Table of Contents
Search Site
Also on this website:
Toby
Johnson's books:
GAY
SPIRITUALITY: The Role of
Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness
GAY PERSPECTIVE:
Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature
of God and the Universe
SECRET
MATTER: updated, revised & expanded edtion from Lethe Press
with Afterword by Mark Jordan
Read Toby's review of Samuel Avery's The Dimensional Structure of
Consciousness
Funny
Coincidence: "Aliens Settle in San Francisco"
GETTING
LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE
PLAGUE:
A NOVEL ABOUT HEALING.
TWO
SPIRITS: A Story of Life With the Navajo (with Walter L. Williams)
Books on Gay Spirituality:
Articles
and Excerpts:
The
Simple Answer to the Gay Marriage Debate
Why gay people should NOT Marry
Wedding Cake Liberation
Gay Marriage in Texas
What's ironic
Shame on the American People
The "highest form of love"
The
cause of homosexuality
What is homosexuality?
What Jesus said about Gay
Rights
The purpose of homosexuality
What the Bible Says about
Homosexuality
Mesosexual Ideal for Straight Men
Varieties
of Gay Spirituality
Why Gay Spirituality: Spirituality
as Artistic Medium
"It's Always About You"
The myth of the
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
Joseph Campbell's description of
Avalokiteshvara
You're
Not A Wave
Going into the Light
Meditations for a Funeral
Meditation Practice
Curious
Bodies
What
Toby Johnson Believes
The Joseph Campbell Connection
Campbell & The Pre/Trans Fallacy
The Nature of Religion
Being
Gay is a Blessing
Freedom
of Religion
The
Gay Agenda
Gay
Saintliness
Gay Spiritual Functions
The subtle workings of the spirit in gay men's lives.
"The Evolution of Gay Identity"
"St. John of the
Cross &
the
Dark Night of the Soul."
Avalokiteshvara at the Baths.
Eckhart's Eye
Let Me Tell You a Secret
Religious Articulations of the
Secret
The Collective Unconscious
Driving as Spiritual Practice
Teenage
Prostitution and the Nature of Evil
Allah
Hu: "God is present here"
Adam
and Steve
Gay
retirement and the "freelance monastery"
Seeing with Different Eyes
What
are you looking for in a gay science fiction novel?
The
mystical
experience at the Servites' Castle in Riverside
The
Great Dance according to C.S.Lewis
The Techniques Of The World Saviors
Part 1: Brer Rabbit and the
Tar-Baby
Part 2: The
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
Part 3: Jesus
and the Resurrection
Part 4: A
Course in Miracles
The
Secret of the Clear Light
Understanding the Clear Light
Mobius
Strip
Finding Your
Tiger Face
How Gay
Souls Get Reincarnated
About Alien Abduction
In honor of Sir Arthur C Clarke
The
D.A.F.O.D.I.L. Alliance
Toby's friend
and nicknamesake Toby Marotta.
About
Michael Talbot, gay mystic
About Guy Mannheimer
|
Charmed
Lives:
Gay Spirit In Storytelling
(Spinning
Straw into Gold)
An Anthology in White Crane Institute's Wisdom Series
from Lethe Press
|
Editors
Toby
Johnson, author of GAY
SPIRITUALTY, and Steve Berman, writer and publisher of Lethe Press,
have collected an anthology of
inspirational fiction with upbeat twists and turns as well
as autobiographical
anecdotes and essays of positive and life-fulfilling aspects
of gay experience.
See Table of Contents
|
|
|
Reviews and articles about CHARMED LIVES and
contributors
In the interest
of fair reporting, I'm
including the bad reviews
here as well
White Crane Journal #73
Reviewed
by Steven LaVigne
There are
books that readers simply don’t want to come to an end, and former
White Crane editor Toby Johnson and writer Steve Berman have edited one
of them. Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling is so filled with
gems (thirty-five passages by writers as diverse as Perry Brass, Mark
Thompson, Malcolm Boyd, Jeffrey Beam, James Van Buskirk, Don Clark,
Bert Herrman and Dave Nimmons, and White Crane columnist Andrew Ramer,
to name but a few of them) that these stupendous tales of romance,
music, sex, harassment and coping with the modern world equally make it
a savory pleasure that’s tough to put down.
