where the writers are Now Face North Aimee Payne reminded me how
an entire family is affected by coming out, in her story
"Summer's Last Stand."  May is "Short Story Month."  One of the
things that I loved about SPEAKING OUT was how often the
families of the LGBT youth in question were so central to the
tale - some supportive, some in transition, some opposing. One
of the things about being gay that's a struggle is that you're
not (usually) like the rest of your family in this regard, and
generally speaking, people are assumed to be straight and
cisgendered unless they say or do something to change the
assumption. For the family, this can be one heck of a rude
awakening.  The next tale in BOYS OF SUMMER is "Summer's Last
Stand" by Aimee Payne, and it paints this familial fallout
deftly. Corey and his sister are living with their Grandmother
after the death of their mother (their father having bowed out
long ago). Things have become very tense since Corey's coming
out and his declaration that post-graduation h