Free eBook!

Free eBook of The Acorn Gathering short story collection.

Senn Gay SciFi Movie

#Senn is a scifi film made by two husbands with a gay main character. Watch the trailer here: http://t.co/Y24NLf4IYy

— Geeks OUT (@GeeksOUT) November 15, 2013

Credence Gay SciFi Movie

Post-production begins / Pls ReTweet this sneak pic of #Credence movie: http://t.co/vURydfjbfq #SciFi #Gay #Film :) pic.twitter.com/LNhhTT0Mog

— Mike Buonaiuto ツ (@videographer88) June 2, 2014

In Sons of Taldra Chapter 7...

... Taldra sees a white person for the first time, then a shapeshifter.

In previous chapters, Taldra’s rivalry with a military leader became dangerous, aliens attacked a peaceful ship, Jase-Dawn proposed to his boyfriend, and Argen grappled with the effects of his past drug addiction.

gayscifi LGBTscifi queerscifi diversityinscifi race people of color

265,075 views of Gay Love Poem Video

#GayLovePoem (+playlist): 265,075 views @YouTube #GayLove #M4M #MM #GayPoetry #GayPoems #LGBTBooks #LGBTbook #GayMen http://t.co/KvKQsoaCQ9

— DuaneSimolke (@DuaneSimolke) May 27, 2014

PaperMoon discusses the gay-themed movie Torch Song Trilogy

In a Goodreads forum, PaperMoon shared a touching essay he'd written about one of my favorite gay-themed movies, Torch Song Trilogy. He kindly gave me permission to pass it along.

The scene that I do not tire of seeing, nor fails to move me to tears each time I’ve viewed it (well over 20 times by now) is the final scene in Torch Song Trilogy. This is Arnold’s ‘morning after the showdown’ with Mama and after a brief uneasy reconciliation of sorts – Arnold goes about tidying his apartment after Mama’s departure. As he gathers one by one various objects to himself – he has a dawning realization that after a lifetime of fighting for respect for being who he is, he is loved by various significant others who ‘see’ him beyond his Virginia Ham alter-ego.

The cap signifies David the son who has come to need and value his parental attention, the oranges from Mama – who may never fully understand not accept him completely but who’ll love him in the best way she can all the same, the spectacles are Ed’s – who’s beginning to get enough courage (with Arnold’s help) to bravely setting up a family-life of sorts with Arnold and David at the risk of losing the approval of his straight friends and parents, and the photo of Alan – the now deceased love of his life – whom Arnold will never forget because of the many many ways in which Alan had softened, rounded out and deeply touched the once brittle core of him. And as Arnold sits and clutches these items to himself, I imagine him thinking that he may lose his looks, his apartment, his financial security, his career – but he will never lose the love of nor his memories of these very folk who have come to matter so much to him.

I always tear up when the film score of Ella Fitzgerald singing "This Time The Dream’s On Me" swells up just before the credits roll, because for me (who’s on this side of 44 years of age), maybe like Arnold, I may find that the life I’ve dreamt of having may well be the life I’m living and journeying on after all.

This scene is of course bitter-sweet, but if a funny, feisty, flawed but fabulous individual like Arnold can look around to see and find that life can promise hope and opportunity after all, then so can I, a gay man coming to terms with his sexuality much later in life. And for this, the scene will always spring to my mind whenever anyone asks me for my favorite gay-themed movie.

Empire of the Summer Moon

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne


This book includes some local history and a fascinating account of the Commanche. The focus starts out on the Commanche in general but slowly goes to Quanah Parker.

View all my reviews

Longer Trailer for Fox's Fall 2014 Series Gotham

This new series looks more like Smallville and Arrow than any big-screen version of Batman, but those TV shows are both good.

Book Reviews from Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews Page 1765: book reviews of FALLING IN THE GARDEN, TORTILLA FLAT, APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA: A NOVEL, IT'S A BATTLEFIELD, THE ACORN STORIES, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, and more. Featured author: Greg Iles.

An inspiring, vivid and unique work

Read JonBoy’s review of The Acorn Stories or his other reviews. He gave The Acorn Stories five stars, calling it “an inspiring, vivid and unique work.”

“A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” –Kirkus Reviews

“The ability to depict such a wide cross section of humanity, including details of each character’s breadth of knowledge and experience, takes a talented, insightful author, and Duane Simolke is such a writer.” –E. Conley, Betty’s Books

“If you liked WINESBURG, OHIO…rejoice.” –Watchword

“By the time you have finished reading these tales of the people who inhabit the fictitious town of Acorn, Texas, population 21,001, you will have met some endearing as well as irritating characters, from the Mayor to the local would-be gigolo; from the busy-bodies to the business owners; from those who grew up in Acorn and have tried to escape the small town to those who have moved to Acorn to escape from the real world.” –Ronald L. Donaghe, author of Uncle Sean

“A well-crafted collection of short stories.” –L. L. Lee, author of Taxing Tallula

“When you finish, when you put the book aside, Acorn will still be with you.” –E. Carter Jones, author of Absence of Faith

“I highly recommend this book!” –Richard Carlson, author of Jeremy Grabowski's Crazy Summer in Stormville!

“It was a real pleasure to read about the fictional town of Acorn, Texas.” –Mark Kendrick, author of Desert Sons

“Simolke makes good use of his vivid imagination in creating credible dialogue and satirical images.” –Huda Orfali, author of Blue Fire

“There are people that you like, some that you can't wait to see if they get theirs.” –Joe Wright, StoneWall Society

“Each of Simolke's stories lets us look into the lives of some of the most interesting characters I have ever read about.” –Amos Lassen, Literary Pride