The Menstuff® library lists pertinent fiction to men's work.
Baer, Reid, Kill the Story. This is for
anyone who has ever been betrayed, lied about, lost a job, or
ensnared in the legal system. It is a fictional account of David
Hampton, an investigative report for The Porcupine Press, living
in a small Kentucky town. Hampton is falsely accused of hitting
his wife, arrested in front of his three children, and hauled off
to spend a terrible night in jail. Don't miss this often humorous
journey of a man whose whole world is turned upside down.
www.amanoverboard.net,
Lion's Gateway Publications, 2003 Buy
this book direct!
Baisden, Michael, Men Cry in the Dark. A novel. As you
probably know by now, we seldom include novels for review. This is
one of the exceptions. The bad boy of literature has done it again
with this provocative new book that is sure to stir controversy.
It is an entertaining and realistic novel about relationships,
fatherhood and interracial dating from the man's perspective. And
in an industry dominated by female writers, it's long
overdue! Michael has courageouly stepped outside the
boundaries to prove once and for all that men do love their
children, cherish their women, and yes, even cry. Legacy, 1997
Buy
This Book!
Bank, Melissa, The Girl's Guide to Hunting
and Fishing. Hailed by critics as the debut of a major
literary voice, this book has dazzled and delighted readers and
topped bestseller lists nationwide. Generous-hearted and wickedly
insightful, it maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out
on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain
of sex, love, and relationships, and the treacherous waters of the
workplace. With an unforgettable comic touch, the author
skillfully teases out issues of the heart, puts a new spin on the
mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a
young women coming of age in America today. Every daughter should
have a copy of this one. Penguin, 1999 ISBN 0-14-029324-8
Buy
This Book!
Cadenhead, Ed, Down and Out.
Implicated in a drive by shooting, Anthony "A-Rod" Rodman, a
fourteen-year-old superstar, faces retaliation by a local gang of
Native Americans and criminal prosecution by the authorities.
Ironically, the only person that seems to be able to help him is
Tyrone, the evil gang leader that framed him for the murder. A-Rod
is forced to become a drug dealer himself to gain the assistance
of the sinister Tyrone. But is the solution worse than the
original predicament? For seven years we follow the
journey of A-Rod as he performs majestically on the football field
and basketball court, wards off the attacks of the local gang, and
becomes deeply involved in the drug trade in his small torn of
Cherokee, Oklahoma. The author has created a picture of small town
Oklahoma that few of us have experienced. A young man appears to
have the opportunity to go all the way with his athletic gift. He
is forced to match wits with an older, more capable mind, and
ultimately to leave the world of a playful child and enter a vile
and seedy world of gangs and drugs. It is a powerful experience.
1st Books Library, www.1stbooks.com
2001. ISBN 0-75964-586-8 Buy
This Book!
Chiperzak, Jy, And So It
Began: Chronic illness, soul loss: an initiation into
the realm of spirit. This book is a psycho/spiritual novel
about a man's successful and fulfilling journey, first succumbing
to, then transcending a debilitating illness, Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome. Rob, a man of his time trapped in the busyness of his
life; farmer, Executive Director of a conservation society, Trees
For The Future, with wife and family, is consumed, wasted, by
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Becoming a disparate soul disconnected
shell, Rob was dying from the inside out. From the pit of pain,
confusion and despair Rob becomes embedded in the otherworld of
the mythic, of the shaman. It is a realm of enchantment and magico
where Nature speaks and time and space become one. Rob becomes
Bran, Celtic for "Raven". Follow Rob as his old paradigm of the
rational collapses into the enchanted realm of the sacred, of
spirits, power animals and his shamanic teacher in human form,
"the child of the mound born dead." Break through with him
into a new understanding and experiencing of healing and
empowerment. www.Andsoitbegan.com
or jy@andsoitbegan.com.
Trafford Publishing, www.trafford.com/robots/00-0029.html
or sales@trafford.com or
888.232.4444 2000, ISBN 1552123650 Buy
This Book!
Colyer, Nik, Channeling Biker
Bob: Heart of a Warrior. Finding our way back to the
masculine, Biker Bob is a Harley-riding spirit guide, boldly
trespassing into the dreams of perennial nice guy, Stewart Chance.
As a result of Bob's intrusion, Stewart reluctantly undertakes a
heroic journey across the treacherous terrain of masculinity and
male/female relationships. "A woman can bring us down to our
knees, or into our hearts. It's up to our warrior to understand
the difference." - Biker Bob. Henrioulle Publishing, 2001,
ISBN 0-9708163-0-8 www.channelingbikerbob.com
or E-Mail 800.906.5252 Buy this
book direct!
