Best of
Glbt

2005

Hunter's Way


Gerri Hill - 2005
    But even after having six different partners in seven years, Tori isn't prepared when she's forced to team up with the hot-tempered Samantha Kennedy.Samantha, on the other hand, is trying to juggle a new job, a demanding boyfriend, and now finds herself with an even greater challenge -- being partnered with the most difficult detective in the entire squad.After a brief terrorist scare disrupts their serial killer investigation, the two women find themselves growing closer. Samantha begins to question the relationship with her longtime boyfriend, and Tori, never one to allow anyone to get close, begins to feel her defenses slipping in Sam’s presence.A serial killer and drug deals gone bad; the two detectives struggle with their feelings, trying to maintain their professional relationship while keeping their nearly flammable physical relationship in check.With Hunter’s Way, Gerri Hill masterfully blends suspense and intrigue with her unique style of romance.

In Perfect Light


Benjamin Alire Sáenz - 2005
    After Andés Segovia's parents are killed in a car accident when he is still a young boy, his older brother decides to steal the family away to Juárez, Mexico. That decision, made with the best intentions, sets into motion the unraveling of an American family.Years later, his family destroyed, Andés is left to make sense of the chaos -- but he is ill-equipped to make sense of his life. He begins a dark journey toward self-destruction, his talent and brilliance brought down by the weight of a burden too frightening and maddening to bear alone. The manifestation of this frustration is a singular rage that finds an outlet in a dark and seedy El Paso bar -- leading him improbably to Grace Delgado.Recently confronted with her own sense of isolation and mortality, Grace is an unlikely angel, a therapist who agrees to treat Andés after he is arrested in the United States. The two are suspicious of each other, yet they slowly arrive at a tentative working relationship that allows each of them to examine his and her own fragile and damaged past. Andés begins to confront what lies behind his own violence, and Grace begins to understand how she has contributed to her own self-exile and isolation. What begins as an intriguing favor to a friend becomes Grace's lifeline -- even as secrets surrounding the death of Andés' parents threaten to strain the connection irreparably.With the urgent, unflinching vision of a true storyteller and the precise, arresting language of a poet, Sáenz's In Perfect Light bears witness to the cruelty of circumstance and, more than offering escape, the novel offers the possibility of salvation.

Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay


Annie Proulx - 2005
    Now the major motion picture "Brokeback Mountain" is being hailed as equally masterful, with performances that are "the stuff of Hollywood history" "(The New York Times)." "Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay" offers readers insight into how this classic short story was turned into an award-winning screenplay and film. "Brokeback Mountain" was originally published in "The New Yorker." It won the National Magazine Award. It also won an O. Henry Prize. Included in this volume is Annie Proulx's haunting story about the difficult, dangerous love affair between a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy. Also included is the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenplay for the major motion picture, written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. All three writers have contributed essays on the process of adapting this critically acclaimed story for film. This book is an indispensable tool for film students and aficionados.

The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World


Alan Downs - 2005
    Yet despite the progress of the recent past, gay men still find themselves asking, "Are we really better off?" The inevitable byproduct of growing up gay in a straight world continues to be the internalization of shame, a shame gay men may strive to obscure with a façade of beauty, creativity, or material success. Drawing on contemporary psychological research, the author's own journey to be free of anger and of shame, as well as the stories of many of his friends and clients, The Velvet Rage outlines the three distinct stages to emotional well-being for gay men. Offering profoundly beneficial strategies to stop the insidious cycle of avoidance and self-defeating behavior, The Velvet Rage is an empowering book that will influence the public discourse on gay culture, and positively change the lives of gay men who read it.

Dawn Of Change


Gerri Hill - 2005
    and her marriage. The family's secluded cabin in Kings Canyon National Park seemed the only place for her to find peace. But it took Shawn Weber coming into her life for her to find the courage to make changes. The budding friendship between the two women strengthens into an intense emotional bond, a bond that soon eclipses friendship. Despite pressure from her family to reconcile with her husband, Susan can't deny the feelings that Shawn stirs in her. Susan finds she's willing to forsake her entire family for a chance at love with Shawn.

Full Circle


Michael Thomas Ford - 2005
    The news shatters the peace of his world and awakens memories that have been dormant for years.

