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| QUEER DHARMA Voices of Gay Buddhists Volume 1 Edited by Winston Leyland. $19.95 paperback. (0-940567-22-9), 416 pp. $50.00 hardcover. (0-940567-21-0) Over thirty-five writers and fifty separate works are featured in this illustrated, ground-breaking book of 416 pages with articles from various Buddhist traditions (Vipassana, Zen, Tibetan). An Introduction by the editor is followed by Kobai Scott Whitney's "Vast Sky and White Clouds: Is There a Gay Buddhism?" Queer Dharma has six major sections: |
 Read excerpt from book |
 BUDDHISM
& HOMOSEXUALITY: HISTORICAL ESSAYS: Includes article on same-sex sexuality
at the time of the Buddha; also historical articles on homosexuality in
Japanese and Thai Buddhism.THE DHARMA AND GAY LIFE: PERSONAL ACCOUNTS: Gay people write about their sexuality and spiritual life and how they've integrated the two in such pieces as: "Practicing Together as a Gay Couple," "Wisdom Mind Meets Gay Sexuality," "Gurus and Lovers," "Zen in Black Leather", "Homophobia and Spiritual Teachers," "Coming Out Into Dharma Bliss," "Grief and the Path to Awakening," "Two Meditations," "Stories About My Teacher Issan Dorsey Roshi," "Buddhism, Healing and Gayness: A Personal Journey," "Surviving High School". INTERVIEW
WITH POET AND TIBETAN BUDDHIST JOHN
GIORNO: He speaks frankly about gay lovemaking in Buddhist monasteries,
about the recent statements of the Dalai Lama, about the AIDS project
he has coordinated, about his practice of thirty years, and about his
teacher, Dudjom
Rinpoche, one of the greatest Tibetan
Buddhist spiritual masters of the century. CONTEMPORARY BUDDHISM AND HOMOSEXUALITY: Articles by a wide range of writers, including Jeffrey Hopkins' "Reason and Orgasm in Tibetan Buddhism," Zen teacher Charles Koren Baker's "Zen and Gay Love," Mark Marion's "Gay Male Intimacy and the Dharma," Clint Seiter's "Applying Buddhist Dharma to Casual Sex," Dennis Conkin's "The Dalai Lama and Gay Love," Tom Moon's "Obstacles to Intimacy in Gay Male Relationships: A Buddhist Perspective," Myo Denis Lahey's "Queer at Heart: Dharma Practice and the 'Gay Self.'"GAY FICTION ON BUDDHIST THEMES: From the 17th century love letter by a monk to a young man ("The Monk from Kyoto Who Hated Cherry Blossoms"), to recent fiction ("A Window in the Wall"). QUEER DHARMA POETRY: Includes six poems by Allen Ginsberg ("Why I Meditate," "Thoughts Sitting Breathing II" etc.) plus prose piece "Allen Ginsberg on Buddhism and Gayness," poems by other writers (Richard Ronan's "Buddha's Kisses,"
Trebor's "Make My Boyfriend a Buddha") ...
"Thought-provoking and satisfying...the book provides convincing evidence
that the Buddhist sangha, or community, has put down solid roots
in the U.S., and that gay people are among its most committed and passionate
members." --Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review
"Groundbreaking and intensely moving book..." --Issanji
"Buddhism can help Gay men--not by giving a definition, but by teaching
us a new way to being aware of ourselves and the world . . . Queer
Dharma is a rich resource for gay men who are searching for ways to
integrate their spiritual and emotional/sexual lives." --Gay
Buddhist Fellowship Newsletter
"Queer Dharma is a phenomenon -- the first anthology ever that
mixes the gritty experience of being gay in America with the nuances and
flavors of Buddhism. It's an exciting book simply because it presents
perspectives that are completely new. Our favorite themes of love and
sex are at center stage, but so too are the Buddhist notions of suffering
and the release from suffering. What gay man over 23 doesn't see the connection?"
--Larry White, Bay Area Reporter
"Over 35 gay men have contributed to this anthology of fiction, poetry,
art, scholarship, and personal testimony about what it means to be a gay
Buddhist practitioner." --Tricycle
"In the article 'Practicing Together as a Gay Couple' I met Michael C.
Hyman, a gay Zen Buddhist and father, who somehow makes domesticity seem
profoundly heroic ... Part 2 also includes pieces on coming out, love
and loss, recovery, SM, casual sex, working with the dying, and the much-loved
queer teacher Issan Dorsey." --Turning Wheel, Journal of the Buddhist
Peace Fellowship
"Queer Dharma is truly a banquet of tastes touching on many common
experiences we have as gay men. To read it leads you to experience parts
of your own life again with a fresh perspective. It is a wonderful contribution
to ending the sense of separation we feel when we are alone on a spiritual
path. This book should be on every gay man's bookshelf and be part of
the path to Buddha which is your own true larger self." --Alan Oliver,
White Crane (Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality)
"Remember that feeling when you found out there were millions of other
people 'like that'? You can get it again reading this book. Yes, there
are other Gay Buddhists! This book is soaked with love, compassion, strength,
and clarityall the way through. It gave me so much hope I couldn't stop
reading it, hugging it, reading it, hugging it...." --online review
by Carlitos"BuddhaDharma in 10 Minutes" -- a charming but very profound overview of the spiritual power of Buddhism. |
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 Read excerpt from book |
BLACK MEN WHITE MEN Afro American Gay Life and Culture Edited by Michael J. Smith. $15.95 paperback (0-917342-28-3), 240 pp. For the first time, the Afro-American and interracial gay experience: a collection of short stories, personal reminiscences, interviews, political articles, photos, poems, drawings -- from the most scholarly to the most explicit by 43 writers/artists. Re-issue of a gay classic. |
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Includes work such as "The Double Life of a Gay Dodger," [on a black baseball player];
"Smoke, Lilies and Jade" -- a short story by Harlem Renaissance writer Bruce Nugent;
"T'ain't Nobody's Bizness: Homosexuality in 1920s Harlem," by Eric Garber; "Racism in the Gay Press," "Struggles of a Black Gay Pentecostal," work by world-famous writer Langston Hughes, and much more......"A pioneering anthology...this book is a challenge, a mirror to hold up to ourselves." --New York Native |
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 Read excerpt from book |
OUT OF THE BLUE: Russia's Hidden Gay Literature Edited by Kevin Moss. $19.95 paperback (0-940567-20-2), 416 pp. $50.00 limited hardcover in dustjacket (0-940567-19-9) RUSSIA COMES OUT For 70 years, Soviet culture's pervasive censorship, homophobia and criminalization made taboo any mention of homosexuality or sex between men. Even during the last decade, until the repeal of Russia's Article 121 in 1993, studying gay topics was potentially dangerous. |
| The invisibility of gay-themed
writings has been so great that, if asked where to look for gay themes
in Russian literature, most non-specialists today would probably exhaust
their knowledge by pointing to Mikhail Kuzmin, the openly gay poet
of the early 20th century (such as his marvelous gay poem "Antinous")
and author of the first gay novel in Russian, Wings. However,
censorship and criminalization do not invisibility make, forever.Out of the Blue shatters the invisibility barrier. Edited by Professor Kevin Moss of Middlebury College, Vermont, Out of the Blue, is a pioneering collection of literature on gay themes by 30 writers--from the early 19th century to the post-glasnost "New Russia" superbly rendered into English by 17 translators. The introduction, by Professor Simon Karlinsky, gives historical background from the 10th century on, as well as an in-depth discussion of 19th and 20th century gay writing. This essay helps the reader understand just why gay writers and themes became so widely accepted during the last pre-Revolution decade and why they were so quickly rejected again after the Revolution of 1917.Out of the Blue is divided chronologically into four sections. The divisions correspond roughly to traditional literary periods, but more importantly, they also parallel political changes that affected gay life as well as changes in the ways gay Russians conceived of themselves. Part One: Gay Themes in Golden Age Literature (19th century) includes several of its most famous authors (Pushkin, Tolstoy, etc.). Not surprisingly, many of the materials in this section have been marginalized in various ways, or the selections themselves marginalize homosexuality by setting it in another culture or restricting it to a childhood phase.
