Ends of the Earth: A Novel Views: 47
Five years ago, Benji Green lost his beloved father, Big Eddie, when his truck crashed into a river. Everyone called it an accident, but Benji knows it was more. Even years later, he’s buried in his grief, throwing himself into managing Big Eddie’s convenience store in the small-town of Roseland, Oregon. Surrounded by his mother and three aunts, he lives day to day, struggling to keep his head above water. But Roseland is no ordinary place. With ever more frequent dreams of his father’s death and waking visions of feathers on the river’s surface, Benji finds his definition of reality bending. He thinks himself haunted; by ghosts or memories, he can no longer tell. Not until a man falls from the sky, leaving the burning imprint of wings on the ground, does Benji begin to understand that the world is more mysterious than he ever imagined—and more dangerous. As uncontrollable forces descend on Roseland, they reveal long-hidden truths about friends, family, and the stranger Calliel—a man Benji can no longer live without. Views: 47
Explicit Adult Content! Jinady was forced to be a sex slave to a tribe of winged incubi for a year when he’s rescued by the regal demon Figaru. Figaru brings Jinady to a settlement of mortals. Jinady learns that Figaru is the king of this settlement, and that he’s been looking for a mate. Views: 47
An attack left Gabriel, a cybernetically modified angel, cut off from the floating city of Heaven, missing a wing, and at the mercy of mechanic Jeff Worth. Jeff owes a group of demons for saving his daughter, and he'll have to choose between her life and the angel he's coming to love. Views: 47
Uri Kessler is a bit of a klutz. Recently divorced from a guy he married too quickly and yearning to have a holiday that feels special, he decides to make Hanukkah candles. The results are literally a blazing disaster. But Uri’s mishap helps him get to know Oscar Cortez, his sexy new neighbor, and the two men instantly hit it off. While Uri finds himself drawn to Oscar, he’s also afraid to make a mess of their budding relationship. It’ll take a small miracle to make things work between them. Views: 47
Ravi and Tristan from BETA TEST decide to escape the holidays in this 7500 word ficlet that is best enjoyed as a continuation of BETA TEST rather than a stand-alone. Views: 47
In this heartwarming and illuminating collection of twenty-five original stories of personal experience, Neil Plakcy and Sharon Sakson celebrate the joy, growth, and healing offered to all of us by the dogs in our lives. Touching, powerful, and often humorous, Paws and Reflect explores and celebrates the special bond between gay men and their dogs, yet the universal appeal of unconditional love from man's best friend makes Paws and Reflect a must-read for dog lovers regardless of gender or sexual orientation.Playwright and filmmaker Craig Lucas has written, "A guy I dated didn't like my Dachshund. One of them is gone, and it isn't the Dachshund. As it happens there are two terrific Dachshund essays in this book. Both made me cry and one of them has the best punchline I've come across in a long time. Drink in these real-life stories of dog lovers and devotion."Interviewees include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, Academy Award-nominated writer Ron Nyswaner... Views: 47
Dr. Ray Carmichael is a wealthy African-American doctor and political activist running for office on the platform that the brutality and corruption of the local police force is out of control. Nick Sorenson is a white cop who grew up poor and almost lost his life in gangs and crime before turning his life around by joining the police force.When Ray's brother is beaten by a couple of police officers after a traffic stop, Nick is the Internal Affairs detective put in charge of investigating the incident. Dr. Carmichael's obvious distrust of the police force rubs Nick the wrong way, and the man becomes a pain in his neck. Too bad, because neither of them can deny their attraction to each other.Ray has Nick removed from the case when he decides he'd rather date the man than fight with him. In spite of their differences, they begin an affair and grow closer. Until an explosive incident at a family gathering puts nagging doubts in Nick's head — he's not sure if they can overcome... Views: 47
Bright, ambitious, and handsome, Ross Ohrenstedt is a high flier in the fashionable field of queer studies. He has just taken a prestigious university position in Los Angeles and has been appointed to oversee the collection of papers and works of a leading light of the gay literary salon known as the Purple Circle. Ross stumbles across a lost work by an unknown author and his quest to identify the mystery writer and achieve the glory of scholastic tenure unveils increasingly bizarre and unbalanced facts about a group of writers who in the 1970s and 1980s broke new ground in the creation of a gay literary sensibility. But the dark truth contained within The Book of Lies is even more startling. With biting wit and a lush sense of place and character, Felice Picano's daring novel is at once a stylish mystery, a comical roman-à-clef, and a wicked send-up of the new Ivory Tower. First published to acclaim in 1998, this new edition for 2020 features a foreword by David... Views: 47
