Back in the 1970s, in the age of Harvey Milk and the singer Sylvester, a young man named Mark Abramson moved from his native Minneapolis to San Francisco. There he became part of a generation of gay men who populated Castro Street and changed gay life forever, joining people such as John Preston, Randy Shilts and Al Parker (all of whom he befriended).
Mark Abramson
Abramson has since survived the AIDS epidemic that decimated the city’s gay community and the yuppification that put San Francisco out of reach for all but the most wealthy. Abramson owes much to San Francisco; but he has also given that city much in return, as producer of gay circuit parties and mega-events including “Men Behind Bars” and “Pier Pressure.”
Abramson has also written for once famous but now defunct publications Christopher Street, Fag Rag, Gay Sunshine and Mouth of the Dragon.
Mark Abramson’s love for San Francisco is most evident in his “Beach Reading” series; a gay valentine to the City by the Bay that promises to be the best book series of its kind since Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.
The title of the series - also the title of the first book in the series - indicates that the books are meant to be light reading, perfect for a lazy day by the sea.
The hero of the series is Tim Snow; like Abramson, he’s a refugee from Minnesota who found freedom and opportunity in the Gay Mecca. Possessing great looks, a hot body, a winning personality and a still-undeveloped psychic gift he inherited from his grandmother, Tim makes ends meet in the Castro by working as a waiter at a restaurant owned by a middle-aged gay couple who are also his landlords while trying to find true love amidst all the sexual opportunities that come his way.
The first book in the series, Beach Reading (Lethe Press; $13), is a slight book, with no overriding goal except to introduce the series’ characters and give us a little fun along the way.
San Francisco, we are told, is readying for the “party of the decade”: an all-star tribute to Sylvester at the Moscone Center. As if that wasn’t enough, evangelist Arlo Montgomery is bringing his anti-gay crusade to San Francisco that very weekend. How Tim gets involved in all this, and what he does to put a stop to Arlo Montgomery’s anti-gay agenda, is the plot of Beach Reading.
Though there is not much depth to Beach Reading (the book lives up to its name), the plot and characters are interesting enough to carry the reader through the first book and prepare him for the second one.
The second book in Abramson’s Beach Reading series, Cold Serial Murder (Lethe Press, $15), is actually better than the first one. This one introduces Tim’s Aunt Ruth, who took Tim in when his parents disowned him for being gay.
Ruth is an interesting character in her own right and adds an outsider’s perspective to the often-inbred Castro gay community. There is also an element of mystery in this volume, involving a murderer who kills Tim’s ex-lover Jason as well as other men.
Tim and Ruth make a great team and their joint efforts to find out who the Cold Serial murderer is promises us more such efforts in the future. Mark Abramson and Lethe Press are already working on several additional volumes in their beach reading series, promising more exciting adventures for Tim, Ruth, their friends and, of course, continuing their author’s enduring love affair with San Francisco.
Bill Konigsberg is an acclaimed sportswriter for the Associated Press who won a GLAAD award for his inspiring, coming out story. Konigsberg combines sports and gays in his first novel, Out of the Pocket (Dutton Juvenile;$16.99).
Author Bill Konigsberg
In previous young adult novels similar in nature, the gay teenager would pine in vain for the star quarterback. But in Out of the Pocket, the star quarterback Bobby Framingham, is himself gay, not to mention highly conflicted about his sexuality.
Bobby’s coming out is the crux of this novel and Konigsberg unites his skills as a sports writer and his life experiences as a gay man to create a story that is both realistic and interesting. Though Out of the Pocket is mainly written for juveniles, adult readers will also enjoy this inspiring book.
Gay historians, dwelling on the achievements of New York or San Francisco, have long ignored Chicago and its contributions to the GLBT community. But it was the Second City that gave gay Americans our first gay rights organization, the Society for Human Rights (1925); and it was Chicago that was home to such pioneers as Henry Gerber, Pearl Hart, Samuel Steward, Bob Basker and Jeannette Foster.
Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City’s Gay Community (Agate Surrey Books; $30.00), is a pictorial history of the city that is home to America’s most currently influential man and woman – Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
Editor Tracy Baim, co-founder of Windy City Times newspaper and publisher and executive director of Windy City Media Group, worked with such distinguished contributors as John D’Emilio, Jonathan Ned Katz, Jorjet Harper and Chad Heap to chronicle the queer presence in the Windy City, from the days of Abraham Lincoln till today.
Out and Proud in Chicago is a companion volume to an equally interesting documentary series, produced by WTTW TV in Chicago.
The casual gay reader will probably ignore Fred Fejes’s Gay Rights and Moral Panic: The Origins of America’s Debate on Homosexuality (Palgrave Macmillan). Not only is the book very scholarly (and sometimes dull) but, at $79.95, it is also very expensive. This is a shame, since Fred Fejes, who teaches at the School of Communications and Multimedia Studies at Florida Atlantic University, has given a new twist to the history of the gay movement in the decade between Stonewall and AIDS.
Author Fred Fejes
Professor Fejes begins his narrative in Miami, site of the first major defeat for gay rights legislation (1977), and goes on to similar debacles in St. Paul, Wichita and Eugene before reaching the rare gay victories in Seattle and California’s Briggs Initiative (1978).
Fejes did a thorough study of gay highs and lows during the “me decade,” based on an in-depth study of contemporary newspaper accounts and interviews with survivors of that hectic era. (One of the Miami veterans that Fejes interviewed was a certain Jesse Monteagudo.)
Raphael Kadushin edited Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing, back in 2004. Four years later, Kadushin, who is senior acquisitions editor for the University of Wisconsin Press, has returned to that ever-popular genre with Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing (University of Wisconsin Press;$24.95).
Editor Raphael Kadushin
Unlike its predecessor, Big Trips combines travel fiction with non-fiction accounts of travelers around the world. But the line-up of authors is equally distinguished, and includes the likes of Bruce Benderson, Mack Friedman, Trebor Healey, Andrew Holleran, Dale Peck and Edmund White.
The stories and essays in Big Trips remind us once again that gay men are the world’s great travelers and sexual adventurers. Proceeds of this book will go to the Wisconsin University Press’s Living Out Series and small literary titles.
Out on the Edge: America’s Rebel Comics (Alyson Books; $15.95) pays tribute to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transgressive straight artists that give comedy its contemporary edge. Mike Player is the creator of The Gay Mafia improv/sketch comedy group, itself a valuable player in today’s queer comedy scene. The essays and interviews in Out on the Edge showcase some of our greatest comedians. A vivid introduction by Margaret Cho, no slouch in the comedy department, puts this book in its proper perspective.
Mike Player
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment