It's Not Mean If It's True: More Trials from My Queer Life

by Michael Thomas Ford

With two best-sellers and a Lambda Literary Award under his belt, Michael Thomas Ford is still cranky. Lucky for us. The author of "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me" and "That's Mr. Faggot to You" returns with more skewed observations on the strange state of the queer union. As fans of his previous collections have happily discovered, little escapes his attention, and no topic is too controversial or sacred to be tackled. "The Condensed History of Gay Pride" is enough to send any politically correct gay leader shrieking into the streets. But Ford's favorite target remains himself. The fact that Cher's butt is more famous than he is really irks him, and he is willing to pretend to be straight in order to get help while shopping for clothes. He murdered his rival's "egg baby" in high school to secure a good grade, and he sacrificed his own to a chocolate cake. Whether he is equating becoming a man with buying a barbecue in the very moving "Rite of Passage" or considering the state of parenthood in the unforgettable "Cheaper by the Dozen," Ford continues to observe life in ways that help us more closely observe ourselves-while never, never forgetting to make us laugh.
"In Ford's hands, pretty much anything can yield a laugh. He is an idea humorist-genially misanthropic, suspicious of ideology and convention, cynical or passionate depending on the occasion. And he is something else: a good read.-"Lambda Book Report"
Michael Thomas Ford's previous essay collections, "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and "That's Mr. Faggot to You

remained on best-seller lists for months, earning him unanimous critical praise and a Lambda Literary Award for humor. His syndicated column, "My Queer Life," runs in dozens of papers nationwide, and his weekly radio program of the same name can be heard on Stellar Networks at www.gaybc.com. He lives in Boston, where he is finishing his first novel.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Gay, LGBT, Memoir, Queer, Essays

248 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than 75 books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, The Road Home, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His novel Lily was a Tiptree Award Longlist title and a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. He is also the author of the Sickening Adventures series of books featuring popular contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race.

As a writer for young adults he is the author of the novels Suicide Notes, Z, and Love & Other Curses, and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. His work has been nominated for 14 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Romance Novel, and once for Best Mystery. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot).

Reviews

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are perfectly enjoyable essays, and they were very important to me when I was younger. Now that I've gotten a little older, they seem....tame. They lack the bite, generally, that I wish they had.

[Ellen the Herbivore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blurb alleges controversial topics. Is “now that I ‘m in my thirties, I’ll stick to caffeine for a drug” controversial?

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sort of ran across Ford while working at the library (his books ... not the author). I had never heard of him and I am always good for a good laugh so I figured I would give him a try. His earlier books, of which this is the third, are actually collections of essays while he seems to have shifted primarily into writing novels in more recent years.

The essays in this volume are full of sarcastic wit that makes the whole thing just so much fun. Some of the pieces look back on his life, allowing him to both parody and satirize events. Others focus more on various aspects of our culture with some focusing on the GLBTQQ community and others on American or small towns or other subgroups.

Readers even get a chance to learn about a new boyfriend he meets and forms a relationship with. In the introduction, it is made clear how the whole process, including their later breakup, changed some of his views, but it is definitely fun to hear him, knowing where things are going.

Because of the age of the book and the regular references to pop culture of the time, it is filled with references to Bill Clinton and the Columbine High School shooting, among others, but a lot of what is discussed throughout the essays is still in the news. For example, he often refers to how he disagrees with the idea of same-sex marriage because he thinks it means that queers are giving up their own identity in an attempt to find acceptance by modeling straight couples. It is an argument I heard before and one that is still being mentioned.

There are also a number of essays that are just pure satire and usually include a set of lists or timelines such as a history of gay cinema, penis size, or even the reverence many people play(ed?) to Stevie Nicks. They are definitely not to taken seriously, but they are loads of fun. Like most satire, though, there is a whit of wise thought behind the laughter.

I definitely want to try out some of his other series of essays and maybe even his fiction. In some ways, he reminds me a lot of David Sedaris, though Ford's essays are shorter and more focused. I would definitely recommend him for people who enjoyed Augusten Burroughs' collection of essays entitled Possible Side Effects. The humor and the writing style are pretty similar.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ford continues his winning streak (following Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You) with this collection of astute, acerbic and endearingly grumpy essays about his life as a new millennium gay man. Unlike some humorists--think David Letterman and David Sedaris--Ford isn't afraid to forgo quick punch lines when he comments on more serious topics, such as the shootings at Columbine High School and the sexism of a medical profession that heralds cures for impotence and balding, but drags its feet on breast cancer. Ford is at his neurotic best when dealing with his new boyfriend, Dave. In ""Green-Eyed Monster,"" Ford is set on edge by Dave's trusting nature and lack of jealousy; in ""Runaway Train,"" his mind begins to race when he hasn't received his daily call from Dave by the time midnight rolls around. Ford mines gold with his quirky theory that Stevie Nicks CDs can cure homosexuality, his proposed children's book series that nixes hand-holding with titles like ""Face It: You're Fat"" and ""Face It: No One Likes You"" and his reflections on the Kinsey Institute's downsizing of average penis from 6.16 inches to 5.2 inches. His concise histories of queer cinema, gay pride and first dates are also a hoot. In the end, Ford seems lovably curmudgeonly, not mean.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only a funny book, but a motto to live by...

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really will get into Mr. Ford's fiction one day. . . Another one that I would not recommend for beach reading, unless you do not mind stares from laughing out loud,

[Stefan Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, laugh out loud reading!

[Ralphe Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy the essays.

[Emilie]

Read several years ago.