DRAG WARS

In Karl’s LGBTQ+ novel, a newcomer queen and an up-and-coming performer are set on a collision course in the extra-fabulous Drag Wars tournament.

Donnie’s life is far from easy—his job as a waiter barely earns enough money to take care of his younger brother Carlito while their mother is lost to the streets of Philadelphia, hopelessly addicted to a drug called Tranq. Donnie finds a reprieve on the dance floors of Club Fuego on Friday nights, when it’s taken over by the “Queers, the Queens, the Fashionistas, even the Bizarros,” each writhing body looking for love or just attention. Watching the drag queens perform, Donnie dreams of finding fame on the stage as Fangula, a Latine sensation with fans, an entourage, and a man (not a player) to love him. A new queen right off the bus from Baltimore named Jalen arrives, a voluptuous vision called Pridezilla with a singing voice that can bring even unsuspecting crowds to fevered standing ovations. Both Fangula and Pridezilla look to the advice and legacies of their elder queens to get a leg up in their inevitable showdown in the Drag Wars finals at Club Fuego. Much like the dual protagonists’ acts, everything in Karl’s book is exaggerated; the dialogue takes on a campy, John Waters–esque crassness. Despite this larger-than-life presentation, the novel still evinces a strong and serious social awareness, including nuanced discussions of poverty, sex work, and pronoun use. Pridezilla’s participation in Drag Story Hours illustrates the harmlessness and kindness of these supposedly controversial events, and both Jalen and Donnie face the same violence and bigotry toward themselves and those in their community as real-world LGBTQ+ people do. The performances on stage come alive on the page despite the lack of lights and booming pop music, and the addition of the Greek chorus–like “Snark Sharks,” with their playful yet savage jibes, brings even more humor and style to the proceedings. The story has spicier moments as well—while some are more romantic than others, they all manage to turn up the heat faster than any brightly shining stage light.

Sex, humor, social commentary, and musical numbers animate this absorbing drag drama.