Colyer, Nik, Channeling Biker Bob
II: Lover's Embrace. Manhood, marriage and motorcycles.
Our hero, a cop with an attitude, meets his nemesis, the
charismatic yet irreverent Harley-riding spirit, Biker Bob. This
second heroic adventure treks deeper into the ever-shifting
terrain of masculinity and across the perilous landscape of
male/female relationship. Henrioulle Publishing, 2002,
ISBN 0-9708163-1-6 www.channelingbikerbob.com
or E-Mail 800.906.5252 Buy this
book direct!
Colyer, Nik C., Channeling Biker Bob
III: Magician's Spell. Manhood, Marriage
& Motorcycles. Third in the Channeling Biker Bob series,
Renee takes off for the adventure of her life. We spend more time
with Melinda, Twig, Stewart and Nick Brown. As usual, between
mythical rides in the desert and visits from Biker Bob, the One on
One gang work out relationship issues among themselves and with
their women. Singing Reed Press, 2006, ISBN 0-9708163-2-4
www.channelingbikerbob.com
or E-Mail 800.906.5252 Buy this
book direct!
Colyer, Nik C., Maranther's Deception.
During a vacation in the Sonora desert, Martin and Leigha
Vandorfor are mysteriously separated. Caught between fear,
exhaustion and the scheming medicine woman, the couple struggles
to find each other and escape the desert before it's too late.
Singing Reed Press, 2005, ISBN 0-9708163-4-0 www.channelingbikerbob.com
or E-Mail 800.906.5252 Buy this
book direct!
DiBenedetto, Michael, Heart's
Calling. Set in a university town, this is the story of a
twenty-something perpetual college student who, in an attempt to
further delay initiation into his father's world, stumbles onto
the crooked porch of the Second Avenue Shelter and Hotline.
Beguilded by an attractive staff member and befriended by a
miniature man with a god complex, he is drawn into the curious
world of the Hotline, mingling with among others, a living Christ,
a bulimic angel and a down to earth staff barely keeping the
organization operating. Interacting with the bizarre and intense,
his heretofore-unchallenged life comes under question, leading him
to embark on a journey of self discovery. Written with humor and
heart, and touching on themes of men and masculinity, this is the
story of one man's journey as he struggles to break free from his
father and define for himself what it means to be a man. Spring
Hill Publishing, www.heartscalling.com
or mdiben8361@aol.com 1999
ISBN 0-9674391-0-8 Buy
This Book!
Day, Richard, Two Dog River. Though this
is a novel, the author presents men's issues in the bold and
spirited setting of the outdoors, particularly whitewater rafting
and kayaking integrating such themes as: fatherhood, male
love, male initiation, sexual potency and most centrally the
importance of men joining in their exclusive company while
transitioning to manhood. This is abaout Moon Dog and the guys.
Man Called Abe and Jack Hammer have the rafts, d.o.'s and beer.
Johnny Nevada, Red Bone and Bugsy are in "boats", and everybody is
following the Chaz Man, who howls at the moon, while the river
beckons and pulses; then sucks everyone in - in and out - rising,
swelling and sighing, while whitewater explodes into frothing
maddness. Boys become men. Men merge back into the universe, and
The Dog rules. Check it out. It captures the essence of the whole
outdoor set and whitewater rafting and kayaking world, while
giving rare insight into the heart and soul of men. Sutton Books,
sutt319102@cs.com, 1999
ISBN 0-9664659-0-3 Buy
This Book!
Djerassi, Carl, NO. The last
installment of the author's pioneering "science-in-fiction"
tetralogy tells the story of a husband-and-wife team who devise
new solutions to problems associated with sex and reproduction.
Renu Krishnan is an Indian-born American-educated scientist who
discovers how NO (nitric oxide) can help men with
erectile dysfunction - the scientific rationale behind Viagra. At
the same time, her husband, Israeli scientist Jephtah Cohn,
develops a new approach to ovulation prodiction, which is also
based on current factual research. When Wall Street gets wind of
their discoveries, the couple catapults into the fast-paced world
of lawyers and IPOs, where scientists are now a hot commodity.
Deftly exploring the demanding worlds of academia and high
finance, the author brings back many characters from his three
ealier novels for a satisfing conclusion. www.djerassi.com
Penguin, www.penguinputnam.com,
2000, ISBN 0-14-029654-9 Buy
This Book!
Edwards, Louis, Ten Seconds: A novel creating a
human portrait of a black male. The author deserves the
highest praise for creating a human portrait of a black male as
compelling and sensitive as it is rare in recent American fiction.
This is a very readable first novel, ingenious and gracefully
written. It is also very disturbing...Edwards is effective without
overt, cliched attacks on the system; absent are strident
denunciations. It is a classic intimate portrait of maleness,
softspoken and secretive. A perfect "ten". Graywolf, 1991
ISBN 1-55597-150-4 Buy
This Book!
Elton, Ben, Inconceivable. Birds do
it. Bees do it. Why can't Sam and Lucy? From the
award-winning author of Popcorn and Blast from the
Past, comes this hilarious and heartbreaking new novel - a
provocative two-sided look at one couple's inconceivable dilemma.
From sperm that swin backward to aromatherapy run amok,
procreation for Lucy and Sam has turned into a grisly little war.
But if Lucy feels barren as the Sahara, and Sam thinks his gay
friends will be fathers before he is, they're about to have yet
another problem on their hands: saving the love that once was
everything they had. Delta, www.bantamdell.com
2000 ISBN 0-385-33465-6 Buy
This Book!
Evans, Nicholas, The Smoke Jumper. The
date, August 13, 2002. I'm sitting on my front deck, back in the
woods,15 miles as the crow flies from the largest forest fire ever
to happen in Oregon, exactly one month after it started. Almost
400,000 acres have burned and it's only 26% contained with an
estimate of possible control after the rainy season starts a month
or two from now. I'm tracking it daily by watching the smoke and
ash settle on everything and by logging on to www.biscuitfire.com
The cause, lightning. Structures threatened, 4,019 and 17,000
people. Structures lost: 4 residences, 0 commercial, and 9
outbuildings. Personnel assigned: 6,383. Injuries: 2 broken
ankles, 1 bee sting reaction. Cost to date: Over 52 million.
I recently read an interesting story in National Geographic
on "Russian Smoke
Jumpers" August, 2002. So, this novel, written by the author
of The Horse Whisperer, was a find. An epic of love
and loyalty, of guilt and honor. Moving from the towering wilds of
the American West to the killing fields of Africa, the book is the
story of three people's quest for happiness and self-fulfillment,
played out against the heroism of fire fighting in the wilderness
and photojournalism at the edge of human experience - a
mesmerizing adventure for the spirit, told in the grandest
tradition. Delacorte Press, 2001, ISBN 0-385-33403-6
Buy
This Book!
Gladstone, Jim, The Big Book on
Misunderstanding. This book offers a refreshingly affectionate
look at family life from high school romance to Thanksgiving
turkeys. It is punctuated by Josh's imaginative forays into the
meaning of jigsaw puzzles, the origins of Chinese restaurant
decor, and the magical allure of one sexy Portuguese expatriate.
The author turns a darly perceptive eye on American family life in
this brilliantly funny debut novel. Written with wit, subtlety and
style, it delivers quirky surprises at every turn. www.misunderstanding.net,
Harrington Park Press, www.haworthpressinc.com,
2002, ISBN 1-56023-382-6 Buy
This Book!
Golden, Arthur, Memoirs of a Geisha. A
literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut
novel presents with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism
the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. In
the book, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where
a girl's virginity is auctioned to the higest bidder; where women
are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is
scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction
- at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely
unforgettable. Vintage Contemporaries, www.randomhouse.com
1999 ISBN 0-679-78158-7 Buy
This Book!
Griffin, Ed, Prisoners of the
Williwaw. What would happen if three hundred hardened convicts
petitioned the US Government for an abandoned island where
they would be set free to earn their own
way? Overwhelmed by prison budgets and prison riots,
the government agrees and sets the prisoners free on windswept,
treeless Adak in the Aleutians, the site of a former "hard
duty" Navy station. The Government allows their families to
accompany them. Frank Villa, the idealistic leader of this
expedition, faces a crafty prison boss, James T. Gilmore, who
schemes to take over the island. But Frank's struggle is internal
as well as external. He strives to overcome the effects of prison
on his psyche. A convict must be passive; a man in charge of a
community must take command. A convict must be passive; a man in
charge of a community must take command. A convict must build a
wall inside himself against any relationship with a woman; a free
man has to leave himself open to love. These conflicts play out
against a backdrop of constant rain, vicisous windstorms
(williwaws), escape attempts and a coup by a new group of
prisoners from the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, the
worst of the worst. Trafford Publishing, 888.232.4444 or www.trafford.com
2000 ISBN 1552123979 Buy
This Book!
Grimwood, Ken, Replay. The story goes
that Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer
until he died and woke up twenty-five yearw younger in his college
dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again
and died again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each
time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost
loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a forture in the stock
market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance and fascinating
speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What
if you could live your life over again?" THe other
question it brings to me is, knowing that I probably can't live my
life over, what steps am I going to take to change the future by
altering my course now? Willaim Morrow, ISBN
0-6-88161-12-X 1998 Buy
This Book!
Hardie, M. G., It Ain't Just the Size.
Princess, an office manager, has returned to her old stomping
ground after a three year absence to heal her heart. She is
independent and successful, but something is missing. What's
missing is Lance, a hard working man, determined father who is
preoccupied with school and obligation. A large one bedroom
apartment is where these two passionate hearts collide. When the
world is against you, sometimes all you have is hope. This book is
a deeply filled play on morality, an ongoing social commentary for
our times. When Lance's friends show up anything can and does
happen. www.mghardie.com,
Aventine Press, 2010 ISBN 978-1-59330-647-2 
Hayes, J. G., This Thing Called
Courage: South Boston stories.Growing up gay in roughneck
South Boston. The boys and men you'll meet in this book are doing
their best to come to grips with being gay in a heavily
Irish-Catholic working-class community. In a place known for its
fierce loyalty to "our own" and a strong, traditional religious
ethic, they are caught in the crossfire of traditional values,
Irish tragedy, and the inevitable intrusion of diversity. The
result of this lethal mix is occasionally comic, often tragic,
sometimes redemptive and sometimes disastrous, but always
compelling. Harrington Park Press, www.haworthpressinc.com,
2002, ISBN 1-56023-381-8 Buy
This Book!
Hughes, Sean, It's What He Would've
Wanted. This is a brutally funny, highly charged, and moving
novel about a directionless thirty-year-old man's belated
transition into adulthood. Our narrator and protagonist is a
commitment-phobic just-turned-thirty-year-old with somewhat
adolescent leanings. He lives off lottery winnings and spends his
time blindly serving a secret organization whose stated duty is to
"seek truth," which, though he doesn't quite realize it, turns out
to be a small-time terrorist gig. His parents appear to be a
quintessentially comfortable, suburban middle-class couple, and
when sons Shea and Orwell (named after Che Guevara and George,
their father having been something of a nostalgic radical) arrive
for Christmas Eve, all seems as it should be. But when Shea turns
a corner to find his father, a BBC weatherman, hanging from the
light fixture, the son's disaffected existence is turned upside
down. Worse, his discovery of an encoded journal his father had
been keeping uncovers shocking revelations about his father's
disappointed life as a parent, husband, and disillusioned minor
celebrity. Jolted from his emotional ennui, Shea determines to
figure out what drove his father to his death and, in the process
of unraveling the Hickson family's increasingly distasteful
secrets, comes to better understand himself. With wry humor and
savage undercurrents, the story winds throught he seamier side of
London life - skirting the worlds of television, newspapers and
small-scale urban terrorism. Buoyed by Hughes's edgy humor and
Seinfeldian observations about modern life, this book dissects and
mutilates traditional family values as it maps one son's attempt
to piece together a world fractured by alienation, paranoia, and
conflict. Scribner, www.simonsays.com
2001. ISBN: 0-7432-0159-0 Buy
This Book!
Johnson, Toby, Getting Life in
Perspective. When warned by his doctor to rest, Rick Carton, a
jaded and disillusioned editor with a Boston publishing house,
retires to a neglected old mansion in the Texas hill country to
write the novel he's always intended to. He discovers he is not
alone...This book is a post-modern ghost story featuring two
lovable Topperesque apparitions from turn-of-the-century America
who haunt the sometimes bewildered writer struggling to face the
enormous problems of contemporary society - and gay men in
particular - as the 21st century is about to turn. It is a sweet,
occasionally sexy, surprisingly wise, and thoroughly enteraining
mytho-historical romance with a gay-positive spiritual message
woven in - along with just a touch of the Twilight Zone. "I
read this book on New Year's Day. A great way to get a little
perspective on life! I couldn't put it down. I read all day
long - with increasing pleasure as I saw where the story was
going. This visionary novel affirms my sense that this is the time
for men who love men and women who love women to fnd new ways to
live together. What a nice model of gay living this lovely story
of love and community offers us!" Joseph Kramer. Lavender
Press, 1991 ISBN 0-938743-17-1 Buy
This Book!