All the world's a stage...but real-life lessons are hidden in the heart.The Shamwell Tales, Book 2Though Tristan must join his family's New York firm at summer's end—no more farting around on stage, as his father so bluntly puts it—he can't resist when Shamwell's local amateur dramatics society begs him to take a role in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The bonus: giving private acting lessons to a local handyman who's been curiously resistant to Tristan's advances. Not only is Con delicious, there's fifty pounds riding on Tristan getting him in his bed.A late-diagnosed dyslexic, Con's never dared to act, convinced he'd never be able to learn his lines. But with Tristan's help, he takes the chance. Trouble is, the last time Con fell for a guy, he ended up getting his heart broken. And with Tristan due to leave the country soon, Con is determined not to start anything that's bound to finish badly.Just as... Views: 46
Former gladiator Saevius is certain fortune's smiling on him when a Pompeiian politician buys him to be his bodyguard. But then his new master, Laurea Calvus, orders Saevius to discover the gladiator with whom his wife is having an affair. In order to do that, Saevius must return to the arena, training alongside the very men on whom he's spying. Worse, he's now under the command of Drusus, a notoriously cruel—and yet strangely intriguing—lanista.But Saevius's ruse is the least of his worries. There's more to the affair than a wife humiliating her prominent husband, and now Saevius is part of a dangerous game between dangerous men. He isn't the only gladiator out to expose the Lady Verina's transgressions, and her husband wants more than just the guilty man's name.When Saevius learns the truth about the affair, he's left with no choice but to betray one of his masters: one he's come to fear, one he's come to respect, and both of whom could have him killed... Views: 46
Cousins Roger and Alistair become lifelong friends when they meet as boys in 1954. They discover their homosexuality and their lives intersect against the backdrop of 20th-century gay culture, from the beachboy surfer days of the 1960s, to Greenwich Village AIDS activism in the 1990s.From Publishers WeeklyThough Picano's latest may lack the significance implied by its subtitle, his memorable characters and wonderfully dishy dialogue evoke changing gay sensibilities with affecting measures of both tragedy and comedy. The novel opens in New York City, 1991, with literary maven Roger Sansarc, who narrates, and his current boyfriend attending a 45th-birthday celebration for Roger's flamboyant second cousin, Alistair Dodge. Alistair is suffering from AIDS, and Roger has brought the requested pills to hasten his demise. The action flashes back to 1954, when Roger and Alistair first meet, as fourth graders; subsequent sections alternate between the present?detailing Alistair's fate, as well as a heated ACT UP demonstration?and assorted professional and amatory episodes in the lives of the conservative Roger and his ever-outre relation. Comparisons with Ethan Mordden's similarly themed How Long Has This Been Going On? are inevitable: both books portray America's evolving gay culture during the past few decades. Picano's tale is the more traditional in style and structure, while Mordden brings greater scope and sweep to his freewheeling, in-your-face novel. Despite the dramatic events and requisite period references here (e.g., mentholated Kent cigarettes, Mary Renault's The Persian Boy), the historical perspective Picano brings seems somewhat forced. Nevertheless, his finely crafted prose makes these People consistently absorbing. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistPicano's big new novel is the story of two cousins, Roger Sansarc and Alistair Dodge, from their boyhood through Dodge's death in his forties from AIDS. The two live through several major cultural moments in later-twentieth-century America: Woodstock, San Francisco in the days of Harvey Milk, Fire Island's heyday, and recent AIDS activism and gay militancy in New York. Both manage to have incredible (literally!) lives--managing expensive stores and art galleries, inheriting fortunes, editing highfalutin opera magazines, having long-term relationships with Adonises, and generally making Lives of the Rich and Famous look like middle-class America. Picano fills the dialogue with humor and the plot with interest, yet his characters lack the depth and genuineness of Armistead (Tales of the City) Maupin's. So, ultimately, the book doesn't work all that well as a serious chronicle of gay America. Rather, being both gay and an epic (i.e., it's campy and it's long), it succeeds as a story that doesn't take itself too seriously and will be much in demand as a beach book. Charles Harmon Views: 46
A telling novel about gay life after Stonewall, Late in the Season is one of the finest novels in the long career of one of the founding members of the Violet Quill Club. Set on Fire Island in late September, this is the story of an unlikely pair of friends—a gay composer in his late thirties and an eighteen-year-old schoolgirl—both of whom are trying to make sense of their complicated lives. But much more than this, it is a compelling portrait of a magical time and place, after the Stonewall riots opened up so many possibilities and before AIDS forever changed the face of the gay world. Views: 46
