Paul Thorn wrote this collection of columns in Gay Times between 2004-07 and I remember avidly looking forward to each one of them. He is a brilliant columnist and manages to inform, delight, freak out, interest and make you laugh in equal measure. He is also the master of the studied understated darkness and although he lightens it with his sparking and lethal wit, these are real stories with real peoples lives and deaths included.

This complete  collection works it way through from the start to the (un)finish of the columns, building up and referring back and fore to previous sections, it’s as complex, rich and honest as a personal diary in parts and as laugh out loud as a farce in others. The seriousness of this subject has brought out the best in Thorn and I had to limit myself to a chapter or two at each reading in case I zipped through it too fast.

It’s a pocket sized book and each perfect framed column starts with a quote or question that Thorn then ponders on, be it safe sex, being positive, love, food, drugs, panic or death there’s nowhere he won't go, nothing he doesn’t reveal and his challenging, provocative and meaningful wiring should be a must for all gay men, particularly anyone involved in the AIDS industries.

More on Paul here: 
www.paulthornwriting.co.uk

This is a warm and positive collection of writing about being HIV positive today.

Out now £6.95


From the publishers www.lulu.com


Or from all good bookshops.