Book picks similar to
Shy by Kevin Killian


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The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal, Vol. 1: Poor Boys and Pilgrims


E.K. Weaver - 2011
    and wakes up the next morning to find a lanky, dread-locked vagrant named TJ in his kitchen.TJ claims that the two have made a drunken pact to travel from Berkeley, California to Providence, Rhode Island. As it happens, Amal promised his sister he'd be in Providence for her graduation the following week. As for TJ... well, he's got his own reasons.The agreement is simple: Amal does the driving, TJ pays the way - but a 3500 mile journey leaves plenty of time for things to get complicated.Volume 1 collects the first 13 chapters of EK Weaver's free online graphic novel.

Finistère


Fritz Peters - 1951
    In boarding school and on trips with his mother into the countryside, Matthew navigates his budding sexuality and complicated new relationships with trepidation and hardship until he is forced to confront Finistère—lands end—where the brutal truths of the world can be found. Finistère was a profound achievement in the early years of the 1950's, and sold over 350,000 copies. This new edition, which returns this beautiful book to print, includes an appendix of historical materials about the book and author, as well as an introduction by Michael Bronski, author of such books as Culture Clash, The Pleasure Principle, and Pulp Friction.

Drag Queen (Robert Rodi Essentials)


Robert Rodi - 2014
    Mitchell Sayer, a buttoned-down gay attorney at a prestigious Chicago law firm, discovers he has a long-lost twin. But his well-ordered life comes apart at the seams when the separated siblings finally meet, and Mitchell discovers his brother Donald is better known as Kitten Kaboodle, star of the city's most infamous drag revue. Plunged into a chaotic world where he's forced to confront his own fluid masculinity, Mitchell learns that appearances aren't just deceiving - they're even more disturbingly revealing. Building to a riotous climax in which identities blur and destinies go bust, all to the accompaniment of a cabaret pianist, Drag Queen is a rip-snorting romp through wigs and wardrobes, wit and wantonness.

Suspension


Robert Westfield - 2006
    Recently, however, his own life has become overwhelmed by wrong choices. When a love affair is mysteriously ended by a Post-it note and followed up by a random street assault, Andy locks himself in his Hell's Kitchen apartment. In solitude, he thinks, he might be able to get a grip on his life. But when he is forced to reemerge six months after the attacks of September 11, the city awaiting him is more bewildering than ever and all the people in his world seem to be part of a vast conspiracy.Equal parts noir, French farce, and homage to New York, Suspension is a surprisingly heartfelt novel about learning to live in a world where nearly everything is decided behind our backs.

Murmur


Will Eaves - 2018
    Formally audacious, daring in its intellectual inquiry and unwaveringly humane, Will Eaves’s new novel is a rare achievement.

God Says No


James Hannaham - 2009
    They are 19 years old, God-fearing, and eager to start a family, but a week before their wedding Gary goes into a rest-stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is his testimony — the story of a young black Christian struggling with desire and belief, with his love for his wife and his appetite for other men, told in a singular, emotional voice. Driven by desperation and religious visions, the path that Gary Gray takes — from revival meetings to "out" life in Atlanta to a pray-away-the-gay ministry in Memphis, Tennessee — gives a riveting picture of how a life like his can be lived, and how it can't.

Starstruck


L.A. Witt - 2014
    But then Hollywood comes to film the wildly popular television series Wolf's Landing, and Bluewater Bay isn't so sleepy anymore. His retirement doesn't stick, either, because he's offered a part on the show-exactly the kind of complex role he'd always wanted, one that would prove him more than a glorified stuntman. The only catch? He has to stay in the closet-no matter how attractive he finds his costar.Carter Samuels is the critically acclaimed male lead on Wolf's Landing. And now, the man who inspired him to take up acting-and made him realize he's gay-is joining the cast, and sparks fly between them instantly. But Carter is out and proud and determined to stay true to himself.Remaining just friends is the only thing to do, as both the studio and Levi's disapproving, dysfunctional family keep reminding them. Except their friendship deepens by the day, tempting them with what they can't have but both desperately need.