Among the
highlights of this treasure trove: Mark Abramson explores his love for
Ella Fitzgerald and how her particular style of jazz music helped him
cope as friends succumbed to AIDS; Eric Andrews-Katz’ self-esteem is
given a boost after meeting an attractive angel one night in a bar,
while the leading character in Victor J. Banis falls in love with
Douglas, the man who takes no notice of a face that resembles “The
Canals of Mars.” J.R.G. De Marco’s ghost story, “Great Uncle Ned,” is
the first passage that’s a topper, making the reader thinking nothing
else can be better. Romantic and sexy, De Marco takes the reader on an
exquisite gothic roller coaster ride.
Some of the
stories are set pre-Stonewall, while others are post-AIDS, but every
contribution, even reflections on why writers work the way they do,
addressing topics from sex to marriage to everlasting love are
outstanding in their own way.
Among the
other “toppers” are Jay Michaelson’s “The Verse,” wherein any mention
of the “sin” of homosexuality disappears from every copy of Biblical
scripture, from the Torah to the Gospels, as the worldwide news
coverage affects Michaelson’s characters. Should he be forgotten, Bill
Blackburn’s lovely tribute “My Last Visits With Harry,” reminds us that
Harry Hay, a founder of the Radical Faeries, was an exceptional pioneer
for gay rights. Andrew Ramer imagines himself as Albert Gale, Dorothy’s
brother, who doesn’t go over the rainbow, but, instead, finds true love
on the prairie.
Personal
experiences are a strong part of “Charmed Lives.” Don Clark, whose
book, “Loving Someone Gay” was so helpful when I was first coming out,
discusses his personal life, while David Nimmons relates how his
program of Manifest Love began on a Fire Island dance floor. Johnson
and Berman share experiences from their lives as well.
I hope that
I’ve whetted our appetite and that you’ll take similar pleasures when
reading “Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling,” which was a
finalist for a 2007 Lambda Book Award. Even so, it’s a winner without
awards.
January 17 2007, Out
Front Colorado
ran an
interview with Charmed Lives contributor Dan
Stone by Jeboa Boreanaz
An inspirational new anthology
from editor Toby Johnson aims to inspire
with positive stories of gay men
following their own spiritual paths. Local
writer and life coach Dan
Stone is one of
the contributors to Charmed
Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling.
Jeboa Boreanaz: Tell me about your
story in Charmed Lives.
Dan Stone: I have
an essay (called “This I
Know”) that is really sort of
about my own personal transition
from
believing
in an external authority to
tell me how to approach my life
from a spiritual perspective, such as
the church or the bible. I was raised a
fundamentalist minister’s son, so my
own religious background was a pretty
strict conservative one, and that
was true for a lot of us (in the anthology).
Then I moved towards more of
what I would call the mystic path,
where I’m relying less on external
authority such as the bible or the
church and more on my own experience
and intuition and my own personal
connection to god or the divine.
JB: So faith and
spirituality have always
played a big part in your life?
DS: It’s always
been a really important
aspect of my life. It was sort of pounded into me in some ways
growing up, as involved in the church as I was for so many years.
I didn’t come out until I was about 30, and before that I was very
active in the church I was brought up in,
which was a fundamentalist
Christian denomination. I taught Sunday
school for years
and years, and I was in church three
times a week, sang in the
choir and all that. Having some sort of
active spiritual component
in my life has always been pretty
important, because I kind of
inherited that from my family and my
upbringing.
JB: And when you
came out?
DS: When I came
out and left the church and went out on my
own, I found that I still wanted to have
it in my life in some way.
I didn’t know how to go about having it,
but I still cared about
some kind of connection to something
bigger than myself, so what I
started doing was just reading anything I
could get my hands on regarding
spirituality. Eastern philosophy. Pagan spirituality. All sorts of
things that were very
different from what I grew up with.
