The American Civil War still threatens to tear the nation in twain. Private Ian Campbell betrayed his company and his duty because he fell in love with a handsome Yankee prisoner-of-war, Drew Conrad. Both men are on the run, desperate to reach Campbell's family home in West Virginia, which may have escaped the conflict unscathed and may offer them both peace and salvation from the cruelties and hatreds heightened by the war.But the trek is dangerous. Both men are wounded, deserters...

Not every gay teen yearns for fashion and popular culture. Some boys are pure country folk and like the feel of flannel and the smell of the farm. And they're neither lithe nor muscle-bound but stocky boys, the ones who develop hairy chests, arms, and faces years earlier than their peers. One such seventeen year old is Travis Ferrell, shy among most of the other kids at school but proud of his West Virginia roots. He has not yet admitted his passion for handsome guys—and his idea of what h...

Brice Brown sings about loyalty and broken hearts, the earnestness of being a proud Southerner, yet his popular country music lyrics are misdirection because Brice has kept hidden his attraction to men for all his life. But when a former lover--and band member--goes to the press with the truth, Brice finds himself sick of all the lies and returning to the sanctuary of his West Virginian hometown. The neighbors who used to be proud of the "local boy made good" turn on him. His record label ...

A Gay man chronicles his relationship to his native Appalachian culture and society.Appalachians are known for their love of place, yet many LGBTQ+ people from the mountains flee to urban areas in search of community and broader acceptance. Jeff Mann tells his story as one who left and then returned, who insists on claiming and celebrating both regional and sexual identities.In memoir and poetry, Mann describes his life as an openly gay man who has remained ...

The autobiographical essays in Edge offer insight into the passions of acclaimed author Jeff Mann. These memories, insightful as they are endearing, range from his boyhood obsession with the gothic allure of Dark Shadows, to the doubt and pain of being a Southerner and so at the edge of the gay community, and the appeal of leather bars and bear culture.Mann also visits many gay meccas in several of these essays—the resorts of Key West, Provincetown, and Rehoboth Beach, along with s...

What will eternity be like?You are an eternal being created by God to enjoy Him and the rest of His creation forever. God doesn't want you guessing what your eternal future will be like; He has recorded the important details about eternity in the Bible so that you can make informed decisions in this life that will benefit you forever.From beginning to end, the Bible tells one unfolding story of God's eternal plans for people and the earth. Para...

"From the first page, Purgatory grabs you by the heart and won't let go. Scary, touching, visceral. It's a journey through war and love you won't easily forget."—Erastes, author of Mere Mortals"The bonds of war are most vivid in Jeff Mann's powerful Purgatory as Reb and Yank suffer more personal skirmishes than large scale battles. Mann's powerful and evocative prose gives us the exhausted courage of the Civil War's late stages while descending into the brutality man imposes on his...

The TRP Southern Poetry Breakthrough Series: West VirginiaIn questioning the boundaries between the world and oneself, Scrape the Velvet from Your Antlers unflinchingly explores the dark eddies of coming of age and coming out. Kelly McQuain’s poems are far roaming in setting and far ranging in style, depicting the richness of a rural West Virginia upbringing as well as contemporary adulthood in the big city and abroad. Glints of humor and glimpses of patho...

DON'T SETTLE FOR A CHRISTIAN LIFE THAT IS VOID OF PASSION!The salvation experience does not introduce us to a religion; it baptizes us into a passionate relationship with God! Having a heart that is alive and burning with love for God is every believer's inheritance in Christ. And having a bride passionately in love with Him is part of Jesus' inheritance in the saints. Relentless Passion calls Christians to pursue passion in their relationship wit...

A much lauded essayist and poet, Jeff Mann writes of the passion and pain of being a Southern gentleman who happens to be invested in many worlds: the hungers of gay Bear culture; the propensities of leather and bondage; the frustrations of academia; and the perspectives of an Appalachian who has traveled the world. Binding the God is his second collection of essays. This volume includes essays previously published in Arts and Letters, Second Person Queer, Callaloo, Now and Then, White Cra...

This collection, the first of its kind, gathers original and previously published fiction and poetry from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from Appalachia. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to family and the mountain landscape, yet balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. This collection confronts the problematic and complex intersections of place, family, sexuality, gender, and rel...

Home of the first settlement in the United States and known as Old Dominion and The Mother of Presidents, the state of Virginia’s artistic output proves among the most fecund in the nation, evidenced in this ninth volume of The Southern Poetry Anthology. This collection includes well-known, established, and celebrated poets such as Charles Wright, Claudia Emerson, Gregory Orr, Ellen Bryant Voigt, R. T. Smith, Forrest Gander, and Rita Dove, and the editors have dedicated equal focu...