Elin Gregory

Every so often I see something – usually a post on Facebook or a blog – that reminds me of a gap in my reading experience that I need to fill. This week’s recommendation is just such a book – one that I’ve been intending to read for several years but it’s so old that there isn’t a digital version of it.

Anyhow, last week I was reading posts and spotted the name Brandstetter, and that reminded me to visit Amazon and look at the author page For Joseph Hansen.

A few days later my copy of The Complete Brandstetter, all 12 novels in one book, arrived and now I am 3 novels into it, I am completely blown away by it and am ruining my eyesight! The print is miniscule but SO worth reading.

The more I’ve learned about these books the more impressed I am. Dave Brandstetter is the typical hard boiled PI. Ex-military, strong minded, intelligent, hard working and determined at all costs to discover the truth. So far so standard, but Joseph Hansen also made him gay. Remember, Hansen was writing these stories at the end of the sixties long before Stonewall. The story cycle begins with Dave working hard to take his mind off his grief, having lost his partner, Rod, to cancer. Their relationship is revisited frequently during the stories, their ups and downs, pleasures and pains, because Dave and Rod were very different characters with different enthusiasms that often clashed, but their mutual love was plain to see. This very positive depiction of a gay relationship was groundbreaking for the time and also for the type of book. Hansen went on record as saying that with Dave Brandstetter he intended not just to write a gay protagonist but one who was a decent, kind man who was good at his job. In fact Dave isn’t actually a PI but an insurance investigator in the life insurance division, checking up on suspicious deaths. Most books have two or three strands – the investigation of the death, plus the lives of the gay men Dave encounters during his work, plus Dave’s own complicated love life. Some threads continue from book to book, others are drawn to a satisfying if not always happy conclusion.

Another BIG plus is the language. Raymond Chandler set the bar high and we expect poetry from our noir heroes. Hansen rises to the challenge but not in an obvious, overdone or parodic fashion. Most of the prose is neat and laconic, but there are occasional phrases that leap off the page. A description of a water wheel:

Moss bearded the paddles, which dripped as they rose. The sounds were good. Wooden stutter like children running down a hall at the end of school. Grudging axle thud like the heartbeat of a strong old man.

Another regarding Dave’s bed:

… he’d have bought whatever the clerk showed him, that particular clerk, a small, dark effeminate boy whose name had been Rod Fleming and with whom he’d slept in that absurd bed – barring times of illness, anger, absence – every night since. Till death did them part. That Lorant might have put his stranger’s nakedness into that bed last night made Dave’s fists tighten.

So very highly recommended but I advise you to get the novels one at a time rather than the omnibus edition. I’m coping with the teeny print because I’m very short sighted but even so I’m rationing my reading to an hour a day.

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My aren’t the weeks just speeding by? I can hardly believe that it’s only 2 more Fridays until the UK Meet and until the Not Quite Shakespeare anthology will be available to buy. [Or you can comment to these interview posts for a chance to win a copy].

I’m looking forward very much to both the anthology and the Meet but for the moment am making do with grabbing the authors contributing to the anthology and forcing them to answer questions about their work. Today’s victim author is Sam Evans.

Welcome Sam!!

Have you always lived in the UK? If not what drew you back?

I was born and bred in the North West of England just outside Manchester in ex-coal mining town, semi famous for its Rugby League and that’s pretty much were I have always lived!

Is there any place that is a must-see for any visitor to the uk?

With the exception of London (and even I get excited when I go there – still) I think the Lake District is a must see place. It’s a beautiful part of the country, home to Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth, the Wainwright Lakeland Fell books (you might need to look these up) and of course the Lakes. I still love going there and it’s about two hours from my house straight up the M6.

In how many counties have you lived? Cosmopolitan or rural?

I’ve not really travelled very far, all my homes have been within quite urban built up areas – think coal mines, cotton mills and industry. Technically now though I reside in Cheshire, but my family home is only live five minutes down the road and that’s situated in Lancashire. I’ve also lived in Merseyside (at University) and close enough to Manchester United Football Ground that I could hear the shouts and boo’s on match day.

My other half was brought up on a farm so when I visited him I couldn’t sleep because there was no traffic outside, sirens, drunk people shouting, not a thing. Now I’m a bit more used to it and I have driven a tractor and can wrangle chickens to collect eggs, but the difference in the two environments is so overwhelming at first.

What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?

