In the Spotlight: Michael Thomas Ford

The Book: Mike Monaghan is the bartender at the Engine Room, a meeting place for the small but thriving community of gay men in Cold Falls, New York. As Mike pours beer, wipes glasses and hears everything, he’s also witness to the men who come here looking for what they need—sex, direction, friendship, spiritual fulfillment, and love. People like:

Stephen Darby—As an accountant, he knows many secrets. But Stephen has his own secret, one he’s never been able to share with anyone close to him. Being the perfect son costs him dearly, and now it may take from him the one man he longs for.

Pete Thayer—Playing it straight, Pete takes out his frustrations on transmissions and engines during the day, then spends his nights trying to quench his needs through anonymous sex. But once the thrill of the forbidden begins to fade, what will he be left with?

John and Russell—The golden couple in town has the ideal relationship everyone wants. But behind the scenes, their storybook marriage is on the verge of facing some explosive trials that will shake both men completely.

Father Thomas Dunn—More and more the gentle priest is feeling a need to express the secret desires that conflict with his devotion to the church, sending his faith into a tailspin and making him question what he really wants from life.

Simon Bird—He’s a fixture in town, an old queen everyone finds amusing and entertaining. Still mourning the loss of his longtime lover, Simon yearns to find love and a place in a culture that worships youth and beauty.

As Mike hands these men their drinks, he marvels at their determination, strength and foolishness. But most of all, he begins to question his own dissatisfaction, pondering what’s missing from his own life, and what risks he may have to take to find fulfillment. Looking For It is an extraordinarily human tale of community, friendship, and the search for happiness. With unflinching honesty, keen insight, and his trademark humor, Michael Thomas Ford weaves together the unforgettable stories of these seven men, chronicling their dreams, hurts, heartbreaks, joys, and hopes, while taking readers on an emotional journey to find what it is we’re all looking for. 

Amazon: Looking For It

( Other Books in the List )

The Author: Michael Thomas Ford (born 1968) is a gay American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series, consisting of Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, That's Mr. Faggot to You, It's Not Mean If It's True, and The Little Book of Neuroses.
 
Ford began his writing career in 1992 with the publication of 100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now (Macmillan), one of the first books about the AIDS crisis for young adults. Named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, the book became the most widely-used resource in HIV education programs for young people and was translated into more than a dozen languages.
 
Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books for both young readers and adults. He is best known for his best-selling novels Last Summer, Looking for It, and Full Circle and for his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His work has been nominated for ten Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and receiving the 2003 Lammy for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for his short story "Night of the Werepuss").
 
Ford's second novel for Kensington Books, Looking for It, was published in the summer of 2004. Centered around the lives of a group of gay men living in a small upstate New York town, the novel was heralded by Booklist as an "engaging page-turner of lives within lives, an insightful and entertaining read about what we seek, and what answers we find within and without." Like its predecessor, Looking for It reached the top of gay bestseller charts and quickly became the hottest gay book of the summer.
 
In October of 2008, Ford returns to his young adult roots with the publication of Suicide Notes (HarperCollins), the blackly-comic story of a young man forced to come to terms with his emerging sexuality after a failed attempt at ending his life puts him in a psychiatric hospital. He will also release his fifth novel with Kensington, a portrait of a family torn apart when the father, believed to have committed suicide, is found to have been murdered. As the mystery around his death is unraveled, so too is the tragic history of a family that isn't what it seems. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.michaelthomasford.com/

Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

In the Spotlight: Michael Thomas Ford

The Book: Mike Monaghan is the bartender at the Engine Room, a meeting place for the small but thriving community of gay men in Cold Falls, New York. As Mike pours beer, wipes glasses and hears everything, he’s also witness to the men who come here looking for what they need—sex, direction, friendship, spiritual fulfillment, and love. People like:

Stephen Darby—As an accountant, he knows many secrets. But Stephen has his own secret, one he’s never been able to share with anyone close to him. Being the perfect son costs him dearly, and now it may take from him the one man he longs for.

Pete Thayer—Playing it straight, Pete takes out his frustrations on transmissions and engines during the day, then spends his nights trying to quench his needs through anonymous sex. But once the thrill of the forbidden begins to fade, what will he be left with?

John and Russell—The golden couple in town has the ideal relationship everyone wants. But behind the scenes, their storybook marriage is on the verge of facing some explosive trials that will shake both men completely.

Father Thomas Dunn—More and more the gentle priest is feeling a need to express the secret desires that conflict with his devotion to the church, sending his faith into a tailspin and making him question what he really wants from life.

Simon Bird—He’s a fixture in town, an old queen everyone finds amusing and entertaining. Still mourning the loss of his longtime lover, Simon yearns to find love and a place in a culture that worships youth and beauty.

As Mike hands these men their drinks, he marvels at their determination, strength and foolishness. But most of all, he begins to question his own dissatisfaction, pondering what’s missing from his own life, and what risks he may have to take to find fulfillment. Looking For It is an extraordinarily human tale of community, friendship, and the search for happiness. With unflinching honesty, keen insight, and his trademark humor, Michael Thomas Ford weaves together the unforgettable stories of these seven men, chronicling their dreams, hurts, heartbreaks, joys, and hopes, while taking readers on an emotional journey to find what it is we’re all looking for. 

Amazon: Looking For It

( Other Books in the List )

The Author: Michael Thomas Ford (born 1968) is a gay American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series, consisting of Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, That's Mr. Faggot to You, It's Not Mean If It's True, and The Little Book of Neuroses.
 
Ford began his writing career in 1992 with the publication of 100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now (Macmillan), one of the first books about the AIDS crisis for young adults. Named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, the book became the most widely-used resource in HIV education programs for young people and was translated into more than a dozen languages.
 
Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books for both young readers and adults. He is best known for his best-selling novels Last Summer, Looking for It, and Full Circle and for his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His work has been nominated for ten Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and receiving the 2003 Lammy for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for his short story "Night of the Werepuss").
 
Ford's second novel for Kensington Books, Looking for It, was published in the summer of 2004. Centered around the lives of a group of gay men living in a small upstate New York town, the novel was heralded by Booklist as an "engaging page-turner of lives within lives, an insightful and entertaining read about what we seek, and what answers we find within and without." Like its predecessor, Looking for It reached the top of gay bestseller charts and quickly became the hottest gay book of the summer.
 
In October of 2008, Ford returns to his young adult roots with the publication of Suicide Notes (HarperCollins), the blackly-comic story of a young man forced to come to terms with his emerging sexuality after a failed attempt at ending his life puts him in a psychiatric hospital. He will also release his fifth novel with Kensington, a portrait of a family torn apart when the father, believed to have committed suicide, is found to have been murdered. As the mystery around his death is unraveled, so too is the tragic history of a family that isn't what it seems. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.michaelthomasford.com/

Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

Portrait Of A Kiss by T. D. McKinney & Terry Wylis

Portrait of a Kiss is a classical ghost comedy story.

Always when a young man kills himself for being framed, you has to expect that his ghost haunts the home. Even more when the stunning painting of that young man hangs in the master bedroom, and that wonderful blue eyes seem so alive. David inherits his aunt's mansion with ghost attached; a lot of people in town has heard stories about the ghost, but only who lived in the house had a chance to see him. Actually they didn't see him, but only the result of his action: Brian, the ghost, doesn't like to much to have strangers in his home, above all when those strangers try to change the furnishing or the interior design. But maybe David is different, maybe this time he has found a soul mate.

In 1956 Brian killed himself after the dead bodies of two young teenagers were found on his property. And since the boy was raped and Brian was the only man who had the courage to declare that he preferred a man companionship, it was obvious that Brian was the killer. The fact that Brian killed himself only added a proof for the town to believe that he was guilty. Forty years later, David, a former police inspector now retired, inherits the house and is planning to convert it in a B&B. The tale of the gay ghost only adds charm to it, since David is also gay, and the painting of Brian reveals a very handsome man: being haunted by such a male version of a Southern beauty, can't be so bad.

When Brian realizes that for the first time someone who can comprehend him inhabits the house, he can't believe to his good fortune. David is a very handsome man, someone Brian could fall for. The problem of the immateriality of Brian is soon overcome, and David and Brian share an almost blissful honeymoon restoring the house and deepening their acquaintance. But David is a cop, even if retired, and he can't shrug from his mind that if Brian is innocent, and Brian IS innocent, then there is the chance that the real killer is still around. Proving Brian's innocence could re-establish the good name of the man, but could also give peace to his soul, allowing him eternal rest... far from David.

