* An anthology of essays edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, the Lambda Literary Award-winning novelist/essayist. Mattilda's most recent book, The Freezer Door (semiotext(e)) was published in 2020 and is going into a second printing after 2 months. Arsenal published her most recent novel, Sketchtasy , in 2018. She has also edited three anthologies, all of which have sold over 10,000 copies. * 2021 marks the 40th anniversary since AIDS was formally recognized by medical professionals in the U.S., yet the trauma of the epidemic still lingers. The essays in this book are by those who grew up during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s, which resulted in gay sex being demonized and surrounded by the spectre of death.

These essays are personal responses and memoirs, and include the perspectives from trans, Black, Latinx, sex worker, and prisoner communities. * In Mattilda's own words: "When the story of AIDS is told, usually we hear about two generations: the first, those who came of age in the era of gay liberation, and then experiencing the crisis first-hand as they watched friends die of a mysterious illness while the government did nothing to intervene. And then there are today's young people, growing up in an era that offers effective treatment and prevention, yet who are unable to comprehend the magnitude of the loss. We are told that these two generations cannot possibly understand one another, and thus they remain alienated from both the past and the future. But there is another generation between these two - one that grew up in the midst of the epidemic, haunted by the specter of certain death. This is my generation--we grew up with AIDS suffusing desire, and internalized the trauma as part of becoming queer. This book is their story." * Mattilda is beloved in the US queer literary community - an activist whose literary work has always been grounded in social and political issues.

As a result, this book is being talked about as an important new contribution to the AIDS literary canon. * Alyson Sinclair of Nectar Literary is overseeing publicity. She previously worked on the campaign for Mattilda's 2018 novel Sketchtasy . * There will be a number of events featuring Mattilda and selected contributors in cities across the US (at this time, these events are likely to be online). * A blurb has already been received from Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show , a history of ACT UP New York being published by FSG in spring 2021. Other blurbs being considered by Dean Spade, Edmund White, Carmen Maria Machado, Jeremy O. Harris and Steven Thrasher.