In an age of consolidation and
corporatization, Lethe Press remains an independent publisher in the
old style: we curate our booklist and put out books we love. For more books of gay/lesbian interest,
please click here. Be sure to look at the "Forgotten Works" below; some every interesting
titles that you won't likely find elsewhere.
The terse, dark pieces in Andrew Demcak’s fourth collection of poems
occur under the cover of night. Into a richly macabre cityscape,
the voices in these poems expose their secrets, from the desire of
unbearable addictions to the shocking violence of hate crimes. In
their spareness, with their array of surprising images, these poems are
bold in their brevity. They converge into the urgent whispered voices we
hear following us in the dark—our own voices and the voices of those
like us. They become night chants.
Intoxication is your process. Be the drink you pour, the potent sip that keeps the dream dreaming.
As suggested by the title, these poems address the tricky prospect of
elixirs—the quest for the substance of our dreams, the magic potion for
fulfilling what we hold to be our fondest and often most elusive
desires. The poems are intended to read as a progression, a journey
through the process of seeking, finding, and relinquishing our
convictions about what we need or want—from an “other” and from
ourselves—about waking up, or not, from some of the dreams we dream
about the only life we can save.
The
poems in Ed Madden's second book, Prodigal: Variations, explore
relations between men — fathers, sons, brothers, lovers — as well as
questions of home
and exile, memory and longing, and the promises and compromises of any
return. In poems that are at once both mythic and deeply personal,
Madden asks how we define home, what stories impel us, what rituals and
relationships sustain us in a world shaped by loss.
Consistently reimagining and reinterpreting the biblical stories of his
youth, the speaker tries to imagine a new identity and new
relationships. If the lover offers a different sustaining relationship,
the consolations and beauty of the natural world remain a constant in
these poems, an ambiguous Eden in which the story may be different, but
the human needs remain the same. This book of exile and longing
imagines not a return to the old home, but arrival at a true home. It's
less a coming of age collection, more a blossoming, a negotiation of a
dangerous new world in which we have to reconcile with-without
relenting to-the past.
Elka Cloke “Cloke’s
gift is in unerringly choosing the perfect words to describe a feeling,
sensation or moment…a lyrically transportive work.” -- Cassandra Clare
“Lush and decadent yet precise, Bitter Language is a book to be devoured in greedy gulps.” -- Holly Black
In four extended sequences, The
First Risk confronts the murder of Matthew Shepard and the myth
of Venus and Adonis through the eyes of Italian Renaissance painter
Luca Cambiaso; the eccentric women of Pedro Almodóvar’s All
About My Mother and their search for authenticity; the nature of love
and obsession in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and the pain and confusion
of loss; and “The Strange Case of Maribel Dixon,” the compelling
novella-in-verse of a physicist in search of his lost wife, haunted by
a phantom voice that may or may not be hers...
Ragan Fox offers poetry that demands and provokes readers, as well as
entertains them. Fox bares not only his sexuality but his
childhood fears and foes, his desires met and never satisfied, in these
imaginative poems. These pieces deserve being read by anyone moved by the plight of today’s gay culture wars.
“Ragan Fox’s searing chronicle of growing up gay is
an anguished autobiography composed of poems unerring in their ferocity
and their truths. These stanzas, which seem to be scraped directly from
the surface of the poet’s skin, are both gut-twisting and impossible to
turn away from. No edges are blurred, nothing is held back. Sharpening
a creative signature that already sported a razor edge, Fox grants us
witness to the crafting of an unapologetic life.”
—Patricia Smith, four-time individual National
Poetry Slam
champion &
National Book Award finalist for Blood Dazzler
This
wonderful first collection of performance poetry is sure to make
readers laugh and smirk. Discover why Books to Watch Out For writes:
"Fox comes out of the world of performance poetry, where
heÍs something
of a star. Could be why the poems -- as punchy as prose -- in this
first
collection sizzle with the heat and ripple with the wit of good stories
-- short on plot, of course, and character development, but packed with
passionate introspection about and investigation of queer life, queer
sex, and queer essence."
"Jay Michaelson knows too well that our
life is a wedding and a funeral, at the same time, in any given moment.
The erotic on these pages comes hand in hand with the devotional."
- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Dancing in Odessa
" If you are comfortable in your pew, these may not be the poems for
you. But if you want fully embodied poems of outrage and love -- and if
you want to "make a religion of flaw," read Another Word for Sky.
You wonÍt regret it."
- Richard Chess, author of Third Temple
ALL: A James
Broughton
Reader Edited by Jack Foley
In a life that stretched from 1913 to 1999 James
Broughton
witnessed
and commented on the twentieth century from the point of view of an
outsider. In a time aghast at its own horrors, Broughton championed
laughter. He was a poet, not of the ivory tower but of the innovative
street, a playful, urban voice with the notion that a poet could change
the world. In a rational century, he asserted mystery. All: A James
Broughton Reader collects the range of this acclaimed poet and
filmmaker.
First published in 1911, Dr. Walsh's Old-Time Makers of Medicine
remains a valued book for readers interested in the history of medicine
and surgery. The stream of medical thought, from the fall of the Roman
Empire under Augustulus until the discovery of America more than
a thousand years later, is explored in chapters on the students and
teachers of the sciences related to medicine during the Middle Ages.
Lethe Press
ISBN 1-59021-095-6
978-1-59021-095-6
Trade paperback, 6x9, 312 pages
The
Story of Oriental
Philosophy By Lily Adam Beck
Inside these pages can be found the teachings and lore of such notable
figures as Buddha, Shankara, Confucius, Lao-Tsu, Mencius and many
others. The Story of Oriental Philosophy offers readers insight into
such Eastern scriptures as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the teachings
of Zen, and Indian sacred writing. The ancient wisdom of Asia awaits
those seeking value in thought and knowledge. Lily Adam Beck was one of
the more well-known and popular novelists and biographers in the 1920s.
Beck's fascination with Asian culture and philosophy influenced her to
write not only this book but several "oriental fantasies" of her era.
Lethe Press Paperback,
440 pages,
ISBN 1590210891
The Soul of China
By Richard Wilhelm
The Soul of China offers readers a tour of Chinese tradition
and character lost to the modern era. Richard Wilhelm
arrived in China before the Boxer Rebellion and stayed
for a quarter of a century. He became intimate with retired
princes and Taoist priests; he steeped himself in Chinese
philosophy and occultism; he emerged with a profound
respect for the Chinese culture. With chapters on the
Revolution, Chinese country life, royalty and soundrels,
and occultism and religious movements, this book is
one man’s fascinating travelogue and exploration of an
important age in Chinese history.
Lethe Press paperback
384 pages
ISBN 1-59021-056-5
Pagan and Christian
Creeds By Edward Carpenter
A collection of essays by the English socialist
poet,
anthologist and early homosexual activist. The book is an attempt to
make an objective comparison between the origins and practices of pagan
religions and Christianity.
At the Sign of the Barber's Pole:
Studies in Hirsute History By William Andrews
Hirsute history may not be the most sought-after field
at institutes of higher learning, but the long-storied saga of the
barber and the beard deserve study. In At the Sign of the Barber's
Pole, the late academic William Andrews has poured over countless
historical records and works of literature to offer readers the
definitive story of society's fondness for bygone beards, mustaches,
and wigs.
