-
Tom Cardamone, Joe Phillips, Charles “Zan” Christensen, Steven Bereznai, ‘Nathan Burgoine, Hal Duncan, Matt Fagan, Jamie Freeman, Marshall Moore, Jeffrey Ricker, Rod M. Santos, Damon Shaw, Lee Thomas, Stellan Thorne,
The Lavender Menace: Tales of Queer Villainy!
by: Tom Cardamone, Joe Phillips, Charles “Zan” Christensen, Steven Bereznai, ‘Nathan Burgoine, Hal Duncan, Matt Fagan, Jamie Freeman, Marshall Moore, Jeffrey Ricker, Rod M. Santos, Damon Shaw, Lee Thomas, Stellan Thorne,Thirteen short stories of terror, mayhem, and destruction which offer something highly unique in a genre that demands certain characters be only heroes or victims… gay villains! Prose collection with an introduction by Lambda Literary Award winning editor Tom Cardamone.
$3.99 – $9.99

Tom Cardamone is the editor of The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered, and author of the speculative novella, Green Thumb, and the erotic fantasy novel, The Werewolves of Central Park. His short story collection, Pumpkin Teeth, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. His fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, some of which can be read on his website: pumpkinteeth.net.


Steven Bereznai is the author of the gay teen super hero book Queeroes, the gay dating bible Gay and Single...Forever? 10 Things Every Gay Guy Looking for Love (and Not Finding It) Needs to Know, and the children's picture book The Adventures of Philippe. He can be reached online at stevenbereznai.com.

‘Nathan Burgoine lives in Ottawa with his husband Daniel, where he tries not to summon any demons unless it’s really important. His short fiction appears in Fool For Love, I Do Two, Saints + Sinners 2011: New Fiction From the Festival, Men of the Mean Streets, Boys Of Summer, The Touch Of The Sea, and Night Shadows. His non-fiction appears in I Like It Like That and 5x5 Literary Magazine. His first novel, Light, is forthcoming from Bold Strokes Books. You can find him online at redroom.com/member/nathan-burgoine.

Hal Duncan's first novel Vellum was published in 2005 to some acclaim, garnering several award nominations (Crawford, Locus, BFS, World Fantasy Award,) with US, French and Finnish editions subsequently winning the Gaylactic Spectrum, Kurd Lasswitz and Tähtivaeltaja awards respectively. Along with the sequel Ink, he's also published a stand-alone novella, "Escape from Hell!", various short stories in magazines and anthologies, and most recently a full poetry collection, Songs For The Devil And Death. A member of the Glasgow SF Writer's Circle, and a regular online columnist at Boomtron, he also wrote the lyrics for Aereogramme's “If You Love Me, You'd Destroy Me,” on the Ballads of the Book album, and the musical, Nowhere Town, which premiered last year in Chicago. Homophobic hatemail once dubbed him "The… Sodomite Hal Duncan!!" (sic). He's getting a t-shirt made up.

Matt Fagan is a writer and artist raised in the wilds of Oregon, where he climbed trees and sometimes wore pants. His stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Little Engines and Thought Magazine. He wrote and drew the Love Omnibus, a collection of comics about a gay couple living in Chicago, and the underground sensation Domestic Partner of Frankenstein. He is also the artist on an ongoing comic series called Monster Dudes. Fagan currently resides in Chicago, where he owns and operates Brainstorm Comics, and lives with his “special friend”. He has a dog named The Doctor.

Jamie Freeman went to college in D.C. but now resides in a blue county amid the predominantly red counties of North Florida. His short stories have appeared in a variety of anthologies including Blood Fruit, Unmasked II, I Do Too!, and Best Gay Erotica (2009, 2010 & 2012). His novellas and ebooks have been published by Dreamspinner Press, Forbidden Fiction and Untreed Reads. Find out more at jamiefreeman.net.

Marshall Moore is the author of three novels (The Concrete Sky, An Ideal for Living, and Bitter Orange) and two short story collections (Black Shapes in a Darkened Room and The Infernal Republic). He is also the publisher at Typhoon Media Ltd, which publishes under the imprints Signal 8 Press and BookCyclone. A native of eastern North Carolina, he now lives and works in Hong Kong.

Jeffrey Ricker’s first novel, Detours, was published in 2011 by Bold Strokes Books. His writing has appeared in the anthologies Paws and Reflect, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction, Blood Sacraments, Men of the Mean Streets, Speaking Out, Riding the Rails, and others. He is currently finishing his second novel and pursuing an MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia. When class is out, he lives in St. Louis with his partner, Michael, and two dogs. Follow his blog at jeffreyricker.wordpress.com.

