Where you can find out more about me and my recent and forthcoming books.
This page last updated February 8, 2002.
I am an author and anthologist, working in many different genres and forms. My short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous periodicals--including The Wall Street Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, The Boston Phoenix, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Physics Today, and others--and in more than 140 anthologies--including The Random House Book of Science Fiction Stories, Best Gay Erotica 1997 and 1998, The Mammoth Book of Fairy Tales, Weird Tales from Shakespeare, Gay Love Poetry, and The Random House Treasury of Light Verse, among others.
My work has been published in Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish translations.
I regularly speak at literary conferences and also give talks and lectures at colleges across the U.S., including recently at: Princeton University, Yale University, Brown University, Rutgers University, and Wayne State University, among others. If your college or conference would like to have me come speak, please email me with your request.
I was born in New York City, 16 October 1971. I'm currently dividing my time between Madrid, Spain and NYC.
His Tongue
North Atlantic Books
ISBN 1-58394-049-9
2002
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award 2002
"Whether writing about an encounter in a sauna or the dynamics of a sexual relationship, Lawrence Schimel blends the power of lust with the spiritual and emotional aspects of sex. Schimel doesn't shy away from confronting issues such as safe sex, monogamy, and open relationships. In these titillating tales, the author has created a new form of erotic literature: a thinking man's pornography." --Amazon.com
The Drag Queen of Elfland
The Ultra Violet Library/Circlet Press
ISBN: 1-885865-17-1
1997
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, Firecracker Alternative Book Award, and the Small Press Book Award!
The Drag Queen of Elfland is a collection of my fantasy short stories with lesbian and gay characters and themes. Here's what various people and magazines have had to say about it:
"I wish I knew Lawrence Schimel's secret of getting so much character into so few words"--Marion Zimmer Bradley
"Schimel displays the clean prose, fresh eye, and ticklish imagination that have brightened his star as both a writer and anthologist."--Publishers Weekly
"This collection of short stories by the accomplished Schimel possesses equal amounts of charm and chills. These are fairy tales on two levels--magic infiltrates the mundane and, through the gay sensibility, the mundane becomes magical.... Having already proven himself to be an astute editor of anthologies, Schimel shows great flair for the short story. These fantasies are thoroughly entertaining and should, like their archetypes, stay with the reader long after the book is finished."--Sydney Star Observer, Australia
"A collection of fantasy stories that doesn't have to explain either their gayness or their genuine sense of the fantastic. By putting these two worlds together, Lawrence Schimel creates a new and exciting kind of fiction."--Melissa Scott, author of Trouble and Her Friends
The Drag Queen of Elfland is available to bookshops from all major US wholesalers and is also distributed in the UK by Turnaround and in Australia by Bulldog Books. If it's not available in your local bookstore, it can be ordered directly from Circlet's web site.
Mi Novio Es Un Duende
Spain: Editorial Laertes
ISBN: 84-7584-348-4
1998
De la editorial: "Una collecion de relatos para hacer reir, llorar, gozar. Schimel trastoca allegremente con los cliches del genero fantastico."
"Schimel tiene una maravillosa habilidad para crear imagenes resonantes, cubriendo un complejo territorio emocional en pocas palabras."--Outrage, Australia
Seleccionado en MENsual, Julio 1998.
His Tongue
Brazil: Summus Editorial
Forthcoming
1999
A collection of my gay erotic short stories, forthcoming in Portuguese translation.
PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions About Gender and Sexuality
Co-edited with Carol Queen
Cleis Press
ISBN: 1-57344-074-4
1997
Winner of a 1998 Lambda Literary Award!
Finalist for the Firecracker Alternative Book Award and the Small Press Book Award!
The term "PoMoSexual" situates this book within and in relation to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, for these essays react against certain widely held essentialist assumptions about what it means to be a member of these communities in the same way that, in the art world, Postmodernism was a reaction against Modernism.
As a book, PoMoSexuals is concerned with analyzing and making cultural space for our individual sexualities, gender identities, and lack of identities: sharing an identity with the �ber-queer community without letting our allegiance to these communities or identities serve as shorthand for all of our political or personal opinions--or our sexual practices, explorations, and mores.
Includes essays from:
Switch Hitters: Lesbians Write Gay Male Erotica and Gay Men Write Lesbian Erotica
Co-edited with Carol Queen
US: Cleis Press
ISBN: 1-57344-021-3
1996
Sexperimente: Lesbisch-Schwule Sexgeschichte
(German edition also co-edited by Rainer Falk and Sophie Hack)
Germany: Querverlag
Forthcoming
1999
This anthology subverts and explores gender roles and expectations, raising and considering such questions as:
Contains stories from:
Things Invisible to See: Gay and Lesbian Tales of Magic Realism
Circlet Press
ISBN: 1-885865-22-8
1998
Top contemporary authors bring us these stories of the realms of spirit that underlie the mundane world. Comic situations, such as a lesbian who wakes up one morning to find she has a penis or a gay man who finds an angel tangled in his laundry line, alternate with poignant tales of loss and loves. These stories are about looking for--or inadvertently finding--something more than life as we know it.
"[This] anthology holds plenty of magic for readers of any sexual persuasion."--Publishers Weekly
Nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 1999!
Features stories by:
Two Hearts Desire: Gay Couples on Their Love
Co-edited with Michael Lassell
US: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0-312-15239-6
1997
I Love You: Schwule Paare �ber ihre Liebe
Germany: Albino Verlag
1998
Unique among books about gay couples, both sides of the relationship write to or about their partner in this frank, illuminating, and heart-warming collection. From current lovers and past lovers to long-term lovers and those in new relationships, Two Hearts Desire is about the realities of love, of intense and passionate love, in an era of loss mitigated only by our determination to recover, rebuild, and survive. As such it is a monument--albeit a monument in miniature--to all those hearts who desire one another.
"Two Hearts Desire is a beautiful addition to the literature of gay male love. Lassell and Schimel are masters of flawless selection and seamless editing."--Lambda Book Report
"Two Hearts Desire walks away from the traditional belief/picture of gay men as lonely, isolated beings and creates a collage of pictures from the vantage point of a relationship."--Outright, South Africa
Includes:
The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica
UK: Robinson Publishing
ISBN: 1-85487-527-2
October, 1997
US: Carroll & Graf
ISBN: 0-7867-0476-4
February, 1998
A 500+ page international collection of erotic short fiction from established literary authors such as Alan Hollinghurst, Neil Bartlett, Edmund White, and Andrew Holleran, to new writers whose first stories are being published in this anthology. These stories are a celebration of gay men and gay sexuality, in all its complexity--from the delights of the flesh to anxieties about disease, from ephemeral anonymous encounters to longerterm relationships. But each is unquestionable and unapologetically the story of desires between men.
While most recent collections of gay erotica have been national in scope (due mostly to myopia than any sense of purpose or intention) writers from England (Philip Ridley, Aiden Shaw), Canada (Stan Persky, Robin Metcalfe), the United States (Felice Picano, Paul Russell, Lars Eighner), and Australia (Barry Lowe, Tony Ayres) all rub shoulders in this volume, for desire does not restrict itself to our territorial boundaries (and often seems to purposefully thwart or exult in transgressing such boundaries).
Nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 1999!
Food For Life And Other Dish
Cleis Press
ISBN: 1-57344-061-2
1996
The recipes and anecdotes in Food for Life offer personal, often comic, glimpses into the lives of lesbian and gay celebrities and public figures. They share foibles and successes, memories of childhood and family. Some recount culinary seductions. They are meant to entertain, to arouse hunger and other passions, to titilate and amuse, to inspire. Food for Life offers hope and nourishment--which nurture both body and soul.
All royalties generated from the sale of this book are donated to organizations providing meals to people with AIDS.
"Between its creative food ideas and its contributors' personal reminisces, Food for Life is to be highly recommended."--The Advocate
Featuring recipes from:
Boy Meets Boy
St. Martin's Press
forthcoming 1999
This collection of playful anecdotes by gay writers covers the full spectrum of men meeting each other and falling in love or lust, exploring what the term "dating" really means, and how this meaning is different for almost everyone. Whether tales of blind dates, love at first sight, one-night stands and tricks on the road, these personal essays will entertain and delight, amuse and astonish, sometimes leaving the reader wincing in recognition of a shared horrible experience or sighing with wistful memory and envy of such earthly bliss.
Features:
Things Invisible to See: Gay and Lesbian Tales of Magic Realism
(See above)
Tarot Fantastic
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
DAW Books
ISBN: 0-88677-729-1
1997
Sixteen tales of futures revealed through the magic of the Tarot deck, from writers including:
The Fortune Teller
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
DAW Books
ISBN: 0-88677-748-8
1997
Contains the story "The Oracle Lips" by Storm Constantine, shortlisted for the James Tiptree Jr. Award!
It's so easy to scoff at all fortune tellers as charlatans and fakes, but it's also hard to keep from wondering "what if one of them actually could see the future?" In these seventeen pieces, writers explore this very question through a variety of different types of divination, from crystal balls to the reading of entrails.
Contains work from:
Camelot Fantastic
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
DAW Books
ISBN: 0-88677-790-9
1998
Explore the realm of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in these all-original novelettes from:
The American Vampire Series
Blood Lines: Vampire Stories from New England
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
Cumberland House
ISBN: 1-888952-50-4
1997
Contains work from:
Southern Blood: Vampire Stories from The American South
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
Cumberland House
ISBN: 1-888952-49-0
1997
Contains work from:
Fields of Blood: Vampire Stories from the American Heartland
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
Cumberland House
ISBN: 1888952792
1998
Contains work from:
Streets of Blood: Vampire Stories from New York City
Co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg
Cumberland House
ISBN: 1888952784
1998
Contains work from:
My own vampire stories can be found in three of the above anthologies: Blood Lines ("Secret Societies"), Southern Blood ("The Scent of Magnolias," with Billie Sue Mosiman), and Streets of Blood ("Appetites"). There are also three vampire stories in my collection The Drag Queen of Elfland ("Black Sounds", "Hemo Homo", and "Femme-de-siecle"). Other vampire stories of mine appear in the anthologies The Time of the Vampire ("Black Sounds"), 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories ("Exodus"), Weird Tales from Shakespeare ("Swear Not By the Moon"), The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories ("Hemo Homo"), and Dark Angels ("Femme-de-siecle").
Readers can also find vampire stories in some of my other anthologies. Pat Calfia has a vampire tale, "The Wolf is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want," in Switch Hitters. Tanya Huff has a vampire story, "The Cards Also Say," featuring her popular detective Vicki Nelson, in The Fortune Teller.
I'm currently STILL working on The Erotic Writer's Market Guide, along with Rachel Kramer Bussel, to be published by Circlet Press after it's finished. If you are an editor or publisher who wishes to be included you may contact me at PO Box 528, NYC 10011 with more details about your publication and a sample copy.
I moved to Madrid on January 11, 1999, so I'm perforce not going to be doing many bookstore and other events, at least in the US, for the foreseeable future.
Some recent interviews with me have appeared in the magazines:
I'm still finding my way around the web, so I haven't compiled a full set of links yet, but I will. In the meantime, here are a few interesting and useful sites.
Bookshops:
A Different Light Bookstore My favorite gay and lesbian bookstore, but I'm a little biased, since I sometimes work there...
Librer�a Berkana Gay and lesbian bookshop in Madrid
Librer�a El Cobertizo Gay and lesbian bookshop in Valencia
Science Fiction and fantasy:
Locus The Newsmagazine of Science Fiction, with one of the best SF bibliographies online--they list things I'd forgotten I'd published (and sometimes, wish everyone else had forgotten, too!)
BEM The best source for Spanish-language science fiction news.
Queer Science Fiction:
Lambda SF The Washington, D.C. branch of the Gaylaxian network, with a useful booklist.
The James Tiptree Award Annual award for writing which explores and expands gender notions in SF.
