay pride will be the starting point for the creation of a gay party which is neither left or right wing oriented but is just focused on the things we need as a communtiy.
---
Alessandro Calza is a webdesigner and has his own site www.ahunter.org and he says he is a nerd "I love Windows, I hate Mac. I love the two triads, ie Adobe: Photoshop / Illustrator / Indesign and Macromedia: Fireworks / Flash / Dreamweaver”.
The things he likes are, in order: "muscle, martini / campari, Leigh Bowery, grass, men, Levis 501, Ducati Monster 650, Microsoft, light & sound machine, I have already said men?, working between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m.". In 2005 he co-wrote and played a gay independent movie, CIAO, that is having a good audience at film festivals (gay or not) all around the world.
CIAO beautifully explores the difficult path to accepting loss amidst the hope of new beginnings. This somber and touching modern love story focuses on the incidental friendship between two strangers living in two different parts of the world. Their connection is sparked by the unexpected loss of a mutual friend, Mark. When Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) is left in charge of handling Mark’s possessions and tying up loose ends he stumbles upon one of Mark’s email conversations with Mark’s online Italian romance, Andrea (Alessandro Calza) and must tell him the bad news. With a trip already booked, Andrea decides to come and learn more about his recently departed friend. What begins as a tragedy that links two strangers from different ends of the world becomes a deeply realized friendship that may change their lives forever.
Gay Romance Movie: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/71595
Amazon: Ciao [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
( Alessandro Calza )
The Book: Set largely on the pages of a website where gay male escorts are reviewed by their clients, and told through the postings, emails, and conversations of several dozen unreliable narrators, The Sluts chronicles the evolution of one young escort's date with a satisfied client into a metafiction of pornography, lies, half-truths, and myth. Explicit, shocking, comical, and displaying the author's signature flair for blending structural complexity with direct, stylish, accessible language, The Sluts is Cooper's most transgressive novel since Frisk, and one of his most innovative works of fiction to date. A dizzying pileup of bareback breeding, castration procedures, master-slave mind games, boyband necrophilia fantasies, and consensual snuff sex, The Sluts is this will sound strange the most enjoyable of Dennis Cooper's novels to date. It's a guilty pleasure, not in the middlebrow conception of the term, but in a radical, almost interactive sense: The reader, assuming the implicated vantage of the avid voyeur, cannot help suffering a twinge of complicity. --Dennis Lim, Village Voice
Cooper deserves reassessment, but until an Oprahesque crossover occurs, this compelling page turner ought to remind adventurous readers that important transgressive literature needn't be something only the French and the occasional perverted American can get behind. --Brandon Stosuy, L.A. Weekly
Not for the squeamish this sick, hilarious fictional excursion into the depths of hustler fantasy is for readers who appreciate Cooper s brilliant ability to dig truthfully into depravity. A paper edition was published in October by Carroll & Graf, but it's not as handsome as Void Books' original signed, limited edition. --Richard Labonte, San Francisco Bay Times
The Sluts holds nothing back, and it doesn't waste time with explanations or apologies... -- Jeff Koyen, New York Press
Amazon: The Sluts
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Arcadia, California. His first forays into literature came early, focusing on imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, de Sade, and Baudelaire. As he began his teenage years, he wrote poetry and stories on scandalous and often extreme subjects. At the age of fifteen, he began to plan an ambitious novel cycle. This project, which took Cooper nearly twenty years to realize, would later become known as The George Miles Cycle. Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punks, stoners, and writers. After high school he attended Pasadena City College and, later, Pitzer College, where he had a poetry teacher who was to inspire him to pursue his writing outside of institutions of higher learning. In 1976 Cooper went to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press which featured the work of, among others, Brad Gooch, Amy Gerstler, Elaine Equi, Tim Dlugos, Joe Brainard, and Eileen Myles.
( Read more... )
Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris. While there, he has worked on his blog, which Cooper considers his current major artistic project, and has collaborated with the French theater director Gisele Vienne and composer Peter Rehberg on four works for the theater, I Apologize (2004), Un Belle Enfant Blonde (2005), KIndertotenlieder (2007), and a stage adaption of his novella Jerk (2008). These theater works have been highly acclaimed and continue to tour extensively in Europe, the UK, and Asia. While in France, Cooper finished a new book of poetry, The Weaklings, which was published in a limited edition by Fanzine Press in March 2008, and a collection of short fiction titled Ugly Man that will be published by Harper Perennial in 2009.
In addition to their United States editions, Cooper's novels and books of poetry have been published in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, China, and Japan. (From Wikipedia)
http://www.denniscooper.net/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: It's 1950s Washington, D.C.: a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, dominated by personalities like Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe McCarthy. Enter Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts a desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on “sexual subversives” in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives. Moving between the diplomatic world of Foggy Bottom and NATO's front line in Europe, Fellow Travelers is a searing historical novel infused with political drama, unexpected humor, and genuine heartbreak.
“Sharp-eyed . . . Some of the most lucid prose in contemporary American literature. . . . [Mallon's] best book yet.” —Los Angeles Times
"Mallon writes crisp, buoyant prose, and he has a perfect ear for his period." —The New York Times Book Review
"Exuberant. . . . Brisk and seductive." —The Washington Post Book World
“Brilliant. . . . This is Mallon's best historical novel, period, and better than most contemporary novels of any stripe.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Amazon Kindle: Fellow Travelers: A Novel
Amazon: Fellow Travelers (Vintage)
The Author: Thomas Mallon (born November 2, 1951) is a novelist and critic. He was born in Glen Cove, New York. He attended Brown University as an undergraduate and earned a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He received the Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1994 and won a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1987. Mallon taught English at Vassar College from 1979-1991. Mallon is the author of the novels Henry and Clara, Two Moons, Dewey Defeats Truman, Aurora 7, Bandbox, and most recently Fellow Travelers; as well as writing four works of nonfiction. He is a former literary editor of GQ, where he wrote the "Doubting Thomas" column for ten years, and has contributed frequently to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar, and Harper's. He was appointed a member of the National Council on the Humanities in 2002 and became Director of Preservation and Access of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2004. He then served as Deputy Chairman of the NEH.
He lives in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood in Washington, DC. He also teaches occasionally at The George Washington University. (From Wikipedia)
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: This memorable debut novel explores Dublin’s every corner, including a first-of-its-kind portrayal of its thriving gay nightlife, through the eyes of a young man seduced by a secret society’s ancient reading rituals, based on the sortes virgilianae. In brilliant prose, author Barry McCrea gives readers a psychologically gripping tale set within the intertwining worlds of literature and the living. When freshman Niall Lenihan moves to Trinity College, he dives into unfamiliar social scenes, quickly becoming fascinated by a reclusive pair of students—literary "mystics" who let signs and symbols from books determine their actions. Reluctantly, they admit him to their private sessions, and what begins as an intriguing game for Niall becomes increasingly esoteric, dramatic, and addictive. As Niall discovers the true nature of the pursuits in which he has become entangled, The First Verse traces a young man’s search for identity, companionship, and a cult’s shadowy origins in the pages of literature and the people of a city. Fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History or Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley will be mesmerized by the strange, page-turning world of this astonishing first novel from a dazzling new literary voice.
THE FIRST VERSE was awarded the 2006 Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction. Past winners include AT SWIM TWO BOYS by Jamie O'Neill, THE MARRIED MAN by Edmund White, THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham, and THE STORY OF THE NIGHT by Colm Toibin.
