gay literature

Oops, I Didn’t Know I Couldn’t Write About Sex

April 4, 2014 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Welcome friend and author Brian Centrone with a few words concerning his new short story collection, Erotica which features seven stories, one for every sin.

D.H. Lawrence got in trouble over it. Anne Rice used a pen name to write it. E.L. James made a fortune off it. No one can deny that sex sells, yet it remains controversial. The mere mention of erotica sends literary noses pointed toward the heavens in a triumphant stance of superiority. For the majority of the literary world, erotica is not literature at all.

The truth is that some believe erotica is cheap. They dismiss it with other genre writing like Sci Fi or Romance. Many see these types of stories as inferior to scholarly or academic works. I disagree. I won’t argue that some erotica is pure smut, merely words to get off by, but not all, and certainly not mine. I believe that there is such a thing as “literary erotica,” and I consider my work to fall into that category. Why? Because I write erotic stories the way I write any fiction. I use the building blocks of literature to craft and develop tales which seek for more than just to lube a reader up. My stories aren’t about sex. They feature sex, yes, and prominently—that’s the nature of erotica—but they are always about something more: love, relationships, self-discovery. [Read more…] about Oops, I Didn’t Know I Couldn’t Write About Sex

The Boy with the Yellow Socks

February 28, 2014 By Brandon Leave a Comment

I was a boy of twelve the summer I looked out my bedroom window and saw my father standing in the front yard and my friend, who lived across the street, come toward him in a staggering walk that made me think he was going to fall with each step. My friend was a sixty-something bachelor, and many an afternoon I’d sat in his kitchen drinking lemonade and listening to him tell stories from his boyhood that always made me laugh. Finally, swaying on unsure feet, my friend stood before my father. “George,” he said in a drunken slur, “I want you to know I love that boy of yours. He’s the sweetest, nicest…” I didn’t hear the rest because I’d ducked down and covered my ears and said aloud, “Those are the wrong things to say to my dad!” I knew my friend was making a terrible mistake by the way my father had tucked his chin to his chest, the signal he was not pleased. In a short while the door to my bedroom opened, and I didn’t look, pretending to be searching for something in my desk. My father said, “No more going over to his house.” I remember all too well the squeezing in my chest, and, when I didn’t respond, I remember the way my father raised his voice to say, “Did you hear me?” It was then that I uttered one of the most painful words I’ve ever uttered. “Yes,” I said. [Read more…] about The Boy with the Yellow Socks

Silencing Over 50 LGBTs

January 31, 2014 By Brandon

Mark McNease is here to talk to us about being over fifty and LGBT. He has a blog that specifically caters to us older folk, and several books that feature the silver foxes we love so much. Be sure to check out the link to his podcasts below. ~B

Aged to Perfection

It’s a short tagline: Aged to Perfection. It’s also the message I’ve wanted to send to aging LGBT people for a long time now. We’re a population that often gets the sense our culture would just as soon we shuffle off the stage, make way for the next “30 Under 30” and generally accept our accelerating disappearance from the public consciousness once we pass the 50-year mile marker, usually sooner.

Almost three years ago I launched a website for LGBT people over 50, lgbtSr.org, in an effort to create a space for a population that often finds itself corralled away and its voices silenced, as if people over 50 have nothing to say and are not to be seen. Perhaps coincidentally, this is also the time I started writing the Kyle Callahan Mysteries. The two projects dovetailed nicely and I’m not sure which came first to me, the older chicken or the older egg.

After years writing stories of the human soul’s dark moments, unread by more than a handful, I decided I wanted to write a mystery series that would be fun to write and read, and would feature characters of my own age. Thus was born Kyle Callahan, amateur photographer, personal assistant to the hyperkinetic, foul-mouthed TV reporter has-been Imogene Landis, and partner to restaurant manager Danny Durban. My own husband Frank and I regularly go to an LGBT resort in the Poconos called Rainbow Mountain. One weekend there I took a picture of their empty blue swimming pool (it was October) and said, “This would make a really great place to set a murder mystery.” So I did.

‘Murder at Pride Lodge’ came out in September, 2012, followed this year by ‘Pride and Perilous’. The third is being birthed slowly and with much resistance. Meanwhile, I have two short stories now out, ‘Rough and Tumble,’ a dystopian love tragedy of sorts about a male couple living in a bleak future, and very recently, ‘The Seer.’ Neither is a light gay mystery with a gruesome murder or two.

I wanted to write a series that reflected my own life as a 55-year-old gay man. I wanted to read about characters my own age. There is very little out there for this readership, but they are definitely there. I’ve met hundreds through our website (I say ‘our’ because I have a small, dedicated group of contributors). I’ve met them through the many interviews I’ve done, by myself and with my co-host Rick Rose on our ‘Aged to Perfection’ podcast. These are vibrant, creative, energetic life forces who often see little of themselves in image and print, but who nonetheless continue to live fully and robustly.

