This week is all about books and authors, so for those of you who love to read we have just about the best of all things literature. With the rise of the internet and tech toys some, particularly the younger generation, have cast books aside and found other avenues for escape, knowledge and information. Reading can be a powerful tool to take you as far as your imagination desires. It can teach and inspire and it is an interesting way to spread ideas from the author’s brain to yours along with many other readers sharing the same book but with an entirely different perspective and experience.

Some of the best authors have been GLBT. Whether you are discussing Chuck Palahniuk, David Sedaris or Allen Ginsberg they have all added to the world of literature. They say the best authors and books are the ones that transcend time and space, those that are socially relevant no matter of how long ago it was written.

Stories and the art of telling them are very much embedded in who we are and what it means to be human. Like all art forms literature is a social commentary on where we are as people and a society in any given space or time. From cavemen writing on walls to quill pens, typewriters and computers the devices have changed yet the relevance and importance of written communication has not. It is important that we see the value not only in the literary arts but also see the knowledge and power that it supplies to us. Keeping literature available to further generations is necessary for human evolution and growth, so support and encourage the literary arts as they keep our lives rich and reflect back at us who we are as a human race and society.

Charles Michael “Chuck” Palahniuk is known for his larger than life imagination and a writing style that is all his own. Some would say he is a cult writer and his devotees certainly live up to that definition. His stories are based on what could happen yet they are so over the top your eye balls get stuck on each word. Chuck is a writer that can take you where he wants you to go. Chuck was born February 21, 1962 and is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher. He lives near Vancouver, Washington. Palahniuk was also a member of the rebellious Cacophony Society in his adulthood. He is a regular participant in their events, including the annual Santa Rampage (a public Christmas party involving pranks and drunkenness) in Portland OR. Most notably, he used the Cacophony Society as the basis for Project Mayhem in Fight Club. Palahniuk started writing while attending writer’s workshops to meet new friends. These workshops were hosted by Tom Spanbauer who largely inspired Palahniuk’s minimalistic writing style. His first book, Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You’d be Home Already, was never published though a small part of it was later salvaged for use in Fight Club. Publishers rejected his next novel Invisible Monsters for its disturbing content, which led him to work on his most famous novel, Fight Club. A revised version of Invisible Monsters, as well as his fourth novel, Survivor, was also published that year, allowing Palahniuk to become a cult figure. A few years later Palahniuk made the New York Times bestseller list with Choke. Palahniuk has seen both success and tragedy in his life. His father was murdered by a woman he met through a personal ad. Chuck struggled for a while in revealing his sexuality but is now out and lives just outside Vancouver,Wa with his boyfriend. If you have not yet read Palahniuk’s books they are a must as he is not only one of the best GLBT authors of all time, he is one of the best authors of all time.

David Sedaris, born December 26, 1956, is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author and radio contributor. He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. Each of his five subsequent essay collections, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), have become New York Times best sellers.Much of Sedaris’s humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and often concerns his family life, his middle class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, various jobs, education, drug use, homosexuality and his life in France with his partner, Hugh Hamrick. Other books and stories by Sedaris include Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. David is also known for his sense of humor and sarcasm. If you have yet to read his books you are certainly missing out.

Aiden Shaw, born February 22, 1966 in Harrow, London, United Kingdom, is a writer and pornographic actor who appears in gay American pornographic movies. In 1991 Shaw collaborated with a New York based fine artist Mark Beard to produce a limited edition book named Aiden. It wasn’t until 1996, that Shaw wrote his semi-autobiographical novel, Brutal. Following that The Bad Press released a collection of his poetry, If Language at the Same Time Shapes and Distorts Our Ideas and Emotions, How Do We Communicate Love? This was followed by two novels, Boundaries, and Wasted, and then a best selling autobiographical account My Undoing (Love in the Thick of Pornography, prostitution, Sex and Love). In 2006, Shaw completed an MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths University in London. Aiden tells all in his book My Undoing and holds nothing back, arguably standing fear in the face and being proud of who he is regardless of where he has been and what he has done.

Michael Thomas Ford, born in1968, is a gay American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his “My Queer Life” series of humorous essays and for his award-winning novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides and What We Remember. Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books for both young readers and adults. His work has been nominated for eleven Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and twice for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award for his short story “Night of the Werepuss”. Ford began his writing career in 1992 with the publication of 100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now, one of the first books about the AIDS crisis for young adults. The book became the most widely-used resource in HIV education programs for young people and was translated into more than a dozen languages. The follow-up to that book, The Voices of AIDS (1995), was a collection of interviews with people whose lives have been affected by the AIDS crisis. This book too was named an ALA Best Book.1998 saw the release of two books, the first being OutSpoken, a collection of interviews with gay and lesbian people that was again aimed at young adults. The book was widely praised for its candid discussions of queer life. Ford’s second book to come out that year was Alec Baldwin Doesn’t Love Me, the first of what has come to be known as the “Trials of My Queer Life” series. The book was based on the columns Ford had been publishing for several years in his syndicated newspaper column, “My Queer Life.” The book received a Lambda Literary Award for Best Humor book, winning out over titles by lesbian comic Kate Clinton, columnist Dan Savage, and cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Ford followed that with That’s Mr. Faggot to You. Slightly more acerbic than its predecessor, Mr. Faggot brought Ford a whole new audience hungry for a voice they could relate to. Again the book soared to the top of the bestseller charts, and once again Ford walked away with a Lambda Literary Award, edging out previous winner comedian Bob Smith. In 2009 Ford released his fifth novel with Kensington, What We Remember, a portrait of a family torn apart when the father, believed to have committed suicide, is found to have been murdered. In May 2010 Ford published The Road Home, his sixth novel for Kensington Books. One word: amazing!

Leslie Feinberg, born September 1 1949 in Kansas City, Missouri, is a transgender lesbian activist, speaker and author. Feinberg’s first novel Stone Butch Blues is widely considered a groundbreaking work about gender. Feinberg also authored two non-fiction books, Transliberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, and Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. Feinberg also wrote the novel, Drag King Dreams, and RainbowSolidarity in Defense of Cuba, a compilation of 25 journalistic articles. Feinberg’s partner is the prominent lesbian poet-activist Minnie Bruce Pratt. Feinberg’s writings on GLBT history, Lavender & Red, frequently appear in the Workers World newspaper. Feinberg has also been involved in Camp Trans and has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry for transgender and social justice work. Leslie Feinberg is secular Jewish, and was assigned female at birth. Feinberg explains: “I was born in Kansas City, Missouri—not Buffalo, N.Y.into a blue-collar, factory-working family.” Feinberg prefers the gender-neutral pronouns “hir” and “ze”. For more about Feinberg and pronouns, read We are all works in progress in Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue. A true pioneer and community advocate.

Everette“E.” Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009) was an openly gay American author best known for his depictions of African American men who were on the down-low and closeted. He authored ten consecutive books to make The New York Times best seller list making him among the most successful African American or gay authors of his era. Born in Flint, Michigan, Harris grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. Some of the books he has written include Invisible Life, Just As I Am, And This Too Shall Pass, If This World Were Mine, Abide With Me, Not A Day Goes By and Money Can’t Buy Me Love. Harris died on July 23, 2009 while in Los Angeles for a business meeting. He was found unconscious at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was heart disease. He is deeply missed in the literary world.

Radclyffe, real name Len Barot was born in 1950 and is an American author of a number of lesbian romances. A 2003/04 recipient of the Alice B. award for her body of work as well as a member of the Golden Crown Literary Society, she lives with her partner Lee in Upstate New York. Previously combining a full-time private clinic, where she worked as plastic surgeon, with writing books, she has since retired from medicine to devote herself full-time to writing. She also has a publishing house called Bold Strokes Books. She chooses not to type and instead uses speech recognition software to write her books. Some of her books include Fated Love, Innocent Hearts, Love’s Melody Lost, Love’s Masquerade, and Love’s Tender Warriors. Radclyffe has written well over thirty books with many of them romance novels.

The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities is a non-fiction narrative written by Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt. The book discusses consensual non-monogamy as a lifestyle, and provides practical guidance on how such long-term relationships work and are put into practice. The authors define the term slut as “a person of any gender who has the courage to lead life according to the radical proposition that sex is nice and pleasure is good for you.” The Ethical Slut discusses how to live an active life with multiple concurrent sexual relationships in a fair and honest way. Discussion topics include how to deal with the practical difficulties and opportunities in finding and keeping partners, maintaining relationships with others and strategies for personal growth. It contains chapters discussing how consensual non-monogamy is handled in different cultures including the GLBT community and offers information on handling scheduling, jealousy, communication, conflict in relationships, and etiquette for group sexual encounters.

In addition to word-and-photo portraits of families formed by adoption, surrogacy, and co-parenting, David Strah’s new book includes family-building resources for gay men and introduces some of the first research about gay fathers. Not only encouraging reading for gay men and their families, but interesting reading for all.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a novel by John Green and David Levithan, published in April 2010 by Dutton Juvenile. The book’s narrative is divided evenly between two boys named Will Grayson, with Green having written all of the chapters for one and Levithan having written the chapters for the other. The novel debuted on the New York Times children’s best-seller list after its release and remained there for three weeks. The novel follows two boys who both go by the name Will Grayson. The first Will, whose name is always correctly capitalized to reflect his intelligence, is described as trying to live his life without being noticed. This is complicated by the fact that his best friend, Tiny Cooper, described as “the world’s largest person who is really, really gay” and “the world’s gayest person who is really, really large”, is not the type to go around unnoticed. Tiny is also, throughout the novel, trying to create an autobiographical musical, which further draws attention to himself and everyone around him. The other will grayson, whose name is never capitalized to reflect his depressed and angry non-caring of the matter, goes through his life without anything good to hold onto besides an online friendship with someone who goes by the name Isaac. Intent on meeting up with Isaac, will grayson sets up an encounter one night in Chicago. What ensues brings both characters together and changes both of their lives forever in ways they could never have guessed or imagined. One of the best young GLBT titles.

Sometimes She Lets Me:Best Butch/Femme Eroticais about “dispelling myths, realizing fantasies, and delivering outstanding writing with distinct contributor voices.” Butch/femme is bulging jeans, smeared lipstick, stiletto heels, and sharp haircuts. It’s about being read and being seen. Sometimes it’s about passing or not passing. It’s about individual identity and a collective sense of community. It’s personal, political. It’s performance and it’s not. It’s the visceral space between the flesh and the imagination.

What more can one say. It is amazing and a good conversation starter. The title says it all!

• Rufus Wainwright:There Will Be Rainbows a biography by Kirk Lake

• A Good Time in the Hood by Diesel King (Erotic)

• The Velvet Rage by Alan Downs, PH.D

• Girl Crazy by Sachi Green (Erotic)

• Down and Derby by Alex Cohen and Jennifer Barbee

• Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man by Bill Clegg

• Completely Stripped by Bruno Gmunder (Erotic/animation)