Our Lady of Perpetual Realness & Other Stories

by Cason Sharpe

Two teenagers shoot amateur porn. Coworkers pool hop after dark. A call centre employee scrambles to keep their shitty job. Sweetheart tries something new in order to pay rent. A group of friends get stoned and go to the movies. Did you hear about the drag BBQ on Saturday? Everyone's going to be there, and everyone's going to bring an amazing look.

Set in the twin backdrops of Toronto and Montreal, Our Lady of Perpetual Realness & Other Stories is a glimpse into the lives of contemporary queer youth. Equal parts wry and tender, these six stories follow young, gay men of colour through the confusing, bleak, and often humorous aspects of their day-to-day lives as they struggle to discover the world and their place within it.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, LGBT

66 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Jacob Wren]

This book is really good.

[Tom Buchanan]

This was awesome, and it's worth reading alongside his essay in guts as well:
http://gutsmagazine.ca/a-year-and-cha...

[Tessa]

Sharp, clever sentences about the dull internal erosions of winter cities and shitty jobs.

[Nathaniel]

“‘There may not be any magazines or tropical destinations at all. The whole operation could be as big of a scam as you suspect, possibly bigger. For now, everything sucks and complicity in this system isn’t exactly chill, but it’s all so much larger than you, and your hands are tied by a certain limited range of meaningful options. If you bail just because you feel like bailing, you’ll end up taking a position out of desperation at another company with a similar degree of moral bankruptcy that just manifests itself in some other way. The thing about sharks is that they don’t actually live in the deepest parts of the ocean and are therefore unable to perceive the true scope of their ecosystem.’

‘The best course of action for you now is to keep a low profile. Do the bare minimum to avoid getting fired while you actively look for something else but don’t stress out about it too much and don’t rely on Craigslist. If/when a new opportunity presents itself in which you can fuck over the smallest amount of people possible and still pay your rent, that’s when you should quit.’”

(from “Scam”)

*

“This is only a week after the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Forty-nine people died. This is after years of violent attacks against trans women and black men.

It’s why we’re all so tired, at least in part. It creates an extra layer of fatigue: Where do we go to dance fucked up all night long and not die? Where do we go to get laid and not die? Who is here in this room with us? Who is not here in this room with us? What are we going to wear? Who will get harassed on the street, by the police or a random stranger or someone we all know, sometimes in darkness but often in broad daylight, in the exact same look that any of us could’ve been wearing? How are we going to get home?”

(from “Our Lady of Perpetual Realness”)

*

fun, “real” (what is “real” anyway?), unexpected, gay, short, good.

[Emrys Donaldson]

Adored these stories. They had a kind of grace found in Marilynne Robinson's work, particularly the ending of the last story (which happens to be the title story as well). There's a glory in the everyday of working crappy jobs, being a gay person of color, and living in Montreal found in these tales. I highly encourage everyone to check this book out!

[Teya Z]

Short stories that made a hit but didn't pack a punch.

Felt like I wanted more stories. Felt like the stories were well written, good, but not outstanding.

Will definitely read more by this author though.

[Emily S]

As a Toronto girl who grew up down town turned Montreal degenerate this book gave me a sense of very heavy nostalgia and it was a pleasure to be transported back to different times

[Emily]

This is what I mean when I say I like vulgar and erotic humour. Dark themes. Straightforward and concise. Witty. I would recommend. And it’s local (Toronto/montreal)! I got my copy at Type by trinity bellwoods 🙌🏽

[Sheeza Aamir]

it was cool!

[Marilyn]

Our Lady of Perpetual Realness, a book of short stories, by Cason Sharpe, holds and flows together beautifully, one story into the next. Each story providing a clear sense of place and time as well as the life and struggles of the characters. I loved every sentence. Looking forward to more writing by this exceptional first time author.

[Hannah]

charming queer stories that detail different ways of being lost & found with a certain dryness to them, but thankfully not a hint of the specific timbre of ironic detachment that pisses me off. hard recommend, especially for queers in mtl & to who will giggle when sharpe reads our cities for the filth they are in little moments throughout.

[jame✨]

Queer millennials and the inescapable triviality of their routine existence, loved these stories of gayhood in Canada's urbanscapes.

~~~

"He said he didn't suck dick but I could suck his. It felt like a slippery dim sum roll in my mouth. His pubes smelt like Axe body spray. In the morning, his mother made us pancakes and fruit salad."

[Ashlynn Steeves]

Quick and easy lovely little read. Queer stories bring me so much joy, bonus points for being (partially) set in Montreal. 4.5.

[Denna Bee]

I felt my youth and it's peers spilled out on pages

[Grace]

picked up in Montreal, enjoyed the window into local queer life. very brief but very well done.