I love a great, emotional, high-stakes queer memoir, like Saeed Jones’ How We Fight for Our Lives and Brian Broome’s Punch Me Up to the Gods (both winners of the Kirkus Prize). Coming-out stories are a bit like immigrant stories; the protagonist is searching for a better, maybe freer life, but who knows what the future holds? I devour these books, but sometimes I want something new, queer, and unfamiliar (at least to me). For Pride Month, we’re highlighting unique books that cover something we haven’t seen before, like the gay story behind a British cult film, a guide that combines tarot and LGBTQ+ icons, and a graphic novel staring the sexy, outrageous, criminal artist Caravaggio.
In The Epic Saga Behind Frankenstein: The True Story, Sam Irvin, a film director, producer, and historian, recounts how Frankenstein: The True Story, a 1970s cult classic in the U.K., was made, and he also dishes about the off-screen drama. Irvin calls the film “a sophisticated reconstruction of the Frankenstein story on a grand scale, populated by A-list actors, with sumptuous settings, lavish costumes, a three-hour running time, and an eye-popping budget of $3.5 million.” There are too many fascinating things to note here (Jane Seymour, for instance, was one of the stars), so readers are better off going straight to the source. But here’s one standout gay detail: Christopher Isherwood and his partner, Don Bachardy, wrote the screenplay. The whole book is a joy, but “most intriguing,” says our starred review, “is the wide array of LGBTQ+ talent that worked on the film, and how the creative team strove to bring out the original story’s rarely explored homoerotic undertones.” Kirkus calls the book “a lively and enthusiastic in-depth exploration of an obscure TV horror classic.”
Tarot has long had a place in the LGBTQ+ world, and John Callaghan and Robert Barber’s coffee-table book, The Modern Queer Tarot, honors a constellation of contributors to queer culture. Our reviewer notes, “The reader will find many of the expected icons, including Harvey Milk as the Star (‘hope shining through the darkness’), James Baldwin as Judgment (‘coming to terms with the past in order to move forward’), Freddie Mercury as the Six of Wands (‘the bridge between strength and love’), and Audre Lorde as the Queen of Swords (‘extreme individualism and radical new ideas’).” A tarot deck depicting these legends is available to buy separately. “Whether readers are interested in conducting a proper reading (which the introduction explains how to complete) or are simply seeking a unique art book to adorn a coffee table, this tarot guide will provide hours of educational, queer-inspired illumination.”
Ken Mora’s graphic novel, Caravaggio: A Light Before the Darkness, depicts the Baroque artist (most likely accurately) as “a queer, swashbuckling adventurer,” says our reviewer. “Images of Caravaggio’s lithe, muscled figure against shadowy, gothic backdrops call to mind a fantasy hero more than a historical figure, while the story and exquisite artwork deliver one action-packed scene after another.…A clever take on history turns a famed artist into a flawed and fascinating hero fighting for acceptance.”
Chaya Schechner is the president of Kirkus Indie.
