[rating=5]
275 pages • Steerforth • 1938, 1998 [PB]

The Happy Island is a story of rich New York in the late 1930s, and work of genius from a master satirist.

It is the nightclub singer Prudence Bly who is Powell’s greatest performance. She should hold a high place in the literary hall of fame aside Ignatius J. Reilly and Bertie Wooster. The exchanges with her coeval and rival Jean Nelson are electric.

[rating=4]
256 pages • Harry N. Abrams, Inc. • November 2nd, 2009 [HB]

A beautiful book of photographs that charts the life of writer Gore Vidal, with the sardonic commentary one would expect from its author.

The format frees Vidal to bring his comic asides to the fore. It is a romp through a fascinating life. The addition of newspaper articles, original book covers, and letters adds a dimension to the photographs that enliven it.

Rupert Smith talks physique culture and his novel Man’s World.

The 1950s was the crucible in which contemporary gay life was formed, says Rupert Smith.

One of the stories is set in the 1950s when the man has just come out of national service and one of them is set today when the man is living the life on the London commercial gay scene.

Clayton Littlewood’s Soho Stories: Jonathan Kemp.

Clayton writes about cafes, record shops, and Jonathan Kemp, author of London Triptych.

Outside the street is even busier, the crowds more raucous, and we decide to end the night back at the coffee shop, passing dancing Krishnas, drunken businessmen and six blonde girls with pink fluffy headbands and weather-defying minis, their thighs turning pinky-blue with the cold.

Dan Matthew’s talks animal rights and his remarkable memoir Committed.

He has been the force behind many of PETA’s controversial campaigns, and has now written a suprisingly funny memoir about his life as an activist.

In a world where a celebrity’s arrest or stint in rehab gets more coverage than the war in Iraq, you have to compete for people’s attention.

Catching up with Clayton Littlewood one year on.

A year after first interviewing Clayton Littlewood, Polari Magazine talks to the writer about the stage play of Dirty White Boy and the possibilities for a sequel.

When all those celebrities got in contact I thought, ‘That’s it. I’ve made it.’ But when famous people get in contact it’s just like anyone else taking the time out to say they liked your work.

An interview with Tori Amos about her album Midwinter Graces.

Polari Magazine talks to Tori Amos the morning after her intimate performance at the Jazz Café in North London about the seasonal albumMidwinter Graces and the upcoming musical The Light Princess.

When you go to the bigger places and come back it’s quite a challenge because you have to not feel under a microscope, and you have to feel ok about being exposed.

An audio birthday message from Tori Amos.

This was recorded on 3 December, 2009, at the end of the interview with Tori Amos about Midwinter Graces.

What exactly was Christmas before Christians co-opted it?

The Christmas story is the result of a cynical exercise by Christian apologists, and is a cornerstone in The Greatest Spin Ever Spun.

“It was not established until 375 AD that the birth of Christ occurred on December 25. It was through the Church of Antioch that Christianity was organised as a religion. The Roman Constantine inaugurated this change by adopting Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.”

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[rating=3]
144 pages • Dark Horse • September 9th, 2009 [PB]

A collection of issues 21-25 from the Season Eight comic books. But does it translate to the medium, asks Christopher Bryant?

In Predators and Prey there are five stories and five different authors. They range from the dramatic and emotional depths synonymous with the series to the esoteric geek-fest moments that were restrained by the medium of television.