Dazzling and hallucinatory, the stories collected here recall the masters of magical realism – but with Gallardo’s distinctive, idiosyncratic slant.

    The battleground is the eternal present. The objective is to alter the past. And the goal is to seize control of the future. The warriors are ordinary people, like yourself...Contents:Try and Change the PastThe Oldest SoldierDamnation MorningWhen the Change-Winds BlowKnight to MoveA Deskful of GirlsNo Great Magic

    In the sleepy town of Athens, Georgia, a young man goes off to a college miseducation and is drawn into a world of rich vicarious living. The unspoken relationship between this adolescent and his luminous rock star boyfriend fast becomes the marking tale of world tours and plush continental hotel rooms. However, the relationship falters under celebrity's harsh, shape-shifting light. Real life fills in the outline of the boy's expectations.

    In this fascinating and instructive book, he reveals his personal story through the fictional character Ignacio Rodriguez. Ignacio is 40-something stressed-out entrepreneur who is utterly overwhelmed--he is at risk for a heart attack, is losing money at his business--where employee morale is at an all-time low, and has no time or energy for his family. At first, he ignores these problems, thinking that if he only works harder, things will all get better. Predictably, his life quickly gets out of control. His doctor recommends that he try meditation to regain balance in his life. Ignacio--who is skeptical--finds a spiritual guide, who helps Ignacio heal by finding his path in the secret of the seven seeds. The seven seeds represent the path to success and balance in life: self-knowledge, meditation, egolessness, service to others, goodness, balance, and freedom.

    All of whom form a part of the currently enormous population who are searching for an opportunity to begin a new life. A Moon is a startling look at some of the most pressing questions of these years.

    In My Parents, Guibert blends autobiography and fiction in the captivating mix that is the hallmark of his writing: the book confirms his position as one of great French writers of the fin de si?cle.

    Andre's father, in a desperate effort to save him from the coming holocaust, hands him over to his captivating uncle Rudolf, an internationally famous singer of popular operettas. Rudolf is a sublimely gifted lyric tenor, a dashing leading man who is the object of many women's affections-but also an artist who lives in the shadow of his own unachieved potential as an opera star. Rudolf takes the boy to back to London, renames him Andrew, turns all his attention and sardonic humor upon him, and gradually sculpts him into a gentleman.Vivid, often lighthearted scenes of Andrew's worldly life with Rudolf are intertwined with the unfolding secrets of his forgotten past as Andre, which have shadowed his otherwise happy life. Told in matchless prose, Uncle Rudolf captures in fine detail the mood of 1940s Europe--and reveals the emotions of a man whose achievement falls short of his brilliant promise. It is a wise, knowing, elegant story about the sacrifices we make for those we love.

    Caldwell has an unsparing knack for looking within and reporting back what's really there, rather than what she'd like you to see.

    It was a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970s. Reflecting on the profound impact those closest to him have had on his life, Maupin shares his candid search for his "logical family," the people he could call his own. "Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us," he writes. "We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives." From his loving relationship with his palm-reading Grannie who insisted Maupin was the reincarnation of her artistic bachelor cousin, Curtis, to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, Maupin tells of the extraordinary individuals and situations that shaped him into one of the most influential writers of the last century. Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty, and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. What emerges is an illuminating portrait of the man who depicted the liberation and evolution of America’s queer community over the last four decades with honesty and compassion—and inspired millions to claim their own lives.

    He had been released from rehab nine months earlier, and his relapse would cost him his home, his money, his career, and very nearly his life.What is it that leads an exceptional young mind want to disappear? Clegg makes stunningly clear the attraction of the drug that had him in its thrall, capturing in scene after scene the drama, tension, and paranoiac nightmare of a secret life--and the exhilarating bliss that came again and again until it was eclipsed almost entirely by doom. He also explores the shape of addiction, how its pattern--not its cause--can be traced to the past.Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is an utterly compelling narrative--lyrical, irresistible, harsh, honest, and beautifully written--from which you simply cannot look away.

    Seventeenth-century Kyoto was the center of a flourishing publishing industry, and for the first time in Japan's history it became possible for writers to live exclusively on their earnings. Saikaku was the first to actually do so. As a popular writer, Saikaku wanted to entertain his readership. When he undertook the writing of Nanshoku okagami in 1687, it was with the express purpose of extending his readership and satisfying his ambition to be published in the three major cities of his day, Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo. He chose the topic of male homosexual love because it had the broadest appeal both to the samurai men of Edo and to the townsmen of Kyoto and Osaka, his regular audience. Homosexual relations between a man and a boy were a regular feature of premodern Japanese culture and carried no stigma. When a boy reached the age of nineteen, he underwent a coming-of-age ceremony, after which he took the adult role in relations with boys.

    From nicotine gum addiction to lesbian personal ads to incontinent dogs, Possible Side Effects mines Burroughs's life in a series of uproariously funny essays. These are stories that are uniquely Augusten, with all the over-the-top hilarity of Running with Scissors, the erudition of Dry, and the breadth of Magical Thinking. A collection that is universal in its appeal and unabashedly intimate, Possible Side Effects continues to explore that which is most personal, mirthful, disturbing, and cherished, with unmatched audacity. A cautionary tale in essay form. Be forewarned--hilarious, troubling, and shocking results might occur.

    Zack is a psychiatrist, Daniel an art teacher at a college in Virginia. In the fall of 2002, a few months before the Iraq War, a new artist in residence, Abbas Rohani, arrives with his Russian wife, Elena, and their two children.But Abbas is not quite what he seems, and soon he and Daniel begin an affair. After love throws the two families together, politics threatens the future of both in ways no one could have predicted.A novel that explores how the personal becomes political, Exiles in America offers an intimate look at the meaning of marriage, gay and straight, and demonstrates the breathtaking skill and daring imagination that have garnered Christopher Bram widespread critical acclaim.

    No one comes here, and no one knows where I am. When Ezra turns up on my doorstep, I suspect he’s a reporter, who doesn’t know when to let a story die. It’s soon obvious he doesn’t remember me as my Hollywood persona, and the fear in his eyes tells me he’s running from demons, the same as me. The difference is, mine are dead, and his are very much alive, and in pursuit. It’s been a long time since I cared about anyone or anything, but Ezra could change that if I let him. Ezra I was sure I was too smart not to recognize an abusive jerk when I met one—so how did I end up the virtual prisoner of my Alpha boyfriend, who turned out to be a drug dealer with a shady past and violent present, who wants to control my future? When I saw him kill someone, I ran, but he’s after me. I don’t know if he wants me back, or if he wants to silence me, but I’ll die before I go back to him. I have nothing left until I stumble across Levi’s cabin where I find hope for survival, and maybe a second chance at happiness with the curmudgeonly man living in terrain as rugged as he is. Brash is a standalone Mpreg romance with a salty Alpha, sweet but scared Omega, and the happily ever after you’re craving.

    But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.And he unexpectedly fell in love again, with his friend and neighbor, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, whose exuberance--"I don't so much fear death as I do wasting life," he tells Hayes early on--is captured in vignettes throughout. What emerges is a portrait of Sacks at his most personal and endearing, from falling in love for the first time at age seventy-five to facing illness and death (Sacks died of cancer in August 2015).