Heartmates


Marcus Herzig - 2021
    Now, in the social gauntlet of high school, neither boy can even muster a single word to the other. When Connor enters a romantic relationship with Jaden-Dominic Choi, the hottest social influencer in school, a barely healed wound is torn wide open again. Lars still has nagging questions about the past he needs to be answered before he’s ready to move on—questions Connor is still not willing to address.Joining an illustrious cast of characters for a school production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the former friends suddenly find themselves in the same social circle again, but it’s a complicated affair as Lars can’t seem to put his feelings for Connor behind him. Forced to revisit their shared history, he increasingly feels that history needs to be rewritten…

Gold by the Inch: A Novel


Lawrence Chua - 1998
    In a Bangkok drunk on the nation's financial miracle - and high on an assortment of other things - the narrator meets Thong, a young, beautiful male hustler who works at a nightclub. As his romantic obsession with Thong grows, the narrator tries to convince himself that it transcends its commercial nature, but he is quickly forced into a hard look at the connections between desire and exploitation, personal and national identity. Lawrence Chua vividly combines Southeast Asia's troubled history with evocations of its modern face - its polyglot culture, its colonial past, the cool futurism of its skyscrapers and its sex industry. Written in hard-bitten, dazzling prose, Gold by the Inch is a stunning debut.

All The Way Dead


Stephen E. Stanley - 2013
    Danny Black doesn’t exist. Danny Black is, in reality, anthropology professor Luke Littlefield. After moving to West Hollywood to teach, Luke realizes that no one takes pretty boys seriously. As Luke says, no one has ever asked him how many college degrees he has when he’s standing shirtless at a photo shoot. Luke puts on thick glasses and baggy clothing to appear more professional. Life seems routine and safe, that is until he meets British film star Ian Stoddard. Luke admits that he has no idea who Ian is, and Ian finds that fact appealing.When a decades old murder is uncovered at the college, Luke and his anthropology students take the opportunity to construct a case study. Can Luke maintain his two separate identities and solve a decades old murder, or will it all blow up in his face?

Like and Subscribe


Jay Bell - 2013
    Just imagine if you had a chance to meet him and all your fantasies started coming true. There's only one catch: Between you and your dream guy is his less-than-pleased boyfriend. They say that love conquers all, but can love conquer love?Like and Subscribe is a new short story by Jay Bell, the author of Something Like Summer.

The Necessity of Certain Behaviors


Shannon Cain - 2011
    They expose the absurdity of our rituals, our definitions of sexuality, and above all, our expectations of happiness and self-fulfillment.       Cain’s protagonists are destined to suffer—and sometimes enjoy—the consequences of their own restless discontent.  In the title story, Lisa, a city dweller, is dissatisfied with her life and relationships. Her attempt at self-rejuvenation takes her on a hiking excursion through a foreign land. Lisa discovers a remote village where the ritualized and generous bisexual love of its inhabitants entrances her. She begins to abandon thoughts of home.      In “Cultivation,” Frances, a divorced mother strapped with massive credit card debt, has become an expert at growing pot. When she packs her three children and twelve pounds of homegrown into the minivan and travels cross-country to sell the stash, their journey becomes one of anguish, revelation, and ultimately transformation. “Cultivation,” like many of the stories in The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, follows a trail of broken relationships and the unfulfilled promises of modern American life.       Told in precise, evocative prose, these memorable stories illuminate the human condition from a compelling, funny, and entirely original perspective.

Real Life


Brandon Taylor - 2020
    An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends—some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But over the course of a late-summer weekend, a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with an ostensibly straight, white classmate, conspire to fracture his defenses while exposing long-hidden currents of hostility and desire within their community.

Goodbye Paradise


Nealy Wagner - 2015
    But for twenty years, Josh and Caleb called it home. In Paradise, there is no television. No fast food. Just long hours of farm work and prayer on a dusty Wyoming ranch, and nights in a crowded bunkhouse. The boys of the Compound are kept far from the sinners’ world. But Joshua doesn’t need temptation to sin. His whole life, he’s wanted his best friend, Caleb. By day they work side by side. Only when Josh closes his eyes at night can they be together the way he craves. It can never be. And his survival depends on keeping his terrible desires secret.Caleb has always protected Josh against the worst of the bullying at the Compound. But he has secrets of his own, and a plan to get away — until it all backfires. Josh finds himself homeless in a world that doesn’t want him. Can Caleb find him in time? And will they find a place of safety, where he can admit to Josh how he really feels? Warning: Contains a hot male/male romance, copious instances of taking the Lord's name in vain, and love against the kitchen counter. This book was previously released under the title: In Front of God & Everyone.