The Year in Gay Books: Mouse Soars, J.K. scores and more!

Best Gay Debut Fiction

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Call Me By Your Name would be a fascinating first novel by any writer. What makes this doubly interesting is that the author, André Aciman, is heterosexual. It is the star-crossed love story of Elio, a teenage boy who lives with his parents on the Italian Riviera, and Oliver, an older graduate student of Elio’s scholarly father. This tender and erotic love story has an appeal that transcends the boundaries of sexual orientation.

Best Gay Romance

Longhorns by Victor Jay Banis (Carroll & Graf)

Oldsters may remember Victor Jay Banis as the author of classic 1960s and 1970s pulp novels, published under his own name and many pseudonyms. Longhorns, Banis’ first novel in years, is a gay romance set in the old west and takes place between Les, the purportedly straight boss of the Double H ranch, and Buck, a handsome young drifter with a penchant for being “rode hard.”

Best Young Adult Fiction

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman (Harrington Park Positronic Press) is Berman’s first novel, and manages to deal with the problems of being a gay teen without being overly preachy. It also does so within the confines of a thrilling boy-meets-ghost love story. Vintage is about a gay boy kicked out by his parents, who then moves in with his more understanding Aunt Jan, befriends a Goth girl named Trace, and encounters what could be the ghost of a youth who was hit by a car 50 years before.

As the boy falls in love with the spook, he tries to contact him with an Ouija Board, thus opening a gateway into the unknown. As if Vintage’s exciting plot and interesting characters are not enough, Berman — who has dedicated this book to the memory of a young friend who took his own life — pledged 20% of his royalties to charities that help prevent gay youth suicide.

Honorable Mention

Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Brent Hartinger (Harper Teen), a “flip-book” sequel to Hartinger’s (an AfterElton.com contributor) award-winning Geography Club.

Best Gay Mystery

Drag Queen in the Court of Death by Caro Soles (Harrington Park Southern Tier)

This mystery is another good gay book written by a woman. When Professor Michael Dunn-Barten cleans out the apartment of his ex-lover Ronnie, a famous drag queen, he finds a mummified corpse along with Ronnie’s dresses and other drag regalia. Seeking to uncover the truth behind the literal skeleton in Ronnie’s closet, Michael is forced to look back at his own checkered life.