Fifty Ways of Saying Fabulous by Graeme Aitken

Fifty Ways of Saying Fabulous

Graeme Aitken

A warm, funny read about growing up gay in rural New Zealand. How could anyone resist a book with such a good title? And that's before you've discovered the cow's tail hairpiece.

Extract
'What's that you've got hanging down your back?' demanded Arch Sampson as soon as I got onto the school bus.
It's my hair,' I replied demurely.
I was about to instruct Arch to call me Judy, when he yanked the cow's tail out from under my hat and waved it in my face. 'Are you trying to be a girl?' Arch said, in a loud voice.

Several people turned round to stare at me. Behind me, I could hear the Hammer brothers snickering together. I suddenly realised that was exactly what I was doing, though it hadn't occurred to me quite so bluntly until then. Now that Arch had put a name to my behaviour, I understood that it probably wasn't the fun that I thought it had been. It was something to be ashamed of.

Parallels
  • Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
  • As Queer as Folk - TV series