JB: What does ‘gay spirituality’ mean?
DS: One of the things you get a sense of when you read this book is
how incredibly diverse a community we are
in this respect as well in all
others. We talk about the gay community
and we like the idea of these
common bonds that we have, but when you
really start to look at us you
begin to realize how incredibly different we are in every way, and
spirituality is no
different. We come from all different places and perspectives
and experiences. But one commonality I think is that we are all
directly or indirectly trying to feel as good about ourselves as we can
and trying to find someway to integrate our sexuality into who we are as
people. For a lot of us, being gay was presented to us as a problem or
an obstacle to being connected to god. It was unholy or unsacred and
something that we either had to deny or push away. So now we can
realize that being gay is as sacred a part of ourselves as anything
else.
JB: What do you
think readers will get from this book?
DS: Readers will
take away a sense of the very diverse spiritual experience
that is characteristic of our community, and they will see and
hopefully understand that there are a wide range of possibilities as far
as how these writers have learned about themselves and have moved
within there own lives from a place of maybe some difficulty and
struggle with their
sexuality to a much more accepting and happy place.
Hopefully the reader will be able to feel these writers feeling good
about themselves, and that
invites the reader to find ways to feel good about
themselves as well. ■
BAR -- Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco
Published 02/15/2007
If the spirit moves you
by Jim
Piechota
This
impressive, skillfully assembled collection by Lambda
Literary Award-winning author Toby Johnson and short-story writer Steve
Berman
contains over 30 uplifting spiritually-accessible essays, personal
reflections, and fictional tales that will appeal to every sensibility
within
the GBLT spectrum. Derived from the White Crane Journal and
published as part of their Wisdom Book
Series, the book is meant to provide
"insight, discernment and spiritual discovery" for gay people who are
fortunate enough to have tapped into their mystical side, and also to
"offer new stories, new ways of thinking about the gay experience."
Prolific
San Francisco online blogger Mark Abramson leads
off the compilation with "Ella, Kelly and Me," a wonderfully vivid,
bittersweet, heartbreaking journal of a Castro Street bartender and his
travails through the deep darkness and the subsequent radiance of San
Francisco
history. Abramson's combination of charm, engaging prose, and a working
knowledge of local history will leave readers aching for more. His bio
mentions
a forthcoming novel series; like this story, they're set in the Castro
District, a place where his garlanded prose seems to bloom best.
Fleeting
scenes of first love and unfinished business
decorate many of these stories, like Eric Andrews-Katz's sweet tale of
two
enamored boys; the mutual attraction discovered while waiting in line
at the
post office provided with great moxie by John McFarland; and Toby
Johnson's
stunning recollection of 1970s bathhouse culture, with a sage message
resulting
from a sex partner's harsh rejection: "A pang of loss struck me, but I
understood
the spiritual lesson to live in the present and not to be attached, to
enjoy
the joy I was feeling without trying to possess and hold onto it."
Death and
coping with what remains loom large in stories
like Michael Gouda's poignant "After Edward," much as living the
"sweet life" does for Bryn Marlow in his essay "What Two Men Do
in Bed," which, in the span of two pages, relates the splendor and the
exuberance of a long-term relationship.
Other
highlights include Jay Michaelson's clever story on
the Jewish experience; a piece on the atrocious "carving" vandalism
done to gay-themed novels and resource materials at the San Francisco
Public
Library; David Nimmons' affirmative actions and efforts to conquer
cynicism in
gay circles with his group "Manifest Love;" and the incredibly moving
portrait of Lewis DeSimone's transformative work with Castro-area AIDS
hospice
Maitri.
Jeffrey
Beam's beautiful commentary in "What Queer
Spirit Sees" encourages all of us to look within our own hearts and
souls
for the divinity we may be seeking, as does Will Gray in his profound
essay
"Gay Spirituality." "I see no existence of a god, but that
doesn't prevent me from sharing moments of transcendence and gratitude."
Collectively,
the writers have produced a personally empowering,
kaleidoscopic tapestry. This anthology can be kept on a shelf and
referred to
for a bit of inspiration on a particularly bad day, or as a resource
that keeps
the good karma flowing in balance with our everyday lives.
