Set in upstate New York, the novel follows these characters as they achieve their aims in lives redolent with loss and hope, humor and sadness, union and alienation. Russell picks up the thread of his critically acclaimed novel The Salt Point 20 years later and tracks the lives of these friends, some of whom not only lost touch with each other but have also lost their way. Moving, at times shocking, and always memorable, Immaculate Blue points to where the personal and the political come together and shape our lives in unexpected ways. With this newest novel, Paul Russell reminds us of why he is one of the most important voices on the literary scene.

    Before, he had always brought men with him on his visits, lovers with whom his mother had been “civil, even flirtatious,” while his father retreated into his sacred woodshop. Now his mother has died and, at age thirty-six, Raphael has come back to see his dying father, who knows and disapproves of Raphael’s boyfriends but who is unaware that this, his youngest child, may be ill as well. Raphael’s halting, often painful attempt to reconcile with his father forms the centerpiece of Fenton Johnson’s astonishing novel. At times funny, at times heartbreakingly poignant, Scissors, Paper, Rock explores with wisdom and humor the many kinds of family, the infinite varieties of love. Through the intricately interwoven stories of the Hardin parents and children, Scissors, Paper, Rock contrasts the families we inherit — our blood ties — with the families we choose, our partners in love and our friends.

    Now, after breaking up with his longtime boyfriend, Smith looks back to his painfully normal childhood to see where all the trouble really began. Like every other American kid, Bob's adolescence was marked by alternating moments of blissful ignorance, hazy confusion, and humiliating self-consciousness. And in these pages, Bob evokes his youth with a vividness that will make you shudder and howl with recognition.In these hysterically humorous pages, Bob Smith introduces readers to his comically unsympathetic grandmother, who makes light of his carsickness: "Bob only throws up because he's near the window and he can"; to his first teacher crush, whose "five-o'clock shadow could plunge a room into darkness"; and to his first brush with fame, when he fainted from his chair during a biology filmstrip ("Way to go, Smith!"). Sharp, observant, ingeniously ironic and wholly satisfying, this new Lambda Award-nominated collection is at once bittersweet nostalgic fun and a testament to the unquestionable gifts of a highly original comic writer.

    Though it's been fifteen years since he escaped his father's abuse, the damage remains. Trust seems as far out of reach as his dream of becoming an architect, and though he's come to accept being gay, he can't deny the shame and confusion he feels at other urges--the deeply repressed desire to submit.Jonathan Watkins is a self-made Silicon Valley billionaire whose ex-wife took half his money and even more of his faith. Comfortable as a Dominant but wary of being hurt again, he resorts to anonymous pickups and occasional six-month contracts with subs seeking only a master, not a lover.When a sizzling back-alley encounter cues Jonathan in to Brandon's deep-seated submissive side, he makes the man an offer: Give me six months of your life, and I'll open your eyes to a whole new world. Brandon doesn't care about that; all he wants is the three million dollars Jonathan's offering so he can buy the construction company he works for. But he soon learns that six months on his knees is no easy feat, and shame and pride may keep him from all he ever wanted-and all he never dreamed he had any right to have.Reader discretion advised. This title contains heavy kink. While consent is clearly established and frequently reaffirmed, some moments in Power Play push hard against the outer edges of consent.

    From the back cover copy:Max Desir loved his Italian-American family--even after his iron-willed father exiled him from its intimate innner circle.Max Desir loved his lover, Nick, with whom he openly took up life first amid the enchantment of Rome, then amid the realities of New York.Two loves so deeply felt--in a man so painfully divided...

    Norris and Goodbye to Berlin, which make up The Berlin Stories are recognized today as classics of modern fiction.A charming city of avenues and cafés, a grotesque city of night-people and fantasts, a dangerous city of vice and intrigue, a powerful city of millionaires and mobs - all this was Berlin in 1931, the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power.Here are Mr. Norris, the improbable old debauchee mysteriously caught in the struggle between Nazis and Communists; plump Fräulein Schroeder, who thinks an operation to reduce the scale of her Büste might relieve her heart palpitations; the Landauers, a distinguished and doomed Jewish family; Sally Bowles, whose misadventures in the demimonde were popularized on the American stage and screen by Julie Harris in "I Am a Camera" and by Liza Minelli in "Cabaret."

