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Queer 13

Name: Queer 13
Author: Clifford Chase
ISBN: 9780688158118

by Clifford Chase

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Overview

Seventh grade: You remember it, don't you? Sweet sixteen seemed impossibly far away, an elegant, unattainable future. All that we had was the doldrums of thirteen -- not so sweet, and definitely queer. Now, some of the finest observers of the gay experience take us back to the homerooms and hallways of our youth, in a collection of original essays that captures that time of adolescence when social and sexual development was at its raging worst. From gym class to kissing parties, obsessive crushes to after-school pummelings, every day held the possibility of discovery -- and complete humiliation. For those of us who are gay, our sexuality added another twist, that extra little way we didn't quite fit in. It was a time of becoming who we truly are, a passage into adulthood that was as memorable as it was agonizing. Queer 13 tells these tales of teenage trauma -- from funny to painful, reflective to literary -- all ringing with the universal truths of a poignant, extraordinary time.

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Editorials

Jonathan Taylor

...[A] collection of not only some of the best current gay literature but of the most compelling autobiography.- Newsday

Angelo Pitillo

"I loved this funny little collection. Editor Clifford Chase has hit on a universal theme, and there's a lot of thought-provoking pain and pleasure in these here queer stories.- Paper

Newsday

"A collection of not only some of the best current gay literature but also of the most compelling autobiography."

Hank Stuever

"When casting about for survival tales of the seventh grade, Clifford Chase, who edited this book of essays, found that most gay writers had suppressed it, like time they'd spent in a cultural junior-high version of Dachau: utter oppression, grueling days, anxious and terrifying nights. They'd simply blocked it out. Seventh grade wasn't too fun for anyone, but it seems to be a particular watershed event for these wordy gays and lesbians, who have risen to the assignment and reconjured that particular year with pubescent horror: the longing, the armpit hair, the confusion, the shame, the teasing -- it's all here. Thankfully, as the sage Judy Blume always assured us, it's only seventh grade, and most everyone survives it. Even gay kids. Seen from these 25 collected pieces -- many of them quite clever memoirs; some of them merely more overwrought gunk from the para-memoirist craze -- seventh grade is quite a hurdle, but also a magic place."

HX Magazine

"Queer 13 contains 25 tales of the doldrums of the teen years from various points of view. The book highlights many up-and-coming new voices in literature, including Joe Westmoreland, Rebecca Brown and Michael Lowenthal. The memoirs range from painful to hilarious to eerily ral as these authors recount that time when our minds were raging almost as fast as our hormones. There's much to appreciate in this thoughtful reflection on past youth and the ungainly task of trying to assimilate, a sentiment anyone can identify with."