The Year in Gay Books: Mouse Soars, J.K. scores and more!
by Jesse Monteagudo
December 12, 2007
For gay books, 2007 was the best of times and the worst of times. Setbacks
in the gay publishing industry did not keep good gay books from being published
or good gay writers from doing what they do best, but several gay publishers
and one gay book club went, or are going, out of business.
Here are the literary highs and lows of the year along with our choices for
the author of the year, the top five books of the year and other assorted
honors passed out with bright, shiny holiday bows.
Author of the Year
Entertainment Weekly recently named J. K. Rowling its Entertainer of the
Year, no surprise considering the huge success of Rowlings Harry Potter books.
Almost as famous within the gay book world is Armistead Maupin, the beloved
author of the Tales of the City series. This year Maupin came back strong with
his seventh Tales of the City volume, Michael Tolliver Lives (although Maupin
really doesnt consider it a Tales sequel).
It is the present-day story of Tales Michael Tolliver, now a 54-year old
gardener and AIDS survivor. MTL allows us to catch up with other characters
from the Tales series and introduces us to some new ones, including Michaels
much younger lover. For bringing the much beloved Michael and his friends back,
we name Armistead Maupin our Gay Author of the Year.
The Top Five Books of the Year
As youll read below, many good gay books were published in 2007. Picking
only five is difficult, not to mention arbitrary, but here are our five.
1. All: A James Broughton Reader (White Crane Press).
2. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).
3. The Child by Sarah Schulman (Carroll & Graf).
4. Gay Artists In Modern American Culture: An Imagined Conspiracy by Michael
Sherry (University of North Carolina Press).
5. Man to Man: A History of Gay Photography by Pierre Borhan (Vendome Press).
Best Gay News of the Year: Dumbledore is Gay!
In the literary outing of the century, J.K. Rowling caused a post-publication
stir last October when she told a Carnegie Hall audience that Albus Dumbledore,
the headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is gay.
Rowlings post-publication revelation surprised many, since Dumbledores sexual
orientation was never mentioned in any of the Potter books (though there were
those readers who suspected).
In a world where most books, plays, movies, television shows and music videos
are 100% heterosexual, it is refreshing that Rowling allows the existence of
homosexuality in her literary universe. And the impact of having the author of
the bestselling book of 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows put her
stamp of approval on gay characters in childrens literature is hard to
underestimate. Best of all, the news also validated many LGBT Potter fans and
upset a fair few of the bigots. Whats not to love about that?
Best Mens Fiction (tie)
The Child by Sarah Schulman (Carroll & Graf)
Though Sarah Schulman is best known for her lesbian novels, The Child should
be read by every gay man. It is the story of Stew, a gay teen led to commit
murder when his adult online lover, David, is charged with pedophilia. Though
Stew is deemed too young to consent to sex, he is tried for murder as an adult,
and sentenced to 70 years in prison. The Child tells the story of Stew and of
Eva, the lesbian lawyer who agrees to represent David at his own trial. It is
also an indictment of our sorry criminal justice system.
First Person Plural by Andrew Beierle (Kensington)
This is not the kind of book one would expect from the author of the frothy
The Winter of Our Discotheque. Gay Owen and straight Porter are conjoined twins
who have two heads and hearts but share one (admittedly hot) body. When Porter
marries Faith, Owen falls in love with her closeted brother Chase, leading to
all sorts of complications. The plight of a gay conjoined twin has never been
dealt with before (as least as far as I know) and Beierle has made it the theme
of a very interesting and thought-provoking novel.
Best Mens Memoir and Autobiography
The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman (Knopf)
Leo Lerman (1914-1994) was a notable writer, critic, editor (Condé Nast) and
bon vivant: a man who was in Whos Who and knew whats what. Though Lerman
never wrote his memoirs, he kept a journal throughout his busy life. These
journals, now published, give us with an intimate look at New Yorks arts and
social scene for much of the 20th century.
Best Mens Biography
The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein by Martin Duberman (Knopf)
In Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996), Martin Duberman has found a subject worthy
of his talents: patron of the arts, founder of the New York City Ballet and
other institutions, and friend of the rich and famous and talented (including
Leo Lerman). Though Kirstein was heterosexually married and bipolar to boot
none of this kept him from enjoying numerous gay affairs throughout his long
and active life.
