Fiction : Gay & Lesbian

A controversial new novel from critically acclaimed Essence bestseller Reginald L. Hall explores the attraction of dating a "bad boy" - from an entirely new angle.During college, Juan Jiles fell in love with Darrell, who convinced Juan to help him rob one of Philadelphia's largest banks. During the heist, Darnell is killed, and Juan escapes with more than $175,000. After mourning the loss of his lover, Juan begins rebuilding his life and uses the money to open a popular celebrity hair salon. more...

Price: $11.99

In 1974, when Ann Ahern begins her junior year of high school, South Boston is in crisis -- Catholic mothers are blockading buses to keep Black children from the public schools, and teenagers are raising havoc in the streets. Ann, an outsider in her own Irish-American community, is infatuated with her beautiful French teacher, Mademoiselle Eugénie, who hails from Paris but is of African descent. Spurred by her adoration for Eugénie, Ann embarks on a journey that leads her beyond South Boston, through the fringes of the Black Power movement, toward love, and ultimately to the truth about herself. In this ambitious and arresting novel, Stephanie Grant's searing prose, powerful storytelling, and richly drawn characters bring tumultuous moment in American history into perfect focus. more...

Price: $17.99

American-born Stephen Harold Riggins and French-born Paul Bouissac have been partners for over thirty years. This book is the story of their complex and fascinating relationship — set in Paris, Toronto, Newfoundland and Indiana, with a cast of characters including celebrated critics Northrop Frye, Michel Foucault, Hélene Cixous and Claude Lévi-Strauss — but it is also very much more. Spanning over most of the past century, The Pleasures of Time is an important work of cultural studies and intellectual history, tracing the growth of a committed gay relationship at the same time as it charts important cultural and intellectual trends. For example, Paul Bouissac, the subject of this loving memoir, is one of the world's foremost authorities on circus, as well as a member of the Nouveau Roman literary movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Author Stephen Harold Riggins, who bases the book on the diaries he has kept since the early 1970s, recreates in expert sepia tones the cafés of Paris, his home state of Indiana and rural country circuses of 1960s southern Ontario among other locales. more...

Price: $16.95

Sky Gilbert boldly challenges the boundaries of gay politics and politically correct intellectualism in St. Stephen's, an intriguing and sexually charged story of a university professor's trysts with his younger male students. Never afraid to confront even the most taboo of taboos, Gilbert sets his novel in a conservative, small town university, allowing him the platform he needs to bring the difficult subject matter to the fore. more...

Price: $15.99

Drawn from the emotional well of a young man who grew up in love with the glittery, glamorous world of music and movies and theater -- far removed from his own more prosaic life in North Carolina -- and informed with honesty and compassion, the seven short stories that comprise The Music of Your Life mark the impressive debut of a remarkably gifted writer. Funny, touching, serious, and tender, these are tales sure to appeal to anyone who has ever known the awkwardness of being "different," and while life is often harsh for the stories' characters, the bold determination with which they persevere offers inspiration to all. Crafted with affecting sincerity, The Music of Your Life marks the beginning of what is certain to be an extraordinary career. more...

Price: $11.99