Cub
Jeff Mann
Not every gay teen yearns for fashion and popular culture. Some boys are pure country folk and like the feel of flannel and the smell of the farm. And they're neither lithe nor muscle-bound but stocky boys, the ones who develop hairy chests, arms, and faces years earlier than their peers. One such seventeen-year-old is Travis Ferrell, shy among most of the other kids at school, but proud of his West Virginia roots. He has not yet admitted his passion for handsome guys--and his idea of what handsome is and what handsome does is not much different from him. Soon he'll learn that he's not unique; gay culture has a name for young men like him. Cubs. Lambda Literary Award-winning author Jeff Mann has written a touching romance for the outsider in us all.
Paperback, 226 pages
Cover art by Ben Baldwin
"Mann conveys the experience that most rural gays go through as they attempt to negotiate their homosexuality in a place that often discriminates against them.... This novel explores rural Appalachia in another context--and makes a significant contribution to the disciplines of Appalachian Studies and Queer Studies." - Travis A. Rountree, Appalachian Journal
''It's a book for those boys out there who have discovered that they are different from many of their friends, but who also feel the division within the subculture they thought they could identify with. Their aloneness does not cease once they ve figured out their sexual proclivities, but knowing who they are brings even more compartmentalization. Cub lets them feel there's room at the table for them. And I can think of no one better to write this story than Jeff Mann, whose table is as broad and wide as his heart. If this doesn't become a classic, there's no justice.'' - Out in Print
''Finally, a young-adult romance that features Bears and their friends. Travis has, with the aid of his now-off-to-college friends, come out. Living on the West Virginia farm that is a part of him, he dreams of finding his one true love. But wait! Travis is no ordinary country boy. He is a Wiccan leather bear who is going to be true to himself, no matter what. Travis meets Mike; they fall for each other and then have to learn one of life's meanest lessons together. Cub is another great read by Jeff Mann and another beautifully designed book by Bear Bones Books.'' - OutSmart Magazine