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Our next episode drops on February 10th! In our off weeks, we air episodes of The Gaily Show. It's the only daily LGBTQ radio news and talk show in the US. John conducts a lot of author interviews on there! In this episode, a special conversation with Minneapolis-based author Patrick Nathan about his book Image Control: Art, Fascism, and the Right to Resist. In it, Patrick explores “art, social media, photography, and other visual mediums to understand how our culture and our actions are manipulated, all the while building toward the idea that if fascism emerges as aesthetics, then so too can anti-fascism.” Get your copy here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781640095540 Connect with Patrick here: https://patricknathan.com Watch on YouTube We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow Credits Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950 Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950 Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson Support the show

In some ways, the characters in this book were my first lovers. Today we meet Michael Horvich and we're talking about the queer book that saved his life: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. Michael is a retired Elementary School Educator and University Instructor. In addition he’s many things, here’s just a partial list: Poet, Collector, Museum Curator Emeritis, Book Binder, Supernumerary, Flea Circus Ringmaster, and Dementia/Alzheimer’s Advocate. He has published two volumes poetry, which in part portray his journey navigating his life partner's Alzheimer’s. His advocacy work has led to presentations at numerous organizations including at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Business, 33rd Annual Alzheimer’s Disease International Convention, and the Chicago LGBTQ Center on Halsted. He also gave the opening key note at the 2019 Mayo Clinic / Minnesota-North Dakota Alzheimer's Association Conference. Michael was featured in ALAN TELLER’s “STILL AT IT!"ART SHOW. James Baldwin was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor. Connect with Michael website: www.horvich.com substack: mhorvich.substack.com facebook: facebook.com/mhorvichcreates Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy your copy of Giovanni's Room here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780345806567 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

How can we hold together idealism and authenticity even when the world is homophobic? Today we meet Lucas F. Schleusener and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio. Lucas is a writer, educator, and national security strategist shaping the future of equity across the national security enterprise. As Co-Founder and CEO of Out in National Security he leads a global community that advances LGBTQIA+ inclusion and drives policy change across defense and foreign policy. Luke is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and previously served as Chairman of the Board of No One Left Behind. His writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, Defense One, The Hill, and Law360. John D’Emilio, PhD is professor emeritus of history and gender and women’s studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. A Guggenheim Fellow and a pioneer in the field of gay and lesbian studies, he is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, including Sexual Communities and Intimate Matters, which was cited in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court case overturning US anti-sodomy laws. John is the founding director of the Policy Institute of the National LGBTQ Task Force, he has also served as President of the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, a community-based library and historical archives in Chicago. Connect with Luke and John Luke's website: outinnationalsecurity.org linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lucas-f-schleusener-9a470415/ John's website: americanlgbtqmuseum.org/profile/john-demilio/ facebook: facebook.com/john.demilio.7/ Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy your copy of Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780226142692 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

One of the world's oldest surviving novels was a queer book?! Today we meet Neil Laird and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: The Satyricon by Petronius. Neil is a multiple Emmy-nominated Executive Producer who has worked extensively on both the network and production side of non-fiction TV since 1997. He's developed, overseen, and produced over 1,000 hours of non-fiction programs and specials in nearly every genre, with a particular passion, expertise, and contacts in history, archaeology, and international exploration. He write a series of satirical adventure novels: Prime Time Travelers, Prime Time Pompeii, and, the forthcoming Prime Time Troy. They're all about a time-traveling TV crew uncovering forgotten LGBTQ voices from the past. Petronius (20 C.E. - 66 C.E.) served as a Governor in the Roman Empire and ultimately as Consul, the most powerful position in the Empire. When he left public service, Emperor Nero named him the Arbiter Elegantiae, or master of elegance. A prominent writer, Petronius is considered the likely author of The Satyricon. Connect with Neil website: neillaird.com instagram: @primetimeauthor facebook: facebook.com/neil-laird-author Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy your copy of The Satyricon here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780806144382 For the forthcoming Prime Time Troy, as well as Prime Time Travelers and Prime Time Pompeii, check this out: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Neil-Laird/author/B0CYJ7HDB4 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

