Only days after its publication, the first review of AFTERLIFE OF A KEPT BOY is out. More than feeling seen I’m feeling clocked! Writing in the Whitney Review of New Writing Issue 005, Journey Streams gets into the twink death narrative of it all. Full transcript of the review: When a twink dies, what else… Continue reading The Twink Death of it all
Category: LGBTQ
Memoir pub date!
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!
Saints + Sinners ’25
This year’s queer lit fest in New Orleans took some unexpected turns. I participated in a lively panel discussion about genre (fiction vs. nonfiction) which was deftly moderated by Doc McLemore and featured my press-mate Brian Alessandro, Bobby Fieseler (whose new book American Scare investigates Florida Red-Scare era politics and draws a through-line to today’s),… Continue reading Saints + Sinners ’25
WORLD AIDS DAY 2024
It was an honor to delve into and read the work of Allen Barnett for this year’s World AIDS Day. Except from the short story “The Times as it Knows Us.” The release of his short story collection is available here.
TWEAKERWORLD Review in The Whitney Review
I found this memoir remarkable for Yamas’ ability to write through his drug use and not around it. Leaning to impairment, he invites the reader to examine their own. TWEAKERWORLD won the 2024 Lambda Literary Gay Memoir/Bio Award. My review appears in Issue 4 of THE WHITNEY REVIEW, now printed by Asterism. Yamas spent a… Continue reading TWEAKERWORLD Review in The Whitney Review
WE THE PARASITES review @ G&LR
After reading dozens of queer nonfiction titles in the process of judging three (!) awards last year, A.V. Marraccini’s WE THE PARASITES was one of two that really stayed with me. It’s a slim volume with an outsized impact, lyrical, probing, fraught with emotions and erotic longing. From the review, which went live on the… Continue reading WE THE PARASITES review @ G&LR
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
“Analog Codes for Digital Cruising” in Fruitslice
The digital age represents a radical shift in communication, and I wonder sometimes if I’m only imaging traces of the analog codes in fugitive glimpses through the blur. Are they reconstituting? When I hit Sniffies, past and present collapse. My moves may be pixelated but they’re not random, ok Gurrrl? I seek to carry over… Continue reading “Analog Codes for Digital Cruising” in Fruitslice
Flying car gay bars: Queer Utopia episode
The episode of Sniffies Cruising Confessions Queer Utopia features all of the season’s interviewees reflecting on the notion of Queer Utopia as outlined by late writer José Esteban Muñoz (Cruising Utopia, 2009, NYU Press). One heavily circulated quote from Muñoz describes queerness as felt as “the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality.” Another… Continue reading Flying car gay bars: Queer Utopia episode
Appearing on Sniffies Podcast
I appear on episode 8 of Sniffies‘ podcast “Cruising Confessions.” Sniffies is a GPS-enabled gay hookup website. Launched in 2018, the website was developed by Seattle-based architect Blake Gallagher, who was driven by his interest in analog cruising patterns in urban spaces. The podcast episode is entitled “Talk Dirty to Me” and with co-hosts Chris… Continue reading Appearing on Sniffies Podcast