Works Joyce’s territory with Becktian irony—and a splash of Patrick White.... Rich in ideas and true to the real world. -- Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2005
Amazon: The First Verse: A Novel
The Author: Barry McCrea joined the department in 2004. His interests include modern European literature, especially narrative, in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Irish (Gaelic), and modern Latin American literature. He has a B.A. in Spanish and French from Trinity College Dublin, and a Ph.D. from Princeton (2004), where his dissertation won the Sidonie-Klauss award. He has recently finished a book entitled Family and the Modern Novel, with chapters on Dickens, Conan Doyle, Joyce, and Proust, which links the evolution of modernist narrative form in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to a changing conception of the family. His published articles and works-in-progress include essays on modernism and the marriage-plot, on puns and ideas of citizenship in Ulysses, on exile and allegory in Cortázar, and on the relationship between Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the romantic comedy. He is currently working on a second academic book on firstness in fiction, provisionally entitled First Novels, Final Farewells. He has been an invited speaker at conferences and summer schools in the United States, Ireland and Italy, and was a plenary speaker at the 2006 International James Joyce Symposium in Budapest.
His novel, The First Verse (Carroll & Graf, 2005; Brandon 2008), won the 2005 Ferro-Grumley prize for fiction and was selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. It was nominated for an American Library Association Stonewall prize and for a Lambda award and was excerpted in the London Independent on Sunday and the Spanish daily El País. It was praised by publications such as the London Review of Books, the Observer and the Financial Times. The First Verse was published in Spanish as Literati (DestinoLibro, 2007), and in German as Die Poeten der Nacht (Aufbau, 2008).
http://www.yale.edu/complit/mccrea.html
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Christopher Bram tells the story of Augustus Fitzwilliam Boyd, alias Dr. August, a clairvoyant pianist who communes with ghosts, and who finds meaning in his life through a strange love triangle with a righteous ex-slave and nervous white governess. Spanning the years between the Civil War and the early 1920's, this riveting and ambitious historical novel displays the immense talents of a prodigious, highly esteemed author working at the height of his powers. "A complex and compelling read...[a] thought-provoking exploration of the human soul." -- --Library Journal
"A detailed often humorous story with complex characters who evolve with the times they live in." -- --IN Los Angeles
"An accomplished, rare piece of contemporary fiction. . . Thorny, sprawling, catalytic, The Notorious Dr. August captivates." -- --barnesandnoble.com
"Sex and soul animate this ingenious historical novel . . . It's an old sweet song of the uncanny, deftly and lovingly played." -- --Out magazine
"Wonderful . . . Impressive . . . The novel is about what it means to be a human being in a complicated world." -- --The New York Times Bbook Review
Amazon: The Notorious Dr. August: His Real Life and Crimes
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Christopher Bram (born 1952, Buffalo, New York) is the author of six novels, including Gossip, Hold Tight, Surprising Myself, and Father of Frankenstein, which was made into the movie Gods and Monsters. Bram grew up in Kempsville, Virginia (outside Norfolk), where he was a paperboy and an Eagle Scout. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1974 (B.A. in English). He moved to New York City in 1978. (Hear Us Out: Conversations with Gay Writers by Richard Canning, page 59.)
His nine novels range in subject matter from gay life in the 1970s to the career of a Victorian musical clairvoyant to the lives and loves of theater people in contemporary New York. Fellow novelist Philip Gambone wrote of his work, "What is most impressive in Bram's fiction is the psychological and emotional accuracy with which he portrays his characters. . . His novels are about ordinary gay people trying to be decent and good in a morally compromised world. He focuses on the often conflicting claims of friendship, family, love and desire; the ways good intentions can become confused and thwarted; and the ways we learn to be vulnerable and human." (Something Inside by Philip Gambone, page 91.) Bram has written numerous articles and essays as well as several screenplays, including two shorts directed by his partner, Draper Shreeve.
His novel Father of Frankenstein, about film director James Whale, was made into the movie Gods and Monsters starring Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser. Bill Condon adapted the screenplay and directed. Condon won an Academy Award for his adaptation.
Bram was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2001. In May 2003, he received the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. He currently resides in New York. (From Wikipedia)
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
At the age of 19, he came to the US for the first time as a college exchange student in Chicago. After another year of university in Uppsale, Sweden and Paris, France, Casper moved to New York to study acting.
A graduate of The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York, Casper also studied with Eric Morris and Margie Haber in Los Angeles. Career highlights include: playing the lead in an off-Broadway production of Hamlet, starring as Romeo in a Paris-production of Romeo and Juliet, being directed by Woody Allen in Celebrity, acting opposite Lisa Kudrow in Marci X, working with Amber Valletta, Kevin James and Alexander Skarsgard in the movie Hitch, performing in skits on The Late Show with David Letterman, working with Kristin Davis and Zivi Zhang in several Maybelline lipstick commercials, as well as directing himself in the romantic comedy Slutty Summer.
( Slutty Summer )
After some small roles in bigger movies and some bigger roles in smaller movies, Casper decided to move to Hollywood in 1999. During his years pursuing acting in LA he wrote several screenplays, studied directing, and took seminars in filmaking at IFP/West.
Once back in New York in 2004, Casper started his own production company, Embrem Entertainment, LLC and written, directed and produced the award winning films Slutty Summer (2004) and Mormor’s Visit (2005), as well as the drama Saying Goodbye (2006). Casper also co-produced Craig Cobb’s film Hustler WP (2006).
Casper wrote a monthly column interviewing other out filmmakers, writers, etc. The column ran in Las Vegas Night Beat. In addition, Casper has written articles, short stories, and is working on his first novel.
Casper resides in New York City where he is pursuing acting work in film, TV, and theatre, and also producing and directing.
Casper Andreas’ second feature film, “A Four Letter Word,” stars Jesse Archer (who co-wrote the film with Andreas) as Luke, a gay man whose promiscuous ways are challenged when he falls for Stephen (Charlie David). The film is Andreas’ follow-up to 2004’s “Slutty Summer,” won best feature film at the Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and a special jury prize for best screenplay at Outfest. Another movie will follow in 2010, Bye Bye, Fruit Fly, directed and produced by Casper Andreas, and written by Jesse Archer.
( A Four Letter Word )
He shot his third feature movie in 2008, also a gay themed film titled Between Love & Goodbye. Love makes the world go round. At least that's what Marcel and Kyle believe, until they suddenly discover that love can alternatively flip the world upside-down. When certain elements are set into motion, they tend to stay in motion. If tampered with, they can spin out of control. Marcel and Kyle are in love at first sight, and even though they can't legally marry, they will find a way to make it work. French Marcel marries their lesbian friend Sarah so he can stay in the USA with Kyle. Together they can overcome any obstacle, hurdle any barrier. Together they cannot be stopped. Enter Kyle's sister April, a former prostitute. She needs a place to crash, but for how long? Taking a quick dislike to Marcel, April methodically drips poison into their happiness. But where Marcel sees a conniving woman with a not-so-hidden agenda, Kyle only sees his sister - in need. And how do you choose between family and the love of your life? Why should you have to? Love isn't pure after it's been tainted. Our perfect couple falls headlong into possessiveness, jealousy and rage; trapped in the tangled emotions found in that space between love and goodbye. Just how far will one of them go to put a stop to the madness?
Another movie is in post production, The Big Gay Musical (2009). Paul and Eddie have just begun previews for the new Off-Broadway musical "Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made 'Em." Their lives strangely mirror the characters they are playing. Paul is looking for the perfect man and Eddie is dealing with how his sexuality and faith can mix. After yet another disastrous dating experience, Paul has an epiphany. He is done dating and just wants to be a slut like the sexy chorus boys that share his dressing room. Eddie has to tell his parents that he's gay and is starring in a show that calls the bible the "Breeder's Informational Book of Living Examples". Eddie comes out to his family and Paul goes on Manhunt. Eddie's parents are destroyed by the news and Paul can't even have a good one-night stand. But after musical numbers with scantly clad tap dancing angels, a retelling of Genesis, tele-evangelists, a camp that attempts to turn gay kids straight, and a bunch of showtunes, everyone realizes that life gets better once they accept who they really are. And they are just the way God made 'em.
