Patrick, fabulously wealthy and with a good eye for pictures and young men, brings the impressionable Nicholas Milestone to London, intent on reducing him to utter dependence by playing on his naivety and greed. But Nicholas proves to be not quite as pliable as hoped, and a witty social comedy develops as he struggles with [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 4 stars, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, Michael Nelson, Reviews | 1 Comment »
A “who and why-done-it” mystery set in 1940s Florida, Dan Ewing is the manager of the Caloosa Hotel, which privately caters to the very special needs of its guests, and Bud Wright is a police detective whose passionate desire for Dan is in conflict with his desire to shut Dan’s business down. When one black [...]
Filed under: 1940's, Elliott Mackle, Essential Reads, Fiction, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II, five stars | Tagged: 1940’s, Elliott Mackle, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | 4 Comments »
A colorful novel of the circus world of the 1940s and 1950s, rich in detail, bursting with power and emotion. Mario Santelli, a member of the famous flying Santelli family, is a great trapeze artist. Tommy Zane is his protege. As naturally and gracefully as they soar through the air, the two flyers find themselves [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 1950's, 4 stars, America, Essential Reads, Fiction, Marion Zimmer-Bradley, Reviews | 10 Comments »
Erotic slang words from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia, and other English-speaking nations number well into the tens of thousands. But the history of terms used to describe the sexual activities of gays and lesbians have opposing sources: one, the discreet networks of gay men and lesbians who sought to come up with [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, Resources, Reviews, Writing, five stars, history, textbook | Tagged: book review, gay interest, resource, textbook, wriitng | 3 Comments »
When Harry Watson, an attractive and personable ex-Guardsman, becomes involved with the young novelist Martin Murray, he is quick to assimilate Martin’s left-wing views. He fits readily into Martin’s circle, along with the earl’s daughter and communist Lady Nellie Griffiths, her playboy nephew Pugh, and the unconfident Oxford undergraduate Gavin Summers. But then Harry’s enthusiasm [...]
Filed under: 1930's, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews, Spanish Civil War, five stars | Leave a Comment »
Lambda Award finalist Josh Lanyon takes you step-by-step through the writing process: from how to find fresh ideas and strong hooks, to how to submit your carefully edited manuscript. With help from the genre’s top publishers, editors, reviewers, and writers – experts in the field of M/M and gay romantic fiction – Lanyon offers insight [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, Resources, Reviews, Writing, five stars, textbook | Leave a Comment »
Review by Leslie H. Nicoll It was the first great explosion of gay writing in history. These books were about gay characters. They were written mostly by gay writers. Above all, they were for gay readers. And, as this entertaining chronicle of the emergence of gay literary pride makes clear, it was a revolution that [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, Leslie H Nicoll, five stars, history | Tagged: gay history, non-fiction | 4 Comments »
Set in 1920s Chicago, The Folded Leaf follows two very different boys who find themselves forming an unlikely friendship. Lymie is thin, clever and terrible at sport. Spud is athletic and quick to fight and blithely accepts Lymie’s passionate devotion to him. The bond between them is obsessively close, until they leave home for college [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 4½ Stars, America, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews | 3 Comments »
The Private Pictures of Montague Glover. A Class Apart is a selection of photographs and letters culled from the archive of Montague Glover (1898-1983) documenting the intimate, rarely recorded lives of gay men in Britain from the First World War to the 1950s. The book features Glover’s three obsessions: the Armed Forces, working-class men, and [...]
Filed under: 1900's, 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, Erastes, Essential Reads, Photography, Resources, Reviews, True Life, World War I, World War II, five stars | 10 Comments »
The story of the climactic last seven years of Alexander the Great’s life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Taken as an attendant into Alexander’s [...]
Filed under: Alexander, Charlie Cochrane, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews, five stars | 12 Comments »
When Myron Brinig arrived in Taos in 1933, he thought he was just passing through on his way to a screenwriting job in Hollywood. But, Brinig fell in love – with the landscape, the burgeoning art colony that centred around Mabel Dodge Luhan, and especially with Cady Wells, a talented young painter who had left [...]
Filed under: 1930's, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews, True Life, five stars | 1 Comment »
They’re Britain’s ‘Wild Ones’ – the motorcycle cowboys who live for gas machines and faster girls – who ton-up along the Motorways, terrorising drivers and defying the law. Who experience sex too young, marry unthinkingly and live only for the next kick – whatever or whoever it is. The Leather Boys is a savage, brilliantly [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 4½ Stars, Erastes, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
It is Christmas Eve, 1956, and the reclusive Mr Page is remembering a dream from thirty years ago. The dream is about the rich and wild Mr Clive, a man who could have been Page’s twin, and what really happened to the beautiful white-haired boy who served in his house. And the dream is about [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 1950's, Erastes, Essential Reads, Reviews, five stars | Leave a Comment »
Review by Hayden Thorne BOOK DESCRIPTION: This is the classic French literary novel, banned for 30 years, now translated for the English market. Wicked Angels is the English translation of the classic 1955 French literary novel Les Mauvais Anges, banned for 30 years for what was called its ‘subversive’ subject matter. It is the story [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 4 stars, Essential Reads, Fiction | 2 Comments »
Reviewed by Hayden Thorne FROM THE PUBLISHER: In this novel based on the life of the masters and boys at Harrow school, two boys compete for the love of a third. Lord Horace Vachell was an English novelist who introduced polo to Southern California when he moved there in 1882. REVIEW: I must say right [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Essential Reads, Victorian | 4 Comments »
Review by Erastes Wow. What a read! I had few expectations of this book – I’d seen it around here and there, in this limited genre the same books are bound to crop up from time to time – but the cover always put me off. However, eventually I ordered a copy and it arrived (and it’s a [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, American Civil War, Erastes, Essential Reads, Fiction, Reviews, five stars | 1 Comment »
Review by Alex Beecroft First published in 1992 by GMP Books. A Second, Revised and Enlarged edition published in October 2006 by Chalfont Press (Tempus Publishing, UK). Available through Amazon, or via Rictor Norton’s site HERE which is a great place to go for a more detailed run down of the contents. It’s also a [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 19th Century, Alex Beecroft, Essential Reads, Resources, five stars, history, textbook | 5 Comments »
Considered the “grandaddy of gay historical fiction” “Gaywyck” is certainly one of the first of its kind, and although not the most literary or beautifully written of the genre, it is essential reading and deserves more than a little respect that, despite being out of print, it is still being read and sought out after more [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Essential Reads, Reviews, Victorian | 2 Comments »
It’s hard for me to do a review of this book for many reasons. It seems a bit cheeky for me to even try – and it’s been around for so long I would imagine that just about everyone I know has read it, but if this review tempts one person who hasn’t to give [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, Reviews, World War II, five stars | 9 Comments »
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