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Wayne Hoffman’s novel, HARD — now back in print (and Kindle)!

Bear Bones Books is pleased to announce the release of Wayne Hoffman’s novel, Hard, available now in softcover from Amazon and in an e-reader edition on Kindle.

Wayne Hoffman’s novel, HARD

It’s New York City in the late 1990s. There’s an ongoing public campaign to close down adult businesses. And gay men are deeply involved in the crackdown–on both sides. Moe Pearlman’s sex life is under attack. A conservative mayor is closing down bathhouses, sex clubs and adult theaters — with the secret cooperation of Frank DeSoto, publisher of the only gay newspaper in town. As the crackdown escalates, the tensions between Moe and Frank boil over into a full-scale battle — and, eventually, a personal tug-of-war — between two people with opposing ideas of what it means to be a gay man in the age of AIDS. Moe thinks he might have accidentally stumbled upon romance when he meets Max Milano, but after Max walks in on Moe and several buddies during a steamy scene, Moe finds that the man of his dreams might not be able to handle such a promiscuous boyfriend. And Frank, after a decade-long drought, is enjoying a sexual rebirth as his 50th birthday approaches, but he’s not sure if he can find a partner without having to pay for it. Added to this mix is Aaron Chiles, Moe’s best friend, who’s having trouble accepting the fact that his new boyfriend is a hustler. Meanwhile, Gene Macintosh, Moe’s HIV-positive ex-lover, is delighted to find that his viral load is undetectable, but his obsessive partner still treats him like a health risk. From backrooms to newsrooms, the Meatrack to City Hall, Hard explores a world where sex is a matter of life or death, and politics make the strangest bedfellows.

  • Author photograph by Frank Mullaney
  • Cover photograph by David Grey/Yogabear
Get HARD!

Praise for Wayne Hoffman’s HARD

“Think Woody Allen meets ACT UP.”   

— Michael Bronski, author, A Queer History of the United States

“A knockout. Reading Hard reminds us that the important, strong and vital gay novel is still with us. It vividly and movingly captures what it means to be an urban gay man living in the last decade of the 20th century, when everything looked so bleak and yet so bright at the same time.”  

 — Guide Magazine

“A breath of fresh air in gay male fiction.”

 — Lambda Book Report

“Sexual politics — both public and private — play out against the cityscape of mid-1990s Manhattan in Hoffman’s absorbing year-in-the-life of a group of gay men. . . . The larger issues of sexual rights and aids add depth to their voices, making this sexually explicit debut novel an intriguing exploration of politics and psyche.”  

— Publishers Weekly

“Hard makes political activism sexier than it’s been in years. As hot as it is humorous.”

— Chicago Free Press

“Smart, fast-paced, raunchy and funny, a sexy comic strip of a novel about the way gay men live now.” 

 — Christopher Bram, author, Gods and Monsters

“This is one debut novel that packs a no-holds-barred wallop.”

 —Gay and Lesbian Times

“A quick-paced debut that neatly straddles the fence between politics and porn. By turns erotic and vulnerable, playful and deadly serious, Hard is refreshingly easy to like.”

— Aaron Hamburger, author, Faith for Beginners

Be sure to also check out the novella, AN OLDER MAN, Wayne’s sequel to HARD.

The Limits of Pleasure — now back in print (and Kindle)!

The Limits of Pleasure, by Daniel M. Jaffe

Bear Bones Books is pleased to announce the release of Daniel M. Jaffe’s novel, The Limits of Pleasure, available now in softcover from Amazon and in an e-reader edition on Kindle.

The Limits of Pleasure follows Dave Miller, a forty-year-old bearish gay man, living in Boston in an escalating skirmish to reconcile his Jewish and gay identities. A year after the death of his Holocaust-surviving grandmother, Dave leaves Boston for Amsterdam, the home of Anne Frank, whom his Grandma revered. Dave, feeling undeserving to confront the suffering that Grandma endured in the concentration camps, cannot bring himself to visit Anne Frank’s house.

Angry at himself and the world, Dave repeatedly seeks out erotic encounters that mix sacred ritual with profane hedonism. Then he meets Alexander, a sexually reserved Dutchman of Indonesian heritage, who has identity conflicts of his own. The relationship shakes both men’s lives to their core.

Limitless Praise for The Limits of Pleasure

“I can only testify to the riveting effect this book has had on me . . . truly groundbreaking  . . .  a brilliant author. Daniel Jaffe has done a great thing: made a fresh pilgrimage to the age-old human well, where sex and death, good-hearted secularism and the promptings of an ambiguous Higher Power, revolutionism, and blood fealty all roil the pond from surface to sediment.” – SYDNEY LEA, Pulitzer Prize Finalist author of Ghost Pain;  Founding Editor of New England Review

“Masterfully written  . . .  entertaining and salient.     — XFactor

“A disturbing and evocative combination of gay erotica and Holocaust memoir. . . . interesting and controversial.”   — The Santa Barbara Independent

The Limits of Pleasure is an extremely intelligent and entertaining view into one man’s multi-faceted and perverse psyche. —The Liberty Press (Kansas)

“Dave Miller, the main character in Jaffe’s novel The Limits of Pleasure, is torn between the moral obligations imposed on him by his late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, and his desires as a gay man. By daringly juxtaposing sacred and erotic imageries, the novel presents a courageous portrait of a middle-aged man who slowly learns to define his Jewish identity on his own terms. Dave’s capacity to find hope in the middle of conflict is a quality that also defines Jaffe’s writing as a whole.” —The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature

“Jaffe accurately covers all the bases of human emotion within his narrative, exploring what it means to survive. Like the central character’s experiences, this debut novel will enhance the reader’s own path to self-discovery.” —PAUL J. WILLIS, Unzipped 

The Limits of Pleasure is as seamless as anything Christopher Isherwood, Toni Morrison, or Chaim Potok…might write, a work where the visionary sits at the table with the mundane, where the divine sleeps in the same bed as the profane. The sexual self is integrated into the spiritual self, the Jewish into the queer, and as the disparate parts of the protagonist fragment they are just as quickly reassembled into one of the most complete, annoying and lovable characters in the history of our literature, one who is familiar and believable, endearing but frustrating, and ultimately too human for words…. I finished the novel feeling breathless.” —DAVID MAY, author of Madrugada: A Cycle of Erotic Fictions

“Tremendously wise, hilariously funny, and supremely sexy, Jaffe’s big- hearted novel affirms our faith in the power of the spirit, the glory of the flesh, to make us more fully human. A thoughtful, deeply satisfying novel, The Limits of Pleasure reminds us that, despite the various limits placed upon our spiritual and sexual identities, we must strive—in the words of E.M. Forster—to ‘only connect.’” —KARL WOELZ, co-editor of Men on Men 2000 

“Readers, grab hold of your joysticks (pun absolutely intended): Daniel Jaffe’s Dave will take you on an unforgettable ride. What are the limits of pleasure, the limits of suffering, the limits of language? Hallucinatory, blasphemous, shamelessly erotic, unflinching, by turns wrenching and wildly comic, Jaffe’s narrative stops at nothing in its exploration of what it means to be homosexual, Jewish, human; to survive. This is high-stakes, extreme fiction, whose rewards are as great as the risks it embraces. Just as Jaffe’s tormented, irrepressible and oddly endearing hero earns the ‘redemption of risk,’ so does his brilliantly fearless creator.” —ELLEN LESSER, author of The Blue Streak and The Shoplifter’s Apprentice.

“We’ve heard of survivors’ guilt, but Daniel Jaffe brings us a visceral understanding of its less understood concomitant, survivors’ rage, in this extraordinarily fearless novel. His prose moves into the minds and cuts close to the bone of his characters as he explores the conflicted sites of contemporary identity. His novel walks mysterious paths to redemption and illuminates the paradox by which one must hold back to survive but risk all to live.” —DIANE LEFER, author of the story collections Very Much Like Desire, The Circles I Move In, and the award-winning California Transit

Daniel M. Jaffe.
Author photograph by Leo Cabranes-Grant

Daniel M. Jaffe is a prize-winning fiction writer whose short stories and personal essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies and literary journals in several countries and languages. He is the author of the novel, Yeled Tov; the novel-in-stories, The Genealogy of Understanding; and the collection, Jewish Gentle and Other Stories of Gay-Jewish Living.

An Older Man — now back in print (and Kindle)!

Bear Bones Books is pleased to announce the release of Wayne Hoffman’s novel, An Older Man, available now in softcover from Amazon and in an e-reader edition on Kindle.