My story is based in Blackpool, with is a seaside town on the North West of England. Most people who live in the UK have either heard of it, visited it, or both and most have wide ranging opinions of the place – some good, some bad (I know I asked).

The inspiration for the story came after I visited the town with family (it’s about 50 minutes from my house) to see the ‘famous’ Illuminations’. We spent time walking up and down the Promenade and in particular looking at the Comedy Carpet which sits on the promenade right in the front of Blackpool Tower. On it is the name of every comedian (think Tommy Cooper, Morecombe and Wise, Peter Kay) Hollywood stars (Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra) and any other performer who has graced the town’s stages.

When I got home and dug a little further into its history I found that Blackpool was, at one point the place to go if you wanted to get famous and still to this day over 17 million people visit Blackpool every year. However rather than concentrate on the rowdiness, the hen and stag parties that grace Blackpool’s streets I wanted to do something a little different and original to show it off a little and that’s where the story grew from

Could you tell me a little about it?

The story is called Illumination and centre’s around Josef Sivok a joiner who works for his uncle. We meet him on a cold stormy Blackpool night as he about to say goodbye to the beloved theatre he inherited off a family member. Unfortunately a lack of cash and funding has resulted in Josef’s family selling it to The National Trust – who want to do ‘god knows what’ to it. He thinks is just handing over the keys but instead he meets a very cute and bossy NT representative called Maxwell Bond and takes him on a tour of the building.

Could you please tell me about your other work?

This is my first published work. I’m a bit of a nervous, anxiety ridden first timer. When I wrote Illumination I never expected it to be picked, I just wanted to write, finish a small project and formally submit something.

The process has taught me so much, about formatting, grammar, story build up and how to catch the IRS’s attention.

What are you working on at the moment?

My current project is novella, set at Manchester Pride 2013 and is loosely based on an overheard conversation between three guys who I met whilst watching the parade go past on the Saturday afternoon. One of the men spent the whole time complaining about the red leather shirt he had been made to wear and the story bloomed from that.

I also have a hankering to write about a serial killer….

Please could we have an excerpt?

This is the beginning from Illumination my NQS story:

Josef Sivok couldn’t help but stare up at the gable end of the Blackpool Lyceum with its decaying woodwork and crumbling render. A particularly strong gust of wind had just crashed into its side wall and deposited what looked like a skipload of sand and debris at the base of it.

“Shit.” He said under his breath, kicking out at the pile with a steel-toe-capped boot. There was probably enough sand sat there to create his own desert island, and he swirled the boot in a figure of eight in it.
The wind that blew from the Irish Sea tonight was relentless, bringing in waves high enough to crash over the sea wall. It was making him grimace with every facial muscle he had each time a gust of it hit the side wall of the building.

That last time it had caught the black cast-iron guttering that ran down the length of the building.
Jo’s ears, already highly trained listening devices, could hear the metal brackets that where supposed to hold the iron pipework to the brick scraping from side to side as the downspout fought against each strong gust of wind that hit it.

He thought it was bad enough standing outside exposed to the elements, but to watch them it destroy parts of his beloved building was like twisting the knife in the wound.

His building.

He should probably stop calling it that and just get used to the idea. Because as of three o’clock that day, the paperwork had been signed and the Lyceum was no more Josef’s building than it was that of the average person walking down the street.

Or it would be, as soon as the new owners picked up the keys from him.

~~~

Many thanks, Sam, for sending me your answers. Readers, if you would like to follow Sam you can find her blog HERE and she is @samevansstuff on Twitter.

Oh and the cover and blurb of Not Quite Shakepeare are now available!

Take a ride to Northern Scotland on the famous train, the Jacobite, and rediscover desire. Get lost in the Peace Maze in Northern Ireland during a downpour and let a handsome young redhead come to the rescue. Take a tour of historical Blackpool on the English coast and set the stage for the perfect romance. From England to the outer isles, the UK holds treasure troves of romance, history, intrigue, and—naturally—quirky British humor. Not Quite Shakespeare samples it all in fifteen stories.

A man in London makes an accidental confession of sexual need to a virtual stranger who happens to be his boss. An American revisits West Sussex and rekindles an old flame with a romp in the stables. A couple finds their perfect third while vacationing on a pig farm in Yorkshire. In the office, on the race track, or in the kitchen baking bread—romance in the UK is alive and well, and full of sweet surprise.

Stories Included:
Ninety-nine Problems by Becky Black
The Jacobite by Bette Browne
Illumination by Sam Evans
Wag, Not a Dog by Theo Fenraven
The Benefits of Hindsight by MA Ford
Apollo, Heathcliff, and Hercules by S.A. Garcia
Misadventures of Mislaid Men by Penny Hudson
Rough Tackle by Annabelle Jacobs
Bread and Butter Pudding by Jules Jones
First Contact by Rhidian Brenig Jones
Chanctonbury Ring by Sarah Madison
Tops Down, Bottoms Up by Jay Northcote
In the Doghouse by Chris Quinton
Wrong Number by Megan Reddaway
Best Vacation Ever by Rob Rosen

You can pre-order it HERE

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Happy Humpday!!

Firstly, in case you are looking for the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia post please click here You can still comment for a chance to win a gift card until 24th May.

Secondly, to celebrate that it’s Wednesday, as if we need a reason, here’s another interview with an author contributing to the Not Quite Shakespeare anthology from Dreamspinner Press. My guest today is Annabelle Jacobs 🙂

Have you always lived in the UK? If not what drew you back?

I have always lived here. I was born up in Nottinghamshire, and ended up in the South West when I moved jobs.
Is there any place that is a must-see for any visitor to the UK? In how many counties have you lived?

Cosmopolitan or rural?

I have only ever lived in the UK. I grew up in a rural area, which was great— lots of greenery and forests to explore. The Major Oak (where Robin Hood and his men were rumoured to have slept) was just down the road in Sherwood Forest, so that was always fun to visit
.

Apart from that I’ve also lived in Coventry and Bristol, both nearer to the center of things than where I grew up.

I think London, of course, is a must see if you’re visiting the UK, but there are loads of other great places to go. For me, personally, I love driving down to Cornwall. The beaches and coastal paths are beautiful, and there’s also a lot of historical sights down there to see too. Like Tintagel Castle, for example, believed to be the birthplace of King Arthur.

What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?

Hmm… good question!

I wanted to write something that struck me as being particularly British, and playing Sunday League footy with a hangover seemed about as British as anything. I distinctly remember my friends playing when we were in college, (I did an engineering course, so mostly boys!), and they would almost always have a hangover from being out on the Saturday night.

Could you tell me a little about it?

Well, Alex meets Josh while out celebrating his birthday. Alex is really drunk, and sort of comes on to Josh but doesn’t remember much about it the next morning. His friends do, though, and tease him about it. Alex brushes it off, assuming it’s just one of those things and he’ll never see the guy again, so it doesn’t really matter if he made a fool of himself or not.

Except Josh is playing for the opposition when Alex and his mates turn up to the footy match. And Josh remembers Alex.

It was really fun to write, especially with it being based in Bristol this time.

Could you please tell me about your other work?

I have three books published with Dreamspinner Press. My first book, The Choosing, came out in Oct 2013, and is a paranormal romance about feline shifters and hunters.

The other two books, Capture and Union are part of my Torsere series, and they were released this year. Torsere is a fantasy series, following the growing relationship between Ryneq, the king of Torsere, and Nykin, a dragon rider in the king’s army.

What are you working on at the moment?
I finished writing Alliance, the third and final book in the Torsere series at the beginning of April, so I’ve been taking a little break in between projects. I am itching to start something new though, and have lots of ideas. After writing Rough Tackle for the anthology, I’m tempted to try writing a contemporary romance this time.

Please could we have an excerpt?

This is a little extract from Rough Tackle, my Not Quite Shakespeare story…

Ben pulled on his arm to tug him down, and Alex was just about to fall into his seat when he spotted dark hair and cheekbones over by the bar. The guy was side-on to him, ordering a drink, and Alex could see faint stubble covering a strong jaw. Alex licked his lips and shook Ben’s hand off him, ignoring his friend’s protests in favour of stalking over to the bar.
The guy was leaning forward, arms propped on the bar and arse sticking out a little. Alex grinned at the way the tight black jeans hugged his body, and he itched to stroke his fingers over the guy’s denim-clad cheeks. Before he knew it, Alex had reached the bar and sat himself down on an empty stool.
“Hey,” he said, attempting to rest his elbow on the counter and missing by a mile. He slipped to the side, and would have fallen right off the stool if the guy hadn’t grabbed him by the arm.
“Steady on there, mate.”
Alex looked up into brown eyes, slightly crinkled at the corners where the guy was smiling at him. He had short soft-looking hair that appeared black in the low lighting of the bar, high cheekbones, and full red lips slightly wet from his drink. Alex’s stomach fluttered. “I’m Alex, and drunk.” He had no control of the words coming out of his mouth.
The guy laughed as he paid for his pint and turned to raise an eyebrow at Alex. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Alex leaned into him, feeling really tired all of a sudden. His head began to ache with a dull throb, the room going blurry around him, so he closed his eyes and rested his head on the shoulder next to him. He breathed in deep, getting a noseful of sharp, spicy aftershave. It smelled good, and Alex wanted to ask what it was, but even the thought of speaking seemed like too much effort. He just needed to rest his eyes.
Only for a minute.

Many thanks, Annabelle for answering my questions. Readers, if you would like to follow Annabelle’s work links are below:

Website
Twitter
Facebook Profile
Author Page
Annabelle’s books at Dreamspinner Press
Annabelle’s books at Amazon US
Annabelle’s books at Amazon UK

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I was very pleased when historical thriller author, Elliott Mackle, agreed to do because a] I knew his process would be interesting and b] he has written some of my favourite historical novels. Unfortunately he’s not in a position to be able to post his piece to his own blog so has asked me to post it to mine.

Take it away Elliott!