Johnson, Toby, Plague: A novel
about healing. For a significant segment of the American
population, the 1980s has been dominated by a health crisis of
proportions rivaling the plagues of old. Politicians, public
officials, medical personnel and health activists have recognized
that education represents the major bulwark against the spread of
the disease. While the lessons about risk reduction are relatively
simple, the public has sometimes seemed resistant to hearing them.
Health educators have suggested that a variety of teaching methods
are called for - from scholarly lectures, slide shows, pamphlets
and made-for-TV movies to street theater, protest demonstrations,
and "safe-sex" pornography and videos. In this work of fiction,
the plot and characters are imaginary. The names of medical
treatements and drugs have frequently been altered. The social
problems created by this disease and the plight of the people with
HIV infection, however, as well as the instructions about risk
reduction and the teachings about attitudinal healing are
accurate. The projections for the resolution of the plague that
haunts us in 1987 are reasonable extrapolations of current medical
fact. Alyson Publications, 1987 ISBN 1-55583-125-7 Buy
This Book!
Johnson, Toby, Secret Matter. When
aliens arrived from space, Kevein Anderson had no idea the
visitors' real reason for coming to Earth would ever affect him.
He was, after all, just a young architect fresh out of college
working on the reconstruction of San Francisco after the Great
Earthquake. But one summer afternoon at Land's End beach, he met a
golden-skinned Visitor named 'Bel. And life was never the same.
You'll love this book. A delightfully quirky spin on what it means
to be gay. This is one of those little books that change people's
lives. A romantic comedy with an undercurrent of tension and
suspence, a lovable and unforgettable character, the right touch
of science fiction, and, as fans of the author's will recognize,
just the right measure of mystical wisdom to make this a novel
you'll thoroughly enjoy and long remember with a pang of fondness
and pride. Peregrine Ventures, 1995 ISBN 0-938743-13-9
Buy
This Book!
Larson, Rodger, What I Know Now. A novel. Dave Ryan's
mother has hired Gene Tole to build a garden at the old home she
is moving back to, away from her failed marriage. A handsome,
thoughtful man, Gene seems to be the father Dave's own silent,
brooding dad could never be. "Sometimes when you build a garden,"
Gene explains, "you build a gardener, too." But a garden contains
both beauty and secrets. As Dave's feelings for Gene grow, he
peers around the edges of his own life, seeing his brother, father
and mother in new ways. This is a beautifully written evocation of
a boy's dawning sexuality that shows how his emerging feelings
help him to become a young man. Henery Holt (Novel) Buy
This Book!
Lyons, Daniel, Dog Days. We seldom
review novels. This is one of the exceptions because it reflects,
with dead-on accuracy, the confusion, hope and yearning that goes
with being bright, ambitious and young in the 1990's. All of this
through an adventure where a computer whiz kid kidnaps a champion
greyhound, gets on the wrong side of the mob, almost becomes a
millionaire, falls in and out of love, is threatened with grievous
bodily harm and wonders if he will ever manage t o grow up at all.
It is a funny, fast-paced and sharply-observed first novel. Simon
& Schuster www.SimonSays.com
1998 Buy
This Book!
McCown, Clint, War Memorials. From
screenwriter and two-time American Fiction Prize winner comes this
wickedly funny novel about a small southern town and its odd
preoccupation with war. By most standards, Lincoln, Tennessee,
seems an ordinary place. Its men, having fought in every conflict
from the War of 1812 to Desert Storm, now fill their time with
visits to famous battlefields and with tales of heroism
egregiously inflated. But for Nolan Vann, the feckless son of
Lincoln's local war hero, another kind of battle is being fought
altogether, a battle to reclaim his life (and, with any luck, his
wife). His tour of duty takes hiim to the back yards and bingo
halls of Lincoln's unsund heroes, including a Jesus impersonator,
a snake-handling evangelist, an aspiring zookeeper, even an
inconvenient corpse. Gradually, through a series of tiny
victories, some minor enough to be confused with defeats, Nolan
begins to see that he actually can be the hero of his own life.
This is a prime piece of storytelling, rich in the rough and
tumble of everyday life, as well as laugh-out-loud funny. Mariner
Books, www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com,
2000, ISBN 0-618-12847-6 Buy
This Book!
