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The Cruising Diaries
The Cruising Diaries is a collection of writer/musician Brontez Purnell's various sexual follies and misadventures around '00s Oakland. Taco truck blowjobs, 'shrooms, Santa - everything you could want from an illustrated sex memoir and much, much more.
54 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Brontez Purnell
11 books319 followersBrontez Purnell is an Oakland-based writer, musician, dancer, and director. He is the author of several books, including Since I Laid My Burden Down, and the zine Fag School; frontman for the punk band The Younger Lovers; and founder of the Brontez Purnell Dance Company.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 16, 2015
I have a high level of admiration for Brontez Purnell. Air that dirty laundry, girl! Put it all out there!
January 24, 2015
My husband: What are you reading?
Mari: Brontez Purnell's new book. OMG.
Husband: Oh, that guy from Sister Spit? Excellent! What's the book about?
Mari: It's like KISS & TELL, but utterly RAUNCHY.
*I then proceed to read half the book out loud, laughing my ass off.*
Mari: Brontez Purnell's new book. OMG.
Husband: Oh, that guy from Sister Spit? Excellent! What's the book about?
Mari: It's like KISS & TELL, but utterly RAUNCHY.
*I then proceed to read half the book out loud, laughing my ass off.*
October 17, 2024
I was warned. I still wasn’t ready. “Anti-erotic sexual experiences” seemed confusing, even contradictory, and as such made me incredibly curious. But it wasn’t a challenge to witness the naked birth of this new genre laid bare - it boldly and vociferously announced itself as a clear-visioned new genre from the first vignette. Yep anti-erotic sexual experiences is very much ‘a thing’ that Purnell created and perfected. I laughed and I grimaced - I fidgeted uncomfortably with the pages, and I may have thought - or maybe even said - “bless his heart” quite a few times. It’s like a journalistic exposé worthy of covering messy sexual encounters - sans the unnecessary punditry or pageantry or pleasantries, for that matter. I feel like I’ve unlocked a tool with which to write about and imagine sexual encounters and experiences. My first book purchased at a comic book store and I appreciate - as am simultaneously confused by - the bookkeeper who recommended this to me. Thank you, nonetheless, for it was an experience. It’s not the size of the book that matters; or rather, don’t judge a book by its size. That lesson has been learned.
October 24, 2023
Total garbage, it's porn and not very well written.
I am not a prude or "sex negative" but this graphic novel served no other purpose than to fuel the author's own narcissism.
None of it was shocking, it was super boring, completely predictable, and the author's writings are why people hate gay men/LGBT people as a whole.
Yes I am gay and this book belongs in the bin as it's trash.
I am not a prude or "sex negative" but this graphic novel served no other purpose than to fuel the author's own narcissism.
None of it was shocking, it was super boring, completely predictable, and the author's writings are why people hate gay men/LGBT people as a whole.
Yes I am gay and this book belongs in the bin as it's trash.
June 21, 2019
Fantastic work by fellow Oakland friends in the scene. Much love to Janelle and Brontez :)
January 1, 2021
Vulgar and true. Brief tales of causal sex in the modern age. The honesty and the humor really won me over
January 8, 2021
I think there is an expanded edition. Whatever. If you like funny, sexy short stories about sexual encounters of the homosexual variety, this is fucking funny.
January 14, 2021
Short quick and funny. Sort of like a hookup for your gay mind
April 13, 2021
We need more books by queer POC writers, and we definitely need more books like this from queer POC writers
August 2, 2021
Laugh out loud and hilariously explicit slices of life. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2021
I cackled, I screamed
September 12, 2021
Wish this was five times as long.
January 9, 2022
An interesting graphic (and it is, but no pun intended) memoir that is more anecdotal and earnest than it is deeply revelatory.
May 12, 2022
Horrible, Disgusting, and Absolutely The Graphic Comic Book You Need In Your Life. Beyond !!!
May 26, 2022
It delivered what it promised but I had higher expectations.
June 2, 2022
Funny, quick, and rated X!
June 2, 2022
Wow! What a life! This makes me want to do a tell all about my sexual escapades👀
October 26, 2022
Raunchy, messy, and an utter delight.
