Banal and Profane Archives

August 2, 2017 9 min read

"[...] I consider my dog to be my current life partner, after years of traveling together and accepting that another human is not necessarily suitable for this road situation." Read More

Navigating Deadlines and New Found Pride: A Week in the Life of Kody Keplinger

Edit Team

The Banal & the Profane

July 9, 2017 7 min read

"A year ago I came out, and today I’m wearing my identity across my chest." Read More

Navigating Poetry Readings and the L.A. Food Scene: A Week in the Life of Poet Chen Chen

Edit Team

The Banal & the Profane

April 30, 2017 14 min read

"Poetry, I told my friends, is still where I feel happiest and freest [...] For true creative freedom, I need forms that demand compression, restraint." Read More

Navigating Writing Contests and Dog Training : A Week in the Life of Writer Sassafras Lowrey

Edit Team

Opinion The Banal & the Profane

December 26, 2016 10 min read

"I want to write queer books that reflect our queer lives, bodies, relationships, and the worlds we build for each other." Read More

Navigating Poetry Manuscripts and Failure: A Week in the Life of Poet Elaina Ellis

Edit Team

Opinion The Banal & the Profane

September 26, 2016 5 min read

"I’m very good at being inconsistent, which sometimes leads to bad coffee. It also leads to good pancakes." Read More

Navigating Sex Parties and Pride: A Week in the Life of Cartoonist Jeremy Sorese

Parrish Turner

Opinion The Banal & the Profane

August 14, 2016 24 min read

"[...] I wish Pride could be something closer to Publishers Clearing House, where someone shows up at the door of a closeted teen living in some oppressive Middle American state with an oversized check and whisks them away." Read More

Navigating Porn Shoots and Therapy: A Week in the Life of Writer Amy Gall

William Johnson

Features Opinion

April 5, 2016 14 min read

"My therapist reminds me, 'If it can’t be fixed, death can heal it.' Meaning, endings are not inherently or only traumatic. Some things are just a letting go, or a putting down of a burden that isn’t working..." Read More

Navigating Deadlines and a Pet Cat: A Week in the Life of Graphic Novelist Meags Fitzgerald

William Johnson

Opinion

February 3, 2016 10 min read

This month’s “Banal and Profane" column comes to us from graphic novelist Meags Fitzgerald Read More

The Banal and the Profane: Michael Broder

William Johnson

Opinion The Banal & the Profane

May 13, 2015 9 min read

"The Black Party was pretty great—a big space with machine-generated fog and deep house music, filled with all sorts of men, including many beautiful ones, wearing very little clothing, dancing, having sex, taking drugs (of which we did not partake), etc." Read More

The Banal and the Profane: Sybil Lamb

Edit Team

Features The Banal & the Profane

January 11, 2015 34 min read

"I was on the road for two months circumnavigating North Amerika and doing book readings every night and spending the royalty money on junk food, alcohol, and lingerie." Read More

Reviews

Unearthing Queer Archive in Early 1990’s West Palm Beach, Florida

The Mars House: Science Fiction and the Hazards of Imagination

Maps of Belonging: Italian Trans Geographies

Random

‘Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction’ edited by Brit Mandelo

Features

Unearthing Queer Archive in Early 1990’s West Palm Beach, Florida

Maps of Belonging: Italian Trans Geographies

Dreaming up a Hopeful Future: A Conversation with Grist authors on queer climate fiction

Interviews

Bonds & Boundaries: A Conversation with Dale Corvino

Dreaming up a Hopeful Future: A Conversation with Grist authors on queer climate fiction

“What if it was both and all of the above?”: An interview with CJ Hauser

Excerpts

An Excerpt from Sleep Tight Satellite: Stories by Carol Guess

Read This! Excerpt from the delicacy of embracing spirals by mimi tempestt

Read This! Excerpt from American Gospel by Miah Jeffra

Navigating Pets and a Book Launch: A Week in Life of Nicole J. Georges

Navigating Deadlines and New Found Pride: A Week in the Life of Kody Keplinger

Navigating Poetry Readings and the L.A. Food Scene: A Week in the Life of Poet Chen Chen

Navigating Writing Contests and Dog Training : A Week in the Life of Writer Sassafras Lowrey

Navigating Poetry Manuscripts and Failure: A Week in the Life of Poet Elaina Ellis

Navigating Sex Parties and Pride: A Week in the Life of Cartoonist Jeremy Sorese

Navigating Porn Shoots and Therapy: A Week in the Life of Writer Amy Gall

Navigating Deadlines and a Pet Cat: A Week in the Life of Graphic Novelist Meags Fitzgerald

The Banal and the Profane: Michael Broder

The Banal and the Profane: Sybil Lamb

Unearthing Queer Archive in Early 1990’s West Palm Beach, Florida

The Mars House: Science Fiction and the Hazards of Imagination

Maps of Belonging: Italian Trans Geographies

The High Stakes of Young Adulthood: A Review of Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

People Collide by Isle McElroy: A Review

Reviewing Bad Gays; or how we use the past to shape the future

A Review of Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy

If property is theft, then what is a photograph? A Review of The Unintended by Monica Huerta