Items

• Below the belt : & other stories
  These stories were written by Samuel M. Steward (1909-1993) under the pseudonym Phil Andros. Andros is also the central character – a drifter and hustler, intelligent and well-read, and as handsome as a Greek god – who recounts his sexual exploits in these erotic stories. This book contains an introductory note which flips the interlinked identities of author and subject by suggesting that Andros has lived these experiences, and Steward is an “alter ego” writing them for him. This was the first of seven Andros titles published by Donald Allen of Grey Fox Press, who created the Perineum Press imprint for this purpose. This copy is inscribed by Andros to Gay’s the Word, with hopes that they overcome the “hypocritical, archaic, stupid, and middle-class” Customs officials.
• Ed Dean is queer : a novel
  Praised on publication for its “grabbing and lucid style”, ‘Ed Dean is Queer’ was the first novel by N.A. Diaman (1936-2022). Set in 1983, this tale of political intrigue grapples with pro- and anti-gay politics to provide a vision of a “meaningful future” for queer people, according to one reviewer. The book’s layout and typesetting are noticeably DIY in style, and Diaman set up Persona Press in order to self-publish, driven by the conviction that “straight people are not going to tell our stories.” He would go on to write another nine books. Timothy Thompson’s cover design features a striking monochrome graphic of two moustachioed men and a woman looking suspiciously on behind them. The copy on display here is dated “4 December 1984” and is inscribed “Best wishes to Gay’s the Word and its fight against censorship.”
• Flaunting it! : a decade of gay journalism from The Body Politic : an anthology
  ‘The Body Politic’ (TBP) was a collectively run gay liberation journal founded in Toronto in 1971. Initially sold locally, it developed national distribution, and this anthology collects writing and illustrations from thirty-six contributors covering the publication’s first decade. Even at the time of publication, the anthology was considered a historical record of a key decade in gay liberation, which is expressed across sections including those entitled ‘Risks’, ‘Living Our Lives’, ‘Cruising and Censorship’, and ‘Into the Eighties’. The book is published by Pink Triangle Press (which still exists), the publishing organisation behind ‘TBP’, with financial support from New Star Books. This copy is inscribed to Gay’s the Word from six members of the collective, who note that “the seizure of your stock is a tribute to your success”.
• From violent men : a novel
  In 1978, gay politician Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco by former city Supervisor Dan White. Daniel Curzon (1938-) self-published this loosely fictionalised version of the aftermath of these deaths through IGNA (or International Gay News Agency). He had experienced “a decade of frustration with publishing houses” over this and other works, according to a 1983 article in ‘Out’ magazine. This copy is inscribed by the author, “Give ‘em hell at Customs! Long live Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence and gay rights!”, and dated 27 February 1985. “D.H. Lawrence” is a reference to the ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ trial in 1960, when the amended Obscene Publications Act 1959 allowed for a work to be defended on the grounds of literary merit for the first time. Curzon’s short story collection ‘Human Warmth and Other Stories’ was also seized in ‘Operation Tiger’.
• Roman conquests
  The third Phil Andros (pseudonym of Samuel M. Steward, 1909-1993) book seized during the raids, this erotic novel is set in Rome where Andros meets and has sex with a range of characters, some of whom are described on the back cover, including “a sexton with a feeling for ritual” and “a carabiniere in black boots”. The book was first published in 1971 by the pulp publisher Gay Parisian Press under the title ‘When in Rome, Do...’ In keeping with his tendency to merge fact and fiction, Steward has dedicated this book to another of his alter egos, Ward Stames. This copy has an inscription from Andros to Gay’s the Word which refers to supposedly ‘obscene’ Roman classical works held at the British Museum.
• Second crossing : a novel
  N.A. (Nikos) Diaman (1936-2020), also known as Tony, was a novelist, video filmmaker, photographer, writer and magazine editor. Amongst the many groups he joined were the San Francisco Radical Faeries and the New York Gay Liberation Front (some of his work was published in the associated newspaper ‘Come Out!’). Based for many years in San Francisco, Diaman self-published novels under the imprint Persona Press which allowed him the space to tell stories about the gay community. This novel is set in the 1950s and follows a young writer as he explores his sexuality among San Francisco’s North Beach gay and literary circles. This copy is inscribed by Diaman to Gay’s the Word, wishing them well “in the battle against homophobia and censorship”.
• Slashed to ribbons in defense of love : and other stories
  Eleven semi-autobiographical short stories of gay love and sex in New York City (and popular gay beach resort, Fire Island). It was published by the collective Gay Presses of New York (Sea Horse Press, Calamus Press and J.H. Press). Felice Picano (1944-) founded Sea Horse Press in 1977 and the Gay Presses came together – with co-editors Terry Helbing and Larry Mitchell – in 1981. An award-winning writer, Picano had published several novels, short stories and a book of poems before this collection, and has been prolific since, producing memoir, plays, screenplays and co-writing ‘The New Joy of Gay Sex’ with Charles Silverstein in 1993. This copy is signed by the author and inscribed on the titlepage, “In brotherhood – and against censorship!”
• The terminal bar : a novel
  Self-published by Larry Mitchell (1939-2012) of Calamus Books, one third of the Gay Presses of New York collective, this novel is set in a real Times Square bar which was popularly known as the “roughest” in New York but which was a sanctuary for its clientele. Based on Mitchell’s experiences and those of his friends, the novel follows a group of lesbians and gay men against a backdrop of a decaying America, symbolised by the Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1979. The novel has also been considered the first work of fiction to reference AIDS. The copy of the book on display is inscribed to Gay’s the Word by the author “In defence of the freedom to read”.