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LGBTQ+ Authors
June is Pride Month. From classics to contemporary fiction, you'll find something to love in this list of books by LGBTQ+ authors.
The selected works of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde
"A definitive selection of prose and poetry from the self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," for a new generation of readers. Audre Lorde is an unforgettable voice in twentieth-century literature, one of the first to center the experiencesof black, queer women. Her incisive essays and passionate poetry-alive with sensuality, vulnerability, and rage-remain indelible contributions to intersectional feminism, queer theory, and critical race studies. This essential reader showcases twelve landmark essays and more than sixty poems, selected and introduced by one of our most powerful contemporary voices on race and gender, Roxane Gay. The essays include "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," "I Am Your Sister," and excerpts from the National Book Award-winning A Burst of Light. The poems are drawn from Lorde's nine volumes, including National Book Award nominee The Land Where Other People Live. As Gay writes in her astute introduction, The Selected Works of Audre Lorde celebrates "an exemplar of public intellectualism who is as relevant in this century as she was in the last.""--
The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
"Stein's most famous work; one of the richest and most irreverent biographies ever written, now illustrated by Maira Kalman"--
Thinking again : a diary by Jan Morris
"Jan Morris, one of 'Britain's greatest living writers' (Times, UK), returns with this whimsical yet deeply affecting volume on life as a redoubtable nonagenarian. The irrepressible Jan Morris-author of such classics as Venice and Trieste-is at it again:offering a vibrant set of reminiscences that remind us 'what a good, wise and witty companion Jan Morris has been for so many readers for so long' (Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times Book Review). 'Like Michel de Montaigne' (Danny Heitman, Wall StreetJournal), Morris waxes on the ironies of modern life in all their resonant glories and inevitable stupidities-from her daily exercise (a 'statutory thousand paces of brisk walk') to the troubles of Brexit; her enduring yet complicated love for America; and honest reflections on the vagaries and ailments of aging. Both intimate and luminously wise, Thinking Again is a testament to the virtues of embracing life, creativity, and, above all, kindness"--
The early stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote
"In a small Southern town, a teenage girl anxiously waits for her date to arrive. A little boy meets his dream dog in Central Park. A woman fights to save the life of a child who has her lover's eyes. Best friends discuss the theoretical murder of husbands. In these never-before-published stories, written by Truman Capote when he was in his teens and twenties, Capote-the-Writer is already recognizable. His prose: witty, poignant, and crystal-clear. His characters: solitary, observant young children; charming and naïve young women whom you could imagine befriending Holly Golightly; aging urban sophisticates worn down by cynicism. His settings: the rural South of his childhood and the cosmopolitan New York of the 1940s. This splendid collection offers readers to opportunity to see the confident first steps of one of the 20th century's most-acclaimed writers onto the path that would lead to his most beloved works"--
No one can pronounce my name : a novel by Rakesh Satyal
"In a suburb outside Cleveland, a community of Indian Americans has settled into lives that straddle the divide between Eastern and Western cultures. For some, America is a bewildering and alienating place where coworkers can't pronounce your name but will eagerly repeat the Sanskrit phrases from their yoga class. Harit, a lonely Indian immigrant in his mid-forties, lives with his mother who can no longer function after the death of Harit's sister, Swati. In a misguided attempt to keep both himself and his mother sane, Harit has taken to dressing up in a sari every night to pass himself off as his sister. Meanwhile, Ranjana, also an Indian immigrant in her mid-forties, has just seen her only child, Prashant, off to college. Worried that her husband has begun an affair, she seeks solace by writing paranormal romances in secret. When Harit and Ranjana's paths cross, they begin a strange yet necessary friendship that brings to light their own passions and fears"--
Sugar run by Mesha Maren
"Jodi McCarty is seventeen when she's sentenced to life in prison for manslaughter. She's released eighteen years later and finds herself reeling from the shock of unexpected freedom. Not yet able to return to her lost home in the Appalachian mountains, she heads south in search of someone she left behind, as a way of finally making amends. There, she will meet and fall in love with Miranda, a troubled young mother living in a motel room with her children. Together they head toward what they hope will bea new home and fresh start--but what do you do with a town and a family that refuses to change?"--
In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Alone in her one-room shack, ostracized from her relatives and cut off from her hometown, Knot Centre turns to her neighbor, Otis Lee Loving, in search of some semblance of family and home, but Otis is unable to fix the troubles within his own family, asdark secrets from his troubled past come to light.
Kept animals : a novel by Kate Milliken
"Rory Ramos is a dutiful teenager with a love of photography who works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. June begins to take an interest in Rory-but she is more drawn to Vivian Price, the beautiful teenager with the movie-star father, who lives down the hill and, Rory can't help noticing, swims in her pool nearly every night. Rory's ambiguous roots and blue-collar upbringing keep her largely separate from the likes of the Prices and the Fisks-until her stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident. From that moment on, the lives of these teenagers become inextricably linked-are they friends or foes, lovers or rivals?-sparking a series of events that come to a head the night a wildfire tears through Topanga Canyon, and Rory's life is changed forever. Kept Animals is narrated by Rory's daughter, Charlie, twenty years after that fateful 1993 fire. Rory is away on assignment as a war photographer, and Charlie knows the key to her own existence lies in the story of what happened during that unseasonably warm fall. And without her mother to tell her the truth, she must unravel it by herself. Taut, propulsive, and deftly written, Kate Milliken's debut is a searing exploration of girlhood, class, and fate"--
The end of the day by Bill Clegg
"A retired widow in rural Connecticut wakes to an unexpected visit from her childhood best friend whom she hasn't seen in forty-nine years. An older man who has traveled from Manhattan to meet his newborn granddaughter collapses in a hotel lobby in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A sixty-seven-year-old taxi driver in Kauai receives a phone call from the mainland that jars her back to a traumatic past. Seemingly disconnected lives come together as half-century old secrets begin to surface in Bill Clegg's second novel. At its heart, The End of the Day is about the phenomenon of female friendship, its force and its breaking points, as well its most shaping influences-family, class, age, and power"--
I am not myself these days : a memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
An advertising executive describes how he moonlighted as a drag queen performing in nighclubs, detailing a surreal odyssey into Manhattan's dark underbelly as it chronicles his relationship with his crack-addicted, male-escort boyfriend
No ashes in the fire : coming of age black and free in America by Darnell L Moore
"When Darnell L. Moore was fourteen years old, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire as he was walking home from school. Darnell was tall and awkward and constantly bullied for being gay. That afternoon, one of the boys doused him withgasoline and tried lighting a match. It was too windy, and luckily Darnell's aunt arrived in time to grab Darnell and pull him to safety. It was not the last time he would face death. What happens to the black boys who come of age in neglected, poor, heavily policed, and economically desperate cities that the War on Drugs and mass incarceration have created? How do they learn to live, love, and grow up? Darnell was raised in Camden, NJ, the son of two teenagers on welfare struggling to make ends meet. Heexplored his sexuality during the height of the AIDS epidemic, when being gay was a death sentence. He was beaten down and ignored by white and black America, by his school, and even his church, the supposed place of sanctuary. He made it out, but as hequickly learned, escaping Camden, escaping poverty, and coming out do not guarantee you freedom. It wasn't until Darnell was pushed into the spotlight at a Newark rally after the murder of a young queer woman that he found his voice and his calling. He became a leading organizer with Black Lives Matter, a movement that recognized him and insisted that his life mattered. In recovering the beauty, joy, and love in his own life, No Ashes in the Fire gives voice to the rich, varied experiences of all those who survive on the edges of the margins. In the process, he offers a path toward liberation"--
Out East : memoir of a Montauk summer by John Glynn
They call Montauk the end of the world, a spit of land jutting into the Atlantic. The house was a ramshackle split-level set on a hill, and each summer thirty-one people would sleep between its thin walls and shag carpets. Against the moonlight the house's octagonal roof resembled a bee's nest. It was dubbed The Hive. In 2013, John Glynn joined the share house. Packing his duffel for that first Memorial Day Weekend, he prayed for clarity. At twenty-seven, he was crippled by an all-encompassing loneliness, a feeling he had carried in his heart for as long as he could remember. John didn't understand the loneliness. He just knew it was there. Like the moon gone dark. Out East is the portrait of a summer, of The Hive and the people who lived in it, and John's own reckoning with a half-formed sense of self. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, The Hive was a center of gravity, a port of call, a home. Friendships, conflicts, secrets and epiphanies blossomed within this tightly woven friend group and came to define how they would live out the rest of their twenties and beyond.
