Those Others Up for an Award

Those Others is being considered in the Gay Debut Fiction category in the 23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards for works published in 2010.

Gay Debut Fiction

There is stiff competition among the 16 current submissions, and more are to come.

Awards will be announced in 2011.

Lambda Literary

Book Signing Event

I will be reading, taking questions, and signing books in Nashville, TN at Outloud Bookstore, 3:00 on October 9, 2010. Books will be available, or bring your own. Hope to see you there.

Outloud Books

Review of Those Others

A new review by Sebastian Fortino has been published in the South Florida Gay News.

The writing is sensitive. Michael does not “come out,” as we would know the term today. Instead, by realizing his sexuality, finding someone to build a life with, and later becoming aware of and a part of the struggle for civil rights—the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 is an underlying theme—he comes to accept himself and realizes he should have the same rights as everyone else.

Openshaw writes in a particularly beautiful passage: “He was totally immersed in the rapturous moments that led, for the first time, to a feeling of ease with his developing sexuality. Lying in bed, exhausted and naked, when he should have felt most vulnerable, he felt completely accepted and at peace.”

The review also notes the historical aspect of the book.

The historical aspect of the novel coincides with a groundbreaking—however dated by today’s standards—1965 series of articles that appeared in the Washington Post by Jean M. White. They open by saying that bringing up the topic of homosexuality in “polite society or public print” in 1965 would not have been possible in 1960.


Read the entire review here.

Those Others: The Video

Those Others: the video. This should answer any questions.

Those Others now available

Those Others: Navigating the "Riddle of Homosexuality" in 1965 is now available for purchase.

To purchase the book from Amazon, click here.

I have a limited number of copies and you can purchase one directly from me, at a discount, and signed if you wish, on a first come basis.

If you don't live nearby, you can still get a signed copy, for the same low price plus shipping. Contact me, or click the "Buy Now" button to the left.

If you are a retailer or librarian, the book is available through most book distributors and the CreateSpace Expanded Distribution Channel.

Those Others takes place in the Spring of 1965, and since this is the 45th anniversary year for Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March and the first gay rights picket in Washington DC, events which play a role in the book, I decided to release the title early so that people might have it to read as they commemorate the events.

Those Others is based in part on a series of newspaper articles from the Washington Post in 1965.

This article was on the front page of section E on Sunday, January 31, 1965.

Here are the articles that appeared over the five day period.

The book not only tells the story of how a young man's perception of himself might have been influenced by these articles, but with the inclusion of reprints of the articles reveals that with gay equality, in spite of the tremendous gains made over the last five decades, we still must fight the same battles and misconceptions that were were present in 1965.

Michael also learns about equality from Civil Rights leaders as he becomes a part of that movement. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin and Viola Liuzzo provide insights that help him develop a different view of himself.

The articles from the Washington Post, hidden among the archives of the paper for decades, and King's speech at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March, are included as part of the book.