Arts & Culture :: Books

Duane Scott Cerny: midcentury maven

Duane Scott Cerny: midcentury maven

August 16, 2022 | by Gregg Shapiro

Duane Scott Cerny knows enough about buying and selling vintage artifacts to fill a book; actually, a couple of books, including his latest, "Vintage Confidential — Retro Rattled, Tales Tattled: Confessions of the World's Third Oldest Profession."

Kodo Nishimura's 'This Monk Wears Heels'

Kodo Nishimura's 'This Monk Wears Heels'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Aug 16, 2022

Kodo Nishimura, who describes himself as both ancient and trendy, seems determined to upend any expectations or limits in his mission to promote Buddhist teachings while inspiring people with beauty and fashion.

Rough trade: Kevin Lambert's 'Querelle of Roberval'

Rough trade: Kevin Lambert's 'Querelle of Roberval'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Aug 9, 2022

Canadian author Kevin Lambert's second novel is a heady affair revolving around issues of domination, labor equality, sexuality, and violent exploitation at the hands of a cocksure sex-god-like man named Querelle.

News Briefs: B.A.R.'s Besties voting is now underway

News Briefs: B.A.R.'s Besties voting is now underway

  • by Cynthia Laird
  • Aug 9, 2022

Voting is open for the Bay Area Reporter's readers' poll known as the Besties.

Extra-special: Ryan O'Connell's 'Just By Looking At Him'

Extra-special: Ryan O'Connell's 'Just By Looking At Him'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Aug 9, 2022

2022 has been a triumphant year for Ryan O'Connell. After the gay writer/actor/director/disability advocate's "Special," he costarred in the new "Queer as Folk." His funny new novel should make some critics' lists of the Top Ten Queer novels of the year.

George Platt Lynes' 'Daring Eye'- new biography on pioneering gay photographer

George Platt Lynes' 'Daring Eye'- new biography on pioneering gay photographer

  • by Robert Brokl
  • Aug 9, 2022

Allen Ellenzweig's important new book, "George Platt Lynes: the Daring Eye," reveals far more about the gay photographer and his times, nearly seven decades since his untimely death.

A passage from Pakistan: Taymour Soomro unearths "Other Names for Love"

A passage from Pakistan: Taymour Soomro unearths "Other Names for Love"

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Aug 9, 2022

It's by no means a backhanded compliment to say that, in his debut novel, "Other Names for Love," Taymour Soomro is ace at describing weather.

'Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology' - chilling tales about what it means to be different

'Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology' - chilling tales about what it means to be different

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Aug 2, 2022

Editors Vince Liaguno and Rena Mason, both Bram Stoker Award winners, have put together a chilling collection of original short stories by a diverse group of some of today's biggest names in horror as well as new authors.

Ana Castillo: celebrated author discusses her most personal life lessons

Ana Castillo: celebrated author discusses her most personal life lessons

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Jul 26, 2022

Great books spur readers to grow and discover truths for themselves. Each of Ana Castillo's books delivers just that. In fact, Ana Castillo has been instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ acceptance, particularly within the Hispanic community.

Davey Davis' 'X' - kink at the end of the world

Davey Davis' 'X' - kink at the end of the world

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jul 26, 2022

"How bad could a waterboarding really be if you could get up and walk away afterward?" So posits the spicy protagonist of multi-talented author Davey Davis' kinky dystopian new novel "X".

'A Quilt for David' - Steven Reigns' true crime poetry

'A Quilt for David' - Steven Reigns' true crime poetry

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jul 19, 2022

Steven Reigns, a Los Angeles-based writer who was the first official Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, blends literary genres to stunning effect in his spare and powerful new work, "A Quilt for David."

To hell and back: Sean Hewitt's 'All Down Darkness Wide' makes literature of the memoir

To hell and back: Sean Hewitt's 'All Down Darkness Wide' makes literature of the memoir

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Jul 19, 2022

Getting lost in a relationship; people do it all the time, and it's the matter of some of our greatest literature. Rarer is the chronicle of making it back out, which is both the engine and the heart of Sean Hewitt's luminous new memoir.

D. L. Forbes and 'the unique individual'

D. L. Forbes and 'the unique individual'

  • by Charles Steiner
  • Jul 19, 2022

"Wittgenstein's Son and U. G. Krishnamurti: Ducks or Rabbits" is a deserved subject for discussion as it sums up the Forbes' life, fully and un-ordinarily, in San Francisco while focusing on two major influences.

Cultural exchange: S.W. Leicher's 'Acts of Atonement'

Cultural exchange: S.W. Leicher's 'Acts of Atonement'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jul 12, 2022

S.W. Leicher's second novel, "Acts of Atonement," picks up where her debut, 2018's "Acts of Assumption," left off, featuring Serach and Paloma, two women from disparate cultural backgrounds who embark upon a loving lesbian relationship against all odds.

Zain Khalid's novel "Brother Alive" is bracing magical realism

Zain Khalid's novel "Brother Alive" is bracing magical realism

  • by Timothy Pfaff
  • Jul 12, 2022

"Uncategorizable" is the flavor of the month in gay literary fiction. Even in as genre-free a landscape as that, Zain Khalid's much-anticipated first novel, "Brother Alive," stakes out new territory.

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Popular Stories in Arts

News Briefs: B.A.R.'s Besties voting is now underway

News Briefs: B.A.R.'s Besties voting is now underway

Aug 9, 2022
Rough trade: Kevin Lambert's 'Querelle of Roberval'

Rough trade: Kevin Lambert's 'Querelle of Roberval'

Aug 9, 2022

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