Good boy : my life in seven dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan
"From bestselling author of She's Not There, New York Times opinion columnist, and human rights activist Jennifer Finney Boylan, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs, a memoir of the transformative power of loving dogs. This is a book about dogs: the love we have for them, and the way that love helps us understand the people we have been. It's in the love of dogs, and my love for them, that I can best now take the measure of the child I once was, and the bottomless, unfathomable desires that once haunted me. There are times when it is hard for me to fully remember that love, which was once so fragile, and so fierce. Sometimes it seems to fade before me, like breath on a mirror. But I remember the dogs. In her New York Times opinion column, Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote about her relationship with her beloved dog Indigo, and her wise, funny, heartbreaking piece went viral. In Good Boy, Boylan explores what should be the simplest topic in the world, but never is: finding and giving love. Good Boy is a universal account of a remarkable story: showing how a young boy became a middle-aged woman-accompanied at seven crucial moments of growth and transformation by seven memorable dogs. 'Everything I know about love,' she writes, 'I learned from dogs.' Their love enables us pull off what seem like impossible feats: to find our way home when we are lost, to live our lives with humor and courage, and above all, to best become our true selves"--
Call me by your name : a novel by André Aciman
The sudden and powerful attraction between a teenage boy and a summer guest at his parents' house on the Italian Riviera has a profound and lasting influence that will mark them both for a lifetime
Right after the weather by Carol Anshaw
It's the fall of 2016. Cate, a set designer in her early forties, lives and works in Chicago's theater community. She has stayed too long at the fair and knows it's time to get past her prolonged adolescence and stop taking handouts from her parents. She has a firm plan to get solvent and settled in a serious relationship. She has tentatively started something new even as she's haunted by an old, going-nowhere affair. Her ex-husband, recently booted from his most recent marriage, is currently camped out in Cate's spare bedroom, in thrall to online conspiracy theories, and she's not sure how to help him. Her best friend Neale, a yoga instructor, lives nearby with her son and is Cate's model for what serious adulthood looks like. Only a few blocks away, but in a parallel universe we find Nathan and Irene—casual sociopaths, drug addicts, and small-time criminals. Their world and Cate's intersect the day she comes into Neale's kitchen to find these strangers assaulting her friend. Forced to take fast, spontaneous action, Cate does something she's never even considered. She now also knows the violence she is capable of, as does everyone else in her life, and overnight, their world has changed
You exist too much : a novel by Zaina Arafat
Told in vignettes that occur in American and Middle East settings, a debut novel follows the experiences of a young Palestinian-American who is marginalized for her sexual orientation before the traumas of her past drive her toward self-destructive impulses
Mostly dead things by Kristen N Arnett
Taking over her family's failing taxidermy shop in the wake of her father's suicide, a grief-stricken woman pursues less-than-legal ways of generating income while struggling to figure out her place among her eccentric loved ones.
The last nude by Ellis Avery
Paris, 1927, a day in July. A destitute young American named Rafaela Fano gets into the car of a dazzling stranger, the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Struggling to halt a downward slide toward prostitution, Rafaela agrees to model for the artist. The two become lovers, and Rafaela inspires Tamara's most accomplished and prized works of art, including Beautiful Rafaela, one of the most important nudes of the twentieth century (New York Times). The relationship between the artist and her muse lasted less than a year, yet in 1980, just before Tamara died, she was working on a copy of Beautiful Rafaela. Author Ellis Avery imagines their affair from Rafaela's point of view, and the final day of Tamara's life from the painter's point of view. A window into Jazz Age Paris as the forces of history close in, The Last Nude is a story of genius and craft, art and money, friendship and desire
The teahouse fire by Ellis Avery
The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl, adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter Yukako. Pasts shrouded in secrets and mysterious traditions rocked by modernization make The Teahouse Fire a compelling and provocative story, lush in details and epic in scope
Giovanni's room by James Baldwin
In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
Are you my mother? : a comic drama by Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel's Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood . . . and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel's own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers.
Fun home : a family tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
A memoir done in the form of a graphic novel by a cult favorite comic artist offers a darkly funny family portrait that details her relationship with her father--a funeral home director, high school English teacher, and closeted homosexual
Becoming a man : the story of a transition by 1966- author P. Carl
"A remarkable, deeply moving memoir of one man's gender transition amid a pivotal political moment in America."--
The house of impossible beauties by Joseph Cassara
"A gritty and gorgeous debut that follows a cast of gay and transgender club kids navigating the Harlem ball scene of the 80s and 90s, inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary "Paris is Burning""--
How to write an autobiographical novel : essays by Alexander Chee
"From the author of The Queen of the Night, an essay collection exploring how we form our identities in life, in politics, and in art" --
When I grow up I want to be a list of further possibilities by Chen Chen
"In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family -- the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes -- all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding allaccountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. To be a season of laughter when my father sayshis coworker is like that, he can tell because the guy wears pink socks, see, you don't, so you can't, you can't be one of them. To be the one my parents raised me to be. A season from the stormiest planet. A very good feeling with a man. Every feeling,in pink shoes. Every step, hot pink."--
Finna by Nino Cipri
When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store -- but not that one -- slips through a portal to another dimension, it's up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company's bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but those two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago. To find the missing granny, Ava and Jules will brave carnivorous furniture, swarms of identical furniture spokespeople, and the deep resentment simmering between them. Can friendship blossom from the ashes of their relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are possible
By nightfall : A Novel by Michael Cunningham
Peter and Rebecca Harris have settled into a comfortable mid-life--with their careers as an art dealer and editor, respectively, blossoming and their daughter in college--until Rebecca's brother with a history of drug problems shows up and makes Peter question his life
Plain bad heroines : a novel by Emily M Danforth
"Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary's book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way. Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the "haunted and cursed" Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it's impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins
In at the deep end by Kate Davies
"A fresh, funny, audacious debut novel about a Bridget Jones-like twenty-something who discovers that she may have simply been looking for love -- and, ahem, pleasure -- in all the wrong places (aka: from men)"--
Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis
"From the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of The Gods of Tango, a revolutionary new novel about five wildly different women who, in the midst of the Uruguayan dictatorship, find each other as lovers, friends, and ultimately, family. In 1977 Uruguay, a military government has crushed political dissent with ruthless force. In an environment where citizens are kidnapped, raped, and tortured, homosexuality is a dangerous transgression. And yet, despite such societal realities, Romina, Flaca, Anita "La Venus," Paz, and Malena--five cantoras, women who "sing"--somehow, miraculously, find each other and discover an isolated cape, Cabo Polonio, inhabited by just a lonely lighthouse keeper and a few rugged seal hunters. They claim this place as their secret sanctuary. Over the next 35 years, their lives move back and forth between Cabo Polonio and Montevideo, the city they call home, as they return, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs, with lovers in tow, or alone. Throughout it all, the women will be tested repeatedly--by their families, lovers, society, and each other--as they fight to live authentic lives. A genre-defining novel and De Robertis's masterpiece, Cantoras is a breathtaking portrait of queer love, community, forgotten history, and the strength of the human spirit. De Robertis has written a novel that is at once timeless and groundbreaking--a tale about the fire in all our souls and those who make it burn"--
Patsy : a novel by Nicole Dennis-Benn
When Patsy finally gets a U.S. travel visa in 1998, she is so sure that she is neither a good mother nor capable of becoming one that she plans to leave her young daughter, Tru, behind in Jamaica and never look back. There's something pulling Patsy , too, the promise of reunion with her girlhood best friend turned lover, Cicely, who left Jamaica a decade ago. But things quickly fall apart when Patsy arrives in Brooklyn to a less-welcoming situation than Cicely suggested in her letters. As Patsy survives the mind-numbing terror of undocumented life, stories from her past seep in to reveal her familiarity with hardship and a well of strength that is nonetheless invisible to her. Meanwhile, Tru deals with her own terror, suffering from her mother's abandonment while living with her father and his family, strangers to her at first. Ten years later, stoic teen Tru is almost undone by the loneliness of her gnawing depression and feelings of queerness, unaware that her mother, now a Manhattan nanny, shares both.
