Lethe Press Books

Review: Boys of Summer

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:28:37 -0400

Another nice review of Boys of Summer (edited by Steve Berman), and my story, Breakwater in the Summer Dark. Everyone seems to think I am a boy.

FREE FICTION: "Firooz and His Brother" by Alex Jeffers

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:27:28 -0400

FREE FICTION: "Firooz and His Brother" by Alex Jeffers:

From Alex’s forthcoming collection of wonder stories You Will Meet a Stranger Far from Home
coming from Lethe Press this July

Publisher's Weekly Reviews Catherine Lundoff's "Silver Moon"!

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:05:21 -0400

They say, “Deft humor, hints of romance, and well-constructed suspense leaven the occasional sturdy earnestness, while the rejection of toned hotties as the embodiment of supernatural power in favor of women whose lives have prepared them with the wisdom for their new role is refreshing.”

Read the rest

Releasing in May: It Takes Two by Elliott Mackle

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:29:53 -0400

February, 1949. Fort Myers, Florida. It started out to be such a nice day. But early morning gunfire at the Royal Plaza Motor Hotel changed all that. One white man is dead. One black man is dead. The white man’s widow has just crashed the investigation and is waving a gun around. Dan Ewing, who isn’t supposed to be there, barely escapes getting shot. Saving his bacon is Lee County detective Bud Wright. Dan and Bud are more than just fishing buddies. But that’s one secret of many in this small town. Dan is the manager of the Caloosa Hotel, a class act if you’re just passing through, but a provider of card games, call girls, mixed drinks and other special ”services” for members of the ultra-private Caloosa Club. This doesn’t sit well with everyone in town, including a wealthy car dealer, the KKK, and Bud Wright, despite the fact that he’s sleeping with Dan. But the car dealer is the dead white man, the black man is the husband of his wife’s former maid, and the sheriff, Bud’s boss, seems determined to steer the investigation off track. So what does the apparent murder-suicide have to do with the Caloosa? Former journalist Elliott Mackle takes this wonderfully realized ”why-done-it” to fascinating levels as he explores the various factions of a small southern town facing the giant implications of a rapidly changing society in the postwar years. IT TAKES TWO, Mackle’s first novel and a Lambda Literary Award finalist returns to print.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Latest-News-from-Lethe-Press.html?soid=1102184415560&aid=ZBVwhi5i8es

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:07:28 -0400

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Latest-News-from-Lethe-Press.html?soid=1102184415560&aid=ZBVwhi5i8es:

EVENT: Divining Divas editor Michael Montlack in NYC 4.28

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:59:08 -0400

This weekend Montlack is inviting friends and lovers of these magical women to join him in the release of his book Divining Divas. Next Saturday, April 28th starting at 9pm at elmo, join Montlack in the celebration of this tome dedicated to divas and the men that love them.

Here is Montlack’s poem about Stevie Nicks:

“And wouldn’t you love to love her?” -Stevie Nicks

platforms

like a mare on thoroughbred legs:

some towering foal

still teetering

on a previous life’s terrain

her rasp:

those boot soles

scraping sandy gravel,

lightly lapping

rain-softened leaves

shawls

lending shape to a breezy ghostess

delighted by her own sheets,

how they billow

the pose

of white arms extended

as sheer capes unfold

sorrows, secrets, hiding places

for the invisible

an icon:

childless

fairy godmother

mothering

the fairy child

—Michael Montlack

Special subscription offer for ICARUS: The Magazine of Gay Speculative Fiction

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:58:32 -0400

Do you like speculative fiction? Enjoy the work of such award-winning writers as Richard Bowes, Sandra McDonald or Joel Lane? How about Alex Jeffers or Rod Santos? Do you like seeing a wide-range of voices depicting a variety of gay male characters? Serious fiction, articles and reviews?

Then ICARUS is for you!

Alas, my little magazine does not reach as many readers as I’d like. Which is a disappointment for the authors who I publish.

So, to remedy this, for today only, new subscribers can purchase a one-year subscription to the print edition (4 issues) for only $13!

Click here to take advantage of this offer!

Sneak peak of the cover of TOUCH OF THE SEA, edited by Steve...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:38:22 -0400

Sneak peak of the cover of TOUCH OF THE SEA, edited by Steve Berman

Greek myths held that Oceanus to be a massive river surrounding the land. A Titan, son of sky and earth, he was depicted as a handsome, muscular man whose torso ended in a scaled tail. As the Olympians emerged, Oceanus retreated, his domain restricted to strange and dangerous shores, the realm of sailors’ fortunes and worries.

So, too, are the eleven tales within the pages of The Touch of the Sea: fantastical, at times eerie, with sightings of mermen, water spirits, and sea beasts (even the fabled “living island,” the aspidochelone) as well as a smattering of pirates. What makes these stories memorable is that they reveal the masculinity of the sea, the taste of brine on another man’s lips.

Become mates with such award-winning authors as Joel Lane and Jeff Mann, seasoned storytellers ‘Nathan Burgoine, Chaz Brenchley, and Alex Jeffers—and a wide array of coxswains: Brandon Cracraft, Jonathan Harper, John Howard, Vincent Kovar, Matt Merendo, Damon Shaw—under the helm of editor Steve Berman.

Now out….THE HEART’S HISTORY by Lewis...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:52:44 -0400

Now out….THE HEART’S HISTORY by Lewis DeSimone….

Critical Praise:

This is Edward—architect, friend, lover, mystery. Everyone has their own Edward—a kaleidoscope of images struggling to define a man who has never let anyone get too close. But now, Edward is dying, and all of his loved ones are desperate to understand him, to connect fully with him, before it’s too late. In this beautiful and haunting novel, Lewis DeSimone, author of the acclaimed Chemistry, explores the hidden depths of love, and the struggle to maintain a balance between connection and individuality. Set against the backdrop of a sea change in gay culture—when proud defiance struggles against a drive for assimilation—The Heart’s History paints a compelling portrait of a man and a community on the cusp of a critical transition.

Lewis DeSimone’s beautiful novel captures the many facets of contemporary gay life, from sharp humor, long-lasting friendships, and the urban club scene to the insecurities of aging, the uncertainties of romance, and the agonies of a loved one’s loss. It also illuminates a difficult and inescapable truth: we mortals are all elusive mysteries, all in the end unknowable, but that mystery is the very fuel of love.

—Jeff Mann, author of Fog: A Novel of Desire and Reprisal and Purgatory: A Novel of the Civil War

With admirable sensitivity, Lewis DeSimone reaches deep into a close community of friends to explore the textured lives of gay men, their urgencies haunted by the traumas and anxieties of the past, illuminated by their current (sometimes troubled) affinities and relationships. At the center of this circle is the endearing couple, Robert and Edward, their touching story a catalyst that allows those near them (including the reader) to consider the power of commitment, the grace of forgiveness. The Heart’s History is a stunning portrait of love.

—Rigoberto González, author of The Mariposa Club and Butterfly Boy

Lewis DeSimone’s The Heart’s History is a novel of trouble and wonder. It moves in unexpected directions and looks into the complicated, real-life struggles that lesser writers tend to simplify or avoid. It is adult in its scope, and generous in its understanding of how loss changes us as both groups and individuals. As soon as I finished, I wanted to start reading all over again.

—Paul Lisicky, author of Lawnboy and The Burning House

Lewis DeSimone is a great writer. His prose is thoughtful, deep, layered and real. His characters are living. It’s about love and sex and AIDS, about human connection and the ultimate unknowability of another person. It’s about the slow assimilation of a larger gay culture that used to be more angry and badass. It’s a really good book written by a very skilled author.

—Michelle Tea, author of Valencia and Rose of No Man’s Land

In The Heart’s History Lewis DeSimone gives us a profoundly moving story about reaching out and pulling back, about intimacy and mystery, written in shapely and nuanced prose. Even better, it also reminds us of important truths about life, gay and otherwise: that time changes everything, that love changes shape, and that friendship can change a world, if we let it. That makes it a book to read closely, with tenderness … and repeatedly.

—Peter Dubé, author of Hovering World and Subtle Bodies

Edge reviews CRIMES ON LATIMER by DeMarco

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:47:14 -0400

Joseph R.G. DeMarco takes a look into the formative years of his gay detective character, Marco Fontana, in this teasing collection of short murder mysteries.

Read the rest of the review!

Out in Print interviews Catherine Lundoff, author of the forthcoming werewolf novel Silver Moon

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:00:18 -0400

Catherine Lundoff is the award-winning author of the lesbian erotica collections Night’s Kiss (Lethe Press, 2009) and Crave (Lethe Press, 2007) as well as the fantasy collection A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2011). Her novel Silver Moon: A Women of Wolf’s Point Novel will be released from Lethe Press in May, 2012. She is the editor of Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008) and the co-editor, with JoSelle Vanderhooft, of the anthology Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic (Lethe Press, 2011). In her other lives, she’s a professional computer geek, the spouse of her fabulous wife and an occasional teacher of writing classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Website: www.catherinelundoff.com

Read the rest of the interview!

Review of Jeff Mann's novel PURGATORY!

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:04:21 -0400

Review Erastes says:

Mann’s writing combines elegance and earthiness in realistic passages that move the action along swiftly and dramatically. A professor at Virginia Tech, Mann has taught such courses as Appalachian folk culture, gay and lesbian literature and creative writing. His familiarity with Southern history and American lit enrich and color the narrative. Whether intended or not, the cast of characters recalls that of Melville’s Billy Budd, with Drew the Billy-Christ martyr figure, George the repressed Claggart and Sarge an unreflecting Captain Vere. The novel’s last page, in which the lovers try to imagine the future, calls to mind nothing less than Prior Walter’s blessing in the final scene of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

Read the rest of the review!

sffic: Sleeping Beauty, Indeed, JoSelle Vanderhooft (editor),...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:20:35 -0400

sffic:

Sleeping Beauty, Indeed, JoSelle Vanderhooft (editor), Lethe Press, 2009.

“Fairy tales have long intrigued readers. They’re the first stories we remember, and they resonate within us as adults. In Sleeping Beauty, Indeed, editor JoSelle Vanderhooft offers us a new take on an ancient theme: fairy tales from a lesbian perspective. From Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, from original myths by talented authors to classics retold with a deft hand, these tales are by turn erotic and sensuous, loving and wicked. Take a bite of the magic apple and make this anthology your bedtime story tonight.”

Reviews:

Bibliophile Stalker

Good Lesbian Books

Ferine

The second review of BEYOND BINARY is up at io9!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:04:00 -0400

Reviewer Charlie Jane Anders says:

With a themed anthology, whether it’s a book of zombie stories or a book of “Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Science Fiction” like this one, I usually consider it a win if I really like about half the stories in the book — it’s really hard for a group of stories to conform to a theme and rock my world, for various reasons. And on those terms, this book is a definite win — at least half the stories in here really bowled me over, and the ones that I was less excited by were still at least thought-provoking or left me with a few mental images or fascinating phrases stuck in my head.

Read the rest of the review here!

Coming from BrazenHead/Lethe this summer: Green Thumb by Tom Cardamone!

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:48:14 -0400

Green Thumb by Tom Cardamone, second in the BrazenHead series of exceptional novellas of queer speculative fiction.

Mutability blooms in the Florida Keys after the Red War. The genie boxes created King Pelicans with single human hands to rule the ruins of half-drowned Miami…and other, stranger persons. Slavers roam the deep waters offshore, taking captives to feed the voracious Kudzu Army and the human aqueduct bearing fresh water from Lake Okeechobee. On the last stretch of the Overseas Highway still standing, an albino seeress prophesies: “You will reach for the sun while staying rooted to the ground. But I fear your shadow will be much too long.”

Misunderstanding time, Leaf has lived for decades alone in a collapsing Victorian house on a desolate sandy key, feeding on sunlight and dew. When at last he meets a boy like—but so unlike!—himself, Leaf’s startling journey begins.

