Inside the Vortex by Justin Hernandez (2013, CreateSpace), $14.95; 158 pp. Just last week, we wrote here about a book written by two straight men who strip for women. But that’s not all the guys who drop trou for some bucks — not by a longshot. Justin Hernandez should have been a tough, masculine kid: [...]
Texas-born gay Latino poet Dan Vera touches all the hot-button issues Poet T.S. Eliot told us that “April is the cruelest month,” but it’s also National Poetry Month. And ever since gay poet Richard Blanco was chosen to write President Barack Obama’s second inaugural benediction, poetry has been an unexpected topic of popular conversation within the [...]
Texas beefcake share the secrets of strippers (Big news? They’re all straight!) Between them, Taylor Cole and Justin Whitfield have been getting naked (or nearly naked) professionally for more than 30 years. With that much skin in the game, it naturally made sense they would share their experience with the world — both the fans [...]
Oddly Normal by John Schwartz (Gotham Books 2012). $26; 290pp. When we’re born, our parents count our fingers and toes. They lovingly stroke our skin, look into our faces and wonder what might become of us. That was certainly true of John Schwartz, though in his memoir Oddly Normal, he explains how some real battles laid [...]
The stories in gay author Emma Donoghue’s ‘Astray’ stir the imagination Astray by Emma Donoghue (2012) Little, Brown. $26, 275 pp. The lady in the picture was wearing the biggest scowl you’d ever seen. The photo was taken long ago and it made you wonder: What happened that day to make her so snarly? Was [...]
Drivel, dreck, and what the heck. That kind of sums up many books that were released in 2012. There were some good things, some downright awful things, and some things that, well, they weren’t bad but they weren’t the best books you’ve ever read, either. And then there were the gems. I read more than [...]
From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage by Michael J. Klarman (Oxford University Press, 2012) $28; 276 pp. In the years after World War II, gay rights faced “daunting hurdles.” Organized activism was rare because homosexuality was widely criminalized. Homosexuals — and those merely suspected of homosexuality — [...]
Growing up gay in a hetero world The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World by Alan Downs, Ph.D (DaCapo Lifelong Press, 2012) $16, 252 pp. To out or not to out? How do you know if you’re at the point in your life to fling open the [...]
Despite a slow start, Norah Vincent’s voyeuristic thriller eventually pays off Keeping an eye on your neighbor’s house is a courtesy as old as civilization. But in Thy Neighbor by Norah Vincent, one man takes “neighborhood watch” a bit too far. There was something particularly loathsome about Dave. Nick Walsh could barely bring himself to [...]
Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past by Peter Boag (University of California Press, 2011), $40; 257 pp. Joe Monahan’s neighbors were shocked. The fall of 1903 was short and winter came early. Tough and self-sufficient, Joe had come to the Mallory ranch complaining of illness and he didn’t look good. Shortly after his arrival, he died in [...]