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi
"Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five and facing the future she has built for herself as well as the prospect of a new generation, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which come to her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, with his harem of fifty-two wives, and her parents, Darius and Sara, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them."--Amazon
Frog music : a novel by Emma Donoghue
"Emma Donoghue's explosive new novel, based on an unsolved murder in 1876 San Francisco. Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heatwave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman called Jenny Bonnet is shot dead. The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice--if he doesn't track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women and damaged children. It's the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts. In thrilling, cinematic style, Frog Music digs up a long-forgotten, never-solved crime. Full of songs that migrated across the world, Emma Donoghue's lyrical tale of love and bloodshed among lowlifes captures the pulse of a boomtown like no other"--
Dog years : a memoir by Mark Doty
A memoir of the author's relationship with a pair of beloved canine companions is a tribute to their irrepressible personalities, their life-changing impact on the author and his family, and their role in how the author came to understand loss and grief
A year without a name : a memoir by Cyrus Grace Dunham
For as long as they can remember, Cyrus Grace Dunham felt like a visitor in their own body. Their life was a series of imitations--lovable little girl, daughter, sister, young gay woman--until their profound sense of alienation became intolerable. Moving between Grace and Cyrus, Dunham brings us inside the chrysalis of gender transition, asking us to bear witness to an uncertain and exhilarating process that troubles our most basic assumptions about who we are and how we are constituted. Written with disarming emotional intensity in a voice uniquely theirs, A Year Without a Name is a potent, thrillingly unresolved queer coming of age story
Butter honey pig bread : a novel by Francesca Ekwuyasi
Spanning three continents, Butter Honey Pig Bread tells the interconnected stories of three Nigerian women: Kambirinachi and her twin daughters, Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes that she is an Ogbanje, or an Abiku, a non-human spirit that plagues a family with misfortune by being born and then dying in childhood to cause a human mother misery. She has made the unnatural choice of staying alive to love her human family but lives in fear of the consequences of her decision. Kambirinachi and her two daughters become estranged from one another because of a trauma that Kehinde experiences in childhood, which leads her to move away and cut off all contact. She ultimately finds her path as an artist and seeks to raise a family of her own, despite her fear that she won't be a good mother. Meanwhile, Taiye is plagued by guilt for what her sister suffered and also runs away, attempting to fill the void of that lost relationship with casual flings with women. She eventually discovers a way out of her stifling loneliness through a passion for food and cooking. But now, after more than a decade of living apart, Taiye and Kehinde have returned home to Lagos. It is here that the three women must face each other and address the wounds of the past if they are to reconcile and move forward. For readers of African diasporic authors such as Teju Cole and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Butter Honey Pig Bread is a story of choices and their consequences, of motherhood, of the malleable line between the spirit and the mind, of finding new homes and mending old ones, of voracious appetites, of queer love, of friendship, faith, and above all, family
The death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
"A tender, potent, and compulsively readable novel of a Nigerian-Indian family and the deeply held secret that tests their traditions and bonds"--
Pizza girl : a novel by Jean Kyoung Frazier
"Eighteen years old, pregnant, and working as a pizza delivery girl in suburban Los Angeles, our charmingly dysfunctional heroine is deeply lost and in complete denial about it all. She's grieving the death of her father (who she has more in common with than she'd like to admit), avoiding her supportive mom and loving boyfriend, and flagrantly ignoring her future. Her world is further upended when she becomes obsessed with Jenny, a stay-at-home mother new to the neighborhood, who comes to depend on weeklydeliveries of pickled covered pizzas for her son's happiness. As one woman looks toward motherhood and the other towards middle age, the relationship between the two begins to blur in strange, complicated, and ultimately heartbreaking ways. Bold, tender,propulsive, and unexpected in countless ways, Jean Kyoung Frazier's Pizza Girl is a moving and funny portrait of a flawed, unforgettable young woman as she tries to find her place in the world"--
Upright women wanted by Sarah Gailey
"Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her-a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing"--
Difficult women by Roxane Gay
"Award-winning author and powerhouse talent Roxane Gay burst onto the scene with An Untamed State and the New York Times bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist (Harper Perennial). Gay returns with Difficult Women, a collection of stories of rare forceand beauty, of hardscrabble lives, passionate loves, and quirky and vexed human connection. The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty, are in marriages both loving and haunted by past crimes or emotional blackmail. A pair of sisters, grown now, have been inseparable ever since they were abducted together as children, and must negotiate the elder sister's marriage. A woman married to a twin pretends not to realize when her husband and his brother impersonate each other. A stripperputting herself through college fends off the advances of an overzealous customer. A black engineer moves to Upper Michigan for a job and faces the malign curiosity of her colleagues and the difficulty of leaving her past behind. From a girls' fight clubto a wealthy subdivision in Florida where neighbors conform, compete, and spy on each other, Gay delivers a wry, beautiful, haunting vision of modern America reminiscent of Merritt Tierce, Jamie Quatro, and Miranda July"--
Howl : and other poems by Allen Ginsberg
Tranny : confessions of punk rock's most infamous anarchist sellout by Laura Jane Grace
In 2012, Grace, the founder, guitarist, singer, and songwriter of the Gainesville punk band Against Me!, came out as transgender, a secret she'd kept for some 30 years in the spotlight. In this riveting and at times harrowing biography, Grace recounts in unflinching detail her path to self-realization. In many ways, Grace's story follows the arc of many rock bios—plenty of drugs, sex, broken marriages, lots of time spent in dingy vans on exhausting tours that left the band penniless and at each others' throats, and, eventually, a major label record contract that left the band disillusioned and in tatters. That story would be enough for a compelling book , but Grace's gender dysphoria adds a remarkable twist to the tale. Bolstering the narrative with years' worth of journal entries, Grace intimately shares her difficult journey—a story not for the faint of heart—as the she deals with her own personal transition, along with the scorn of a reactionary punk scene that resents the band's success and a music industry that wants only to cash in. She survives, and today Against Me! has entered a new chapter. This brutally honest, soul-searching memoir reads like precisely that—one chapter, in a life story that has many more to come.
The care and feeding of ravenously hungry girls by Anissa Gray
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2013, small-town Michigan restaurateur Althea receives a multi-year sentence for food stamp fraud and charity embezzlement. While awaiting transport to prison, Althea makes friends with other inmates and refuses visits from her teenage twins, sullen and explosive Kim and shy Baby Vi. Althea's youngest sister, Lillian, has lavishly refurbished their childhood home, where she cares for the twins and her ex-husband's grandmother. The middle sister, Viola, returns from Chicago to help; she has been inadequately coping with a separation from her wife and backsliding into bulimia. Lillian bristles at their brother's suggestion he take the girls in, fearing he would physically and emotionally abuse them as he did her. After Kim runs away, Viola and Lillian keep the news from Althea while scrambling to find Kim. Gray uses alternate chapters narrated by the three sisters to fill in details of their upbringing by an itinerant preacher father who was prone to abusive outbursts the rare times he was at home, and their current struggles to heal and cope.
What belongs to you by Garth Greenwell
Lyrical and intense, it tells the story of a man caught between longing and resentment, unable to separate desire from danger, and faced with the impossibility of understanding those he most longs to know
Less : a novel by Andrew Sean Greer
Receiving an invitation to his ex-boyfriend's wedding, Arthur, a failed novelist on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, embarks on an international journey that finds him falling in love, risking his life, reinventing himself, and making connections with the past.
Hide : a novel by Matthew Griffin
Gay life in the South doesn't always take place in a colonial row house in Savannah or a beachfront condo in Myrtle Beach. In Griffin's debut novel, it's lived out in the shadows in a run-down North Carolina mill town, where Wendell Wilson, a taxidermist, has lived a long and eventful life with Frank Clifton, a World War II veteran who melted Wendell's heart the minute they met. Or melted the world, anyway, for with Frank's smile, "the branches shuddered off their casts of ice, and the power lines broke free of their insulation, snapped taut and scattered it over the street in pieces that still cupped the hollow channel where the wire had run." That's some powerful allure. The title of Griffin's novel is both noun and verb, for while Wendell works magic with the bodies of unfortunate animals, the men keep their relationship secret, lest they be hounded out of town. But now Frank is 83, has had a mild stroke, and has affairs to get in order. As Frank grapples with a faltering mind and body and difficult memories of war, Wendell finds himself in the unwished-for role of caretaker.
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
In an unnamed Middle Eastern country, a young translator deals with the fallout after his grandmother catches him with another man. Set against the backdrop of a country on the brink of civil war, Haddad's debut novel follows a young gay man, Rasa, over a tense 24 hours. First his grandmother catches him in bed with his lover, then his best friend is arrested at a gay cinema. As Rasa grapples with these conflicts, he also remembers his past--from his sexual awakening to his four years in America for college to experiences at his one refuge, the neighborhood bar/underground gay club that gives the novel its title.
A world between : a novel by Emily Hashimoto
In 2004, college students Eleanor Suzuki and Leena Shah meet in an elevator. Both girls are on the brink of adulthood, each full of possibility and big ideas, and they fall into a whirlwind romance. Years later, Eleanor and Leena collide on the streets of San Francisco. Although grown and changed and each separately partnered, the two find themselves, once again, irresistibly pulled back together. Emily Hashimoto's debut novel perfectly captures the wonder and confusion of growing up and growing closer. Narrated in sparkling prose, A World Between follows two strikingly different but interconnected women as they navigate family, female friendship, and their own fraught history
Crosshairs : a novel by Catherine Hernandez
"In this captivating dystopian novel, a larger-than-life drag queen and her allies join forces to rise up when a post-Trump regime rounds those deemed "Other" into concentration camps"--
Carol by Patricia Highsmith
Trapped in a boring, dead-end day job in a department store, stage designer Therese Belivet finds her life forever changed when she encounters--and falls in love with--Carol Aird, an alluring suburban housewife in the midst of a divorce.
Southernmost by Silas House
"When an evangelical preacher in Tennessee offers shelter to two gay men after a catastrophic flood, he's met with resistance by his wife and congregation, and eventually loses custody of his son. He decides to kidnap his son and flee to Key West, where he suspects his estranged gay brother is living"--
Boys of Alabama : a novel by Genevieve (Genevieve Katherine) Hudson
"In this haunting debut novel from Lambda Award finalist Genevieve Hudson, a young German transplant falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. A queer coming-of-age told with magical realism, Boys of Alabama guides us through 16-year-old Max's first year in America. Conflicted about leaving Germany, Max is in awe of his new "home" - here, the heat is thick, the food is grossly delicious, and football and religion-seemingly intertwined-permeate everything. While his parents don't know what to make of an Ameircan South pining for the "good ol' days," or the people who live there, shy Max thrives-he makes the football team, goes to church for the first time, and even makes friends. When Max meets Pan in Chemistry class, they embark on a quixotic, strange, and consuming relationship. They tell each other their secrets; Max tells Pan about his witchy powers, Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of a local church. But the boys aren't sure whose secrets are darker, or what ismore frightening - their true selves, or staying true in an intolerant Alabama. Written in atmospheric, propulsive prose, Boys of Alabama is an evocative and urgent novel of young love, identity, faith, and the dangers of each"--
A single man by Christopher Isherwood
When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many by its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. George, the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life; the course of A Single Man spans twenty-four hours in an ordinary day. An Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness. Wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad, this novel catches the texture of life itself
Black leopard, red wolf by Marlon James
"In the first novel in Marlon James's Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child"--
Being Jazz : my life as a (transgender teen) by Jazz Jennings
Before she was in preschool, Jazz knew she wasn't a boy, and she didn't understand why no one else did. Her parents took her to meet with a well-versed therapist, who told them Jazz is transgender, and they started on a journey with no map. Obstinate school faculty and officials soon made it clear that there was no protocol for someone like Jazz, and the family's necessary activism began in earnest, by way of an article in the local paper. That article got the attention of producers of a national TV show, who pursued Jazz's family until they agreed to take a leap of faith and do an interview. Jazz's mother became involved in public speaking at conferences, and she and Jazz began their outreach and advocacy work, even starting their own organization and agreeing to do a reality show. As Jennings relates, through it all, she manages to keep it apart from her typical teenage life, replete with summer-camp experiences, cute-but-jerky boys, best friends, and ex-best friends and marked with a passion for art and mermaids. Her outlook is bright, even as she struggles with depression—hereditary and unrelated to being trans. Jazz is fearlessly up front with people about being trans, and her gender meter is pinned on GIRL, but she also touches on gender variations and carefully stresses that not all trans people are like her.
All boys aren't blue : a memoir-manifesto by George M Johnson
In a series of personal essays, a prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, It covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy
The prophets : a novel by Robert Jones
"A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence"--
How we fight for our lives : a memoir by Saeed Jones
"Written from the crossroads of sex, race, and power in America, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir and a haunting reflection of the nation as a whole"--
The house in the cerulean sea by TJ Klune
"A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they're likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren't the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place-and realizing that family is yours"--
A star is bored by Byron Lane
"A hilariously heartfelt novel about living life at full force, and discovering family when you least expect it, influenced in part by the author's time as Carrie Fisher's beloved assistant. Charlie Besson is about to have an insane job interview. His caris idling, like his life, outside the Hollywood mansion of Kathi Kannon. THE Kathi Kannon, star of stage and screen and People magazine's worst dressed list. She needs an assistant. He needs a hero. Kathi is an icon, bestselling author, and an award winning actress, most known for her role as Priestess Talara in the iconic blockbuster sci-fi film. She's also known for another role: crazy Hollywood royalty. Admittedly so. Famously so. Fabulously so. Charlie gets the job, and embarks on an odyssey filled with late night shopping sprees, last minute trips to see the aurora borealis, and an initiation to that most sacred of Hollywood tribes: the personal assistant. But Kathi becomes much more than a boss, and as their friendship grows, Charlie must make a choice. Will he always be on the sidelines of life, assisting the great forces that be, or can he step into his own leading role? Laugh-out-loud funny, and searingly poignant, Byron Lane's A Star is Bored is a novel that, like the star at its center, is enchanting and joyous, heartbreaking and hopeful"--
Under the rainbow by Celia Laskey
"In the small town of Big Burr, Kansas, ministers warn that "Satan was the first to demand equal rights," a lesbian-owned bed and breakfast mysteriously burns to the ground, and casually bigoted social media posts are the norm. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr "the most homophobic town in America" and sends in a task force in a Real World-style experiment - as residents for two years, they'll attempt to broaden hearts and minds - no one is truly prepared for the other. Avery desperately wants to fit in with her new high school classmates, but with her "lesbian crusader" mom running the task force, she's terrified that it's only a matter of time until she's outed. Across town, Linda tries to escape her grief over her son's death by befriending the arrivals, who know mercifully little about her past. But to Christine, profoundly attached to the carefully orchestrated rhythms of Big Burr life, they are not only a threat but a call to action. As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and forcing closely guarded secrets into the light, local and interloper alike are forced to consider what it really means to belong. Told with warmth and wit, in a chorus of unexpected voices, Under the Rainbow is a poignant articulation of our complicated humanity that reminds us we are more alike than we'd like to admit"--
Paul takes the form of a mortal girl : a novel by Andrea Lawlor
Its 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying. He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a flâneur with a rich dating life. But Pauls also got a secret: hes a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Womens Studies major to trade, Paul transforms his body at will in a series of adventures that take him from Iowa City to Boystown to Provincetown and finally to San Franciscoa journey through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure. Andrea Lawlors debut novel offers a speculative history of early 90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections
Her body and other parties : stories by Carmen Maria Machado
Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. She bends genres to shape startling stories that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies." -- From the publisher
In the dream house : a memoir by Carmen Maria Machado
"In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's account of a relationship gone bad and bold dissection of hte mechanisms and cultural representations of pyschological abuse. Machado traces the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, and struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. Each chapter in this inventive memoir is driven by its own narrative trope--the haunted house, erotica, the bildungsroman--through which Machado holds her story up to the light and examines it from different angles. She considers her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian, and widesn the view with essayistic explorations of the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships." --book jacket