We have a new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life on December 16th! Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with. Visit them online: onceuponacrimebooks.com Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries. In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to Anne Laughlin and her new novel: Clean Kill which is available to buy in in-store or on their website. Anne Laughlin has written seven books for Bold Strokes Books, all stand alone crime novels of the classic mystery, police procedural, and psychological thrill variety. She is the winner of four Goldie Awards from the Golden Crown Literary Society and has been short listed three times for a Lammy Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. Currently a board member of Mystery Writers of America/Midwest and MWA's Queer Advisory Board, Anne believes in giving back to the crime writing community. Anne lives in Chicago with her wife, Linda Braasch, and their two cats. Buy Clean Kill Visit Once Upon a Crime Books in-person or buy online: https://onceuponacrimebooks.com/book/9781636796345 Connect with Anne Laughlin website: annelaughlinwriter.com facebook: facebook.com/anne.laughlin Credits Presented by: Once Upon a Crime Books Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Theme music: Summer Mood by lesfm Support the show

Can you have a happy ending in a gay relationship? Today we meet Bobbie Smith and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Coming Out by Wallace Hamilton. Bobbie has been a community activist for 35 years. He helped found the Gay and Lesbian community council in Salt Lake City, Utah of which he was a member. He also founded the Sacred Fairies. Bobbie started the Stonewall Community Center in Salt Lake City, where he served as its first Librarian and donated over 1,000 books to that library. He has been a leader in the local leather community here in Minnesota since 2000. He is a props designer for various community theaters in the Twin Cities, primarily with Theatre in the Round. Wallace Hamilton was a novelist and playwright. His four novels include Coming Out and Christopher and Gay. He wrote fourteen plays and co-wrote the screenplay for Streetchild. He graduated from Harvard and was a World War II conscientious objector. Content Warning: This episode contains a description of a suicide attempt. Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Coming Out is not available on Bookshop.org, but you can find copies at AbeBooks or Thriftbooks. Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

Am I in love with a woman or am I a woman who's in love with women? Today we meet Lauren Sanders and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. Lauren Sanders (she/they) is the author of the novel Kamikaze Lust, which won a 2000 Lambda Literary Award and was reissued this fall in a 25th anniversary edition. Her other novels include With or Without You (a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award) and The Book of Love and Hate. Short fiction, reviews, rants, etc. have appeared in various publications. By day they run editorial and digital strategy for a national foundation working in education and the arts. Lauren lives in the nation of Brooklyn with her partner and staffie mix, Maverick. Djuna Barnes (1892-1982) was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, and worked as a journalist in New York before leaving the country to spend many years in Paris and London. She returned to New York in 1941, and lived in Greenwich Village until her death. Connect with Lauren website: laurenisanders.com instagram: @lisanders99 facebook: facebook.com/lauren.i.sanders linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lauren-sanders-5345b67 Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Nightwood: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780811216715 Buy Kamikaze Lust: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781888451085 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

A lot of us get to our 30s and we don't know what the next step is. Sometimes you make a big pivot. Today we meet Aj Writer and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. Aj Writer is a nonbinary writer and general dumpster fire of a human being (editor's note: Aj's words!). After a decade in journalism and conversations with top creatives in their field, Aj opened FWDIO Studios, a creative content company, that focuses on making media that is representative of the diversity in LGBT and BIPOC populations. Aj's second book, Strip Me Down, came out in paperback this month and the company is busy working on its first pilot animation. They want to expand to comics and audiobooks next. "If we want to tell our stories, we have to do it ourselves." Casey McQuiston is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of romantic comedies, including One Last Stop, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and Red, White & Royal Blue, whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Bon Appetit. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, Casey now lives in New York City with a poodle mix named Pepper. Connect with Aj website: fwdiostudios.com patreon: patreon.com/FWDIOStudios tiktok: @ajwriter bluesky: @ajwriter.bsky.social or @fwdio.bsky.social Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy One Last Stop: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781250244499 Buy Strip Me Down: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9798304331609 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

This book flipped on a lot of switches in my head. Today we meet Joel Freedman and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Good Times/Bad Times by James Kirkwood. Joel Freedman taught English at a college-prep high school in South L.A., where for most of his tenure, he was the only out gay instructor. He’s a retired writing instructor at L.A. Southwest College and a produced playwright. He published “Echoes of Silence: Empathy and Making Connections through Writing Process” in English Journal, which is a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English. As a member of his union, he contributed to the union’s paper United Teacher. He co-chaired the UCLA-WP’s LGBTQ Study Group and has three as-of-yet unpublished novels: 10 Months to Vermont, All Beneath the Sky, and Love Song. He has been married for 40 years to author-comic-producer Mike Player. James Kirkwood was a Tony Award-winning author, actor, and playwright. During his career, he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Connect with Joel bluesky: joelmfreewriter.bsky.social Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Good Times/Bad Times: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781476767536 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

How do I move forward in life without any queer representation in my life? Today we meet Troy Ford and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Troy Ford is an author and editor, and the publisher of two popular newsletters: the writing-focused Ford Knows Books, and Qstack, an LGBTQIA+ Directory, Platform, and Community of newsletter writers and readers on Substack. His debut novel, Lamb, released in June 2025. Unsung, his short film with co-director Kimberly Warner of Unfixed Media, received the OurPride 2025 Innovative Storytelling Award. A native Californian, he grew up overseas in the Middle East and eventually settled in the San Francisco-Bay Area where he earned a B.A. in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. Since 2019, he has lived in Sitges, Spain with his husband and AmStaff Terrier. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. J.R.R. Tolkien was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over sixty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide. Connect with Troy substack: troyford.substack.com website: troyfordauthor.com bluesky: @mrtroyfordauthor.bsky.social instagram: @mrtroyfordauthor Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy The Hobbit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780547928227 Buy Lamb: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9798992613810 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

What this book showed me was how to balance pieces of myself that didn't fit together. Today we meet Abdi Nazemian and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Another Country by James Baldwin. Abdi Nazemian spent his childhood in a series of exciting locations (Tehran, Paris, Toronto, New York), but could usually be found in his bedroom watching old movies and reading. His first novel, The Walk-In Closet, was awarded Best Debut at the Lambda Literary Awards. He has written three young adult novels: The Authentics, Like a Love Story, and The Chandler Legacies. As Head of Development for Water’s End Productions, Abdi has been an executive producer or associate producer on numerous films, including Call Me By Your Name, It Happened In L.A., The Price, The House of Tomorrow, and Little Woods. Another Country, stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicts men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. It was nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. James Baldwin was born in 1924 and educated in New York. The author of over twenty works of fiction and non-fiction, Baldwin received numerous accolades, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Grant. Connect with Abdi website: abdinazemian.com instagram: @abdaddy Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Another Country: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780679744719 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

I was combating homophobia against one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Today we meet Tim Jon Semmerling and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America by Eric Cervini. Tim Jon Semmerling is an award-winning author, a respected mitigation expert, and an attorney in Illinois. His books and publications are held in over 900 libraries throughout the world and they are highly quoted in books, articles, and papers discussing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, politics, post-colonialism, discrimination, racism, and visual culture. His written work has informed and inspired museum displays at the Mark Twain Boyhood Museum. Christie's Auctions cites Semmerling’s scholarship to value political and propaganda art for sale. Tim Jon holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from Indiana University, an M.A. in Middle East Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and a J.D. from DePaul University’s College of Law. In The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, Eric Cervini tells the story of Frank Kameny, a rising astronomer working for the U.S. Defense Department. When President Eisenhower issues an Executive Order to fire all LGBTQ federal employees, the Pentagon investigates and then fires Kameny for his sexuality. But he fights back. He founds The Mattachine Society of Washington, the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. Eric Cervini is an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ culture and politics. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge. He is also the creator and executive producer of The Book of Queer, which airs on Discovery+. Connect with Tim Jon website: themercuryendeavor.com instagram: @timjonsemmerling  Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781250798503 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

How do we live radiantly when the world seems bent on our erasure? Today we meet Caro De Robertis and we’re talking about the queer book that saved their life: Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie. Caro’s books best-selling books have Stonewall Book Awards and the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award; and, they have been finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award, Lambda Literary Award, and the Kirkus Prize. These books include The Palace of Eros, The President and the Frog, Cantoras, The Gods of Tango, and Perla. Caro was the first openly nonbinary person to received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature. A professor at San Francisco State University, Caro is co-curating Conjuring Power: the Roots & Futures of Queer & Trans Movements, for San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It will open Spring 2026. Their newest book is So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color. Set in the post-martial-law era of late-1980s Taipei, Notes of a Crocodile is a coming-of-age story of queer misfits discovering love, friendship, and artistic affinity while hardly studying at Taiwan’s most prestigious university. Told through the eyes of an anonymous lesbian narrator nicknamed Lazi, this cult classic is a postmodern pastiche of diaries, vignettes, mash notes, aphorisms, exegesis, and satire by an incisive prose stylist and major countercultural figure. Connect with Caro website: caroderobertis.com instagram: @caro_derobertis Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Notes of a Crocodile: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781681370767 Buy So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781643756875 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

Where are all the queer people in history? Today we meet Ilana Masad and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. And Jordy joins us! Ilana Masad is a writer of fiction, nonfiction, and criticism. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, StoryQuartlerly, Catapult, Buzzfeed, Joyland, The Account, and many more. She is the author of the novel All My Mother’s Lovers and the forthcoming Beings. Jordy Rosenberg is the author of the novels Confessions of the Fox and Night Night Fawn, as well as a scholarly monograph about 18th-century religious enthusiasts. Confessions was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, among many other awards. Jordy is a professor in the Department of English and Associated MFA Faculty in the Program for Poets and Writers at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. In Confessions of the Fox, Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. Yet no one knows the true story. Their confessions have never been found. Until now. Reeling from heartbreak, a scholar named Dr. Voth discovers a long-lost manuscript—a gender-defying exposé of Jack and Bess’s adventures. But is it autobiography or a hoax? As Dr. Voth is drawn deeper into Jack and Bess’s tale of underworld resistance and gender transformation, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined—and only a miracle will save them all. Connect with Ilana and Jordy website: ilanamasad.com instagram: @ilanaslightlyignorant bluesky: @ilanaslightly newsletter: buttondown.com/imasadcritic website: jordy-rosenberg.com instagram: @jordyrosenberg Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Confessions of the Fox: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780399592287 Pre-order Beings: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781639737000 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show

Is there any theology in the religion that I grew up in that is meaningful? Or is it just hate with a halo? Today we meet Paul Cram and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell. Described as “Honest, a little quirky,” Paul is a Twin Cities-based character actor, book lover, and multimedia designer. For over 15 years, he has been performing in films and onstage. He’s shared the screen with Woody Harrelson, Cillian Murphy, and Susan Sarandon. He stars in the upcoming film Anniversary, directed by Jim Cole. For the short film To Myself he was nominated for Best Actor at Z-Fest. A voracious reader, Paul launched the monthly “Men-Who-Read” nonfiction book club in 2019 which now has over 85 book lovers. Paul serves as the chair of Education and Outreach with SAG-AFTRA Twin Cities Local. John Boswell's landmark book Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality is credited with launching the field of gay and lesbian studies. Winner of the National Book Award, this study of Christianity's history of homosexuality in the early West revealed the Church's radically different relationship to its gay members, including priests, bishops, and even saints. There is a documentary of Boswell and his work called Not A Tame Lion. You can watch it for free on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/723518/not-a-tame-lion Connect with Paul website: iampaulcram.com instagram: @iampaulcram Men Who Read Book Club: paulcramactor.com/home-twin-cities-book-club-for-men Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook Buy Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780226345222 Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook Credits Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1 Support the show