books of gay spirit & wisdom


Lethe's gay titles include an array of gay-positive novels, poetry, erotica and literature for gay men & lesbians. In addition, Lethe has partnered with the White Crane Institute to bring out new and classic titles in gay spirituality and gay wisdom under the White Crane Books imprint. Lethe is one of the world's leading publishers of gay and lesbian spirituality, poetry, and independent fiction. Below is a list of Lethe Press's books of gay spirit, spirituality and wisdom--both fiction and non-fiction.

Permalink

vanden-it-was-too-soon-before

Back cover:

vanden-it-was-too-soon-before-back

click cover for larger image


It Was Too Soon Before…
The unlikely life, untimely death, and unexpected rebirth of Gay Pioneer, Dirk Vanden


By Dirk Vanden

It Was Too Soon Before… is the autobiography of Richard Fullmer who wrote under the nom de plume Dirk Vanden. He was a serious novelist in the early days of the development of the gay literary genre. His first books were published--augmented with sex scenes inserted by the publisher--as porn pulps. The book tells the story of his life from his upbringing as a devout Mormon to his discovery of sexual realities to his move to the gay meccas of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1960s and discovery of the thriving gay counterculture through the death to AIDS of his longtime partner to retirement and obscurity to a "rebirth" as his books have been rediscovered by modern gay literary scholars. The book includes "The Wit & Wisdom of Gabriel Horny," a collection of humor and wisdom in  short aphorisms that express the spiritual wisdom Fullmer has garnered through his 78 years.

Includes two sections of photographs from the author's life.

With an Introduction by Toby Johnson

Good review by Amos Lassen


deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $7.99




Lethe Press
260 pages, 77000 words
5.5x8.5 trade paperback
978-1-59021-354-4
1-59021-354-8 eISBN 978-1-59021-415-2

Buy from Giovanni's Room

the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos





Permalink

grether-the-secret-of-the-golden-phallus

click cover for larger image
Kindle free days coming up

The Secret of the Golden Phallus
: Male Erotic Alchemy for the 21st Century


by Bruce P Grether

Introduction by Joseph Kramer
Commentary by Toby Johnson

This book can transform how you see yourself and can even change your life. Major taboos remain around male genitals and eroticism, taboos that you must dissolve in order to reclaim who and what you really are. It is time on our rapidly changing planet to merge the erotic with the sacred, and for you to reclaim your body as a temple. Revealed here as never before, is the authentic phallic wisdom of Male Erotic Alchemy for too long deliberately obscured by the dominant cultures. Ancient wisdom combines with cutting-edge practices that are simple, yet powerful tools you can actually use. The Triple God concept and the three forms of Male Solo Sex Magick will unleash your creative, sustaining, and regenerative powers. You are encouraged to honestly embrace your own phallus and enhanced erotic ecstasy as the legitimate core of your male identity. The Secret of the Golden Phallus will help you to become a happier, healthier, more balanced man.

The Secret of the Golden Phallus is an Amazon Prime title and is offered electronically as a kindle exclusive. Click here for Kindle Store. The Secret of the Golden Phallus is available to Amazon Prime members in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

(This means there will be occasional free days in the Kindle store.)


---

Visit the author's website: Read about Bruce Grether's books & workshops

Discover the Male Mystery School

View Bruce Grether on YouTube speaking with Nils Taranger about The Secret of the Golden Phallus

Lethe Press
278 pages, 82000 words
5.5 x 8.5 trade paperback
978-1-59021-118-2
1-59021-118-9

eISBN 978-1-59021-413-8 / 1-59021-413-7

Buy from Giovanni's Room

the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos





Permalink

jaffe-jewish-gentle

click cover for larger image
Jewish Gentle and Other Stories of Gay-Jewish Living

by Daniel M. Jaffe

“We know the territory that Jaffe writes in—lush, stark, unexpected, a Jordan flowing through it with Real on one bank and Dream on the other. Jaffe is not afraid to write about violence, or blasphemy, sometimes comically and sometimes horrifically...you are holding in your hands this new book of his. Where fractured novel and story collection are Velcroed to the music he composes, his Torah of the moment, the stories of our gay queer Jewish lives, seen and reseen, heard and reheard, with a lush orchestra of lived experience playing in the background. A collection of stories that could be a novel, the sections of a novel shuffled like a deck of cards. A lush Jewish gamelan for queer ears, queer hearts, queer minds. And otherwise.”— from Andrew Ramer’s Introduction.

