Our pal John Polly sat down with author/Broadway mainstay Seth Rudetsky for the next installment of the OutFirst Authors series, which focuses on LGBT writers.

Seth is on the slab thanks to his novel Broadway Nights, which tells the story of a Broadway piano substitute and all his fabulous (and tragic) run-ins. Seth is releasing a brand-new audiobook of the novel stuffed with Broadway talent (ranging from Kristin Chenoweth, Jonathan Groff, Richard Kind, and ... his mother?) and he's got lots of dish to spill on it.

Check it all out, after the break!

Brian Sloan, author of A Really Nice Prom Mess (SimonPulse), recently spoke with several out gay authors about their prom night experiences. He's graciously agreed to blog about it.

Like seeing the first robin of spring, I have recently spotted those super-sized Hummer limos tearing around the city with girls shrieking out the sunroofs as guys in ill-fitting tuxes puke out the window. Yes…it’s prom season again!

The main feeling I have when I see these kids reveling in their “big night” is a wave of relief that comes with the realization that I’ll never have to go through that uniquely American right of passage again. Prom night is a fraught experience for the average male but, if you’re a gay man, you can then add a whole additional level of anxiety and awkwardness to a night that’s already filled with it. Prom night is often billed as a night to remember but, for the gays, it’s often one that we’d rather forget.

As someone who has written a bit about the high school years, I thought it would be interesting to see what other writer’s experiences of prom was like. In my survey, I heard more stories of survival more than trauma. It seemed that showing up and getting through the night was more the norm. Which is not to say it was easy.

“It was not really a positive experience,” says novelist Alexander Chee, who wrote Edinburgh (Picador). “It was one of those things where you realize you’re gay and you’re participating in this ritual that isn’t really designed for you to be there.”

Alexander Chee

Alex’s prom night was memorable but for reasons not so fondly recalled. “My date for the evening went off to make out with one of my best friends,” he says laughing. “What was so ironic is that I thought it was exciting that someone wanted to make out with her.”

More gay authors share their prom stories after the break!

You may have noticed that the lead book in this month's gay book review roundup is gay author Augusten Burroughs' A Wolf at the Table (the follow-up to the highly successful Running With Scissors).

Our own John Polly had the chance to sit down with the author for an exclusive chat, in which Burroughs dishes on the current state of the memoir, his favorite television show, and what makes his new book different from what fans of Scissors might expect.

If you'd like to buy the audio version of A Wolf at the Table visit Logo's (AfterElton.com's parent company) Out First Authors or visit Audible.com.

Check it all out after the break!

Horror author Rick R. Reed has been thrilling gay fans of the genre for years, with his Twisted Tales of Obsession and Deadly Vision. Rick has hit every spine tingling nerve for gay men. His most recent efforts included the vampire yarn In the Blood and the serial killer spine tingler IM, which is about gay men being stalked in sex chat rooms. Let’s check in with Rick, if you dare…..

AfterElton.com: What first made you realize you were into horror?
Rick R. Reed: God is Dead. Roman Polanski used a shot of this TIME magazine cover in Rosemary's Baby and it's really a frightening thought. I think horror, boiled down to its purest essence, is all about death, which is unrivaled as a basic human fear. And horror is all about fear.

AE: Give us your thoughts on why you think gay guys like horror.
RRR: In every horror story, there are outsiders (whether they're victims, heroes, or protagonists) and I think, for a very long time, gay people in general can strongly identify with an outsider. Horror usually gives us more outsiders than other genres, so I can see this as one reason for the appeal to gay audiences. For example, in my book IM, which is about a serial killer preying on gay men via internet hookup sites, many readers have identified with the very basic terror of the book: which is the danger we expose ourselves to when we invite complete strangers into our homes, something many of us, myself included, have done. The internet has facilitated this behavior. Besides playing on the "outsider" theme in victims, hero, and villain, IM also explores the dark side of anonymous hook ups and gives the reader a chance to see the bad end some of us come to, and how some of us escape it.

AE: Speaking of which, IM really hits the horror genre close to home for gays.
RRR: Right, IM, almost inadvertently hit a very responsive chord with gay men, many of whom now find sexual and romantic partners via the internet, which is a very widespread--and very modern--way of meeting. But the real horror at the heart of the book is that a monster has gotten inside your house and maybe what makes that even more horrific is that this modern resource (the 'net) has allowed you to invite that monster in yourself.

AE: Chicago is the backdrop for most of your novels, why is Chi town spooky & gay?
RRR: I set a lot of my stories in Chicago because I lived there for a good part of my adult life (I just moved to Miami about a year and a half ago). It's a great city for horror stories because it has its own history of horror replete with hauntings, great crime tales, and the moody, ever changing backdrop that both the tough urban landscape and the lake provide. Why is Chicago gay? Need you ask? (laughs)

AE: Which known horror figure would you most like to have a fling with?
RRR: Well, certainly not Timothy Bright, from IM! The obvious choice to go with Anne Rice's Lestat. He's so dark, handsome, and romantic. You just know he'd be a very slow, deliberate lover.

Log on to find out more about “Scary Rick” at his Myspace page or official site.

Gay teen fiction goes goth!

Gay teen fiction just keeps getting better and better — and increasingly diverse! And what's more appropriate for Halloween than a gay teen ghost story? We recently caught up with Steve Berman, the author of Vintage, a creepy yet somehow sweet book that is currently making a splash in the ever-expanding pool of gay teen lit.

AfterElton.com: So a gay ghost story! What was the inspiration?

Steve Berman: Back in '97, I was in L.A. on a freelance gig and met this goth boy. We did the number/e-mail exchange, so back in New Jersey, I started writing a story that I thought he'd like to read. The opening scene in the graveyard in the book is very close to what I wrote a decade ago.

AE: I've been saying for a while now that the next wave of gay teen lit will be "genre" books — mysteries and fantasies and ghost stories, but ones that feature gay teen characters. And here you are! Was this conscious on your part, a way to write something fresh? Have you been a fan of this genre all along?

SB: I've always been a fan of speculative fiction — fantasy, horror, scifi. I wrote and sold genre stories before I ever wrote anything gay. I'm actually a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. These days I love combining queer and fantastical elements in fiction. And, yeah, I agree that gay readers are really hungry for stories that aren't just about coming out or being the outsider.

I have been living under a rock! Yesterday’s Boston Globe has an interview with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s hunky landscaper/designer Eduardo Xol (pronounced “soul”), which mentions, among many things, his status as one of Mexico’s first openly gay pop stars back in the 90’s.

I didn’t even know he was Mexican, let alone a pop star, not to mention gay. However, a quick look-up on the internet reveals that I’m the only who didn’t get the memo. Oh what I’ve been missing.

The main focus of the interview is Xol’s recently published book Home Sense: Simple Solutions to Enhance Where and How You Live, in which he advises the reader on how to decorate their environment in way that stimulates all the senses.

It also covers his circuitous route to becoming a designer. After working as an actor and model in Mexico, the Los Angeles born Xol went on to become a successful Latin Pop Star, and an openly gay one at that. In fact, he was often referred to as the “gay Ricky Martin.” (Okay, you can stop snickering now.) After burning out on the music scene he discovered his love of landscape design, which eventually lead to a successful landscaping business and then to Extreme Makeover.

Those of you with clue (unlike me) may have caught him at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards in L.A., where he and Wilson Cruz presented an award to Los Angeles based La Opinion for Outstanding Spanish Language Newspaper Coverage. During their segment Xol planted a kiss on the clearly enamored Cruz after he commented that Xol was “so big!” (He was talking about his height…seriously, genug with the snickering already. I have a picture to prove it).

I’ve also thrown in the cover of one his more successful albums looking appropriately pop star-ish (and disturbingly similar to David "Bud Bundy" Faustino). Enjoy!

The scamps over at World of Wonder recently featured an interview with club legend/author/culture critic/former Ketamine repository James St. James, whose new semi-autobiographical teen novel Freak Show hits shelves next month.

I've always been taken by James's wit and charm (his book Disco Bloodbath, upon which the Party Monster movies were based, is absolutely brilliant) and it's always nice to see him going on about this and that, especially when he has had what appears to be a few mimosas.

In the interview, James discusses the book (which is about a future drag legend growing up in a conservative American town, of course), how he was approached to do it by the publisher, and the leaps and bounds that he feels are being made when it comes to the acceptance of gay youth in our culture today. I seriously would love to agree with him.

(READ MORE for the zany interview clip!)