Books always make a nice last minute holiday gift. So I thought I would make a few recommendations — oh, hell, let’s be honest, plugs really. The only criterion I used in making my recommended reading list for the year was these book are by friends of mine.
First is a 25th anniversary re-issue of Leslea Newman’s Heather Has Two Mommies, with new illustrations by Laura Cornell. Although Heather is old enough to have a girlfriend of her own and I think Leslea should write Heather’s Little Brat Has Four Grandmas, she didn’t take my advice.
Heather is a book that should be in every kid’s library. When it was released in 1989, the book promoted the revolutionary idea that every family is special.
Leslea is the author of 65 books and was in Dallas earlier this year to read from her book, October Mourning, a book of poetry about the murder of Mathew Shepard. She was in Wyoming at his school the week he was killed. Her upcoming I Carry My Mother deals with the death of her mother.
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Daddy Collected Poems is by Amazon’s #1 selling LGBT poet, Christopher Lee. The book retells the stories of the Bible with a fetish twist by combining erotica with sacred scripture. Through the book’s verses, male bonding is described with truth and sincerity.
Some people know Christopher as Bill Johnson or an array of other names, the schizophrenic, multi-personality board operator for Lambda Weekly on 89.3 KNON-fm. Some know him as Chris, a mild-mannered English professor who teaches at DCCCD. And others know him as Josh Manes, president of Congregation Beth El Binah in Dallas. Christopher Lee is his writer’s persona. Expect lots more from Josh, I mean Bill, I mean Chris.
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Deputy U.S. Marshall Mitch Knox apprehends fugitives for a living. Author Kindle Alexander describes him as having a “calm, cool, collected attitude” and being “devastatingly handsome.”
Knox is gay. Alexander isn’t, but she — I mean they — write wonderful gay romance, mystery and novels.
Kindle Alexander is actually two straight women from Waxahachie who are best friends and they’re very prolific. They’re delightful and their books, Full Disclosure, Always, Texas Pride, The Current Between Us and more are fun reads.
