A Plug from the List

Going through the proposed list for future discussions, I've read And the Band Played On, Confessons of a Mask, The First Verse, The Object of My Affections, A Single Man, and The Wild Boys. Of these, the one I'm most keen on re-reading and discussing is Barry McCrea's The First Verse. We read an excerpt from it, generally liked, in Fresh Men. That excerpt was a little misleading in that most of the explicitly gay stuff was cobbled together into a "story". But the novel's through-line of obsession and pursuit is so profoundly homosexual—or even human!—that it makes John Rechy's novels look like childrens' counting rhymes. I'm not generally interested in re-reading the others (or in the case of the McCauley even discussing), even though I love A Single Man and would look forward to a discussion of The Wild Boys (an intriguing amalgam of pornography, fable, and textual mindwarp).

We haven't considered hardcovers before, mostly to prevent price from being a barrier to anyone's attending. That rule might be relaxed for an especially timely book or one that might never appear in paperback. Neither The Indian Clerk, however, nor The Story of a Marriage qualifies for such exception. Lambda Rising does offer a 20% discount but that is only available to people who are already attending our meetings (and have picked up a card—and remembered to take it with them to the store).

Finally, since it was I who suggested Blackbird and Wolf, I feel I should confess, having looked at both, that I think The Man with Night Sweats is the better choice, both on the merits and as a follow-on to our reading of Boss Cupid. (I think either more appropriate than the Mary Oliver.)

Hidden History on The New Gay Net

Our very "own" Philip is now a weekly columnist on The New Gay ("for everyone over the rainbow"), writing about DC's "Hidden History." Quick, read his first column about Pornograpers & Poets today—the second comes out tomorrow! A few more clicks will lead you to discover the general value of this website, which accurately bills itself as "An Online Resource for Alternative Queer Events and Ideas in Washington DC."