The day has come. Today, My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor is officially released.This book represents – and I know how this sounds – my life’s work. It features essays culled from writing over the course of four decades. It is joyful and dark and funny and sweet.

The September issue of POZ Magazine includes a feature about the book, which is fitting, because POZ has been my home base for a number of years, and I owe the folks there - Oriol Gutierrez and Jennifer Morton in particular - a great deal of thanks. Several of the essays in the book originally appeared in POZ.

And, because I am nothing if not transparent, I hope you get a copy.

Niche markets are tough. Major imprints largely take a pass on content devoted to LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS, addiction, and even funny stories about growing up queer. So, this book is a labor of love and conviction despite the odds.

There are book events coming in five cities, for starters (check the events page). My only real goal here is for book sales to cover the costs of my travel to these events. Each of them are designed to feature community members reading excerpts and sharing their own experiences, because this book, and my writing in general, has always been meant as a catalyst for conversation.

That’s it. That’s my post. I hope you buy the book and share it and post photos with it and leave reviews. It would mean a lot to me.

Thanks, my friends, and please be well.

Mark