Johnny Townsend
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"What's a gay Mormon missionary doing in Italy?He's trying to save his own soul as well as the souls of others, terrorized by homophobic doctrine into committing acts of cultural imperialism to prove his worthiness.In these tales chronicling the two-year mission of Robert Anderson, we see a young man tormented by his inability to be the man the Church says he should be. After enduring a major earthquake, encounters with organized crime, a serious...
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What happens when a High Priest becomes addicted to crack cocaine? Should an unemployed bank teller take in a homeless protester from the Occupy Movement? Who is Salt Lake City's newest superhero, a masked man wearing temple clothes who mysteriously shows up at crime scenes?Is there a way to splice the empathy gene into the genome of every human? Can a schizophrenic woman on anti-delusional drugs keep her belief in an intangible God? Will a childless...
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It's 1981, and two Mormon missionaries randomly assigned to work together as "companions" in Napoli find themselves in trouble. They're falling in love, but the Church forbids gay relationships. As missionaries, they can't date anyone at all, much less other men. If they're found out, they'll be excommunicated, sent home in disgrace, and cast out from their families.
In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, against a backdrop of poverty and...
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Gayrabian Nights is a twist on the well-known classic, 1001 Arabian Nights, in which Scheherazade, under the threat of death if she ceases to captivate King Shahryar's attention, enchants him through a series of mysterious, adventurous, and romantic tales.
In this variation, a male escort, invited to the hotel room of a closeted, homophobic Mormon Republican senator, learns that the man is poised to vote on a piece of anti-gay legislation the...
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When happily married Jake and Santino head to the bars on Seattle's Capitol Hill to pick up a third for the night, they don't realize they're about to hook up with a dead man.Only they can see and interact with Andy, stabbed to death near Pioneer Square a few days earlier. Finally convinced that Andy really has been murdered, Jake and Santino join forces with his ghost to track down the killer.Did Andy's jealous ex do it? His spurned coworker? A right-wing...
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Mentre Craig e Toby tentano di mantenere in vita il loro vacillante matrimonio, la crisi climatica si insinua nella loro relazione come il terzo elemento di un ménage à trois.Craig vuole passare ad azioni drastiche, Toby invece vuole solo vivere la sua vita come meglio può prima che il clima si aggravi in maniera irreversibile."Si lotta per la vita con tutti i mezzi necessari," insiste Craig. "Se qualcuno fa irruzione a casa tua, tu tiri fuori...
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As a former Mormon missionary, author Johnny Townsend understands LDS mission culture. In these stories, a young missionary can't get permission to see a doctor about the lump on his testicle until he can convince his mission president he isn't masturbating. A sadistic mission leader torments a young missionary. A sister missionary fulfills her community service requirement by babysitting for a prostitute. Two bored missionaries decide to make a little...
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A checklist of human rights must include basic housing, universal healthcare, equitable funding for public schools, and tuition-free college and vocational training.
In addition to the fundamentals, though, we need much more to fully thrive. Subsidized childcare, universal pre-K, net neutrality, subsidized high-speed internet, a universal basic income, fare-free public transit (plus more public transit), and medically assisted death for the terminally...
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When a homeless man is found murdered a few blocks from Morgan Beylerian's house in south Seattle, everyone seems to consider the body just so much additional trash to be cleared from the neighborhood. But Morgan liked the guy. They used to chat when Morgan brought Nick groceries once a week.And the brutal way the man was killed reminds Morgan of their shared Mormon heritage, back when the faithful agreed to have their throats slit if they ever revealed...
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Rural southern Mormons. Mormons with mental illness. Homeless Mormons. Ex-Mormons. Gay and trans Mormons. Mormon murderers. Mormon missionaries. Mormon missionaries who are murderers. There's something for everyone in this collection of short stories from the author of Mormon Underwear and Gayrabian Nights.
11) Brace for Impact
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As Craig and Toby struggle to keep their faltering marriage alive, the climate crisis intrudes, part of a threesome in their relationship.Craig wants to take drastic action but Toby just wants to live his life as best he can before climate breakdown escalates. "You fight for your life by any means necessary," Craig insists. "If someone breaks into your house, you pull out a baseball bat or a gun. When there's a mass shooting, you run, hide, or fight...
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On Gay Pride Day in 1973, an arsonist set the entrance to a French Quarter gay bar on fire. In the terrible inferno that followed, thirty-two people lost their lives, including a third of the local congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church, their pastor burning to death halfway out a second-story window as he tried to claw his way to freedom.
A mother who'd gone to the bar with her two gay sons died alongside them. A man who'd helped his...
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Mormons and ex-Mormons, gay and straight, faithful and faithless. In these stories by the author of Mormon Underwear, we see Latter-day Saint women organize a sex boycott to force their husbands to grant them the priesthood. Activists dump the bodies of gay suicides on church doorsteps. A young man fakes his missionary service while living overseas. A devout woman reaches the top tier of heaven but discovers the afterlife isn't quite what she expected....
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Todd Tillotson is struggling to move on after his husband is killed in a hit and run attack a year earlier during a Black Lives Matter protest in Seattle.In this novel set entirely on public transportation, we watch as Todd, isolated throughout the pandemic, battles desperation in his attempt to safely reconnect with the world.Will he find love again, even casual friendship, or will he simply end up another crazy old man on the bus?Things don't look...
15) Racism by Proxy
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Are you biased?
Am I?
The short answer is yes. We all are.
Having bias isn't a choice. We can't avoid it. We prefer members of our religion, our country, our political party, and speakers of our native language. We're taught bias by people who aren't conscious of their biases, and we in turn unintentionally pass them on to others.
So it's not a "sin" to be biased. It's inevitable.
What matters is not allowing our unchosen biases to exert absolute...
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"Gay Ex-Mormons Unite!" In these tales by a former Mormon missionary, a polygamist in 1855 Utah is ordered to take a fourth wife, when all he really wants is to be with another man. A Victorian enthusiast has a startling sexual revelation to make at his monthly Society meeting. A gay Mormon hires a hit man in a desperate bid to stop himself from breaking the Law of Chastity. A Relief Society president is trapped on a plane next to a gay man flaunting...
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We don't need "affordable" healthcare. We need universal healthcare. We don't need "access" to education. We need tuition-free college and vocational training. Let's erase the weasel words and get right to the point. The only way any of us can live in a safe, healthy society is if we all do.
Freedom and equity aren't free. Neither is a stable society. We must reduce the extraordinary amount we spend on the military and demand that the ultra-wealthy...
18) Gay Gaslighting
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Family members and religious leaders often invoke "love" as their justification for making the lives of LGBTQ folks difficult. But we've learned how to nurture one another. In these tales from the author of Mormon Underwear and Gayrabian Nights, a gay man invites two young Mormon missionaries to watch movies on their day off, offering R-rated and eventually X-rated films for their edification. A man receives a substantial inheritance...on the condition...
19) Please Evacuate
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A gay, partygoing New Yorker unconcerned about the future or the unsustainability of capitalism is hit by a truck and thrust into a straight man's body half a continent away. As Hunter tries to figure out what's happening, he's caught up in another disaster, a wildfire sweeping through a Colorado community, the flames overtaking him and several schoolchildren as they flee.When he awakens, Hunter finds himself in the body of yet another man, this time...
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From over 500 short stories published over three decades, author Johnny Townsend presents several of his favorites.A gay couple steals from the rich to support their favorite charities.Two young women vie for the affection of the same missionary.A father with a speech impediment is forced into the spotlight after his daughter survives a school shooting.A reporter seeks the identity of Salt Lake's new superhero-a masked man wearing temples clothes...