LGBTQ+ coming out or coming-of-age stories hardly seem groundbreaking these days, but sometimes, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. Such is the case with author/screenwriter/film critic Gary Goldstein’s third novel, Please Come To Boston, which on the surface may seem fairly paint-by-numbers, but excels because of the engaging characters, their... Continue Reading →
A decade after the publication of The Days of Anna Madrigal, Armistead Maupin returns to his beloved Tales of the City with a delectably satisfying new addition—the tenth book in the series—Mona of the Manor. Transporting us to Gloucestershire, England in 1993, we're reunited with Mona in her late forties, ten years after she became... Continue Reading →
Broken Valley, Owen Lach’s follow-up to his sci-fi debut Founder’s Mercy, sees his band of young runaways crossing the country to find freedom and answers while staying one step ahead of the forces hunting them. Roadtrip! I was a big fan of Lach’s first book in the Neskan Chronicles. It blended action, sci-fi world-building, character,... Continue Reading →
Broadway and television star Andy Mientus evokes the spirits of 1991 for his queer supernatural novel, Fraternity, set in... a fraternity. This is dark academia with 90s nostalgia, filled with the demons that young men face. We meet Zachariah “Zooey” Orson as he transfers to the elite Blackfriars School for Boys after leaving his old... Continue Reading →
Arthur Less is back. The titular star of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Less, is being put through the emotional ringer once more by his author Andrew Sean Greer and the results are the same. But the same isn’t a bad thing when you’re talking about a bestselling, universally praised, gay comedy drama with a slew... Continue Reading →
GLAAD Award-nominated graphic novel, Liebestrasse, which has made the jump from digital comic to print, is more timely than ever. The tale of an American in inter-war Berlin finding freedom and romance as the threat of Nazism creeps closer, is at once familiar and prescient in its depiction of an accepting and open world sliding... Continue Reading →
Robert Roth has taken his queer action sci-fi set up and layered multiversal political intrigue into the mix. Rise of the Renegade Child deepens and expands the world of The Gates Saga, without sacrificing its frenetic pace. Picking up right after the events of the previous book, Into the Lightning Gate, Cam Maddock is reeling... Continue Reading →
Matt Cain’s The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is a heartbreakingly sweet story about how times of crisis can trigger moments of rewarding growth. Melancholic and romantic, it charts one man’s realisation that it is never too late to live life to its fullest. Albert Entwistle is a postman in an English country village. A... Continue Reading →
Jonathan Bazzi’s lauded memoir, Fever, is an intense, visceral vision of the fear of the unknown. What starts as a mystery illness—a fever that refuses to break—throws the reader into a delirious world of medical discovery and internalized emotional trauma. This is no romantic view of life in Italy; it is messy, rough and rewarding.... Continue Reading →
TJ Klune wraps up his YA superhero trilogy, The Extraordinaries, with Heat Wave which sees teenager Nick launching into his superhero career, as well as launching into his fully-fledged relationship with Seth. Quick note: being the last part of a trilogy, there’s no way to avoid spoilers for the previous books in this review. Nick... Continue Reading →