McFarland, Thom, The Great
Transfiguration of Bucky Muckleroy. Young adulthood in the
'70s did have its advantages. This ws the decade when
experimentation rules; when there were few boundaries and even
less responsibility; when you could enjoy the party without
pressures from society and when you could be heard...Unless you
are Bucky Muckleroy. Struggling to keep the one he loves, care for
a child and earn his Ph.D., Bucky almost misses out on this
controversial decade. A coming of age story, this book peeks
behind the party to follow the path one man takes as he puts
together the pieces of his life. Pentland Press, pentlandpressusa.com
1999 ISBN 1-57197-112-2 Buy
This Book!
Millman, Dan, The Journeys of
Socrates. In the heart of nineteenth century Tsarist Russia an
orphaned boy born of Jewish and Cossak blood seeks to find his
place in a land where citizens are being enlisted to kill their
neighbors and the murmurs of revolution are growing each day.
Forced to leave the military academy that has been his only home,
Sergei Ivanov (Socrates) finds himself alone in the world with
nothing to cling to but the promise of an old man. This
spellbinding odyssey of courage, faith, and love reveals how a boy
become a man, a man became a warrior, and a warrior found peace.
From his birth, Sergei Ivanov has destined to become the peaceful
warrior and sage who changed a million lives worldwide.
HarperSanFrancisco, www.harpercollins.com,
2005, ISBN 0-06-075023-5
(See Dan's article Sacred
Journey and the Three Selves)
Morgenstein, Gary, Jesse's Girl, a
Novel. The story opens as a jarring phone wakes lifelong
Brooklynite and widowed father well after midnight. It's the
Montana wilderness program saying that his 16-year-old adopted son
has run away - and they haven't a clue where he's gone. Only two
weeks ago, Jesse was taken to the program by escorts to deal with
substance abuse problems. Jeopardizing his flagging PR job in New
York, he rushes across the country to find Jesse, who is off on
his own quest: to find Theresa, the sister he's never known. When
Teddy finally discovers Jesse at a bus stop in Illinois, he is
torn between sending him back or joining his son on a journey to
find this girl in Kentucky. But he decides to go and they become
embroiled in a grisly crime when Theresa's abusive husband Beau
attacks her - Jesse stabs the big beast of a man, leaving him for
dead. Given Jesse's record, Teddy can't go to the authorities
without risking his son's arrest. However, Beau is not dead,
merely wounded, and he hunts them down, thirsty for revenge.
Teddy, Jesse and Theresa flee across the state with Beau in hot
pursuit. Seeking safety but finding trouble, their story leads
them to an ultimate shattering question: is Theresa really
Jessse's sister or has he been scammed? Anchored around a
floundering father-son relationship, Jesse's Girl tackles
questions like finding roots and re-uniting vanished bonds. This
novel is timely given the heightened media attention in stories of
addiction among celebrities and the general public alike. This
book stands out because it is written from a father's perspective
and delves into challenges of adoption and identity as well. Time
Squares Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-1441492241 
Pickhardt, Carl E., The Case of the
Scary Divorce. Just as Dr. Watson chronicled the exploits of
Sherlock Holmes, this book tells the story of a boy's intriguing
adventures with the wise and mysterious Jackson Skye. One
afternoon, the boy wanders out of his mother's house to mull over
his feelings about his parents' recent divorce and to hunt for a
valuable item that has vanished. When Jackson Skye, Helping
Investigator (as his card says), appears out of the blue on the
sidewalk, he helps the boy solve the disappearance - and
establishes a fast friendship. Professor Skye returns again and
again, enlisting his new friend's assistance in resolving strange
cases for other young people around the neighborhood. While the
boy helps solve other kids' problems during each unexpected
arrival - and disappearance - of Jackson Skye, he also learns how
to deal with his own difficulties: how to handle his feelings
about the divorce, how to stop worrying, why he is being treated
differently from his sister, how to stay loyal to both parents,
how to tell painful truths, and more. You'll look forward to each
adventure with the mysterious Professor Skye, and cheer on his
young assistant as he makes one important discovery - and
self-discovery - after another. www.carlpickhardt.com
Magination Press, of APA Books, www.apa.org/books,
1997 ISBN 1-55798-457-3 Buy
this book!
Quinn, Daniel, My Ishmael. Ishmael was an extraordinary
novel which became an underground bestseller and a testament for a
burgeoning spiritual movement, especially in some areas of the
"men’s movement". This new novel is a companion piece - not a
story that follows the first but rather a story contemporaneous
with the first. In it, the Ishmael saga takes a startling
direction that is in no way prefigured in the original. Bantam
Books www.bantam.com 1997
Buy
This Book!
