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Economies of Gender: Masculinity, "Mail Order Brides," and Women's Labor offers a provocative exploration of the international dating industry, challenging simplistic narratives of human trafficking and scams while shedding light on the economic dynamics of gender. Through twelve years of fieldwork, the book delves into the motivations and experiences of men who seek relationships abroad, driven by dissatisfaction with Western women who, they believe, no longer embody traditional femininity. By examining romantic tourism hotspots such as Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines, Economies of Gender reveals how these international settings serve as "intimate frontiers," where men seek to extract femininity capital and bolster their status. It illuminates the often-unseen economic underpinnings of relationships and questions how global gender dynamics shape desires, fantasies, and intimate markets. Through its compelling analysis, the book broadens the conversation on gender, power, and the commodification of intimacy in a globalized world.

How far would you go to have real freedom? To have true autonomy of both mind and body? The narrator of Failure to Comply wants self-determination at all costs, and they want you to know what it did, in fact, cost them. Their story is just a little hard to convey, as they're not entirely sure where, or even when, they are.

Set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future, this literary sci-fi novel presents a world where humans have been unshackled from disease and their basest desires thanks to the genetic engineering and societal supervision of RSCH—an inscrutable entity with unimaginable power (including the ability to literally shape reality). In RSCH's march toward perfecting the species, however, there are "deviants" (including LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities) who are fighting for a different vision of humanity. But where can they find hope when horror abounds, projected into their own bodies and minds by RSCH?

Book 2 of the Fall Trilogy

Kee and Marcus have been playing a game of emotional cat and mouse and have finally surrendered to their desires. After a passionate night together, they find themselves falling for each other. However, their newfound happiness is abruptly shattered when Marcus disappears without a word.

Confused and hurt, Kee wonders why Marcus would leave her without any explanation or information about his whereabouts. Little does she know, he has embarked on a dangerous mission.

As Marcus plunges into the treacherous world of vengeance, he faces numerous obstacles and life-threatening situations. He relies on his cunning, physical prowess, and unwavering determination to navigate the murky waters of retribution.

Meanwhile, Kee struggles with her conflicting emotions—torn between worrying for Marcus’s safety and feeling betrayed by his sudden departure. She embarks on her own journey of self-discovery as she seeks answers about Marcus’s motives and contemplates the nature of their relationship.

Will Marcus survive the perils he faces along his path of revenge? Will he find redemption and make it back to Kee? And can Kee find it in her heart to forgive him for leaving her in the dark?

You Can Go Home Again, But Will You Survive It?

When Atlanta media executive Johnny Ray Scott returns to his central South Carolina hometown to settle his estranged grandmother’s estate, he encounters Gill Yarborough, a former classmate who took little notice of him in high school. Sixteen years later, the two men discover a powerful mutual attraction as Johnny Ray draws Gill into searching for the identities of three men who once abducted and assaulted him. “Beware of small towns with big secrets,” Johnny Ray’s therapist advises, a warning he realizes too late he should have heeded.

Note to Potential Purchasers/Readers:
Favored Son is a story of surviving male sexual assault and subsequent recovery. Please be advised if you are sensitive to these topics.

"Favored Son features characters that feel incredibly real and have well-developed back stories that contribute to the overall plot. The sense of community in the book and what that meant to the different characters was really well done. Overall, the character development is well crafted." - Judge, 12th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-book Awards

Like the holiday staple, this novel is topped with cherries, filled with nuts and fruit, and doused with a healthy dose of spirits. The ghost from Christmas past in this tale is no Marley; he is an incubus freed from hell and chained to a fruitcake that is continually regifted, causing much havoc in the small Southern town of Dixon. This demon, accidentally released, is on the run from an old domestic housekeeper/voodoo root doctor, the eccentric family she nurtured and raised, and a slew of angelic forces, all determined to send him back to hell from whence he came.

In the 1990s, a South Carolina town built its first botanical garden. For a small town, that was big news. For a small Southern town, that it was led by two gay men and a feminist was astounding.

Their lives and plant choices raised eyebrows as the Garden became a national showcase for new styles, even earning recognition on HGTV's "Secrets of Great Gardens."

