Redback
By Lindy Cameron
Clan Destine Press
Bryn Gideon is a kick-ass heroine who oozes sex appeal. Tall, lithe and stunning, she could rescue me from a rebel coup any day! She is the commander in charge of the top-secret Australian Redback Retrieval Team who specialise in getting people out of dangerous situations – a range of high-tech gadgets and rooftop apartment headquarters and control centre add to the image of her as a female James Bond. Despite some sexual tension between Gideon and one of her grateful rescuees Jana Rossi in the beginning of the book, Gideon’s character sadly isn’t gay but such a dynamic and powerful woman will have sapphists swooning regardless.
Scott Dreher is an American journalist researching a story about computer war games being used as army training tools who uncovers much more than expected, drawing him into dangerous web of intrigue. He may not be as cool as Bryn Gideon but is completely believable and as likable as any journo.
Redback’s fast paced action jumps around from Tokyo to London, Texas to Pakistan, New Zealand and more, as a series of seemingly unrelated terrorist attacks, ritual killings and hostage situations start adding up to something more sinister. It will have your heart pumping and your brain puzzling the plausibility of the situation- the scariest thing being it’s not really that far beyond the stretch of imagination. – Amy Henderson
*
Mary Anne in Autumn,
by Armistead Maupin
Random House
Mary Anne in Autumn has all the classic hallmarks of Maupin’s earlier Tales of the City – the characters, the camp, the city and whimsical plot twists. It returns again in style to Maupin’s earlier novels, showing that Michael Tolliver Lives was an addendum to the series, one that was able to navigate the more serious issues of the AIDS crisis and how this and demographic and economic shifts have changed San Francisco.
The characters Ben and Jake Greenleaf reappear here, with their plots primarily propping up the longstanding characters of Michael and Mary Anne. While the plot does not reside at 28 Barnaby Lane, the old location and events that occurred there are heavily referenced but would not preclude a new reader from following along happily.
While still a rollicking read with bite-sized chapters reminiscent of original serialised Tales, what dates the Tales of the City concept most of all is not time and age, but rather Maupin’s inability to write women. They are either neurotic, sex obsessed (admittedly not a character flaw), self obsessed or sagely (this positive label only counts for the enigmatic Mrs Madrigal, whose gender is more often referenced as trans than female). His style and characterisation hark to another time in the history of gay male culture. While this is lovely walk down memory lane for old fans, its lack of connection with current LGBTI context and community drags down the realism of the earlier novels. – Madelaine Imber
*
Love Poems
By Dorothy Porter
Black Inc. Books
For all those who have loved Dorothy Porter, or are yet to, this is the perfect ode to the late poet’s work, giving a little taste of her poems, libretti and song lyrics from the start of her career to her final days.
Love was a theme Porter explored in all its forms right throughout work. She wasn’t only interested in the soppy, greeting card platitudes of love but the dirty, sexy, darker things we do in love’s name.
‘I never knew poetry could be as sticky as sex…’ is the final line of my all time favourite Porter poem, Sex and Poetry (included in Love Poems) and it sums up her work perfectly for me. Poetry done well can be incredibly hot! It can also be slow and erotic…
With a forward written by Porter’s long-term partner Andrea Goldsmith, this is a touching and poignant celebration of an Australian literary great. – Amy Henderson
*
Delusions of Gender
By Cordelia Fine
Allen & Unwin
Is gender a social construct or is gender identity hard-wired into our brains? Pop psychologists would sometimes have us believe that there are intrinsic differences between a male and a female brain, leading to such simplified catchphrases as ‘men are from Mars and women are from Venus’.
We may think that society has evolved somewhat, however there are still fewer women working in the fields of science and engineering and fewer men working in childcare. Is this because we subconsciously buy into common myths about the sexes just being good at different things?
So many of the pseudo-scientific claims about the difference between the sexes don’t acknowledge the enormous impact culture has on gender and how much of what we consider to be instinctive is actually contrived.
Through developmental psychology, neuroscience and social psychology Cordelia Fine smashes some of the most ingrained sexual myths with humour and honesty. Delusions of gender is a well researched, interesting book sure to resonate with many. – Amy Henderson
*
Sand
by Robert Drewe & John Kinsella
Fremantle Press
Significant other a lover of really big thoughts? Why not bring them down to Earth this Christmas with the elegant brilliance of Sand, a mash of memoir, myth and meditation from two of Australia’s most celebrated writers.
Robert Drewe digs deep into the rich humus of his life to provide a set of sharp recollections, precise as his style. Kinsella, on the other hand, excels at delivering poem after poem rich and dirty with life. Perth Poem in particular is to be celebrated. Our west coast hive of industry and isolation is built on sand in its many forms, and as such our very foundations can shift or topple at the Earth’s whim. Or at least that’s the majestic irony Drewe and Kinsella hint at. Inspired. – Scott-Patrick Mitchell
*
Zombies vs Unicorns
Edited by Justine Larbalestier & Holly Black
Allen & Unwin
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to witness horror and the fantastical go shattered head to horn. These outrageous stories aim to answer the age old quandary: in a battle to the death, who would win when zombies take on… unicorns?
Brilliantly set out, this anthology is ironic and delightful in equal parts. Every facet of the zombie / unicorn individual mythology is usurped, subverted, reanimated, has its brains eaten or is eventually chased into the ocean. Perfect for that special someone who is clearly already beyond help. Encourage their insanity, go on. – Scott-Patrick Mitchell
*
Somebody To Love
by Steve Holden
UQP
Love and death make for uneasy acquaintances, the kind who purposefully try and avoid being at the same place at the same time. They are, of course, inexplicably tied together by their mutual relationship with sex.
It’s a love triangle Steve Holden’s Tasmanian transgender mortician tangos with as she prepares three separate bodies over the one weekend. What unfolds is a haunting trope where the character’s borrow from the dead to keep the hope of love living.
Appearance is just that, but what happens when your appearance is complete and that final intersecting segment – the man who loves you pre and post op – becomes misplaced, terminally? Taxidermy is your friend. – Scott-Patrick Mitchell