A post-apocalyptic, psychoactive pastorale, Green Thumb will pollinate your mind and wind its way into your heart like kudzu.

A&U Magazine reviews DIVINING DIVAS

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:07:52 -0400

A&U Magazine reviews DIVINING DIVAS:

From the Review:

There are a handful of poems that address HIV/AIDS: Jeffrey Berg’s tribute to Elizabeth Taylor (“Elizabeth in the Mirror”); Peter Covino’s homage to Patti Labelle (“Changes: Technological and Providential”); Steven Cordova’s “plea” to Bette Midler (“Encore”); and Douglas Ray’s nod to the “charms” of Julia Sugarbaker, a.k.a. Dixie Carter (“Designed Diva”)—a personal favorite of mine having worked with Ms. Carter during her Designing Women days, and remembering how sharp that sultry Southern drawl could be.

Read the rest of the review!

Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction gets a Starred Review in Pubishers Weekly!

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:34:05 -0400

Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction gets a Starred Review in Pubishers Weekly!:

Bio of Scot D. Ryersson, one of the authors in the new issue of Icarus!

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:57:03 -0400

Throughout Scot D. Ryersson’s thirty-year career he has designed multi-award- winning graphics for numerous major Hollywood and international films, including The Silence of the Lambs, Ghost, and Witness. In 2007, he created Arcanifacts, his mixed-media, assemblage pieces, to further explore his artistic obsessions with the arcane and phantasmagorical. Ryersson is also the author of numerous critiques and essays on film and literature, as well as the novellas “Poisoned Ivy,” “The Arsenic Flower,” the short story, “Summer’s Lease” and the forthcoming novella “Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know.” His poetry has appeared in The New Yorker. With Michael Orlando Yaccarino, Ryersson is co-author of the internationally best-selling biography Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati and a play based upon it; the decadent fairy tale The Princess of Wax; and most recently The Marchesa Casati.

Preview (and buy!) the Spring 2012 issue of Icarus, the Magazine of Gay Speculative Fiction!

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:41:14 -0400

In this issue, the finale of Scot D. Ryersson’s Victorian-era dark fantasy novella, “The Arsenic Flower,” will not disappoint; our handsome friend across the pond, James Bennett, offers readers a story of fate and regret dealt to the man in “Half Light House”; Alex Jeffers provides the next installment in his cycle of tales about the fey teen Liam’s coming-of-age struggles in “Liam and His Dads”; a frustrated writer on a lonely drive is haunted by a voice “On the Radio” by Warren Rochelle; and, in honor of our gorgeous cover android, there’s a story from Lethe Press publisher Steve Berman involving teenage boys and robots. Plus all our usual sweets—reviews, gossip, and Tom Cardamone’s column on forgotten gay books.

sffic: Engines of Desire, Livia Llewellyn, Lethe Press,...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:24:13 -0400

sffic:

Engines of Desire, Livia Llewellyn, Lethe Press, 2011.

“Death and pleasure. Freud’s Todestrieb, his statement that ”libido has the task of making the destroying instinct innocuous, and it fulfils the task by diverting that instinct to a great extent outwards….The instinct is then called the destructive instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power.” Few authors have spun stories of Thanatos and Eros as skillfully and powerfully as Livia Llewellyn. In his introduction to this volume, Laird Barron writes ”Scant difference exists between exquisite pleasure and pain.” An orphan girl with a mind for anthracite falls into the hands of a cult worshipping an entombed god. In the Pacific Northwest, evergreens lull prepubescent girls into their trunks to serve as wombs. A suburban housewife troubled by her present encounters the sixteen year-old girl she ached to touch in her dreams. These ten stories promise to indulge a reader’s sensibilities, their fears and desires.”

Reviews:

Strange Horizons

Publishers Weekly

Bibliophile Stalker

Chiaroscuro

Shroud Magazine

GriffinWords

Risingshadow

Innsmouth Free Press

Grim Reviews

Tor