Desire Lines
Cary Alan Johnson
"A riveting, lyrical tale about a Black gay man’s unflinching odyssey during a cultural upheaval." - Kirkus (starred review)
In this raw and revelatory debut novel, Desire Lines is a journey through gay New York in the 1980s—the sex, the drugs, and the trauma of AIDS—from the fresh perspective of a young Black man coming of age. The novel explores African American queer identity in Africa and examines the intensity of relationships between gay men and our female friends. An unflinching and passionate look at a moment in American history marked equally by dramatic devastation and fierce determination, Desire Lines confronts the shame too often associated with our desires and pulls us back from that awful abyss.
About the Author
Cary Alan Johnson is an author, activist, and Africanist raised in Brooklyn and currently living in Central Africa. A long-time innovator in national and international queer politics and cultural activism, he was a founder of several groundbreaking organizations, including the Blackheart Collective, Gay Men of African Descent, Other Countries, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. A public health and HIV specialist, Cary is currently the country director for Population Services International in Burundi, Africa. Visit him online at caryalanjohnson.com
Cary Alan Johnson is an author, activist, and Africanist raised in Brooklyn.
“… unflinchingly charts the journey of a gay Black man at a crucial moment when the allure of drugs and sex created dangerous possibilities.”—John Rechy, author of City of Night
In Desire Lines, a Black teenager growing up gay in Brooklyn is captivated by a vision of life on the other side of the river, where the sparkle and glitter of Manhattan beckon. Coming into adulthood, he finds himself living in a five-floor walk-up in Hell’s Kitchen just as the AIDS epidemic is hitting the city.
We follow him and his group of friends as they experience the first wave of illness and death, and then accompany him on a two-year journey to Zaire, Central Africa, where he must confront corruption and homophobia in new and unexpected ways. Back in New York, he and his best friend—a biracial straight woman—try to find their place in a rapidly changing and increasingly perilous city that threatens to destroy first their friendship, and then the narrator himself.
At once graphic, intimate, and harrowing, Desire Lines is a roller coaster journey through gay New York in the 1980s—the sex, the drugs, and the trauma of AIDS—a moment marked equally by dramatic devastation and the fierce determination to survive.