One of the young men, Jenks Farmer, had previously left the conservative South but returned with a mission: to challenge traditional notions of garden beauty, which clung to formality and associated certain plants with stigmas of poverty and race.

These Garden Disruptors challenged genteel social norms of race, homophobia, and sexism while shoveling compost, searching for plants, and planting flowers. The crew of creative misfits built a garden that attracts millions of people today.

In this novel-like true story, Jenks Farmer's soulful voice shares the story of a mismatched crew of real, dirty-handed gardeners who not only planted the garden but set its mission.

Through these characters, Jenks also recounts the history of elitist horticulture, of sexual and racial discrimination in gardens, and of how social norms changed drastically in the South during the period of garden buildings.

By:  Marni Brown, Baker A. Rogers, & Martha Caldwell, 2022, Paperback

Create a more gender-inclusive climate in your classroom and school. This important book breaks down issues of gender and sexuality at the individual, interactional, and institutional level and shows how you can cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance and belonging for all students.　

You’ll learn key concepts and terms educators need to know to support students, how gender and sexuality identities develop and influence mental health, why we should take an intersectional approach with students, and the importance of creating psychological safety in the classroom. You’ll also gain practical suggestions on how to disrupt unconscious bias, represent diverse voices, counteract microaggressions, use gender-neutral language and preferred pronouns, address gender bullying, provide safe zones, and craft inclusive school statements. Each chapter contains examples, anecdotes from teachers and students, best practices, and resources to help you along the way.

Appropriate for educators of all grade levels, this book’s clear, helpful advice will help you ensure that your students feel visible, affirmed, and safe, so they can thrive in school and beyond.

Evelyn Berry's debut poetry collection, Grief Slut, is an examination of the queer lineage of pleasure, grief, and resilience in the American South.Berry offers a portrait of a girl living through boyhood and grappling with the violence of nostalgia in poems that blend high art, archival slivers, and Taco Bell. This collection invites us into a landscape home to sloppy kissers, swamp suitors, scrappy "limbwrecked boys," and drag queens drenched in glitter sweat, where "each day is trespass" and queer youth fight to "hear one another breathe just a little while longer."

By: Sarah Macklin (Author), 2024, Paperback

War threatens to consume the Egan empire. Emperor Bakari marches his army northward to Wiluru, ready to make the rebelling kingdom come to heel and bring his traitorous second wife back to her proper place. His will, his commands are to be followed without question and Wiluru will burn for their disobedience. Far to the South, the city-state of Nsongo struggles to choose a new Great Dara before the title is stolen by one of its sister cities with more influence. High Priest Erenemo feels it should be him who ascends to the golden stool and throw out the Egan occupiers. However, his son may be his biggest obstacle. Conflict even brews in the capital of Metkara as the emperor's first wife and his brother the chancellor struggle over who will run the empire is Bakari's absence. Uprisings are starting up in the western hold of the empire, adding to the chancellor's already long list of concerns. But an unlikely ally is sent to him who may set him on the path to reforging the Egan hold on its empire. In the midst of it all, other forces may be at play, forces of a divine nature that may see opposing paths for the future of this land. There is more at stake in this war than even its players understand.

The morning that I read Mahmoud Khalil had been arrested, I wrote a short meditation on a postcard. I had written postcard poems before, drawn to the brevity and the link between the poem and the image. I asked him what he needed for the journey. I dropped the card in the mail to a friend. But the stories kept coming. My morning meditations, contained by the small message space of the postcard, began to take into their ambit not just the deportation regime but the administration’s broader attacks on history, truth, law, democratic norms—and in the face of such fears, my own mortality. What kind of disaster did I think was coming?

I asked him what he needed

for the journey. He said,

Write down what you saw.

Maybe, someday, the world

will want to know.

Along with poems, the book has postcard reproductions in full color.

Sometimes, you just pick your poison and pray

Stay the hell out of the swamp - the backwater town of Lower Congaree recites it like an eleventh commandment. But when exotic dancer Emmy Joiner sneaks under the dark tree-canopy behind her family trailer, she meets mysterious, tattooed Zara, the first girl she dares to kiss.