Front cover, An Older Man
Cover photograph by David Gray / Yogabear Studios

Moe Pearlman—once the 20-something protagonist of Hard—is now over 40, overweight, and going gray. For someone used to being the adorable younger guy chasing after older men, that’s not particularly easy. But Moe’s whole conception of himself is challenged when he spends Bear Week in Provincetown, an event that brings thousands of mature gay and bi men to the tip of Cape Cod the week after Independence Day to revel and relax.  

Still singular in his focus and sexual appetites, Moe hopes he’ll find a hot older guy and have an intense summer fling. Joining him on vacation is Moe’s ex-lover Gene and Gene’s new boyfriend Carlos, so Moe has no reason to feel lonely, but when the older objects of Moe’s affection start looking right past him in favor of younger rivals, Moe is shaken to the core.

Praise for An Older Man

“The simple honesty and openness of its sexuality felt like the first blast of spring after a long, cold winter. . . . Hoffman knows how to keep the pages turning but also how to take us deep, deftly connecting the explicit to the profound. A quick, fun read that packs plenty of insight.” – Publishers Weekly (Staff Pick)

“Smart . . . engrossing . . . both a breezy story about a horny vacationing bear and a contemporary examination of the difficulties gay men encounter when addressing issues of self-acceptance, body image, aging, loneliness, and their own sexual culture as it evolves in the digitized 21st century.” – Bay Area Reporter

An Older Man is a charming, genuine love letter to Provincetown. . . . With great skill, Hoffman’s prose beautifully captures the spirit of this truly unique destination.” — Chelsea Station Magazine

“A bear-hug of a book that is equal parts burly bouquet of bear culture, a love letter to Provincetown, and a sexy story about our hirsute hero Moe’s quest to find ‘the one.’” — Gregg Shapiro, author, Lincoln Avenue

An Older Man is about the aging of the first generation of gay men spending adulthood free of the closet and mostly free of the epidemic that took our older brothers. That makes it an important book. What makes it a really good book, is, it’s funny, moving, and makes you want to turn its pages to learn what happens next. You’ll root for its hero, Moe Pearlman, despite his failings, and you’ll regret having to part ways with him and his friends when you reach the story’s surprising end.” — Eric Orner, author, The Completely Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green

Wayne Hoffman, author, An Older Man
Author photograph by Frank Mullaney

Wayne Hoffman’s acclaimed debut novel, Hard, and its sequel, An Older Man, are published by Bear Bones Books. Another of Wayne’s novels, Sweet Like Sugar, won the Stonewall Book Award. The author lives in New York City and the Catskills.

Coming soon . . . the re-release of Wayne’s novel, Hard.

New edition of Mugs o’ Joy: Delicious Hot Drinks

Mugs o Joy

Delicious Hot Drinks

Mugs o’ Joy: Delicious Hot Drinks is a recipe book filled to the brim with instructions to make dozens of time-honored hot beverages from around the world, including many delectable variations.

Detailed directions show you how to prepare dozens of tasty traditional hot Coffee, Tea, Tisane, Cocoa, Punch, Nog, and Grog drinks and much more — there are even 39 varieties of International Coffee!

Plus tantalizing original concoctions certain to put a smile on your mug:

~ Oranginger Zinger    ~ Saffronia    ~ Hot Salted Malted Mocha

~ Mocha Bianco    ~ Cider Citrus Punch    ~ Hot Avalanche   

~ Hot Maple Mint Milk    ~ El Cacao Calor    ~ Nice Hawaiian Punch

First published in 1998, this new Twentieth Anniversary Edition of Mugs is thoroughly revised with new recipes and redesigned featuring photographs of miniature mugs in the author’s collection.

Ron J. Suresha is an award-winning author / editor of more than a dozen books of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, art, and folklore. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he lives now in New Milford, Connecticut.

 

Mugs o’ Joy: Delicious Hot Drinks

20th Anniversary Edition
Third Revised Edition
Illustrated throughout

First CreateSpace / Kindle edition

September 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1-98367-566-9  

ISBN-10: 1-983-67566-0

The 5th title published by Bear Bones Books

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1983675660

Jay Neal’s Waking Up Bear — now back in print!

Waking Up Bear — now back in print!

