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Friday, June 24
7pm Jeremy Atherton Lin author of Gay Bar: Why We Went Out As gay bars continue to close at an alarming rate, a writer looks back to find out what’s being lost in this indispensable, intimate, and stylish celebration of queer history.
Strobing lights and dark rooms; throbbing house and drag queens on counters; first kisses, last call: the gay bar has long been a place of solidarity and sexual expression—whatever your scene, whoever you’re seeking. But in urban centers around the world, they are closing, a cultural demolition that has Jeremy Atherton Lin wondering: What was the gay bar? How have they shaped him? And could this spell the end of gay identity as we know it? |
In Gay Bar, the author embarks upon a transatlantic tour of the hangouts that marked his life, with each club, pub, and dive revealing itself to be a palimpsest of queer history. In prose as exuberant as a hit of poppers and dazzling as a disco ball, he time-travels from Hollywood nights in the 1970s to a warren of cruising tunnels built beneath London in the 1770s; from chichi bars in the aftermath of AIDS to today’s fluid queer spaces; through glory holes, into Crisco-slicked dungeons and down San Francisco alleys. He charts police raids and riots, posing and passing out—and a chance encounter one restless night that would change his life forever.
The journey that emerges is a stylish and nuanced inquiry into the connection between place and identity—a tale of liberation, but one that invites us to go beyond the simplified Stonewall mythology and enter lesser-known battlefields in the struggle to carve out a territory. Elegiac, randy, and sparkling with wry wit, Gay Bar is at once a serious critical inquiry, a love story and an epic night out to remember. |
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July 7th, 7pm
Alec Scott author of Until It Shimmers Canadian man wrestles with his family heritage and his adult life as a gay man in this debut novel.
Scott is a clever writer, luxuriating in the meticulous details of his characters and elaborating on the wisps of gossip overheard at dinner parties. While maintaining the book’s brisk pacing and solid focus on its compelling protagonist, the author allows Ned to share the narrative stage with other characters who will draw readers in with their great impact on the hero’s life and future. Fond references to the works of Evelyn Waugh, Oscar Wilde, and others lend the narrative an acute sense of literary sophistication. Ultimately, Scott’s novel paints a vivid portrait of a man riding the first big wave of self-awareness based not on the legends of those tortured souls of the past but on the thrilling potential of what lies ahead. A potent, vigorous coming-of-age tale featuring themes of identity, sexual liberation, and introspection. |
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Perfectly Queer presents:
Hans M. Hirschi author of Michel: Fallen Angel of Paris & Kirstin Chen author of Counterfeit |
Counterfeit
A con artist story, a pop-feminist caper, a fashionable romp. Fun! Pass the popcorn. Except nothing in this novel is what it seems. Make no mistake, Counterfeit is an entertaining, luxurious read--but beneath its glitz and flash, it is also a shrewd deconstruction of the American dream and the myth of the model minority. - Camille Perri, NY Times Michel: Fallen Angel of Paris PA story of one young man, one of countless victims of a pandemic still claiming lives every day, almost forty years after his death on a park bench in Paris. It's also a story about the most unlikely of friendships, connections across time and space, acceptance, redemption, and learning to love and to be loved for who you are. |
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Monday
July 18th 7pm Rob Osler author of Devil's Chew Toy A Mystery |
"Seattle teacher and part-time blogger Hayden McCall wakes sporting one hell of a shiner, with the police knocking at his door. It seems that his new crush, dancer Camilo Rodriguez, has gone missing and they suspect foul play. What happened the night before? And where is Camilo? Determined to find answers, pint-sized, good-hearted Hayden seeks out two of Camilo's friends-Hollister and Burley-both lesbians and both fiercely devoted to their friend hem, Hayden learns that Camilo is a Dreamer whose parents had been deported years earlier, and whose sister, Daniela, is presumed to have returned to Venezuela with them. Convinced that the cops wont take a brown boy's disappearance seriously, the girls join Haydens hunt for Camilo."
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Tuesday
July 19, 7pm Conner Habib author of Hawk Mountain |
An English teacher is gaslit by his charismatic high school bully in this tense story of deception, manipulation, and murder.
Single father Todd is relaxing at the beach with his son, Anthony, when he catches sight of a man approaching from the water’s edge. As the man draws closer, Todd recognizes him as Jack, who bullied Todd relentlessly in their teenage years but now seems overjoyed to have “run into” his old friend. Jack suggests a meal to catch up. And can he spend the night? What follows is a fast-paced story of obsession and cunning. As Jack invades Todd’s life, pain and intimidation from the past unearth knife-edge suspense in the present. Both gruesome and tender, Hawk Mountain offers a compelling look at how love and hate are indissoluble, intertwined until the last breath. |
We are now accepting proposals for readings & book release parties. FYI: We don't hold events on Wednesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays; event organizers will be responsible for all publicity; and much as we'd like to host everybody, we must be very selective as we are a small space with a small staff. To discuss events, email or call the store and ask for Alvin.