February
25, 2007 Reading & booksigning at the San Francisco Public Library
Authors in the S. F. Bay Area gathered for
an event at the LIbrary, hosted by contributor Jim Van Buskirk.
He re we are in a photo by S.F. photographer
extraordinaire Rink
from left to right: Tyler Tone, Mark Abramson. Andrew Ramer, Lewis
DeSimone, Jim Van
Buskirk, Toby Johnson, Don Clark, Jim Toevs, and Michael Sigmann
EDGE
Entertainment Contributor
Tuesday
Mar 13, 2007
by Lewis Whittington
Transcendence
comes with the Queer territory," Jeffrey Beam breezily
proclaims in his essay "What Queer Spirit Sees," and that spirit is
joyously
celebrated in the peck of short stories that comprise Charmed Lives.
This collection of fiction and nonfiction would be fun to read either
in
the winter when hibernating away from the madding crowd, or in the
summer
on the beach with everybody chattering around you.
Many of the
stories have a spiritual objective, but that doesn’t exclude gay
carousing,
cruising, canoodling, or, for that matter, issues of pain, suffering,
or
complex emotions. Gay spirit, both living and dead, tragic and comic
inhabit
this book.
Consider some
of the 32 titles - "What Two Men Do In
Bed," "Gay Spirituality?," "Tom or an Improbable Tail," "The Bells of
St.
Michael’s," "So What is Charm" - and you know this is not your average
gay
pulp fiction or a G-rated gay picnic either. These are intimate,
exciting
stories, carefully chosen by the editors - contributors Toby Johnson
and
Steve Berman, whose story "His Paper Doll," involving voodoo doll boi
club
hook-ups is club-caustic.
In Eric
Andrews-Katz’s "An Angel on the
Threshold," main character Mark is carrying a longtime torch for his
ex-lover,
and about giving up. To torture himself more, he goes to the club and
itemizes
his character flaws when he is hit on by Gabriel who, he thinks, is
completely
out of his league. The gorgeous Gabriel seems to be able to read his
mind
and emotions, so of course this makes Mark flee, since he’s not one to
accept
a mercy fuck. Mark’s reawakening comes to pass on the street, where his
lovelorn phantoms meet bruised reality under the pen of Andrews-Katz.
Don
Clark sets up his gay journey in "A Path of Mirrors" with the idea that
"our
spirit guides are not hidden from normal sight or cloaked in great
mystery. It just may be that they are unrecognized at first sight."
The specter
of the great Ella Fitzgerald comes alive in Mark Abramson’s "Ella,
Kelly
and Me," about a bartender in the Castro district who becomes an
eternal
Ella fan (like we all eventually do) and actually gets to speak to her
on
a hillside before she gives a concert. Later, her music proves to be
sustaining
in times of deep crisis.
"The Canals of
Mars," by Victor J. Banis,
is about a beautiful man whose face is scarred in an accident, and who
goes
into self-imposed exile because he thinks he’s too ugly to exist. He is
invited to recover and rest at the seaside home of an acquaintance who
falls
in love with him. A Platonic discussion of what beauty is, and isn’t,
is
the backdrop for this touching story.
Sterling
Houston’s "Beyond the
Blue Bardo (Manhattan Island 1965)" reads like an aria and paints a
portrait
of being young, black, and proud in the day: "The black sissy has
earned
the right to strut, no lie," he writes, before he dances into
transcendence
with lines like, "Winds of disdain whip past her ears and get
incorporated
into the music, translate themselves into a sphincter thrust that has
become
the envy of the civilized world." That’s before we even get the
backstory,
summed up with, "I got my drama queen genes from Miss Lula" - the aunt
who
raised him. It is no surprise to read in the bios that Houston is a
performer
and theater director: even in his writing all the world is a grand
stage.
