Salon just posted a fascinating essay by Daniel D'Addario titled "Where's the Buzzed-About Gay Novel?" that paints a pretty bleak picture of prospects for a breakthrough in the genre. D'Addario cites various factors to explain this, but it basically comes down to the classic dichotomy: Critically acclaimed novels tend not to be popular, and vice versa—a phenomenon he postulates particularly afflicts non-mainstream literary genres.
Among the examples D'Addario cites is a 2011 novel I'd nominated for our last reading list: The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. Alas, only a couple of you voted for it, and I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't go ahead and read it for my own pleasure. But I've just ordered it, and if it lives up to expectations, I may well renominate it. (You have been warned! :-)
Cheers, Steve
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