Good books filled with “bad” gays

P. J. Vernon was born in South Carolina. Called a "rising star thriller writer" by Library Journal, Vernon's debut, When You Find Me, was both an Audible Plus #1 Listen and Associated Press Top Ten U.S. Audiobook.

[The Page 69 Test: When You Find Me; Writers Read: P. J. Vernon (November 2018); My Book, The Movie: When You Find Me; Coffee with a Canine: P. J. Vernon & Chauncey and Mikko.]

His new novel is Bath Haus, praised as "a nightmarish white-knuckler by O, The Oprah Magazine.

Vernon lives in Calgary with his husband and two wily dogs.

At CrimeReads he shared a list of "good books filled with 'bad' (i.e. 'real') gays," including:

When homecoming means opening old wounds:
Cottonmouths, Kelly J. Ford

For this queer, paying home a visit was (is?) complicated. While away at school, nothing had me sweating bullets quite like the inevitability of Winter Break. You know, when all your friends abscond to their own hometowns and you’re left with a gutting dilemma: T-gives alone or T-gives served with a heaping side of toxicity and pain. I can also readily envision being forced home. Happens all the time because life happens all the time. You need help getting back on your feet, and you sacrifice safety and well-being for food and shelter. Cottonmouths (Sky Horse) by Kelly J. Ford unpacks devastating homecomings, generational cycles of abuse and poverty, and a Gothic bleakness so sharp, you know shit’s gonna get real bad, real fast. But you’ll also find company Ford’s beautifully drawn characters. Emily, the college drop-out forced to confront a painful past while surviving a just-as-painful present. The “heroin-chic” Jody, Emily’s unrequited high school love whose own life has taken a dark turn. Chickens, lesbians, and meth aside (what a pitch!), Ford delivers a narrative about how far we’ll go to chase those three, frighteningly powerful words: I love you.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue