Literature

The Trump administration seems to be helping the sales of gloom and doom futuristic novels, like George Orwell’s “1984” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

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?

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.