Best Gay Debut Fiction
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Call Me By Your Name would be a fascinating first novel by any writer. What
makes this doubly interesting is that the author, André Aciman, is
heterosexual. It is the star-crossed love story of Elio, a teenage boy who
lives with his parents on the Italian Riviera, and Oliver, an older graduate
student of Elios scholarly father. This tender and erotic love story has an
appeal that transcends the boundaries of sexual orientation.
Best Gay Romance
Longhorns by Victor Jay Banis (Carroll & Graf)
Oldsters may remember Victor Jay Banis as the author of classic 1960s and
1970s pulp novels, published under his own name and many pseudonyms. Longhorns,
Banis first novel in years, is a gay romance set in the old west and takes
place between Les, the purportedly straight boss of the Double H ranch, and
Buck, a handsome young drifter with a penchant for being rode hard.
Best Young Adult Fiction
Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman (Harrington Park Positronic Press) is
Bermans first novel, and manages to deal with the problems of being a gay teen
without being overly preachy. It also does so within the confines of a
thrilling boy-meets-ghost love story. Vintage is about a gay boy kicked out by
his parents, who then moves in with his more understanding Aunt Jan, befriends
a Goth girl named Trace, and encounters what could be the ghost of a youth who
was hit by a car 50 years before.
As the boy falls in love with the spook, he tries to contact him with an
Ouija Board, thus opening a gateway into the unknown. As if Vintages exciting
plot and interesting characters are not enough, Berman who has dedicated this
book to the memory of a young friend who took his own life pledged 20% of his
royalties to charities that help prevent gay youth suicide.
Honorable Mention
Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the
Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Brent Hartinger (Harper Teen), a flip-book
sequel to Hartingers (an AfterElton.com contributor) award-winning Geography
Club.
Best Gay Mystery
Drag Queen in the Court of Death by Caro Soles (Harrington Park Southern
Tier)
This mystery is another good gay book written by a woman. When Professor
Michael Dunn-Barten cleans out the apartment of his ex-lover Ronnie, a famous
drag queen, he finds a mummified corpse along with Ronnies dresses and other
drag regalia. Seeking to uncover the truth behind the literal skeleton in
Ronnies closet, Michael is forced to look back at his own checkered life.
Best Gay Science Fiction
Q-FAQ by Tom Bacchus (Harrington Park Positronic Press).
Bacchuss dystopian saga puts gay sex back into science fiction. Set in a
future Divided States of America, Q-FAQ are the erotic adventures of Afaik, a
gay Arab man who is bombed out of his Manhattan home after being accused of
terrorism by the ruling Puritan Party. Afaik soon joins forces with the bionic
Aces Bannon and goes on a cross-country tour, where the two uncover an
underground network of hunky guys and circuit party orgies.
Gay Fantasy and Horror
The Werewolves of Central Park (STARbooks)
First time author Tom Cardamone has created a fantastic New York City, a
place full of frolicking fauns, lecherous werewolves, stomping centaurs, and a
Central Park where sexual passions run wild each night.
Best Gay History (tie)
Gay Artists In Modern American Culture: An Imagined Conspiracy by Michael
Sherry (University of North Carolina Press)
During the 1940s and 1950s, much of American literature, theater and music
was created by gay male artists. But this was also the age of the lavender
scare, a time when gay men were persecuted as perverts and agents of
Communism. In Gay Artists In Modern American Culture, Michael Sherry explores
the role gay male artists played during these crucial decades.
The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein by John Lauritsen (Pagan Press)
Lauritsen calls himself an independent scholar, and The Man Who Wrote
Frankenstein proves it by taking on one of English literatures most famous
works, Frankenstein. Lauritsens book has three theses, all controversial: [1]
Frankenstein is a great work which has consistently been underrated and
misinterpreted. [2] The real author of Frankenstein is Percy Bysshe Shelley,
not his second wife, the former Mary Godwin. [3] Male love is the dominant
theme of Frankenstein
Best Gay Arts (tie)
Hard Boys by Harry Bush (Green Candy Press)
In his lifetime and after, the erotic drawings of Harry Bush (d. 1994)
appeared in publications like Physique Pictorial, Mr. Sun, and Drummer. Hard
Boys is both a biography of the elusive, reclusive Mr. Bush and a celebration
of his art, which in its time stood alongside the immortal works of George
Quaintance and Tom of Finland.
