ATLANTAboy.com: Best of Gay Atlanta

Bob Smith: "Selfish & Perverse"

The first openly gay comic to appear on The Tonight Show, Bob Smith comes to Outwrite with his debut novel, "Selfish and Perverse"...

Smith has written for the MTV Video Music Awards, Dennis Miller, Roseanne, and was a staff writer for Fox's MAD-TV. His sketch, "The Zapruder Films" was recently featured on The Best of MAD-TV. Recently he taped both a comedy special and a documentary for LOGO that will air in the fall.

A regular contributor to Out magazine, Smith also appeared in HBO's documentary about Rosie O'Donnell chartering the first gay and lesbian family cruise -- "All Aboard!: Rosie's Family Cruise."

Smith appears at Outwrite on Thursday, September 27th at 8 p.m.

Outwrite's Labor Day Weekend Celebrations

Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse has a full weekend of events planned both in and out of the store for Labor Day Weekend in conjunction with In the Life Atlanta's Black Gay Pride and AJC's Decatur Book Festival...

Saturday, September 1, 4-7 p.m.

The annual Literary Cafe is part of In the Life Atlanta's Black Gay Pride Celebration. Authors reading from their work and discussing with the audience include Lisa C. Moore (Voices Rising), Vincent Tolliver (Baptized), Fiona Zedde (Every Dark Desire), Frederick Smith (Right Side of the Wrong Bed) and Lee Hayes (The Messiah), among others.

For a complete schedule of events during Labor Day Weekend visit In the Life Atlanta's Web site.

Saturday, September 1, 8 p.m.

Stanley Bennett Clay, the author of In Search of Pretty Young Black Men is back with a steamy new novel -- Looker -- about the affairs of L.A.'s gay black upper crust. Including of course jealousy, murder, and erotic secret liaisons.

Sunday, September 2, 12 p.m.

Edmund White, the author of many classics of modern gay literature presents his latest work, Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel. It's a biographical fantasia imagining the final days of poet and novelist Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage), who died of TB at age 28 in 1900. A novel-within-a-novel, Hotel has Crane dictating his own strange new novel about the adventures of a boy prostitute in turn-of-the-century Manhattan.

Outwrite is the official bookseller at the Old Courthouse venue where other writers appearing include such luminaries at Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series), Robert Olen Butler (Severence: Stories), and Sherman Alexie (Flight: A Novel; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian). In conjunction with the Decatur Book Festival.

Lance Bass Gets 'Out of Sync' at Outwrite

Lance Bass visits Outwrite Bookstore on Thursday, October 25th at 8 p.m. to sign copies of his new memoir, "Out of Sync"...

Until now Bass, who grew up as part of one of the biggest bands in history -- *NSYNC -- has remained tight-lipped about his life, music, and sexuality. While ex-boyfriend Reichen Lehmkuhl made media rounds, Bass chose to remain private about his life as a gay man.

But now, Bass talks candidly about his first same-sex relationship at age 21, his struggle to keep his sexuality hidden from *NSYNC's fans so as not to jeopardize the band's success, and his decision to publicly come out at the age of 27.

He also details his experiences both behind the scenes and in the spotlight as a member of *NSYNC, including his six-month stint training in Russia to become a cosmonaut.

Tammy Faye Memorial 'Party' October 6

Ro Messner, Tammy Faye Messner's husband, announced tonight that there will be a memorial service/party for Tammy Faye on October 6th in Decatur.

He said Tammy didn't want "any crying or sad faces, just balloons and a good time."

A similar service is planned for October 14th in Palm Springs. The exact location will be announced soon on TammyFaye.com, so keep checking there if you want to attend the memorial party.

I remember meeting Tammy Faye at Outwrite Bookstore in 2003 when she was signing copies of her book, "I Will Survive... And You Will Too!"

She told Larry King just 48 hours before she died that, "When we lost everything... it was the gay people that came to my rescue; I will always love them for that."

And we will always love Tammy Faye.

Harry Potter Book Release Party at Outwrite

You're invited next Friday, July 20th to a Harry Potter Release Party at Outwrite Bookstore...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows won't come out until Midnight, but the fun begins for gay Atlanta at 10 p.m. with special giveaways, raffles, and more leading up to the book's release at 12:01 a.m.

