Douglas Ray

Please count my three-star rating as petty. It's because there was so much poetry and prose in this, and somehow, despite it being clearly pointed out in the introduction, I thought this would be an anthology of essays with occasional poetry and prose. It was easily half the book, so I skipped over a lot. I read this book solely because I'm writing a character that grew up in Savannah, GA and goes back home to take care of a beloved family member. I thought this book would help shape her character better, and it helped me understand her background better. (I am from the North. The Pacific Northwest, at that. I shall seek out sensitivity readers when I finish the work.) So, because I was using this book as a research point, I was reading it in a very different way than I ordinarily would read a book. I am pouting, because whatever I expected to find, I did not really.

My own self-centeredness aside, I am so glad this book is out and so widely circulated. It's so important that books like these are written. Representation matters. I imagine that people who are newly out, or lonely for company, even through books, or just curious, or whatever, picked up this book and it filled something for them. Books that do that are important. I wrote some of the contributors' names down because I want to read more of their work. I hope everyone featured in this book keeps writing unapologetically (that is a word, and I have indeed spelled it correctly. Don't tell me I haven't, squiggly red line. Pouting over here).… (more)