LA M B D A RISIN G BOOK REPORT - 6
Introducing the Lambda Rising B ook Report
L. Page "Deacon"
Maccubbin
You hold in your hands the culmination
of a dream-though, at times, it seemed as
though "nightmare” might better describe
the processes we went through to publish this
first issue of the LAMBDA RISING BOOK
REPORT.
There were the usual frustrations
experienced by any new publication: compu
ter breakdowns, missed deadlines, last min
ute design changes, a frantic search for
money to pay the printer, long hours of copy
editing, and many nights hunched over a desk
until the wee hours of the morning.
It took months just to settle on a name
for the publication. For a while, the working
(and obvious) title was “ Lambda Rising
Review of Books” but that imparted a stuffi
ness that we wanted to avoid. Good literature
can be both educational and entertaining and
we did not want to alienate potential readers
■
Publisher's P erspective
-----------------------------
Each issue, we will call on noted and
accomplished gay and lesbian authors to
share their wisdom and their foibles with
you. We will also open our pages to the tyros
who we feel have important comment or
thought to contribute even though their
voices may occasionally quiver. You’ll find
in-depth reviews of current literature as well
as short synopses of new releases. You will be
informed of the latest news concerning gay
and lesbian book publishing, writing and the
literary scene. And we hope you’ll be enter
tained by our comic strip and our crossword
puzzle.
Over the past thirteen years, we’ve
watched the gay and lesbian book market
grow and mature. When we opened our first
Lambda Rising bookstore in 1974, we were
lucky to find 300 titles with which to fill our
shelves. Tbday, our customers, both in-store
and around the country, can choose from
many thousands of titles in nearly every
by adopting a grey, “ halls of ivy” style, literary
snobbery.
Rather the exuberant enthusiasm of a
high school English student in uncovering a
modern day Ocsar Wilde than the dull, grey
Puritanism of a graduate student’s doctorate on
metered relationships in Shakespeare's fifth and
sixth sonnets. We wanted this publication to be
lively and exciting like the literature we cover,
like the community we serve.
And so the dream became reality as the
LAMBDA RISING BOOK REPORT, a contem
porary review of gay and lesbian literature. Our
goal is to keep you abreast of the latest in
literature of interest to lesbians and gay men,
their families and friends. From the most erudite
philosophical studies to the hottest new fiction,
from important sociological studies to romantic
lesbian love stories, we will report on the current
state of the gay and lesbian literary market and,
hopefully, add to your enjoyment and education
in the process.
category. In 1974, there were only a couple
of tiny gay presses in existence. Tbday,
there is a growing number of well-founded,
energetic gay and lesbian publishing hou
ses providing an outlet for our authors.
Equally important, mainstream publi
shers now recognize the value and import
tance of having good gay and lesbian
literature in their catalogs. And there is a
rapidly expanding network of gay and
lesbian bookstores throughout the coun
try, each doing their part to make our
literature available to an increasing num
ber of readers.
It is in this atmosphere of growth
and expansion that the LAMBDA RIS
ING BOOK REPORT has been born. We
remain enthusiastic and excited about the
future of gay and lesbian literature-and
the future of the gay and lesbian commun
ity, as well. We hope you share our opt
imism.
BEST SELLERS
W O M E N S PAPE R B AC K S
1. LEAVE A LIGHT ON FOR ME, by Jean Swallow. (Spinsters/Aunt Lute, $8.95) Four
M E N S PAPERBACKS
1. MEN ON MEN,
edited by George Stambolian. (New American Library, $9.95) An
extraordinary collection gathering the gifted voices in today’s gay fiction.
women, four lives, work through anger and love, passion and hope.
2. MURDER AT THE NIGHTWOOD, by Kathering V. Forrest. (Naiad, $8.95) A dead
2. SAFE SEX,
by John Preston & Glenn Swann. (New American Library, $8.95) Playing
safe and stroking the largest, most important sex organ-the brain.
blonde’s open blue eyes beseech and disturb LAPD detective Kate Delafield.
3. HIGH HEARTS,
by Rita Mae Brown. (Bantam, $4.50) A high stepping gender
chameleon joins the Confederate cavalry and outdoes her husband in battle.
3. I’VE A FEELING WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE,
by Ethen
Mordden. (New American Library, $7.95) Dorothy, Aunty Em will never understand
New York’s gay milieu.
4. AN EMERGENCE OF GREEN, by
Katherine V. Forrest. (Naiad, $8.95) A woman
is caught in a hard fought battle between her husband and her lesbian lover.
4. THE CATHOLIC,
by David Plante. (New American Library, $7.95) Spirituality and
passion, quilt and eroticism somehow nuture and yet constrain each other.
5. LOVE OF GOOD WOMEN, by
Isabel Miller. (Naiad, $8.95) Rosy the Riveter types
discover their capabilities, each other, and escape their domestic prisons.
6. DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR, by Alison Bechdel. (Firebrand,
$6.95) Cartoons about dyke delights and foibles, the mores and
quirks of the lesbian milieu.
7. LONG TIME PASSING , edited by Marcy Adelman. (Alyson, $7.95) Stories of pre-lib
5. CANARY,
by Nathan Aldyne. (Ballantine, $2.95) The fourth Valentine mystery: This
time his clients are having their neckties pulled a little too tight.
6.
