Bruce Benderson suggested inverting the original title to AFTERLIFE OF A KEPT BOY and the amazing folks at C&R Press agreed. He also suggested the 2-part structure, the (solar) kept boy period and the (lunar) afterlife. After some delays we made it to the pub date! The Press is honestly courageous publishing a queer, sex-work… Continue reading Memoir pub date!
Category: awards
Memoir Land Questionnaire
On her popular substack, Sari Botton has honed this questionnaire beautifully, engaging authors on both craft and content. The below answer points to two authors in the sex work lane who have guided the writing of AFTERLIFE OF A KEPT BOY: I was once given an assignment to write a chapter for an academic textbook… Continue reading Memoir Land Questionnaire
KEPT BOY IN THE AFTERLIFE snatches the 2023 C&R Press Nonfiction Prize 🏆
Have to get used to saying this: My second book will be released by C&R Press in the summer of ’24. KEPT BOY IN THE AFTERLIFE is in two sections. The first chronicles my time as the kept boy of a British society decorator in 80s New York City; the second tracks how I took… Continue reading KEPT BOY IN THE AFTERLIFE snatches the 2023 C&R Press Nonfiction Prize 🏆
“Rita Dolores” in ImageOutWrite v. 8
As Max passed between the stanchions he extended his hand to Rita. She strained to elongate her fingers while rotating her wrist, willing her rough hand to appear delicate. She then placed her hand atop his, as if he were about to escort her into a ballroom. “Aren’t you a tall drink of… Continue reading “Rita Dolores” in ImageOutWrite v. 8
Worker Names is a 📖.
My first book, Worker Names, is out. It’s a mini-collection of 3 short stories, See if you can peep the theme: “Worker Name”: a wary hustler finds himself in a hostage situation with a yuppie on crack and a Bulgarian hipster boy. “Raunch Daddy”: an earnest young hustler meets a Mexican novelist with a nose… Continue reading Worker Names is a 📖.
Gertrude Press announces 2018 Chapbook Contest winners
Gertrude Press publishes three chapbooks a year: poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Their announcement of 2018’s winners is here. My entry, a collection of short stories called “Worker Names,” is the fiction winner, and the chapbook is in production. From “Traumatic Book Review: Alive, by Piers Paul Reed”: Warner nudged him awake with a bare foot; he… Continue reading Gertrude Press announces 2018 Chapbook Contest winners
“Yasss Child” in A+U Magazine
“Yasss Child“, a remembrance of one of my oldest friends–one of the earliest AIDS diagnoses in NYC–won First Honorable Mention from the 2018 Christopher Hewitt Award for Creative Nonfiction: The first time he stepped through my door, I thought Nico’s flamboyance was weakness, but I’ve come to see it as emblematic of his bravery.
“TBR: AbPPR” a 2018 #SASFEST Semifinalista 👸🏽
“Traumatic Book Review, Alive, by Piers Paul Read“, my submission for the 2018 Saints + Sinners fiction contest, made the semifinalist cut. I read Alive probably too young. I was freaked out by the fate of the Old Christians rugby team, even while longing for their camaraderie. So I grew up to write a short story… Continue reading “TBR: AbPPR” a 2018 #SASFEST Semifinalista 👸🏽
#SASFest17 Class Photo
Atop the Quarter in the Hotel Monteleone’s Vieux Carré Room with some fellow Saints & Sinners Short Fiction Contest finalists: Debra Curtis, winner J. Marshall Freeman, P.D. Walter, runner-up Alise Wascom, Thomas Westerfield, Louis Flint Ceci, Chris Smith, William Moeck, and contest judge Michael Thomas Ford. Get the anthology over at Bold Strokes.
Miss Bensonhurst a W@W finalist 👑
“She and the girls are enveloped in the warm bakelite booth. A curtain shields her from the crowds. The two little angels share the hard seat. The camera – that possessed apparatus which would stalk her to the end – here blinks obediently. Flash.” “Miss Bensonhurst,” a fictional account of my grandmother Helen Rizzo’s friendship… Continue reading Miss Bensonhurst a W@W finalist 👑