You can also register to win a free trip to London!

10% of sales during the party will go to Atlanta Cotillion, an annual fund raising event benefiting AID Atlanta.

At 784 pages, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows marks the final episode in J.K. Rowling's series and has generated more advance orders than any other book in history. 12 million copies are being printed in anticipation of the book's release.

Meanwhile, a very grown up Daniel Radcliffe appears on the cover of Details while Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix opens today in movie theaters.

"Elton: The Biography" Coming In October

Coming in October, "Elton: The Biography" utilizes many first-hand interviews with Elton John's associates and closest musical collaborators...

David Buckley wisely provides two sides to each story or controversy, such as the scandalous headlines in the tabloids about John's sexuality in the late 1980s, and his own libel lawsuits that followed in retaliation.

From the book:

"I called it 'Peachtree Road' because it's the one road that goes through the whole of Atlanta. I have an apartment on Peachtree Road, but the studio is 15 miles away, and that's still on Peachtree Road.

There is a peach tree everything in Atlanta. It's my American base and I've been there 13 or 14 years. I'd never written or recorded an album in Atlanta, but I really wanted to because I love the city so much so it was kind of an homage to my American home."

Dr. Daniel Helminiak's New Book Release

Dr. Daniel Helminiak , the Atlantan theologian, psychologist, and lecturer who wrote the best-selling book "What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality" (one of the best-selling books for parents of gay children) returns to Outwrite Bookstore June 1st at 8 p.m....

The author will discuss and sign his new book, "The Transcended Christian: Spiritual Lessons from the Twenty-First Century." If you've ever felt like an outsider in your own church (or your parents' church), you should definitely read this.

Dr. Daniel Helminiak teaches sexuality and spirituality in the psychology department of the University of West Georgia and ties his theories in with classic Biblical stories (that often reveal both a compassionate Christ and a hypocritical church).

Through inspiring essays and reflective teachings, Helminiak demonstrates how one can transcend doubt and regain his or her own spirituality and faith.

Anderson Cooper's Dual Book Signing

You'll have two chances to catch CNN's Anderson Cooper while he's in Atlanta his weekend promoting and signing his new book, "Dispatches from the Edge"...

First he'll appear at the Turner Store in CNN Center from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday:

CNN Center, 190 Marietta Street NW, 404-827-2300

Next he'll be at the Barnes & Noble on Peachtree Road at 2 p.m. on Saturday:

Barnes & Noble, 2900 Peachtree Road NE, 404-261-7747

In May Out Magazine ranked Anderson Cooper second among "the most powerful gay men and women in America." He also recently signed a multi-year contract with CNN, doubling his $2 million salary to a reported $4 million.

Michael Alvear's "How To Talk Dirty In Bed"

HBO "Sex Inspector" (and fellow ATLANTAboy) Michael Alvear is YouTube's latest "shagspert"... watch his new lesson on talking dirty:

Armistead Maupin Brings "Tales" to Outwrite

Before "Sex and the City" and "Queer As Folk," there was Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City"...

"Tales of the City" grew from a local sensation as a fictional newspaper serial into a global sensation when it was compiled and rewritten as novels, then later made into a television series on Showtime.

"Tales" now has a seventh volume, "Michael Tolliver Lives" coming June 1st. Maupin will read from and sign it at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on June 27th. Interweaving gay and straight story lines, Maupin was the first author anywhere to deal fictionally with AIDS.

According to Publishers Weekly, "Main character Michael "Mouse" Tolliver is now 50, living with AIDS and has a new, younger boyfriend. While Number 28 Barbary Lane is gone, other tenants of the famous address are here as well -- transsexual landlady Mrs. Madrigal is now 85 and womanizing Brian Hawkins has a grown daughter.

But the story belongs to Mouse, whose chartings of the transgressive, multigendered sex trends of San Francisco are every bit as lovable as Mouse's original wet jockey shorts contest in the very first "Tales" back in 1978."

Armistead Maupin also wrote the original novel and screenplay for "The Night Listener" movie starring Robin Williams, Toni Collette and Bobby Cannavale: