Books and Authors

It's a just quick kiss, but it's a long step forward for Archie Comics' only openly gay character Kevin Keller. [ Read more → ]

SAN FRANCISCO -- California education officials took the first step this week toward complying with a law that requires public schools to include prominent gay people and gay rights' milestones in the curriculum, adopting a set of classroom material guidelines that prohibit "pejorative descriptions" based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [ Read more → ]

Apple, known for its tight controls over material and apps sold through its channels, has blocked the latest edition of a digital comic called "Saga" from being sold through comic book apps on the iPad and iPhone because it contained two scenes depicting gay sex. [ Read more → ]

The illustrator for the new DC Comics' "Adventures of Superman" digital anthology has backed out of the project as a result of an outpouring of public criticism over the company's decision to hire anti-gay author, activist, and National Organization For Marriage board member Orson Scott Card to pen the story line. [ Read more → ]

As the revolutionary Henry Rios series finally comes to e-book, Michael Nava took time to share more with me about the development of the character, his thoughts on bringing an end to the Rios series, and his forthcoming novel, The City of Palaces. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK — The bipartisan legal team leading the fight for same-sex marriage has a book deal. Democrat David Boies and Republican Theodore B. Olson have signed with Viking for "A Just Cause: Law, Love, and the Case for Marriage Equality." [ Read more → ]

I recall it as if it were yesterday: stepping inside the sprawling bookstore, which smelled faintly of dust; walking past the periodicals, where gay porn titles peeked at me ever-so-discretely from the uppermost row; crossing to the back of the store, reaching “my” row, and nervously looking about before finally stepping up to the shelves, above which hung a large sign, “Gay Studies.” [ Read more → ]

Dear Bob, As we enter this new year, full of promise and possibility, I realized that I could not in all fairness properly close out the old without first repaying a major debt. One that I owe to you, dear reader, for quite literally saving my life. ... You likely had no idea, when you reached for the book, that the very act of reading it could so profoundly affect me, and all for the better. How could you know, after all, that while I’d long envisioned a life for myself as a writer, until you contacted me, I’d begun to consider stopping altogether? [ Read more → ]

I first met fellow writer Trebor Healey at Palm Springs Pride, where we were both signing copies of our novels at the Authors’ Village. Given that the title of my first novel includes the word “depression” and his recent title contains the word “sorrow,” we quickly bonded over a shared lament of others trying to convince us to change our titles into something “more happy.” [ Read more → ]

With LGBT bookstores shuttering and the consolidation of gay media resulting in reduced promotional opportunities for publishers and authors, few venues remain for discovering literature reflecting the gay experience. Happily, Stephen Bottum continues to provide one of the best sources for LGBT publishing news on his blog, Band of Thebes, which he began five years ago. [ Read more → ]

Following success as a writer of erotica and as columnist for Examiner.com, author Xavier Axelson has surprised readers with his debut novel,"Velvet," a work of historical fiction which tells the tale of a royal tailor. [ Read more → ]

Fellow author Jeffrey Ballam and I share many characteristics. We are both gay men, debut novelists, human rights advocates, twitter friends, and have undergone the grieving process, with each of us experiencing a partner’s death due to HIV/AIDS. I have been curious to discover more... [ Read more → ]

While it may come as a surprise to learn that Ulysses S. Grant’s great-great-grandson, Ulysses Grant Dietz, serves as Chief Curator for New Jersey’s Newark Museum, it might come as a bigger surprise that he is also an author, with two gay vampire titles under his belt... [ Read more → ]

Many people that read "The Cross in the Closet" will have had little or no experience with the "T" part of LGBT. I did not start entering intimate relationships with transgender people until years into my own advocacy work. Most people outside, and some people inside the LGBT community, do not have a grasp of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. [ Read more → ]

As the LGBT community marked "National Coming Out Day" this week, there is one story that stands out in its uniqueness. Timothy Kurek, a straight man who said he was brought up to believe that homosexuality was a sin, decided that he would explore that what it would be like to be a gay man for a year... [ Read more → ]

Truman Capote is a critically acclaimed author of contemporary American literature. He is best known for the novels “In Cold Blood” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” [ Read more → ]

Ann Bannon is an author best known for her lesbian-themed fiction series, “The Beebo Brinker Chronicles.” The popularity of the novels earned her the title “The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction.” [ Read more → ]

Gloria Anzaldua was a leading scholar of feminist, queer and Chicana theories. She was the first author to combine these subjects in poetry, narrative and autobiographical works. She helped build a multicultural feminist movement and called for people of different races to move forward together. [ Read more → ]

Historically, discussions about the decline of morality have almost always been subsumed into fears about national security, and the rise of McCarthyism was no different. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that both communists and homosexuals had infiltrated the federal government and this, of course, was going to lead to the total destruction of America... [ Read more → ]

A true literary giant in every sense of the word, Gore Vidal died Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills from complications of pneumonia, according to a statement from his nephew Burr Steers. [ Read more → ]