The great believers by Rebecca Makkai
"A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris, by the acclaimed and award-winning author Rebecca Makkai In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery inChicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dyingand after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into acult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories takeus through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster"--
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident―or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion―all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret―one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life―or rescue it from annihilation
All my mother's lovers : a novel by Ilana Masad
"For fans of Mostly Dead Things and Goodbye Vitamin, a warm and witty debut novel about love, loss, and a transformative roadtrip"--
Logical family : a memoir by Armistead Maupin
The best-selling author of the Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, a personal journey that shaped his evolution from a curious youth to a ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer
The days of Anna Madrigal : a novel by Armistead Maupin
Follows ninety-two-year-old Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane, as she joins her former tenant Brian on a road trip to Nevada where she attends to unfinished business she has long avoided
Redefining realness : my path to womanhood, identity, love & so much more by Janet Mock
"In a landmark book, an extraordinary young woman recounts her coming-of-age as a transgender teen--a deeply personal and empowering portrait of self-revelation, adversity, and heroism. In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she publicly stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Since then, Mock has gone from covering the red carpet for People.com to advocating for all those who live within the shadows of society. Redefining Realness offers a bold new perspective on being young, multiracial, economically challenged, and transgender in America. Welcomed into the world as her parents' firstborn son, Mock set out early on to be her own person--no simple feat for a young person like herself. She struggled as the smart, determined child in a deeply loving, yet ill-equipped family that lacked money, education, and resources. Mock had to navigate her way through her teen years without parental guidance but luckily with a few close friends and mentors she overcame extremely daunting hurdles. This powerful memoir follows Mock's quest for identity, from her early gender conviction to a turbulent adolescence in Honolulu that found her transitioning through the halls of her school, self-medicating with hormones at fifteen, and flying across the world for sex reassignment surgery at just eighteen. Ever resilient, Mock emerged with a scholarship to college and moved to New York City, where she earned her masters degree, basked in the success of an enviable career, and told no one about her past. It wasn't until Mock fell for a man who called her the woman of his dreams that she felt ready to finally tell her story, becoming a fierce advocate for girls like herself. A profound statement of affirmation from a courageous woman, Redefining Realness shows as never before what it means to be a woman today and how to be yourself when you don't fit the mold created for you"--
Surpassing certainty : what my twenties taught me by Janet Mock
Janet Mock has become a vital and indispensable voice in the trans community. Here she expands on her story, exploring her posttransition years and her first marriage. Not long after undergoing gender-reassignment surgery, Mock began performing at a strip club in Waikiki, HI, to earn extra money. It was there that she met Troy, a yeoman stationed on the island of Oahu. They fell in love and developed the trust necessary for Mock to disclose her trans status. His acceptance gave her confidence and, after they married, he supported her as she pursued her education, first at the University of Hawaii and then at New York University, where she earned a master's degree in journalism. The couple grew apart as Mock's career took off, but she credits him with providing encouragement along with her first real experience of love. She also discusses her life as a young woman in New York, as well as her efforts to create a space for herself in a field where women of color are all too scarce.
Out of the shadows : reimagining gay men's lives by Walt Odets
A clinical psychologist, writer and gay activist reflects on what it means to be gay today through moving stories of friends and patients in the aftermath of the AIDS epidemic and shifting social values.
Under the udala trees by Chinelo Okparanta
A young Nigerian girl, displaced during their civil war, begins a powerful love affair with another refugee girl from a different ethnic community until the pair are discovered and must learn the cost of living a lie amidst taboos and prejudices.
Something that may shock and discredit you by Daniel Mallory Ortberg
"Daniel Mallory Ortberg is known for blending genres, forms, and sources to develop fascinating new hybrids--from lyric rants to horror recipes to pornographic scripture. In his most personal work to date, he turns his attention to the essay, offering vigorour and loug-out-loud funny account of both oppular and highbrow culture while mixing in meditations on gender transition, relationship dynamics, and the many meanings of faith." --book jacket
Love after love : a novel by Ingrid Persaud
"After Betty Ramdin's abusive husband dies, she invites a colleague, Mr. Chetan, to move in with her and her son, Solo, as their lodger. Over time, these three form an unconventional family, loving each other deeply and depending upon one another. Then, on a fateful night, Solo overhears Betty confiding in Mr. Chetan and learns a secret that plunges him into torment. Ultimately sends him running to live a lonely life in New York City, devastating Betty in the process. Yet, both Solo and Betty are buoyed by the continuing love and friendship of Mr. Chetan, until his own burdensome secret is uncovered with heart breaking consequences. In vibrant, addictive Trinidadian prose, Love After Love questions who and how we love, the obligations of family, and theconsequences of choices made in desperation"--
Detransition, baby : a novel by Torrey Peters
A trans woman, her detransitioned ex, and his cisgender lover build an unconventional family together in the wake of heartbreak and an unplanned pregnancy
On swift horses : a novel by Shannon Pufahl
"In the burgeoning postwar West, two outsiders are torn between the constraints of convention and the demands of their private selves. Muriel is newly transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty rental in San Diego, where her husband has his eye on a suburban homestead in nearby Mission Valley. Resless within her new amarriage, Muriel misses her late mother, a freethinking divocee, and her prodigal brother-in-law, Julius, a charismatic card sharp who made the world feel expansive in ways she only dimly understands. Waiting tables at a horsemen's lounge, Muriel gets a second-hand eduncation in racing and risk--until one day she sneaks off to the track and wins enough to embolden larger dreams. Hundreds of miles away, Julius is testing his fate in Las Vegas, spotting scams at casino where tourists watch atomic tests from the room. The job offers stability, and an unexpected romance with Henry, a young card cheat. But when bad luck befalls Henry, Julius heads south to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions for another." --book jacket
Lake life by David James Poissant
"The Starling family is scattered across the country. Parents Richard and Lisa live in Ithaca, New York, and work at Cornell University. Their son Michael, a shoe salesman, resides with his elementary school teacher wife, Diane, in Dallas. His brother, Thad, an aspiring poet, makes his home in New York City with his famous painter boyfriend, Jake. But for years they've reunited for vacation each summer at their North Carolina lake house. Now that's about to end, as Richard and Lisa have decided to retire,move to Florida, and sell the lake house. Before they do, the group will spend one final weekend at the lake. However, what's supposed to be a joyous farewell takes a nightmarish turn when they witness a neighbor boy drown. The stress of this tragedy unlooses a series dramatic revelations among the Starlings: Michael's alcoholism, Thad's and Jake's open relationship, Richard's infidelity, Diane's pregnancy, Lisa's loss of a daughter before the birth of her two sons. As the weekend unfolds, the family's strength is tested, and each member is forced to reckon with who they are and what they want out of life. Set in contemporary America, Lake Life is a sprawling domestic novel in the mold of John Updike's Rabbit series, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Elizabeth Stroud's Olive Kitteridge"--
The seep by Chana Porter
"Trina Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle-but nonetheless world-changing-invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible. Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep's utopian influence-until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated. Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on"--
Honey girl by Morgan Rogers
"With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, Grace Porter goes on a girls' trip to Vegas to celebrate. She's a straight A, hardworking high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn't know . . . until she does exactly that. This one beautiful, spontaneous moment upends Grace's carefully laid life plans. Staggering under the weight of her parents' expectations, a struggling job market and feeling of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows. In New York, she's able to ignore all the constant questions about her future and falls hard for her creative and gorgeous wife, Yuki Yamamoto. But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face that she's been running from all along-the fears that make us human and the need for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood."--back cover
If I was your girl by Meredith Russo
A new kind of big-hearted audiobook about being seen for who you really are. Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she's determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can't help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda's terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it. Because the secret that Amanda's been keeping' It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love' If I Was Your Girl is a universal story about feeling different and a love story that everyone will root for
The lost Arabs by Omar Sakr
Visceral and energetic, Omar Sakr's poetry confronts notions of identity and belonging head-on. Braiding together sexuality and divinity, conflict and redemption, The Lost Arabs is a seething, urgent collection from a distinct new voice.
Dress your family in corduroy and denim by David Sedaris
In a collection of essays, the Rooster gets married at an uproarious wedding, an estrangement occurs over a rubber vs. plastic debate, and the author gets the upper hand during a slumber party game of strip poker.
The subtweet : a novel by Vivek Shraya
Everyone talks about falling in love, but falling in friendship can be just as captivating. When Neela Devaki's song is covered by internet-famous artist Rukmini, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But as Rukmini's star rises and Neela's stagnates, jealousy and self-doubt creep in. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, one career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the center of an internet firestorm. Celebrated multidisciplinary artist Vivek Shraya's second novel is a stirring examination of making art in the modern era, a love letter to brown women, an authentic glimpse into the music industry, and a nuanced exploration of the promise and peril of being seen. A story of female friendship, with a fast-paced plot and a nuanced examination of art, brown culture, social media, call-out culture, the music industry, and sexism. Following two women from the throes of first friend infatuation to a tweet that splits them apart and destroys one career, THE SUBTWEET is a book only artist Vivek Shraya could write.
The prettiest star by Carter Sickels
"Small-town Appalachia doesn't have a lot going for it, but it's where Brian is from, where his family is, and where he's chosen to return to die. At eighteen, Brian, like so many other promising young gay men, arrived in New York City without much more than a love for the freedom and release from his past that it promised. But within six short years, AIDS would claim his lover, his friends, and his future. With nothing left in New York but memories of death, Brian decides to write his mother a letter asking to come back to the place, and family, he was once so desperate to escape. Set in 1986, a year after Rock Hudson's death shifted the public consciousness of the epidemic and brought the news of AIDS into living rooms and kitchens across America, The Prettiest Star is part Dog Years by Mark Doty and part Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. But it is also an urgent story now: it a novel about the politics and fragility of the body; it is a novel about sex and shame. And it is a novel that speaks to the question of what home and family means when we try to forge a life for ourselves in a world that can be harsh and unpredictable. It is written at the far reaches of love and understanding, and zeroes in on the moments where those two forces reach for each other, and sometimes touch"--
Marriage of a thousand lies by SJ Sindu
"Lakshmi, called Lucky, is an unemployed millennial programmer. She likes to dance, to have a drink or two, and she makes art on commission. Fifty bucks gets you high-resolution digital images of anything you want (orcs, mermaids, cos-playing couples in sexy boudoir scenes) and a nice frameable print. Lucky's husband, Krishna, is an editor for a greeting card company. Both are secretly gay. They present their conservative Sri Lankan-American families with a heterosexual front, while each dates on the side. When Lucky's grandmother has a nasty fall, Lucky returns to her mother's home to act as caretaker and unexpectedly reconnects with her childhood best friend and first lover, Nisha. Nisha has agreed to an arranged marriage with a man she doesn't know, but finds herself attracted to her old friend. The attraction is mutual and Lucky tries to save Nisha from entering a marriage based on a lie. But does Nisha really want to be saved? And what does Lucky want, anyway? It doesn't always get better. To live openly means that Lucky would lose most of the community she was born into--a community she loves, an irreplaceable home. As Lucky, an outsider no matter what choices she makes, is pushed to the breaking point, Marriage of a Thousand Lies offers a moving exploration of friendship, family, and love, shot through with humor and loss"--
The deep by Rivers Solomon
Yetu holds the memories of her people, the wajinru, water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slavers now living idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one. Save the historian. Yetu remembers for all the wajinru, and the memories—painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous—are destroying her. So she flees to the surface, escaping the memories and the expectations and the responsibilities, and she discovers a world the wajinru left behind long ago. Yetu will learn more than she ever expected about her own past and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identities, and own who they really are
Exile music by Jennifer Steil
"An atmospheric and meditative novel based on an unexplored slice of World War II history, following a young Jewish girl whose family flees refined and urbane Vienna for safe harbor in the mountains of Bolivia As a young girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, Orly has an idyllic childhood filled with music. Her father plays the viola in the Philharmonic, her mother is a well-regarded opera singer, her beloved and charismatic older brother holds the neighborhood in his thrall, and most of her eccentric and wonderful extended family live within the city limits. Only vaguely aware of Hitler's rise or how definitive her Jewish heritage will become to her family's identity, Orly spends her days immersed in play with her best friend and upstairs neighbor, Analiese. Together they dream up vivid and elaborate worlds, where all of the things they love about their own lives can exist forever. But in 1938, Orly's peaceful life is shattered. Her older brother flees Vienna first, and soon Orly, her father, and her mother procure refugee visas for La Paz, a city high up in the Bolivian Andes. La Paz couldn't be more different from Vienna--the altitude alone sabotages her mother's efforts to bake the pastries they loved back home. Even as the number of Jewish refugeesin the small town grows, her family is haunted by the music that can no longer be their livelihood, by the missing brother who was once the heart of their family, and Orly yearns for the solace of her friendship with Analiese. Yet they find a daily rhythmin this strange, new land. Years pass, the war ends, and suddenly the threat they fled looms again. Just as Bolivia took in Jewish refugees, the country now accepts a small number of Nazi refugees. Orly reckons with a darkness that not even victory at war can extinguish, and she must decide: Is the security and joy of her day to day life in La Paz what defines home, or is the pull of her past in Europe too strong to ignore? In lyrical and atmospheric prose, Exile Music illuminates one girl's coming of age in a family separated and defined by war, whose hope takes root on an unfamiliar shore"--
Becoming Eve : my journey from ultra-Orthodox rabbi to transgender woman by Abby Stein
"Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, profoundly isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of an eighteenth-century Eastern European enclave, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life.Stein was born as the first son in a rabbinical dynastic family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Stein felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. Without access to TV or the internet, and never taught English,she suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood into mainstream femininity--a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, and her way of life"--
Unbound : transgender men and the remaking of identity by Arlene Stein
Drawn from interviews with transgender people, medical and psychological experts, as well as activists, an award-winning sociologist reveals how a younger generation of trans men are changing our perceptions about gender.
