The August 2009 issue of True Tales: An Erotic E-zine of Masculinity and Power features recommendations of new gay fiction, nonfiction, and art in the Leathermen section. (And no, we haven't forgotten about the promised Prisoners issue. It's been bumped up to next year.)

david stein, whose Tryout at the Bondage Club has proved to be one of True ( Read more... )

EDITORIAL: Hidden in the Dark: Leather Bars, Disabilities, and the Life and Death of Erotic Photography. Facing the danger that we may be thrust back into the erotic closet.
I'd been reading about gay leather for three months when I first visited a leather bar. I didn't expect to be surprised by the obvious.

FEATURE: Leather and Disabilities: A Links Directory. Links related to the contributions to this issue.

FICTION: Other Bodies. By Michael Agreve. The erotic secret that gay men keep from each other, brought out into the open.
For years he sat in his wheelchair, his right hand supplying the closet thing he would ever come to a love life. Then, one day, somebody looked at him. Somebody looked at him real strange.
NONFICTION: Historical Note to "Other ( Read more... )

POETRY: The Deformity Lover. By Felice Picano. A man searches for what others pass over.
For him a chiselled profile is fine, but handsomer with a speech defect.
NONFICTION: Historical Note to "The Deformity Lover". By Felice Picano.

NONFICTION: Maimed Beauty. By Mark I. Chester. What can you do when you stand out from the crowd? . . . An updated version of the author's erotic narrative.
Others stand out no matter what they do. Brilliant flames against a darkened sky. It's not a matter of desire. They simply have no choice.

NONFICTION: Drummer Readers on the Eroticism of Disabled Men. The "Maimed Beauty" issue prompted a "torrent of letters," according to the Drummer staff. Here are excerpts from the letters.
"Even [among leathermen], there often exists a belief that there is some sort of line you do not cross."

NONFICTION: How to Find Love with a Fetishist. Bob Guter interviews Alan Sable. The editor of BENT: A Journal for CripGay Voices talks to psychotherapist Alan Sable about the difficult dynamic between men who desire disabled men and the objects of their desire.
"Now here is where the big question, the startling question, arises: Is it possible that ( Read more... )