A recent survey quoted in the Bay Area Reporter found that a full 15 percent of LGBT seniors had seriously considered suicide in the previous twelve months. The reasons are too many to address here, but isolation is high among them, as is, I contend, the sense that we stop mattering to the communities we live in and the media that neglects us. We are not on the covers of magazines, we are not the subjects of popular M4M fiction, we are often nowhere to be found. There is as yet no “It Gets Better Project” for the aging among us, and it has been my mission to change that, in my own small way. Writing a mystery series about a couple in their 50s, their lives populated by characters who remember Janis Joplin, Sylvester, Harvey Milk and typewriters, is another way of saying we’re alive, I’m alive, and I’ll leave the stage in a body bag. Until then I have stories to tell, and stories to listen to: the stories of Patricia Nell Warren, Michael Kearns, Eduardo Santiago, Nikko Giovanni, Alice Walker, and the many more regular people who are living their stories day to day, year to year. If you stop and listen, you will hear us. If you look, you will see us. And if you live long enough, you will be us. We’ll be waiting to welcome you and to live out loud together.

Author Bio:

Mark McNease is the author of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries and lives with his husband Frank Murray in New York City. Mark has published dozens of short stories and articles over the past 30 years. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program as the co-creator and writer of a show for 9-12 year olds. He’s had six plays produced, the last being at New Jersey Repertory Company. He is the editor and publisher of lgbtSr.org, a website for LGBTQ people over 50, where “age is embraced and life is celebrated.” He’s also the co-host of the podcast “Aged to Perfection” and has interviewed such notables as author Patricia Nell Warren, Rev. Troy Perry, Meghan Stabler and New York Sate Senator Liz Krueger.

How I Accidentally Fell Into Writing

January 17, 2014 By Brandon

Welcome John T. Fuller to the blog. John has the distinction to be the first author we’re bringing to you this year for the Hidden Gems blog series. In a nutshell, this series of posts is about helping you find books that you may not have found, but that others have raved about. They come from all facets of LGBTQ lit, so if you know of a book that you think needs to be spotlighted, let us know. I hope you’ll enjoy the blog series! Now, everyone say welcome to John. ~B

When Brandon approached me and asked if I’d like to take part in his 2014 guest blog theme of ‘Hidden Gems’ I was very honoured and incredibly surprised to be contacted by such a prolific and respected author. Just as surprised, in fact, as I’ve been at how my debut (and currently only!) novella When the Music Stops has been received by readers.

You see, I never really intended it to be published. I’ve written on and off as a hobby for most of my adult life, everything from erotica to horror, historical to sci-fi, but none of it ever saw the light of day – in fact a lot of it never even got finished. It was always just a hobby to me, a nice creative outlet when I came home from the (depressingly factual) desk-job. When I wrote When the Music Stops it was the longest piece I’d written to date and I wasn’t thinking about an audience or what readers might think – possibly this was a good thing, as I’d perhaps not have tackled such an emotive and divisive subject if I’d been worried about how it would be received. [Read more…] about How I Accidentally Fell Into Writing

Hidden Gems and Other Bookish Treasures

January 6, 2014 By Brandon

I thought we’d do something a bit different on the blog this year. Last year, we had authors talking about the books they wrote and why one in particular was their favorite. Every author has a fav and I’ve always found their reasons fascinating.

This year, I’m flipping that upside down. We’re scouring the interwebs looking for hidden gems. Books that have made ‘must read’ lists but, for one reason or another, never got much attention. I’ll be contacting the authors and inviting them to the blog so you can learn about them too. I already have a full lineup on the way with some great books and fantastic authors. If you know of such a book, let me know. I may profile it here on the blog.

One of the other new themes on the blog this year will be LGBT science fiction and fantasy. I have been a huge fan of both genres since I was a kid and thought it was about time we brought the genre more exposure. Watch for the posts, and again, if you have a nominee you’d like us to take a look at, let me know.

Sexuality – Not so Black and White

January 3, 2014 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Today, I have asked J. James to the blog. We’re discussing his new book, Denial, Deceit, Discovery, which tells the story of the struggles in the life of Jack Ellis, a catholic man deep in denial about his sexuality. ~B.

In a recent review So So Gay said your book was ‘a thought provoking and evocative piece of literature that we found very difficult to put down’. Do you think your book is that different from the many other similar books about coming out?

J James: I think there are a few things that make DDD different. Probably the most obvious is the honesty and frankness of the book. It is all laid our bare for the reader so that they too feel that they are living the life of the protagonist. The level of emotion in the book is incredible and this pulls the reader in continuously. Readers will love the main character Jack in some parts and then be screaming at him in disbelief at others. The second main difference is the angle from which the coming out is portrayed. Having previously lived a straight life, Jack’s coming out was delayed and prolonged and then ultimately very dramatic when it did finally occur. It means that many people can connect with the story on different levels – gay, straight or just confused. Many of my readers have been women or straight guys because I think the story deals with relationships and the difficulties of growing up and many other wider issues and not just coming out. I think the book is incredibly relatable so such a diverse community of readers. [Read more…] about Sexuality – Not so Black and White