Whats on the presses for

what promises to be a great

new year for LGBT books.
Although its not Christmas just yet, this is
the January issue of GCN, so its the perfect
time to look ahead to the literary treats that
await us in 2014.
The year gets off to a
cracking start with the
new novel by Christos
Tsiolkas, the gay
author of international
bestseller, The Slap.
Set between Australia
and Scotland,
Barracuda (Atlantic
Books, January) centres
on Danny Kelly, a
young swimmer from
a working-class background thrust into a
competitive private school on a sports
scholarship. Fully expected to get
picked for the 2000 Sydney Olympic
team, Danny struggles to cope with the
schools expectations, his deteriorating
relationship with his father, and the
sexually repressive environment of
competitive sport. The pressure and
isolation gradually build into violence,
which has far-reaching consequences as
he tries to build a life with his Scottish
partner, Clyde. Barracuda is a gripping
thriller, which sees Tsiolkas resist the
temptation to follow the huge success
of The Slap with more of the
same.
Similarly striking out is
Emma Donoghue, whose
rst new novel since the
phenomenal Room couldnt
be more different from its
predecessor. Inspired by
true events and set in 19th
century San Francisco, Frog
Music (Picador, April) tells
the story of burlesque dancer
Blanche Beunon trying to solve the
murder of a close friend. As a smallpox
epidemic rages in the midst of a
sweltering summer,
Donoghue vividly
brings the city
and its colourful
characters to life
and this should
prove to be one of
the biggest literary
treats of the year.
A more familiar
and altogether more
modern San Franciscan
is to be found in the ninth
novel in Armistead Maupins Tales of the
City series. The Days of Anna Madrigal
(Doubleday, February) focusses on 28 Barbary
Lanes famous 92-year-old transgender landlady
as she sets off on a roadtrip back into her past,
bringing her former tenant Brian
Hawkins in tow.
Following an excellent year
for young LGBT ction, 2014
continues with Two Boys
Kissing by David Levithan
(Electric Monkey, April), a
young adult novel that was
longlisted for the National
Book Award in September of
last year. At the centre of the
story are Harry and Craig, two
ex-boyfriends who decide to
break the Guinness record for the worlds
longest continuous kiss. Around them are
a number of individual lives that begin
to come together as the town becomes
increasingly aware of whats happening
in their midst. Movingly narrated by gay
men who have already passed away, its
a timely book that both acknowledges the
freedoms that young gay youth have today
and the uphill struggles they still face.
A novel that is sure to prove
controversial on publication
in January is Golden Boy by
Abigail Tarttelin (Phoenix). One of
the few books to have an intersex
character as its focus, it tells of
Max Walker, raised as a boy by
his British political family despite
being born with both male and
female sexual characteristics.
Following a brutal attack, the
Walker family are forced to deal
with the consequences of their
choices and what lies ahead for Max as he
rapidly approaches adulthood.
Finally, other highlights to look out for in
the rst half the year include Damon Galguts
Arctic Summer (Atlantic, March), a
ctionalised account of EM Forsters travels
to India in the early part of the 20th century,
an April re-issue of Duffy by Dan Kavanagh
(aka Julian Barnes), a crime novel originally
published in 1980 with
a bisexual detective
at its core, and in
February, Inside a
Pearl: My Years in
Paris (Bloomsbury),
the fourth memoir
from Edmund White,
detailing the 15 years
he spent in Paris in the
80s and 90s.
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