Paul Lisicky

A stunning portrait of community, identity, and sexuality by the critically acclaimed author of The Narrow Door When Paul Lisicky arrived in Provincetown in the early 1990s, he was leaving behind a history of family trauma to live in a place outside of time, known for its values of inclusion, acceptance, and art. In this idyllic haven, Lisicky searches for love and connection and comes into his own as he finds a sense of belonging. At the same time, the center of this community is consumed by the AIDS crisis, and the very structure of town life is being rewired out of necessity: What might this utopia look like during a time of dystopia? Later dramatizes a spectacular yet ravaged place and a unique era when more fully becoming one’s self collided with the realization that ongoingness couldn’t be taken for granted, and staying alive from moment to moment exacted absolute attention. Following the success of his acclaimed memoir, The Narrow Door, Lisicky fearlessly explores the body, queerness, love, illness, community, and belonging in this masterful, ingenious new book.

My Life at the Edge of the World

Later

"In The Narrow Door, Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships, one with a woman novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul's romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise's cancer diagnosis and Paul's impending breakup. Lisicky's compassionate heart and resilience seem all the stronger in the face of such searing losses. His survival--hard-won, unsentimental, authentic--proves that in turning toward loss, we embrace life."--Page [4] of cover.

a memoir of friendship

The narrow door

Susan Orlean

Mark Vonnegut

Kim Barnes

M. J. Fievre

M. Evelina Galang

Jan Becker

Lori Jakiela

Dan Wakefield

Tabitha Blankenbiller

Elizabeth Dalton

Rebecca Cook

Elmaz Abinader

Christine Butterworth-McDermott

Andrea Askowitz

Lisbeth Davidow

Dinty Moore

Russell Reece

Sliver of Stone magazine presents its first volume of collected nonfiction. From the mouth of a Seattle whale to a Nordstrom's swimsuit department, from an Idaho fundamentalist church to a fathomless Florida lake, the fifteen stories in ALL THAT GLITTERS recount lives and identities unsettled by impending doom. Also included are four remarkable interviews with award-winning nonfiction writers, including Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin."Fresh, fierce, and enlightening, All That Glitters is a find. The talented nonfiction writers in this collection invite us along on the complicated, sometimes scary, but irresistible pursuit of truth." (Lynne Barrett, author of Magpies and The Secret Names of Women)

A Sliver of Stone Nonfiction Anthology

All That Glitters

Estranged from his parents and older brother at the age of seventeen, Evan moves in with forty-one-year-old William and begins a disastrous series of attempts to make a new home for himself, a situation that culminates in his eventual choice between desire and family. By the author of Famous Builder. Reprint.

Lawnboy

Paul Lisicky remembers being not much like other boys his age, but rather the awkward thirteen-year-old with "arms thick as drinking straws," who composes tunes in his head that he might later send to Folk Mass Today or to the producers of The Partridge Family. Born into a family whose incremental success bumps them up a notch from their immigrant upbringing and into suburban America, Paul puts his creative, undaunted energy into drawing intricate housing development plans and writing liturgical music. In the lively, loving essays contained in Famous Builder, Lisicky explores the constant impulse to rebuild the self. With gracious, thoughtful candor and pitch-perfect humor, he explores the very personal realms of childhood dreams and ambitions, adolescent sexual awakenings, and adult realities.

Famous Builder

Short--some under a page--stories that explore memory, gay coming-of-age, and the inner life

Unbuilt Projects

Jonathan Lethem

Steve Almond

Mary Ruefle

Edward Carey

Daniel Wallace

Caitlin Horrocks

Matthew Zapruder

Dean Young

Rikki Ducornet

V. V. Ganeshananthan

Donald Revell

Tomaz Salamun

John Hilgart

Literary fiction with elements of the fantastic, the futuristic, the surreal, and the strange.

Unstuck

"Lawnboy is, quite simply, the real thing, a novel of mystery and great beauty." -Michael Cunningham They all thought I was good-natured, upright and responsible, generous, affectionate, and kind, and of course I could be those things, but there was much more to me than that, a side that unnerved even myself, and this side included William. Seventeen-year-old Evan's adventure begins with mowing a neighbor's lawn, a summer job that leads him into an unpredictable world of desire and betrayal. Estranged from his parents and his older brother, he moves in with forty-one-year-old William and begins a disastrous series of attempts to make a new home. Must he make a choice between his family and desire? First published to wide acclaim in 1999, Lawnboy by Paul Lisicky wanders the lush and tumultuous landscape of the early 1990s, its south Florida setting as fertile and troubling as Evan's inner life.

In The Narrow Door, Paul Lisicky creates a compelling collage of scenes and images drawn from two long-term relationships, one with a woman novelist and the other with his ex-husband, a poet. The contours of these relationships shift constantly. Denise and Paul, stretched by the demands of their writing lives, drift apart, and Paul's romance begins to falter. And the world around them is frail: environmental catastrophes like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, and local disturbances make an unsettling backdrop to the pressing concerns of Denise's cancer diagnosis and Paul's impending breakup. Lisicky's compassionate heart and resilience seem all the stronger in the face of such searing losses. His survival--hard-won, unsentimental, authentic--proves that in turning toward loss, we embrace life.

A Memoir of Friendship

The Narrow Door

Paul Lisicky

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