After
Posted on June 15, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
[SPOTLIGHT] After by Chuck Willman JMS Books Writer (and A&U columnist) Chuck Willman invites you into the world of committed partners Gabe and Chris, who have settled into the quiet routine of homelife in their bungalow. Both men have been swept into the regimen of working—Gabe at his counseling position at an HIV/AIDS center in [...]
My Life After Now
Posted on June 13, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
[BOOKS] My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi Sourcebooks Fire Reviewed by Sally Hessney Jessica Verdi’s debut novel My Life After Now is about a teenager who tests positive for HIV after a one-night stand. At the start of the young adult novel, it seems abundantly clear that sixteen-year-old Lucy Moore is a shoo-in for [...]
AIDS in the End Zone
Posted on May 20, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
AIDS in the End Zone Kendra Albright and Karen Gavigan, editors Sarah Petrulis, illustrator University of South Carolina Reviewed by Sally Hessney University of South Carolina library science professors Kendra Albright and Karen Gavigan collaborated with incarcerated youths at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice to produce a thirty-one-page graphic novel about HIV and [...]
The Valiant Ones
Posted on May 15, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
Poetry by Afzal Moolla The Valiant Ones they left so abruptly the valiant ones countless many known many more nameless the truest sons and singers husbands and poets lovers and wives daughters and farmers workers and sisters brothers and friends they left so abruptly with quiet pride steely courage gentle dignity they left so abruptly [...]
Two Poems
Posted on April 17, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
Two Poems by Melissa Fry Beasley To My Beloved Aunt and Friend Something mysterious that came out of nowhere wouldn’t leave us alone, this thing we would not believe in. You cannot pass through such things without pause. We watched as you went dying and singing, your strength exhausted by the unrelenting struggle. Wearing grace [...]
Missing
Posted on April 10, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
[Books] Missing by Drake Braxton Seventh Window Publications Reviewed by Alina Oswald Award-winning photographer and long-term AIDS survivor Kurt Weston [A&U, November 2005] once shared his belief that any extreme situation—be that a diagnosis with a life-threatening disease like AIDS or cancer, or surviving a natural (or man-made) disaster—can bring out the best or the [...]
Holding Breath
Posted on March 20, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
An excerpt from Holding Breath: A Memoir of AIDS’ Wildfire Days by Nancy Bevilaqua In his last few weeks, David rarely lay down anymore. At night, he would sit up for hours, staring at the wall, or at the floor, often with that strange little smile on his lips, as if he was being told [...]
Songs for the New Depression
Posted on March 3, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
Songs for the New Depression by Kergan Edwards-Stout Circumspect Press Reviewed by Larry Buhl If you know Songs for the New Depression is also the title of a Bette Midler album from the 1970s, you’ll have a hint about the tone of this debut novel by Kergan Edwards-Stout. Like the Divine Miss M, it’s funny, [...]
When the Right One Comes Along
Posted on February 24, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
When the Right One Comes Along by Paul Alan Fahey JMS Books Reviewed by Chuck Willman I love a good romantic tale that also brings you back to days gone by; allowing you to reminisce and recall that special someone (or those special people) that have helped to mold the way you see love, and love [...]
Keeping Watch
Posted on February 17, 2013 by A&U in Positively Literary
Keeping Watch (for my own, own, brother) All afternoon I stare at your blood sucked into that glass tube, a red slash on the white wall. AIDS is invisible Doc said “Coma… not here anymore.” He was wrong. I shall wait. Touching you, singing to you, never letting go of your hand, I find you [...]
