Lambda Rising, Summer 1993

Summer 1993 KATZ, KENAN TAKE LAMBDA LITERARY FICTION HONORS Edmund White has writ¬ ten that the experience gay and lesbian writers bring to literature is that of the outsider, the person who always looks at society from a certain distance. What distinguishes the writing of this year’s two Lambda Literary Award fiction winners is that they look through a double lens. Judith Katz' winning novel, Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound, details a life both lesbian and Jewish. From this perspective, she has constructed a novel of magical realism, a dream world which interpene¬ trates and coexists with the world of ordinary exis¬ tence, a world that borders on the mystical and the mad, of exaltation and of abject demoralization. Entering into her imagina¬ tion is entering into a unique and yet oddly familiar place. Katz speaks with a peerless, unmistak¬ able voice. Randall Kenan has been called the new James Baldwin, but that charac¬ terization is too glib and facile. Kenan may share Baldwin's acute aware¬ ness of the destructive power of racism, but he writes not so much out of anger but from knowl¬ edge. Unlike Baldwin, who lived much of his life as an exile, Kenan is a man who can jive in many worlds: black and white, country and city. In his Lambda Award-winning 1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20009 • 202-462-6969 Summer 1993 Fifth Annual Lambda Literary Awards Winners Announced Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, Kenan enters into many voices: a poor white gay southerner and an over-educated white Con¬ federate aristocrat; a black woman school teacher descending into madness, and a successful black accountant itemizing his own private hell. Katz and Kenan are, however, but representa¬ tive of a stellar year in les- bian and gay letters. Nonfiction winner Paul Monette, whose Becoming a Man has already been graced with a National ook Award, has in the ast few years become a ind of living legend, an exemplary mortal transfig¬ ured by the truths he has to tell. Similarly a figure of legend, the late Audre Lorde has left us in Undersong a testament to a will and a discipline and an integrity sorely needed and already sorely missed. And Blanche Weisen Cook has reclaimed a legendary figure in her biography, Eleanor Roosevelt, and made her legacy more available to us. Alison Bechdel has Л kP[ delighted us all with her humor, which compresses a whole cosmos into a laugh. Joan Nestle, in edit¬ ing The Persistent Desire, has explored the arche¬ types of our community made flesh, while John Preston has brought together in Member of the Family compelling evi¬ dence that gay lives do not live solely in some magic circle of the Ghetto, but spring from and continu¬ ally interact with the fami¬ lies that are our first homes. In Edward Field, whose Counting Myself Lucky won gay male fic¬ tion, we have a poet who has labored long, and with humor, despite never hav¬ ing gained the full mea¬ sure of fame he deserves. And in David Wojnarowicz, whose Memories that Smell Like Gasoline won the small press award, we have a life cut short but observed with a passion¬ ate, inflamed awareness every step of the way. See "Winners' on page 2 SIGNINGS AT-A-GLANCE: Lambda Rising/DC 6/22: Barbara Asher, Landscape Without Gravity 6/28: Fenton johnson. Scissors, Paper. Rock Lambda Rising/Baltimore 6/26: Mark Richard Zubro, Policital Poison Summer Authors Heat Up Lambda Rising The summer season starts off hot and really sizzles with an exciting lineup of book signings in the Lambda Rising stores. On Tuesday, June 22, from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m., Barbara Ascher visits Lambda Rising/DC to read from and sign her new book Land- scape Without Gravity. This is the gripping -story of her family's struggle with her brother's illness and even¬ tual death from AIDS, and stands as a loving memor¬ ial to her brother, Bobby. Hers is the first book to be written from the loving viewpoint of a heterosexu¬ al sister. Mark Richard Zubro visits Lambda Rising/ Baltimore on Saturday, June 26 at 3:00 p.m. to read from and sign his new novel, Political Poison. This book is the next novel in the Paul Turner mystery series. Turner is a gay police investiga¬ tor in Chicago, unmarried, and raising two sons. In this book, Turner is assigned to in¬ vestigate the murder of a Chicago aider- man. As he investigates, Turner discovers that jealous professors and old guard politi¬ cians have guilty secrets to protect, including the real reasons why they hated the victim. Winding up the month of June, Fenton Johnson vis¬ its Lambda Rising/ DC to read from and sign his novel Scissors, Paper, Rock on Monday, June 28 from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m. His book is See "Summer Authors" on page 2 Lambda Rising is Growing Again! With the coming sum¬ mer sales season, Lambda Rising continues to expand its operations to better serve our cus¬ tomers. Earlier this year, we added a new position in our company for a full time person to work exclusively with our wholesale sales accounts. And, with that addition, our wholesale sales divi¬ sion is moving into larger offices nearby, with its own warehouse so that we can have more mer¬ chandise in stock to ship your wholesale order more quickly. We offer a complete line of gay and lesbian gift items, such as our cloi¬ sonne lapel pins, jewelry, the rainbow flags, lambda mugs, painters caps, stick¬ ers, the lambda flying See "Wholesale" on page 2 1995 МГ ft Gay Gifts . if Gays in the Military ... 16 Horror! . Lubricants . Magazines . Music . New Releases . . 7-13 . 5 Science Fiction . . 23 Staff Favorites . 18 T-Shirts . .... 24 19 Travel . , 15 Vacation . Video . 20-21 We Ship Books Anywhere! Overnight Delivery Available (at slight additional charge)