A warped look at a fin de siècle world of 1990s pop culture where nothing is quite as straight — or gay — as it seems.
It’s a Queer World, based on Mark Simpson’s monthly columns of the same name for Attitude magazine, turned out to be both a valedictory for the 20th century and something of a prophetic text for the post-sexual sexed-up 21st century we’re now browsing in.
First published 1996 by Vintage, UK (1999, Haworth US). Now available in a slightly slimmed-down 2014 Kindle edition.
“With wicked, wacky humour, this book is one of the most entertaining ever written on popular culture and sexuality” — GT Magazine
“An acerbic delight from cover to cover.… Simpson excels at casting a cynical gaze over British and American pop culture with hilarious results. Bitchy yet pithy is a rare combination to pull off, but Mark Simpson has it in buckets.”” – Bay Windows
“You’d have to be a chronic depressive not to laugh.” — New Statesman & Society
“Brilliant… seriously funny.” — Scotland on Sunday
“Mark Simpson is one of the brightest writers around, as this collection amply proves.” – Time Out
“May bring a tear to your eye.” — Irish Gay Community News
“Erudite, incisive, sassy… fresh, hilarious.” — Publishers Weekly“Spunky.” — Lambda Book Report
“The literary equivalent of a very dry martini imbibed at high altitude. Giddy, ginny cynicism at its best.” — Glenn Belverio
“Simpson at his scathing and irrepressible best… a fierce analytic intelligence, a zippy and incisive way with words and an inexhaustible sense of adventure.” — Dr David Halperin