Fag hag (Plume fiction)

Literature & Fiction

Rodi, Robert

Literary

Plume Book

Siena seems at first glance a typical Italian city: within its venerable medieval walls the citizens sport designer clothes, wield digital phones, and prize their dazzling local cuisine. But unlike neighboring Florence, Siena is still deeply rooted in ancient traditions—chiefly the spectacular Palio, in which seventeen independent societies known as contrade vie for bragging rights in an annual bareback horse race around the central piazza. Into this strange, closed world steps Robert Rodi. A Chicago writer with few friends in town and a shaky command of conversational Italian, he couldn’t be more out of place. Yet something about the sense of belonging radiating from the ritual-obsessed Sienese excites him, and draws him back to witness firsthand how their passionate brand of community extends beyond the Palio into the entire calendar year. Smitten, Rodi undertakes a plan to insinuate himself into this body politic, learn their ways, and win their acceptance. Seven Seasons in Siena is the story of Rodi’s love affair with the people of Siena—and of his awkward, heartfelt, intermittently successful, occasionally disastrous attempts to become a naturalized member of the Noble Contrada of the Caterpillar. It won’t be easy. As one of the locals points out, someone who’s American, gay, and a writer is the equivalent of a triple unicorn in this corner of Tuscany. But like a jockey in the Palio outlasting the competition in the home stretch, Rodi is determined to wear down all resistance. By immersing himself in the life of the contrada over seven visits at different times of the year—working in their kitchens, competing in their athletic events, and mastering the tangled politics of their various feuds and alliances—the ultimate outsider slowly begins to find his way into the hearts of this proud and remarkable people. By turns hilarious and heartwarming, and redolent with the flavor of the Tuscan countryside, Seven Seasons in Siena opens a window on daily life in one of the most magical regions in all of Italy—revealing the joys to be found when we stop being spectators and start taking an active part in life’s rich pageant.

Seven Seasons in Siena: My Quixotic Quest for Acceptance Among Tuscany's Proudest People

Travel

Europe

Ballantine Books

Secretly in love with an unattainable gay artist named Peter, Natalie Stathis subtly poisons all Peter's romances with men until Lloyd Hood, a gay survivalist gun shop owner, enters Peter's life. Reprint.

Fag Hag (Plume Fiction)

Plume

The author of Fag Hag and Closet Case is back with a novel about a cartoonist in charge of updating the image of the forgotten superhero Princess Paragon. His solution is to change her hairdo, her clothes and her sexual orientation. But for Jerome Kornacker the only way to save the Princess from scandal is to end the cartoonist's career.

What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel

United States

A brash, outrageous novel from the irresistible author of Fag Hag. Lionel Frank is a man as desperate to conceal his homosexuality from his ad agency colleagues as he is to indulge it at night. But poor Lionel is playing the straight man in a world where every success takes him one step closer to disaster.

Closet Case

Nobody writes about gay archetypes with as much affection, insight, and killer wit as Robert Rodi--the unabashed author of Fag Hag and Closet Case. "Another plateful of giddy meringue from Rodi, the undisputed doyen of the effervescent gay novel of manners . . . the humor is merciless and swift".--Kirkus Reviews.

Drag Queen

Once the favorite companion of the wealthy, fiftyish Farleigh Nock, Dennis Racine enlists the help of his two best friends, Lonnie Roach and Paulette Ng, as he tries to win back his man. Reprint.

Kept Boy

Armand and Alfred, a gay couple, try to pass as straight heterosexuals when they meet the conservative parents of Armand's son's fiancee

The Birdcage

In Bitch Goddess, Robert Rodi turns his riotous wit on Hollywood sex and stardom. Told entirely through interviews, e-mails, fan magazine puff pieces, film reviews, shooting scripts, greeting cards, extortion notes, and court depositions, this is a hilarious account of the on-again, off-again career of Viola Chute, the B-grade sex symbol who slept her way to the middle-and slid downward from there. After making a big comeback on a nighttime soap, Viola decides it's time to pen her memoirs. But when E. Manfred Harry, her ghostwriter, turns up some serious dirt, the bitch goddess fires him. The ever-resourceful Harry turns the book into an unauthorized tell-all biography, and Viola's star once again begins its descent... Will she be asked back for a second season? Will she make Celebrity Magazine's "Best-Dressed" list again this year? Will her agent ever return her calls? Praise for Robert Rodi: "Rodi whips action around faster than Julia Child working up a souffle." (The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel) "Irrestibly funny!" (Quentin Crisp)

Bitch Goddess

LGBTQ+ Books

Read Robert Rodi's posts on the Penguin Blog. "A charming, hilarious look at a little-documented world." -- People In dog years, Robert Rodi is 350. Age, however, couldn't possibly have prepared him for his experience with canine agility-the athletic cousin to best-of-breed shows. Rodi, an epicure and urban intellectual, picks up agility with aspirations for blue ribbons. His dreams of glory quickly fade when faced with the competition: hearty Midwestern handlers and their ferociously fit pups, who annihilate scrawny, scruffy, Dusty, Rodi's rescue dog and would-be champ, in the ring. The duo is utterly lost in the agility circles, but as in the best human/pet stories, they forge an everlasting bond to carry them through. Combining the wit of Christopher Guest's Best in Show and the charm of Marley &amp; Me, Dogged Pursuit is an uproarious account of a neophyte's year in the dog show world that abounds in humor and warmth.

Dogged Pursuit: How a Rescue Dog Rescued Me

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Pets & Animal Care

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Books by Rodi, Robert