Deviant Propulsion


C.A. Conrad - 2005
    The title refers to the idea that those who are deviant propel the world forward at top speed. Delving into the center of the endless webs of repression against our bodies, desires, politics, and imaginations, are those whose actions and motion cut away at the systemic limitations of society. This collection of poems was written with the inspiration and work of these people in mind.As a working class queer poet, Conrad has had to fight through different stratifications of oppression his entire life. His poems vibrate with the flamboyant desire that manifests itself in queer culture, where the right to act on basic desires can become a battleground, and everyday acts of love and devotion must be enacted as a political form of defiance. The poems that emerge from this life long struggle illustrate the sharp edge of that defiance and desire, where joy is closely linked to death. In a world ruled by those who govern with fear, and in a landscape barbed with those who are terrified of desire, moving at speed of deviants is the only way to transform potential into action, and desire into positive change.

Artist's Dream


Gerri Hill - 2005
    Her father, the fire-and-brimstone Reverend Parker, has made that a neccessity. Raised in a web of secrets, sadness, and under the heavy hand of her father's righteous wrath and intolerance, Cassie turns to her art to fill the hole in her heart and erase the memory of a mother who abandoned her in childhood. Then Luke Winston enters her life. Strong, mysterious, and beautiful, Luke sparks Cassie's desire, and takes her heart to places she's never known. Soon Cassie can no longer deny her attraction to women--and especially to Luke. When Cassie's father makes an unexpected visit, the intrusion on her new life explodes as dark family secrests are revealed. Will Cassie choose a life without family...or a life without love?

Directions to the Beach of the Dead


Richard Blanco - 2005
    The words are redolent with his Cuban heritage: Marina making mole sauce; Tía Ida bitter over the revolution, missing the sisters who fled to Miami; his father, especially, “his hair once as black as the black of his oxfords…” Yet this is a volume for all who have longed for enveloping arms and words, and for that sanctuary called home. “So much of my life spent like this-suspended, moving toward unknown places and names or returning to those I know, corresponding with the paradox of crossing, being nowhere yet here.” Blanco embraces juxtaposition. There is the Cuban Blanco, the American Richard, the engineer by day, the poet by heart, the rhythms of Spanish, the percussion of English, the first-world professional, the immigrant, the gay man, the straight world. There is the ennui behind the question: why cannot I not just live where I live? Too, there is the precious, fleeting relief when he can write "…I am, for a moment, not afraid of being no more than what I hear and see, no more than this:..." It is what we all hope for, too.

Lockpick Pornography


Joey Comeau - 2005
    I want to make bumper stickers for politicians and gay rights advocates. They'll read "My other pro-tolerance message is also condescending." I want to destroy something.I'm tired of the moral high ground. We've already got more than our share of gay Gandhis. We need a General Patton.No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. I feel the way bank robbers must feel just before they go out on that last big job that ends up getting them all killed. That is to say, optimistic.

Back Where He Started


Jay Quinn - 2005
    With his family grown and his husband Zack having decided to become a middle-aged clichA(c) and marry his secretary, Chris Thayer is about to discover that starting life over at 48 is just as complicated, frustrating and thrilling as the first time around. After relocating to the North Carolina beach community of Emerald Isle, Chris finds a new appreciation of his role as the heart of the home to his grown children and becomes involved in the patchwork lives of his neighbors. To his unending surprise, he also finds himself the object of a new man's affections, a rowdy jack-of-all-trades with an unnervingly direct stare. In the same quiet, understated manner that he demonstrated in his critically acclaimed first novel, "Metes and Bounds," Jay Quinn gives the traditional Southern novel a decidedly untraditional twist.Jay Quinn is the founding editor and executive editor of Haworth Press's Southern Tier Editions. He is the author of "Metes and Bounds" and "The Mentor" and has edited "Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors." He lives in south Florida.

Pierre et Gilles : Sailors & Sea


Pierre et Gilles - 2005
    Welcome to the seductive pictures of Pierre et Gilles. Again and again they show people in kitschy scenarios against a background of flowers and hearts. When they are not snapping portraits of the well-known - most of whom are close friends like Marc Almond or Nina Hagen - and not-so-known, they photograph themselves. Bizarre, and full of obscure significance, the photographs are reminiscent of stills from film melodramas.They are always colourful and presented with beguiling polish. They plunder the repertoire of historical presentation as though they were leafing through a collection of fabrics, and assume identities as though they were part of a mail-order catalogue.Now the latest and most comprehensive collection of the works of these two photographers can be presented to the public - in a format designed by the artists themselves. In matt skin-colour, with a golden edging, the embossed cover is reminiscent of a quilted counterpane and promises a cuddly experience within. Once between the covers one can frolic at will in a soft, artificial world of pictures. This saccharine collection of kitsch encompasses all aspects of homosexuality and offers them in an appetising form even to those who abhor them. A straight challenge is issued to all readers to participate - at least with their eyes - in this unbridled celebration of a life beyond guilt and expiation.

The Amadeus Net


Mark A. Rayner - 2005
    Lucky for both of them, nobody knows, but how long can it stay that way?Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart walks into the sex change clinic, determined to have his “sprouter” snipped off. So begins The Amadeus Net, a satirical novel set in the year 2028, which explores art, love, and identity at the end of the world. For more than two centuries, the one-time wunderkind has kept his existence secret while he tried to understand his immortality. Living in style through funds raised by selling “lost” Mozart works, he has also helped to create Ipolis, a utopian city-state, after the cataclysmic Shudder, a global disaster caused by an asteroid strike in 2015.But a few complications mar Mozart’s utopia. The woman he loves is a lesbian, which, paradoxically, makes him forget about his sex-change plans. The world’s greatest reporter knows he’s still alive and will stop at nothing to expose him. The stakes are higher than he knows, because if the reporter finds him, so will the spy planning to sell Mozart’s DNA to the highest bidder. Oh, and, by the way, the world might end in seven days. His only allies are a psychotic American artist, a bland Canadian diplomat, and the city itself: a sapient, thinking machine that is screwing up as only a sapient, thinking machine can.

The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film: A History and Annotated Bibliography


Drewey Wayne Gunn - 2005
    He goes on to analyze pulp novels of the 1960s and 1970s and more recent mainstream works. The second part of the volume is an annotated bibliography describing over 600 books

In the Shadow of Stone


Rob Kaufman - 2005
    She asks him to keep the DVD she's made for her only daughter, Jenna, safe and hidden until Jenna’s 18th birthday. Only then should she watch it – alone.Jack promises to fulfill her wish but is sidetracked when he is betrayed by his closest confidant. The DVD ends up in the hands of felons who reveal the secret it holds and jeopardize Jenna’s future and the promise Jack made to his sister. Unable to trust anyone, Jack knows he must make things right on his own… no matter who gets hurt or killed along the way.This psychological thriller includes the best of the many worlds of fiction – from suspense and mystery to continuous action and twisted romance, readers who enjoyed Kaufman’s One Last Lie will again be unable to put this book down until they find out what truly lurks in the shadow of stone.

You're Different and That's Super


Carson Kressley - 2005
     Fab Five phenom Carson Kressley brings us the story of a one-of-a-kind pony who learns that it's our differences that make us super. Whimsical black-and-white illustrations from renowned equine artist Jared Lee corral both humor and charm in this warm tale of a unicorn struggling to find his identity and place in the world.

Hear Me Out: True Stories Of Teens Educating And Confronting Homophobia


Planned Parenthood of Toronto - 2005
    These heartfelt memoirs, originally presented orally in schools, speak poignantly about the lives of young gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people today.

What God Has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage


David G. Myers - 2005
    Most Christians are pro-marriage and hold traditional family values, but should they endorse extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians? If Jesus enjoined us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and the homosexual is our neighbor, does that mean we should accept and bless gay marriages? These and other, related questions are tearing many faith-based communities apart.Across the country, states have voted, courts have debated, and churches have divided over the legitimacy of same-sex marriage. Amid the uproar one perspective is decidedly missing: that of thoughtful, pro-marriage Christians who, informed by their faith, are struggling to make sense of this issue. What God Has Joined Together? is an effort to bridge the divide between marriage-supporting and gay-supporting people of faith by showing why both sides have important things to say and showing how both sides can coexist. Drawing on scientific research as well as on the Bible, the authors explain that marriage is emotionally, physically, financially, and spiritually beneficial for everyone, not just heterosexuals.They debunk myths about sexual orientation, assess claims of sexual reorientation, and explore what the Bible does and does not say about same-sex relationships. The book ends with a persuasive case for gay marriage and outlines how this can be a win-win solution for all.

Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity


G. Winston James - 2005
    African American Studies. LGBT Studies. Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Spirituality. SPIRITED: AFFIRMING THE SOUL AND BLACK GAY/LESBIAN IDENTITY is a collection of essays that centers on the relationships between spirituality, religion and self-acceptance.

Beautiful People


Simon Doonan - 2005
    Growing up in a working class area of Reading with the mad-cap Doonan clan, Simon yearned to get out and find the Beautiful People who he imagined lived fabulous lives of glitz and glamour. This is the story of his attempt to do just that.

The stories of David Leavitt


David Leavitt - 2005
    Bringing together all three of his collections - Family dancing (a finalist for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Prize), A place I've never been and The marble quilt - this edition affirms David Leavitt's mastery of the short-story form.

The Eve


Gerri Hill - 2005
    Ghost stories and a mysterious stranger have Sarah convinced she's under a spell!

When I Knew


Robert Trachtenberg - 2005
    Wong, Arthur Laurents, Simon Doonan, Stephen Fry, Marc Shaiman, and Michael Musto share endearing anecdotes and stories about when they, their families, and everyone else knew they were gay.

Sinners & Saints


Anthony Gayton - 2005
    Inspired by sources as diverse as mythology, renaissance and baroque painting and early photography, his pictures are always highly stylized and masterfully composed. Whether painterly images of bacchanals, straightforward evocations of Hollywood beefcake from the 1940's and 1950?s, or sepia-toned allusions to Victorian nudes, these rich and varied images celebrate the iconography of the male throughout history.

Yom Kippur a Go-Go: A Memoir


Matthue Roth - 2005
    Matthue Roth is an American original: an Orthodox Jew who cites Outkast and Michelle Tea among his influences, who won’t touch a light switch on Shabbos but mimics a screaming orgasm onstage while reading his paean to Orthodox girls.From the World Bank riots (what can you do when the revolution starts on Shabbos?) to Thursday night tranny basketball in San Francisco’s Dolores Park, Matthue takes readers on a journey among the queer and hip streets of urban America in his exuberant memoir, Yom Kippur a Go-Go. With humor and insight, Roth describes the tension between contemporary life and the demands of faith. He falls in love and in lust with a panoply of girls, both strictly kosher and determinedly secular, to the accompaniment of MP3 rabbinical lectures on modesty (“Boys are nothing but perverts and filthy animals!”).

Boy in the Middle: Erotic Fiction


Patrick Califia-Rice - 2005
    In Boy in the Middle, the legendary Patrick Califia — sex radical, writer, and provocateur — returns with eleven erotic stories from tender initiations to raunchy role play to welt-raising, hardcore S/M scenes. There’s no safe word at this “black leather pajama party” of a book.

Blessing Same-Sex Unions: The Perils of Queer Romance and the Confusions of Christian Marriage


Mark D. Jordan - 2005
    And in this day and age, more wedding theology is supplied by Modern Bride magazine or reality television than by any of the Christian treatises on holy matrimony. Indeed, church weddings have strayed long and far from distinctly Christian aspirations. The costumes and gestures might still be right, but the intentions are hardly religious.Why then, asks noted gay commentator Mark D. Jordan, are so many churches vehemently opposed to blessing same-sex unions? In this incisive work, Jordan shows how carefully selected ideals of Christian marriage have come to dominate recent debates over same-sex unions. Opponents of gay marriage, he reveals, too often confuse simplified ideals of matrimony with historical facts. They suppose, for instance, that there has been a stable Christian tradition of marriage across millennia, when in reality Christians have quarreled among themselves for centuries about even the most basic elements of marital theology, authorizing experiments like polygamy and divorce. Jordan also argues that no matter what the courts do, Christian churches will have to decide for themselves whether to bless same-sex unions. No civil compromise can settle the religious questions surrounding gay marriage. And queer Christians, he contends, will have to discover for themselves what they really want out of marriage. If they are not just after legal recognition as a couple or a place at the social table, do they really seek the blessing of God? Or just the garish melodrama of a white wedding? Posing trenchant questions such as these, Blessing Same-Sex Unions will be a must-read for both sides of the debate over gay marriage in America today.

Call of the Dark: Erotic Lesbian Tales of the Supernatural


Therese SzymanskiJoy Parks - 2005
    What makes you shake with fear can sometimes make you shiver…with desire. Call of the Dark is a collection of supernatural, erotic stories from your favorite authors.

The Brothers Bishop


Bart Yates - 2005
    Carefree and careless, Tommy is the golden boy who takes men into his bed with a seductive smile and turns them out just as quickly. No one can resist him - and no one can control him, either. That salient point certainly isn't lost on his brother. Nathan is all about control. At thirty-one, he is as dark and complicated as Tommy is light and easy, and he is bitter beyond his years. While Tommy left for the excitement of New York City, Nathan has stayed behind, teaching high school English in their provincial hometown, surrounded by the reminders of their ruined family history and the legacy of anger that runs through him like a scar. Now, Tommy has come home to the family cottage by the sea for the summer, bringing his unstable, sexual powder keg of an entourage and the distant echoes of his family's tumultuous past with him.

Exile or Embrace?: Congregations Discerning Their Response to Gay and Lesbian Christians


Mahan Siler - 2005
    Offers fresh insight about keeping the focus on people and relationsh ps in ways that are pastorally sensitive, politically astute, justice-oriented, and Gospel-empowered.

For Another Flock: Daily Advent and Christmas Meditations for Gay and Lesbian Christians


Jeffrey R. Lea - 2005
    The book begins with a short liturgical history of Advent and Christmas and ends with suggestions for family and small group activities for the season. Lea's contemporary meditation on the Bible readings for Advent and Christmas come from a gay man's perspective and invite readers into their own reflections on the Good News.Also included are a small-group study guide for the four weeks of Advent, a section of morning and evening prayers, and a ritual for examination of conscience intended for development of individual prayer practices during this holy season. An appendix outlines the Revised Common Lectionary and the Roman Catholic Lectionary Scripture readings for years A, B and C--making the book useful and usable for many years.

Mother of Sorrows


Richard McCann - 2005
    Thirty years later, one of the brothers-the only remaining survivor of a family he seeks both to leave behind and to preserve in words forever-narrates these precise and heartbreaking tales. Suffused with the beauty of Richard McCann's extraordinary language, Mother of Sorrows introduces us to an elegant writer like no other in contemporary fiction.

Writing a Jewish Life: Memoirs


Lev Raphael - 2005
    Until he reached his mid-20s, the author felt alienated from other Jews, ambivalent about his homosexuality; or as he puts it, "twice strange ... in each [community], different, lesser, ashamed." A son of Holocaust survivors, Raphael grew up in an unmistakably Jewish but nonreligious home. However, as an adult he initiated his own affiliations with Judaism: He had a bar mitzvah at age 30, went to Israel twice, and fell in love with a Jewish man. It was "coming out as a Jew," he writes, that "ultimately made it possible for me to come out as a gay man and then work at uniting the two identities." Attesting to his journey is the contrast between his confused childhood and the joyful domestic life he now shares with his lover, Gersh, and their two sons.

Glass Souls


Michaela August - 2005
    Except, this time, everything goes horribly wrong... One Protector, wounded and broken in spirit in the ensuing massacre, spends decades searching desperately for the reincarnations of his loved ones. But his Seer's Eyes have been blinded, so he cannot recognize their auras. He meets a Crusader in Egypt who might be his reincarnated wife. To be certain, he must taste the young knight's blood to read his past-life memories. However, this act uncovers a deadly secret that rocks the foundations of his world.

Relationships Can Be Murder


Jane DiLucchio - 2005
    Not only did it cause a break up with her longtime lover, but now she is suspect numero uno in Sheila's murder. Dee Summons help from her three best buddies, Felicia, Tully and Jenny. Together they dig behind the scenes of TV broadcasting where ratings can be a matter of life and death, and discover secrets kept even from each other.

Celebrating Hotchclaw


Ann Allen Shockley - 2005
    Although struggling with financial difficulties, Hotchclaw is ready to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary. But under the surface of the jubilation and pride there are internal conflicts - professional, psychological and sexual - among the president and faculty. And, a shocking discovery about one of Hotchclaw's most admired faculty members adds more sparks to the flames that set off a maze of entanglements reaching to a predominantly white northern university. Ann Allen Shockley, with her dramatic sense and characteristic humor has crafted a vibrant novel that draws the reader to the characters, their rising tensions and the very real world she has created. Happy Anniversary Hotchclaw - it's a wild party!

Talking about Homosexuality


Karen P. Oliveto - 2005
    It serves as a tool for people in churches who feel they are surrounded by painful, confusing debates in the church about homosexuality, and want to discover how the Christian tradition can be a constructive--rather than divisive--resource. The book provides a challenging and creative process for clergy and lay people to reflect upon their own Christian beliefs and personal experiences through dialogue and study. Designed to include five two-hour sessions, Talking about Homosexuality uses the categories of the Wesleyan quadrilateral to structure this process: scripture, tradition, experience, and reason. It gives readers access to primary sources including Christian historical figures such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, Hildegaard of Bingen, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Women's Bible; provides suggestions for how to conduct group discussions on these sensitive topics; and contains entertaining exercises to stimulate creative approaches to spiritual growth.