Queer and Pleasant Danger: Writing Out My Life

by Louise Rafkin

This collection of fiction and nonfiction from a noted lesbian author portrays the ups and downs of lesbian life in the 1990s. Original.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer

151 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

About the author

Louise Rafkin is the author of Other People's Dirt and the editor of Different Mothers. She has been a commentator for NPR's All Things Considered and has written for Out Magazine. Her articles and essays appear frequently in the New York Times, Health Magazine, and Metropolitan Home. She lives in Oakland, CA.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but ended up liking it enough to wish there were more of Rafkin's writing available in either of the book's two genres. First half conists of several short stories, some with gay themes (and lesbian protagonists) and some not; second part consists of (gay focused) essays.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a little too much of its time and of its author's (baby boomer) generation. She also seems a little stuck in her fiction on the theme of characters having affairs in the midst of long-term relationships. I have to wonder if that's been her experience... but why keep hashing it out over and over again in short stories? Not exactly original. I think I'm just not in her audience.