Presents an anthology of the best literary essays published in the past year, selected from American periodicals.

"OutWrite: The Speeches that Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture gathers twenty-seven speeches from the eight national OutWrite conferences held between 1990 and 1999. OutWrite conferences played a crucial role in defining, expanding, and amplifying LGBTQ literary culture by bringing together LGBTQ writers of the 1990s in raucous events highlighted by keynote addresses, plenary sessions, and workshops coupled late nights of drinking, dancing, hook ups,...

The Princess in Black takes a vacation: After battling monsters all night, a sleepy Princess in Black decides that she needs a vacation. After all, the Goat Avenger, a new hero who looks oddly familiar, has offered to protect the goats while she takes a much needed break. The very next day Princess Magnolia rides her bicycle to the seaside, where the air is salty, the sun is shiny, and the sea is as blue as monster fur. But just as Princess Magnolia...

"A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father's death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance...

"A collection of stories that any reader can appreciate during an unprecedented time frame of formative years in a suburb of New York City" --