Whether you prefer fiction, non-fiction, celebrities or even cookbooks, there are plenty of options to fill your fall LGBT reading list. Some are newly out this season, while others debuted earlier this year.

Novel thoughts

• Picking up where “Captain Harding’s Six-Day War” left off, the period gay romance “Captain Harding and His Men” (Lethe Press, 2012) by Atlanta author Elliott Mackle follows more of Harding’s “adventures and misadventures” in a military setting.

• Arriving on bookshelves around the same time that the similarly-themed NBC sitcom “The New Normal” makes its debut, Michael Lowenthal’s “The Paternity  Test” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012) explores gay fatherhood and  surrogate motherhood.

• Acclaimed gay novelist Joseph Olshan returns with the Vermont-set thriller “Cloudland” (Minotaur, 2012), a modern-day “crime novel” about a serial killer and the 19th century English novelist Wilkie Collins.

Many queer voices

• The essay anthology “Love, Christopher Street” (Vantage Point, 2012), edited by Thomas Keith, is the latest installment in the Lammy Award-winning series and features contributions from Thomas Glave, Jewelle Gomez, Aaron Hamburger, Michael  Musto, Charlie Vazquez, Bob Smith, Felice Picano, Fay Jacobs and Kathleen  Warnock, among others.

• Edited by Keith Boykin, “For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough” (Magnus,  2012) is a response to Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem “For Colored Girls…” and  includes pieces by G. Winston James, Tim’m T. West, Emanuel Xavier,  James Earl Hardy and many more.
True stories

• A different kind of coming-out tale, “My Husband and My Wives: A Gay Man’s Odyssey” by Charles Rowan Beye (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), is the author’s personal, yet universal story of his journey of love and life through his marriages (to two different women and, ultimately, one man).

• Lesbian writer and activist Sarah Schulman details the “dawning of her consciousness of the Palestinian liberation struggle” in what is sure to be her most topical  book “Israel/Palestine and the Queer International” (Duke University Press, 2012).

• “Cobra Killer”  (Magnus, 2012) by Andrew E. Stoner and Peter A. Conway explores the brutal slaying of gay porn kingpin Bryan Kocis at the hands of rising gay porn-stars Harlan Cuadra and his partner Joe Kerkes in January 2007.

• “Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox” (Bloomsbury, 2012) by Lois Banner, delves into Marilyn Monroe’s lesbianism and her romantic dalliances with women, including acting coaches  Natasha Lytess and Constance Collier.

• Go rolling in the  deep with “Adele:  The Biography” (St. Martin’s Press, 2012) by Marc  Shapiro.

More than meets the eye

On first glance, Atlanta’s LGBT literary scene might appear chilly for fall. There will be no stand-alone Atlanta Queer Literary Festival this year, and the closure of Outwrite Bookstore still leaves a void for best-selling and up-and-coming LGBT authors alike.

Gay store Brushstrokes joined forces with nightclub Mixx to host a few gay author readings earlier this year, but nothing is currently scheduled for fall.

But lesbian-owned feminist bookstore Charis Books & More continues to offer a monthly calendar filled with writer’s groups, Cliterati spoken-word events on the third Thursdays, and readings from a wide variety of feminist and progressive writers.

Charis staff say events they are looking forward to this fall include a kickoff to Atlanta Pride with Queer BOIS (Oct. 11); the store’s 38th birthday celebration, complete with author readings, a sale, and a celebration of LGBT and civil rights activist Mandy Carter (Nov. 3); a reading by mystery/thriller writer Amanda Kyle Williams (Nov. 1); and a visit from novelist, “Steampunk Queen and queer fave” Cherie Priest (Nov. 29).

Major writers of LGBT interest also continue to visit Atlanta through local universities, independent bookstores and groups like the Georgia Center for the Book.

October, especially, packs a series of heavy hitters.  Authors Alice Walker and Pearl Cleage visit Emory University for a joint discussion of creativity (Oct. 2) and best-selling mystery writer Patricia Cornwell, who is openly lesbian, reads at the Carter Center (Oct. 19).

The month also features celebrated gay humorist David Sedaris at Symphony Hall (Oct. 27) and lesbian academic, art critic and all-around contrarian Camille Paglia at SCAD Atlanta  (Oct. 30).

In November, Charis joins the GA Center for the Book to co-host Emma Donoghue at the Decatur Public Library. (Nov. 29).

Top photo: Clockwise from top left: Elliott Mackle brings ‘Captain Harding and His Men’ this fall. Alice Walker speaks at Emory. Gay humorist David Sedaris plays Symphony Hall, Adele gets the bio treatment from Marc Shapiro and lesbian Patricia Cornwell reads at the Carter Center. (Photos via Facebook, Walker publicity photo)