Transgender history : the roots of today's revolution by Susan Stryker
"A timely second edition of the classic text on transgender history, with a new introduction and updated material throughout Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approachto the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-'70s to 1990-the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the '90s and '00s. Transgender History includes informative sidebars highlighting quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history and brief biographies of key players, plus excerpts from transgender memoirs and discussion of treatments of transgenderism in popular culture"--
Fairest : a memoir by Meredith Talusan
"A heartrending immigrant memoir and a uniquely intersectional coming-of-age story of a life lived in duality and the in-between, and how one navigates through race, gender, and the search for love"--
Real life by Brandon (Brandon L Taylor
"A novel of rare emotional power that excavates the social intricacies of a late-summer weekend -- and a lifetime of buried pain. Almost everything about Wallace, an introverted African-American transplant from Alabama, is at odds with the lakeside Midwestern university town where he is working toward a biochem degree. 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 aseries of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with a young straight man, conspire to fracture his defenses, while revealing hidden currents of resentment and desire that threaten the equilibrium of their community"--
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
Catherine House : a novel by Elisabeth (Novelist) Thomas
Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world's best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance comes with a price. Students are required to give the House three years--summers included--completely removed from the outside world. Family, friends, television, music, even their clothing must be left behind. In return, the school promises a future of sublime power and prestige, and that its graduates can become anything or anyone they desire
The master : a novel by Colm Tóibín
Nineteenth-century writer Henry James is heartbroken when his first play performs poorly in contrast to Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and struggles with subsequent doubts about his sexual identity
Space between : explorations of love, sex, and fluidity by Nico Tortorella
Actor and LGTBQIA+ advocate Nico Tortorella's narrative investigation of love, sex, gender, addiction, family, fame, and fluidity through the lens of their nonbinary identity Nico Tortorella is a seeker. Raised on a steady regimen of Ram Dass and raw food, they have always been interested in the more spiritual aspects of life. That is, until the desire for fame and fortune eclipsed their journey toward enlightenment and sent Nico on a downward spiral of addiction and self-destructive behavior. It wasn't until they dug deep and began to examine the fluidity of both their sexuality and gender identity that they became more comfortable in their own skin, got sober from alcohol, entered into an unconventional marriage with the love of their life, and fully embraced a queer lifestyle that afforded them the opportunity to explore life outside the gender binary. It was precisely in that space between that Nico encountered the diverse community of open-minded, supportive peers they'd always dreamed of having. By expanding on themes explored on their popular podcast, The Love Bomb, Nico shares the intimate details of their romantic partnerships, the dysfunction of their loud but loving Italian family, and the mining of their feminine and masculine identities into one multidimensional, sexually fluid, nonbinary individual. Nico is a leading voice of the fluidity movement by encouraging open dialogue and universal acceptance. Space Between is at once an education for readers, a manifesto for the labeled and label-free generation, and a personal memoir of love, identity, and acceptance
Short stuff : a young adult LGBTQ+ anthology
Four LGBTQ young adult romances, exploring friendship, family, and courage.
On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel by Ocean Vuong
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born--a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam--and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity
Lot : stories by Bryan Washington
Coming of age in his family's Houston restaurant, a mixed-heritage teen navigates bullying, his newly discovered sexual orientation, and the ripple effects of a disadvantaged community
The paying guests by Sarah Waters
It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers
Something to talk about by Meryl Wilsner
"A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance. Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time-threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie. As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a "source" is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is "no comment." With the launch of Jo's film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all...but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?"--
Why be happy when you could be normal? by Jeanette Winterson
This memoir is a tough-minded search for belonging, for love, an identity, a home, and a mother by the author of "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit"--winner of the Whitbread First Novel award and the inspiration behind the award-winning BBC television adaptation "Oranges."
The fixed stars : a memoir by Molly Wizenberg
"At age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney she hardly knew. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irrevocably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we'd like to believe. Like many of us, Wizenberg had long understood sexual orientation as a stable part of ourselves: we're 'born this way.' Suddenly she realized that her story was more complicated. Who was she, she wondered, if something at her very core could change so radically? The Fixed Stars is a taut, electrifying memoir exploring timely and timeless questions about desire, identity, and the limits and possibilities of family. In honest and searing prose, Wizenberg forges a new path: through the murk of separation and divorce, coming out to family and friends, learning to co-parent a young child, and realizing a new vision of love. The result is a frank and moving story about letting go of rigid definitions and ideals that no longer fit, and learning instead who we really are." --book jacket
Another Brooklyn : a novel by Jacqueline Woodson
Torn between the fantasies of her youth and the realities of a life marked by violence and abandonment, August reunites with a beloved old friend who challenges her to reconcile past inconsistencies and come to terms with the difficulties that forced her to grow up too quickly
How much of these hills is gold by C Pam Zhang
"Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future."--From publisher's description


A good friend and I were reminiscing about our time in active service to the nation. He is a retired Navy Captain, and I am retired Marine Colonel. After an exhausting journey through our days of daring-do, and the near misses of complete and utter disaster, we fondly began to recall some of our greatest commanding officers and, more importantly, what made them so formidable.
It was not the bravado as one might expect. It was not charisma and the "follow-me; charge that hill" attitude. It was the ability to work on the edges. The ability to guide you without making one feel unworthy. It was their ability to raise the provocative question, the question, which expands your ability to think and examine issues in a different light. It was their ability to care for you and grow your leadership skills without coddling you.
How did they do this? In short, they were direct with their communication style. Although they worked on the edges, they were direct, dead center in their ability to communicate. Interestingly we both noted that two of the greatest leaders we had in our professional lives were women. They were no different from their male counterparts. They worked on the edges giving their subordinates the opportunity to develop. They questioned provocatively and directly. They were masters at communicating.
I have noted that many women can, in a group seemingly speak all at once and somehow fully understand the conversation. Interestingly, I have also noted how many young women in leadership positions will work on the edges with their subordinates as good leaders will do. However, I have noted many of the same very promising female leaders communicate on the edges. I have witnessed this in the boardrooms and production floors.
I have witnessed talented female leaders in a boardroom environment, politely allow themselves to be cut-off while speaking and wait for their next turn to speak. I had witnessed promising young female junior executives refrain from asking the provocative question of subordinates when a serious error has occurred expecting that the subordinate learned from the experience. The reality is the next turn rarely happens, and many who have made serious mistakes do not learn from them.
This lack of direct, to the point, no nonsense talk is communicating on the edges. It is polite to a fault. It is being overly concerned that someone may have their feelings damaged beyond repair. It is the circular conversation where one hopes the message is received.
My advice to you young women aspiring to become exceptional leaders—master the art of communicating! Most subordinates, particularly men, respect a leader who communicates in a clear, understandable, direct and to the point fashion. In the military, there is a saying "if you cannot communicate, you cannot control. If you cannot control, you cannot command!" As a businessman, I can tell you with certainty the saying is just as relevant in business as it is in the military.
There is a lot of effort required to become an exceptional leader. Learning to work on the edges with subordinates and communicating in a manner that leaves no room for what you expect matters dramatically.
The difference between a well-run successful business and one that struggles to stay in business is the quality of its leadership. Exceptional leaders work the edges but communicate directly.


It's that time of year… to review whether you have reached your goals!
As a business owner, you may feel ready to leave last year behind and move forward—especially if you've experienced failure: Disappointing sales, high staff turnover, unpaid invoices, frustrating delays, or negative outcomes.
But we shouldn't avoid talking about failure. It may be easier to talk about happy things, but there are just as many (if not more) reasons to review the unpleasant ones.
In this post, I'll explain the benefits of using a Year In Review, and how to start.
I recently had a great e-mail exchange with my long-time mentor, who is the CEO of an engineering company in the US Midwest.
He asked me how things are going.


Jenny Huth just completed her first season as the University of Northern Colorado women's basketball coach.
She helped guide the Bears to the postseason National Invitational Tournament.
Huth, whose roots are in Southeast Denver, spent the last offseason preparing for the birth of her daughter, Ellie, before accepting the UNC job, fresh off being a top assistant at UCLA.
Huth played collegiately at the University of Colorado.
Question — I know it's the offseason, but are you able to really enjoy an offseason.
Answer — I'm always busy, busy, busy. We're working on skill development, recruiting and our camps.
Q — That can be a handful, but you should be used to it because you have two young kids — Tanner and Ellie.
A — Yeah, both of my kids are a handful. Spending time with them is a huge priority.
Q — Are you a big-family type of person? More kids?
A — I love huge families, but with this job, I think two kids is plenty.
Q — Were you able to watch any of the women's NCAA games?
A — Yeah. I was there. It's where our convention is, also. I love watching basketball games. I'm bummed the tournament is over. But I did watch The Master's Tournament on Sunday. That was fun.
Q — Just how much basketball do you watch?
A — Oh, I love the NBA playoffs. I love how hard they play and the coaching strategies. I pick up on some plays sometimes. I don't pick up anything from the defensive end because their defense is atrocious.
Q — You mentioned to me months ago that you felt like Baylor would win the NCAA tournament. Were you at all surprised that they won it?