October 17, 2023
I love Brontez Purcell funny, sexy, dirty and entertaining writing.
October 27, 2023
Hilarious.
December 24, 2023
It looked like someone had taken a chocolate milkshake into the shower and physically assaulted it
June 1, 2024
Not one to read in public 😆 but I loved this
June 10, 2024
nope i'm sorry i read this in one sitting. not a competition but this was the best bday gift i got this year <3 a romp for sure, and obvi so fun to read about places i know
February 12, 2024
It's gross in all the right ways. Purcell is a total icon, hilarious and expressive in his writing, living and amplifying the (disgusting) gay dream. If i had this kind of lifestyle, I'd probably die young and happy, and would carry anti-bacterial wipes with me everywhere until I keeled over from being punched out by some dude for trying to sanitise his fingers or something. The things I'm missing out on...!
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2024 edit: re-reading this a year or so later, on a Sunday of all days, while im waiting for my whites to finish spinning in the washer, while on medication that is giving me annoying stomach trouble, which I'm taking as a preventative measure because an encounter with an S-tier cutie took an unexpected and unspoken turn while I wasn't looking, I can't help but wonder about the ethics of publishing a list of your messiest sexual encounters in a comic like this. I mean, I'm not specifically talking about Purnell and the bath house regulars and all that, I suppose, where guys sort of become invisible and blend together, and they were high anyway and probably don't remember you, but rather on again off again germaphobic artists like me with a milder sexual history that can't become disguised within itself from sheer volume. I could never publish a comic like this. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I would probably need to take up drugs and sleep with twenty more guys before it wouldn't feel like a personal attack on anyone to write about them, and even then, I'd be afraid it'd get back to the person in question and hurt their feelings. Yikes! What does this have to do with anything? I don't know, pal. I'm on my own today (for the best, really) and I don't have anyone to talk to (for the best, probably). This is the best way I can think of to pass the time.
Anyway, last time I 'reviewed' this comic, I said I recommend it to everyone. Presently, I think I only recommend it to sickos, or people who think one day they could maybe handle being a sicko. Personally, I can be a sicko for like an evening at a time - I've wound up in some weird places doing some freaky things - but by the next day I usually want to take a shower and eat a vegetable and grab a couple of months of fixed routine before I inevitably get bored again and go on a night out like a fine-tuned regret seeking missile. So really, I'm a poser. A poser who will never publish a sex diary.
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2024 edit: re-reading this a year or so later, on a Sunday of all days, while im waiting for my whites to finish spinning in the washer, while on medication that is giving me annoying stomach trouble, which I'm taking as a preventative measure because an encounter with an S-tier cutie took an unexpected and unspoken turn while I wasn't looking, I can't help but wonder about the ethics of publishing a list of your messiest sexual encounters in a comic like this. I mean, I'm not specifically talking about Purnell and the bath house regulars and all that, I suppose, where guys sort of become invisible and blend together, and they were high anyway and probably don't remember you, but rather on again off again germaphobic artists like me with a milder sexual history that can't become disguised within itself from sheer volume. I could never publish a comic like this. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I would probably need to take up drugs and sleep with twenty more guys before it wouldn't feel like a personal attack on anyone to write about them, and even then, I'd be afraid it'd get back to the person in question and hurt their feelings. Yikes! What does this have to do with anything? I don't know, pal. I'm on my own today (for the best, really) and I don't have anyone to talk to (for the best, probably). This is the best way I can think of to pass the time.
Anyway, last time I 'reviewed' this comic, I said I recommend it to everyone. Presently, I think I only recommend it to sickos, or people who think one day they could maybe handle being a sicko. Personally, I can be a sicko for like an evening at a time - I've wound up in some weird places doing some freaky things - but by the next day I usually want to take a shower and eat a vegetable and grab a couple of months of fixed routine before I inevitably get bored again and go on a night out like a fine-tuned regret seeking missile. So really, I'm a poser. A poser who will never publish a sex diary.
October 17, 2014
Howling, hilarious, homo-anti-erotica from the real life experiences of the author. Reminds me of the bad-old days of Lisa Suckdog Carver's "Rollerderby" zine.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews