Read it with a spritzer in hand. Just don’t ask it to pick up the dry cleaning.
Here’s an interesting, slightly satirical yet thoughtful review of Drake Von S. Mace Brown’s “Just the Gays -1- Lifestyle and Entertainment” : A Glitter Bomb Wrapped in a Sociology Thesis Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 rainbow flags) Drake Von fucks Mace Brown - Just the Gays -1-
The book has a serious identity crisis. Is it a zine? A coffee table book for the woke? A burner account come to life? Sometimes Brown’s wit outpaces his point, leaving you with a one-liner that fizzles instead of lands. And the “-1-” in the title hints at a series, but this volume feels so self-contained that you’re not sure if Volume 2 will be a deep dive into lesbian folk music or just 80 pages of gay thirst tweets. Read it with a spritzer in hand
Let’s be honest: when a book’s title includes “Just the Gays -1-,” you half expect a chaotic mixtape of RuPaul’s drag race recaps, brunch recipes, and passive-aggressive texts from an ex named Chad. But Drake Von S. Mace Brown delivers something far more audacious: a semi-ironic, deeply earnest, and wildly entertaining dive into queer lifestyle media as if it’s a newly discovered continent. Mace Brown’s “Just the Gays -1- Lifestyle and
Brown writes like a gay anthropologist who’s had three martinis—sharp, winking, but surprisingly rigorous. “Just the Gays” isn’t a history book, nor a memoir, nor a manifesto. It’s a collage . One chapter breaks down the coded language of vintage LGBTQ+ personals; the next ranks the top five Cher ballads for emotional breakdowns (with footnotes). The “entertainment” section is pure gold—an oral history of circuit parties told through glitter-stained napkin doodles. You’ll laugh, you’ll text your group chat a screenshot, and you might accidentally learn something about Stonewall.
The queer friend who already owns three tote bags from indie bookstores. The straight ally who wants to seem “in the know” but still thinks “voguing” is a typo. Anyone who’s ever said, “I don’t read lifestyle sections, but this one has me in a chokehold.”
Just the Gays -1- is like a pride parade float built by a PhD candidate—chaotic, colorful, and crashing into your expectations with a smile. It’s not definitive. It’s not for everyone. But for a Tuesday night when you want your entertainment with a side of sass and footnotes? Drake Von S. Mace Brown just became your new favorite messy intellectual.
