The gap between real support and performative allyship—the lurking fear that beneath the flag waving veneer of equality hides something untrustworthy, the thought that when push comes to shove straight people may not really have our backs—is the starting point for Matthew Clark Davison’s debut novel, Doubting Thomas. Thomas is an openly gay fourth grade... Continue Reading →
Comic book geek Wesley Hudson is in love with his best friend, but between dealing with his successful YA writing mother, the potential closure of his favourite bookshop (that's also his employer) and dealing with his brother's upcoming wedding, he's got more than enough on his plate to worry about. Julian Winter's new book, The... Continue Reading →
Full disclosure: I’ve known Kergan Edwards-Stout for the better part of thirty years. I was there for many of the events depicted in his book and am even mentioned in it. Despite this, I am going to be as objective as I can with this review. Truth be told, I would have read this book... Continue Reading →
Ghosts, coffee, arson and love - it’s a funny mix in Crema, a new supernatural graphic novel from writer Johnnie Christmas and PRISM Award nominated illustrator Dante Luiz. Esme is a Brooklyn barista with the uncanny ability to see ghosts when she’s caffeinated to the hilt. When her café is about to be sold to... Continue Reading →
New York writer Peter Kispert’s debut collection of short stories, I Know You Know Who I Am, is an interesting, frustrating and frankly disheartening look at gay life. Though unconnected, these stories and snippets paint a world of insecurity, dishonesty and dystopia covered in a gloss of language. Deception is the core theme running through... Continue Reading →
The one advantage of COVID-19 mandated lockdown is the time to start working my way through the ever-expanding “LGBTQ+ reading pile”, which brought me to a book I’ve been meaning to start for almost a year now - Iolanda Zanfardino’s beautiful Midnight Radio. Midnight Radio drops in on the lives of four people around the... Continue Reading →
Michael Cashman’s One of Them is not only a rich, often hilarious, occasionally heartbreaking and surprisingly candid memoir, but also a fascinating and important document of social history and the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. It’s gripping from the very first page where Cashman describes the day of his civil partnership (legal recognition for same-sex couples... Continue Reading →
Dean Atta’s The Black Flamingo is being presented as a 'Young Adult' book, but don’t let that make you think it’s childish, this is a gorgeous and moving first person exploration of sexuality, poetry, blackness and love that most ‘adult’ books struggle to achieve. The Black Flamingo is the story of Michael, a mixed-race child... Continue Reading →
