The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries 1975-2010 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590213386 ISBN 13: 9781590213384

Publisher: White Crane Books, 2011

Synopsis

The most valuable possession a people have is their story...their history. Many years in the making, with over fifty contributors from around the world, The Fire in the Moonlight is the first anthology of its kind. Beginning with Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter in the nineteenth century and moving through the liberation movements of the late twentieth, Dancing in the Moonlight speculates far into the twenty-first. It offers a timely compendium of culture wisdom, provocative wit and challenging sensuality. Dancing in the Moonlight gives witness to a groundbreaking movement that painstakingly emerged from the Gay Liberation era. Rooted in the history of radical visionaries, this little known, essential community informs the modern world with new meaning, offering fresh definitions of faith, identity, purpose and gender. Fire in the Moonlight is a series of personal reflections on who the Radical Faeries are, where they've been and where they are going: Radical Faeries in their own words. It is about how a movement has changed lives--and how Radical Faeries contribute to healing a fractured Earth.

About this title

Review

Mark Thompson's latest anthology, The Fire in Moonlight (White Crane), is a collection of first person accounts of the Harry Hay-inspired Radical Faerie movement. Hay, a co-founder of the Mattachine Society, joined forces with Don Kilhefner and Mitch Walker to start the Faerie movement in order to add a spiritual dimension to the (often dry) nuts and bolts world of emerging gay politics.

Inspired in part by the writings of Edward Carpenter and the Calamus poems of Walt Whitman, Hay saw the homosexual as much more than a creature fighting for rights in a hostile society. The homosexual, according to Hay, was a multidimensional being with roots in the mythic, a sort of alien spirit with special healing gifts for the world. --Lambda Literary Review

Thirty-five years after Harry Hay and the founding of the Radical Faeries comes this part-history, part-anthology collection of stories by current and past members of the group. With homage to Walt Whitman and his Calamus poems, the history part of the book is interesting and gives multiple perspectives of the rocky road to its current incarnation.

The personal stories include first-time gathering experiences, sexual encounters, participating in the heart circle and mysticism of finding one's self. Philadelphia's own Chris Bartlett (The Lady Bartlett) writes an insightful short regarding the difference between joining and belonging in the Radical Faeries. Other contributors engage the reader with poetry, historic personal narratives, humorous incidents and tales of unrequited love.

The Fire in Moonlight is an excellent reference for anyone who has little or no knowledge of the faerie background and will delight anyone familiar with the group or a current participant. But don't expect the book to give you insight into who the members of the Radical Faeries are, what the collective consciousness means to them or any member's reason for belonging; that answer lies within the individual and must be found through the experience. --The Philadelphia Gay News

Edition details

• Publisher: White Crane Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1590213386
• ISBN 13: 9781590213384
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Mark Thompson