It's hard introducing Bruce Benderson.

The prolific author - whose most recent work, The Romanian, details his adventures with a younger sex worker in Romania and whose classic novel, User explores the world of drug-addicts and hustlers - has been published in more magazines than we can count, traveled all over the world, translates French texts like a pro (because he is) and has become one of the biggest names in media, Queer or otherwise.

How, then, can we provide words sufficient enough for such a potent addition to The Power Issue? Answer: we can't. Instead, we'll provided an email correspondence between our own Andrew Belonsky and Mr. Benderson, who asked that we not edit his answers. So, we haven't.

Aside from some spelling errors and more pressing grammatical issues, the words that follow have not been altered in any way. They're in the exact order in which they were posed and are followed by Benderson's precise responses. We've even included the bit where Benderson gets a bit cranky with one of Belonsky's inarticulate inquiries. (Now that's power.)

After the jump, see what Benderson has to say about Catholic and Protestant sexual sensibilities, gay liberation's unforeseen aftermath, the role of inequalities in desire, his new book, Pacific Agony and so much more we're finger-tied just thinking about it!

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As you know, Infamous - that other movie about Truman Capote - opens today. As it served as the inspiration for our Words on Homo Words series, we thought it appropriate to post this trailer.

Give it a twirl, form an opinion, and decide whether or not you'll see it.

Continuing our week long look at bookish homos, their works, and their legacies, we'd like to take a look at William S. Burroughs Jr III, son of the famed gay writer of the same, intentionally more original, name. While Burroughs Jr. himself wasn't gay, he's garnered a gay following as much for Beat-inspired prose and keen sense of emotional turmoil, as for his famous father, writer of Junky and Naked Lunch.

Born in 1947 under the growing shadow of his famously drug-addicted father, Burroughs proved early on that his mind rivaled his father's, but struggled with his identity and role in the world. Burroughs already complicated life got even more hectic after his father shot and killed his mother, Joan, in a high-stakes aiming contest.

Following Joan's death, Burroughs went to live with his grand parents, with whom he stayed for nearly a decade before going to live with his father in Tangiers, Morocco. The father-son reunion was short-lived, however, and the younger Burroughs soon flew back to his home in America.

At fifteen, Burroughs took a page from his father's book, so to speak, by shooting his friend in the neck, an accident that led to his stay in a mental hospital. Like so many things in his life, the stay was cursory and Burroughs again returned to Palm Beach.

With his father abroad and his mother dead, and dealing with more mental turmoil than any child should ever have to confront, Burroughs took up drugs, taking his father's lead in stealing prescription pads from hospitals. Not surprisingly, Burroughs landed in legal trouble and got trucked to a rehab facility.

As he got his life on track, Burroughs met and married Karen Perry, but the marriage broke a few years later under the weight of Burroughs' alcoholism. Despite a healthy career, Burroughs never quite escaped the alienation that plagued him his entire life.

After a liver transplant in 1976, doctors and friends urged Burroughs to get his act together, but Burroughs either refused or simply couldn't heed their warnings. Within five years, he'd be dead of liver failure.

After the jump, enjoy an excerpt from the forthcoming, Cursed From Birth: The Short, Unhappy Life of William S. Burroughs Jr, edited by David Ohle to be published by Soft Skull Press November 1st.

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To celebrate this weekend's premiere of the BBC's adaptation of The Line of Beauty on Logo, our friends over at AfterElton have interviewed Dan Stevens, the dreamy actor who plays the central character, Nick Guest.

Discussing the generational divide over gay "issues", Guest's woeful love life, and England in the 1980s. Of Guest, Stevens (pictured, in character) says:

...I did sympathize with Nick's condition of just wanting to be completely absorbed and consumed by this fantasy world that he's encountered. A world that initially he feels embodies all of his aesthetic ideals It's beautiful, the way the story is constructed, in that this world slowly crumbles, and is left ringing quite hollow. And a lot of people's memories of the '80s were of quite a hollow, superficial decade. I don't think that's necessarily true, but it's certainly an interesting facet of the decade, that money and power had all sorts of strange effects on the way people interacted and behaved.

We guarantee you'll love it, or your money back. (Tricky, huh, because there's no money involved!)

It's Friday, darlings, which means you've no doubt got a weekend brimming with exciting activities, parties, orgies, and the rest. We suspect that by Sunday you'll have settled into a nice, post-debauchery depression, which means you'll probably want to sit and chill in front of the good ol' boob tube. Well, lucky for you Logo will be airing the first part the BBC adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's award winning gay-themed novel, The Line of Beauty.

We first read Hollinghurst's perceptive, evocative prose at a well-versed friend's recommendation. And thank goodness, because we never would have met Nick Guest: the central gay character around which an arresting, ravishing story of Thatcher's London in the 1980s unfolds.

Appropriately named, Guest (played by Dan Stevens in the adaptation) finds himself an emigre in a glamorous - yet ultimately hollow - world populated by politicians, actors, and heirs. We won't give away too much of the story, but if you're a bibliophile you'll definitely want to check it out.

If you're totally boorish, well, then you should really do something about that.

More info, after the jump, homie.

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In celebration of gay history month and our week long look at queer wordage, we'd like to take a moment to mention Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca.

Though his brief life was cut short at the start of the Spanish Civil War, Garcia Lorca made a definite impact on the country's art circles. Friends with artist Salvadore Dali and director Gregorio Martinez Sierra, who gave him his first break as a playwright. From there, Garcia Lorca build a successful career as a master story teller.

Unfortunately, Garcia Lorca also suffered from a deep depression from the cognitive dissonance surrounding his homosexuality. An unrequited love affair with sculptor Emilio Aladren only complicated matters.

As he succumbed to depression, Garcia Lorca lost a number of his friends, but kept himself busy by studying at Columbia University in New York City. Upon his return to Spain, Garcia Lorca directed a university theater company. From Madrid he headed to Granada, where he was arrested and subsequently executed by the fascist government.

Read one of Garcia Lorca's poems, "Ditty of First Desire."

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As part of our week-long Words on Homo Words series, here's a piece of fiction from a reader.

He insists he wrote it especially for us, but we doubt the validity of said claim. Why? Well, because we're cynical assholes, of course.

He'd rather not be identified, so we can only assume he's either in the closet or painfully shy. He also requested we not sully his wordage with images. Even if this fag's more demanding than Mariah, we'll post his story, "International Exchange," anyway.

Not only do we think it's a good read, but it involves a Palestinian hooker who aspires to be a writer.

Funny, we got our first gig sucking dick, too.

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We hope you've had a chance to read the first part of Matt Sussman's exploration of The Scarlet Pansy. If not, catch up so you can enjoy part two, buster!

After first discovering this vintage gay text, our hero couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. With a little research and a lot of gumption, he delved into a world of literary hot-rodding, government regulations, and secret dealings, all of which led him to the mysterious Dr. Hugh Hagius.

Picking up where part one ended, we find our hero about to shed some light on Hagius, discover The Scarlet Pansy's origins, the real author's identity, and the aftermath of its publication. As it all comes together, Sussman reaches some eye-opening conclusions.

Earlier: Words on Homo Words: The Scarlet Pansy

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Just because it's National Coming Out Day doesn't mean we've forgotten about our week-long celebration of queer literature. In this installment of Words on Homo Words, freelance writer Matt Sussman details the mystery behind one of the first gay books, The Scarlet Pansy.

While on the surface the tale seems like an erotic coming out tale of sorts, Sussman finds there's an even bigger story lurking between the covers. Full of lies, criminals, and intrigue, this story's so big we had to break it into two parts.

Enjoy part one, after the jump...

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Sure, he may not be gay, nor is he a writer, but we thought it'd be fun to feature Thomas Allen in conjunction with our coverage of Marijane Meaker.

A photographer based in Michigan, Allen's made a career of tearing other people's work apart. Literally. Armed with an X-acto knife, a stack of old paperbacks, and a camera, Allen works, as he says, to create new worlds. In his artist's statement, he writes:
"I've always been fascinated by pop-up books, dioramas, 3-D glasses and the View Master for they all have the ability to picture false realities." Fitting, then, that he should use pieces of fiction in order to create new worlds of his own.

As old paperbacks form the back bone of his work, much of Allen's work features idyllic images of masculinity - images that, in many ways, no longer fly in today's society, or, at least, not as high: adding another layer to his so-called false realities.

Check out more of Allen's work after the jump. Then, head on over Foley Gallery for more on his background, his artistic vision, and about his upcoming show: "Posse," which revolves around cowboys. Yee-haw!

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Yesterday, we inaugurated our week-long literary special with a look Jean Genet, the French writer who may a career out of his explorations into the life and mind of the criminal. Today we take a look at a lesbian author whose career may not be as lauded, but also wrote about crime and deserves praise none-the-less: Marijane Meaker.

You may never have heard of Meaker, but chances are you've read one of her books. Starting her career in 1951 with a short-story under the pseudonym ME Kerr, Meaker's written under myriad names: Mary James, ME Kerr, Ann Aldrich, and Vin Packer.

It is with this last nom de plume that we're most interested. As Packer, Meaker published no less that sixteen books. Though she takes offense at the word pulp, it's perhaps the most accessible term for an outsider to understand the subjects of these paper backs - referred to as "pulp" because of the paper on which they were printed. Exploring the underbelly of American society. Often ripping her narrative topics "straight from the headlines", Meaker used the Packer name to write about revenge, murder, and, of course, sex.

One of her most famous books, The Evil Friendship, which she penned under the Packer name, explored a matricide case from Australia in which two young girls murdered the mother who planned to separate them. One of the young killers would grow up to become Anne Perry, the mystery writer. The story of the case, meanwhile, got adapted into the movie, Beautiful Creatures starring Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch.

Though Meaker retired the Packer name in 1966 to go on to write dozens of other books, many of them for children, you don't have to go digging through a dusty book bin, because mystery publisher, Stark House Press, has taken a few of the best and republished them for a whole new generation of crime loving homos.

Check Out Meaker's website: M.E. Kerr
Then haul it over to Stark House Press to find out how you can get down with her older work: Stark House Press

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In honor of the Friday opening that other movie about Truman Capote, Infamous, starring a bevy of Hollywood greats (including Daniel Craig and Toby Jones, who share a steamy prison kiss), we've decided to dedicate this week to gay authors, stories, and other cerebral endeavors (hence our Morning Goods selection).

What better way to start off our week-long literary extravaganza than by concomitantly celebrating gay history month with a look at the French author, Jean Genet? One answer: none. While there are certainly plenty of other notable, historic gay writers, Genet's work encompasses the radical, naughty, and lyrical elements we appreciate in fiction.

Born in Paris in 1910, the son of a young hooker who put him up for adoption, Genet entered an adversarial world in which his bastard status, his class, and his homosexuality all worked against him. Yet, by the end of his life he had gained international acclaim – not to mention notoriety – for his provocative poems, plays, and prose.

Though given what has been described as a nurturing home with a carpenter and his family, Genet found himself powerless against the allure of a criminal life, a life from which he drew as much eroticism as inspiration. It was during a prison stint that Genet wrote his first poem, “Le condamné à mort,” which our rudimentary French translates as "The Condemned To Death".

From then on, Genet set out to forge a literary career, contacting the legendary novelist and filmmaker, Jean Cocteau for a little occupational assistance. Cocteau and his famous friends, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, would become life-long champions, even lending their influence to help Genet avoid life imprisonment for a growing list of crimes.

While the French government may have once known him as a petty thief, Genet’s name would soon be known the world over as one of the most unapologetic, stimulating, and incendiary gay writers in history. By 1949, he had written five novels, among them: Our Lady of the Flowers, The Thief’s Journal, and The Miracle of The Rose. During the 1950s and 60s, as his career flourished in France, Americans were denied his sexual explicit works. Still, he managed to find a following in The States, most notably with The Black Panthers who, despite Genet’s homosexuality, were so impressed by his examinations of social marginalization, invited him to the US as an inspiration to their liberation movement.

During this period, Genet became a fierce political activist, calling for the end of racism, sexism, and homophobia. His resolute sense of social justice became a staple of his work and life until his death in Paris in 1986.

After the jump, we’ve provided an excerpt from The Thief’s Journal: Genet’s 1949 novel based on his experiences as a vagabond bandit prostitute in Europe. These first few pages offer an unparalleled view into the mind of a man for whom criminality could not be estranged from the erotic. Do yourself a favor and give it a little read.

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