"After Edward,"
by Michael Gouda, is about grief and reconciliation
following a gay widower’s journey back to life in the months after his
lover’s
death. This is an anti-"Things happen for a reason" story that tells of
real emotion and real experience, a story that ventures past platitudes
and
knowing formulas. Gouda’s narrator doesn’t hold back with friends who
expect
him to pull himself together: "How the fuck would YOU know what Edward
would
or wouldn’t have wanted me to do?" he fires back.
"Shades" by
Bill Goodman pays a comic visit to a middle-aged gay couple entering
their
golden years. When one of them dies, the survivor sees his specter a la
Dolly Levy through the actions of others.
Short
interludes such
as Bert Herrman’s "So What is the Charm?" asserts, "A charmed life is a
life
of faith, though not necessarily on of religious faith. What matters is
authenticity." These intimate, thoughtful gay journeys of
self-awareness
are celebrations of our multi-faceted liberation.
Publisher:
Lethe Press. Publication Date: November 15, 2006. Pages: 308. Price:
$18. ISBN-13: 978-1590210161
Lewis Whittington writes about the performing arts
and gay politics for several publications.
The Letter
theletteronline.com
March 2007
Rainbow of Thought
Accessible Spirituality
by Jason Brooks
The short stories and
non-fiction personal essays collected in this Lambda Literary
Award-nominated compilation offer encouragement and motivation for
those who integrate spirituality into gay life, and insight for those
who wonder about the distinction between spirituality and religion. As
such, the book makes spirituality accessible to readers across the GLBT
spectrum, though it most directly addresses gay men.
The book includes a mix
of personal essays, thoughtful reflections and fictional short stories.
In his introduction, co-editor Toby Johnson emphasizes the power of
story and its pivotal role in shaping consciousness.
How we see ourselves
and the stories we tell about our place in life really do have
transforming power, he says. In his companion introduction, co-editor
Steve Berman advocates a focus on the small golden moments of our
lives: “life may not be fair, but it can still be enjoyed.”
That spirit of joy
appears in What Two Men Do In Bed, non-fiction by local writer
Bryn Marlow, one of two contributors from The Letter’s six-state
distribution region. From his home in Indiana, Marlow pulls back the
sheets on his own long-term gay relationship. What goes on under the
covers at his house involves a depth of intimacy, humor and playfulness
that adds sweet sparkle to the bond between two men.
Magic holds sway in
another regional author’s contribution. Ruth Sims’ Tom Or An
Improbable Tale tells about the day William comes home from work to
find who looks like the incarnation of Apollo and Ganymede sitting on
his sofa—stark naked. The adventure begins.
A more quiet venture
though one no less magical spurs the plot in Victor Banis’ offering, The
Canals of Mars. Its narrator experiences first hand the
transforming power of acceptance and love to overcome issues of
physical appearance and ageism.
In similar fashion,
each of the stories in this collection enlarges upon aspects of the gay
experience in heartfelt ways. Johnson and Berman have gathered
contributions from over 30 writers who affirm the pleasures of physical
passion while suggesting there is more to gay life than sex. This
should come as no surprise to readers of White Crane, a periodical
devoted to exploring spiritual consciousness among gay folk.
Here is a take on
spirituality accessible to those who because of their sexual
orientation have received poor treatment at the hands of organized
religion. Here is spirituality expressed as concern for others,
capacity for awe, and courage to tell the truth about one’s deepest
self. Here is spirituality in story form, in essay and in thoughtful
commentary—readable, approachable and enlightening.
While the fiction runs
from romantic to historical, from supernatural to prosaic, themes of
love, desire and attraction are near constants. Boy does not always get
boy—or angel or devil or ghost or were creature, as the case may be.
But the reader does get insight into the human condition and a glimpse
of gay spirit operative in our desires.
Andrew Ramer spins the
story, not of Dorothy and Toto, but of Dorothy’s gay brother Albert who
finds his way to an Oz of his own making. Set in the Wild West, The
True and Unknown Story of Albert Gale, Told by Himself rings with
faint echoes of Tom Spanbauer’s The Man Who Fell in Love With the
Moon.
The whole world echoes
with the news that a passage in the Jewish Torah interpreted to condemn
acts of gay love has disappeared, as imagined in Jay
Michaelson’s The Verse. The consequences are global, national
and very, very local.
