"Patrick Moore boldly argues that the promiscuous gay men of the 1970s were actually artists and that AIDS derailed an esthetic community and sexual adventure. This quietly personal book reclaims the past for young gay men and makes it useable."--Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story "A personal, tender, honest book about a past that can never be regained, but must not be forgotten." --Sarah Schulman, author of After Delores "Patrick Moore reminds us of the extravagant creativity of gay self-fashioning in the 1970s, in the hope that such historical awareness can help us bring about an extravagant, creative gay future."--Carolyn Dinshaw, Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality, New York University "Moore's exceptional study considers those men who fashioned an underground gay life that still resonates today."--Felice Picano, author of Like People In History and a founding member of the Violet Quill Club

All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted was a life beyond--beyond her stifling role as a prim and proper councilman's daughter, and beyond the walls of the patriarchal city of Eden, the only remnants of safety in a world destroyed by solar storms decades earlier. But when she's banished for violating the prohibition against immorality, she's unprepared for the lawless world outside the city's walls. The sectors surrounding Eden house those abandoned to fend for themselves--men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four's ruthless leader, and he'll defend the O'Kane gang with his life. But fighting hasn't prepared him for dealing with a sheltered City princess who falls at his feet. Her innocence is undeniable, but so is her intense sexual curiosity. Soon they're exploring every dark fantasy she's ever been ashamed to have. But if Noelle wants to claim her place with the O'Kanes and at Jas's side, she'll have to find the courage to embrace something even more terrifying than her own desires. Her own power. *** The Beyond Series is dystopian erotic romance. While the books explore kink and sex with multiple partners in a dark and decadent world, all sex between characters is 100% consensual.

In this ambitious new work, Dr. Jonathan Fast proposes a new way of understanding the bullying experience (of the bully, the bullied, and the bystander), via the lens of shame. Beyond Bullying posits that shame is the powerful emotion that is often at the heart of many of the dynamics classified as bullying. Shame is a common human emotion for which Fast establishes a hierarchy of reactions. The following is an example of "healthy shame": when 5-year-old Sam finger-paints on his plate with his mashed potatoes, his mother says "you won't be allowed to eat at the grownup table until you stop sticking your fingers in your food." The shame in this scenario is healthy because it encourages Sam to master skills that will make him more autonomous and socially appealing, compared to "toxic shame" that damages one's self-concept by critiquing what one is rather than what one does. The distinction can be seen in the example of a parent whose child constantly forgets to complete her homework. The parent who says "your mother and I expect you to study and get good grades" is employing healthy shame, while the parent who shouts in frustration and anger "you're so lazy! You'll never amount to anything!" is administering a dose of toxic shame, directed at his daughter's self-concept rather than that act of neglecting her homework. "Weaponized Shame," which forms the core focus of this book, is the intentional use of those attacks on another person's self-concept for the purpose of inflicting emotional and psychological harm. The premise of the book is that all bullying involves "weaponized shame." Through the use of Shame Maps, simple iconographic diagrams similar to the genograms used by family therapists, Dr. Fast visually represents the overlapping shame dynamics in play in many common interactions, emphasizing the use of weaponized shame in bullying situations. The Shame Maps provide a useful tool for parents, teachers, therapists, school mental-health professionals, and others to use when discussing bullying with children, adolescents, and other adults. Fast traces different nuances of shame dynamics through several common types of bullying, highlighting LGBTQ, gender, and race among other bases for bullying actions, before extending the analysis to terminal acts of violence including school shootings, terrorism, homicide, and suicide. The book will both give readers concrete suggestions for healthy ways to discharge shame and equip them with techniques to help diffuse potentially harmful situations before they lead to dangerous extremes. The author is developing an interactive companion website to the book that will allow visitors to create personal shame maps based on their own scenario, to help readers employ this tool in real-world situations.

Forgiveness, like apple pie, is something most people want more of, but few know how to achieve genuinely. This book will provide fresh ideas on how to appropriate more of this psychologically powerful commodity to a discouraged world.

In this real life story, Elaine, a youth justice worker, is forced to come to terms with her own perceived failures when two of her three children become involved in the justice system.She is compelled to travel back into her past to re-examine her personal battles in search of answers to questions that begin to haunt her, plunging her into deep depressive episodes and a minefield of self-doubt. Beyond the Shame focuses on this mother's emotionally charged journey in front of the bars which leads her to discover hidden inner strengths and a life's mission; bringing recognition to a growing issue that plagues far too many in our communities. As a result of her journey and mission to help others facing this difficult plight, she founded, TWRS - Together We R Strong, a community support group for families of children involved in the justice system.Her motto: Live, Learn, Rise! Live your life the best you can. Learn from your experiences and Rise above your challenges to become a stronger better you.

Do you feel that your problem is not what you do but who you are? caught in patterns of destructive relationships? that you never get enough affirmation? afraid you'll pass bad patterns along to your children? that God probably loves you less than others? If these questions fit you, you may be experiencing shame. Often shame comes from being raised in a family that has an impaired ability to provide its members with healthy nurturing. As a result, you carry emotional scars into adult life, longing for happiness but feeling unworthy of it. Sandra Wilson knows much about "shame-based" families--both from personal experience and from her years as a family therapist. Drawing from this background, she teaches you biblical principles that have helped her and many others work through painful issues and learn new, healthier ways to live. In this revised edition, Wilson also includes help for parents who want to break the intergenerational cycle of shame and give their children a "grace-based" foundation for life.

Weve lived for eons with a set of rules guiding how we have relationships with one another. These Old Rules have, without question, been inadvertently passed, without examination, from generation to generation by our families. Its past time to expose them to the light of day. Why? Together, these Old Rules create a toxic environment we accept as inviolate. We struggle against others and against ourselves, not realizing that the shame-based Old Rules hold us back from being who we are meant to be and doing what we are meant to do. When feelings of undeserved shame (something is wrong with us) become part of how we think of ourselves, two things are true: 1) our true selves become more defended and less available to ourselves and others, and 2) we become more easily manipulated to serve someone elses needs in ways that are not in our best interests. That sense of shame and the Old Rules reinforce each other. One look at them and its easy to see how they make it difficult to have healthy relationships. They are definitely not conducive to happiness. We know better. We just need to know how to do better, one rule at a time. Unmasking and replacing Old Rules with even one of the New Rules begins to change everything Change the rules, change the game.