As this book’s dedication asserts, these stories are “for all the queers”, and a queerer collection of short stories you’re unlikely to encounter this year. These tales are queer in the truest and most profound sense, existing at the dangerous and fertile intersection of gender, ethnicity, class and sexuality. In the first story, set in … Continue reading
The West Side piers on the Hudson River achieved a level of infamy in the 1970s and early 1980s as a gathering place for gay men in pursuit of public, yet anonymous, sex. Its reputation included the danger inherent in public exposure, libidinous activity and the dilapidated state of the structures. The area is now … Continue reading
Like many others, I discovered the Cockettes through David Weismann and Bill Weber’s wonderful eponymous 2002 documentary (frockumentary?), and like that film, this book is an essential monument to the countercultural force of nature that was the Cockettes, the late 60s/early 70s San Francisco queer drag troupe who took on the tedious establishment of mainstream … Continue reading
Every year when our little hamlet of Provincetown empties out, I am reminded of the wonderful song from the musical Grey Gardens, “Another Winter in a Summer Town.” This year those melancholy feelings seem quaint. When the town is so quiet, empty and cold, I find comfort in cracking open another book, never knowing precisely … Continue reading
The Pharmacist appeared in a different form in Justin David’s collection He’s Done Ever so Well for Himself. That book was reviewed previously in QueerGuru and met with admiration for his finely-drawn, wacky characters. This version appears in the form of a smart, tight novella. Since it is a slim book, I will refrain from … Continue reading