In Jewish Gentle and Other Stories of Gay-Jewish Living, Daniel M. Jaffe explores various aspects of gay-Jewish life: coming out to self and family; (re)defining one’s relationship to tradition and faith; surviving child abuse and teenage sexual identity angst; experiencing the adult joys and heartbreaks of dating, of forming relationships, and of losing them; coping with HIV/AIDS; considering parenting; and dealing with old age.

Mirroring the diversity within contemporary American Jewish life, the main characters in these twenty-four stories are Jewish, but in various ways—some wrestle with religion, others with their place in tradition and community. Yet for other characters here, Jewish identity is not at issue in the pursuit of happiness, love, and inner peace; rather, Jewishness is a cornerstone given, a foundational lens through which these characters see and examine the world and self.


deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments
Digital edition priced at $6.99

Lethe Press
264 pages, 62000 words
5x8 trade paperback
978-1-59021-187-8
1-59021-187-1

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com



suresha-the-uncommon-sense

click cover for larger image
"A Storytelling World Honor Book"
 in the Storytelling Collections category of the
2012 Storytelling World Awards.


The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin
Stories, jests, and donkey tales of the beloved Persian folk hero

By Ron J. Suresha

Once, when young Nasruddin was acting up in class by distracting his classmates with endless antics, jests, and stories, his irate teacher uttered a curse: “Whatever you do or say, wherever you go or stay, whether it’s night or day — people will only laugh at you.” Now, eight centuries later, children, adults, and wise fools everywhere are still laughing at Nasruddin, one of the world’s most beloved folk characters. This entertaining and insightful retelling of more than 350 Mullah stories brings the famed Persian legend into the 21st Century. Storytellers, folklorists, Sufis, comedians, wisdom seekers, and everyone who loves to laugh will be enriched and enlightened by the timeless wit, inscrutable wisdom, and uncommon sense of humor of Mullah Nasruddin.

GREAT review from Storytelling, Self, Society journal:

"Suresha identifies the real strength of Nasruddin’s stories in context to world literature and story performance, that is, its power to build bridges between cultures. He relates a personal reference to the mullah stories, as they were the first stories he learned from his Israeli-American mother. Throughout his life he continued to collect these anecdotes, and as a young adult he found one of Idries Shah’s collections of Nasruddin stories on the shelves in an ashram library.
. . .
"The intended audience for Suresha’s collection is a contemporary audience of all ages. If the illustration cover by Sgott MacKenzie is any indication of a future market for this collection, we are likely to see Suresha’s book in use for secondary educational environments as well as personal libraries. Suresha refers to this text as a “contemporary retelling,” which is appropriate to the storytelling traditions of Turkey. The point of these stories is to speak to the audience in the language and metaphors that are familiar. Suresha acknowledges that he avoided the “more lurid and pejorative sexual, scatological, ethnic, racist, sexist and violent subjects,” but he eludes to the possibility of including them in a forthcoming collection. I hope Suresha carries out this plan to bring the more compromising stories to an adult audience at a later date—after all, that is part and parcel of the trickster’s trade."

Review by Sandra Bird in Informaworld
(note: you must be a subscriber to informaworld to access the review)

deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $8.99





Lethe Press
232 pages
75000 words
6x9 trade paperback
978-1-59021-175-5
1-59021-175-8


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com



click cover for larger image

Freedom Glorious Freedom
The Spiritual Journey to the Fullness of Life
For Gays, Lesbians,and Everybody Else

By John J. McNeill

In Freedom, Glorious Freedom, acclaimed author John J. McNeill shows how lesbian and gay Christians can achieve full spiritual maturity and self-acceptance. McNeill discusses freedom of conscience and discernment of spirits, ancient teachings of the Christian church that have a special urgency for lesbian and gay people who need to free themselves from all the homophobic authorities and deal with God on a direct and personal basis. The liberating process of coming out of the closet is seen as a spirit-filled effort to achieve the glory of God by becoming fully alive. McNeill offers a twelve-step spirituality as a spiritual process of liberation from all addictions in order to experience the love of God in its fullness. The epilogue expresses in detail a philosophical vision, looking both to the past and to the future, of how gay liberation fits into the Spirit-directed evolution of human history and its role in the ongoing struggle for human liberation.

