Books by Gay Men – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O’Brien

A Black woman's (my) hand holds the paperback of Can You Sign My Tentacle up in front of a fancy hotel elevator. The cover depicts an elder God, half human half writhing tentacles, eyes fathomless, purple dreadlocks poppin', holding a sharpie marker in one outstretched, ageless hand.

(Buy this book.) The author of this speculative poetry collection is from Trinidad and Tobago. I’ve never been there, but I imagine that being islands, there are beaches there, with waves that flow across the sand and lap against the rocks in the same way that these poems flow across your eyes and lap againstContinue reading “[REVIEW] Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O’Brien”

[REVIEW] Black Vans, by Alex Smith and James Dillenbeck

There are two comic books laying on a multicolored confetti rug--Black Vans issue 1&2. The covers depict Bo, a chubby Black superhero''s helper in techie combat gear, in various action poses.

(Buy this directly from the artist’s NSFW website here.) I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what I should tell you first about this cool, colorful indie comic. Maybe it’s that these are INDIE-indie books. I literally bought them out of a backpack in a nightclub. It was the writer’s backpack, but still…Continue reading “[REVIEW] Black Vans, by Alex Smith and James Dillenbeck”

[Reading Challenge] Read #BlackJoy for #PrideMonth

(To skip straight to a booklist of Black Pride and joy, click here.) Y’all knew this was coming, right? I’m not an ally, I’m an accomplice. In the roughest, toughest parts of my non-ambiguously Black nerd femme life, my gay, lesbian, trans, and non-binary fam have always jumped in the trenches with me, helped meContinue reading “[Reading Challenge] Read #BlackJoy for #PrideMonth”

[REVIEW] The Chiffon Trenches, by Andre Leon Talley

(Buy this book here.) I was a very casual fan of the iconic fashion editor Andre Leon Talley. I remember seeing him on television shows in the 90s and early 2000s and being struck by his grandiosity. I also noticed him because even then I had a laser eye for #ownnormal fam living their biggest and bestContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Chiffon Trenches, by Andre Leon Talley”

[Booklist] And No-one Kills The Black Boy: A Selection of Black Boy Heroes

A young Black boy sits against a white wall with a notebook and pencil in his hands, staring into space pensively

Black boys are precious. Let me say that again. Black boys, and the men they grow into, are precious. It happens to be International Men’s Day today. As a result, the internet is full of Things About Men, good, bad, political, personal, and all points in between. I find myself thinking about the men IContinue reading “[Booklist] And No-one Kills The Black Boy: A Selection of Black Boy Heroes”

[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass

A tablet is held up by a pale, ghostly arm in a dark cityscape. It displays the cover of The Taking Of Jake Livingston, which shows a terrified teenage Black boy in a school uniform staring off into space.

(Buy it from Bookshop) 16 year old Jake Livingston can see ghosts–but that’s not the most interesting thing about this book. Jake is also at the intersection of a lot of difficult life positions, and like most YA protagonists, his main goal is to figure himself out. He’s one of only two Black kids atContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Taking of Jake Livingston, by Ryan Douglass”

[REVIEW] Represent! #1: It’s A Bird! written by Christian Cooper

A tablet with the cover of the comic Represent! It's A Bird displayed

🐦⠀Chris Cooper should be famous for being Marvel Comics’ first openly gay writer and editor, for introducing some of the first canon gay characters in major comic books, and for his editing work on Blade, The Punisher, and Star Trek comics.⠀🐥⠀Instead, on May 25th, 2020, the same day that George Floyd was killed, Cooper becameContinue reading “[REVIEW] Represent! #1: It’s A Bird! written by Christian Cooper”

[BOOKLIST] Pride Month Reads 2020: A Wrap-Up and Booklist

Happy Pride Month, fellow readers! The genesis of LGBTQIA+ Pride is a long story that begins before the 1969 Stonewall riots and still continues today. Notably, in 1970 a bisexual woman named Brenda Howard first proposed a Pride march to celebrate and take joy in queer identities and the rest is history. I’m not goingContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] Pride Month Reads 2020: A Wrap-Up and Booklist”

[REVIEW] Slave Play, Jeremy O. Harris

(Buy it HERE.) “I think it’s really important to reiterate that what we all just explored was incredibly difficult and triggering, but it was also fantasy.“ For the month of March I gave myself the stealth challenge to only read works written by women. However, a friend who reads far more than I do gotContinue reading “[REVIEW] Slave Play, Jeremy O. Harris”

[REVIEW] Invisible Life, E. Lynn Harris

(Buy it HERE.) Raymond Tyler Jr. is Black, middle-class, and upwardly mobile. He has a job at a hot law firm in NYC, a loving Southern family, a supportive friend group and a really nice apartment. He’s a catch on the dating market, and everyone wants to know when he’ll get married. He’s also inContinue reading “[REVIEW] Invisible Life, E. Lynn Harris”