I like the changes made to Out Magazine's content and layout recently; the magazine does look a little more like those straight mags (such as GQ and Esquire), but with all-gay content. I think that turned out nicely.
In the magazine's January issue, Out asks a few known writers to indicate their favorite books with gay content. I think the list is interesting, I will certainly read a few of the suggestions, starting with The Inheritors by 1983 Nobel laureate William Golding and Fadeout by Joseph Hansen.
The Inheritors was published in 1955 and tells us the story of eight Neanderthals who encounter another race like themselves...but different. In suggesting the book, writer Gregory Maguire says that "what impresses me [about The Inheritors] is the subtle weaving in of a theory of how early human civilizations may have tolerated homosexuality." I'll take it.
Fadeout, by Joseph Hansen, is a quite different suggestion. The book published in 1970 started a series of 12 mysteries featuring the tough insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, who is gay gay gay and has no problem with it. In Fadeout our gay investigates a death claim involving entertainer Fox Olson, but our gay believes Fox is actually still alive. In suggesting Fadeout, Michael Nava says that "with this nonsensational depiction of homosexuality, Hansen rejected the notion of the gay novel as a 'problem' novel. Brandstetter had no problem being gay, and if he encountered others who did, that was their business, not his."
Check out the other seven suggestions after the jump.
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