Why is That Goddamned Radio On?

<p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Integrating memoir and fiction </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Why is that Goddamned Radio On?</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> is Jim Cory's answer to what has been asked of him. Cory offers deeply personal histories of music art and queer life that contemplate the roots of the poetic pulling the reader through time and place. Returning often to Philadelphia in the 1980s and 90s these essays and stories reflect on family relationships and the mysteries of the city he found a home in.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>This lively collection of memoir essays and autobiographical fiction covers everything from gay bars to bird-watching to family to all kinds of music and queens of all varieties. Jim Cory has written a one-man history of gay life over several decades: friendly literate raunchy and surprising.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>- </span><strong style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Chris Bram</strong><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> author of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Gods and Monsters</em></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Jim Cory's fictions are accretions of quiet wisdom and shrewd observations. Elegantly written they are witty slyly humorous and unfailingly urbane. Readers who appreciate Cory as a consummate poet will be delighted to discover he's also a consummate storyteller.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>- </span><strong style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Vincent Czyz</strong><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> author of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Christos Mosaic </em></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Jim Cory's short stories have the meticulous craftsmanship and precise detail of the best nonfiction. His essays have the depth expanse and imagination of fine fiction. His dialogue is by turns hilarious moving and exasperatingly true. Why is that Goddamn Radio On? is a treasure house of a book I'll return to often.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>- </span><strong style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Felice Picano</strong><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> author of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Justify My Sins </em></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Travels fluidly through time space and various aesthetic and affective dimensions. </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Why is that Goddamn Radio On? </em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>gives me an experience of time landscape and relationship that is kind of like talking to Jim. An aging queen telling stories. Observation of self and other that share the same bitchy accuracy. A document of queer life in Philadelphia that begins before AIDS and before gentrification and travels in loops of time and loss.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>- </span><strong style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Marion Bell</strong><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> author of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Austerity</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p>