For more than thirty-five years, John J. McNeill, an ordained priest and psychotherapist, has been devoting his life to spreading the good news of God’s love for lesbian and gay Christians.

View trailer and Read about Brendan Fay's movie about John McNeill, titled Taking a Chance on God
Lethe Press
323 pages
6x9 trade paperback
978-1-59021-148-9


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com

Permalink





sex as god intended



Sex as God Intended
A Reflection on Human Sexuality as Play

By John J. McNeill

with Festschrift essays celebrating the life and work of John J. McNeill

For more than thirty-five years, John J. McNeill, an ordained priest and psychotherapist, has been devoting his life to spreading the good news of God's love for lesbian and gay Christians. McNeill presents a simple and straightforward answer to the question: What did God invent sex for? The answer, derived from an incisive investigation of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, is that God intended sex as a source of pleasure, joy and love.

This book represents a concise summary of the wisdom culled over a lifetime. McNeill's ideas have enriched the faith of thousands, including fellow teachers, religious scholars, ministers and lay folk.

 
This volume includes a Festschrift to John McNeill, celebrating his life and work in a series of essays by students, friends, and activists, honoring him for his lasting contribution and spelling out how he touched their lives and work.

Toby Johnson  •  Mark Jordan  •  Robert E. Goss •  Jim Mitulski  •  Mary Elizabeth Hunt  • Sr. Jeannine Gramick • Vincent Virom Coppola • Virginia Ramey Mollenkott • Mel White • Daniel Helminiak  •  John Stasio  •  Brendan Fay  and Rev. Troy Perry


Click: For more information about this book


Very good and interesting review by Jack Gardner from Philadelphia EDGE
Descriptive and analytic, 5-Star review by William Lindsey

Long, critical but positive and celebratory review from "queering the church.com"

Dignity USA review by Jeff Stone
Interesting and provocative review by Thom Nickels

View trailer and Read about Brendan Fay's movie about John McNeill, titled Taking a Chance on God



Lethe Press
268 pages
6x9 trade paperback

1-59021-042-5
978-1-59021-042-0



Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com






contemplations


Contemplations of the Heart:

A Book of Male Spirit, Photography, Digital Imaging and Text
By Peter Grahame

A very unique and moving book, this collection of images and poetry tells an eloquent story of the gay male spirit. The book is filled with sensuous, lush and magical images of naked men that have been processed to create a dream-like land of joy. Contemplations of the Heart highlights men of many different ages, shapes, sizes and colors. The non-erotic, non-objectifying
grahame-contemplations-of-the-heart-image male nude photographic and digital images, and the meditation-style text, are reflective of positive self-image and self-acceptance, and it suggests how these may lead to a deeper sense of the spiritual self, most especially for Gay men.

Hard cover, mostly
full color, t
he book measures 5.75 in. x 8.25 in. All male photo subjects appearing are 18 or older. This book is very reasonably priced, and a great gift.

Peter Grahame is interviewed about his art in Icarus 1

Visit the author/photographer's website

Wonderful review in Edge Los Angeles



Ironic Horse Studio

distributed by
Lethe Press
ISBN 978-0-977427802
84 pages
$16.95


Purchase at the author/photographer's website

Buy fromTLA
gay books and video
Permalink



seventy times seven


Seventy Times Seven

a novel
By Salvatore Sapienza


An intriguing look into current-day religious life… The story of a young Catholic teaching brother realizing the true meaning of serving others and living life, Seventy Times Seven is readable and entertaining, with just the right twists and turns to keep the reader engrossed.