Rod M. Santos was born in Manila, raised in the Bronx, and is currently lost in Yonkers. His work fluctuates between dark and lighthearted fantasy with frequent stops throughout the speculative continuum. His stories have appeared in Icarus magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Cinema Spec, Myths and Magic, and Skulls and Crossbones: Tales of Women Pirates. In 2008, he garnered an honorable mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (Datlow, Link, and Grant) for his story "In Earthen Vessels" (Philippine Speculative Fiction, Vol. 3.).

Damon Shaw lives in the Canary Isles, fifty miles off the African Coast. He has sold stories to Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, AE, and Bull Spec. He also has stories in several Lethe Press anthologies. Follow him at damonshaw.livejournal.com. He wrote Light and Dark in Autumn 2010 when his partner, Angel was gravely ill with cancer. Angel passed away in January 2011. Damon would like to dedicate this story to him.

Lee Thomas is the Lambda Literary Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Dust of Wonderland, In the Closet, Under the Bed, The German, Torn, Ash Street, and the forthcoming Like Light for Flies. Under a couple of other names he has authored several suspense thrillers for young adults, including Mason, Shimmer, and the Wicked Dead series (co-authored with Stefan Petrucha). Lee lives in Austin, Texas, where he is working on a new book. You can find him online at leethomasauthor.com.

Stellan Thorne lives in Manchester with his partner, several cats and a chaotic stack of comic books. He always wanted to be a super villain, but suspects he's either too nice or too lazy.
Thirteen short stories of terror, mayhem, and destruction which offer something highly unique in a genre that demands certain characters be only heroes or victims… gay villains! Prose collection with an introduction by Lambda Literary Award winning editor Tom Cardamone.
Cover by Joe Phillips.
ISBN: 9781938720222
Publisher: Northwest Press
Publish Date: 2012
Page Count: 232
Weight | N/A |
---|---|
Dimensions | N/A |
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
-
Rated 4.29 out of 5Anything That Loves by: Charles “Zan” Christensen, Adam Pruett, Agnes Czaja, Alex Dahm, Amy T. Falcone, Ashley Cook, Bill Roundy, Caroline Hobbs, Ellen Forney, Erika Moen, Jason A. Quest, Jason Thompson, John Lustig, Jon Macy, Josh Trujillo, Dave Valeza, Kate Leth, Kevin Boze, Leanne Franson, Leia Weathington, Lena Chandhok, Margreet de Heer, MariNaomi, Maurice Vellekoop, Melaina, Mike Sullivan, Nick Leonard, Powflip, Randall Kirby, Roberta Gregory, Sam Orchard, Sonya Saturday, Stasia Burrington, Steve Orlando, Tania Walker, Tara Avery, Zoe Chevat, $9.99 – $29.99
“Why don’t you just come out already?”
“How can you be bi if you’re married?”
“You’ll do it with anything that moves.”
For all their differences, gay and straight people are often united in their problems with bisexuality. People who follow their hearts wherever they lead, regardless of gender, are still usually met with disbelief and suspicion.
From confessional, personal accounts to erotic flights of fancy to undersea identity politics, this collection of comics invites the reader to step outside of the categories and explore the wild and wonderful uncharted territory between “gay” and “straight”.
Featuring comics and illustrations by Adam Pruett, Agnes Czaja, Alex Dahm, Amy T. Falcone, Ashley Cook & Caroline Hobbs, Bill Roundy, Ellen Forney, Erika Moen, Jason A. Quest, Jason Thompson, John Lustig, Jon Macy, Josh Trujillo & Dave Valeza, Kate Leth, Kevin Boze, Leanne Franson, Leia Weathington, Lena H. Chandhok, Margreet de Heer, MariNaomi, Maurice Vellekoop, Melaina, Nick Leonard, Powflip, Randall Kirby, Roberta Gregory, Sam Orchard, Sonya Samantha Saturday, Stasia Burrington, Steve Orlando, Tania Walker, and Tara Madison Avery & Mike Sullivan.
Featuring an introduction by editor Charles “Zan” Christensen and a foreword by PoMoSexuals author Carol Queen, PhD.
Winner of the Bisexual Book Award for Bisexual Nonfiction!
Royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to Prism Comics, the nonprofit organization that’s been helping LGBT comics, creators, and readers for over ten years!
Check out a discussion panel with the editor and some contributors from Emerald City Comic-Con 2013…
[vimeo 61243479 w=640]
-
Rated 4.00 out of 5Positive by: Tom Bouden $3.99 – $12.99
Cartoonist Tom Bouden (Max and Sven, The Importance of Being Earnest) invites you to meet Sarah, a young woman whose life is about to be turned inside out when she discovers that’s she’s HIV positive.
Join Sarah and her partner, Tim, as they take the journey together through shock and uncertainty, pre-dawn pill schedules, side-effects, well-meaning friends, tasteless jokes, medical missteps, and ultimately, hope.
“Positive is a story with the universal message of how to live life without being afraid,” writes GayLeague.com‘s Joe Palmer in the introduction. “This is the story I wish I’d been able to read after my diagnosis years ago. It is the story I hope everyone regardless of his or her sero-status will have the opportunity to read and by which to be inspired.”
-
Sale!Rated 4.00 out of 5QU33R by: Rob Kirby, David Kelly, Rick Worley, Justin Hall, Jon Macy, Steve MacIsaac, Craig Bostick, Jennifer Camper, Tyler Cohen, Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa, Kris Dresen, Dylan “NDR” Edwards, Michael Fahy, Edie Fake, Nicole J. Georges, Terrance Griep, Andy Hartzell, Ed Luce, MariNaomi, Carrie McNinch, Annie Murphy, L. Nichols, Jose-Luis Olivares, Eric Orner, Carlo Quispe, Marian Runk, Christine Smith, Sina Sparrow, Sasha Steinberg, Ivan Velez, Jr., Amanda Verwey, Eric Kostiuk Williams, $9.99 – $29.99
Winner of the 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology!
QU33R, from editor Rob Kirby, features 241 pages of new comics from 33 contributors—legends and new faces alike.
In 2012, Justin Hall edited a book called No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, that took readers on a journey from the beginnings of LGBT comics history to the present day. QU33R is an all-new project featuring queer comics legends as well as new talents that picks up where No Straight Lines left off. We’ve set down our history, now QU33R shines a light on our future!
QU33R had its genesis in an all-color queer comic zine called THREE, which featured three stories by three creators or teams per issue. Rob Kirby published three installments of THREE annually from 2010 to 2012, and the series did well, garnering not only an Ignatz nomination for Outstanding Anthology or Collection but also earning Rob the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant in 2011.
Producing the anthology was immensely gratifying, but featuring just three comics and publishing only once per year meant a lot of cartoonists weren’t getting the exposure they deserved. The publishing opportunities for queer cartoonists and queer subject matter are still limited, even today, and Rob longed for a wider distribution than he was able to manage on his own. He approached Northwest Press about doing a bigger compendium of all-new work.
While THREE was happening, Justin Hall was preparing his book No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, which Fantagraphics published in the summer of 2012. No Straight Lines traced the history of queer comics from their humble beginnings in the late 60’s/early 70’s all the way up to the present. The book was a whopping, award-winning success. Rob got to thinking that a follow-up volume—a sort-of-sequel focusing on all new work—would seal the deal, informing the world at large that we are still here, still queer, and still producing fresh and innovative work. He wanted to include not only several queer comics veterans, but also some fresh new faces and a few folks who haven’t necessarily belonged to the orthodox “queer comics scene” but have been doing non-heteronormative work all along.
QU33R features over 240 pages of new comics from a cross-generational lineup of award-winning LGBTQ cartoonists.
-
Rated 4.00 out of 5The Legend of Bold Riley #1 by: Leia Weathington, Jonathon Dalton, $2.99 – $3.99
Bold Riley—who has set out to find adventure in the lands beyond her home of Prakkalore—comes across a fragment of bone that shares a tale of lost love. Riley tries to reunite the lost spirit with its beloved, but soon discovers that all is not as it seemed…
-
A Waste of Time #2 by: Rick Worley $2.99 – $4.99
Worried about Rick’s prospects for a successful art career, his creations decide he needs some inspiration. They set out to find his favorite artist, the reclusive Bill Watterson, whether Watterson wants to be found or not.
Out in Print –
“You’ll find no better book of queer supervillainy anywhere. I can hardly wait for the next volume. Please, Tom, tell me there’s another in the works!” Read Jerry Wheeler’s review on Out in Print.
Sequential Tart –
“Overall, it’s a fantastic anthology. Exciting and entertaining stories of supervillains (and heroes) make for a fun read. It’s quality writing. The queer aspect isn’t as big as the book’s covers and introduction would make it out to be, but for several of the stories it adds elements to characters and plots.” Read Sheena McNeil’s review on Sequential Tart.
Impressions of a Reader –
“I enjoyed the stories in this anthology—after all, it contains a favorite tale of queer villainy, Hal Duncan’s “The Origin of the Fiend”—but can I just say how much I absolutely loved the introduction by Tom Cardamone? We don’t say enough about introductions and how they affect a reader (the “hook” they become), or what they mean to a collection or anthology.” — Read the whole review on Impressions of a Reader.