Man to Man: A History of Gay Photography by Pierre Borhan (Vendome Press)
This collection goes beyond the buff musclemen we usually expect from a gay
photo book. Rather, it is the first fully comprehensive study of homoeroticism
and male homosexuality in the history of photography around the world. Dont
worry, though
Best Gay Mystery
Drag Queen in the Court of Death by Caro Soles (Harrington Park Southern
Tier)
This mystery is another good gay book written by a woman. When Professor
Michael Dunn-Barten cleans out the apartment of his ex-lover Ronnie, a famous
drag queen, he finds a mummified corpse along with Ronnies dresses and other
drag regalia. Seeking to uncover the truth behind the literal skeleton in
Ronnies closet, Michael is forced to look back at his own checkered life.
the buff musclemen are here, too.
Best Gay Spirituality
All: A James Broughton Reader (White Crane Press)
Although James Broughton (1913-1999) was best known as a poet and a
filmmaker, he was also a deeply spiritual man. All is a collection of
Broughtons major contributions to gay spirituality, with interviews, poetry
and prose not available to us for many years (if at all).
Best Gay Travel
Looking for Love in Faraway Places and Gay Travels in the Muslim World,
edited by Michael Luongo (Harrington Park Southern Tier)
Luongo, editor of 2004's Between the Palms: A Collection of Gay Travel
Erotica, continues in this tradition with two new anthologies of true gay
travel stories. Of the two, the more interesting one is Gay Travels in the
Muslim World, a collection that includes, among other interesting revelations,
the true story of a gay soldiers tour of duty in Iraq.
And now for the bad news.
Insightout is phased out
Lovers of good gay books suffered a major loss when Bookspan announced that
it was phasing out some of its smaller book clubs, including the LGBT-oriented
Insightout Book Club. Though Insightout had 50,000 members, that was not enough
to keep the club profitable enough for the parent company. It remains to be
seen whether the remaining Bookspan clubs will do enough to promote gay books
and gay authors and cater to the needs of queer book lovers, especially in
areas without LGBT bookstores.
Though Insightout remains in business as of this date, it refuses to take in
new members and it is only a matter of time before it ceases to exist.
Book publishers go out of business
Two major lines of LGBT books called it quits in 2007. Carroll & Graf, which
under editor Don Weise has produced an impressive list of gay fiction and
non-fiction, was discontinued by the new owners of its parent publishing
companies.
Meanwhile, the Haworth Press, publisher of Harrington Park Press and its
Southern Tier, Alice Street and Positronic lines, was sold to Taylor & Francis
without its gay imprints. Though Haworth hopes to find a buyer for its
Harrington Park line, it has been not yet been able to find one. Harrington
Park Press is one of the major publishers of good LGBT fiction and non-fiction,
including some of the best books of 2007. With news like this, it is no wonder
that many gay authors are now resorting to online vanity presses to publish
their books.
Gay books are a bust
So says Katherine Volin, who wrote an article about it for the Washington
Blade. According to Volin, Gay books, particularly memoirs or sensationalistic
works . . . get a lot of play in the gay and mainstream media, but dont always
perform well. Pointing at the low sales of celebrity memoirs by Mary Cheney,
Jim McGreevey, and other celebrities, Volin argues that, In a culture of
celebrity, the winds are fickle, especially when the Internet provides
up-to-the-second bits of information, as opposed to an entire book, which may
or may not be entertaining or worth the time.
As far as celebrity memoirs are concerned, 2007 proves to be more of the
same, with tell-all titles by ex-boy band member Lance Bass (Out of Sync),
Styx rocker Chuck Panozzo (The Grand Illusion), movie veteran Farley Granger
(Include Me Out) and Ted Haggard hustler Mike Jones (I Had to Say Something).
The Advocates readers prefer entertainers over writers
For its 40th Anniversary Issue (Sept. 25, 2007), The Advocate asked its
readers to go online and pick 40 LGBT heroes. The results proved that
entertainers are more popular than authors. While 14 queer celebs made the top
40, only 7 writers Larry Kramer, Rita Mae Brown, Armistead Maupin, Tony
Kushner, Malcolm Boyd, Randy Shilts, Audre Lorde were chosen by Advocate
readers.
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