Little Sister’s Classics
In conjunction with
Arsenal Pulp Press,
Little Sister's Classics is a series of books from our queer past,
given new lives as part of an ongoing series.
The Carnivorous Lamb
by: Agustin Gomez-Arcos
Introduction by Sharon G. Feldman
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN-13:
9781551522302
Little Sister's Classics #9
Fiction | Men's
[purchase
this book]
The latest in the Little Sister's Classics series resurrecting gay and
lesbian literary gems: a viciously funny, shocking yet ultimately moving
1975 novel, an allegory of Franco's Spain, about a young gay man coming
of age with a mother who despises him, a father who ignores him, and a
brother who loves him.
The novel is set in the 1950s, narrated by a 13-year-old who describes
himself as a "carnivorous lamb"; an innocent who in truth is anything
but. The youngest of two sons, he is kept sheltered at home by his
overbearing mother until his thirteenth birthday, and disciplined by his
tutor and the family priest so that he may follow the right path to
adulthood. But he rebels against those who wish to contain him, and his
turbulent rites of passage are veiled responses to a hateful mother, an
indifferent father, and the authority of church and state. In this way,
The Carnivorous Lamb is both an incisive family saga and an acerbic
political satire.
The Carnivorous Lamb, originally written in French, won the Prix Hermes,
and this, its 1984 English translation, was widely acclaimed.
This edition includes a new introduction by Sharon G. Feldman, professor
of Spanish literature and is the author of Allegories of Dissent: The
Theater of Agustin Gomez-Arcos, as well as an appendix of supplementary
materials.
Whisper
Their Love
by: Valerie Taylor
Introduction by Barbara Grier
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN-13:
9781551522104
Little Sister's Classics #7
Fiction | Women's
[purchase
this book]
Joyce is eighteen, a freshman at a fashionable school for girls; suddenly all
that matters to her is a woman twice her age. This beautifully written pulp
novel was published as a mass market paperback in 1957 and is widely considered
a historic milestone for its openly lesbian, feminist content, which shocked
many readers at the time. It has been described as an "anti-romance novel" for
its grounding in the reality of lesbian experience.
Whisper Their Love was the first lesbian novel by Valerie Taylor, which she
wrote while raising her three sons; it sold an amazing two million copies. This
new edition, which brings this classic book back into print, includes an
appendix of historical materials about the book and author, as well as an
introduction by Barbara Grier, co-founder of the legendary lesbian publisher
Naiad Press.
Theirs was the kind of love they dared not show the world.
—from the original book jacket
Finistere
by: Fritz Peters
Introduction by Michael Bronski
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN-13:
9781551522111
Little Sister's Classics #8
Fiction | Gay Men's
[purchase
this book]
A lyrical gay coming-of-age story first published in 1951, acclaimed by
many including Gore Vidal and The New York Times, about Matthew, a young
American who moves to France with his mother following his parents' divorce. In
boarding school and on trips with his mother into the countryside, Matthew
navigates his budding sexuality and complicated new relationships with
trepidation and hardship until he is forced to confront finistère—land's
end—where the brutal truths of the world can be found.
Finstère was a profound achievement in the early years of the 1950s, and sold
over 350,000 copies. This new edition, which returns this beautiful book to
print, includes an appendix of historical materials about the book and author,
as well as an introduction by Michael Bronski, author of such books as Culture
Clash, The Pleasure Principle, and Pulp Friction.
Blackbird
by: Larry Duplechan
introduction: Michael Nava
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN: 1-55152-202-0
Little Sister's Classics #6
Fiction | Gay Men's | Young Adult
[purchase
this book]
A 20th anniversary edition of the first black coming out novel.
First published by St. Martin's Press in 1986, Blackbird is a funny,
moving, coming-of-age novel about growing up black and gay in southern
California. The lead character, Johnnie Ray Rousseau, is a high school
student upset over losing the lead role in the school staging of Romeo
and Juliet. As if that weren't enough, his best friend has been beaten
badly by his father, and his girlfriend is pressuring him to have sex
for the first time. All the while, he's intrigued by Marshall MacNeill,
whom he meets at an audition and is surely the sexiest man to walk God's
green earth – at least according to Johnnie Ray. This novel of
adolescent awakening is as fresh and heartfelt as it was when first
published.
With an introduction by Michael Nava, who is best-known for his gay
mystery novels featuring Henry Rios, five of which have won Lambda
Literary Awards, including Goldenboy and Howtown. He lives in San
Francisco.
Empathy
by: Sarah Schulman
introduction: Kevin Killian
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN: 1-55152-201-2
Little Sister's Classics #5
Fiction | Lesbian
[purchase
this book]
The subtly transgressive novel about identity, sexual politics, and self
esteem.
Provocative, observant, and daring, this 1992 novel by one of America's
pre-eminent lesbian writers and thinkers is being reissued for the Little
Sister's Classics series. Anna O. is a loner in New York, an office temp
obsessed with a mysterious woman in white leather; Doc is a
post-Freudian psychiatrist who hands out business cards to likely
neurotics on street corners, and is looking for his own personal
fulfillment. They befriend each other in the netherworld of the Lower
East Side, two unlikely people drawn together by their confusion about
and empathy for the world around them and each other. This beautifully
written novel is about the fluidity of desire, and how those of us
damaged by love can still be transformed by it.
With an introduction by Kevin Killian, a novelist, poet, critic and
playwright and the author of Argento Series, I Cry Like a Baby, Shy, and
Bedrooms Have Windows, amongst others. He lives in San Francisco.
Patience
& Sarah
by Isabel Miller
introduction: Emma Donoghue
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN: 1-55152-191-1
Little Sister's Classics #3
Fiction | Lesbian
[purchase
this book]
Set in the nineteenth century, Isabel Miller’s
classic lesbian novel traces the relationship between Patience White, an
educated painter, and Sarah Dowling, a cross-dressing farmer, whose
romantic bond does not sit well with the puritanical New England farming
community in which they live. Ultimately, they are forced to make
life-changing decisions that depend on their courage and their
commitment to one another.
First self-published in 1969 in an edition of 1,000 copies, it garnered
increasing attention to the point of receiving the American Library
Association’s first Gay Book Award. Patience & Sarah is a historical
romance that was a touchstone for the burgeoning gay and women’s
activism of the late 1960s and early 1970; it celebrates the joys of an
uninhibited love between two strong women with a confident defiance that
remains relevant today.
This edition features an appendix of supplementary materials, as well as
an introduction by Emma Donoghue, whose numerous books include Stirfry,
Hood, and Life Mask, which was short listed for a 2005 Lambda Literary
Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award.
Franny,
the Queen of Provincetown
by John Preston
introduction: Michael Lowenthal
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN: 1-55152-190-3
Little Sister's Classics #4
Fiction | Gay men's
[purchase
this book]
In Franny, The Queen of Provincetown, John Preston
created one of his most memorable characters from the more than 30 books
he authored or edited over his storied career. Franny is a proud,
protective friend to the gay men of Provincetown, Massachusetts, as they
fight their battles against self-hatred and ostracism. Haunted by the
loss of his first love, Franny vows never to let fear and anger consume
those who are treated differently for who they are. It’s Franny’s goal
to ensure that there is a place in the world for everyone who feels they
do not belong. First published to wide acclaim in 1983, Franny was a
book of gay heroism and camaraderie in the shadow of the burgeoning AIDS
crisis. Today, one can read Franny with a sense of nostalgia and with
the knowledge that Franny’s dreams of a society that accepts gays and
lesbians without question is closer to fruition, but far from complete.
This edition features an appendix of supplementary materials about
Franny and the author, as well as an introduction by Michael Lowenthal,
the novelist and anthologist and author of two books, including the
Lambda Award-nominated Avoidance.
The Young in One
Another’s Arms
by Jane Rule,
introduction: Katherine V. Forrest
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN 1-55152-181-4
Little Sister's Classics #1
Fiction | Lesbian
[purchase
this book]
Jane Rule’s 1977 novel The Young in One Another’s Arms is set at the end
of the Vietnam War in and around a boarding house in the Kitsilano
neighbourhood of Vancouver. Ruth, a middle-aged woman accustomed to
tragedy in her own life, cares for the young and changing boarders of
her house as a mother and guide.
First published by Doubleday and reprinted by The Naiad Press,
The Young
in One Another’s Arms is about the
building of female communities. Combining issues of race, gender,
sexuality and politics, this warm, sophisticated novel celebrates the
camaraderie and strength of women against a backdrop of war and tragedy.
The novel won the Canadian Authors Association Best Novel of the Year
Award in 1978.
With an introduction by novelist Katherine V. Forrest, author of Curious
Wine and Daughters of a Coral Dawn.
Lesbian identity itself is not so much subsumed into the community as
kept whole within it . . . not singled out as an angle of vision any
more or less valid than others.
– Marilyn Schuster, Feminist Studies
Song of the Loon
by Richard Amory,
introduced by Michael Bronski
publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN 1-55152-180-6
Little Sister's Classics #2
Fiction | Gay Men's
[purchase
this book]
Published well ahead of its time, in 1966 by Greenleaf Classics, Song of
the Loon is a lusty gay frontier romance that tells the story of Ephraim
MacIver, a 19th-century outdoorsman, and his travels through the
American wilderness, where he meets a number of characters who share
with him stories, wisdom and homosexual encounters.
The most popular
erotic gay book of the 1960s, Song of the Loon was the inspiration for
two sequels, a 1970 film of the same name, at least one porn movie, and
a parody novel. Unique among pulp novels of the time, the gay characters
in Song of the Loon are strong and romantically drawn, traits which have
earned the book a place in the canon of gay American literature.
With an introduction by Michael Bronski, author of Pulp Friction and The
Pleasure Principle.