High Praise for Vulgarian Rhapsody
Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature (Fiction) —LAMBDA Literary Review
“Impressively original, exceptionally well written with a genuine flair for the kind of narrative driven storytelling that will keep the reader's rapt attention from start to finish, Vulgarian Rhapsody by Alvin Orloff is a fun read and one that immerses the reader in the eclectic bohemian and LGBTQ life styles that San Francisco is so well known for.” —Midwest Book Review
“Simultaneously spoofs and celebrates the starry eyed dreamers, would-be artistes, and motivationless loafers who persist in believing that the city by the bay will always and forever be a judgement-free wonderland out of the hippie ’60s. Oopsy! . . . Packed with authentic details drawn from the author’s five kaleidoscopic decades in the city.” —Passport Magazine
“An uproarious treat . . . a fun, frothy tour of a bygone time and place.” —Bay Area Reporter
“Orloff’s delightful romp paints a picture that many audiences will find fun and enlightening; it will have other readers ruminating on their own scene circa Y2K.” —Library Journal
“I’ve been a fan of Alvin Orloff’s work for 20 years. His latest novel (I've coined the term "New Wave Gothic") takes a slightly darker tone but does not spare the wit, sharp observance, and ultimately the generosity he gives to the most unlikely antiheroes. He never shies from camp but stays true to his ear for Classic English tone. I'm forever a disciple.” —Brontez Purnell, author, 100 Boyfriends
“In his trademark fanciful style, Alvin Orloff takes us to 1990s San Francisco, when the city was still kind of fun, to meet a motley assortment of sassy talkers and soul scroungers as they haunt the city’s thrift shops, bars, and coffee houses meeting the same four or five people over and over again. Within this tiny, tiny world gigantic dramas unfold.” —Jennifer Blowdryer, musician and author, Kicked Out: The 86’d Project”
“Even though its often hilarious and wickedly paced, Vulgarian Rhapsody isn't just a delicious romp. It’s a smart, gimlet-eyed portrayal of the drag queens, poets, artists, alcoholics and assorted legends in their own minds that have roamed up and down Market street for decades. A brilliant, scorched, vodka-soaked love letter to the San Francisco queer art scene.” —Mike Albo, author, Another Dimension of US, The Underminer, and Hornito
“I laughed out loud! Vulgarian Rhapsody is an incisive portrait of a shiftless, hapless, uber-critical gay-bar-fly named Harris and the queer / trans / arty friends he torments, set against San Francisco's oppressive "Dot Com Boom" of the late 1990s. And the pansophical narrator is both saucy and wry. Brilliant!” —Phillip R. Ford, director, Vegas in Space; “honorary straight man” in legendary 1980s drag troupe, the Sluts A-Go-Go
Past Praise for Alvin Orloff
“No one is cooler than Alvin Orloff.” —Andrea Lawlor, author, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (for Disasterama!)
“Both beautiful and heartbreaking all in one.” —Michelle Tea, author, Against Memoir (for Disasterama!)
“Thoroughly original.” —Publishers Weekly (for I Married an Earthling)
“Alvin Orloff writes with a sharp mind and a gentle touch.” —K. M. Soehnlein, author, The World of Normal Boys (for Why Aren’t You Smiling?)
“Quirky, insightful . . . glam as hell.” —The Bay Area Reporter (for Gutter Boys)
