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DVDs Gay Men’s Interest 1. “Unfaithful,” directed by Claude Pérès (2010, $24.99). The premise is simple: Pérès and a man he’s never met will sleep together while the cameras roll. No contract, no film crew, no boundaries. 2. “The Adonis Factor,” directed by Christopher Hines (2010, $24.99). An eye-opening journey through circuit parties, gay porn, and avant-garde fashion photo shoots, all of which promote their own kinds of idealized physiques. A documentary. 3. “Plan B,” directed by Marco Berger (2009, $19.95). Bruno is dumped by his girlfriend; behind a calm, indifferent expression, his mind plans a cold, sweet vengeance. He befriends her new boyfriend, Pablo. English subtitles. 4. “All Boys,” directed by Markku Heikinen (2009, $24.99). This documentary follows the rise and fall of the Czech porn star Aaron Hawke — whose short career serves as a cautionary tale on the fleeting nature of stardom. English subtitles. 4. “Men for Sale,” directed by Rodrigue Jean (2009, $24.99). Eleven sex-trade workers in Montreal over the course of a year recount their struggles to survive alcohol and drug-related addictions, abuse and stigmatization — and their troubled pasts. 5. “Just Say Love,” directed by Bill Humphreys (2009, $19.95). When Guy becomes involved with Doug, a construction worker, he believes he has found “the one.” But there’s a wife with a baby on the way.
Women’s Interest 1. “We Have to Stop Now, Season 1,” directed by Robyn Dettman (2009, 73 min., $19.95). Lesbian therapists Kit and Dyna have it all: They’re a power couple, they each have a thriving practice and a best-selling book. And then … 2. “I Can’t Think Straight,” directed by Shamin Sarif (2008, 80 min., $24.95). Two women who fall in love on the eve of one woman’s wedding. 3. “Personal Best,” directed by Robert Towne (1982, $19.95). The landmark classic lesbian film comes to DVD at last. 4. “The L Word: Six Season Pack” (3,900-plus minutes, $181.99). A show that has become the biggest lesbian cultural phenomenon of our time. Like the perfect girlfriend, it’s fun, smart, sexy and entertaining. And available! 5. “Tru Loved,” directed by Stewart Wade (2008, $24.95). When her lesbian moms decide to move the family to a conservative suburban town, Tru’s life becomes complicated by sexual politics, closed minds and closeted friends. 6. “Truth Hall,” directed by Jade-Jenise Dixon (2009, $14.98). Years after graduation, a group of African-American women reunite for a wedding and find lingering grudges and long-buried passions from their college days.
Books Trans Interest 1. “Luna,” by Julie Anne Peters (Little, Brown, $7.99 pb). Regan O’Neill has always known that her brother, Liam, was, in fact, a girl. 2. “Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation,” edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman (Seal, 302 pp., $16.95 pb). Part coming-of-age story, part mind-altering manifesto on gender and sexuality, coming directly to you from the life experiences of a transsexual woman. 3. “Missed Her,” by Ivan E. Coyote (Arsenal Pulp, 142 pp., $16.95 pb). Beautiful, funny stories about growing up a lesbian butch in the Canadian north have attracted big audiences whether gay, straight or otherwise. Coyote’s fifth story collection. 4. “Butch Is a Noun,” by S. Bear Bergman (Arsenal Pulp, $18.95 pb). On what it means to be butch. Second edition.
Women’s Interest 1. “Water Mark: The Sixth Mickey Knight Mystery,” by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes, $16.95 pb). Micky’s investigation leads to a tangle of greed and deceit that stretches back generations in New Orleans. Rip Van Dyke, by Kate McLachlan (Regal Crest, $17.95 pb). When Van Hollinger is suddenly transported 20 years into the future, she is dumbfounded — and furious. Jill’s silly time-travel experiment wasn’t supposed to actually work. 2. “Sea of Grass,” by Kate Sweeney (Intaglio, $16.95 pb). Professor Tess Rawlins spent the last 12 years teaching agriculture in California, away from Montana and her heart. When she’s called back to the sprawling Double R cattle ranch and her ailing father, Tess is thrown back into the world she had nearly forgotten. 3. “Bird Eating Bird,” by Kristin Naca (HarperCollins, $13.99 pb). Her poems are playful and serious all at once. They explore the richness of her cultural and linguistic heritage, which spans the globe from Mexico to the Philippines. Winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series Prize. 4. “Stars Down Under,” by Sandra McDonald (Torr, $7.99 pb). Alien artifacts, political tension and a freshly married pair of heroes populate this sequel to the military-adventure science-fiction novel The Outback Stars. 5. “Stone Gods,” by Jeanette Winterson (Mariner, $13.95 pb). Billie Crusoe and the renegade robo-sapian Spike have been assigned to colonize a new blue planet. But when a technical maneuver intended to make it inhabitable backfires, Billie and Spike’s flight to the future becomes a surprising return to the distant past. 6. “Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2,” by Fiona Zedde (Strebor, 234 pp., $15 pb). Steamy, sensual and poetically hypnotic
Gay Men’s Interest 1. “Cockeyed: A Donald Strachey Mystery,” by Richard Stevenson (MLR, $14.99 pb). When Hunny “You go, girl!” Van Horn, Albany’s flaming-est flamer, wins the state lottery’s first billion-dollar payout, it’s PI Don Strachey who’s brought in to deal with the skeletons, some of them violent, that come crashing out of Hunny’s non-closet. The eleventh Strachey mystery is fast, funny and rather sweet. 2. “The City Real and Imagined,” by CAConrad and Frank Sherlock (Factory School, $15 pb). Wander with the authors through this psychogeographical poem set in Philadelphia. 3. “Probation,” by Tom Mendicino (Kensington Press, 304 pp., $15 pb). The author explores how a closeted gay man’s decision to marry impacts his life and the people he loves, and what happens when the lies unravel. 4. “Silver Lake,” by Peter Gadol (Tyrus, 290 pp., $14.95 pb). A stranger’s suicide threatens a gay couple’s trust in this haunting, literary Los Angeles novel. 5. “Murder on Camac,” by Joseph R. G. DeMarco (Lethe, 396 pp., $18 pb). Gunned down in the Center City street, author Helmut Brandt’s life ebbs away and puts P.I. Marco Fontana on a collision course with the church and local community. Dueling with the Catholic hierarchy and combing through seedy gay hangouts, Fontana encounters dangerous characters and powerful forces intent on stopping him. 6. “Object of Desire,” by William J. Mann (Kensington, 426 pp., $16 pb reprint). Filled with unforgettable warmth, incorrigible humor and irresistible charm, Object of Desire takes readers through three milestone eras in one man’s life: his youth in the 1970s, his days of abandon in the 1980s, and his more sober, reflective existence today. The book reaffirms Mann’s reputation as one of gay fiction’s major narrative powers. 7. “Diary of an Innocent,” by Tony Duvert, translated from French by Bruce Benderson (Semiotext(e), 240 pp., $17.95 pb). Duvert’s shocking novel about a sexual adventurer among a tribe of adolescent boys in Northern Africa. 8. “Missouri,” by Christine Wunnicke (Arsenal Pulp, 128 pp., $12.95 pb). This earnest, violent, yet utterly transfixing gay love story is set in the 19th-century American Midwest.