“Jesus instructed us to forgive those who have wronged us seventy times seven times,” Brother Vito Fortunato teaches the boys in his high school religion class, but it’s Vito himself who has the most trouble with forgiveness: trying to forgive the Church, the gay community, and most of all, himself. Just a few months from his final vows as a Brother in the Catholic Church, Vito finds himself at a crossroads, torn between his spirituality and his sexuality as a fully out and proud gay man. Will a summer of volunteer work at an AIDS center in San Francisco—and a love affair with Gabriel, a recently divorced landscaper—help Vito decide his calling—and his future?


One of the "Top 5 Books of 2008" -- UP Reviews

Read Rainbow Reviews

Read reviews on the author's site

deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $5.99




Lethe Press
Paperback,
260 pages, 76000 words
ISBN 978-1-59021-057-4
1590210573



Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos




Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com


carpenter



 
Pagan and Christian Creeds
By Edward Carpenter

A collection of essays by the English socialist poet, anthologist and early homosexual activist. The book is an attempt to make an objective comparison between the origins and practices of pagan religions and christianity.


Lethe Press Paperback,
320 pages
ISBN  1590210077
$19.95

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia


Permalink


Loving Someone Gay

click cover for larger image

Loving Someone Gay
5th edition

By Don Clark, Ph.D.

For more than three decades, clinical psychologist, Don Clark, has been speaking to the hearts and minds of gay people, their families, friends, teachers and helpers in the many editions of Loving Someone Gay. With compassion he has promoted communication across generations as well as revealing a path of understanding and reconciliation for parents, siblings, husbands and wives—as well as among religious leaders, teachers, librarians, legislators, judges, and law enforcement agencies. Most important he has provided vital insight into the psychodynamics and sociology of individuals, the gay men and lesbians who have been and continue to be misunderstood and abused in societies around the world.


deltaPurchase and download PDF now.
Pay through AmazonPayments.

Digital edition priced at $9.99
You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader

Lethe Press
288 pages.102000 words
6x9 trade paperback

978-1-59021-135-9
1590211359

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com



Clark

Someone Gay: Memoirs
By Don Clark, Ph.D.

The author of the perennially popular and life-changing book, Loving Someone Gay, recounts his own life journey from shame, failure, guilt and fear to pride, self-confidence and understanding of true feelings. Sharing how he made the transformation himself, the first officially openly gay psychologist in the U.S. and "father of gay-oriented psychotherapy" points the way for others to claim gay identity and gay pride and follow him to happiness, meaning, love and success.


Lethe Press Paperback,
360 pages
ISBN 1590210670
 

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Permalink

clark-amar-a-alguien-gay

click cover for larger image
Amar A Alguien Gay
(Loving Someone Gay--Spanish translation by Ralph Seligman)

por Don Clark, PhD

Por más de tres décadas, el psicólogo clínico, Don Clark, ha estado hablando a los corazones y mentes de la gente gay, sus familias, amigos, maestros, y ayudantes en las múltiples ediciones de Loving Someone Gay (Amar A Alguien Gay). Con compasión él ha promovido la comunicación a través de generaciones, revelando un camino hacia el entendimiento y reconciliación para padres, hermanos, esposos y esposas—al igual que para líderes religiosos, maestros, bibliotecarios, legisladores, jueces, y agencias que imponen la ley. De mayor importancia, el provee una visión vital dentro de las psicodinámicas y la sociología de los hombres gay y lesbianas que frecuentemente son malentendidos y abusados, a veces por sí mismos. Leyendo su explicación de la “homofobia internalizada” es una experiencia de sanación.

Él ha dicho, “En éste tiempo de malentendido global en que vemos viejos hábitos de prejuicio e intolerancia siendo finalmente cuestionados, el mundo clama por la comunicación y empatía. Ha llegado la hora para que cada persona que piensa que es racional que ofrezca una mano de ayuda a una hermana o hermano gay, aquí o allá, conocido o desconocido. Las reglas y papeles sociales que antes no se cuestionaban están cambiando. Ninguna persona está libre a atreverse a ser exactamente quien ella o él es hasta que esa persona esté dispuesta a ofrecer entendimiento, respeto y afecto a la persona gay que añora solamente tener la misma libertad.”

Con ésta más reciente edición actualizada de su famoso libro, Don Clark ilumina una luz clara a nuestro futuro en el siglo veintiuno.


deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $9.99


Lethe Press
320 pages, 102000 words
6x9trade paperback
978-1-59021-232-5
1-59021-232-0

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com


Permalink



Johnson GS
a white crane spirituality book 
            Lambda Literary Award Winner

Gay Spirituality   
By Toby Johnson

In this Lambda Literary award-winning title, Toby Johnson explores how the rise of gay identity has become an important part of contemporary religious development. This dramatic transformation has resulted due to the perspective of gay men with their ability to step outside the assumptions and conventions of culture and see things from a different point of view. This book will reward readers seeking new insight into faith as well as culture, myth and traditions.

JohnsonÍs vision of a life-affirming, sex-positive spirituality of love, cooperation, mutual respect and acceptance is in sync with modern scientific knowledge, and does not ask the reader to suspend logic or critical thinking. Gay Christians who are struggling with their sexual orientation will especially appreciate JohnsonÍs convincing refutation of common ñbiblical" anti-gay arguments. A powerful book for personal change and a great gift to a gay friend who is unhappy with his life or suffering from low self-esteem.

Visit the author's website

See also Toby Johnson's beloved soft sci-fi novel SECRET MATTER


You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader

SPECIAL: Combo Offer -- PDFs of both Gay Spirituality & Gay Perspective by Toby Johnson
also includes a radio interview with Harry Faddis,
entitled The Way of Joyful Participation in the Sorrows of the World.


You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader


White Crane Books Paperback,
296 pgs, 86000 words
ISBN 1590210220
978-1-59021-022-2



Purchase from
the author



Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com

Permalink


Gay Perspective

a white crane spirituality book

Gay Perspective:
Things our [homo]sexuality tells us about the nature of God and the Universe


By Toby Johnson

Back in print, expanded and updated, with a new Preface by the author, Johnson's Lammy-nominated bold statement of the spiritual side of gay consciousness.

Nice review on Rainbow Reviews

visit the author's website


deltaPurchase and download PDF now.
Pay through AmazonPayments.
Digital edition priced at $7.99
You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader

SPECIAL: Combo Offer -- PDFs of both Gay Spirituality & Gay Perspective by Toby Johnson
also includes a radio interview with Harry Faddis,
entitled The Way of Joyful Participation in the Sorrows of the World.


You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader
White Crane Books
Trade Paperback
264  pages
ISBN 1590210409
978-1-59021-015-4


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com



charmed lives

click cover for larger image
a white crane wisdom book

Lammy Award Nominee 2007
for Best Anthology


Charmed Lives:  Gay Spirit in Storytelling
Edited by Toby Johnson & Steve Berman

Storytelling can be a way of spinning straw into gold, of showing ourselves we have drawn a long straw in this life. Charmed Lives. offers readers a collection of fiction and personal essays as an alternative to the stories that society often tells about gay men. Some are whimsical with a touch of enchantment, some profoundly spiritual, others romantic--all offer insight into modern gay life that will inspire and shed light on the grace of being gay with tales of hope against adversity and love over loneliness

Visit the authors' website

deltaPurchase and download PDF now.
Pay through AmazonPayments.

Digital edition priced at $7.99



White Crane Books Paperback,
308 pgs, 114000 words
ISBN 1590210166
 
978-1-59021-016-1

Purchase from
the author


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com






Johnson SM

Secret Matter
By Toby Johnson

The winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Science Fiction and bestselling novel, Secret Matter returns to print in a revised edition for the 21st century. With an afterword by gay theologian, social commentator Mark Jordan.

BONUS with this edition: Adam and Steve, a whimsical tale with a profound insight

Kevin Anderson is moving along through his life, finishing up college, and getting ready to leave New York for an internship rebuilding San Francisco after an immense earthquake. Then the Visitors arrive; a race of human-like aliens touch down in several cities around the globe, including SF, and nothing will ever be the same. When Kevin's company is given a contract to build a facility for the Visitors, he forms a friendship with ïBel, one of their number. But is 'Bel so alien after all? They seem so human, but they possess some odd characteristics and seem to be hiding something. What secrets do they carry, and where, exactly, are they from?

