The two dominant themes in the collection are Cilento’s acceptance of herself as a lesbian, and her decision to adopt two boys, a bold move as both children are African American. Cilento is white, of Italian descent, which is made clear as she describes messages (“The Facts”) from her upbringing:
[…]I was made from two parents
who went to school to get out of the ghetto
who tried to forget their last name had
Just shy of her forty-fifth birthday, human resource director Melissa is thrown a devastating curveball when her lover, Colette, walks away from their eight-year relationship – and then has the gall to lie about why she’s leaving. With plans for their future together in tatters, Melissa sees little hope for her love life in a new town filled with cowboys and Republicans…
Mori has written a compassionate story about modern-day relationships. Told […]
The Siegfried Contingency by Steven Laskin is a gripping novel that will satisfy thriller fans and book lovers alike. With a dangerous book containing a world-changing secret sitting at the core of this fast-paced thriller, the author has leaned into an old framework, but also twisted it within a new setting and time period that features definitively unique characters.
When bookstore owner Carl Traeger is accosted by some no-nonsense German mobsters in his Seattle shop, demanding that he turn over what they seek – despite not being clear on what the object is – Carl realizes that he is in […]
The Velvet Anthology is a wonderful collection of lesbian fiction and poetry with the central theme of including Velvet Lounger, a British reviewer and promoter of lesbian erotica.
Writers MJ Williamz, Annette Mori, Cheryl Head, Cheyne Curry, Karin Kallmaker, Erica Abbott, Donna K. Ford, Lee Lynch, Stefani Deoul and Ann McMan have given us “Velvet”-themed titles like “Velvet’s Touch,” “Velvet’s Guardian Angel,” “Naming Velvet,” “Rocky Horror Velvet,” “Black Velvet and That Little Boi Smile,” and other irresistible titles like “Seize Her Salad, “Fever” and “They Met at a Tea Dance in Texarkana.”
The stories are as creative as their titles. […]
Sex and God and Other Essays is a curious collection of writing that sticks long after closing the book. Some of the subjects are so outrageous and so taboo, that at times it’s hard to believe they have been written. But thankfully, Cataldi has, given the instant impression of a brave author.
Considering the background of the writer, which he explains in the prologue in detail, the work is shaded with a whole other quality. A gay-Christian-Taoist-Leatherman who doesn’t agree with vegetarians? That’s about as niche a viewpoint you’ll ever get.
Never once does it feel thoughts are disingenuous, and […]
The Spoon Knife anthologies are an annual open collection run by NeuroQueer Books to give exposure to upcoming writers of neurodivergent, queer, and Mad literature. Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber is, as the title suggests, the second such collection, and intends to stand as as a defiant monument to the experiences and efforts of marginalized communities who are bound to suffer in the midst of recent and current geopolitical climates.
The collection comprises 35 stories, all with a general technological, dystopic, or post-human theme in addition to the overall NeuroQueer Books niche of neurodivergent/queer subject matter. These include an eye-opening […]
★★★★ 
Roller derby, in its modern form, has been a cult phenomenon across the world. A thrilling and dangerous sport, it has evolved from childhood pastime to a spectacular arena of courage and cunning on-wheels. My Kill Play: When A Virus Hijacked the Roller Derby is a personal account of author Tim Patten’s experiences with the sport, as childhood hobbyist to professional, and the way his life and those around him changed throughout the late 20th Century during one of the most infamous first-world medical crises of the past forty years.
My Kill Play joins Patten’s previous publication, Roller Babes: […]
★★★★★ 
“Cocaine overtook the lives of many people in the 1980s. That seemed especially true in the Hollywood gay scene, where I was something of a fixture in the bars, especially the seedy ones.”
Simon Powell has lived a life of many regrets – one of religious engagement and chemical addiction; of Hollywood dreams and cold nights on concrete streets, of love and loss, and the harsh bounce back from rock-bottom. Simon is a gay man from Arkansas who’s seen it all, and it’s taken its toll. Recovering from his near-fatal addiction, he worked towards a healthier existence through rehab […]