Part Two: The First Flowering of Gay Culture, demonstrates the explosion of gay literature in the Silver Age--early 20th century (Kuzmin, Esenin, Klyuev, etc.). The flowering of gay culture at the beginning of the 20th century was to be short-lived, however. In 1933, homosexuality was criminalized anew under Stalin. Given the strict censorship, it is not surprising that no gay-themed works were published in Russia until glasnost relaxed the controls. Instead, homosexuality became one of the many themes banished to underground writing.
Part Three: Hidden from View, offers a glimpse into the lives and writings of six authors who, from the 1920's to the 1980's, found themselves relegated to underground or emigré writing (Kharitonov, Pereleshin, etc.). Part Four: Gay Life Reborn, shows the post-Soviet proliferation of gay-themed materials, and is the most eclectic. In this section is a wealth of material from the first gay journals: stories, poems, letters, as well as gay-themed work by such prominent writers as Makanin and Aksyonov.
Out of the Blue provides a provocative look at the hidden side of Russian society. Perhaps what is most striking is that the emotional landscape covered in these writings is so familiar, running the full gamut from self-hatred to righteous anger, from passionate love to unrequited lust, from sentimental self-pity to camp wit. These selections show the range and richness of the gay experience for Russians over the past two centuries.
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"An important book ... a major contribution not only to the development
of a Russian gay culture but to the recovery of Russia's lost literature."
--Lambda Book Report
"A page-turner...leaves the reader with an understanding of how it
was, and still is, to be gay in Russia." --Library Journal
"Taking its name from the Russian slang for 'gay' (goluboi,
'blue'), this pioneering anthology includes a broad range of genres
beginning with a gay-friendly poem by Pushkin." --Choice
"Beautifully written..." --The Washington Blade
"This volume is addressed to the average reader who wants to discover
more about gay life in Russia while simultaneously trying to appreciate
its past and future. The translations are excellent and a pleasure
to read. The variety of authors represented make this volume a spectacular
overview of the gay Russian experience." --Slavic and East European
Journal For more information on Out of the Blue, including excerpts and photos, go to the website of editor Kevin Moss. Read in-depth review of Out of the Blue in Gay Today. |
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| PARTINGS AT DAWN An Anthology of Japanese Gay Literature Edited by Stephen Miller. $19.95 paperback (0-940567-18-0) 352 pp. $50.00 limited hardcover in dustjacket (9-940567-17-2) 800 years of Japanese gay writing are included in this illustrated in-depth collection--from the loves of the samurai to 20th century writers such as Yukio Mishima, Mutsuo Takahashi. Entirely in English translation. "The
collection might serve well in a class on gender or sexuality. Certainly
almost every 'hot-button' issue is hit in one or more of the stories:
sodomy, incest, cross-dressing, narcissism, sadism, masochism, religious
guilt and so on--a collection [which] succeeds admirably."--The Journal of Asian Studies |
 Read excerpt from book |
| "Partings
at Dawn was fifteen years in the making and is a valuable contribution
to gay literature." --R F.D.
"The list of translators is impressive and includes many who have
helped introduce Japanese literature to the English-speaking world."
--Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.
"The collective respect for sound scholarship and readable translation
... has resulted in an an anthology of extraordinary richness and
variety. The book brings to light a broad range of narrative prose
and poetry, provides important insights into the history of Japanese
sexuality, and gives the reader humor, pleasure, and food for thought.
Finally, the unabashedly sexual graphic content of several of the
selections and many of the beautiful illustrations stand in welcome
contrast to other literary works that claim the Japanese are given
to only 'subtle eroticism'." --Monumenta Nipponica (Journal on Japanese culture), Sophia University, Tokyo. Read in-depth review of Partings at Dawn in Gay Today. |
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