Visit the author's website

deltaPurchase and download PDF now.
Pay through AmazonPayments.

Digital edition priced at $7.99




Lethe Press Paperback,
248 pages
ISBN 1590210174
 


Purchase from
the author

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com




Getting Life in Perspective


Getting Life in Perspective

A Fastastical Romance
By Toby Johnson

Sweet, sexy, wise and thoroughly entertaining, this mytho-historical novel, featuring two lovable apparitions from the late 1800s America, interweaves a heart-warming storey of youthful romance and adventure with an ageless life-affirming and gay-positive spiritual message 
             ...along with just a touch of the Twilight Zone.

Visit the author's website

Rainbow Reviews gave 5 stars!
read the review by Matthew

Read Steve Williams' WONDERFUL review on Suite101.com

Cole Riann's beautiful 4.5 Star review at jessewave.com



deltaPurchase and download PDF now.
Pay through AmazonPayments.

Digital edition priced at $8.99

Lethe Press
5.5 x 8.5 Paperback,
244 pages,
106000 words
ISBN 978-1-59021-126-7
1-59021-126-X

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com

Williams




Two Spirits:  A Story of Life With the Navajo

By Walter L. Williams  & Toby Johnson

Twenty years after publishing his ground-breaking The Spirit and the Flesh, anthropologist Walter L. Williams breaks his silence and writes another book on Native Americans. Together with award-winning writer Toby Johnson, he has produced a work of historical fiction striking in its evocation of Navajo philosophy and spirituality. Set in the Civil War era of the 1860s, this novel tells the story of a young Virginian who finds himself captivated by a Navajo Two-Spirit male. This book illuminates the truth of what the United States did to the largest indigenous people of this nation. A novel full of suspense, plot twists, and endearing romance.

From Rainbow-reviews by Blondie:
"What can I say about this book. It was AWESOME. I felt like I was there among the Dine, in the Sweat Lodge, in Santa Fe watching Joelle sing. I could see the mountains and feel the hot air and all the glory of the Southwest. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction with gay characters in it. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could, but definitely 5 stars."

A WONDERFUL review on Jessewave by Cole:
"Lastly, I want to encourage those of you who, although you might think that this story sounds wonderful, are afraid to read it. It is true that this story is far from a typical story in the M/M genre, but the two essential things that make up a romance are present here: a sweeping love story and a HEA [Happy Ever After]. Yes, I admit I cried several times while reading this, often in frustration and sometimes with joy. I won’t say that it was an easy story to read, because it isn’t. I often had to put this book down and take it up later. But that was the key: I always wanted to pick it back up. And more than anything, I felt like I took a journey with the characters and they became my friends. What more can you ask for in a book?"

Visit the author's website 


bitmenu item Purchase and download PDF now!
Pay thought AmazonPayments

digital edition of Two Spirits $7.99
Read on computer or download to iTunes and
transfer to iPad or other ebook reader

Lethe Press Paperback,
332 pgs
978-1-59021-060-4
ISBN1590210603
 


Purchase from
the author



Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com






Michaelson

Another Word for Sky: Poems
By Jay Michaelson

"Jay Michaelson knows too well that our life is a wedding and a funeral, at the same time, in any given moment. The erotic on these pages comes hand in hand with the devotional."
- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Dancing in Odessa

" If you are comfortable in your pew, these may not be the poems for you. But if you want fully embodied poems of outrage and love -- and if you want to "make a religion of flaw," read Another Word for Sky. You wonÍt regret it."
- Richard Chess, author of Third Temple

Jay Michaelson is the executive director of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality, and a leading figure in the gay spirituality movement. Visitors to Easton Mountain, Burning Man, Body Electric, and many other places have thrilled to his ecstatic, erotic performances of visionary queer mystical poetry -- and now his first book of poems is out from Lethe Press. At times reflective, at times outrageous, Another Word for Sky stakes Michaelson's claim to be the James Broughton, even the Allen Ginsberg, of his generation.

Visit the author's website



Lethe Press Paperback
104 pages
ISBN-13 978-1-59021-061-4



Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia








A note to Australians who land on this site:
Clouds of Magellan is an independent publishing imprint, based in Melbourne, Australia.
Clouds specialises in non-fiction in the area of spirituality, broadly defined, and publishes some fiction and poetry. They publish Michael Kelly, former Dignity leader in Australia (Rainbow Sash Movement) and part-time resident at Easton Mountain Gay Retreat in upstate New York.
















white crane books logo






White Crane Books


White Crane Books is an imprint of Lethe Press, affiliated with the White Crane Institute, a nonprofit organization which promotes the study of the role of gay men, queer sexualities and gender variation and orientation in the evolution, psychology, sociology, and practice of spirituality, ritual, and religion. The White Crane Institute's goal, and the purpose of White Crane Books, is to foster the gathering and dissemination of information about the critical role sexuality and gender has played and continues to play in the development of cultural, spiritual and religious traditions and to provide a nurturing environment for the continuation and expansion of those explorations for the greater good of all society.


For more about White Crane & White Crane Books, visit:
gaywisdom.org

whitecranebooks.org

Be sure to look at other Lethe titles of Gay Spirit

Permalink

thompson-the-fire-in-moonlight

click on cover  for larger image

The Fire in Moonlight:
Stories from the Radical Faeries

1975-2010

Edited by Mark Thompson and
Richard Neely (Osiris) and Bo Young, Associate Editors

Foreword by Will Roscoe, Ph.D.

2012 Over the Rainbow selection by the American Library Assoc

The most valuable possession a people have is their story…their history.
 
Many years in the making, with over fifty contributors from around the world, The Fire in Moonlight is the first anthology of its kind. Beginning with Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter in the nineteenth century and moving through the liberation movements of the late twentieth, The Fire in Moonlight speculates far into the twenty-first. It offers a timely compendium of culture wisdom, provocative wit and challenging sensuality.
 
The Fire in Moonlight gives witness to a groundbreaking movement that painstakingly emerged from the Gay Liberation era. Rooted in the history of radical visionaries, this little known, essential community informs the modern world with new meaning, offering fresh definitions of faith, identity, purpose and gender.

The Fire in Moonlight is a series of  personal reflections on who the Radical Faeries are, where they’ve been and where they are going: Radical Faeries in their own words. It is about how a movement has changed lives—and how Radical Faeries contribute to healing a fractured Earth.

Read review in the Lambda Literary Review

Good article on the Faeries by Jesse Monteagudo on Gay Today

Review by Jim Piechota in the Bay Area Reporter

Article in San Francisco Bay Times (with photo of Mark Thompson and Jey Cain)

Article in The Huffington Post by Malcolm Boyd



deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $9.99





White Crane Book
Lethe Press
312 pages, 107000 words
6x9trade paperback

978-1-59021-338-4
1-59021-338-6


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos


Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com











See side bar on
Lethe Press home page
for links to digital retailers of a variety of other formats

Permalink


ramer-queering-the-text

click cover for larger image
a white crane spirituality book

Queering the Text: Biblical, Medieval, and Modern Jewish Stories

by Andrew Ramer

Andrew Ramer’s new book, Queering the Text: Biblical, Medieval, and Modern Jewish Stories, grapples with traditional midrashim, plays with homoerotic love poems from medieval Spain, and envisions alternate versions of the present. Inspired by the pioneering work of Jewish feminists, working with the narrative tools of the rabbis of old, Ramer has crafted stories that anchor LGBT lives in the three-thousand-year-old history of the Jewish people. “The universe is made up of stories, not atoms,” wrote poet Muriel Ruckeyser. The stories in this book will transport you to a new universe – the one we are striving to create, right here and now.

