Bi Books of 1991 Nonfiction: _Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out_, ed. by Loraine Hutchins & Lani Kaahamanu (Alyson). Semifinalist in American Library Assn. Gay & Lesbian Book Awards; 70+ essays by real bis. Very highly recommended. _Bisexuality & HIV/AIDS: A Global Perspective_, ed. by Tielman, Carballo & Hendriks (Prometheus). Essays on male bisexualities and HIV/AIDS in various countries and regions. Highly recommended. _The Other Side of the Closet: The Coming-Out Crisis for Straight Spouses_, by Amity Pierce Buxton (IBS Press). This self-help book for heterosexual half of "mixed-orientation couples" by an educator/counselor and ex-"straight spouse" adds "and"/"or bisexual" to "gay" or "homosexual" throughout as needed, and acknowledges that "bisexuality is a distinct orientation from homosexuality and not a transitional state"; includes thoughtful chapters on "alternative marriage styles" and on parenting issues, with appendices of readings and resources. Recommended for intended audience (and for bi spouses to read before giving it to them). _Nijinsky and Romola_, by Tamara Nijinsky (Bachman & Turner). Russian ballet phenom Vaslav Nijinsky, his affair with impresario Sergei Diaghilev and marriage to dancer Romola de Pulszky. _H.D. and Freud: Bisexuality and a Feminine Discourse_, by Claire Buck (St. Martin's). Scholarly critique from feminist perspective of the poetry of American bi writer Hilda Doolittle: "I explore the nature of the self that she constructs in her writing. My interest is in what model or models of the self she creates; from where she derives the models of subjectivity and sexuality which her work deploys, and what is their relationship to sexual difference, sexuality and textuality." For the specialist. _The Dream at the End of the World: Paul Bowles and the Literary Renegades of Tangier_, by Michelle Greene (HarperCollins). American bi writers Paul and Jane Bowles and their friends; not much about the Bowles' sex life together. _The Journals of John Cheever_, by John Cheever (Knopf). Journals of married/bi, often tormented American writer; frank and fluidly written. Recommended. _Elton John_, by Philip Norman (Harmony). Biography of the rock musician: "'There's nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex,' Elton said. 'I think everyone's bisexual to a certain degree. I don't think it's just me. I think you're bisexual. I think everyone is.'" Fiction bi Women Blanche M. Boyd, _The Revolution of Little Girls_ (Knopf). Southern woman marries Harvard man, divorces, has series of "lesbian revolutionary" affairs; novel includes 2 other bi characters, female and male. Winner of Lambda and Ferro-Grumley book awards. Recommended. Jackie Calhoun, _Second Chance_ (Naiad). "Romance" about woman separated from husband and living with female lover, her relationships with them and with her 3 grown children. Storm Constantine, _Hermetech_ (Headline). Science fiction novel by the creator of the Wraeththu; protagonist is bi female and story includes 4 bi males and 1 male-to-?! transsexual; poorly edited. Recommended. Tony Fennelly, _Murder with a Twist_ (Carroll & Graf). Brings together her two mysteries, _The Glory Hole Murders_ (1985) and _The Closet Hanging_ (1987); detective/hero is gay-identified bi man of old New Orleans family, nonracist but relentlessly sexist/patriarchal in relations with women and with his twink- identified male lover; other important bi male characters appear, esp. in the first novel; okay as whodunits. Evelyn Kennedy, _To Love Again_ (Naiad). "Romance" about married woman becoming involved with female lover, and her relationships with husband and 2 teenage sons. Jacquelyn Holt Park, _A Stone Gone Mad_ (Random House). Set in New England and NYC; woman moves from sexual interest in men to women; I counted 6 behaviorally bi-fem characters in this one! -- ALA G/L Book Award finalist. Recommended. Grete Weil, _The Bride Price_ (David R. Godine). Orig. published as _Brautpreis_ (Verlag Nagel & Kimche, 1988); intertwines OT story of King David and his wife Michal with one of Holocaust survival; includes subplot dealing with David and Jonathan, M's brother; J (also married) tells M he's in love with D, though what goes on in the tent D&J inseparably share is left to the reader's imagination. Recommended (though of marginal bi interest). Fiction bi Men _Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men_, ed. by Joseph Hemphill, conceived by Joseph Beam (Alyson). Two short stories--Cary Alan Johnson's "Obi's Story" and John Keene, Jr.'s "Adelphus King"--are about black bi men. Winner of Lambda Book Award. Recommended. Joseph Hansen, _A Country of Old Men: The Last Dave Brandstetter Mystery_ (Viking). Dave is a gay L.A. detective; includes 2 bi characters; okay as whodunit. Winner of Lambda Book Award. E. Lynn Harris, _Invisible Life_ (Consortium). Set in Birmingham, Ala., and NYC; main focus is on 3 bi black men and how they feel about/deal with their bisexual feelings, their SS and OS relationships, and the realities of AIDS; rigorously honest and strikingly comprehensive of maritally inclined bi men's alternatives and issues; poorly edited. Recommended. Stewart Home, _Defiant Pose_ (Peter Owen). Heavy satire of extremes of UK political and sexual scenes in which 6 bi males are depicted; protagonist is predatory bi: "The blokes weren't much to look at either, a scruffy bunch of oddballs and misfits. Terry occasionally went for arses, but on the whole he preferred wimmin. The trouble with men, Terry reflected, was that they all wanted to stick their pricks into other people's holes. No man had ever known the skinhead, although he sometimes let a woman finger-fuck his arse." Dan Kavanagh, _The Duffy Omnibus_ (Viking). Brings together all 4 Nick Duffy novels, in which hero is tough, endearing, bi-identified ex-cop--_Duffy_ (1980), _Fiddle City_ (1981), _Putting the Boot In_ (1985), _Going to the Dogs_ (1987); DK is pseudonym of Julian Barnes, major UK author. "Duffy's mind idled over the choice between trawling for a man and trawling for a woman. To Duffy it was like choosing between bacon and egg and bacon and tomato. Whichever you decided on you had a good time; it was just what your taste-buds felt like that evening." Highly recommended. Joe Keenan, _Putting on the Ritz_ (Viking). Two "gay married men," one formerly married, the other potentially, are put in for laughs; set in NYC. Winner of Lambda Book Award. Recommended for sparkling Wodehousean wit, *not* for bi-positive content. Bill Lee, _Bi Ranchers, Bi Mates_ (GLB). Moderately arousing bi porn passages interpersed with father-child incest and bisexual rape; stereotypic sex roles and misogyny in incoherent plot. Not recommended. Antony Sher, _The Indoor Boy_ (Viking). Set in London and Cape Town, has 3 basically unlikable bi male characters; interesting depiction of South African emigres and inhabitants. Recommended for stark presentation of white attitudes toward race and apartheid, not as bi-positive. Charlie Smith, _Crystal River_ (Linden). Title novella is about two good old bisexual Southern men who continue their years'-long sexual relationship and alternately share a sleeping bag with a woman they meet on a canoeing trip. Recommended. Tom Spanbauer, _The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon_ (Atlantic Monthly Press). Finalist for ALA G/L Book Award; all the major and several secondary characters (both male and female) are bi in late-19th-century Excellent, Idaho; multiethnic, multicultural, multiorgasmic: "Fucking was the same way as with everything else--what you thought you were doing was not what you were doing. What you thought you were doing was sucking and penetrating and kissing, holding, and ejaculating. What you were doing, though, was telling a story. First off, thing is, you got to know you got a story. Then you got to have to tell it. Knowing how to tell your story is important, but the secret to good fucking is how well you can listen. Fucking only gets good when the two stories start being the same story--the human-being sex story." Highly recommended. Already released or announced for publication during 1992 Elizabeth Reba Weise, _Closer to Home: Bisexuality and Feminism_; Eva Cantarella, _Bisexuality in the Ancient World_; Blanche Weisen Cook, _Eleanor Roosevelt_; Donald Spoto, _Laurence Olivier_ and _Blue Angel [Marlene Dietrich]_; Tom Smith, _Half Straight_; Jackie Calhoun, _Sticks and Stones_; Penny Hayes, _Grassy Flats_; Chris Hunt, _Gaveston_; Gary Jennings, _Raptor_; Richard Osborne, _Basic Instinct_ (based on the screenplay); John Patrick, _The Kid_; Robert Plunket, _Love Junkie_; Robert Rodi, _Fag Hag_. (I haven't read any of these yet but doubt already I'll recommend the Osborne unless it's irresistibly camp.) This pamphlet (updated 19\n(yr/\n(mo/\n(dy) is published by the Bisexual Resource Center. You are welcome to reproduce and distribute it with your group's contact information at the bottom of this column. Please send a $10 donation for each flyer that is useful enough to you to reproduce, to support the publication of new literature. For more information and literature, write or call: Bisexual Resource Center (phone 617-338-9595) (email BRC@panix.com) POB 639, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, USA. Local Contact Information: