A Happy New Year to all the supporters of Queercents! We’ll be back tomorrow with our regular scheduled programming. In the meantime, Kensington Books provided us with four titles from its Gay and Lesbian section to giveaway to our readers and contributors. Each book is a gay-themed work of fiction and has absolutely nothing to do with personal finance. But I have one of each title to giveaway for free and free is a nice way to kick off 2009.

Besides, you have all year to read the latest nonfiction money books… several of which I’ll be reviewing on Queercents. But this holiday weekend, take a breather and escape with one of these titles by telling me why you need a break from all the financial talk! Be sure and let me know which book you’d prefer to read and I’ll try to accommodate your preference if your comment is one of the worthy ones. I’ll divvy up the four books come Monday morning ‘“ January 5, 2009.

Here are the titles:

The World Of Normal Boys by K.M. Soehnlein
In his stunning debut novel, The World Of Normal Boys, K.M. Soehnlein captures the spirit of a generation and an era, embodied in the haunting, unstoppable voice of thirteen-year-old Robin MacKenzie, a modern-day Holden Caulfield, whose struggle for a place in the world is as ferocious as it is real.

The time is the late 1970s’”an age of gas shortages, head shops, and Saturday Night Fever. The place, suburban New Jersey. At a time when the teenagers around him are coming of age, Robin MacKenzie is coming undone. Continue reading at Kenningston Books.

Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford
In novels such as Last Summer and Looking For It, Michael Thomas Ford has honestly and lovingly explored the intimate details of gay men’s lives, from hot sex and lasting relationships to friendship and the search for family. Now he’s crafted his most extraordinary novel yet, a powerful saga of three friends and lovers whose story spans decades and whose bonds have finally come Full Circle.

History professor Ned Brummel is living happily with his partner of twelve years in small-town Maine when he receives a phone call from his estranged friend’”Jack’”telling him that another friend’”Andy’”is very ill and possibly near death. It is news that shatters the peace of his world for many reasons. Continue reading at Kensington Books.

The Brothers Bishop by Bart Yates
Tommy and Nathan Bishop are as different as two brothers can be. Carefree and careless, Tommy is the golden boy who takes men into his bed with a seductive smile and turns them out just as quickly. No one can resist him’”and no one can control him, either. That salient point certainly isn’t lost on his brother. Nathan is all about control. At thirty-one, he is as dark and complicated as Tommy is light and easy, and he is bitter beyond his years. While Tommy left for the excitement of New York City, Nathan has stayed behind, teaching high school English in their provincial hometown, surrounded by the reminders of their ruined family history and the legacy of anger that runs through him like a scar. Continue reading at Kensington Books.

The Screwed Up Life Of Charlie The Second by Drew Ferguson
Being Charles James Stewart, Jr., AKA Charlie the Second, means never ‘œfitting in.’ Tall, gangly and big-eared, he could be a poster boy for teenage geeks. An embarrassment to his parents (he’s not too crazy about them, either), Charlie is a virtual untouchable at his high school, where humiliation is practically an extracurricular activity. Charlie has tried to fit in, but all of his efforts fail on a glorious, monumental scale. He plays soccer’”mainly to escape his home life’”but isn’t accepted by his teammates who basically ignore him on the field. He still confuses the accelerator with the brake pedal and as a result, has not only failed his driving exam six times, but also almost killed himself and his driving instructor. He can’t work on his college essay without writing a searing tell-all. But what’s freaking Charlie out the most is that while his hormones are raging and his peers are pairing off, he remains alone with his fantasies.

But all of this is about to change when a new guy at school begins to liven things up on the soccer team’”and in Charlie’s life. Continue reading at Kensington Books.

And remember; comment below if you’d like a little escapist fiction.

Here’s to a more prosperous 2009! Happy New Year!

Images credit: Kensington Books.