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FALL ARTS 2016: ‘Looking’ for a good book?

Raising trans kids, Milwaukee’s gay history, queer Alaskan poets and more

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book, gay news, Washington Blade

The ‘Looking’ coffeetable book features scenes from the memorable HBO series. (Photo courtesy First Third Books)

Before it was possible to Google terms like “gender creative,” Julie Tarney had to trust her instincts when her 2-year-old son Harry told her in 1992, “Inside my head I’m a girl.” “My Son Wears Heels: One Mom’s Journey from Clueless to Kickass” (out this week for $24.95) is Tarney’s story of unwavering support for her son by listening carefully, keeping an open mind, and putting Harry’s happiness before society’s edicts.

Originally chronicled in a serialized national column in the Guardian newspaper in the U.K., “Trans: A Memoir by Juliet Jacques” (out Nov. 15, $19.95) provides an insider’s insight into gender politics and how popular media is either ignoring or distorting the transgender movement. Jacques also provides a completely honest account of her sex reassignment surgery at the age of 30 and the journey to redefine her life for her family, her friends and herself.

“Before Pictures” by Douglas Crimp (out Sept. 22, $39) ticks all the boxes for anyone who has followed the long career of art critic Crimp, who famously coined the term “The Pictures Generation” in reference to the postmodern work of artists like Sherrie Levine and Cindy Sherman during the 1970s and ‘80s. The memoir follows his experiences as a young gay man in New York City in the 1960s, partying alongside the Warhol crowd, and eventually becoming an activist as AIDS began to devastate both the gay and arts communities.

Running parallel to Crimp’s memoir, “Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983” by Tim Lawrence (out Sept. 30, $27.95) examines the intersection of New York City’s party and arts scenes in the early ‘80s, a world of intense creativity, risk and cultural crossover. Lawrence’s history outlines the convergence of disco, punk, hip hop, salsa and jazz with performance and visual art, video, film and fashion, all leading to the development of 21st century dance music.

Having “Looking” withdrawal now that the series and movie are over? Savor memories of the uber-gay HBO series with a coffeetable book of photos from the show. It’s out in October in two versions — one for $59 and another for $88 that features a DVD with interviews, behind-the-scenes footage from the movie and a signed cast photo. Jump fast if you’re interested — only 500 copies of each version are being issued. Details at firstthirdbooks.com.

While New York or San Francisco might seem like the epicenters of America’s gay rights movement, “LGBT Milwaukee (Images of Modern America)” by Michail Takach ($22.99) seeks to correct that notion, highlighting the history of gay and lesbian culture that was evolving in the Rust Belt city of Milwaukee from the early 1960s. As part of the Wisconsin LGBT History Project, the book’s 150 photographs with detailed captions focus on secret back room hangouts to mega-discos to drag queen culture.

Becoming Who I Am: Young Men on Being Gay” (out Sept. 19; $27.95) is the result of extensive interviews with about 40 young gay men whose average age is 20. Author Ritch C. Savin-Williams explores their first inklings of same-sex attraction, first sexual experiences and their thoughts on love and long-term relationships.

Young Adult, or YA, fiction is the fastest-growing segment of the publishing market, continuing to offer sophisticated stories and viewpoints that are just as interesting for the over-18 reader. “You Know Me Well” by David Levithan and Nina LaCour  ($18.99) is a coming-of-age story set in San Francisco during Pride Week, as two high school classmates, Mark and Kate, who have never spoken, suddenly run into each other one night in the city while avoiding the people they want to be with. Mark is struggling with his unrequited feelings for his best friend Ryan, while Kate is fearful of finally meeting the girl she’s loved from afar.

Tippi Hedren, one of the most famous Hitchcock blondes, releases her memoir “Tippi: a Memoir” ($28.99) on Nov. 1.

“Girl Mans Up” by M-E Girard (released this month, $17.99) is another YA title that will resonate as Pen tries to navigate a world where the cultural expectations from people around her, from her parents to her friends, make it difficult for her to simply be who she is — a girl who isn’t interested in looking feminine, has strong feelings for other girls, and, at the heart of it all, is still a girl at the end of the day who doesn’t want to pretend to be something she’s not.

“It Looks Like This” (out this month, $16.99) by debut author Rafi Mittlefehldt is a tale of first love and loss, following Mike as he and his family move to a new city and he starts at a new high school, constantly urged by his father to give up art for sports as he befriends new kid Sean. Ultimately hopeful, the story doesn’t shy away from the fear that compels parents to send their kids to “straight camp” or the bittersweet need for acceptance from the people we love.

Flynn’s girlfriend is missing, but that’s the least of his problems in “Last Seen Leaving” by Caleb Roehrig (Oct. 4; $17.99). This suspenseful mystery forces Flynn to confront his own demons while being scrutinized by cops and friends, with wit, grit and realism.

“Murder Ink” (Oct. 1; $14.99) is the first offering in the Dakota Jones, P.I. Mystery series, as Jones, the owner of Runaway Investigations, tries to spend a quiet holiday with her girlfriend Kris, a homicide officer, until Kris gets caught up in the investigation of the sordid murder of the proprietor of Fantasy Escorts, who Jones once worked for, back in the old days.

Alaska may, indeed, seem like another country, a place where people go to reinvent themselves in a fresh landscape, as evident in “Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry” (out this week, $29.95). The anthology gathers stories and poems from across the wide spectrum of Alaska’s LGBT community, shining a light on the everyday lives of gay and lesbian individuals and families within a historically diverse culture.

“The Sea Is Quiet Tonight: a Memoir” by Michael H. Ward (Nov. 1, $19.99) is, by turns, a painful reminder and inspiration tale of both the love and loss experienced by so many during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Ward details his partner Mark’s diagnosis and death with honesty, delving into the closeness that can develop between partners, family and friends, even as death is imminent.

Using a collection of characters from pop culture, activism, and academia, “Queer: A Graphic History” by Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele (Nov. 15, $17.95) uses the graphic novel to guide readers through the history of identity politics, queer theory and gender roles. Fresh interpretations and clever illustrations help bring new life to academic constructs and an understanding of the intersection of biology, psychology, and modern culture.

‘My Son Wears Heels’ by Julie Tarney tells of her experiences raising a gender non-conforming son. (Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin Press)

‘My Son Wears Heels’ by Julie Tarney tells of her experiences raising a gender non-conforming son. (Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin Press)

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Books

Examining importance of queer places in history of arts and culture

‘Nothing Ever Just Disappears’ shines with grace and lyrical prose

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(Book cover image courtesy of Pegasus Books)

‘Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Queer Histories’ 
By Diarmuid Hester
c.2024, Pegasus Books
$29.95/358 pages

Go to your spot.

Where that is comes to mind immediately: a palatial home with soaring windows, or a humble cabin in a glen, a ramshackle treehouse, a window seat, a coffeehouse table, or just a bed with a special blanket. It’s the place where your mind unspools and creativity surges, where you relax, process, and think. It’s the spot where, as in the new book “Nothing Ever Just Disappears” by Diarmuid Hester, you belong.

Clinging “to a spit of land on the south-east coast of England” is Prospect Cottage, where artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman lived until he died of AIDS in 1994. It’s a simple four-room place, but it was important to him. Not long ago, Hester visited Prospect Cottage to “examine the importance of queer places in the history of arts and culture.”

So many “queer spaces” are disappearing. Still, we can talk about those that aren’t.

In his classic book, “Maurice,” writer E.M. Forster imagined the lives of two men who loved one another but could never be together, and their romantic meeting near a second-floor window. The novel, when finished, “proved too radical even for Forster himself.” He didn’t “allow” its publication until after he was dead.

“Patriarchal power,” says Hester, largely controlled who was able to occupy certain spots in London at the turn of the last century. Still, “queer suffragettes” there managed to leave their mark: women like Vera Holme, chauffeur to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst; writer Virginia Woolf; newspaperwoman Edith Craig, and others who “made enormous contributions to the cause.”

Josephine Baker grew up in poverty, learning to dance to keep warm, but she had Paris, the city that “made her into a star.” Artist and “transgender icon” Claude Cahun loved Jersey, the place where she worked to “show just how much gender is masquerade.” Writer James Baldwin felt most at home in a small town in France. B-filmmaker Jack Smith embraced New York – and vice versa. And on a personal journey, Hester mourns his friend, artist Kevin Killian, who lived and died in his beloved San Francisco.

Juxtaposing place and person, “Nothing Ever Just Disappears” features an interesting way of presenting the idea that both are intertwined deeper than it may seem at first glance. The point is made with grace and lyrical prose, in a storyteller’s manner that offers back story and history as author Diarmuid Hester bemoans the loss of “queer spaces.” This is really a lovely, meaningful book – though readers may argue the points made as they pass through the places included here. Landscapes change with history all the time; don’t modern “queer spaces” count?

That’s a fair question to ask, one that could bring these “hidden” histories full-circle: We often preserve important monuments from history. In memorializing the actions of the queer artists who’ve worked for the future, the places that inspired them are worth enshrining, too.

Reading this book may be the most relaxing, soothing thing you’ll do this month. Try “Nothing Ever Just Disappears” because it really hits the spot.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Books

Upcoming books offer something for every reader

From a history of the gay right to a look at queer women’s spaces

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(Book cover images courtesy of the publishers)

Daylight Savings Time has arrived, giving you more sunlight in the evening and more time to read. So why not look for these great books this spring?

If your taste runs to historical novels, you’re in luck. When Yorick spots his name on the list of the missing after the Titanic sinks, he believes this to be an omen: nobody’s looking for him, so maybe this is his opportunity to move to Paris and open that bookstore he’s been dreaming about. In The Titanic Survivors Book Clubby Timothy Schaffert (Doubleday, $29.00) his decision leads to more than a bucolic little business. Out April 2.

If you’re looking for something a little on the lighter side, discover Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball by Jason June (HarperTeen, $19.99). Young adult books are perfect light reading for adults, and this one is full of high-school drama, romance, comedy, and more drama. What fun! Out May 23.

Can’t get enough of graphic novels? Then look for Escape from St. Hell: A Graphic Novel by Lewis Hancox (Graphix, $14.99). It’s the continuing story of Lew, who just wants to live his life as a guy, which he started doing in the last novel (“Welcome to St. Hell”) but you know what they say about one door closing, one door opening. In this new installment, Lew grapples with the changes he’s made and how his friends and family see things, too. This book is fresh and honest and great for someone who’s just transitioned. Out May 7.

For the mystery lover, you can’t go wrong with Clean Kill: A Nicky Sullivan Mystery by Anne Laughlin (Bold Strokes, $18.95). As the manager of a sober living home in Chicago, Nicky Sullivan has her hands full with 10 other residents of the home. But when one of them is murdered, Sullivan reaches back into her past as an investigator to find the killer by calling on her old partner. Fortunately, he’s still working. Also fortunately, he’s got a new partner and she catches Sullivan’s eye. Can love and murder mix? Out May 14.

Can’t get enough of politics? Then you’ll be happy to find Coming out Republican: A History of the Gay Right by Neil J. Young (University of Chicago Press, $30). In the fractious political atmosphere we have now, it’s essential to understand how gay conservatives have influenced politics through the decades. Find this book before November. It may be one of the most eye-opening books you’ll read. Out April 3.

The reader who loves her “space” will want to take A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture by June Thomas (Seal Press, $30) there to read. It’s a book about historically safe places for queer women to be themselves – and some are surprisingly very public. Interviews with iconic feminists and lesbians round out a great look at the locales that queer women have claimed for their own. Out May 28.

And now the housekeeping: Release dates can change and titles can be altered at the last minute, so check with your favorite bookseller or librarian. They’ll also have more recommendations if you need them because there’s a lot of time for reading now.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Books

Gay author takes us on his journey to fatherhood in ‘Safe’

One man’s truth about the frustrations and rewards of fostering

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(Book cover image courtesy of Atria Books)

‘Safe: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family’
By Mark Daley
c.2024, Atria Books
$28.99/304 pages

The closet is full of miniature hangers.

The mattress bumpers match the drapes and the rug beneath the tiny bed. There’s a rocker for late-night fusses, a tall giraffe in the corner, and wind-up elephants march in a circle over the crib. Now you just need someone to occupy that space and in the new book, “Safe” by Mark Daley, there’s more than one way to accomplish that dream.

Jason was a natural-born father.

Mark Daley knew that when they were dating, when he watched Jason with his nephew, with infants, and the look on Jason’s face when he had one in his arms. As a gay man, Daley never thought much having a family but he knew Jason did – and so, shortly after their wedding, they began exploring surrogacy and foster-to-adopt programs.

Daley knew how important it was to get the latter right: his mother had a less-than-optimal childhood, and she protected her own children fiercely for it. When Daley came out to her, and to his father, he was instantly supported and that’s what he wanted to give: support and loving comfort to a child in a hard situation.

Or children, as it happened. Just weeks after competing foster parenting classes and after telling the social worker they’d take siblings if there was a need, the prospective dads were offered two small brothers to foster.

It was love at first sight but euphoria was somewhat tempered by courts, laws, and rules. Their social worker warned several times that reunification of the boys with their parents was “Plan A,” but Daley couldn’t imagine it. The parents seemed unreliable; they rarely kept appointments, and they didn’t seem to want to learn better parenting skills. The mother all but ignored the baby, and the child noticed.

So did Daley, but the courts held all the power, and predicting an outcome was impossible.

“All we had was the present,” he said. “If I didn’t stay in it, I was going to lose everything I had.” So was there a Happily-Ever-After?

Ah, you won’t find an answer to that question here. You’ll need to read “Safe” and wear your heart outside your chest for an hour or so, to find out. Bring tissues.

Bring a sense of humor, too, because author and founder of One Iowa Mark Daley takes readers along on his journey to being someone’s daddy, and he does it with the sweetest open-minded open-heartedness. He’s also Mama Bear here, too, which is just what you want to see, although there can sometimes be a lot of tiresome drama and over-fretting in that.

And yet, this isn’t just a sweet, but angst-riddled, tale of family. If you’re looking to foster, here’s one man’s truth about the frustrations, the stratospheric-highs, and the deep lows. Will your foster experiences be similar? Maybe, but reading this book about it is its own reward.

“Safe” soars and it dives. It plays with your emotions and it wallows in anxiety. If you’re a parent, though, you’ll hang on to every word.

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