Despite the mystery plot, and the obvious angst ending (I don't trust this type of stories since I went to the theatre and saw Ghost...), the story is for the most part funny. David is not at all impressed with the fact that his new home is haunted, and when he first sees the ghost, he spends little time worrying about the craziness of the thing, and soon gets hold of the chance to finally have found Mr Right; and since Mr Right, alias Brian, is very much real and embodied, at least with him, why worrying of the fact that he is a ghost? In these days, when you find Mr Right, you can't be too skittish...

From the first time David sees Brian, the story takes a straight road toward comedy: the ghost appears here and there without him being willing, some people could see him, some other only hear him, but more and more people are changing their opinion on him being the murderer. In the small town where they live, accept that there is a ghost is almost strange like welcoming an openly former gay cop... once they have made a step, why don't jump? While the mystery folds out like always happens in a small town mystery story, using school journals and old men memories as clues, the romance between David and Brian is shared by all the town, like always happens in a small town romance story. At the end, the story slips out of Brian and David's hands to become a common interest, and the two main characters can't do nothing to prevent it.

I can't deny that in some point the story made my eyes blurry, but if you balance the times I smiled rather than dabbing my eyes, the result is a big smile on my face.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/PortraitKiss.html

Amazon: Portrait Of A Kiss

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Portrait Of A Kiss by T. D. McKinney & Terry Wylis

Portrait of a Kiss is a classical ghost comedy story.

Always when a young man kills himself for being framed, you has to expect that his ghost haunts the home. Even more when the stunning painting of that young man hangs in the master bedroom, and that wonderful blue eyes seem so alive. David inherits his aunt's mansion with ghost attached; a lot of people in town has heard stories about the ghost, but only who lived in the house had a chance to see him. Actually they didn't see him, but only the result of his action: Brian, the ghost, doesn't like to much to have strangers in his home, above all when those strangers try to change the furnishing or the interior design. But maybe David is different, maybe this time he has found a soul mate.

In 1956 Brian killed himself after the dead bodies of two young teenagers were found on his property. And since the boy was raped and Brian was the only man who had the courage to declare that he preferred a man companionship, it was obvious that Brian was the killer. The fact that Brian killed himself only added a proof for the town to believe that he was guilty. Forty years later, David, a former police inspector now retired, inherits the house and is planning to convert it in a B&B. The tale of the gay ghost only adds charm to it, since David is also gay, and the painting of Brian reveals a very handsome man: being haunted by such a male version of a Southern beauty, can't be so bad.

When Brian realizes that for the first time someone who can comprehend him inhabits the house, he can't believe to his good fortune. David is a very handsome man, someone Brian could fall for. The problem of the immateriality of Brian is soon overcome, and David and Brian share an almost blissful honeymoon restoring the house and deepening their acquaintance. But David is a cop, even if retired, and he can't shrug from his mind that if Brian is innocent, and Brian IS innocent, then there is the chance that the real killer is still around. Proving Brian's innocence could re-establish the good name of the man, but could also give peace to his soul, allowing him eternal rest... far from David.

Despite the mystery plot, and the obvious angst ending (I don't trust this type of stories since I went to the theatre and saw Ghost...), the story is for the most part funny. David is not at all impressed with the fact that his new home is haunted, and when he first sees the ghost, he spends little time worrying about the craziness of the thing, and soon gets hold of the chance to finally have found Mr Right; and since Mr Right, alias Brian, is very much real and embodied, at least with him, why worrying of the fact that he is a ghost? In these days, when you find Mr Right, you can't be too skittish...

From the first time David sees Brian, the story takes a straight road toward comedy: the ghost appears here and there without him being willing, some people could see him, some other only hear him, but more and more people are changing their opinion on him being the murderer. In the small town where they live, accept that there is a ghost is almost strange like welcoming an openly former gay cop... once they have made a step, why don't jump? While the mystery folds out like always happens in a small town mystery story, using school journals and old men memories as clues, the romance between David and Brian is shared by all the town, like always happens in a small town romance story. At the end, the story slips out of Brian and David's hands to become a common interest, and the two main characters can't do nothing to prevent it.

I can't deny that in some point the story made my eyes blurry, but if you balance the times I smiled rather than dabbing my eyes, the result is a big smile on my face.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/PortraitKiss.html

Amazon: Portrait Of A Kiss

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle