Crystal Rasmussen

Tom Rasmussen

A cocktail-spitting, norm-pinching dive into everyday queer life in the twenty-first century—a hilarious, moving memoir Life’s a drag . . . Why not be a queen? When you peel off the sequins and lashes, wipe away the lipstick and mascara, open your heart and your eyes—what does the life of a drag queen really look like? Crystal (and Tom) Rasmussen tell all in this outrageous, raunchy, moving, naked (in more ways than one) memoir about life on and off the stage. Born into a loving working-class family in northern England, Crystal finds her way to London, to a coveted, soul-crushing job in New York fashion, and back again. Searching for good sex, good stories, and “the one,” she shags men of all kinds from all sorts of platforms, sells cider to tourists, and performs with her college drag band, DENIM. She learns about true love from her mum and falls in love with her best friend. Charting her day-to-day adventures over the course of a year, we encounter tucks, twists, and unfiltered sexy bits, heinous overspending, body shame and self-love, and endless nights sprinting from snag to snafu in a full face of makeup. In these pages the previously unspeakable becomes the everyday and the celebrated, and Crystal makes sure we feel every single thing along the way. A full-hearted, full-throated, full-disclosure portrayal of the queer experience that makes you laugh and cry and wish for understanding, Diary of a Drag Queen is a dazzling, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life.

Diary of a Drag Queen

“This book changed my life. Tom Rasmussen’s honesty, vulnerability, and fearlessness jump out of every page and every word. It is the queer bible I’ve always needed.” —Sam Smith, singer and songwriter In these pages, find glamour and gaffes on and off the stage, clarifying snippets of queer theory, terrifyingly selfish bosses, sex, quick sex, KFC binges, group sex, the kind of honesty that banishes shame, glimmers of hope, blazes of ambition, tender sex, mad dashes in last night's heels plus a full face of make-up, and a rom-com love story for the ages. This is where the unspeakable becomes the celebrated. This is the diary of a drag queen—one dazzling, hilarious, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life. "I hope people like me will read this and feel seen and loved by it. I hope people who aren't like me will enjoy it, laugh with it, learn from it. And I hope people who don't like me will file lawsuits just so I can wear my brand-new leopard-print skirt suit and bust their asses in court." —Crystal Rasmussen, in Refinery29

Richard Williams

Can you build your ideal queen? Select fabulous dresses, wigs and shoes? Is she chunky yet funky or a 7ft glamazon? Including stickers and colouring, a Drag Name calculator and fabulous facts, quirky quotes and stunning figures about all things drag. Drag has always influenced mainstream pop culture, but because of its underground roots, many aspects bled through into popular, mainstream culture without credit. Things have improved for this next generation of young queens, RuPaul's Drag Race has taken drag culture beyond its radical roots. Originally a staple of gay bars drag has now extended from its LGBTQ fan base into the mainstream. Regularly cited as the smartest reality show on TV, the latest season moved to VH1 in the US and Netflix in the UK (and taking 8 Emmy nominations/3 wins for the latest series) drag has never been bigger or more popular. Fun, fabulous, funny gift book.

Crystal Rasmussen

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