Main Role as Actor:
Bye Bye, Fruit Fly (2010) (pre-production) .... Markus
Slutty Summer (2004) .... Markus (also writer)
Director:
Bye Bye, Fruit Fly (2010) (pre-production)
The Big Gay Musical (2009) (post-production)
Between Love & Goodbye (2008) (also writer) (soon on my LJ)
A Four Letter Word (2007) (also writer): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/66464
Mormor's Visit (2005) (also writer)
Slutty Summer (2004) (also writer): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/67545
( more pics )
Today I would like to feature Jesse both as actor than writer, and also to present him to my friends list (if you already don't know him, that probably it's not since he starred in the most interesting Gay Romance Comedy movies of the last years...) and I'd like also to say that Jesse is one of the nicest man I met online.
Jesse Archer grew up in the beaver state of Oregon, which inspired him to get around. He has since lived and worked in Los Angeles, Paris, Buenos Aires, Capetown, and New York City.
Since graduating from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre, Jesse traveled the world before landing in New York City. He appeared in the Off-Broadway hit Birdy’s Bachelorette Party and on film in Boy Culture. Jesse also stars in the gay romantic comedy favorites Slutty Summer and A Four Letter Word (which he co-wrote with director Casper Andreas).
( Boy Culture )
Jesse also writes freelance, including a monthly column for Out magazine. His first book will really make you appreciate flush toilets. You Can Run is based on the intrepid two years Jesse spent sparkling through South America, and was published by Haworth Press in 2007. From Machu Picchu to a cocaine purchase in a Bolivian jail--and beyond! How do you rough it in extreme South American travels and still dare to be different? You Can Run: Gay, Glam, and Gritty Travels in South America follows the intrepid and fantastic--and totally true--adventures of flamboyant gay men through the gritty rough and tough of South America. Jesse Archer and his former American boyfriend Zane spent nearly two years traveling the continent in search of adventure. And find it they did. Discover incredible individuals like Patricia the pink lady, the Wolfman of Borneo, and Santusa the fanged Chola of a different color. Thrill to the astounding experiences of dodging crocodiles, doing a striptease for a Colombian bathroom bitch, admiring exultant transsexuals caught in a rainstorm, and navigating the most dangerous road in the world. This wild travel chronicle takes you through the real South America with wit, wisdom--and a hot pink wig!
Currently Jesse clings to the fringe of Manhattan, at the end of Alphabet City, a neighbourhood I had the pleasure to visit when I was in New York. He looks forward to an unscripted future and in the meantime he has got a beautiful Australian boyfriend there in New York to spend the time… nice choice Jesse, if your boyfriend is anything like those Gods of Football in the 2009 Calendar, I know why you made your choice! (ETA: Jesse says that "yes...my Australian is sexy...like a footballer, though he doesn't play! :)").
Jesse Archer’s main character as actor is named Luke: Luke made his first appearance in Slutty Summer (2004), directed and written by Casper Andreas, had his big exploit in A Four Letter Word (2007), directed by Casper Andreas and co-written by Andreas and Jesse Archer, and will be again on the screen with Bye, Bye, Fruit Fly (2010), directed by Casper Andreas and written by Jesse Archer.
I asked to Jesse if he could say me something more on this new movie: “We're gearing up for this new film. Heavy into pre-production at the moment (casting, etc etc). This one I wrote all by myself ("Bye Bye, Fruit Fly" is the working title--which will change, I think) and it's not a sequel, really, to those two films---but a "spinoff". So yes, Luke is back. So is Markus and Tyler from Slutty Summer (but we may cast a different actor in the role of Tyler). It's also a really great story (if I do say so myself! Ha!) because it's a straight romance in a (very) gay world. A story never told! Love Max! Also Jack Mack. I think BOTH of them will be making cameos in this film :)” (he is referring to Jack MacKenroth and Max Rhyser).
( A Four Letter Word )
Jesse Archer is an out gay man in the movie business, a quite rare thing. He said that he has never considered staying in the closet since life is too short. “Hollywood is not a gay-friendly place. Check out the gay films that do get produced. First, the gay has to die at the end and second, he’s always played by a straight actor who they call ‘courageous’.”, and this is exactly the reason why I like so much A Four Letter Word, and I hope that Bye, Bye, Fruit Fly will be as heartlighted and funny as well.
Filmography (as an Actor):
Bye Bye, Fruit Fly (2010) (pre-production) .... Luke (also writer)
A Four Letter Word (2007) .... Luke: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/66464
Hustler WP (2006) .... Salesqueen
Boy Culture (2006) .... Threeway Hottie: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35688
Slutty Summer (2004) .... Luke (next week on my LJ)
Bibliography:
You Can Run: Gay, Glam, and Gritty Travels in South America (2007): http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Run-Travel
( Jesse Archer )
The Book: Basis for the major motion picture from New Line Cinema —starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Joan Cusack—in theaters November 2007 When David Gerrold decided he wanted to adopt a son, he thought he had prepared himself for fatherhood. But eight-year-old Dennis turned out to be more than he expected—a lot more. Dennis suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, the son of a substance abuser and alcoholic who abandoned him in a seedy motel at the age of one-and-a-half. His father died of an overdose. Seized by the state, Dennis was shuffled between eight different foster homes in less than eight years. He was abused and beaten severely in at least tow of his placements. Dennis was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and put on Ritalin and then Disipramine. He was prone to violent emotional outbursts. His case history identified him as “hard to place” —a euphemism for “unadoptable.” But for David Gerrold it was love at first sight...
"[A] very personal account of a middle-aged gay man's adoption of a high-risk eight-year-old boy.... Charming and funny, the adopted single dad wins our sympathy." -Kirkus Reviews
"The heart-searing moments are many but never overwritten, thanks to Gerrold's bright, efficient exposition." -Booklist
"Gerrold, a Nebula and Hugo Award winner...deals with being a single, gay parent of a child who insists he is a Martian, a common defense mechanism used by abused and neglected children. The account moves quickly through months of adjustment, doubt, and finally acceptance of a situation that often has the potential for disaster."-Publishers Weekly
"Sometimes parenting can be an encounter with aliens. The Martian Child is based on the author's true story of parenting as a single gay man. In the course of his undertaking, he becomes acquainted with the habits and behavior of an even more exotic creature, the Earth boy. It's a quick read, and a humanizing one." - Bay Area Reporter
Amazon: The Martian Child: A Novel About A Single Father Adopting A Son
The Author: David Gerrold is the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author of dozens of books for both adults and young adults. He began his career as the precocious author of the teleplay “The Trouble with Tribbles,” broadcast on the original Star Trek series and voted the series’s most popular episode of all time. David lives with his son in Northridge, California. And while he admits he no longer believes his son truly is a Martian, in exasperating father-son moments—of which there are many—David believes he still acts like one. (From Wikipedia) http://www.gerrold.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Boston real estate agent William Collins knows that his habits are slipping out of control. Due to obsessive-compulsive daily cleaning binges and a penchant for nightly online cruising for hookups, he finds his sales figures slipping despite a booming market. There's also his ongoing struggle to collect the rent from his passive-aggressive tenant and his worries about his best friend, Edward, whom he's certainly not in love with. Just as he decides to do something about his life, he meets Charlotte and Samuel, wealthy suburbanites looking for the perfect city apartment. "Happy couple," he writes in his notes. "Maybe I can learn something from them." What he ultimately discovers challenges his own assumptions about real estate, love, and desire; and what they learn from him might unravel a budding friendship, not to mention a very promising sale. Full of crackling dialogue delivered by a stellar ensemble of players, Alternatives to Sex is a smart, hilarious chronicle of life in post-traumatic, morally ambiguous America -- where the desire to do good is constantly being tripped up by the need to feel good. Right now.