But the small-town South hates a woman who dares to dance instead of plucking chickens for minimum wage, and as Emmy's life falls apart, her relationship with Zara grows more tangled and bizarre. Zara's offering something beautiful. But while Emmy's slowly strangling, its price may be more than she's willing to pay.

Shifting between the green-bright cypress cathedral and the dreamland of a dance club, Broadbent's unforgettably-voiced debut confronts the brutal realities of poverty in the South, with a sapphic tale both sultry and sinister, gritty and gothic.

By Baker A. Rogers, 2021, Paperback

While drag subcultures have gained mainstream media attention in recent years, the main focus has been on female impersonators. Equally lively, however, is the community of drag kings: cis women, trans men, and non-binary people who perform exaggerated masculine personas onstage under such names as Adonis Black, Papi Chulo, and Oliver Clothesoff.  
 
King of Hearts shows how drag king performers are thriving in an unlikely location: Southern Bible Belt states like Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. Based on observations and interviews with sixty Southern drag kings, this study reveals how they are challenging the region’s gender norms while creating a unique community with its own distinctive Southern flair. Reflecting the region’s racial diversity, it profiles not only white drag kings, but also those who are African American, multiracial, and Hispanic. 
 
Queer scholar Baker A. Rogers—who has also performed as drag king Macon Love—takes you on an insider’s tour of Southern drag king culture, exploring its history, the communal bonds that unite it, and the controversies that have divided it. King of Hearts offers a groundbreaking look at a subculture that presents a subversion of gender norms while also providing a vital lifeline for non-gender-conforming Southerners.

In "Love and Other Forms of Heartbreak," poet Tayler Simon invites readers on a raw and poignant journey through the tangled landscapes of the heart. Through evocative verses that resonate with vulnerability and honesty, Simon explores the myriad shades of love and loss, from the ache of unrequited longing to the bittersweet embrace of self-discovery. Each poem serves as a cathartic exploration of the emotional terrain we traverse in pursuit of love, offering solace and solidarity to those who have known heartache.

"Love and Other Forms of Heartbreak" is a heartfelt and achingly beautiful collection that celebrates the enduring power of love, even in the face of heartbreak. It is a testament to the beauty of embracing our most vulnerable selves.

Step into the intersectional world of a queer, interracial family navigating love, identity, and community in rural North Carolina. Mosaic Hearts is more than a poetry collection; it's an invitation for folx on the margins to feel seen, heard, and understood.

These verses explore the pain, complexity, and joy of being a mosaic family in a mostly monotone world. Periodic reflective pauses invite you to consider your own experiences, sparking healing, growth, and a deeper sense of connectedness. This collection calls you to feel, to connect, and to believe in the transformative power of love, inspiring social change while building community.

Family secrets. High strangeness. Reality TV.

The Trenholm clan helped found Lower Congaree, South Carolina. Their land is cursed. Their abusive patriarch has croaked. Only heirs who attend the funeral will inherit.

But when Truluck Trenholm suffered his eventually-fatal stroke, oldest son Ash turned the haunted plantation into an enormously successful reality show-with all the attendant ethical issues of profiting off its legacy. Forced to tolerate the intrusion of California producers, grip guys, and cameras, toting a ton of childhood trauma, Ash's brother and cousins have plenty of animosity for each other, along with a strong aversion to the paranormal shenanigans of their childhood home. But when Truluck's funeral goes pear-shaped and the cousins are cut out of his will, Hollywood producers offer the deal of a lifetime: they'll turn the Trenholms into witchy Kardashians with a Southern drawl.

If the cousins walk away, they'll lose everything. But the farm's high strangeness keeps getting stranger. Something's happening on Cypress Bend. And filming might make it worse...

Combining the literary tradition of William Faulkner, Michael McDowell, and Octavia Butler with the shimmered lunacy of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Elizabeth Broadbent's Ninety-Eight Sabers is a Southern Gothic novel about a family determined to stick together as history threatens to tear them apart. This is a book that asks how we live with the past-and how we accept our responsibility for it in the present.