Mark Horn sets Musuko
Dojoji in Japan, and incorporates one of that country’s oldest folk
tales into a compelling story that blurs the boundaries between fact
and fiction. Horn is forthright about this in his epilogue; would that
the editors had been as forthcoming in alerting the reader as to which
pieces are fiction, which not. Instead the reader is left to decide
whether a story is based in fact or fiction. Maybe the editors’ point
is that all stories contain truth. Nevertheless, enhanced clarity would
aid the truth-telling process.
For example, halfway
through Lewis DeSimone’s Left With Love, the reader may be
unsure whether the events related actually happened or if the hospice
patient may suddenly reveal himself to be a god of the ancient Greeks
reincarnate. The man does die, however, and the hospice volunteer
mourns his loss even as he opens himself to lessons of life and love.
Must be meant as the touching piece of non-fiction it is.
No question about the
intent of David Nimmons’ essay Manifest Love. He calls gay men
to awareness, understanding and action, as does Bert Herrman in So
What is the Charm? Both these authors pack their sentences with
punch. Both challenge GLBT persons to use their differing sexual
orientation to see the world with different eyes, build on their
strengths, and act on what tugs at their hearts.
But let go of
judgments, writers in this anthology advise. Expect no formulaic
answers for finding truth. Rather, recognize that each person’s journey
is individual and should be honored as such. Dan Stone’s “This I Know”
succinctly relates one man’s disaffection with organized religion and
subsequent realization that there are multiple paths to paradise, even
as Will Gray’s Gay Spirituality? details how he as an atheist
might be described as embodying spirituality.
Life offers
opportunities to learn. Charmed Lives offers glimpses of
spirituality in action, written in such a way as to be accessible to
the average reader.
Readers will not find
every piece in the compilation equally compelling. Some stories tend
toward the cliche; some lack the finesse of polished writing. But with
over 30 selections to choose from there is more than enough to incite
and inspire.
In a market where many
gay-themed anthologies offer little more than sex, sweat and sperm,
this collection shines nearly as brightly as the straw-into-gold being
spun on its cover photograph. Life offers sensual pleasure, yes, and
much more. These pages serve notice that gay life can be hot and
sweaty, sweet and romantic, touched by magic, tinged with sadness,
punctuated with moments of deep love and ecstatic joy.
Authors’ work
promotes positive gay fiction
By Larry
Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
March 16, 2007
The
authors and publishers of “Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling” —
a new collection of gay short stories — want readers to know that there
is more to the world of gay fiction than fantasy sex romps and gay
strife.
“I became tired of reading gay fiction, especially short gay fiction,
that was either all about sex or it was all about being depressed over
being gay,” editor and author Steve Berman said.
Berman pitched the idea of an anthology of positive gay experiences —
short fiction and personal essays presented as an alternative to the
stories society tells about gay men — to award-winning gay novelist
Toby Johnson.
“Toby has knowledge of spirituality and authors who believe in how you
should be proud of being gay. I told Toby this is something I wanted to
do and we agreed to work on it together.
“I didn’t want it just to be all fiction,” Berman added. “I thought it
would be nice to have personal essays too. So it runs that gamut of
inspiration fiction and essays for gay men.”
Johnson was intrigued and eager to participate when Berman approached
him with the idea.
“Steve had suggested that one of the really successful books in the
mainstream world was this series called ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul,’”
Johnson said. “We figured gay writers ought to be able to do a better
job of writing life-affirming, positive stories about the gay
experience. But what happens so often is that writers tend to write
about the traumatic stuff in their lives so a lot of the gay literature
is about the suffering and bad things that can happen. We wanted to do
something positive and share the good experiences — a gay ‘Chicken Soup
for the Soul.’”
Johnson, with his experience and connections as a gay author and
bookseller — he’s written eight novels and three nonfiction books — was
instrumental in recruiting writers for the project.