Quinn, Jay, ed Rebel Yell 2: More
stories of contemporary southern gay men. This book continues
the excitement of the previous edition providing an assortment of
talented writers to create another vivid and compelling short
fiction anthology exploring the diverse lives of Southern gay men.
It is a rich gallery of contemporary rogues, rednecks, and mama's
boys whose sexuality is born of a region ripe in myth, legend and
stereotype. It will touch you, inspire you, titillate you, and
give you a better understanding of what it means to be both gay
and Southern. By turns sexy, hilarious, and heartbreaking, this is
a collection you'll find yourself coming back to again and again.
Harrington Park Press, www.haworthpressinc.com,
2002, ISBN 1-56023-159-9 Buy
This Book!
Rosen, Rob, Sparkle: The queerest book
you'll ever love. Take your classsic who-dunnit and throw in a
unique friendship between two San Francisco boys as they run the
gay gamut. See if you can figure out who shot Sparkle as his best
friend, Secret, recounts the stories of their lives together.
Watch as they come out, grow up, get pierced and tattooed, place
their first personal ad, become drag queens, adopt a full grown
son...and, along the way, grow as close as two people can get.
Love them, hate them, laugh with them and at them, and learn from
their many and varied mistakes. Your mamma never told you that
being queer could be this much fun. And get ready for the surprise
ending because it's a doozie. 1st Books Library, www.1stbooks.com,
2001, ISBN 0-75964-531-0 Buy
This Book!
Strasser, Todd, Give a Boy a Gun. Bang! Gunshots echo
through the gym. Two heavily armed students, Gary and Brendan,
hold their classmates hostage at a high school dance. Their
targets: the football players and teachers who have tormented
them. Their weapons: semiautomatic rifles stolen from a
neighbor. Their motive: Revenge. In thhis book, the
interweaving voices of students, teachers, friends and the gunmen
themselves re-create the harrowing crisis at Middletown High and
the reasons behind Gary and Brendan's rampage. Mirroring the
voices of each page are facts about guns and school violence that
offer a blistering counterpoint to a tragedy that rings dreadfully
true to life. A stunning work of fiction taken straight from
today's headlines, this book is a stirring wake-up call to stop
the violence and explore the role of guns in the lives of
teenagers. The author has been concerned with problems of teenage
stress and violence. With the recent rash of shootings in schools,
he feels compelled to address these issues, as well as how the
availability of guns can affect the emotional decisions of teens.
Simon & Schuster, www.SimonSays.com,
2000, ISBN 0-689-81112-8 Buy
this book!
Terry,
Marshall, Angels Prostate Fall. Professor Stanley Morris's
orderly world of teaching, scholarship, and committee meetings is
shaken when he gets the surprise so many men of his age dread - a
diagnosis of prostate cancer. In his struggle to keep his sense of
humor, his identity, and his dignity, he emerges as a sort of
Everyman as he stoically makes his way through his physical and
spiritual ordeal. His spirit, his loyalty to his wife, family and
students and to his place in his university community are at the
heart of this small gem of an impressionistic novel. Southern
Methodist University Press, 2001 ISBN 0-87074-463-1 Buy
this book!
Toibin, Colm, The Blackwater Lightship
is a beautifully written, deeply resonant story about three
generations of an estranged family reuniting to mourn a tragic,
ultimely death. The story is set in Ireland in the early 1990s.
Helen, her mother Lily, and her grandmother, Mrs.
Devereux--Dora--have come together after a decade of bitter
separation to tend to Helen's beloved borther, Declan, who is
dying of AIDS. Under the crumbling roof of Dora's old house in
Ireland, two of Declan's closest friends join the women as each
waits for the end. All six of them, from different generations and
with different beliefs, are forced to plumb the shoals of their
own histories, and in the process come to terms with each other.
Alliances form slowly and with difficulty. Helen, away from the
comforting presence of her own husband and children, connects
first wth the strong-minded but doting Dora (whose main concern
occasionally seems to be the containment of neighborly gossip).
Then there is the matter of Declan's suspicious protectors, his
dear friends Paul and Larry, who have warily brought Declan to
spend his final days amid family. The most hard-fought
reconciliation occurs between Helen and Lily, as this mother and
daughter pair reopen old wounds while trying gamely to face
Declan's grave condition with compassion and selflessness.
