Allusions: LGBTQ Writing - James Polchin - Indecent Advances

James Polchin - Indecent Advances

11/09/22 • 46 min

Stories of murder have never been just about killers and victims. Instead, crime stories take the shape of their times and reflect cultural notions and prejudices. In this Edgar Award–finalist for Best Fact Crime, James Polchin recovers and recounts queer stories from the crime pages―often lurid and euphemistic―that reveal the hidden history of violence against gay men. But what was left unsaid in these crime pages provides insight into the figure of the queer man as both criminal and victim, offering readers tales of vice and violence that aligned gender and sexual deviance with tragic, gruesome endings. Victims were often reported as having made “indecent advances,” forcing the accused's hands in self–defense and reducing murder charges to manslaughter.

As noted by Caleb Cain in The New Yorker review of Indecent Advances, “it’s impossible to understand gay life in twentieth–century America without reckoning with the dark stories. Gay men were unable to shake free of them until they figured out how to tell the stories themselves, in a new way.” Indecent Advances is the first book to fully investigate these stories of how queer men navigated a society that criminalized them and displayed little compassion for the violence they endured. Polchin shows, with masterful insight, how this discrimination was ultimately transformed by activists to help shape the burgeoning gay rights movement in the years leading up to Stonewall.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

PJ Vernon - Bath Haus: A Thriller

Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life.

He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.

What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and oh-my-god twists. P. J. Vernon's Bath Haus is perfect for readers curious for their next must-read novel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Sean Kerr - The Last Child

Some children are born for a purpose.

Samuel is having a tough time of it in school as he is tormented by a vicious gang of bullies, but it is nothing compared to the torture of his home life. Every night he hopes that his friend will take him away from his horrors, a friend he calls the Universe, a constant voice that speaks to him in his darkest moments. At least the Universe loves him.

As his teacher, Christina King wants so much to help Samuel, but she’s haunted by her own horrific childhood and the monstrous tragedy that stole her youth. She feels drawn to the young boy, she understands his pain, but she has no idea of the nature of the true horror that binds them in a vicious game of tug and war.

There is only one group of people who know the truth about Christina and Samuel, a sinister group of watchers who have observed them all their lives, a group known as 'I Tredici'. They have been waiting for centuries, and as the signs of the oncoming apocalypse reveal themselves in blood and brutal murder, they know the ancient war is upon them at last. Only they understand the roles that Christina and Samuel must play in the coming days, and only they know how the outcome will change the course of history forever.

For Christina, this is the start of her journey towards a terrible truth, but for Samuel, it is the start of a new and terrifying existence.

Please note- this is the OMNIBUS edition with all three books placed into this one volume.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.