Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in AmericaR. Eric Thomas didnt know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he wentwhether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big cityhe found himself on the outside looking in. In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an other through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood: the

we're going shopping

In this bewitching debut novel

or ignore their work entirely

two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others

Julián and his abuela are going to a wedding

Frank Kameny

he is fascinated yet wary of this hand­some

Faggots is the story of Fred Lemish

But here is also: joy

Why do we bother when everything seems to be getting worse

the kids who inspire him ought to be (and are) the subjects of his work

This compellingly attractive man