“There are over 30 authors represented,” he said. “For years, I edited
a magazine called ‘White Crane Journal of Gay Men’s Spirituality’ and
through White Crane, I knew a lot of people in the gay spirituality
movement and I used to run the gay and lesbian bookstore in Austin with
my partner. So I’ve had contact with a lot of the authors in the gay
genre.
“Over a six-month period, we got a lot of stories submitted and Steve
and I culled through those and picked what we thought would make a good
collection.”
The two met after Berman started his New Jersey-based company, Lethe
Press. Berman wanted to reprint Johnson’s then out-of-print book “Gay
Spirituality” and contacted him; Berman originally founded Lethe to use
print-on-demand technology to keep gay classics available.
Johnson and Berman will read from and sign “Charmed Lives” at
Giovanni’s Room, marking the first time the two will meet face to face.
“Steve and I have never met in person,” Johnson said. “This book
signing at Giovanni’s Room is going to be our actual first meeting.
Isn’t it interesting this modern world we live in, in which you can
work with someone electronically and never really meet them?”
“We’ve talked many times on the phone and all that, but it’s kind of
funny,” Berman said about finally meeting Johnson in person. “I’m
looking forward to it.”
Johnson and Berman are appearing at 5:30 p.m. March 17 at Giovanni’s
Room, 345 S. 12th St.; (215) 923-2960.
Lavender Magazine
Minneapolis, MN
Issue 305
By Ethan Boatner, Editor
Charmed Lives: Gay
Spirit in Storytelling
Ed. by Toby Johnson and
Steve Berman
Lethe Press
$16
“Charmed” perfectly fits
these 37 stories, not trivializing, but invoking “ensorcelled,”
“bewitched.”
Old as mankind, storytelling
is a way to entertain, educate, and make sense of the world.
As Mark Horn, author of
“Musoko Dojoji,” explains, “Just because it didn’t happen, doesn’t mean
it’s not true.”
Some
pieces are memoirs of past lovers and events (though each individual
sees
an “actual” event differently), like Bill Blackburn’s “My Last Visits
With
Harry” [Hay], while some, like Jay Michaelson’s “The Verse,” are
fantastic
“what ifs.”
Suppose, Michaelson posits,
one morning, people wake to
discover that Leviticus 18:22 has vanished from every kosher Torah—not
scratched
out, erased, or removed. No spaces—just gone. What might be the
reactions
of Jews? Christians? Muslims? Not what you’d predict, it seems.
Nor, you will find, is the
answer to Bryn Marlow’s charming “What Two Men Do in Bed.”
Midwest Book Review
June 2007
Lori L. Lake
Long-time spiritual writer
Toby Johnson and publisher/writer Steve Berman have put together a
much-needed collection of essays and stories about gay men and
spirituality. So often, anti-gay activists go out of their way to
malign gay people, and homophobes in mainstream churches often block
gays from worship and religion. This collection offers an alternative
to those small-minded persecutions.
What Johnson has been saying
for years in books like GAY SPIRITUALITY and GAY PERSPECTIVE is that
the spiritual consciousness expressed by gays—indeed, by all GLBTQ
people—is a vital and evolutionary step forward for everyone on the
planet. No longer need we be trapped in meaningless, dogmatic,
fear-based, or male-dominated religious practices. There’s hope and
inspiration to be found by, for, and about homosexual lives.
Berman and Johnson have
managed to get stories and essays from many literary lights: Mark
Thompson, Malcolm Boyd, Perry Brass, Victor J. Banis, Jeffery Beam,
Mark Abramson, and many others. The inspiring work of educators,
community activists, and religious experts such as David Nimmons, Mark
Horn, Dan Stone, Michael Sigmann, Bill Blackburn, and Donald Boisvert
are also featured.
CHARMED LIVES is a Lambda
Literary Award Finalist in the category of Best Anthology, and it’s
fully deserving. Every story, every essay is a gem that reveals the
beauty, strength, and value of gay voices.
As Bert Herrman writes in
his essay, “Grace is not really magic, it is a natural state of being,
but for those who reach it, it works like a charm.” Reading these
pieces will comfort, inspire, and charm anyone seeking to learn more
about the wonder of gay spirit in storytelling. Highly recommended.