A — No. They're so hard to beat with their inside game. It's hard to match that physicality and then they have the guard play to match it.
Q — Is Baylor's way of doing things a template for other programs?
A — Well, it just depends. You know (University of Connecticut) was so versatile for a long time without much of an inside game. Versatility was king. Baylor and Mississippi State had great inside presence, and you need that if you're going to go toe-to-with them or teams like them.
Q — Let's take basketball out of the equation. What do you do with any of your other spare time?
A — Well, I'll go to my son Tanner's soccer games and I love playing with the kids in the yard. I want to play a little more golf. I understand golf and my parents were avid golfers. I need (UNC men's coach) Roger (Prenzlow) to give me some lessons.
Q — It's been noted that you like to read a lot. How's your spring-summer reading coming along?
A — Well, I'm usually reading two books at once. I start, then stop, then start again.
Q — What pages are you turning right now?
A — Dare to Lead. It's a book about vulnerability to leadership. It's good for this generation. I'm also reading Legacy. It's another really good book.
Q — What is this interview keeping you from right now?
A — Getting home to be with the kids.


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Litigation Lawyer
Christine Lynn Landis
Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC
Attorney Christine L. Landis (previously Gertsch) is a member of the State Bars of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
Since joining the firm in 2014, Christine has been involved in all areas of the firm's legal practice, focusing on criminal defense.
Christine regularly appears in Connecticut's criminal courts, litigating many of the Firm's major and minor felony and misdemeanor cases on behalf of its clients, and co-chairing the Firm's Domestic Violence, DCF, and Sex Assault Crimes Practice Groups.
In addition to her practice, Christine currently serves as a co-chair of the Fairfield County Bar Association's Criminal Law Committee.
She is a past co-chair of the Connecticut Bar Association Young Lawyer's Section Criminal Justice Committee. Christine has also served as a mock trial coach at Quinnipiac University School of Law.
Christine received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from Quinnipiac University in 2010, Christine earned her Juris Doctor – magna cum laude – with an honors concentration in Criminal Law and Advocacy and an honors concentration in Civil Advocacy and Dispute Resolution from Quinnipiac University School of Law.
While at Quinnipiac Law, Christine served as the Vice President of the Student Bar Association, Executive Vice President for the Mock Trial Honor Society and was a competition team member of the Society for Dispute Resolution. She was also part of the Northeast Regional championship team at the 2013 National Trial Competition.
What types of cases Attorney Christine Lynn Landis & Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC can handle?
Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC can handle cases related to laws concerning Litigation, Domestic Violence, Criminal Defense. We manually verify each attorney's practice areas before approving their profiles and reviews on our website.
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Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC is located at 29 5th St, Stamford, CT 06905, USA. You can reach out to Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC using their phone line (203) 202-3609. You can also check their website markshermanlaw.com/.
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Stamford 06905 CT US
Christopher Michael Day
Jeffrey S Romanick

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


CHRIS CUOMO (Off-camera) And we have some big exclusive new video this morning that's raising concern about security at our federal buildings.
CHRIS CUOMO (Off-camera) After 9/11, you might think they'd be among the most secure facilities in the country. But our Pierre Thomas is about to show you that's not necessarily the case.
GRAPHICS: SECURITY ASLEEP AT SWITCH?
PIERRE THOMAS (Voiceover) In this exclusive video, watch closely as a congressional investigator walks live bomb components right by security in a federal building, compromised in 27 seconds.
SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN It's stunning. It's shocking. It just says that, basically, some people have forgotten the lessons of 9/11.
PIERRE THOMAS (Off-camera) In fact, investigators went to 10 federal buildings in undisclosed locations across the country and got the same result.
PIERRE THOMAS (Voiceover) And here's a result of what could have happened, potentially deadly explosions.
SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN This federal - protective service to me has got trouble from top to bottom.
PIERRE THOMAS (Voiceover) Investigators found this guard sleeping at his post, learned that a guard accidentally fired his weapon while practicing pulling it out in the bathroom. Discovered that one guard was so distracted, he actually ran a baby in a carrier through an X-ray machine.
HARRY "SKIP" BRANDON (FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM CHIEF) The central issue that I see in this, in this whole really major problem is lack of training.
PIERRE THOMAS (Voiceover) Homeland Security officials say they take the results of the investigation very seriously, and have taken short-term and long-term steps to address them. With 9,000 federal buildings to protect, they have to. For "Good Morning America," Pierre Thomas, Washington.


Cats and dogs have survived through the ages with paws and teeth that are designed for ripping, catching, and tearing of the animals upon which they prey. These, of course, are attributes of a carnivore. The digestive track of both cats and dogs are essentially identical to the species from which they have descended through the ages, allow for the rapid elimination of that which is digested, so the food moves through their systems quickly. Because they have the physiology of a meat-eater, the caregivers of cats and dogs should treat them like the carnivores that are found in nature. No matter how much we try we cannot change or improve on what comes naturally to our pets. It makes sense to duplicate what nature has designed in the interest of natural health for our companion animals. Raw food gives them what they need to thrive, which is just the opposite of the so-called "nutritious food" that comes in a can, bag, or pouch.
For free to ask any questions you may have below or some in the store and we would love to walk you through the raw foods we carry! You can also order through our online store.


MediaPredict — The End of "Literature"… Or Even Just "Good" Books?
The New Yorker recently reported on Simon & Schuster's efforts with MediaPredict to develop what would amount to the "collective judgment of readers to evaluate books proposals" by reading selections presented on a website. The reason why any bottom-line oriented publisher would attempt to discover a better way of determining what books will be commercially successful is obvious to anyone familiar with the publishing industry — something like seven out of every ten books published lose money. Needless to say, more than a few people responded with comments suggesting this "American Idol" approach would doom the publishing industry to institutionalized mediocrity.
As those of you who have read more than a few of my books know, I believe that, with a few well-cited exceptions, extremely popular works of art in any field tend not to be excellent, and many of the few that are both popular and excellent tend to be those from earlier historical periods that have been propagandized by well-established cultural and social institutions. This is the way it is and has always been… and it may well continue. In the publishing industry charges and countercharges have flown back and forth for years, on subjects such as editorial elitism, genre segregation, reviewer bias, critical prejudice against commercially successful authors… and on and on.
For all that, the publishing industry has managed a remarkable diversity in publication, and in the F&SF field, small and niche publishers have broadened that diversity, as have more recent internet publishers.
What bothers me more about the MediaPredict approach is that it substitutes the judgment of one small group — those who enjoy reading off electronic displays and have time to read online — for that of another smaller group — editors and agents. Since my work has been far more popular with readers than with editors and agents — with the notable exception of one long-time editor — I certainly have always questioned the collective judgment of editors and agents. Any competent editor or agent can certainly tell what kind of novels are selling. On the other hand, it takes a truly outstanding editor to determine what kind of book that isn't currently being published will sell, and there are very few editors who can make an accurate judgment like that on a consistent basis.
But will the MediaPredict approach make any better judgment on the commercial potential of a book? I doubt it… and here's why.
Both online readers and editors are largely self-selected groups, if self-selected for different reasons, and this reflects the larger problem I see with the MediaPredict approach. The self-selection criteria for being an online reader effectively eliminate large groups of individuals from the selection process. Even some twenty years into the wide-scale personal computing/cellphone/PDA age, the majority of novel readers doesn't read and doesn't want to read books off a screen… any kind of screen. It takes a certain mindset to enjoy doing this, and I suspect that mindset is different from non-screen-readers. MediaPredict might do quite well at determining what kind of books appeal to that audience, but that audience is currently a minority of readers– especially outside the F&SF and possibly the thriller fields.
Editors, for all their short-comings, and they do have many, are held responsible over time for the success of their selections, and editors who tend to have too many commercial failures generally have short careers. There's not even that check over the MediaPredict approach, nor has anyone asked one other critical question: Do the "screen-readers" predict accurately not only who likes the books being previewed, but whether they represent actual buyers? In short, will those on-screen preferences translate accurately into bottom-line profits? Because, in the end, that's how the industry measures success.