Interview with Andrew Ramer in Zeek Magazine

Nice review in Lambda Lit


You can download to iTunes & transfer the pdf to an iPad or other ebook reader


White Crane Books
224 pages, 47000 words
5 x 8 trade paperback
978-1-59021-183-0
1590211839


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA
gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com

Permalink

prophet in his own land

A Prophet In His Own Land

A Malcolm Boyd Reader
Edited by Bo Young and Dan Vera


For over sixty years, Malcolm Boyd has written truthfully about his own journey to fullness.  From theologian to civil rights pioneer to coffee house troubadour to gay rights icon, Boyd has courageously and whole-heartedly shown the way to a deeper, more honest examination of all our lives, leading by example. Bo Young and Dan Vera interview Malcolm and his partner Mark Thompson about their years together. Many of Boyd's previously unavailable articles are reprinted here.

deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $7.99








White Crane Books Hardcover,
328  pages
ISBN 1590210115
978-1-59021-011-6


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com


a white crane wisdom book

Take Off the Masks
By Malcolm Boyd


White Crane Books is proud to re-release Boyd's classic spiritual biography and coming out story, Take Off  the Masks, for a new generation of readers hungry for its insight, honesty and soulful perception.  With a new introduction by BoydÍs life partner, Mark Thompson, and a newly added postscript by Rev. Canon Boyd himself.


deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $5.99






White Crane Books Paperback,
160 pages
ISBN 1590210654
978-1-59021-065-9


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com






Broughton
a white crane wisdom book

ALL: A James Broughton Reader
Edited by Jack Foley

In a life that stretched from 1913 to 1999 James Broughton witnessed and commented on the twentieth century from the point of view of an outsider. In a time aghast at its own horrors, Broughton championed laughter. He was a poet, not of the ivory tower but of the innovative street, a playful, urban voice with the notion that a poet could change the world. In a rational century, he asserted mystery. All: A James Broughton Reader collects the range of this acclaimed poet and filmmaker.

deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $9.99





White Crane Books Paperback,
272 pages
ISBN 1590210212
978-1-59021-021-5


Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available for Kindle from amazon.com


Ramer

a white crane spirituality book

Two Flutes Playing
By Andrew Ramer

A classic of gay mythopoesis. Michael Bails (Seattle WA) writing an unsolicited review on the amazon.com site says: "I was recommended this book after having taken a Body Electric workshop a few weeks before. From the first page I began to re-live the entire bonding rituals that we had experienced over that weekend. How to connect, how to communicate, and how to intimately bond on a higher plane! ... A definite "must have" book for the gay tribe who would like to interact spiritually and emotionally!"


deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $6.99


White Crane Books
5.5x8.5 trade paperback
168 pgs, 62000 words
ISBN 1590210239
978-1-59021-023-9
 

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com


Thompson GS
a white crane spirituality book

Gay Spirit: Myth & Meaning
By Mark Thompson

Arguably the book that started the Gay Spirituality Movement. Publishers Weekly wrote: Cultural editor of the Advocate, Thompson here collects previously published articles and book excerpts from the magazine, each an attempt to define the status of gay men. In an introduction he distinguishes between homosexual (a form of sexuality) and gay: "A social identity and consciousness actively chosen." The text discusses the gay's role in politics, religion, culture, identity. Among the contributors are Judy Grahn, author of lesbian/feminist works; Malcolm Boyd, activist Episcopal priest; Harry Hay, a founder of the Mattachine Society; writer William S. Burroughs; and Geoff Mains's presenting an approving, detailed description of sadomasochism.

Now Available in all digital formats from our digital vendors
(see sidebar)

deltaPurchase and download PDF now!
Pay through AmazonPayments

Digital edition priced at $6.99





White Crane Books Paperback,
352 pgs, 111000 words
ISBN 1590210247
978-1-59021-024-6
 

Buy from Giovanni's Room
the gay & lesbian community
bookstore in Philadelphia

Buy from TLA gay books & videos

Available in ebook formats from TLA, LGBT Bookshop, smashwords.com & other Internet vendors; and for Kindle from amazon.com




For more about White Crane & White Crane Books, visit:

gaywisdom.org

whitecranebooks.org




Be sure to look at other Lethe titles of Gay Spirit