The autobiographical essays in Edge offer insight into the passions of acclaimed author Jeff Mann. These memories, insightful as they are endearing, range from his boyhood obsession with the gothic allure of Dark Shadows, to the doubt and pain of being a Southerner, and so at the edge of the gay community, and the appeal of leather bars and bear culture. Mann also visits many gay meccas in these essays--the resorts of Key West, Provincetown, and Rehoboth Beach, along with several European destinations such as Germany, Ireland, Belgium, and Scotland, have important cameos. But he is never an idle traveler--he is challenged by his experiences, and his observations reveal the thoughts of many gay men. Along the way Mann ruminates on a variety of subjects, from lost lovers to wearing kilts, theophany, Sylvia Plath, adult videos, and bathhouses

Edge

Biographies & Memoirs

Mann, Jeff

Arts & Literature

Bear Bones Books

Bearotica: Hot & Hairy Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Erotica

The Limits of Pleasure

With great humor and sensitivity, bear writer Daniel M. Jaffe's novel The Limits of Pleasure follows Dave Miller, a forty-year old bearish gay man, living in Boston in an escalating skirmish to reconcile his Jewish and gay identities. A year after the death of his Holocaust-surviving grandmother, Dave leaves Boston for Amsterdam, the home of Anne Frank, whom his Grandma revered. Dave, feeling underserving to confront the suffering that Grandma endured in the concentration camps, cannot bring himself to visit Anne Frank's house. Angry at himself and the world, Dave repeatedly seeks out risky erotic trysts that mix sacred ritual with profane hedonism. Then he meets Alexander, a sexually reserved Dutchman of Indonesian heritage, who has identity conflicts of his own. The relationship shakes both men's lives to their core.

Daniel M. Jaffe

Literary

Enveloped by the native spirits of the Pacific Northwest, Roy Wallace and David Moreau s newfound relationship begins. David soon introduces Roy to the House of Wolves, a community of gay men where honor, companionship, spirituality, erotic desire and brotherhood guide the way. Each man living in the house represents a totem from the spirit world, and each one has committed himself to finding a unique path in life. Having lost their visionary founder to AIDS, the household has been faltering and losing faith in the dreams that brought them together. Energized by his new relationship with Roy, David takes the final steps for the brotherhood to grieve for the past while striving for an incredible new future. The men of the House of Wolves soon come to realize that this new future demands sacrifice and strength. Mystical spirits wait down forest paths as the rituals and traditions of the household are revealed. Everyone the living and dead are forced to confront their fears and their faith in order to embrace the extraordinary in their lives.

House of Wolves

Robert B. McDiarmid

A much lauded essayist and poet, Jeff Mann writes of the passion and pain of being a Southern gentleman who happens to be invested in many worlds: the hungers of gay Bear culture; the propensities of leather and bondage; the frustrations of academia; and the perspectives of an Appalachian who has traveled the world. In Binding the God, his second collection of essays, Mann offers readers another tour of his consciousness and experiences. This volume includes essays previously published in Arts and Letters, Second Person Queer, Callaloo, Now and Then, White Crane, Queer and Catholic, and other journals and anthologies.

Binding the God: Ursine Essays from the Mountain South

In intense, lyrical language, Jeff Mann's short stories give us an array of tormented characters: adulterous lovers, a kidnapper and his handsome victim, the sadistic ghost of a Confederate soldier, a yearning forestry student, an eager masochist, and a hairy biker. These tales explore the sex and psychology of BDSM and of bear culture, and most are set in Mann's native Appalachia, an area often mythologized as a place where the wilderness within converges with the wilderness without. Winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Erotica!

A History of Barbed Wire

Bears, for the uninitiated, are gay men who defiantly challenge society's ideal of physical appearance, who celebrate the fact that they are often large, hairy, and don't give a hoot about what fashions are parading down the runway. In this revised edition of Ron Suresha's thought-provoking, humorous collection of interviews with men, including editor David Bergman, cartoonist Tim Barela, and comedian and writer Bruce Vilanch, questions of gay male stereotyping, commodification of the human body, the oppressiveness of the "physical ideal," and how body image affects personal growth are discussed. Bears on Bears brings together contributors from around the world, from a rich variety of perspectives and backgrounds. With lighthearted playfulness as well as serious analysis, these men describe themselves, their lives and loves, their sense of masculinity, and their flourishing community &amp; culture.

Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions

Politics & Social Sciences

Ron Suresha

Social Sciences

All men hold secrets. It's part of their nature. The mystery of a man, like his musky, masculine scent, is discovered only when he meets naked with another man. The janitor in the college bathrooms late at night and the professor he meets there. The grizzled mountain men in the Old West sharing a bathtub in a hotel room. The neighbor kid's Dad in his underwear, drinking and watching videos in the basement. The thickset, gray-bearded homeless daddybear in the alley behind the house. The shadowy priest confronting the young man confessing his sins. The burly innkeeper at a mysterious rustic country retreat. By day, these men daily mask their innermost desires. Yet it is inevitable that, in the course of their nighttime duties, these men of hair and bone will reveal the hidden secrets thumping in their hearts and pulsing in their pants, to another man who will fulfill those hidden fantasies.  In Night Duty and Other Stories, Nicolas Mann shares his erotic fiction and artwork featuring masculine, hairy men and the other sexy guys whom they lust after, and who love them in return--including drawings created especially for this book. As a writer, illustrator, and photographer in the gay/bi/queer men's Bear community, Nick calls himself a dreamer and admits that his dreaming life is richer than his waking one. To him, ''dreams are like stories and stories are like dreams: they walk hand in hand in the realm of sleep.'' This unique collection of bearotic fiction and art will amuse and arouse anyone who enjoys the intimate company of masculine men.

Night Duty and Other Stories

Nicolas Mann

Winter is a favorite season for Bears, rough, gruff, hairy, and wonderful men who have the heft and fur to keep them warm despite the drop in temperature. In The Bears of Winter, acclaimed editor Jerry Wheeler has collected stories of ice harvesters, a kidnapped Santa Claus, and sleeping bag sagas. Adventure, passion, and romance while it's cold outside. So pull up a chair, light the fire, grab a mug of your favorite cold-weather drink and settle in for some marvelous tales.

The Bears of Winter (Hot & Hairy erotic series)

It's New York City in the late 1990s. There's an ongoing public campaign to close down adult businesses. And gay men are deeply involved in the crackdown--on both sides. Moe Pearlman's sex life is under attack. A conservative mayor is closing down bathhouses, sex clubs and adult theaters--with the secret cooperation of Frank DeSoto, publisher of the only gay newspaper in town. As the crackdown escalates, the tensions between Moe and Frank boil over into a full-scale battle--and, eventually, a personal tug-of-war--between two people with opposing ideas of what it means to be a gay man in the age of AIDS. Moe thinks he might have accidentally stumbled upon romance when he meets Max Milano, but after Max walks in on Moe and several buddies during a steamy scene, Moe finds that the man of his dreams might not be able to handle such a promiscuous boyfriend. And Frank, after a decade-long drought, is enjoying a sexual rebirth as his 50th birthday approaches, but he's not sure if he can find a partner without having to pay for it. Added to this mix is Aaron Chiles, Moe's best friend, who's having trouble accepting the fact that his new boyfriend is a hustler. Meanwhile, Gene Macintosh, Moe's HIV-positive ex-lover, is delighted to find that his viral load is undetectable, but his obsessive partner still treats him like a health risk. From backrooms to newsrooms, the Meatrack to City Hall, Hard explores a world where sex is a matter of life or death, and politics make the strangest bedfellows.

Hard

Wayne Hoffman

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