    His gay BDSM stories are now widely celebrated for both their virtuosic drawing and their unparalleled passion. Produced by a veteran Japanist--Anne Ishii--"The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame" is a project that began some years ago, when Ishii was translating Chip Kidd's personal Tagame collection and decided to reach out to him. Inspired by filmmaker Graham Kolbeins' online work with gay comics, the project took on new ambitious proportions, materializing in this exciting celebration of one of the world's most poignant erotic artists. This hefty Tagame omnibus includes ten English editions of short stories dating from the late 1990s to 2012. The newest work is an original story commissioned by Kidd himself: Tagame's very first foray into writing directly for an American reader. Celebrated novelist and biographer Edmund White contributes an introduction to the volume.Gengoroh Tagame (born 1964) is a legend in gay comics throughout the world and in the American underground, where loyal fans have quietly shared foreign-language editions of his groundbreaking work in the outermost edges of bondage and pornography. Beyond the comic book format, Tagame's original artwork has been exhibited internationally and paired with the works of Tom of Finland. Tagame was also the founding Editor and Art Director of Japan's most widely circulated gay journal, "G-Men."

    Inspired by E.L. James’ international phenomenon, 50 Shades of Grey, Jeffery Self’s 50 Shades of Gay tells the story of a young celebrity blogger, Alex Kirby, who interviews Taylor Grayson, a superstar leading man in Hollywood blockbuster films. Grayson also happens to be a closeted gay man with a passion for BDSM. When Grayson draws the younger man into his private orbit and initiates him into his sexual world, the younger man can tell that kinky sex has shielded Grayson from having a real emotional connection with another man. But he is head over heels in love with the older, powerful, gorgeous man who has selected him for the pleasures of submission. Ultimately, Alex decides to experiment with the power differential between them, and see if he can break through the armor that Grayson and his layers of Hollywood handlers have imprisoned him in. Will he be able to open Grayson up to real intimacy, or will he cause Grayson to end the relationship and cut himself off yet again?

    When he met Drea, he hoped she might be the one. But when he felt more chemistry with her gay cousin Zach, Ryan felt more confused and terrified than he had in his life. He wasn't gay but he wanted to be with Zach. How could it possibly work?

    What could possibly go wrong?Thomas Stone has one sacred rule: Don't Date The Boss. Ever. So when he finds out his new employer is the man he took to bed his first night in town, he's less than happy. He doesn't need any more complications in his life, and the way Phil makes him feel definitely qualifies as a complication. Especially since he can't seem to keep his hands off the man.Philip Sorrells is thrilled to discover that the new bartender his manager hired for his restaurant, The Happy Onion, is the aggressive little blond he slept with once and can't forget. Thom is Phil's wet dream come true, from his angelic face to his fiery temper. For the first time, Phil hears the siren song of monogamy, and he's tempted to follow it.When Thom leaves The Happy Onion for a job managing an upscale nightclub, it looks like a chance for him and Phil to be together without the whole boss/employee thing hanging over them. Instead, Thom's new position brings out previously unsuspected differences in their world views. Differences with the power to destroy their fragile bond.So how will this nature-loving tree-hugger and corporate-ladder climber navigate this political minefield in the name of love? Very carefully.

    After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim.Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love. Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated.Poppy Z. Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a killer. Exquisite Corpse confirms Brite as a writer who defies categorization. It is a novel for those who dare trespass where the sacred and profane become one.

    Almost one hundred years later, a groom-to-be prepares for his gay wedding.Queers celebrates a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history, as seen through the eyes of eight individuals.Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, these eight monologues for male and female performers cover major events - such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent - through deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories.Curated by Mark Gatiss, the monologues were commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men over the age of twenty-one. They were broadcast on BBC Four in 2017, directed and produced by Gatiss, and starring Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ben Whishaw and Fionn Whitehead. They were staged at The Old Vic in London.This volume includes:The Man on the Platform by Mark GatissThe Perfect Gentleman by Jackie CluneSafest Spot in Town by Keith JarrettMissing Alice by Jon BradfieldI Miss the War by Matthew BaldwinMore Anger by Brian FillisA Grand Day Out by Michael DennisSomething Borrowed by Gareth McLean

    In What We Lost, a story that startles in its immediacy and lack of sentimentality, Dale Peck refracts his father's past through the prism of his own vivid imagination, forging a bridge between generations and revealing the dark secrets at the heart of family.

    Hot coffee. What could possibly go wrong?Derrick’s not really into dating, so when his coworker sets him up on a new app that promises to match him with another shifter, he’s ready to delete the profile and be done with it. He didn’t expect to get matched with the adorable, nerdy guy on the other side of the screen. When curiosity gets the best of him and he decides to meet the man at Café Seuil in Southeast Portland, will hot coffee and the cold, snowy weather make him give up on dating altogether? Or could this be the start of something wonderful?Hot Coffee & Terrible First Dates is a short and sweet 5,500 word M/M paranormal story set in the same world as KP Maxwell’s Men of Café Seuil novels.

    . . . "Social Disease" . . . is really about the three major issues of our time: sex, hair, and the telephone" (Paul Rudnick, "New York Magazine").