Allusions: LGBTQ Writing

Nathan has a special gift that has been with him for as long as he can recall.He can see the dead, and they whisper secrets to him. But his unique talent isn’t appreciated by everyone, nor is his flamboyant style. Growing up without a mother, raised by a single father, dressing fabulously, and being a seer of the invisible leads to all kinds of schoolyard problems. Despite his father’s never-ending support, Nathan finds comfort in his darker side.When Nathan discovers his love of fashion, femininity, and fierceness, it’s only time before he evolves into Azadore Necrophilia Hex—the newest drag queen on the scene.With dedication and study, and some spirits of the long-departed helping her along the way, Azadore soon becomes a local sensation. A big dark bear of man becomes a huge fan, and on their very first date, Azadore is introduced into the world of magicals, where she finally finds home.

George Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image—that of a hypermacho sex god—loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid—for a time—the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. Soon his obsession with fame would start to backfire. As one of the industry’s most privileged yet tortured men began to self-destruct, the press showed little sympathy. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world.    Acclaimed music biographer James Gavin traces Michael’s metamorphosis from the shy and awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou into the swaggering, dominant half of the leading British pop duo of the 1980s Wham!; he then details Michael’s sensational solo career and its subsequent unraveling. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael’s albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend

THE START OF A BEAUTIFUL PARTNERSHIP— A DETECTIVE DUO WITH HEART AND FURSteve’s ripe for a new relationship—divorced, over forty, and still dusting himself off from a lamentable sojourn in prison, an unusual experience for a professor, to say the least. (He really must do something about his hacking habit!)Rochester’s a handsome, homeless, loveable golden retriever whom Steve had always found too big, too enthusiastic, and too shaggy.But tragedy struck their neighborhood when someone murdered Caroline, Steve’s nice next-door neighbor, while she walked her best friend, Rochester. Steve’s the unlucky guy who finds her body and he just knows, despite their differences, that he has to take in the broken-hearted pooch.Once they’re both properly rehomed, these two form a detective partnership that’ll make you sit up and beg for more. Eat your hearts out, Spade & Archer—pretty soon they’ve got a warm and fuzzy thing going. Big furry forthrightness—not to mention heart—meets tech-savvy craftiness as they work their case.Rochester has no idea he has the potential to be the greatest doggy detective since Rex the Wonder Dog was a pup. But he’s got a job to do and he has to find a way to train Steve in the fine art of investigation. Unbeknownst to Steve, his life just changed radically—because a big furry mentor has just trotted into it. Both want justice for Caroline, and Rochester’s way of expressing it is simply to sniff out one clue after another in the hope his two-legged colleague can piece them together.Steve’s way—when all’s said and done— is still to bend the law a little, with the help of Caroline’s contraband laptop. And also to follow Rochester’s trail of treats.Fans of animal cozies—and all cozies!--will find pure gold here especially aficionados of mutt heroes from the aforementioned Rex through the immortal pooches created by Spencer Quinn, David Rosenfelt, Garth Stein, and Laurien Berenson. Lovers of canine classic films like TURNER AND HOOCH, BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA, and the immortal BENJI will also want to sit and stay awhile. Luckily, there’s a whole litter of cases out there.Neil S. Plakcy is the author of the award-winning Mahu mystery series, and coeditor of Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog.