Book picks similar to
Amarillo Rising by Buck Powers
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John Keene - 1995
Louis. Reminiscent of Jean Toomer's Cane, the book is in part a meditation on African-American autobiography. Keene explores questions of identity from many angles - from race to social class to sexuality (gay and straight). Employing all manner of textual play and rhythmic and rhetorical maneuvers, he (re)creates his life story as a jazz fugue-in-words.
Cub
Jeff Mann - 2014
Some boys are pure country folk and like the feel of flannel and the smell of the farm. And they're neither lithe nor muscle-bound but stocky boys, the ones who develop hairy chests, arms, and faces years earlier than their peers. One such seventeen-year-old is Travis Ferrell, shy among most of the other kids at school, but proud of his West Virginia roots. He has not yet admitted his passion for handsome guys--and his idea of what handsome is and what handsome does is not much different from him. Soon he'll learn that he's not unique; gay culture has a name for young men like him. Cubs. Lambda Literary Award-winning author Jeff Mann has written a touching romance for the outsider in us all.
Splinters
Thorny Sterling - 2014
With no memory of who did this to him or why, panic sets in, until rescue comes riding up on a big, brown horse.There’s more to Duke Walters than a handsome face and sexy drawl. In the arms of this rugged cowboy, Al discovers a peace and safety he never knew he needed, and now doesn't want to be without.But someone wants Al out of the way and drugging him during a movie junket in Houston is only the beginning. A world of differences may separate this cowboy and diva, but when danger strikes again, Duke might be the only one who can get them out alive.
Teaching Professor Grayson
Kade Boehme - 2014
He left Tennessee using education as his excuse for escape, when he truthfully only wanted the freedom to be who he truly was. But at age forty, he’s still in the closet and still adheres to the morals his father, a Southern Baptist minister, raised him with. This includes saving himself for Mr. Right.CJ Hata has been under Christian's wing since his freshman year. A genius, pure and simple, he's a senior now and no longer needs to report to Professor G, but he still seeks his teacher out occasionally for a friendly chat.When Christian accidentally outs himself to CJ while pouring his heart out about his dying father, CJ feels totally out of his element. He convinces himself to put forth his best effort because the man he’s been crushing on for four years needs a friend. In the meantime, everyone around CJ is stumbling out of the closet, but the one person he really wants to come out has barricaded himself in with the bible and his family's expectations.
I'll Be Your Man
Clancy Nacht - 2011
In his professional life, Richard's successful and in control, but his personal life consists of little more than sitting down in front of the television set at seven and being in bed by nine. Then he meets his son Kyle's best friend and roommate, Paul Watkins, the handsome gay son of a former rockstar. Richard's bland, predictable world is thrown into chaos by Paul's sweetly determined pursuit of him. To some Richard's new lease on life seems like a mid-life crisis and Paul's infatuation seems motivated by daddy issues, but to Richard, Paul is his chance to explore a part of himself he's kept buried all his life. With friends, family, and their pasts threatening to keep them apart, what will it take for each to become the other's man?
Catrachos: Poems
Roy G. Guzmán - 2020
In these unflinching, riveting poems, Roy G. Guzmán reaches across borders—between life and death and between countries—invoking the voices of the lost. Part immigration narrative, part elegy, and part queer coming-of-age story, Catrachos finds its own religion in fantastic figures such as the X-Men, pop singers, and the “Queerodactyl,” which is imagined in a series of poems as a dinosaur sashaying in the shadow of an oncoming comet, insistent on surviving extinction. With exceptional energy, humor, and inventiveness, Guzmán’s debut is a devastating display of lyrical and moral complexity—an introduction to an immediately captivating, urgently needed voice.
Perfect Hair
Tommi Parrish - 2016
The locations and bodies are exaggerated to reach a more realistic and sensorial state. This is an awesome debut comic."— Dash Shaw, author of titles such as Cosplayers, Doctors, Bodyworld, and Bottomless Belly Button"Parrish has one of my favourite traits in a cartoonist: intense passion for the craft. They are rapidly evolving and experimenting wildly and it’s joyful to watch."— Simon Hanselmann, author of NY Times bestselling titles such as Megahex and Meg and Mogg in AmsterdamPerfect Hair, the debut graphic novel by Tommi Parrish, is a vivid set of vignettes that balances emotional honesty with a keen cultural awareness. Deploying their bold, innovative style to navigate topics such as fear, loneliness, identity, body politics, and more, Parrish is a promising newcomer from the burgeoning Australian altcomics scene. Tommi Parrish is a cartoonist, illustrator, and art editor based in Melbourne, Australia. Their work has appeared in various anthologies, magazines, mini comics, gallery shows in New York, Argentina, and throughout Australia, as well as the online column Advicecomics. They are also the art editor of the Australian literary journal The Lifted Brow.
Second Song
Edie Danford - 2019
A bodyguard’s redemption. Two grieving souls find healing in love’s sweetest song. Sage Four years ago, a brutal attack shot down my soaring music career. My bodyguard, a man I loved like a brother, was killed, and serious injuries left my voice permanently damaged. Songs silenced, I retreated to my Vermont home, unsure I’d ever perform again. Now I’m ready to go public with my new act. But, yeah, I’m a little nervous. So to handle security for a trial-run tour, I’m hiring a guy I trust absolutely—Antonio Callan, my former bodyguard’s brother. But when Antonio shows up, all super-chill fierceness and warm, understanding eyes, I’m up against an unexpected risk—losing my heart. Antonio Touring backwoods bars with a reclusive singer is the wrong gig at the wrong time. But how can I refuse the wounded kid my brother thought of as family? After a week in Vermont, I’m feeling more helpless than heroic. Sage has grown up, and I’m crazy-attracted to him. His broken-but-beautiful voice knocks me out, and his quiet courage sings to my soul. The more time we spend in close quarters, the harder it becomes to resist our attraction. Soon, Sage’s second act is rocketing to the top of the charts, and being his hero takes on a whole new meaning. It’s up to me to take his cue and find the courage to reach for a star. Second Song is the first in the two-book Sugarhouse Blues series and can be read as a stand-alone. Contains angsty-hot pining (and Vermont pines), first-time lovin’, sappy songs (and Vermont maples), and the healing power of loooooove.
Something Bright, Then Holes
Maggie Nelson - 2003
Something Bright, Then Holes explores the problem of losing then recovering sight and insight -- of feeling lost, then found, then lost again. The book's three sections range widely, and include a long sequence of Niedecker-esque meditations written at the shore of a polluted urban canal, a harrowing long poem written at a friend's hospital bedside, and a series of unsparing, crystalline lyrics honoring the conjoined forces of love and sorrow. Whatever the style, the poems are linked by Nelson's singular poetic voice, as sly and exacting as it is raw. The collection is a testament to Nelson's steadfast commitment to chart the facts of feeling, whatever they are, and at whatever the cost.
Saved By The Enemy
Preston Walker - 2019
Torn between loyalty and love, they face an impossible task: bring peace to their warring families to find their happily ever after. He left his heart on the battlefield. Cal is tired of the fighting that cost him his father, his mate, and his peace. Dreading the additional stress of being pack alpha, he needs somewhere to escape from it all. But when he finds that in the opposition, especially the enemy pack alpha’s former mate, he knows he’s on thin ice. Arden stood silently by his alpha as his mate ruined all that meant something to him: his dignity, his personality, even his children. Left pregnant after his alpha’s death, Arden knows an omega can’t stand at the head of the pack on his own. But what option does he have? When these two find true love across a war-torn battlefield, will they survive falling for each other? Saved by the Enemy is a gay mpreg shifter romance novel that deals with heavy topics including the abuse of a lover. Intended for adults only.
The Statue
Zathyn Priest - 2012
Teaming up with broody photographer, Mark, promises other perks. A ten year relationship with high school sweetheart, Eli, no longer offers Tristan the excitement he craves. Mark made his intentions clear and Tristan is close to giving in to his advances.One morning at ‘The Gallows’ leaves Tristan reeling. He wasn’t prepared for the hell he witnessed and certainly wasn’t prepared to meet Zane. Disarmed by Zane’s angelic manner, Tristan can’t believe anyone would stand him up. He soon realises the tardy boyfriend only exists in Zane’s mind and the beautiful young man is not a visitor to The Gallows but a patient.Eli walks out and Tristan’s life falls apart. A decision to meet with Mark almost ends in tragedy and Tristan finds solace in Zane’s company. Before long Zane’s delusions begin terrorising him again. While Tristan fights to save his own sanity and get Eli back, he knows someone must fight for Zane’s right to love a man no one else can see. A man who scares away violent hallucinations, takes away Zane’s fear, keeps him safe, and is trapped inside a stone statue.
Gulliver Takes Manhattan
Justin Luke Zirilli - 2012
for a fresh start in New York, he’s leaving behind his family, his friends—and one bastard ex-boyfriend who can’t take a hint. With no money, job, or direction, Gully gratefully accepts an invitation to crash with his former fraternity brother Todd. As luck would have it, Todd lives in Hell’s Kitchen, New York’s hottest “gayborhood,” and is a rising star in the gay nightlife scene, complete with a crew of incredibly hot friends. Not long after, Gully snags a job with a talent agent and even finds himself a new boyfriend. There’s just one catch: Gulliver knows this budding relationship could get him in a lot of trouble. And inevitably, it does just that. Gulliver’s streak of good fortune soon takes a turn for the miserable as his choices unleash an onslaught of catastrophes that leaves him in a tragic and seemingly hopeless situation beneath the skyscrapers. But Gully’s tougher than he realizes and is determined to prove, for once and for all, that he has what it takes to make it in New York. By turns exciting, sad, and hysterically funny, Gulliver Takes Manhattan is a refreshingly candid tale of one man’s quest to stake a place for himself in the greatest city in the world.
Nate & Casey
Charlie Winters - 2016
Seven years of nearly-inseparable friendship between them finds Nate developing an unrequited adoration for his best friend, even sending them off to college together… alone and sleeping side-by-side every desolate night. Christmas break and one drunken kiss later turns into an eighteen-day love affair—one that they both begrudgingly walk away from—each with disparate broken hearts. But five years later, after a simple trip to the bookstore, Casey makes a purchase that could change his life forever and reunite him with the man who’d once meant everything to him. But is it too late? With so much time between them and so much left unspoken, can they truly start over?
Anchors & Vacancies
Kat Savage - 2016
It's all the things we all hold onto, all the things we let anchor onto us, and all the things that leave us vacant.
The Neighborhood
Erina Bridget Ring - 2018
But this soon changes. Every day a new dilemma arises, pulling her into the chaos, and as she gets to know her neighbors she discovers comedy, cruelty, and even tragedy. Do you know what’s going on in your neighborhood?