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 Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner.
Broadway Books, hardcover, $23.95.
Dang. We thought that some of us here at Unabridged were pretty gosh darn gay: show tune singers, zero interest in professional sports, and, oh yeah, a sexual interest in the same sex, but Derfner (the author of the fab book Gay Haiku) clearly has us out-ranked, and these hilarious, compulsively-readable essays place him immediately on the shelf with the best of Sedaris, Burroughs, Dan Savage, and their wonderful queer ilk.
 Candy Everybody Wants by Josh Kilmer-Purcell.
HarperCollins, paperback original , $13.95.
Robert loved Josh's previous book, the touching, hilarious memoir I Am Not Myself These Days. In this new work, Josh shows off his chops as a fiction writer, and everyone will want this highly entertaining story of a Wisconsin teen and his quest to become famous in tawdry and fabulous 1980s New York City. The narrator is engaging, the narrative fast-paced, and it comes complete with Josh's trademark wit and way with a phrase. Unforgettable characters and real emotion make this more than mere farce, but the fun abounds. Josh stopped by the store recently (He's way sexy) to sign some copies, and revealed that his next book will be a return to memoir--about his unexpected new calling: goat farmer.
 Twelve Long Months by Brian Malloy.
Scholastic, hardcover, $17.99.
If you were gay but not out in high school, or college, chances are that a really smart, funny, sweet, and possibly overweight girl fell in love with you. And had to get over you, and learn to love herself. This is Molly's story, as she leaves Minnesota to go to college in NYC, but it's also Mark's, as he follows Molly, and discovers love, openness, and how to be a straight girl's true friend. Robert highly recommends this new book from the author the acclaimed novel Brendan Wolf, now in paperback.
 The Perfect Waiter by Alain Claude Sulzer.
Bloomsbury, hardcover, $19.95.
"You were a self-effacing young man, a perfect waiter," says a character in The Perfect Waiter, a novel set around a genteel Swiss lakeside hotel just before Hitler's rise to power. With the outside world in the grip of convulsive change, so too is the meticulously ordered world of Erneste and Jakob, young lovers and fellow waiters at the hotel. The grand traditions of an earlier era are coming to an end, and we can almost feel how the love between Erneste and Jakob likewise cannot last. Filled with passion and palpable longing, love, obsession, and various betrayals, the novel is elegantly written and quite sexy! (The scene of Jakob being fitted for his uniform is intensely erotic!) Ed loved this! Highly recommended!
 My Life in Porn: The Bobby Blake Story by Bobby Blake, with John R. Gordon.
Running Press, paperback original, $14.95.
"I got behind the wheel of my Merc and drove home sweaty and energized, with plans whirling around my head. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I had found the perfect collision of pleasure with work. I had found my secular vocation. I had found my career." So says Mr. Blake, recounting the moment right after finishing his first on-screen porn performance, in this clear-eyed, tell-all memoir of the most celebrated black gay porn star. He's been a minister, a sex worker, and a minister again, and this book documents that incredible journey. Blake does not deny or denounce his past, he does not make excuses, he just tells the tale of the ordinary and extraordinary in his life.
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