‘Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary’ edited by Morty Diamond
Posted on March 17, 2012 by TT Jax in Anthology, Reviews
Before I can explain my impression of Morty Diamond’s latest release, Trans/Love (Manic D Press), I first must admit something.
I did not want to read this book. (more…)
‘Why are Faggots so Afraid of Faggots: Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform’ edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Posted on February 15, 2012 by Jim Van Buskirk in Anthology, Reviews
“Why are Faggots so Afraid of Faggots (AK Press Publishing) is an emergency intervention. It’s also a deeply personal project for me. As a genderqueer faggot and a queen with a certain amount of notoriety, I find myself incredibly inspired by the politics and potentials of trans, genderqueer, and gender-defiant subcultures. Simultaneously I find myself less and less hopeful in the male sexual spaces I also inhabit. I wonder: if the desire I hold dear has only led to a product-driven sexual marketplace, what are the possibilities for transformation?” Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s introduction to this important anthology indicates its logical progression from her two previous compilations, That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation and Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Bernstein (who favors feminine pronouns) having been involved in ACT UP, Fed Up Queers, and Gay Shame, is one of our most outspoken queer critics, having authored two experimental novels and edited two additional anthologies. (more…)
‘Best Gay Stories 2011′ edited by Peter Dubé
Posted on December 23, 2011 by Reginald Harris in Anthology, Reviews
This fourth edition of Lethe Press’ Best Gay Stories is an excellent addition to the series. Edited by Peter Dubé, taking over for previous series editor Steve Berman (Dube’s work appeared in the first collection in 2008), the anthology includes a true diversity of voices. The mix of male and female authors and writing in various genres is an expression of Dubé’s stated intent to complicate our notions of gay life with “proliferating images and accounts and possibilities.” As the title of the excerpt of Michael Alenyikov’s award-winning novel Ivan and Misha included here says, “It takes all kinds.” (more…)
‘Windy City Queer: LGBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast’ edited by Kathie Bergquist
Posted on December 18, 2011 by Laura Heston in Anthology, Reviews
Last month, I attended the wedding of my friends Stacey and Renee. People came from all over the country to the outer reaches of Maine for this union. After the ceremony we had a spirited game of wiffle ball; East coast versus West coast. Ironically, the couple met and fell in love in Chicago, but, for some reason, being from the Midwest is hardly the basis for any conflict. “It’s poking fun at stereotypes to say we Midwesterners are a guileless and plainspoken people, that we are unworldly in a some way that is precious and valuable, and so adorable.” Kathie Bergquist asserts that Windy City dwellers are drama-free, in a strictly pragmatic way, in her hilarious and fast-paced introduction to this great new collection of queer writing from Chicago. Though, as I learned from this collection, being drama-free doesn’t mean lacking heart.
‘Art From Art: A Collection of Short Stories Inspired by Art’ edited by Stephen Soucy
Posted on November 28, 2011 by Aaron Krach in Anthology, Reviews
One thing is certain: no one likes a bad review. Critics take no pleasure in writing them and authors do not like receiving them. Readers don’t want to read them either. They have better things to do with their time. The only reason to publish a bad review is if it can—at the expense of hurt feeling—become a learning experience for author, editor, and reader. (more…)
‘My West: Personal Writings on the American West — Past, Present and Future’ by Patricia Nell Warren
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Merry Gangemi in Anthology, Bio/Memoir, Nonfiction, Reviews
I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed Patricia Nell Warren’s My West (Wild Cat Press), a collection of previously published articles and essays that span more than three decades. Part memoir, part history and social commentary, this anthology is a nostalgic journey into the heart of Patricia Nell Warren’s America—her America, her West. She writes of Appaloosas, and long-horn cattle, the interstices of Native and immigrant cultures (more…)
‘War Diaries’ edited by Tisa Bryant and Ernest Hardy
Posted on August 17, 2011 by Sassafras Lowrey in Anthology, Reviews
What War Diaries (AIDS Project Los Angeles & the Global Forum on MSM and HIV), edited by Tisa Bryant and Ernest Hardy, lacks in polish it more than makes up for with an impacted and blunt beauty. This new anthology published by AIDS Project Los Angeles & the Global Forum on MSM and HIV offers refreshingly raw and poignant commentary on the AIDS epidemic and its particular and ongoing impact on black LGBTQ communities. (more…)
‘They Could No Longer Contain Themselves: A Collection of Five Flash Chapbooks’ by Elizabeth J. Colen, John Jodzio, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Sean Lovelace and Mary Miller
Posted on August 13, 2011 by Terri Solomon in Anthology, Fiction, Reviews
Flash fiction. Like lightning, it’s a brief illumination, the sky of your mind brightened with an image that, at its best, lingers after you’ve turned the page. At its worst, flash fiction can be banal, confusing, or both. (more…)
‘Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme’ edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman
Posted on July 19, 2011 by Emma Crandall in Anthology, Nonfiction, Reviews
The rowdy, queer contributors to Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (Arsenal Pulp Press) address the immediate, often loaded, topic of butch-femme from every angle, confirming once again just how central this label-and-experience is to queer history. (more…)
‘Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing’ edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano
Posted on June 27, 2011 by Dan Lopez in Anthology, Fiction, Reviews
In his introduction to Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing (University of Wisconsin Press), co-editor Lázaro Lima defines this slim volume’s scope as an opening statement in a growing conversation, one that confronts the bias of mainstream American cultural constructs and seeks “to envision a different kind of national culture.” (more…)
