Looking for something to read for spring break, or if the weather remains too chilly or rainy to play outside? Check out these new works from LGBT authors and allies.
Poetry in motion
• Multi-award winning lesbian poet Maureen Seaton’s eighth solo poetry collection “Fibonacci Batman: New and Selected Poems” (Carnegie Mellon, 2013) draws on six of her full-length books (including Iowa Prize and Lambda Literary Award-winning “Furious Cooking”). Comprised of more than 60 poems, the book gives readers a firsthand look at the ongoing evolution of Seaton’s work.
Last minute ideas perfect for your gay bibliophile
“Alexander McQueen: The Life and Legacy”
Judith Watt (Harper Design, 2012)
An incredible telling of visionary designer Alexander McQueen’s personal and professional life, from his modest childhood to top runway shows.
“Are You My Mother?”
By Alison Bechdel (Harcourt, 2012)
Lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel explores her complicated relationship with her mother in this intellectual, introspective graphic novel.
Whether you prefer fiction, non-fiction, celebrities or even cookbooks, there are plenty of options to fill your fall LGBT reading list. Some are newly out this season, while others debuted earlier this year.
Novel thoughts
• Picking up where “Captain Harding’s Six-Day War” left off, the period gay romance “Captain Harding and His Men” (Lethe Press, 2012) by Atlanta author Elliott Mackle follows more of Harding’s “adventures and misadventures” in a military setting.
• Arriving on bookshelves around the same time that the similarly-themed NBC sitcom “The New Normal” makes its debut, Michael Lowenthal’s “The Paternity Test” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012) explores gay fatherhood and surrogate motherhood.
Too hot to do anything but sit inside? These new offerings from LGBT writers will give you plenty to read whether in the midst of a heat wave, or if you’re lucky enough to be on the beach or by the pool.
Rocking and reeling
• Hal Leonards’s Music on Film series presents books about two movies close to queer readers’ hearts: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (Limelight Editions, 2012) by Dave Thomson examines what is, to this day, still one of the gayest movie music musicals of all time, cult or non-cult; and “Purple Rain” (Limelight Editions, 2012) by John Kenneth Muir looks at Prince’s groundbreaking 1984 movie debut.
Sarah Terez Rosenblum's lives with a werewolf. But that's not what this article is about. This article is about her debut novel, "Herself When She's Missing" and her reading from that novel on Thursday, July 5, at Charis Books & More beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Some background on Rosenblum: her age is "younger than Jesus was when he died." She was born in Milwaukee, Wisc., and now lives in Chicago. She's cool with being referred to as lesbian or queer.
The bio from her website states: "A writer with an MFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sarah Terez Rosenblum freelances for publications and sites including The Chicago Sun Times and Pop Matters. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as “kill author” and “Underground Voices,” and she was a 2011 recipient of Carve Magazine's Esoteric Fiction Award. Her debut novel, "Herself When She's Missing" was published in June 2012 by Soft Skull Press. When not writing, Sarah supports herself as a figure model, Spinning Instructor and creative writing teacher at Chicago’s StoryStudio. Inevitably one day she will find herself lecturing naked on a spinning bike. She’s kind of looking forward to it, actually."