Jay Neal’s short story collection reissued by Bear Bones Books

 

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Order the softcover here!

Soon coming — Order the Kindle edition here!

 

 

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WAKING UP BEAR

& other ursine stories

by JAY NEAL

 

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“Jay Neal’s WAKING UP BEAR & OTHER URSINE STORIES is a tremendously fun and wildly sexy romp through Beardom. Written with great humor, honesty, compassion, and arousing eroticism, Neal’s stories explore the passionate, romantic nature of Bears and admirers.

“His heroes are often shy, self-doubting men who somehow find the balls to grab the fantasy guys they desire and the love they seek. In creating an erotic world where Bears are the hottest of studs and most loving of men, Neal successfully transforms Bear fantasy into Bear reality on the page.”

— DANIEL M. JAFFE, Author of The Limits of Pleasure & Jewish Gentle

 

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“Jay Neal thickens and sweetens all his writing with a honeyed sense of humor, and his wit, humility, and humanity shine through even his most acerbic observations of Bear relationships and community. . . . What the denizens of his fiction have in common is an awakening to a certain erotic state of being — one which in the shorthand of gay parlance we call being a Bear.”

— R. JACKSON, Editor of Bearotica & The Biggest Lover, from the Preface

 

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Sexy, fun, and often touching, WAKING UP BEAR features twenty of Jay Neal’s most captivating stories, from the pages of American Bear magazine and several Lambda Literary Award-winning anthologies of gay men’s erotic fiction, including three previously unpublished tales.

 

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Order the softcover here!

 

Bears on Bears, new edition, available on Kindle!

Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions, new edition, now available on Kindle! 

 

The new edition of “the Bible” on Bears is now once again available from the author and Bear Bones Books in Kindle format!

Get it here.

BBB publishes new edition of Bears on Bears

Bear Bones Books publishes new edition of Bears on Bears


Independent press Bear Bones Books is proud to issue its second title, the third edition of

Bears on Bears: Interview & Discussions, by Ron J. Suresha.

Available now! Order the new BBB indie edition of Bears on Bears.

Check out the free preview below.

Kindle edition coming soon!

BBB publishes new edition of Uncommon Sense of Mullah Nasruddin

A new softcover edition of

The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin

is now available from Bear Bones Books on Amazon.com!

The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, 2nd revised edition

The Kindle version of the new edition will be available very soon.

The audiobook, narrated by Ted Brooks, is still available from Audible.com.

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AN ANNE IZARD STORYTELLERS’ CHOICE AWARD WINNER

A STORYTELLING WORLD HONOR BOOK

Order your copy of the 2nd revised edition now!

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Coming soon:

The first revised edition of

Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin

Bear Bones Books enters a new phase

Bear Bones Books enters a new phase

Bear Bones Books is dissociating from its former publisher and stepping out and forward on its own.

BBB will operate as an independent publisher primarily working through Amazon’s CreateSpace, Kindle, and Audible divisions.

We are reissuing several of Ron J. Suresha’s titles and hope to reissue some of the BBB fiction anthologies. BBB may also eventually issue new titles.

The work has already begun:

  • A new softcover edition of Suresha’s award-winning book, The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, is available now from Amazon.
  • Uncommon Sense will be available on Kindle again shortly.
  • Uncommon Sense narrated by Ted Brooks is still available on Audible.

Our first projects in 2018 are to reissue:

  • A new softcover edition of Suresha’s award-winning book, Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin, a Kindle version, and the audiobook.
  • A new softcover edition of Suresha’s acclaimed book, Bears on Bears, and a Kindle version.
  • A new softcover edition of Suresha’s award-winning book (under his pseudonym “R. Jackson”), Bi Guys, and a Kindle version.

Please stay tuned for further developments and contact us at bearsoup@gmail.com with any queries. Woof!

New Artist: Jeremy James and the Villaineers

Bear Radio welcomes indie folk rock band from Albany, New York – Jeremy James and the Villaineers to the playlist with “The High Road”. Front man Jeremy James, an Arkansas native, is “a hallmark of songwriting talent (CE Skidmore, Glens Falls Post Star)” and “the real deal (Alan Bennett Ilagan, edgenewyork.com).” The High Road ia an indie folk/rock project with a 60’s vibe to it. BRN premieres 4 selected tacks all this month. requests.bearradio.net