"Beach Reading" and Other Gay Goodies

Raphael Kadushin edited Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing, back in 2004. Four years later, Kadushin, who is senior acquisitions editor for the University of Wisconsin Press, has returned to that ever-popular genre with Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing (University of Wisconsin Press;$24.95).

Editor Raphael Kadushin

Unlike its predecessor, Big Trips combines travel fiction with non-fiction accounts of travelers around the world. But the line-up of authors is equally distinguished, and includes the likes of Bruce Benderson, Mack Friedman, Trebor Healey, Andrew Holleran, Dale Peck and Edmund White.

The stories and essays in Big Trips remind us once again that gay men are the world’s great travelers and sexual adventurers. Proceeds of this book will go to the Wisconsin University Press’s Living Out Series and small literary titles.

Out on the Edge: America’s Rebel Comics (Alyson Books; $15.95) pays tribute to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transgressive straight artists that give comedy its contemporary edge. Mike Player is the creator of The Gay Mafia improv/sketch comedy group, itself a valuable player in today’s queer comedy scene. The essays and interviews in Out on the Edge showcase some of our greatest comedians. A vivid introduction by Margaret Cho, no slouch in the comedy department, puts this book in its proper perspective.

Mike Player