"1981: My Gay American Road Trip," a journal of music and queer culture historian JD Doyle's cross-country trip to 29 cities in 24 states, shares a bounty of stories from our collective past, including San Francisco's pre-AIDS heyday.

From music to dance and theater, our readers have shared their favorites in the Besties once again. Here's what they have to say this go-round in the performing arts.

The fall theater season continues at a fast and furious pace, with plenty of openings still to come. Here are a few productions that should be on your radar.

Against the odds, by concentrating on its author, Anne Eekhout's new novel, "Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein" (translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson), makes Mary Shelley's life story more involving than most revisited novels based on classics.

Written by his younger sister, Christine, this biography of Wiccan trailblazer Scott Cunningham (1956-1993) is a fitting and loving tribute to a queer man who helped usher witchcraft into the mainstream.

Mark Abramson's sequel of sorts, 'Laughing Matters: Pandemic Diaries from Castro Street 2021-2022' pushes forward from his previous diary-book when the author roamed the empty Castro district where bars and restaurants were closed by the city.

This month, San Francisco audiences can see two of the brainiest comics currently working in full-length solo shows: queer British entertainer Eddie Izzard, and rising star Alex Edelman.

"We Are Tenacious," billed as a classic story of American perseverance, features transgender Alpaca rancher Penny Logue and her dedicated band of queer ranchers who endured threats from a local rightwing militia.

The ReOrient Festival of Short Plays, running at Potrero Stage includes three productions of works by queer and nonbinary Middle Eastern playwrights with a focus on LGBTQ characters.

Along with the currently running "Rocky Horror Show" and the upcoming Anthony Rapp musical, "Without You" (see our features in this week's issue), we've also got art exhibits, music concerts, plus bar and nightclub listings in Going Out, each week.

From October 19-22 actor Anthony Rapp, whose career took off when he was cast as Mark Cohen in the now classic musical "Rent," will bring his solo musical "Without You" to the Curran Theater.

Alvin Orloff knows good books. And he's written one, too, with his fourth novel about a group of queer San Francisco residents who feel the pinch of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

Justin Torres deploys fluid, engaging writing throughout his new novel, "Blackouts," that's far from frivolous but not shy of hilarity when warranted. In a way all its own, it's a consistent pleasure to read.

The new groundbreaking poetry collection "The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals," Mimi Tempestt's second book, is being released October 3 by City Lights Books. Since 2017, she has been an integral part of the Bay Area poetry scene.