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The Year in Gay Books: Mouse Soars, J.K. scores and more!
Gay books are a bust So says Katherine Volin, who wrote an article about it for the Washington Blade. According to Volin, “Gay books, particularly memoirs or sensationalistic works . . . get a lot of play in the gay and mainstream media, but don’t always perform well.” Pointing at the low sales of celebrity memoirs by Mary Cheney, Jim McGreevey, and other celebrities, Volin argues that, “In a culture of celebrity, the winds are fickle, especially when the Internet provides up-to-the-second bits of information, as opposed to an entire book, which may or may not be entertaining or worth the time.” As far as celebrity memoirs are concerned, 2007 proves to be more of the same, with “tell-all” titles by ex-boy band member Lance Bass (Out of Sync), Styx rocker Chuck Panozzo (The Grand Illusion), movie veteran Farley Granger (Include Me Out) and Ted Haggard hustler Mike Jones (I Had to Say Something). The Advocate’s readers prefer entertainers over writers For its 40th Anniversary Issue (Sept. 25, 2007), The Advocate asked its readers to go online and pick 40 LGBT heroes. The results proved that entertainers are more popular than authors. While 14 queer celebs made the top 40, only 7 writers — Larry Kramer, Rita Mae Brown, Armistead Maupin, Tony Kushner, Malcolm Boyd, Randy Shilts, Audre Lorde — were chosen by Advocate readers.
Submitted by on Wed, 2007-12-12 22:44. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media
Gay Fiction as a genre
is criminally overlooked by not just the broader public but by members of the GLBT community. It is very depressing to read about the trials and tribulations of publishers who take the business risk of making sure GLBT fiction gets to the public.
Some of the most emotionally moving books I have read in the last 10 years I have read this year, and they have all been about gay men. Here is my list of 10 favourites featuring gay characters I read this year.
-"The House At The End Of The World" by Michael Cunningham
- "Send Me" by Patrick Ryan
- "At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie O'Neill
- "Leave Myself Behind" by Bart Yates
- "The Geography Club" by Brent Hartinger
- "Rainbow Boys" by Alex Sanchez
- "Bleeding Hearts" by Josh Aterovis
- "Dream Boy" by Jim Grimsley
- "The Coming Storm" by Paul Russell
- "Dancer from The Dance" by Andrew Holleran
I just received "Seventy Times Seven" and "Vintage" from Amazon, I should have them finished by Christmas. "Split Screen" by Brent Hartinger is the only book mentioned in this blog from 2007 that I have read this year. It is very good like the other two featuring Russell Middlebrook.
Cheers
JBE
What? No Freak Show?
The Child
I was surprised to see The Child on the list, only because I never heard anything about it until I stumbled across it at the library one day while I was waiting for my bus.
I've been a fan of Sarah Schulman ever since I read Stage Struck a few years ago, and I'm always excited to read any new material she may have written.
One question, though - is that really what happened to Stew? I didn't get that anything like that happened when I read it, but it's completely possible that it went over my head (wouldn't be the first time). So I was pleasantly surprised to see it included on the list.
I really want to read
Changing Tides
Another good book...
Based on the title
alone I want to read it! Thanks for the recommendation, I have never heard of this author.
Cheers
JBE
The Death of Gay Literature
I'll be brutally honest here. I don't read much gay lit because, quite frankly, it's depressing. For me reading is escapism and entertainment, and I'm not at all into agnst, which seems to be the main thrust of most gay fiction.
Maybe I'm alone, but the decline in readership in gay novels suggests I'm not. It has seemed to me that while a lot of gay people, especially younger ones, look for entertainment with a positive tone, typical gay lit has more angst than Lifetime TV, being all about family estrangements, substance abuse, loneliness and worst of all AIDS. To peruse a gay book store (the few that are left) really could leave an outsider with the impression that gay life really is very depressing. Since I read for entertainment, not to explore my inner pain, most of this stuff holds no appeal to me.
Also, I'm a big Fantasy/Sci-Fi lover and very little good gay stuff is out in those genres, and much of what's out there is, ironically, written by straight women like Lynn Flewelling or lesbians like Tanya Huff and Fionna Patton, all published by mainstream publishers. JK Rowling however do not count and never will, since Dumbledore's orientation is entirely absent from the books and thus will never really be more than a fandom hook.
That used to be the case
but not anymore, gay literature has evolved tremendously over the past 10 years. I stopped reading it in the early 90's citing the same reasons you gave, but was pleasantly surprised this year by the variety of voices that can now be heard in gay literature.
I also don't read for strictly entertainment or escapism (matter of fact I get bored quickly by books that have that as their main goal) but more to expand my horizons on life and the human condition. The best thing about gay fiction is that I can relate to many of the life experiences the characters are going through, I can't do that with straight fiction.
Cheers
JBE
Still not feeling much interest at the gay bookstore
When seeking to expand my horizons I veer towards non-fiction. I'm particularly fond of history.
Yet despite a (very slight) improvement in gay literature over the last decade in the main I am fully capable of walking into a gay bookstore and walking out again empty-handed. Still too many books are about being gay rather than about gay characters. I'm reminded of a funny line in an episode of Will & Grace where Will tries (and fails) to save a gay bookstore from closing:
Will: "Do you have any books about a gay man who hates himself?"
Owner: "That wall over there."
The mere fact that this joke was relevant says it all.
I started writing a blog as
Diogenes tha Cynic