Tuesday, June 2, 7pm CST
Left Bank Books' Facebook Page
Left Bank Books welcomes Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award winner Carter Sickels, who will discuss his new book, The Prettiest Star, on Facebook Live at 7pm CST on June 2. Join us on our Facebook Page and order a copy of The Prettiest Star from Left Bank Books to support authors and independent bookstores!
EW's 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 - O Magazine's "31 LGBTQ Books That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020" - BookRiot's "Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of 2020" - Lambda Literary's "Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of May 2020" - Salon's "Best and boldest new must-read books for May" - BookPage's "19 can't-miss reads from independent publishers" - Garden & Gun's "Best Books of May" - Logo NewNowNext's "11 Queer Books We Can't Wait to Read This Spring"
A stunning novel about the bounds of family and redemption, shines light on an overlooked part of the AIDs epidemic when men returned to their rural communities to die, by Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award-winning author Carter Sickels.
Small-town Appalachia doesn't have a lot going for it, but it's where Brian is from, where his family is, and where he's chosen to return to die.
Set in 1986, a year after Rock Hudson's death brought the news of AIDS into living rooms and kitchens across America, Lambda Literary award-winning author Carter Sickels's second novel shines light on an overlooked part of the epidemic, those men who returned to the rural communities and families who'd rejected them.
Six short years after Brian Jackson moved to New York City in search of freedom and acceptance, AIDS has claimed his lover, his friends, and his future. With nothing left in New York but memories of death, Brian decides to write his mother a letter asking to come back to the place, and family, he was once so desperate to escape.
The Prettiest Star is told in a chorus of voices: Brian's mother Sharon; his fourteen-year-old sister, Jess, as she grapples with her brother's mysterious return; and the video diaries Brian makes to document his final summer.
This is an urgent story about the politics and fragility of the body, of sex and shame. Above all, Carter Sickels's stunning novel explores the bounds of family and redemption. It is written at the far reaches of love and understanding, centering on the moments where those two forces stretch toward each other and sometimes touch.
"From its opening sentences Carter Sickels' The Prettiest Star makes it clear that too many queer narratives have been kept out of sight. Here a man returns to the town of his southern Ohio childhood at a point when his own day-to-day survival is at stake. Love doesn't come in to save him, or the family and friends upended by his presence. "Nothing transforms, there is no magic," says one character, and while there's darkness in those words, their down to earth candor does a lot to suggest why this novel feels so touching, affecting, rebellious, and real."--Paul Lisicky, author of Later
"The Prettiest Star is a lyrical and compulsively readable novel about the intricate, tangled bonds of family and the way human beings can be both profoundly cruel and surprisingly wonderful. These characters are people we know, and they'll stay with me for a very long time. This deeply moving novel is much more than the story of one family dealing with the worst tragedy of their lives in a small Ohio town in 1986. It's the story of all of us--the story of America, then and now, how far we've come, and how far we still have to go." --Silas House, author of Southernmost
Carter Sickels is the author of the novel The Evening Hour. He is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award, and has been awarded scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, VCCA, and the MacDowell Colony. His essays and fiction have appeared in various publications, including Guernica, Bellevue Literary Review, and BuzzFeed, and he is the editor of Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships & Identity. Carter is Assistant Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, where he teaches in the Bluegrass Writers Studio Low-Residency MFA program. He lives in Lexington, KY.
All you need to do to participate is log in to your personal Facebook account, go to Left Bank Books' Facebook Page, "Like" the page, and wait for the livestream to begin on the page (you may need to refresh the page periodically until the stream begins).
