Author Brian David Randall shares the five queer books that inspired his debut novel

Brian David Randall’s remarkable first novel, Demaris: Protocol, hits bookstores this week. Based on events drawn from his own life, the thriller is set in 1992. Trey Carter, a Southern, evangelical, and deeply closeted, accidentally outs himself at a pool party. This sends him down a dark path and into the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency, but Trey’s talents lie in gymnastics, not guns and espionage.

His assigned officer must resist his physical and emotional urges in preparing Trey for the assignment. Every time he looks at Trey, he feels both an unwavering commitment to their mission and an unfamiliar urge to… do something with the muscular young man. Protect him? Seduce him? Love him?

Queerty caught up with Randall from his home in Portland, Maine, via email, where he shared his five favorite queer books—the works that inspired his burgeoning writing career.

Check out his literary list below, and don’t forget to read Demaris: Protocol, which is out now.

The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren

No list is complete without Patricia Warren’s ground-breaking novel. Published in 1974, the story resonates even today with gay athletes, coming out struggles, myths of masculinity, and the aspirational power of love found and lost. As a closeted young man reading it in 1992, I deeply related to the struggle of two athletic, masculine men stumbling to find love. Her story, though fictional, gave me hope. Warren beautifully weaved a love from Coach to Athlete to Olympian without hyping or emasculating Harlan Brown and Billy Sive. I related to the raw emotions and yearned for a similar love. No wonder it’s considered a classic. Fifty-one years later, we still see LGBTQ+ running clubs around the world bearing its name: The Front Runner.

Becoming A Man by Paul Monette

No book has had a greater impact on my journey than Paul Monette’s Becoming a Man. I read it in 1994, after coming out and feeling torn between the conservative world of my youth and living in the turbulent, fearful Washington, D.C., where I was struggling for equality. Paul laid out his soul with honesty rarely seen. It validated so many confusing parts of my struggle in coming out—much in the same way (no doubt) recent queer memoirs have for Gen Z. My only regret was in not reading it sooner—especially before meeting Paul briefly in 1993 during the March on Washington. He died in 1995, but his life still offers light to young people finding their path from the closet.

Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford

Over the years, I have indulged in gay fiction that sometimes was just meh. It’s hard not to compare books that are standouts. For me, Michael Thomas Ford’s Full Circle is the measure. I read it nearly twenty years ago in 2006. Rarely have I put a book down before finishing solely because I didn’t want the story to end. That was my experience with Ford’s fictional story spanning three decades of gay friends. Ned, Jack, and Andy were flawed, funny, and infuriating—but real. Ford unknowingly impacted my life by reinforcing the power of friendships. It has made me appreciate the significant impact that a lifelong chosen family can have on us.

God Talk by Brad Gooch

I hesitated to add God Talk—Brad Gooch’s 2002 exploration of spirituality in America. Why? It’s a bit too personal. Not everyone has had a deeply religious upbringing like mine. However, Gooch does an incredible job in exposing the thinly veiled homophobia within several denominations even today. Ironically, his research for God Talk coincided with my journey in 1999. As a gay graduate of Liberty University, I found myself on a puddle-jumper from Dulles to Lynchburg sitting next to a handsome guy who kept distracting me. I was headed back to my alma mater for an unlikely confrontation with Dr. Jerry Falwell at the request of Mel White, father of Mike White, now of White Lotus fame. The dark-haired distraction interrupting my short, bumpy flight was Gooch. I was in a relationship, but I was seriously tempted. Google Gooch and see why. God Talk helped change my perspective on the religious dogma of my youth. It’s a snapshot of my confrontation (literally) when I returned to Liberty, my proverbial lion’s den, and found the strength to confront Dr. Falwell (page 282). Religious roots can be triggering, but with broader insights, your perspective can change.

Coming Out Conservative by Marvin Liebman

Marvin Liebman was a wonderful, walking contradiction. His memoir, Coming Out Conservative, is filled with humor, stories, and opinions that entertain like a fabulous dinner party. I had the privilege of calling Marvin my friend for five years, from 1992 to 1997, in Washington, DC., where we socialized in his D.C condo, filled with folk art and other young ex-conservative men. His life is a singular, unique snapshot of a gay man from the 1940s, through World War II, to the political turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s, a left-handed turn to the London and New York theater worlds of the 1970s, and back to DC during the Reagan years of the 1980s. Finally, in his late 60s, he shocked and appalled the conservative political base when he publicly came out in 1990. What I gained from my friendship with Marvin will fill a book one day. Beyond the life lessons, Marvin helped guide me out of a dark past growing up in an Evangelical, fundamental Baptist world, then stumbling into an unusual situation with the CIA that forced my coming out in 1993. Marvin showed me that our lives can be beautiful adventures even when filled with complicated contradictions.

Demaris: Protocol by Brian David Randall is out now.