For Queer Mice

by BROWWWSER

Some Light Summer Reading

here’s nothing better to do in the summer than to relax on the beach with the waves gently breaking on the shore, scantily clad people walking about, and sitting back under an umbrella with a chilled six-pack and a good book. Of course there’s not a beach anywhere near here, but if you’ve got a pool and a pretty good buzz going you can almost imagine it. Anyway, the point is summer is a great time to just sit back and read. It’s too damn hot to do anything requiring physical effort, so give your mind some stimuli and see what gay and lesbian literature is out there waiting for you.

There is an amazing variety of books for the queer reader, including mysteries, drama, humor, science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, and even westerns, all with queer characters written by queer authors. A great place to start is at www.alyson.com, the home of Alyson Books and Alyson Wonderland. They publish a huge spectrum of titles, from their online back list catalog to their recent and featured titles. Some of my favorite Alyson titles are the Henry Rios mystery series by Michael Nava, the Dakota series by Cap Iversen (gay westerns!), and "The New Gay Book of Lists" by Leigh Rutledge. Alyson Wonderland features children’s books for children with gay parents, like "Lucy Goes to the Country." Alyson also publishes many short-story collections from science fiction to erotica. You can buy most of their books from www.amazon.com or have your local LGBT bookstore order it for you in time for your next trip.

Every time I walk into a gay bookstore, I’m spellbound at the number of books written by gay men and lesbians. Until recently you’d never find such titles in any big chain bookstores, and you’d never see them in a library. How would you know what authors to look for, and how could you even get started writing queer books? For a peek at future queer authors, look no further than Blithe House Quarterly, a site for gay short fiction. The Summer 1998 issue is out at www.blithe.com, featuring eight short stories from some of the brightest up-and-comers in queer literature. Also peruse their previous editions and check out the submission guidelines if you’ve ever thought of being a writer. Okay, so taking an unwieldy mass of printouts to the beach isn’t that feasible, but you’ll miss some great fiction if you don’t!

Some would-be authors decide they can’t wait to be published, and with a little HTML coding suddenly their stories are available to anyone with an Internet connection. Plus with web pages you can add images, do special formatting, and more. For example, take the story by Peter Trevino called "The Gay Ghost" at members.aol.com/PedroGay/gayghost.htm. Charlie rents an apartment in 1985 Chicago, only to find he’s not the only tenant. His "roommate" decides that Charlie needs help to find someone to love, and he’s just the Gay Ghost to do it. Sometimes authors use the web to promote their books, posting good reviews and a chapter or two as a teaser to get you to buy their books. The infobahn erotic adventure "Nearly Roadkill" by Caitlin Sullivan and Kate Bornstein is a great example at www.nearlyroadkill.com. Scratch and Winc are chat-happy lovers whose ever-changing gender-bending profiles cause much unrest among the government bureaucracy controlling the Internet. The book even uses simulated computer screen format to make you feel like you’re in the chat room with them. The Nearly Roadkill site is a great way to draw you into the story even before you buy the book.

Zines and e-zines are another great way to discover queer literature. Besides stories, many have rants and raves, reviews, viewpoints, interviews, poetry, artwork, and some have silly games too. While e-zines really need their own column to do them justice, for example Gerbil at www.multicom.org/gerbil/gerbil.html is touted as the alternative to mainstream queer media. In issue #8 read "Confessions of a Xenaphile," "Driving Ms. Quentin," "Pansy Division," and more thought-provoking articles. The online magazine GayPlace offers news, editorials, calls for action, cartoons, lots of columns concerning stuff from gays in the military to HIV, fiction, chat, a queer business listing, and much, much more. This e-mag at www.gayplace.com has something interesting for everyone. The Internet can also give a voice to those that you normally won’t hear, like the women at FaT GiRL, the self-proclaimed zine "for fat dykes and the women who want them." At www.fatso.com/fatgirl/ you can browse the resources, interviews, stories, rants & raves, poetry, the fat watch, and more. These zines help show the diversity, talent, and pride of the gay community, plus they’re a good read as well.

I still remember two of the first queer books I ever read: "Conduct Unbecoming" by Randy Shilts and "The Front Runner" by Patricia Nell Warren. After reading them, I was angry, sad, shocked, and determined to DO something. And with each queer book I read I feel more proud to be gay. The web is the home of many glimpses into the hidden world of queer literature. Discover what’s out there, and save the physical effort for spring and fall and give your mind a workout this summer.

"For Queer Mice" appears in SLAM Magazine, the alternative bar rag for St. Louis. For more links, please visit my GAYDAR site (always under construction!). Know some good queer web sites? Please e-mail them to me! Thanks, and happy browwwsing!
Proud to be a member of Geocities West Hollywood.

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