Wayves -- the queer
newspaper for Atlantic Canada
June 2007
Ralph Higgins
Queer lives are tribal. Our
strongest connections are often not with our biological family but
rather with the gay men and women who found for themselves, and then
offered to us, acceptance, sanctuary and community. Our characters have
been tempered by the fires of adversity and our strength grows as we
face hostility, ignorance and even death - when we face them together.
The tribe provides a place where we belong, a sense that we are where
we are supposed to be. Yet, because the tribe is relatively new the
wisdom of the elders, the shared stories and experiences of our fellow
tribe members is not widely known.
The telling of
stories is essential and Toby Johnson and Steve Berman in Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling
have compiled a collection of stories, poems, personal accounts and
essays that show the fundamental connections that unite our
experiences. Connections between lovers, between friends, between
generations, between the teller of stories and the listener. And
throughout all the tales it is the personalities of the characters that
capture us, their spirit that enters into us, becomes part of our
experience like shared memories just as the people - both real and
imagined - become part of our family tree. They make us feel glad and
proud to belong to the same tribe.
These stories are
very moving. They will move you to laughter, to tears and move your
heart to beat a little faster, stronger. These are stories about love -
a basic human need, but one that we still have trouble accepting for
ourselves, with all its joys, sorrows, and pleasures. With so few role
models that show our queer reality, these stories are essential
reading.
The contributors -
too many to list here - are from a wide range of backgrounds and
interests. There are stories flavoured with science fiction, with the
old west, with supernatural spirits; and essays and musings reflecting
different philosophies and religious leanings. Wild imaginings and the
day to day routine all have a place in these pages. The focus is not on
the obstacles and difficulties of gay life but on the fact that our
lives are indeed charmed ones. Charmed
Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling reminds us of the richness of
our queer existence and how very lucky we are.
OutSmart, July 2007
Houston's gay, lesbian, bi, and trans magazine
Angel Curtis
Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling
Various writers
White Crane Books (www.whitecranebooks.org)
The stories we tell ourselves define who we were, who we are, and, most
importantly, who we will be. This compelling anthology presents an
alternative to the stories our culture tells about gay people. Part
spiritual journey, part romance, but all alive, the stories in this
book give us a new way of looking at both our spiritual and mortal
selves. This one is not to be missed.
Here's the Table of
Contents to tempt readers
Introduction: Straw into Gold
Toby Johnson
Introduction: Straw is Neither Dross nor Gold Steve
Berman
Ella, Kelly and Me… Mark Abramson
The Story Behind the Story Perry Brass
An Angel on the Threshold Eric Andrews-Katz
Shades Bill Goodman
The Canals of Mars Victor J. Banis
What Queer Spirit Sees Jeffery Beam
After Edward Michael Gouda
What Two Men Do In Bed Bryn
Marlow
Great Uncle Ned J.R.G. De Marco
Beyond the Blue Bardo Sterling Houston
The Verse Jay Michaelson
My Last Visits With Harry Bill Blackburn
Reversing Vandalism Jim Van Buskirk
Grandfather’s Photograph Neil Ellis Orts
Gay Spirituality? Will Gray
“Charmed, I’m Sure” Mark Thompson and Malcolm
Boyd
Viewing the Statue of David Jim Toevs
The True and Unknown Story of Albert Gale Andrew Ramer
Tom or An Improbable Tail Ruth Sims
Free Speech Martin K. Smith
This I Know Dan Stone
Musuko Dojoji Mark Horn
A Path of Mirrors Don Clark
Lines John McFarland
Left with Love Lewis DeSimone
Get Thee Behind Me Christos Tsirbas
His Paper Doll Steve Berman
Desiring St. Sebastian Donald L. Boisvert
Manifest Love David Nimmons
Avalokiteshvara at The 21st Street Baths Toby Johnson
Neighborhood Walk Steven A. Hoffman
My Pride and Joy Tyler Tone
The Bell of St. Michael’s Gary Craig
So What is the Charm? Bert Herrman
And, finally Michael Sigmann
The Authors
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