"McCauley's best . . . With his self-effacing wit and disarming compassion for even the most unlikely characters, McCauley proves once again that he's the master of the modern comedy of manners."-- USA Today
"Hilarious, poignant, and true. Wickedly insightful about the millennium's two greatest obsessions: sex and real estate."-- Darren Star, creator of Sex and the City
"Stephen McCauley is a social satirist in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh and Oscar Wilde . . . with fierce, occasionally lacerating wit; a gimlet eye for human foibles; and a commendable willingness to dally in ambivalence and moral ambiguity."-- Los Angeles Times
"A light, diverting romp through eminently adult concerns: sex, real estate, fidelity and housecleaning. . . . Full of the complications of modern life. . . . Loony and delicious . . . a delightful story."-- San Francisco Chronicle
Amazon: Alternatives to Sex: A Novel
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Stephen McCauley (born June 26, 1955) is an American author. He has written five novels to date including most recently Alternatives To Sex. His most famous novel is The Object of My Affection, which was made into a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.He was raised outside of Boston and went to public schools for his education. Later, as an undergraduate, he attended the University of Vermont and then spent a year in France at the University of Nice. Stephen worked a series of unrelated jobs including teaching yoga, working at a hotel, a kindergarten, and manning an ice cream stand. He worked as a travel agent for many years before moving to Brooklyn in the 1980s. There he attended adult learning centers to take some writing classes before enrolling in Columbia University's writing program. The writer Stephen Koch gave him the idea to begin work on his first novel.
His stories, articles and reviews have appeared in Gay Community News, Bay Windows, the Boston Phoenix, the New York Times Book Review, Vogue, House and Garden, Details, Vanity Fair, Harper's, and Travel and Leisure, among others. (From Wikipedia)
http://www.stephenmccauley.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
As all you know, I'm Italian, so the name "Charlie David" didn't ring any bell in my brain, I thought he was a newbie author who was nice enough to write to me to present himself. And so, when I started to browse his name (I always do that with new author I have in mind to read), and found who really was Charlie David, I was in awe, I couldn't believe that someone like him had written to me. Charlie is a good actor, with some important movie to his credit, and he is also a producer and now a writer. In his private life he is also a very kind man, and when I told him that I would have liked to post about him, he was happy of the idea, and he replied to my email even if he was in Greece for his travel show (Bump!) and with limited internet connection. He also said that my LiveJournal "looks wonderful", and saying that he won my heart since if you complimented my "baby" you will always be in my "Nice" list. So I know he will read this post, but maybe not so soon, probably in this moment he is basking under the Greece sun!
( a four letter word )
Charlie David is a Canadian actor, perhaps best known as one of the stars of the LGBT horror series Dante's Cove. He has also worked as a producer, writer, and TV host. He was honored by Out Magazine as one of the "Out 100" for Remarkable Contributions to Gay Culture in 2005. He is co-owner of Border2Border Entertainment.
Charles David Lubiniecki was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, on August 9, 1980, and raised in Yorkton. During high school, Charlie gained fame in Saskatchewan in the musical group Sask Express. His energetic and quirky stage presence made him a stage favourite. In 2000, he graduated from the Canadian College of Performing Arts at Victoria, British Columbia.
( mulligans )
He then moved on to co-found the boy band group 4Now, which performed around Canada and the United States and opened for acts including Destiny's Child, Black Eyed Peas and Pink. The band released two recordings and is currently on hiatus. 4Now was noted to be different from most boy bands of the period because they played their own instruments; Charlie played piano.
Charlie later turned his attention to hosting and acting. He hosted for E! Television, NBC, OUTtv, here! TV, Pink TV, EGO, and Life Network on such shows as F.Y.E! in 2002, SpyTV in 2001, Bump! in 2005-2006 and Crash Test Mommy in 2004-2005. He is hosting Bump! travel show again for the 2007-2008 season.
He was featured in the mini-series Terminal City in 2005 and is in the movie A Four Letter Word (2007) and Kiss the Bride (2008). His most notable role to date is probably that of Toby in Dante's Cove. He wrote the screenplay and stars in the film Mulligans, which had its premiere at the InsideOut LGBT Film Festival in Toronto in May 2007.
( kiss the bride )
The character he did in Dante's Cove is portrayed in a monogamous and loving relationship with boyfriend Kevin (Gregory Michael). David said in an interview, "What was attractive about the role was for me to portray a gay relationship, in which it's not always a different guy every night. Many gays and lesbians do pursue—and have—loving relationships in which we are very committed to each other. I think that is what Toby brings to the show. He is kind of a voice of reason, and has a definite dedication to his boyfriend."
Charlie made the choice to coming out of the closet at the beginning of his career. "My friends warned me against it, even with the best intentions, since it's career suicide, and many casting directors didn't want to see me any more. Well, didn't want to see me as anything other than the flamboyant gay hair dresser...which I can do! But I can do other things."
( dante's cove )
Charlie now lives in Hollywood, Los Angeles, in a home he affectionately calls "the fraternity house" because he lives with three straight men ("We're always playing x box or pool," he laughs) including his hunky Dante's co star Jon Fleming.
Main Role as Actor:
Mulligans (2008) .... Chase Rousseau: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/64663
Dante's Cove .... Toby (12 episodes, 2005-2007)
Kiss the Bride (2007) .... Joey
A Four Letter Word (2007) .... Stephen
Writer:
Mulligans (2008) (writer): http://www.amazon.com/Mulligans-Charlie-D
Is He... (2004) (writer)
( charlie david )
The Book: Hailed as "a literary fantasist of outstanding power and originality" by Michael Moorcock, Storm Constantine is one of the most exciting and innovative fantasy writers of her generation. The author of many acclaimed works of science fiction and fantasy, she is best known for her daring, stylish and provocative Wraeththu trilogy (The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate, The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire). The series, which chronicled the rise of a new race of seductive androgynous beings with awesome powers, was hailed as a modern fantasy masterpiece, winning an avid international following of devoted readers. Now, with The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure, Storm Constantine returns once again to the saga of the Wraeththu with a new epic that reveals previously unknown truths about the origins of these remarkable beings.
Long before the Wraeththu assumed total mastery of the Earth and dominion over the dwindling remnants of the human race, they were a wild and passionate people, living in scattered tribes, worshiping strange gods, increasing their numbers by transmuting humans into their own kind. But all that changed on a festival night that surpassed all others, a night when the world changed forever and the Wraeththu began to realize their awesome potential.
It was a time when the archmage Thiede wove the strands of Wraeththu destiny. When two young Wraeththu hara came together to produce a miraculous new life. When Pellaz, a brash and reckless young leader, rose from destruction to take his place in Wraeththu history. And a child called Lileem found a path of passion and power that led to unknown worlds of mystery.
A tale of intrigue and betrayal, bloodshed and pleasure, dark and dangerous supernatural forces, ardent and consuming passions, The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure is a thrilling new chapter in a compelling fantasy epic.
