#my government means to kill me

[lgbtqreads]

Happy LGBT History Month!

Happy LGBT History Month! We are, of course, celebrating as we celebrate everything over here – with books! Specifically, with both fiction and nonfiction that pay tribute to LGBT history. Fiction Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his…

[smokefalls]

Winning rarely changes how people perceive us and almost never soothes our insecurities. Winning, as most of us conceive it, is external and public. I didn’t yet know that the most rewarding activities of my life would be those done in secret.

Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

[rasheednewsonauthor]

Here’s why I was drawn to writing a novel about ACT UP and the 1980s...

[lifesarchive]

2023 READS (BOOKLIST)

What an incredible year is has been with my adventures in literature. I went from not reading a complete book in years to reading 30+ whole books in less than a year. Pictured above are THE BOATMAN'S DAUGHTER by ANDY DAVIDSON (★ ★ ★ ★ ★) and MY GOVERNMENT MEANS TO KILL ME by RASHEED NEWSON (★ ★ ★ ★ ★), two amazing books I read this year, but didn't get a chance to review. In descending order, here are all the books I read in 2023:

TRUE EVIL TRILOGY by R. L. STINE (1992) ★ ★ ★

JAZZ by TONI MORRISON (1992) ★ ★ ★ ★

SONG OF SOLOMON by TONI MORRISON (1977) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

SIDLE CREEK by JOLENE McILWAIN (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★

MUCKROSS ABBEY AND OTHER STORIES by SABINA MURRAY (2023) ★ ★ ★

TEXAS HEAT: AND OTHER STORIES by WILLIAM HARRISON (2023) ★ ★ ★

BOYS IN THE VALLEY by PHILIP FRACASSI (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

PIRANESI by SUSANNA CLARKE (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

BARACOON: THE STORY OF THE LAST BLACK CARGO by ZORA NEALE HURSTON (2018) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

NINETEEN CLAWS AND A BLACKBIRD by AGUSTINA BAZTERRICA (2020) ★ ★

THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by BRANDON SLOCUMB (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★

MONSTRILIO by GERARDO SAMANO CORDOVA (2023) ★ ★ ★

THE SHARDS by BRET EASTON ELLIS (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★

HUMAN SACRIFICES by MARIA FERNANDA AMPUERO (2021) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

DEVIL HOUSE by JOHN DARNIELLE (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★

FLUX by JINWOO CHONG (2023) ★ ★ ★

THE TROOP by NICK CUTTER (2014) ★ ★ ★

MY DARKEST PRAYER by S. A. COSBY (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by SHIRLEY JACKSON (1962) ★ ★ ★ ★

BELOVED by TONI MORRISON (1987) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by SHIRLEY JACKSON (1959) ★ ★ ★

THE VANISHING HALF by BRIT BENNETT (2020) ★ ★ ★ ★

DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by OLGA TOKARZUK (2009) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

THE BURNING GIRLS by C. J. TUDOR (2021) ★ ★ ★

HIDDEN PICTURES by JASON REKULAK (2022) ★ ★ ★

THE BOOKS OF JACOB by OLGA TOKARZUK (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

THE BOATMAN'S DAUGHTER by ANDY DAVIDSON (2020) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

SACRIFICIO by ERNESTO MESTRE-REED (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

SUPERSTITIOUS by R. L. STINE (1995) ★ ★ ★

THE WRONG GIRL by R. L. STINE (2018) ★ ★ ★

MY GOVERNMENT MEANS TO KILL ME by RASHEED NEWSON (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

BEST BARBARIAN: POEMS by ROGER REEVES (2022) ★ ★ ★

THE THORN PULLER by ITO HIROMI (2007) ★ ★ ★ ★

NOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE by DANA LEVIN (2022) ★ ★ ★

THE HOLLOW KIND by ANDY DAVIDSON (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES by T. KINGFISHER (2022) ★ ★

A DELUSION OF SATAN: THE FULL STORY OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS by FRANCES HILL (1995) ★ ★ ★ ★

[loveisbraveandwild]

please put in the tags the best book you’ve read in the last 3 years (since the start of the pandemic)!!

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[npdclaraoswald]

Novel I'm reading is a fictional memoir about a guy who becomes an activist during the AIDS crisis, and though he is fictional, he meets several real figures Forrest Gump style. And his first political action is to organize a rent strike in his building, which is owned by Fred Trump, so there's a footnote that says "The Trump family categorically objects to the characterization of Fred Trump in this book, which they dismiss as "the fake memoir of a nobody.""

[readingaccountability]

march roundup!

since my last post i have finished:

blitz - daniel o'malley

goliath - tochi onyebuchi

just like home - sarah gailey

the three-body problem - cixin liu

the change - kirsten miller

my government means to kill me - rasheed newson

when we were magic - sarah gailey

the all-consuming world - kassandra khaw

upgrade - blake crouch

and i finished upgrade last night so nothing is in progress at the moment! <3

[feywildfancypants]

Death by currently reading 7/40: My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

Rating: 10, a personal favorite!

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Brimming with queer history tied into a fictional story, Newson spins a gripping story about queer life in New York in this excellent debut!

“Robber barons, political overlords, and other powerful devils can reign with impunity for decades, and the terror they inflict on those of us beneath them can feel eternal. Yet there is one stone that will slay them all: time. Devils grow old, and the world around them eventually exceeds their understanding and control. Never forget that. Never let them forget it.”

If we’re taking recommendations for what is considered queer cannon, I have to submit this book. Not only does it capture a historic time so well, it is also a call to action. I’ve read many books about sad gay boys, but this is a sad gay boy who gets mad and does something about it. It talks about community organizing, the effects of the aids epidemic, racism as well as homophobia. I also appreciate that it doesn’t leave out or degrade lesbians. I was really impressed by this book.

[dungeonsandfierceorangecats]

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Gay Fiction Set in the 1980s

These are all Adult fiction; YA will be posted separately. My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst Rent Boy by Gary Indiana Bonus: For books that cover multiple decades including the 80s, check out Tramps Like Us by Joe Westmoreland, A Language of Limbs by Dylin…

[pridepages]

I wish I could give an account of the reasons why I felt voting wasn't worth the time and effort. Truth is, I had no overarching principles on the value of voting. In the day-to-day demands of life, voting just wasn't a subject I gave much thought to. There's surprisingly little that I regret in my life, but I regret not voting in every fucking primary, special, and general election possible. The country could have improved so much sooner if I and those that shared my indifference had cast ballots religiously.

Trey Singleton, My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

[smokefalls]

Devils grow old, and the world around them eventually exceeds their understanding and control. Never forget that. Never let them forget it.

Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

[rasheednewsonauthor]

The Chelsea Hotel is just one of a number of real locations that I included in my novel, “My Government Means to Kill Me.”

[nfinitefreetime]

Two quick book blurbs

I swear to you that I did not read these two books back-to-back as part of any sort of June/Pride Month … thing, but once I realized what I had done I decided that the Mark Oshiro book on my shelf had to be next, and I’ve got a book about the Stonewall uprising that is probably going to get moved up in the queue. At any rate, let’s talk. TJ Klune has written three books for adults so far, with a…

[anthrofreshtodeath]

Finished this today! This novel was like a Dante’s Inferno who’s who of the AIDS crisis, which I really liked. Definitely one to check out for the last few days of Pride.

My Government Means to Kill Me: A Novel

By Rasheed Newson.

Design by Keith Hayes.