Book Reviews...

Adam
by Anthony McDonald,
Reviewed
by Tony Heyes

War
Against the Animals
by Paul Russell
Reviewed by Tony Heyes

The Dandelion Clock
by
Jay Mandal
BeWrite
Books 2002
ISBN:
1-904224-25-3
Reviewed by Tony Heyes

The Other Women
by
Pamela Hayes
Reviewed
by Johnny Charles

Last
Chance Texaco
by Brent Hartinger
Reviewed by Lori L. Lake

An
Intimate Ghost
by Ellen Hart
Reviewed by Lori L. Lake

The
Summer of My Discontent
by Mark A. Roeder
Reviewed by Jak Klinikowski
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Featured books by
debut writers...

Bought and Paid For
by Michael Halfhill
Paperback: 180 pages ; iUniverse.com; (January 2004)
ISBN: 0595304907
Please visit Michael's website
to learn more about this book and his future writing. |
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Editor's Note
This issue has added texture with film reviews. And
in coming issues, might we hope that writers will contribute articles
about screen-writing? Or
contribute a one-act play? If my hunch is correct that this new
dimension of the newsletter will attract more and different readers,
I would like to have film reviews about independent glbt films; but
since a glbt film is still a rather rare commodity, I have no trouble
accepting reviews from non-indies. And they can be from any country. I
can think of a handful of older films I've enjoyed, including "The Sum
of Us" (reviewed in this issue by Cheri Rosenberg), which has gained
added interest since Russell Crowe has become a major star. But I
invite reviews of "The Trip," "Latter Days," "Big Eden," and others.
Contributors this issue...
Jeff
Williams returns
with a non-fiction piece, "Bryce in the City" (page
2) and he promises his own
coming out story, as well as Part Two of "From Kenya,
With Love" in a later issue.
Cheri Rosenberg
carries the bulk of the reviews this issue with the films "The Sum of
Us" and "Maurice" (page 3) as well as
book reviews of Mark Roeder's Do You
Know That I Love You,
Patricia Nell Warren's The Front
Runner (page 4), Stephen M.
Hart's Through
the Ruins, Lori L. Lake's collection of short stories, Stepping Out, and Ronald L.
Donaghe's The Salvation Mongers
(page 5).
Tony Heyes (our man
from England) reviews Anthony McDonald's Adam, Paul Russell's War Against the Animals, and Jay
Mandal's The Dandelion Clock.
(page 7)
Johnny Charles, a new reader, reviews Pamela Hayes'
transgendered novel The Other Women
(page 6).
Lori L. Lake provides reviews of Brent Hartinger's new novel, The Last Chance Texaco and Ellen
Hart's An Intimate Ghost. (page 8)
Jak Klinikowski returns this issue with a review of
Mark A. Roeder's The Summer of My
Discontent—a much anticipated sequel to A Better Place. (page 9)
Call for
Submissions...

New writers, here is
your chance from Carroll-Graf Editor, Don Weise
1. Short fiction by
emerging gay authors sought for Fresh
Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction,
an anthology edited by Carroll & Graf editor Don Weise and selected
by Edmund White. Gay content need not be at the center of the story,
though stories should contain gay themes. Submissions are open to any writer
who has not published a novel or short story collection;
all other writers (including those who have published in anthologies,
journals, etc.) are eligible. Submissions should be five to twenty
pages, double-sided, printed in a legible font; work may be previously
published.
Deadline: June 1, 2004
Send to
Don Weise
c/o Carroll & Graf (attention: New Voices)
245 W. 17th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10011
2. Short fiction,
essays, and poetry by black gay and bisexual men sought for Freedom in this Village: Black Gay Men’s
Writing, 1969 to the Present,
an anthology announced by Carroll & Graf editor Don Weise.
Submissions should be no more than twenty pages, double-sided, printed
in a legible font; work may be previously published.
Deadline: June 1, 2004
Send to
Don Weise
c/o Carroll & Graf (attention: Freedom in this Village)
245 W. 17th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10011
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Featured Title
this issue...

A Passion to
Preserve
Gay Men as Keepers
of Culture
by Will Fellows
University of
Wisconsin Press
May 2004
280
pp. 6 x 9
ISBN
0-299-19680-1 Cloth $30.00
"Clearly Will Fellows has hit a nerve with many gay men, about
their collecting and preserving from childhood on, often
sacrificing friends, livelihoods, careers, and lovers to do so."
—Darden A. Pyron,
author of Liberace: An American Boy
From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been
impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring
decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving
artifacts and documents of historical significance. This penchant to
preserve, though widely observed, is typically ignored or dismissed as
a stereotypical gay cliché, even by many gay men
themselves. A Passion to Preserve
explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men's lives
by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout
the United States. This eye-opening and provocative book
illuminates neglected facets of what it means to be gay and highlights
contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally
inclined to make.
Fellows's first book was the best-selling Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the
Rural Midwest. In A Passion
to Preserve, Fellows expands upon the art of oral history he
employed so successfully in Farm Boys.
"The main strength of the project is the actual oral histories
recorded here by the editor. Fellows is a wonderful preservationist
himself; the book's impressive range of contributors speaks to
the care and skill he brings to his work."
—David Román,
professor of English and American Studies, University of Southern
California
"Gay men are very sensitive to beauty. It's perhaps a hackneyed
stereotype, but I believe in it—I simply know it. It's an aesthetic
capacity, an appreciation of beauty in old things, the grace of a
lovely, older house with elegant details. And when gay men are
interested in something they give it their all, tremendous amounts of
creative energy and physical energy. Not many straight people would do
for this house what we did for it."
—Al Garland,
from A Passion to Preserve
Will Fellows is a writer and educator who lives with his partner
in Milwaukee. His first book, Farm
Boys, was honored as a best book of 1996 by Esquire Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and
as a bestseller of 1996 by The
Advocate and Lambda Book
Report.
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