~~~

Elliott Mackle

What am I working on?

Right now I’m collating suggested edits of a new mystery novel by my four beta readers: a college professor, a one-time academic turned newspaper editor, another novelist and a specialist in the book’s backstory, the Holocaust. The novel, working title “Sunset Island,” was tricky to plot because, in narrative terms, the action happens between the events in the first novel in the series, “It Takes Two,” and the second published, “Only Make Believe.” For instance, I had to be dead sure that characters who are murdered in “Sunset Island” do not turn up in “Only Make Believe.” All three novels have large casts so keeping the characters distinct as well as active and believable took a lot of thought and fact-checking.

Because small presses provide minimal copy editing, my beta readers are essential. For instance, my Holocaust expert pointed out that a particular incident during World War Two could not have happened when and where I placed it, but might have happened a few months earlier. Great catch, one that I would not have made. The college professor is helpful in curbing my tendencies to step outside the narrative frame and to needlessly foreshadow events.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The novels just mentioned, set in and around Fort Myers, Florida, in 1949-51, are historical mysteries that turn on the partnership of two veterans of World War II. The men are as different from each other as I can make them. One is a county detective and former Marine grunt. The other, a former Navy Lieutenant, manages a hotel where everything is available for a price. Despite the fact that both act as sleuths, there’s a good bit of sexual and moral tension between the pair of lovers. The other series, set during the Vietnam era on first one air base and then another, is also historical but with much more romance, casual sex and on-page violence. Each of these, for instance, features one or two plane crashes, an out-of-control commander or CIA operative and the gay narrator’s narrow escapes from the risks he takes in fulfilling his sexual and career objectives.
In both series, I go out of my way to create convincing male and female heterosexual characters, some sympathetic, others not. That, after all, is how the world works and my aim is to create realistic, modestly literary fiction.

That said, I tend to play down the specifics of lovemaking, with exceptions. For instance, one character in the Fort Myers novels, a stud-horse waiter, is described as a tripod, and proud of it. His oversize penis is essential to the plot of the novel now in play. My pair of lover-sleuths in the same series, created, as I said, as polar opposites, also get a bit of genital description. The country boy from a poor family is uncut; the city-bred, college boy is cut. Beyond that kind of detail, I believe the reader can supply his or her own knowledge of human anatomy to imagine size, shape and hang.

Why do I write what I do?

I write the sort of novels I want to read. As a kid, once I graduated from A. A. Milne, the Oz books, Dr. Doolittle and Walter Farley‘s horseracing novels, I took on a series of sweeping historicals: “The Egyptian,” “Désirée” and “Gone with the Wind,” to name only three. A road-show performance of the musical “South Pacific” when I was nine or ten must have suggested that the central drama of my childhood, World War II, could be turned into art. Finally, the discovery of “Moby-Dick” in high school, and the experience of living in claustrophobic, all-male quarters in dormitories, a fraternity house and Air Force bachelor officers’ billets, gave me the frame for most of my novels. Throw a bunch of men, gay and straight, together, add a murder, a suicide or a lot of alcohol and, bingo, conflict begets narrative begets a story that’s asking to be told.

How does my writing process work?

