Many gay men find ourselves trapped in a series of no-win situations. If we don't live honestly and openly, we won't have the skills, wisdom, or relationships necessary to manifest our dreams. But when we do come out, we must confront the full force of societal homophobia, and consider a variety of questions:
Can we create family without mimicking the norms of straight society?
How do we cultivate sustainable gay friendships amidst our internalized homophobia?
In a world of hook-up apps and disposable relationships, how do we find lasting love?
A Gay Man's Guide to Life answers these questions. Britt East presents an approachable, no-nonsense path for gay men, to set down the excuses and get to the business of improving their lives. No new-age mumbo jumbo or wishy washy self-help jargon. Just real work focused on real results to unleash our true selves and unlock our best lives.
A Tell-All Memoir Exposes a Hidden Life and Hard-learned Lessons
Southern. Black. Gay. Fatherless. Air Force Veteran. Ordained Methodist Minister. Master of hiding in plain sight. Cedrick Bridgeforth knows what it means to hold, hide, and wrestle with all of these identities. For years Cedrick had taken great pains to shield his full truth from the world. Then one day, at the height of his career, his entire universe came crashing down.
Equal parts preacher, poet, confessor, and consummate storyteller, Alabama Grandson chronicles Cedrick’s hard-fought journey to come to terms with the hidden and sometimes conflicting parts of himself. Bookended by poignant letters to his grandmother, Cedrick vulnerably depicts the suffering caused by denying his truth:
You were the most influential person in my life. Yet as much as I admired and appreciated you, I did not trust you enough to say to you: “I am gay.”
Written over three decades after his grandmother’s death and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alabama Grandson asks as many questions as it answers.
At twenty-three, Felice Cohen was, like other recent college grads, hesitant about entering the real world, with the added stress of coming out in the early nineties. Focused on how to land a full-time position as a writer, falling in love was the last thing on her mind.
But fall in love she did. With her boss, a woman thirty-four years older.
Felice and Sarah embarked on a high-stakes, year-long love affair. Addicted to the high of first love, Felice was enthralled by Sarah's attention and content to hide their love in the shadows. Sarah, meanwhile, threw caution to the wind, risking her comfortably established life that included a prestigious job and long-term girlfriend. Though not perfect, it was enough.
Dustin Brookshire, a finalist for the 2021 Scotti Merrill Award, is the founder/editor of Limp Wrist and curator of the Wild & Precious Life Series, a Zoom based poetry reading series. He is the author of the chapbooks Love Most Of You Too (Harbor Editions, 2021) and To The One Who Raped Me (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012). Dustin’s work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and been published in Assaracus, Whiskey Island, Mollyhouse, The West Review, Oddball, Gulf Stream Magazine, Redheaded Stepchild, SubtleTea, Ocho, Oranges & Sardines, Ouroboros, Qarrtsiluni, Blue Fifth Review, and other publications. He has been anthologized in Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on their Muses (Lethe Press, 2012) and The Queer South: LGBTQ Writes on the American South (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014).
“Every Grain of Sand is a heartbreaking memoir that I could not put down, a story of pain, of the search for one’s place in the world, and of the transformative power of forgiveness. David Wichman has lived a thousand lives—some agonizing, some sublime—and we’re lucky he survived them all with his talent and compassion intact.” —Dave Holmes, writer, producer, and television personality; editor-at-large, Esquire; author of Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs
Sexual healer and entrepreneur David P. Wichman has lived through it all: childhood abuse, foster care, homelessness, survival sex work, and the blackest pits of drug and alcohol addiction. Despite the darkness, he found a profound sense of purpose as a male escort, but not the type of provider often seen in the news. His approach to sex work transcended common shame-based belief systems as he brought compassionate intimacy to marginalized men, including the elderly, disabled, and traumatized, illustrating a universal need for true connection.
After white-collar crime landed him in jail, David resolved to finally conquer the sense of brokenness that had been driving him to self-destruction throughout his life. In his moving memoir, he recounts how his recovery and spiritual journey have revealed to him his inherent wholeness and worth, a message of love and belonging that he now carries to others. Every Grain of Sand is a celebration of restoration to a life of joy, gratitude, and wonder.
Kiss My Mike is a memoir about navigating the complex world of being a gay Filipino immigrant in America. It tells the story of how a young boy from the Philippines, who grew up obsessing about Pop Culture, went through a journey of self-discovery, rejection, and acceptance. At its very core, Kiss My Mike is about navigating sexuality and finding one’s identity, interwoven with the pursuit of the American dream, the pressures of a religious Catholic family, and the ultimate quest for love.
When He Was Anna: A Mom's Journey Into the Transgender World is a mother's brutally honest story of the stress and confusion that consumed her family in the early years of her child's transition from female to male.
In the end, there is one certainty--the struggle is real; so is the love.
