A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer Possibilities

by Ryan Fitzgibbon

Overview

A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer Possibilities is a gorgeously designed collection of art, essays, short fiction, poetry, interviews, profiles, and photography from the archives of the beloved queer magazine Hello Mr., as well as new material from many of today’s biggest LGBTQ+ creatives.

Hello Mr. was founded by Ryan Fitzgibbon in 2012. Over its ten-issue lifespan, the groundbreaking indie magazine became the first home for some of the most prestigious queer voices of a generation. With more than a decade’s devotion, and the publishing prowess of Abrams, Fitzgibbon has created an astonishing reminder of our collective power in A Great Gay Book.

Notable artists and writers featured include Jeremy Atherton Lin, Lady Bunny, Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, Saeed Jones, Wesley Morris, Chani Nicholas, Tommy Pico, Brontez Purnell, LJ Roberts, Mathew Rodriguez, Antwaun Sargent, Fran Tirado, Ocean Vuong, Bryan Washington, John Waters, Kehinde Wiley, J Wortham, Hanya Yanagihara, and many more.

Philadelphia Gay News praises this “exciting anthology" and adds: "The entries are compelling enough to enjoy back-to-back-to-back, but they are also worth savoring . . . Fitzgibbon wisely juxtaposes text and images, so the flow of the book never feels too dense. There are several memorable essays and interviews that are original to this volume . . . [and] brief entries featuring key queer voices in contemporary gay literature. It is valuable that these entries are now available to reach a wider audience.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419766787
Publisher:	Abrams
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	219,594
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Ryan Fitzgibbon is an artist and publisher. After beginning as a communication designer at IDEO in San Francisco, California, he founded Hello Mr. in 2012. Fitzgibbon self-published the magazine from Brooklyn, New York, before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma in January of 2020. Shortly after arriving, he was diagnosed with HIV at the height of the pandemic. These events inspired his creation of In Our Blood, a platform to detect, exercise, and replenish your inner activist. In addition to organizing to protect LGBTQ+ rights and expanding HIV/AIDS care and prevention in Oklahoma, his work includes supporting the Black Wall Street Times through the production of multiple print publications, and the opening of their newsroom and storefront in Greenwood. Fitzgibbon is a 2021-2023 awardee of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Editorial Reviews

03/04/2024

Artist Fitzgibbon debuts with an insightful collection of essays, interviews, fiction, and artwork from Hello Mr., a queer magazine he founded in 2013, which ran for 10 issues before shuttering in 2018. Highlights include an interview between novelists Garth Greenwell and Hanya Yanagihara about how gay life has been sanitized in popular culture for the sake of “acceptance and visibility” and the challenges of pushing those boundaries in art; musician Ben French’s rich, ecstatic “Slutboys,” which celebrates gay sex (“Turn up for the holy glory only found in dive bar glory holes”); and “Blurry Soles,” in which journalist Mathew Rodriguez draws surprisingly tender links between his foot fetish and his anxieties about having diabetes. “The prospect of losing your foot when you have a foot fetish is, I guess, nature’s little homophobic joke,” Rodriguez quips, then reminds himself that “what makes gay sex great” is its embrace of “parts that other people might turn away.” The stylistically diverse contributions are linked by a preoccupation with the question of whether increased mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people must come at the expense of what makes the community unique. It’s an illuminating snapshot of the changing face of queerness. Photos. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Featured inside is a rainbow-hued goldmine of essays, photo journals, poems, author interviews, profiles, art, and fiction from some of the most creative queer voices of the last decade…Plenty of provocative, sexy, fisty, foot fetish-y articles keep healthy libidos turning the pages…stunning representations of our unique culture and the queer community members who keep it awash in color and spice.

BAY AREA REPORTER

A stunning decorative addition to any coffee table but foremost a must-read collection of writing and art, A Great Gay Book pulls together past work alongside new contributions that altogether accomplish exactly what Fitzgibbon… set out to do: to encourage reflection ‘as a mirror to conceive new possibilities.’

Summer Books That’ll Have You Feeling a Sens PRIDESOURCE

"[A] gorgeous anthology."

PRIDESOURCE

[An] exciting anthology . . . The book certainly lives up to its title . . . The entries are compelling enough to enjoy back-to-back-to-back, but they are also worth savoring. . . Fitzgibbon wisely juxtaposes text and images, so the flow of the book never feels too dense. There are several memorable essays and interviews that are original to this volume . . .also [including] some superb fiction . . . [and] brief entries featuring key queer voices in contemporary gay literature. It is valuable that these entries are now available to reach a wider audience. A Great Gay Book leaves readers wanting more.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

[A] beautiful new tome…[that] will instantly elevate any coffee table you set it on.

QUEERTY

"An insightful collection . . . The stylistically diverse contributions are linked by a preoccupation with the question of whether increased mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people must come at the expense of what makes the community unique. It’s an illuminating snapshot of the changing face of queerness."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“[An] exciting anthology . . . The book certainly lives up to its title . . . The entries are compelling enough to enjoy back-to-back-to-back, but they are also worth savoring. . . Fitzgibbon wisely juxtaposes text and images, so the flow of the book never feels too dense. There are several memorable essays and interviews that are original to this volume . . .also [including] some superb fiction . . . [and] brief entries featuring key queer voices in contemporary gay literature. It is valuable that these entries are now available to reach a wider audience. A Great Gay Book leaves readers wanting more.”—PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

"[A] gorgeous anthology."—PRIDESOURCE

“[A] beautiful new tome…[that] will instantly elevate any coffee table you set it on.”—QUEERTY

“Featured inside is a rainbow-hued goldmine of essays, photo journals, poems, author interviews, profiles, art, and fiction from some of the most creative queer voices of the last decade…Plenty of provocative, sexy, fisty, foot fetish-y articles keep healthy libidos turning the pages…stunning representations of our unique culture and the queer community members who keep it awash in color and spice.”—BAY AREA REPORTER

“A stunning decorative addition to any coffee table but foremost a must-read collection of writing and art, A Great Gay Book pulls together past work alongside new contributions that altogether accomplish exactly what Fitzgibbon… set out to do: to encourage reflection ‘as a mirror to conceive new possibilities.’”—PRIDESOURCE, Summer Books That’ll Have You Feeling a Sense of Pride

From the Publisher

06/07/2024

Amid the current climate of LGBTQIA+ repression and oppression, this title provides an essential counter-narrative to reactionary forces while simultaneously encouraging new ways of thinking. Edited by artist, activist, and Hello Mr. magazine founder Fitzgibbon, this collection of essays, interviews, artwork, poetry, and stories furthers collective understanding of queer life through the particularities of its contributors. Their contributions vary in topic, from Derek Charm and Steve Orlando's comic "Violets," touching on the intergenerational aspects of queer survival; to Davy Pittoors's "Queering Space," interviews with artists about heteronormativity, domesticity, and creation, to Daniel Shea's "Screen Test," a photographic study of the male form. Some of the offerings are sexually explicit. The majority of contributors are creatives and men, which could limit the book's scope, but as readers work their way through the richly designed pages, they will not encounter one long narrative, no singular argument. Instead, they will encounter the multiplicity lying underneath the term queer. This title offers readers a means to envision new ways of imagining the lives of queer people. VERDICT For librarians interested in expanding their LGBTQIA+ studies, literature, or arts collections, this book serves as a valuable source to complement existing scholarly works.—Nick D'Andrea

Library Journal