HOME IN YOUR HAND,
by Lee Lynch. (Naiad. $7.95) Fine stories about romance,
erotocism, problems, love, and friendship in lesbian lives.
Keith Hale. (Alyson, $6.95) Adolescent first loves, innocent and bright, timid
yet steamy, are shattered by an outrageously cruel world.
7. GAY LIFE,
edited by Eric Rofes. (Doubleday, $12.95) An informative, humorous, and
above all human, guide to living the gay lifestyle.
dykes which show their terrible courage, unkillable hope, their dignity.
8.
CODY, by
8.
IN THE LIFE, edited
by Joseph Beam. (Alyson, $7.95) AT LAST! Stories and essays
encompassing the lives of men who are proudly gay and proudly black.
9. THE HANDMAID’S TALE,
9. I’M LOOKING FOR MR. RIGHT..., by Gregory Flood. (Brob House, $6.95) AIDS,
10. DYKEVERSIONS, Lesbian Writing Collective. (Women’s Press, $9.95) Original short
10. LION WARRIORS, by Don Harrison. (Knights Press, $8.95) Unbridled male passion
by Margaret Atwood. (Fawcett, $4.95) A breeder
maiden tells of horror and hypocrisy in a disturbingly realizable Falwellian utopia.
fiction by talented women writers celebrating lesbian lives.
W O M E N S C LO TH BO U N D
1. SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE..., by Jane Wagner. (Harper
& Row, $15.95) A compendium of pop history and a Broadway hit starring Lily
Tbmlin.
2. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS.
(Abrams, $35 oo) A
beautiful book about a monument to how far women artists have come, how far they
have to go.
3. ESSAYS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOL. ONE,
by Virginia Woolf (Harcourt.
Brace, Jovanovich, $19.95) A literary achievement by the last great English
essayist.
4. ILLUSTRATED GARDEN BOOK,
by Vita Sackville-West. (Atheneum, $22.50)
Only have a window box? Plant the beauty of Sissinghurst Castle in your mind.
5. ICE AND FIRE,
by Andrea Dworkin. (Wiedenfield & Nicolson, $14.95) An explosive
story of a woman's search for self in a labyrinth of drugs and sex.
true love, safe sex, and other spiritual concerns of the modern gay male.
makes for the ultimate sword and sandle epic you wished for as a boy.
M E N ’S CLOTH BOUND
L BUDDIES, by
Ethan Mordden. (St. Martin's, $16.95) Stories of friends, lovers, fathers,
sons, gay and straight, black and white, loving each other.
2. THE ORTON DIARIES, by Joe Orton. (Harper & Row, $19.95) A comic master looks
at a crazy world with plenty of “ skip to the loo” escapades thrown in.
3. GAY PRIEST,
Malcolm Boyd. (St. Martin's, $14.95) Gay, and a priest through and
through, his courage, candor push the Church toward compassion, justice.
4. LITTLE DOG LAUGHED,
by Joseph Hansen. (Henry Holt, $15.95) Dave Brand-
stetter is in South America and in more trouble than ever before.
5. PINK TRIANGLE,
by Richard Plant. (Henry Holt, $19.95) The most comprehensive
work to date about the Nazi persecution of homosexuals.
Best-sellers were determined by sales figures from Lambda Rising's Washington, D.C. and
Baltimore, Maryland bookstores, as well as figures from nationwide mail order sales.
compiled by Tony Dean
SODOMY! Ah ha. THAT GOT YOUR
ATTENTION! On May 24th, 1610 it was the
attention of many people in Jamestown, VA.
On that day so long ago. Gov. Thomas Gates
read to the people “ No man shall commit the
horrible, detestable, sin of sodomy upon pain
of death....”
And in June...‘ She went up 5,000 feet
where she played around a little and came
back, making a poor landing.” It was her first
solo flight. “ She" was none other than Ame
lia Ear hart
Governors and aviators aside, many
gay and lesbian authors were born during
these two months, and what better way to
celebrate your birthday or a friend's than
with a book written by a great author born on
t j
day. Here are a few of those prolific
t »pie along with some of the titles for which
i ey're known.
- M AY
MAY SARTON
MAY 9, 1912
Special Tbachers/Special Boys
Anger
Journal of Solitude
Letters from Maine
Bridge of Years
Magnificent Spinster
Mrs. Stevens Hears
the Mermaids Singing
Grain of Mustard Seed
House by the Sea
Shower of Summer Days
Small Room
Burnt Ones
Twyborn Affair
Flaws in the Glass
Vivisector
PETER FISHER
MAY 19, 1945
Gay Mystique
PATRICK WHITE
MAY 28, 1912
WALT WHITMAN
MAY 31, 1819
City of Orgies
Leaves of Grass
Portable Walt Whitman
OTHERS BORN IN MAY
William Inge. May 3,1913
Michael Lally, May 25, 1942
Sasha Lewis, May 12, 1947
Ralph Waldo Emerson, May 25, 1803
Jill Johnston, May 17, 1929
Frederick Prokosch, May 17, 1908
- JU N E -
ALLEN GINSBERG
JUNE 3, 1926
Iron Horse
Journals: Early Fifties
Kaddish
Planet News
Fall of America
Plutonion Ode
First Blues
Reality Sandwiches
Gates of Wrath
Straight Hearts Delight
Howl
Continued on page 9