“Storm Constantine is a mythmaking Gothic queen, whose lush tales are compulsive reading. Her stories are poetic, involving, delightful, and depraved. I wouldn't swap her for a dozen Anne Rices!" -- Neil Gaiman
Amazon: The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure: The First Book of the Wraeththu Histories
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Storm Constantine (born 1956) is a British science fiction and fantasy author, primarily known for her Wraeththu series. Since the late 1980s she has written more than 20 novels, plus several non-fiction books. She is featured in the Goth Bible and is often included in discussions of alternative sexuality and gender in science fiction and fantasy; many of her novels include same-sex relationships or hermaphrodites or other twists of gender. Magic, mysticism and ancient legends (like the Grigori) also figure strongly in her works.
In 2003 she launched Immanion Press, based out of Stafford, England. The publishing company publishes not only her own works but those of new writers, as well as well-known genre writers, mainly from the UK. After seventeen years of being professionally published, Storm decided that the only way for her books to stay in print for any length of time was to publish her back catalog herself. With Immanion Press, she intends to rectify the typical fate of books, which is to have the "shelf life of a magazine."
Storm underwent a cursory art college education, but found it too restricting creatively. After a series of mundane jobs, she began writing seriously, and her first book, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit was published in 1987 by Macdonald Futura. Storm has written over twenty books since! (For a complete bibliography, see Writings and for other things she’s been involved with, see Magic & Healing and Personal.)
In the 1980s and 1990s, she frittered away some time managing bands, and caught the publishing bug from producing fan club magazines. After giving up the musical distraction, Storm embarked on the fiction project, Visionary Tongue, which was a regular magazine of dark fantasy/fantasy/sf stories. She enlisted the help of several writer friends to act as editors, so that up-and-coming writers would have the chance to work with a professional, and pick up tips about their craft and the industry. Immanion Press is undoubtedly an extension of what Storm began with Visionary Tongue. (From Wikipedia)
http://stormconstantine.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Austin is an American furniture scholar living in Paris. He is pushing fifty, loveless, drifting. One day at the gym he meets Julien: French, an architect, much younger and married. Against every expectation, this chance acquaintance matures into profound romance. As the two men dash between bohemian suppers and sophisticated salons, their only impediments are the easily surmountable and comic clashes of culture, age and temperament. Inevitably, however, Julien's past catches up with them. With increasing desperation, in a quest to save health and happiness, they move from the shuttered squares of Venice to sun-drenched Key West, to Montreal in the snow and Providence in the rain. But it is amid the bleak, baking sands of the Sahara that their love is pushed to its ultimate crisis.
Haunting and deeply moving, The Married Man carries the reader along with its protagonists into uncharted emotional territory, over the rim of love and loss. It is Edmund White's finest novel.
"The most beautifully written of White's novels.... [A] deeply moving story of human love and loss." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Deeply moving...White rings new changes on the old themes of mortality and forgiveness." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A potent mix of tragedy, romance, and cultural comedy.... The Married Man underscores White's reputation as a supremely gifted stylist." -- The Boston Phoenix
"Our protagonist is no longer the brash and grandiose tour guide of Sodom but himself a stranger in a strange country, and his humility in the face of death's final betrayals is both instructive and deeply moving." -- The New York Times Book Review, Alice Truax
Amazon: The Married Man
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Edmund Valentine White III (born January 13, 1940) is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he largely grew up in Chicago. White attended the prestigious Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan as a boy, then studied Chinese at the University of Michigan. He later worked in New York as a journalist. From 1983 to 1990 he lived in France.
White's best-known work is A Boy's Own Story, the first volume of an autobiographical-fiction series that continued with The Beautiful Room Is Empty and The Farewell Symphony, describing stages in the life of a gay man from boyhood to middle age. Several characters in these latter two novels are recognizably based on well-known individuals from White's New York-centered literary and artistic milieu. White was a member of The Violet Quill, a gay writer's group that met briefly from 1980-1981. The Violet Quill included other prolific gay writers like Andrew Holleran and Felice Picano.
An earlier novel Nocturnes for the King of Naples (1978) and a later novel The Married Man (2000) are also gay-themed and draw heavily on White's own life. In 2006 he published a nonfiction autobiography entitled My Lives. It is unusual in that it is organized by theme, rather than chronologically. White's autobiographical works are frank and unapologetic about his promiscuity and his HIV-positive status. In Paris, in 1984, he was closely involved in the foundation of the French HIV/AIDS NGO AIDES.
Though he is openly gay himself, not all of his works centre on gay themes. His debut Forgetting Elena (1973) is set on an imaginary island. The novel can be read as commenting on gay culture, but only in a highly coded and indirect manner. Caracole (1985) centers on heterosexual characters, relationships, and desires. Fanny: A Fiction (2003) is a historical novel about Frances Trollope and Frances Wright. White's 2006 play Terre Haute (produced in New York City in 2009) portrays discussions that take place when a prisoner based on Timothy McVeigh is visited by a writer based on Gore Vidal. (In real life McVeigh and Vidal corresponded but did not meet.)
White has been influential as a literary and cultural critic, particularly on gay issues. He has received many awards and distinctions; among these, he is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (From Wikipedia)
http://www.edmundwhite.com/
http://www.princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_pr
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Meet Billy Bloom, new student at the ultra-white, ultra-rich, ultra-conservative Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy and drag queen extraordinaire. Actually, “drag queen” does not begin to describe Billy and his fabulousness. Any way you slice it, Billy is not a typical seventeen-year-old, and the Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes at the academy have never seen anyone quite like him before. But thanks to the help and support of one good friend, Billy’s able to take a stand for outcasts and underdogs everywhere in his own outrageous, over-thetop, sad, funny, brilliant, and unique way. In Billy Bloom, St. James has created an archetypal hero for outsiders and freaks. -- Publishers Weekly
“A groundbreaking, eye-opening, romantic, bittersweet story of one boy’s determination to seek acceptance for who he is and right the wrongs of his world, one dress at a time.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Freak Show has it all. It’s hilarious, sad, sexy, and glamorous—just the way life should be.” —Perez Hilton, author of www.perezhilton.com
Amazon: Freak Show
The Author: James St. James (born James Clark August 1, 1966) is an American television personailty, author, celebutante and former Club Kid of the Manhattan club scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s. He wrote Disco Bloodbath (now published under the title Party Monster). He was notorious for a lifestyle of excess that included heavy drug use, partying, and bizarre costumes that first brought him to national attention as the subject of Club Kids television appearances and interviews. His life was the subject of the 1998 documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary that was later made into the feature film Party Monster starring Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig and Seth Green as St. James. James grew up in a "well-to-do" family in Saginaw, Michigan where he lived with his mother after his parents divorced. In the summer he would stay with his father in Fort Lauderdale, Florida until he moved to Fort Lauderdale for high school. After reading Andy Warhol’s book, Popism: The Warhol Sixties St. James moved to New York in 1984, where he studied performance art at New York University for two years before being absorbed into New York's club scene. St. James lived a celebutante lifestyle after becoming a close friend of nightlife icon and columnist Michael Musto.
St. James became a mentor of sorts to Michael Alig, although at first he and the other club personalities shunned the newcomer. Undeterred, Alig soon created his own scene by gathering up other creative rejects of the nightlife world, copying St. James' flamboyant style with self-promotion and innovative themed parties. Alig eventually grew on St. James, and St. James morphed from celebutante to Club Kid while helping Alig create the new scene. Alig and St. James threw many parties together, eventually setting up the Disco 2000 club night at the New York club The Limelight. St. James wrote several columns, most famously for the short lived New York City-based gay publication OutWeek during the magazine's two year life span from 1989-1991. St. James has appeared many times on television many along with the club kids on talk shows during the 1980s and 1990s, including The Jerry Springer Show, Geraldo, and The Joan Rivers Show.
As Alig got more into drugs, he infamously murdered his drug dealer roommate, Andre "Angel" Melendez. St. James' debut novel, Disco Bloodbath, documents the infamous rise to fame of Alig and the murder. To avoid having to testify against Alig or club owner Peter Gatien, St. James moved to Los Angeles, where he presently lives. A documentary and feature film both used the book as their basis.
St. James published a second book, Freak Show in 2007. James curates art shows at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery for the production company World of Wonder Productions, makers of Party Monster, and blogs regularly on World of Wonder's website. In the 2000s St. James has made regular appearances on America's Next Top Model, cycles 5, 7, & 11 presenting contest skill challenges to the aspiring models. (From Wikipedia)
http://totallyjsj.proboards.com/index.cg
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: "[He] came to us through an advertisement that I had in desperation put in the newspaper. It began captivatingly for those days: 'Two American ladies wish to hire . . .' " It was these lines in The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book that inspired The Book of Salt, a brilliant first novel by an acclaimed Vietnamese American writer.
In Paris, 1934, Binh has accompanied his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, to the train station for their departure to America. His own destination is unclear: will he go with "the Steins," stay in France, or return to his native Vietnam? Binh has fled his homeland in disgrace, leaving behind his malevolent charlatan of a father and his self-sacrificing mother. For five years, he has been the live-in cook at the famous apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus.
Before Binh's decision is revealed, his mesmerizing narrative catapults us back to his youth in French-colonized Vietnam, his years as a galley hand at sea, and his days turning out fragrant repasts for the doyennes of the Lost Generation. Binh knows far more than the contents of the Steins' pantry: he knows their routines and intimacies, their manipulations and follies. With wry insight, he views Stein and Toklas ensconced in rueful domesticity.
But is Binh's account reliable? A lost soul, he is a late-night habitue of the Paris demimonde, an exile and an alien, a man of musings and memories, and, possibly, lies. Love is the prize that has eluded him, from his family to the men he has sought out in his far-flung journeys, often at his peril.
Intricate, compelling, and witty, the novel weaves in historical characters, from Stein and Toklas to Paul Robeson and Ho Chi Minh, with remarkable originality. Flavors, seas, sweat, tears -- The Book of Salt is an inspired feast of storytelling riches.
( Reviews )
Amazon: The Book of Salt: A Novel
The Author: Monique Truong was born in Saigon in 1968 and moved to the United States at age six. She graduated from Yale University and the Columbia University School of Law, going on to specialize in intellectual property. Truong coedited the anthology Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry and Prose. Her first novel,The Book of Salt, a national bestseller, has been awarded the 2003 Bard Fiction Prize, the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, and the Young Lions Fiction Award, among other honors. Granting Truong an Award of Excellence, the Vietnamese American Studies Center at San Francisco State University called her "a pioneer in the field, as an academic, an advocate, and an artist." Truong now lives in Brooklyn, New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Tru
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: “Richly imagined [and] impressive” (New York Times Book Review), this critically acclaimed and emotionally charged novel about the strange and ultimately tragic relationship between an esteemed British mathematician and an unknown—and unschooled—mathematical genius is historical fiction at its best: ambitious, profound, and absorbing. Based on the remarkable true story of G. H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan, and populated with such luminaries such as D. H. Lawrence, Bertrand Russell, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Indian Clerk takes this extraordinary slice of history and transforms it into an emotional and spellbinding story about the fragility of human connection and our need to find order in the world. A literary masterpiece, it appeared on four bestseller lists, including the Los Angeles Times, and received dazzling reviews from every major publication in the country.
( Reviews )
Amazon: The Indian Clerk: A Novel
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: David Leavitt (born June 23, 1961) is an American novelist, author of several novels, including The Body of Jonah Boyd, While England Sleeps, and Equal Affections. A recipient of fellowships from both the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, he teaches at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University and recipient of fellowships from both the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He now teaches at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He has also taught at Princeton.
He is the author of Family Dancing, Equal Affections, The Page Turner, Martin Bauman, or A Sure Thing, The Lost Language of Cranes, While England Sleeps, The Body of Jonah Boyd, and numerous short stories. His most recent novel is The Indian Clerk. Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work.
At the University of Florida he is a member of the Creative Writing faculty and is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany (Italy), where he had many of his books translated.
http://web.english.ufl.edu/faculty/dleav
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
( Search Result )
And if you click on the book, on the Product details, there is the Sales Rank:
( Product Details )
It was a long weekend, but as someone said "It looks like David beat Goliath".
Just to end the thing with clearness, all the books I listed with a lost Sales Rank, now have it, and I also noticed that the books who lost the Sales Rank were books with a "Gay & Lesbian" category (as A Secret Edge above) AND "Sexuality" (as for The Rainbow Series by Alex Sanchez). So they were not only Gay & Lesbian books, all right, but it's still quite disturbing that, someone, somewhere (maybe in France?) decide to put a filter ON on category, probably for tagging Adult material, and they decided that "Sexuality" AND "Gay & Lesbian" at all were to be judge and condemned as Adult Material... if I can, hardly, understand, the "Sexuality" one, someone should explain to me the Gay & Lesbian, since I'm to stupid to understand.
I also received the Standard reply that Amazon sent to all the customers who complained (I beleive)
Hello, This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection. It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search. Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future. Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.
Yesterday if you searched "A Secret Edge by Robin Reardon" with the search Filter set to "All Departments" the only result you had was:
The Secret Handshake: Mastering the Politics of the Business Inner Circle by Kathleen Kelly Reardon Ph.D. (Paperback - Jan 15, 2002)
That was not obviously the fiction book on a teen dealing with the discovery of being gay.
Today with the same search, you also find:
Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon (Paperback - May 1, 2008)
That is still not the book I was searching but it is at least the second book published by the same author. Strange enought, both books, "A Secret Edge" and "Thinking Straight" still don't have their sales rank restored, but it's a good sign that something is happening.
I will continue to check
ETA: LLF Statement on Amazon Controversy
April 13, 2009--In response to the recent uproar over Amazon's deranking of "adult" titles and its effect on LGBT books, Board President Christopher Rice has released this statement:
( LLF Statement on Amazon Controversy )
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/index.html
Channel 4 coverage (where interesting and detailed):
( Video coverage )
Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener's comment:
Amazon calls mistake 'embarrassing and ham-fisted'
ETA: Apparently everything is back to normal:
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/59542
"I'm one of your Top Reviewers. I have a LGBT Review blog with a daily average visit of more than 500 and I always included the Amazon buy link. But now most of the books I review have no more sales rank and are disappeared from the Bestseller List. To a Gay Novel author who asked a reason why, one of your people replied:
"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us."
Can you tell me why you decided to define "adult" material a book like "A Secret Edge" by Robin Reardon, that is a Young Adult book with no sex? Or "Maurice" by E.M. Forster that is a classic of English literature? Why the paperback editions of "Call Me by Your Name" by Andre Aciman or "Almost Like Being in Love" by Steve Kluger have no more the sales rank?
Thank you, Elisa Rolle"
and this morning I received this reply:
"Hello, Thanks for reviewing our website.
We recently discovered a glitch in our systems and it's being fixed.
Thanks again for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.
Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
Sornalatha"
Obviously I already replied that it was not a "glitch" and that the problem was not resolved since I still can't find "A Secret Edge" by Robin Reardon with the general search, and when I check the book, it has not its sales rank. I'm taking that book as example since it is a Young Adult book, with almost no sex (I read it and I know), and it was a book at the top of their Bestseller Lists before this change.
Yesterday night I also sent an email to all the 100 authors in my Top 100 Gay Novels List; some authors replied, most of them didn't know what was happening and said they will take measure. Who replied (even if their books are not "purged"): Barry McCrea, Lee Rowan, Robin Reardon, Lynn Flewelling, Ruth Sims, Paul Lisicky, Tom Dolby, Ronald L. Donaghe, Blair Mastbaum, Mark Kendrick, W.A. Hoffman, Alex Sanchez, Marc Acito, Christopher Rice, Steve Berman, Damian McNicholl.
( Replies from Authors )
ETA: Dear Author hypothesized that Amazon used Category MetaData to filter ranking, so I made an analysis on the first 20 title of my Top 100 Gay Novels List:
( 20 titles analysis )
So it appears that if you have a Gay & Lesbian category, the book is stripped of the Sales Rank, but if the category is Homosexuality, the Sales Rank remains, and this allows some "strange" result in the Amazon search right now.
Please sign the petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-prot
ETA: The search engine on Amazon website is starting to behave:
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/59419
This is my Top 100 Gay Novels List. In bold the books that now haven't anymore the sales rank on Amazon:
1 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
2 The Master by Colm Toibin
3 Melusine by Sarah Monette
4 Shadows Return by Lynn Flewelling
5 Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman
6 Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
7 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
8 At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
9 How I Paid for College by Marc Acito
10 The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt
11 Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite
12 The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
13 A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
14 All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann
15 Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
16 Freak Show by James St. James
17 Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
18 Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley
19 Every Visible Thing by Lisa Carey
20 Totally Joe by James Howe
21 Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
22 Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale
23 We Disappear by Scott Heim
24 Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger
25 The Back Passage by James Lear
26 The Married Man by Edmund White
27 Now Is the Hour by Tom Spanbauer
28 Vintage by Steve Berman
29 The Tin Star by J. L. Langley
30 Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany
31 Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates
32 Brethren: Raised By Wolves by W. A. Hoffman
33 The World of Normal Boys by K. M. Soehnlein
34 A Bit of Rough by Laura Baumbach
35 The First Verse by Barry McCrea
36 Saints of Augustine by P.E. Ryan
37 Captain's Surrender by Alex Beecroft
38 A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R. W. Day
39 The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy
40 The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
41 Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan
42 Tales from the Town of Widows by James Canon
43 Comfort and Joy by Jim Grimsley
44 Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon
45 The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek
46 The Coming Storm by Paul Russell
47 The Martian Child by David Gerrold
48 The Notorious Dr. August by Christopher Bram
49 Looking For It by Michael Thomas Ford
50 A Secret Edge by Robin Reardon
51 A Son Called Gabriel by Damian McNicholl
52 The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson
53 Standish by Erastes
54 The Abomination by Paul Golding
55 The Straight Road to Kylie by Nico Medina
56 Ransom by Lee Rowan
57 Oleander House by Ally Blue
58 Vampire Vow by Michael Schiefelbein
59 Clay's Way by Blair Mastbaum
60 Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing
61 Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
62 Bareback by Chris Owen
63 Falling by M. L. Rhodes
64 Avoidance by Michael Lowenthal
65 The Phoenix by Ruth Sims
66 Half-Life by Aaron Krach
67 The Practical Heart by Allan Gurganus
68 Lawnboy by Paul Lisicky
69 Man About Town by Mark Merlis
70 A Young Man's Passage by Julian Clary
71 The Price of Temptation by M. J. Pearson
72 Where The Boys Are by William J. Mann
73 The Trouble Boy by Tom Dolby
74 Mother of Sorrows by Richard Mccann
75 Faith for Beginners by Aaron Hamburger
76 My Best Man by Andy Schell
77 Latter Days by C. Jay Cox
78 He's The One by Timothy James Beck
79 Every Man For Himself by Orland Outland
80 Metes and Bounds by Jay Quinn
81 Bourbon Street Blues by Greg Herren
82 Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick
83 Someone Killed His Boyfriend by David Stukas
84 Common Sons by Ronald L. Donaghe
85 Soul Mates: Bound by Blood by Jourdan Lane
86 Strings Attached by Nick Nolan
87 Can't Buy Me Love by Chris Kenry
88 Tricks of the Trade by Ben Tyler
89 On Fire by Drew Zachary
90 Any Kind Of Luck by William Jack Sibley
91 Letters to Montgomery Clift by Noel Alumit
92 The Haunted Hillbilly by Derek McCormack
93 Suspension by Robert Westfield
94 What We Do Is Secret by Kief Hillsbery
95 Hot Sauce by Scott Pomfret
96 PsyCop: Partners by Jordan Castillo Price
97 Wicked Angels by Eric Jourdan
98 The Master of Seacliff by Max Pierce
99 Daytime Drama by Dave Benbow
100 Three Day Passes by Sean Michael
Should I comment on Andre Aciman, or Steve Kluger? Bart Yates or Robin Reardon? If you search Jamie O'Neill or Edmund White, the first result on the search hasn't the sales rank, but if you click in some other minor edition, some of them have the rank, it seems that if the book was previously released in Hardcover or has a Kindle Edition, you can still find it, but I believe that not having the rank in the most relevant result is not a good thing... All the LGBT books released for the first time as paperback (and only paperback) haven't the sales rank.
Please sign the petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-prot
Amazon's response to Mark Probst's, author of Gay YA The Filly, complain:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us
ETA: The reply Amazon sent to my enquiry:
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/59323
The Book: A deliciously funny romp of a novel about one overly theatrical and sexually confused New Jersey teenager's larcenous quest for his acting school tuition. It's 1983 in Wallingford, New Jersey, a sleepy bedroom community outside of Manhattan. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller - type, is Peter Panning his way through a carefree summer of magic and mischief. The fun comes to a halt, however, when Edward's father remarries and refuses to pay for Edward to study acting at Juilliard.
Edward's truly in a bind. He's ineligible for scholarships because his father earns too much. He's unable to contact his mother because she's somewhere in Peru trying to commune with Incan spirits. And, as a sure sign he's destined for a life in the arts, Edward's incapable of holding down a job. So he turns to his loyal (but immoral) misfit friends to help him steal the tuition money from his father, all the while practicing for his high school performance of Grease. Disguising themselves as nuns and priests, they merrily scheme their way through embezzlement, money laundering, identity theft, forgery, and blackmail. But, along the way, Edward also learns the value of friendship, hard work, and how you're not really a man until you can beat up your father--metaphorically, that is.
How I Paid for College is a farcical coming-of-age story that combines the first-person tone of David Sedaris with the byzantine plot twists of Armistead Maupin. It is a novel for anyone who has ever had a dream or a scheme, and it marks the introduction to an original and audacious talent.
"Marc Acito’s rollicking first novel is, by turns, sweet, sexy, and outrageous. Powered by the author’s devious imagination, the story shows us a handful of teenagers driven to larceny, embezzlement, and impersonation—all in the name of higher education. Beneath the story’s beguiling shtick, though, is a more serious issue—the complications inherent in the difficult business of becoming ourselves. A great graduation gift." - Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She’s Not There
"Witty... peppered with pitch-perfect, archly adolescent asides... The ease with which Acito has choreographed [these] crazy capers makes you hope there's a lot more where all this came from." - New York Times Book Review
"Acito has fantastic narrative chops, writing funny, fast, and satisfying chapters... This is a book for mature readers that reminds us what a blast immaturity can be." - People
"Like the class clown willing to do anything for a laugh, [How I Paid for College is] funny, entertaining, and ultimately endearing." - Details
"A coming-of-age, coming-out tale that escapes triteness and predictability thanks to Acito's eye for the absurd truth." - TimeOut New York
"Dazzling... a thumbs-up winner from a storyteller whose future looks as bright as that of his young hero." - Publishers Weekly
Amazon: How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Marc Acito (born January 11, 1966 in Bayonne, NJ) is a United States novelist, humorist, and screenwriter. His comic novel How I Paid for College won the Oregon Book Awards' 2005 Ken Kesey Award for Best Novel, was voted a 2005 "Teens Top Ten for favorite young adult book" of the American Library Association. In April 2008, Acito published Attack of the Theater People, a sequel to How I Paid for College.