John D. MacDonald, celebrated author of the Travis McGee mystery series, told me that the single most important step in creating a novel is discovering where the action begins–not backstory, not total narrative, not the characters’ life histories or deep emotions. It’s the instant, rather, the moment or image that grabs and holds the reader’s attention and keeps him or her going all the way to the end. (“Call me Ishmael.” “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but … “)

With the general idea of the plot and characters in my head, I look for that moment and draft the first and last paragraphs of the book. Then I do a spread sheet–with months across the top and characters down the left gutter. This allows me to chart who does what to who, when and where. I follow with a 50-80 page outline, talk it through with one of my betas, revise as necessary, and draft the book, start to finish.

Then it goes to the betas and soon the real work begins, rewrites. As a former journalist on a big-city daily, I know that rewrites are an essential part of the job.

So, now, let me return to my edits. Thanks for your attention.

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Monday, Monday *sigh* … but that means we get to see another author interview drawn from the fantastic list of people contributing to Dreamspinner Press’s Not Quite Shakespeare anthology.

My guest today is famous both as an author and an editor and has won awards for both. Welcome rob Rosen.

Have you ever visited the UK? If so where did you go?

I’ve been to London twice. Cool Ferris wheel. A little slow-moving, but nice. Also peed in a public urinal in the sidewalk. Guess the British are trying to shake that whole posh image thing. Cheers to them! But, in all honesty, I really love London, the whole cool vibe of it, all beautifully framed in centuries of history.

What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?

I liked the call for submissions and felt like I could add something unique to the anthology. I knew I wanted to write a sex scene in a maze, then found just such a maze in Northern Ireland. Then I Google mapped the entire area to get a sense of the place. In the end, I think I captured the look and feel for the location and hope the readers feel the same.

Could you tell me a little about it?

John finds himself at the Peace Maze, the gate watched by a young, handsome, redhead, Conan. Conan informs John that the park is closing in an hour, but that he should have enough time to make it through the maze and ring the Peace Bell in the center in that amount of time. Conan then comes to the rescue after John gets lost during a downpour, and, in the end, it turns out to be John’s best, not to mention sexiest, vacation ever.

Could you please tell me about your other work?

I’m the award-winning author of the novels “Sparkle: The Queerest Book You’ll Ever Love”, “Divas Las Vegas”, “Hot Lava”, “Southern Fried”, “Queerwolf”, “Vamp”, and “Queens of the Apocalypse”, and editor of the anthologies “Lust in Time”, “Men of the Manor”, and “Best Gay Erotica 2015”. I’ve also has had short stories featured in more than 200 anthologies.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently in the process of choosing stories for Best Gay Erotica 2015, the 21st Edition, which I’m the editor of, and I’m finishing up my eighth novel, “Creature Comfort”.

My Not Quite Shakespeare story, “Best Vacation Ever”, snippet:

It was yet another crumbling, gray castle, this one on a rolling hillside, staring out at the tumultuous Dundrum Bay. The thick grass I stood upon as I gazed outward was impossibly green—which, sad to say, made two of us.
To be perfectly honest, the food in Northern Ireland wasn’t agreeing with me. The heavy sausages and even heavier Irish stew, the salty herring and, blech, Lough Neagh eel, the insanely dry potato and soda breads, plus the ever-present steak and Guinness pies, all of them were churning in my belly like the ferocious water in the bay down below.
“You don’t look so good, laddie,” I heard as I stood there, lost in queasy thought, the wind whipping over me, jacket billowing all the while.
I turned and forced a smile on my now weather-beaten face, my summer vacation proving less than expected. “No salads around these parts?” I asked the wizened man now by my side, a docent of sorts, dressed in traditional Irish garb.
He laughed. “Meat salad count?” I grabbed my stomach as he in turn patted my back. “Sorry, laddie.”
I nodded. “No worries.” I then pointed at the twelfth century Dundrum Castle to our side, or at least what was left of it. “Is there anything else around these parts worth seeing, something built recently, and not made of stone.” I wasn’t trying to be rude, really; I was simply in need of something prettier to look at all of a sudden, something not crumbling into the oblivion even as we spoke.
He squinted hyanked on his graying goatee. “I think I have just the thing for you,” he replied. “Close by, and none of it built before the nineteenth century, I believe.”
Which, for those parts, was brand-spanking new. “Nothing crumbling and gray?”
He grinned and shook his mop of white hair. “Nope, laddie,” he replied. “Most of it was lovingly made by Mother Nature herself.”
I pointed to the violent bay and to the gray clouds working their way across the wind-battered coast. “She seems mighty pissed at the Irish right now, if you ask me.”

Many thanks, Rob, for taking part. If you want to follow Rob you can catch up with him on his website or on Goodreads.

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We only do this hop once a year and it can be great fun going from blog to blog to read the posts and see what the authors, bloggers, reviewers and presses are offering to their guests. I know it’s the one post a year when I can count on getting some visitors – Hi guys – but really once a year isn’t enough.

For some folk every day is a battle to be accepted for what they are. For some folk winning that battle is an uphill struggle against horrible odds. We should never forget that and we should do all we can to celebrate human kind in all its wonderful diversity.

If you would like to do this you can click on the picture above to be taken to the HAHAT blog and see all the other bloggers who will be commenting this week or you can go and contribute something at the official Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia site. If you use Twitter lets see if we can get #HAHAT trending.

Usually on a Saturday I take the opportunity to gush about a book that I have read recently that has pleased me a lot. Today I’ve decided to go through my book files and mention some of the books featuring trans characters that I particularly enjoyed reading.

Portside by Elyan Smith

Blurb: Life on the dole in a dying town is defined by drinking when you can, smoking to pass the time, and, if you’re gay, going down to the barracks at the old port to get some. Iwan’s got the cigarettes and the booze down pat, but he lacks experience, so he sticks to online porn and watching the lads portside.

Paying for what he’s afraid to get for free may seem absurd, but it’s better than just watching, and it’s better than porn. It may not change the world he lives in, but with luck, it will change him.

This novella about Iwan, trapped with no job and no prospects blew me away when it first came out. I’ve been looking forward to more work from this very promising author but I understand that he’s working on a PhD and we’ll have to wait. Good luck with the studies, Elyan, and please write more soon.

The City War by Sam Starbuck

Blurb:
Senator Marcus Brutus has spent his life serving Rome, but it’s difficult to be a patriot when the Republic, barely recovered from a civil war, is under threat by its own leader. Brutus’s one retreat is his country home, where he steals a few precious days now and then with Cassius, his brother-in-law and fellow soldier—and the one he loves above all others. But the sickness at the heart of Rome is spreading, and even Brutus’s nights with Cassius can’t erase the knowledge that Gaius Julius Caesar is slowly becoming a tyrant.

Now Brutus must return to Rome and choose: not only between Cassius and Tiresias, but between preserving the fragile status quo of Rome and killing a man who would be Emperor.

I’ve been reading Sam Starbuck’s work for well over ten years and have been delighted by it on many occasions, but this is one of his best. Displaying a quirky knowledge of the history of the time, Sam takes well known events and puts a new spin on them while adding a tender, bitter-sweet love story.

Never forget that just as gay and lesbian people have always been there, hidden away in our pasts, often fearing to be discovered, so have trans people. Some passed almost unremarked, others took centre stage. Look at the life of James Barry, Inspector-General of Hospitals for the British Army, who worked tirelessly to improve the lot of soldiers and their families all over the British empire.

The Invisibles by Zia Jaffrey
Blurb:
In this superb work of investigative reporting, Zia Jaffrey pursues the riddle of India’s most elusive subculture, the cross-dressing and often-castrated figures known as “hijras” whose very name means neither male nor female. Are the hijras lucky or dangerous? Are they a nurturing community of outcasts or a criminal network that kidnaps and mutilates recruits? Do they number in the thousands or in the millions? As she talks with policemen, a unionizer of eunuchs, and with the hijras themselves, Jaffrey unravels veils of rumor and deception to locate the nature of our sexual and social thresholds, and the people who dwell on them. Deeply resonant, uniquely insightful, The Invisibles is an enthralling work.

This one isn’t fiction – sorry but I like non-fiction – and while reading it I got the impression that the author was trying to be a bit sensational, but it’s still a very compelling read and, moreover, shows a completely different way of life and different set of opportunities open to and prejudices faced by people who aren’t happy with the gender assigned to them at birth, while reinforcing the importance of being able to express what one feels to be true about oneself, in whatever culture one inhabits. I found it by turns enlightening and heartbreaking.

~~~

Prize? Naturally. Comment below for a $5 Amazon voucher and I will make my usual donation to the Albert Kennedy Trust.

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