Sep 15, 2006  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

Autumn’s gray days and impending cold have a way of making the lure of a good book, a fire and a warm drink all the more appealing. This fall’s  gay literature tableau includes the usual handful of memoirs, but also delves into deeper political waters.

This month, lesbian film producer Christine Vachon’s book , “A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals & Disasters in Hollywood & Beyond” comes out. Vachon, who worked on films like “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Hedwig & the Angry Inch,” discusses, among other subjects, how sexual orientation affects the production of a film.

The editors of “From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up” promise that their collection of autobiographical vignettes will not be all coming-out stories.  With hot writers like Aaron Hamburger, K. M. Soehnlein and Alexander Chee, the book will hopefuly reach beyond the trite.

Mel White, author of “Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay & Christian in America,” has crafted a new book, “Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right,” about the threat he thinks fundamentalist Christians  pose to gays.

“The History of Swimming,” a  memoir by Kim Powers,  and “Wide Awake,” a teen novel by David Levithan about the turmoil that ensues when a gay Jew wins the presidential election, round out September’s publications. 

A gay man, Robert Rave, and his mother, Jane Rave, collaborated to write “Conversations & Cosmopolitans: How to Give Your Mother A Hangover.” This non-fiction work uses reproductions of letters and conversations between mother and son to show how their forged their adult relationship.

October brings a book by gay blogger Andrew Sullivan. “The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get it Back” examines current contradictions within  conservatism and suggests  a return to  a conservative agenda focused on small government.

Reichen Lehmkuhl, star of CBS reality show “The Amazing Race” and boyfriend of Lance Bass, has written an autobiography, “Here’s What We’ll Say: A Memoir of Growing Up, Coming Out & the U.S. Air Force”

“The House Beautiful” is what gay curmudgeon B.K. Troop names his haven for young artists in Allison Burnett’s  new novel by the same name.

Gay actor John Carlyle, an occasional lover of Judy Garland’s, has produced a novel named, no joke, “Under the Rainbow: An Intimate Memoir of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson & My Life in Old Hollywood.” Carlyle spills his guts about his relationships with Garland and trysts with hot Hollywood men, including Rock Hudson, Marlon Brando and James Dean.

Lesbians dominate  November’s gay offerings. Ali Liebegott unsheathes her first attempt at fiction, “The IHOP Papers.” The protagonist has fled her hometown for San Francisco and works at a pancake house while coming to grips with her sexual identity.

Queer writer Michelle Tea  has edited a collection of writings by other queer women in “Baby Remember My Name: An Anthology of New Queer Girl Writing.” The anthology’s contributions include  fiction, graphic novel excerpts and personal essays from the 22 authors.

The Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the world, finally has a book devoted solely to its history in “Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis & the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement.” Through extensive research and interviews, author Marcia M. Gallo traces the DOB’s role in founding the personal and public lesbian identity.