Bringing together literary history, queer theory, and lived experience, Jaime Harker maps the shifting queer literary publishing landscape of the last thirty years, through the lens of being an English professor and lesbian feminist bookstore owner. To tell this story, Harker draws on interviews with lesbian writers, publishers, filmmakers, and book reviewers. She also incorporates elements of memoir, specifically her own experiences as the owner of Violet Valley Bookstore, near Oxford, Mississippi. Harker dives into the importance of genre fiction—erotica, pulp novels, even sci-fi—in queer lit history, while making space for new modes of literary production, including the rise of lesbian fanfic, self-publishing, and social media. All of this, Harker argues, has given rise to a queer literary renaissance and these genre books, often disrespected in mainstream book discourse, are central to queer writing.