Scribner, 2000 ISBN 0-684-87389-3 Buy
This Book!
Tomaso, Carla's Mayfield Academy is a
Catholic girls' schol embroiled in secret scandal - where almost
everyone is suspect! When Sally Hamington - the toughest
English teacher at the formerly prestigious academy - is accused
of pedophilia, the entire school is turned upside down. New
principal Helen Blalock, Dean of Students Sister Rose James, and
rival English teacher Angela Martin all have something to hide.
Angela is a lesbian, Sister Rose has a fetish for Internet bondage
sites, and Helen is a nuymphomaniac. This book is unique in its
wit, dark humor and offbeat, risky subject matter. In the comedic
vein of Muriel Spark, Fay Weldon and Mavis Gallant, the author's
prose is seductive and surprising. Harrington Park Press,
www.haworthpress.com,
2003, ISBN 1-56023-424-5 Buy
This Book!
Tyrone, T. S., The Choices of
Men: A novel of male power and sexuality in a feminist
age. This is a fiery novel of gender politics written from the
rarely heard male perspective. Guy Scheels traded the free-love
'70s for a wife, career and home. Now he finds he relinquished too
much power over his lifestyle, career and the custody of his child
by a former marriage. Worse, he has relinquished his sexual power.
He is maddeningly frustrated by his wife's sexual disinterest and
by the culture's disapproval of extramarital sex in any
form..fact, its virtual war on male sexuality. Guy has choices to
make. His decisions and actions will stimulate men to think about
their own choices. Women will be drawn into the plot out of
curiosity, then ponder what choices the men in their lives are
preparing to make. The story culminates in an explosive series of
events that propel Guy to declare new rules by which he will live.
Far from being a misogynist, he ceases blaming women and assumes
responsibility for his own action -- and inaction. This book is
intended to provoke a gender dialogue. For too long, we've been
hearing a monologue and women have been doing the talking. The
book gives men a voice, too. www.choicesofmen.com
1st Library Books, www.1stbooks.com
2001 ISBN 0-75965-455-7 Buy
This Book!
Ueland, Leif, Accidental Playboy.
Already hailed as "hysterical," "revealing," "mind-blowing,"
and "required reading," this is the hilarious, erotic and
provocative memoir of a sensitive post-modern man who stumbles
into the dream job of a lifetime. On the Playboy bus he
finds the reality behind American sexual myths and the myths
behind reality, and in this book, he captures how men and women do
and don't communicate about sex, how the media shapes our images
of each other, and how it's possible to achieve true liberation.
When Playboy magazine tapped the author to report on its
nationwide search for the Playmate of the Millennium, he was the
ultimate confused American male. A self-professed nice guy,
raised in a family with strong feminist traditions, he had
retreated from even the idea of dating, opting instead to wrestle
with his stalled first novel. In short, he thought himself the
last man to be on Playboy's roving audition bus, never mind
its official reporter. And yet, something deep within his psyche
leapt at the opportunity. In this chronicle, the author describes
his six months in a high-tech mobile photo studio - an upside-down
world where women can't wait to disrobe and get into the pages of
Playboy. He tells of the seen-it-all photographers, the
jaded female PR rep, and of course, the Playmate hopefuls
themselves, a parade of young women looking for a better life -
and simultaneously more and less innocent that we expect. Wading
deeper and deeper into a sea of beauty, nudity, sex, and ambition,
he undergoes an intriguing transformation that discloses important
truths about men and women and the gravitational forces that bind
them. An extraordinary work of reportage and a powerful look at
American sexual mores, this book is also hilarious, showing what
happens when a "shy guy" breaks out of his shell, and the whole
world starts spinning his way. Warner Books, www.twbookmark.com,
2002, ISBN 0-446-52700-9 Buy
This Book!
Watson, Andi, Geisha. This is the
futuristic tale of Jomi Sohodo, an android with a knack for
painting. Adopted early on by the Kami family, Jomi has been
assilimiated into regular human life - or so she thinks. Society,
for all its advances, still regards her as an outcast, as
something less than human. This makes it rather difficult for her
to sell her paintings, and if she can't do that, she's going to
have to find another way to pay her rent. So, to make ends meet,
Jomi enters the family bodyguard business and a new world of
action and intrigue, complete with supermodels, jealous
ex-husbands, maniacal moguls, and the twisted double-cross of art
fakery. Oni Press www.onipress.com
1999 ISBN 0-9667127-2-2 Buy
This Book!
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