Michael Thomas Ford
Michael Thomas Ford is an American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series of comedic essay collections and for his award-winning novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, and What We Remember.
Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books for both young readers and adults. He is best known for his best-selling novels Last Summer, Looking for It, and Full Circle and for his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. His work has been nominated for eleven Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and twice for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award.
Career
1990s
Ford began his writing career in 1992 with the publication of 100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now, one of the first books about the AIDS crisis for young adults. Named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, the book became a widely used resource in HIV education programs for young people and was translated into more than a dozen languages.The follow-up to that book, The Voices of AIDS, was a collection of interviews with people whose lives have been affected by the AIDS crisis.
Ford's next book, 1996's The World Out There: Becoming Part of the Lesbian and Gay Community, was a handbook for people coming out and wanting to know what it means to be part of the queer world. It earned him his first Lambda Literary Award nomination in the YA category.
1998 saw the release of two books, the first being Out Spoken, a collection of interviews with gay and lesbian people that was again aimed at young adults. Ford's second book to come out that year was Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, the first of what has come to be known as the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. The book received a Lambda Literary Award for Best Humor Book, winning out over titles by lesbian comic Kate Clinton, columnist Dan Savage, and cartoonist Alison Bechdel.
In 1998 he began recording his weekly radio show for the Gay BC Radio Network.
2000s
The third in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series, It's Not Mean If It's True, was published in 2000.An audio recording. My Queer Life, in which Ford read pieces from his three essay collections, was released in 2000. The recording also contained two songs from "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me," a musical project for which Ford wrote the lyrics and performed the narration.
In December 2000 Ford published Paths of Faith: Conversations about Religion and Spirituality. Written for ages 12 up, the book was a collection of interviews with leaders from a range of spiritual traditions.
This Queer Life, a stage production written by Ford, premiered at the Loring Playhouse in Minneapolis in 2002.
Works
Adult Novels
Last Summer, Kensington BooksLooking For It, Kensington BooksFull Circle Changing Tides Jane Bites Back, BallantineWhat We Remember, Kensington BooksThe Road Home, Kensington BooksNovellas and Short Stories
- "Night of the Werepussy", included in Queer Fear IISting, included in the book Masters of MidnightMidnight Thirsts, Kensington Books
Young Adult Novels
Suicide Notes, HarperCollins- "Every Star That Falls", Sequel to Suicide Notes
Nonfiction
100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now, MacmillanThe Voices of AIDS, William MorrowThe World Out There: Becoming Part of the Lesbian and Gay Community, The New PressOut Spoken, William MorrowPaths of Faith: Conversations about Religion and Spirituality, Simon & SchusterUltimate Gay Sex The Path of the Green Man: Gay Men, Wicca, and Living a Magical Life, Citadel PressCollections and Essays
Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, Alyson BooksThat's Mr. Faggot to You, Alyson BooksIt's Not Mean If It's True, Alyson BooksThe Little Book of Neuroses- ''My Big, Fat, Queer Life''
Awards
The Voices of AIDS : National Science Teachers Association-Children's Book Council Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children; Booklist magazine Editors' ChoiceThe World Out There: Becoming Part of the Lesbian and Gay Community : Firecracker Alternative Book Award nominationOut Spoken : National Council of Social Studies-Children's Book Council Notable Children's Book in the field of Social Studies; Booklist magazine "Top of the List" selectionPaths of Faith: Conversations about Religion and Spirituality : Booklist magazine Top 10 Religion Book of the Year; Booklist Editors' Choice "Top of the List" selection for YA Nonfiction; New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.- "Night of the Werepussy", was nominated for a Gaylactic Spectrum Award for best short fiction.
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults
100 Questions & Answers about AIDS: What You Need to Know Now- ''The Voices of AIDS''
Lambda Literary Award
The World Out There: Becoming Part of the Lesbian and Gay Community Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me Out Spoken That's Mr. Faggot to You It's Not Mean If It's True The Little Book of Neuroses Masters of Midnight My Big, Fat, Queer Life- ''What We Remember''