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“ad perficiendum”
You discover everything around you is falling apart and breaking down. And then, so are you.
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“Pangaea Proxima,” “Panthalassa,” & “Juniper Tree, Boy and Bird”
Three poems about parents, children, and their fraught relationships.
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“Bird Chooses to Make a Habitat of Heart”
“Give me back / my heart, beautiful bird. Mistake me for an open window.”
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“In Which I Invent a Man”
“I must / still look for / him. My constant / resentment.”
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RBG Memorial Challenge
To participate in the fight against fascism and bigotry and for social justice, as well as to manage despair, I’m going to need assigned tasks between now and the election. It looks like the RGB Memorial Challenge will provide some of that guidance and discipline.
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Condemning J.K. Rowling and Her Transphobic Views
I condemn J.K. Rowling and her continuing transphobic views, including her recent social media posts and response to the backlash.
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Painbow
Richard Leis created Painbow after he witnessed and experienced two incidents of discrimination. His idea was to briefly describe each situation, include the hurtful statement itself, and provide a short response.
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“Passage”
“I drove Pacific Northwest November numb / through trees like tall green drifts to the ocean / seething with chaos.”
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“The Yogurt Swimmer”
A man must hunt down a magical creature in his home before his husband and daughter see it and he loses them forever.
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“November in Portland”
“High school like autumn: / rain, mud, dark, / snow seems a day away.”
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“Forever Baby” by Dana Diehl in Cartridge Lit
Dana Diehl’s latest flash fiction piece titled “Forever Baby” and inspired by the game Stardew Valley is available on Cartridge Lit in the new “The Double Click Temple Issue.” Her story is awesome, sad, allegorical for so much, and you don’t need to know anything about Stardew Valley to appreciate it.
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“Distraction”
“I watch light flicker under the bathroom door. / I watch the clock. / I watch one foot with a sock on jealous of the other.”
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Supreme Court Reinstates Transgender Military Personnel Ban
I condemn reinstatement of this bigoted ban by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court.
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“My Unbelievable Man”
“His shoulder next to my shoulder / is warm pressure communication”
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“Nervous Bambi”
“He blinks and I’m not sure if he’s trying / to embarrass me or if he’s confused by me, too. / He has to be lying.”
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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Simon and the other characters are the highlight of Simon vs the Homo sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, about a high school student on the verge of coming out as gay dealing with doubt, first love, and blackmail.
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Happy National Coming Out Day!
I came out to my mom twenty years ago, the day after Ellen Degeneres came out on national television. I was so inspired but I was so terrified. I could only make the attempt over the telephone and I couldn’t even say the words; I made my mom guess until I finally said “Yes” when…
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“Roadside Freak Show”
“The thing crafted from fabric and plaster, / more pile of dirt and wet cardboard / than realistic human skeleton, lies / under glass in a white cinderblock / coffin elevated over the concrete floor / in the last of three corrugated steel sheds / at the roadside attraction.”
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The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
Lisa Williamson’s wonderful The Art of Being Normal explores the complicated and emotional coming-of-age of two English teenagers.
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The Gilded Razor: A Memoir by Sam Lansky
Lansky’s account of his drug use is riveting but also very upsetting.
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The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love, and Loss by Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper
I started Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper’s conversation The Rainbow Comes and Goes not expecting to enjoy it much, but by the end of the book I was thoroughly charmed.
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Boy Erased: A Memoir by Garrard Conley
I highly recommend Garrard Conley’s beautifully written and emotional memoir about his religious upbringing, sexuality, rape, and conversion therapy.
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Jonathan Issue 11
With issue 11, Jonathan diversifies from fiction written by gay men to fiction written “by self-identified queer writers from all across the LGBTQ spectrum.” I haven’t read the previous ten issues, but the quality of the stories in issue 11 convinces me to purchase the back issues and also look forward to upcoming issues.
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Crowdfunding Possibilities 16 November 2013
These are the crowdfunding projects I’m supporting, considering supporting, or otherwise wanting to share this week. Unstuck #3: New Literature of the Fantastic and the Surreal Ends on November 20, 2013. “A big, lavishly illustrated new anthology of short stories, poems, and essays with elements of the improbable and the uncanny.“ Obduction Ended on November…
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Book-Making and Other Analog Treasures
This is the time to enjoy the way things used to be or are currently, before everything changes due to technology. A day of physical book making followed by watching VOD.
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It Hurts
A long time ago when I lived in Rochester, New York, I stupidly wrote a letter to a coworker and mailed it to his home. It was not really a love letter, but it might as well have been.
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News Bytes – Wednesday, June 19, 2013
3-D Printing Via TechCrunch: “Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot in $403M Deal, Combined Company Will Likely Dominate 3D Printing Industry“ Robotics Indiegogo project: “Help Make Me the World’s Smartest Robot“ Space Science Kickstarter project: Planetary Resources’ “ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone” Kickstarter project reaches U.S.$1 million with 11 days to go METI “Shouting at the Cosmos”…
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Husbands
My second most favorite web series of the year: season 2 of Husbands. After a successful Kickstarter, the second season had higher production values and many special guest stars.
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Neil’s Puppet Dreams
Neil Patrick Harris dreams THE LULLABYE—Neil’s Puppet Dreams— first episode of a very risque new series on the Nerdist YouTube channel.
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The Outs
The Outs is by far my favorite web series this year. The first episode “State of the Union” introduces the perfect mix of humor and angst that proves online video reaches the quality of award-winning cinema.
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Where the Bears Are
Another funny web series about bear culture shenanigans and murder (!) that manages to be pretty risque even for YouTube.
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Gay’s Anatomy
Gay’s Anatomy is Grey’s Anatomy meets The Office by way of Queer as Folk. This hysterical web series began its second season in 2012 after a long delay.
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Eastsiders
The first episode of a new gay-themed web series called Eastsiders, starring Van Hansis and Kit Williamson. This is the latest great web series in a year packed full of them.
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Important Progress in Equal Rights for LGBT
Today brings great news regarding the slow but steady march toward equal rights for all LGBT citizens. In expected but still wonderful news, Hawaii has become the seventh state to authorize civil unions (three states that previously enacted civil union laws now allow gay marriages). There are now 13 states and one district that allow…
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Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is coming up and it is a holiday I detest. It is on my list of most horrible annual events, next to April Fool’s Day. Every Valentine’s Day I pretend very hard to not notice that it is occurring. However, in the spirit of openness and truthfulness – especially to myself – I…
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Homophobia, Piracy, and the Need for True Names
Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here. The beta of Apple OS-X Leopard provided to developers that attended WWDC has been leaked. Nicholas Deleon of CrunchGear posted [defunct link] about the upcoming operating system appearing on Oink, a private piracy site and, oh boy, are the darknet pirates angry. In their…
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Trilogy by ATB
I am only nine songs into my first listen to the new ATB album, Trilogy, and it is already a favorite. “Renegade” alone deserves to be played over and over again.
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Imaginary Monsters and Human Beings
People use their anonymity on the Internet to safely explore who they really are. This helped me to make my homosexuality something manageable to consider long before I had sex for the first time. I am comfortable enough now to no longer need anonymity. I take ownership of who I am, labeled with my name…
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It’s Okay
It’s okay to send a teenager against his will to be cured of his homosexuality [defunct link]. It’s okay to process animals through “rendering plants” [defunct link] if they are “unfit for human consumption.” It’s okay to seize someone’s home [defunct link] against their will if it’s in the public good. Yes, I use to…
Richard Leis
Horror Writer & Poet
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