He is also the writer of the syndicated humor column "The Gospel According to Marc", which ran for four years in nineteen gay publications. His humorous essays have appeared in many publications including The New York Times (April 3, 2006) and Portland Monthly magazine (January 2007, February 2007); as well as on NPR's All Things Considered (October 4, 2006).
Acito is openly gay and lives in Portland, OR with his partner Floyd Sklaver. (From Wikipedia)
http://www.marcacito.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Like Michael Cunningham in The Hours, Colm Tóibín captures the extraordinary mind and heart of a great writer. Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of a man born into one of America's first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late nineteenth century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. In stunningly resonant prose, Tóibín captures the loneliness and the hope of a master of psychological subtlety whose forays into intimacy inevitably failed those he tried to love. The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
"The work of a first-rate novelist artful, moving and very beautiful." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A spectacular novel." -- Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones
"A gorgeous portrait of a complex and passionate man." -- Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
"Tóibín takes us almost shockingly close to the mystery of art itself. A remarkable, utterly original book." -- Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
"A marvel." -- John Updike, The New Yorker
"A deep, lovely, and enthralling book that engages with the disquiet and drama of a famous writing life." -- Shirley Hazzard, author of The Great Fire
Amazon: The Master: A Novel
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Colm Tóibín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɔl̪ˠəmˠ t̪ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ]) (born 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland) is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist and critic. Colm Tóibín was born in the southeast of Ireland. He was the second youngest of five children. His grandfather, Patrick Tobin, was a member of the Irish Republican Army, as was his grand-uncle Michael Tobin. Patrick Tobin took part in the 1916 Rebellion in Enniscorthy and was subsequently interned in Frongoch in Wales. Colm Toibin's father was a teacher who was involved in the Fianna Fáil party in Enniscorthy.
Tóibín received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford, where he was a boarder between 1970 and 1972. He progressed to University College Dublin, and graduated in 1975. Immediately after graduation, he left for Barcelona.
Tóibín's first novel, 1990's The South, was partly inspired by his time in the Barcelona; as was, more directly, his non-fiction Homage to Barcelona (1990). Having returned to Ireland in 1978, he began to study for a Masters. However, he did not submit his thesis and left academia, at least partly, for a career in journalism.
The early 1980s were an especially bright period in Irish journalism, and the heyday for the monthly news magazine Magill. Tóibín became the magazine's editor in 1982, and remained in the position until 1985.
The Heather Blazing (1992), his second novel, was followed by The Story of the Night (1996) and The Blackwater Lightship (1999). His fifth novel, The Master (2004), is a fictional account of portions in the life of author Henry James. In 2006 his first collection of short stories was published as Mothers and Sons, and was reviewed favourably (including by Pico Iyer in The New York Times). He is the author of other non-fiction books: Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border (1994), (reprinted from the 1987 original edition) and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994).
He has written a play that was staged in Dublin in August 2004, Beauty in a Broken Place.
He has continued to work as a journalist, both in Ireland and abroad. He has also achieved a reputation as a literary critic: he has edited a book on Paul Durcan, The Kilfenora Teaboy (1997); The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999); and has written The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950 (1999), with Carmen Callil; a collection of essays, Love in A Dark Time: Gay lives from Wilde to Almodóvar (2002); and a study on Lady Gregory, Lady Gregory's Toothbrush (2002).
Tóibín is a member of Aosdána and has been visiting professor at Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. He has also lectured at several other universities, including Boston College and New York University. In 2008 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) at the University of Ulster in recognition of his contribution to contemporary Irish Literature. (From Wikipedia)
http://www.colmtoibin.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: Set in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1980s, the story surrounds the post-Oxford life of the young protagonist, Nick Guest. As the novel begins, Nick moves into the household of the Fedden family, comprising his friend, crush, and fellow Oxford graduate Toby; Toby's eccentric sister Catherine; their wealthy and aristocratic mother, Rachel; and their Thatcher-obsessed father, Gerald, a newly-elected MP for the Conservative Party. Nick remains a guest in the Fedden home until he is expelled at the end of the novel. Nick has his first romance with a black council worker, Leo, but a later relationship with Wani, the son of a rich Lebanese businessman, illuminates the ruthlessness of 1980s Thatcherite Britain.
The book explores the tension between Nick's intimate relationship with the Feddens, in whose parties and holidays he participates, and the realities of his sexuality and gay life, which the Feddens accept only to the extent of never mentioning it. It explores themes of hypocrisy, homosexuality, madness and wealth, with the emerging AIDS crisis forming a backdrop to the book's conclusion.
Amazon: The Line of Beauty: A Novel
The Author: Alan Hollinghurst is an English novelist, and winner of the 2004 Booker Prize for The Line of Beauty. He was born on 26 May 1954 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, the only child of James Kenneth Holinghurst (a bank manager) and his wife Lilian. He went to Canford School in Dorset.
He read English at Magdalen College, Oxford graduating in 1975; and subsequently took the further degree of Master of Literature (1979). While at Oxford he shared a house with Andrew Motion, and was awarded the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1974, the year before Motion.
In the late 1970s he became a lecturer at Magdalen, and then at Somerville College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1981 he moved on to lecture at University College London. In 1997, he went on an Asia book tour in Singapore.
In 1981 he joined The Times Literary Supplement and was the paper's deputy editor from 1982 to 1995.
Hollinghurst is openly gay and lives in London. (From Wikipedia)
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
The Book: A great house. A family dispossessed. A sensitive young man. A powerful landowner. An epic love that springs up between two men. Set in the post-Napoleonic years of the 1820's, Standish is a tale of two men - one man discovering his sexuality and the other struggling to overcome his traumatic past. Ambrose Standish, a studious and fragile young man, has dreams of regaining the great house his grandfather lost in a card game. When Rafe Goshawk returns from the continent to claim the estate, their meeting sets them on a path of desire and betrayal which threatens to tear both of their worlds apart. Painting a picture of homosexuality in Georgian England, Standish is a love story of how the decisions of two men affect their journey through Europe and through life. Amazon: Standish
( My Review )
( Other Books in the List )
The Author: Erastes is the penname of a female author. Erastes has been writing all of his life, in one way or another, letters, emails, diaries used to satisfy his need for the written word. He simply didn’t think he could write, make plots that people would be interested in.
Then one day in 2003, he simply started, a few short stories, and then a novel and then…well, he hasn’t stopped writing since.
He lives in Norfolk, and when he can be dragged kicking and screaming away from his computer, he enjoys walks by the Broads. He likes cats and cheese but has discovered only one of those is any good with toast.
He likes his men like his fiction, dark, with a hint of danger, romantic and intelligent without being too wordy. He believes in the GDM bases his dodgy morality on Heinlein’s Intermissions.
He is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Director of The Erotic Authors’ Association and is a staff writer at www.bookpuppy.co.uk
http://www.erastes.com/
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)
External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)
*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.
Other titles not in the top 100 list:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top5
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