“It’s fabulous (poetry)."
-Andy Warhol
"Your poems are beautiful."
-Christopher Isherwood
Goodbye to Berlin; I Am a Camera
"An indefinable sense of artistry, of wizardry, and theatrical know-how make your poetry, and performance of it, a natural turn on. I mean it."
-Harold Norse
Beat Hotel; Hotel Nirvana; Carnivorous Saint; Memoirs of a Bastard Angel
"Astounding poetry that bridges time and space."
-Neelie Cherkovski
Poet and Biographer; PEN Award Winner for Excellency in Literature Leaning Against Time; Elegy for Bob Kaufman; From the Canyon Outward
"I love your poems. Sudden words toss up a shimmering filigree of untenable possibilities and crystals of compassion. Episode and image, meaning and time, flare up but burn out in one cadence; the next constellation arises, clear and steady. Their music ensnares me. Their content makes form, they have substance; their rhythms are saturated with it; their words flow and vibrate. Whatever you write rings true."
-Dr. Stella Kramrisch
Former Curator of Indian Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Professor: New York University and the University of Pennsylvania
Principles of Indian Art; the Art of India, the Hindu Temple; the Presence of Shiva
"Passionate. Powerful stuff. Don’t miss it."
-George Whitman
Shakespeare and Company
Paris
"Haunting poems about the intrinsic risk and beauty of self-actualization."
-Dr. Marie Battle Singer
Cambridge University
England
"This book stopped me in my tracks."
-Sal Farinella
Fag Rag, the Good Gay Poets
The Glass Arcade
“I wrote this almost thirty years ago... but it is still true: Brooks’ timeless novel about a handsome lad spare death in order to serve as a sex slave... is physically erotic, emotionally intense, and- somewhat sneakily- spiritually surprising.”
-Richard Labonte
Seattle News; First Person Queer (who We Are), Second Person Queer, Best Gay Erotica 2006
"Captivating. Commands attention. Adrian Brooks knows the use of the veil, not to disguise, but to prolong the pleasures of a singular tale well told. Fantastic. Horrific. A child’s delight in a mix of innocence and fright, adolescent awakenings and historic undoings, it is also, quite simply, irresistible. What’s central is the search for freedom and self-recognition in the face of impossible odds."
-Mark Thompson
Former Senior Editor of The Advocate
Author of the Trilogy: Gay Spirit, Gay Soul, Gay Body
"A velvet jungle. The end of innocence and the beginning of evil. Brooks has a gift for both words and characterization. Descriptions as vivid as (the) style is vibrant. Skillful. Polished. A page-turner. So real that it made me shudder."
-Amos Lassen
Literary Pride
Roulette
"Outrageous! Hilarious! In-yer-face!"
-Richard Schneider, Editor
Gay and Lesbian Review
"A joyous and iconoclastic tale about love and commitment to community that rolls along at breakneck speed. Magical!"
-Michael Labelle
Gay and Lesbian Review
"A crazy page-turner that sends up the worst of America while celebrating the best of it. Destined to make an amazing movie!"
-Richard Labonte
Seattle News
"Zany. Whacky anarchy... but with its heart in the right place. A great, believable and highly original story. Inspiring and thrilling. I wish it (Roulette) was real."
-Charlotte Cooper
Gaydar Nation
Flights of Angels
"Captures the light that shined both ways superbly well. Aside from the charm of (his) early performances, what I have most admired in Adrian in many years of sustained friendship is (his) dedication to issues of social action and justice. He was then, and remains today, a consummate teller of truths."
-Mark Thompson from his introduction to the book
"Adrian Brooks memories... show not only how much of our LGBT history has been polished and commercialized, but also, how radical and revolutionary those years were We need more voices like his telling us that not only can we be whoever we want, but that we can be FABULOUS AND EFFECTIVE too."
-Gscene Magazine
"I have read (Flights) and think it is a wonderful book. I recommend it to my students. By all means use these words."
-Michael Bronski,
Harvard University
Culture Clash: the Making of Gay Sensibility
"An utterly magical evocation of the era."
-Jonathan Katz,
Founder, Harvey Milk Institute; Former Head of Gay Studies, Yale University
The Homosexualization of American Art, John Cage’s Queer Silence;
"Adrian Brooks’ remarkable memoir captures an upsurge of energy, a tide of living culture, with vivid immediacy, humor and insight."
-Michael Denneny
Lambda Literary Award Prize-Winning Editor
"Powerful. Passionate. A poet’s eye for detail and political militant’s sense of what art can accomplish. A remarkable capacity to look at (his) past without judgment, with serenity and an unflinching desire to confront both the grotesque and the glorious. There’s little about his story that is not extreme. He captures the strange bipolarity of liberation... Ecstatic and mystical, destructive and even psychotic. This memoir encourages us to dream (of) a deeper love and fuller, freer sexuality."
-Jonathan Statham
Chroma: a Queer Journal
"Dramatic. Absorbing no-holds-barred story set within the larger framework that defined the era, the country... described in vivid, often graphic detail. Brooks is certainly honest and he re-creates a unique era."
-Carol J. Binkowski
The Library Journal
"Communal households, free theater, easy sex, easier drugs; those were the days... a mature sense of wonderment, bewilderment, and measured nostalgia. Compelling. (Brooks) was a wild one, a dashing figure..."
-Richard Labonte
Seattle News
"This book is a goldmine, a treasure trove for many generations of gay people. It should come out for the younger generation. There’s no doubt about it."
-Neelie Cherkovski
Whitman’s Wild Children; Bukowski: A Life
“Amazing! Soak it all up and see the Angels in a ‘tough love’ realistic, though none the less engaging- and ultimately redeeming- way. Highly recommended."
-Michael Labelle
The Guide, Toronto
"Not only an important part of San Francisco’s history but a beautiful item. The style is dazzling. Adrian Brooks is a poet... and his words sing the ode to those lost times. Thanks to him the Angels of Light will never be forgotten and everyone should be grateful to him for that."
-Isabelle Corbisier
TuxedoMoon (Music for Vagabonds)
"Adrian Brooks once stood at the center of the Angels of Light. This book is a beautiful look at what was once gay life and culture in America."
-Amos Lassen
Literary Pride
"The Harvey Milk era, decked out in sequins and drag... Utterly delicious, wickedly entertaining and as important a document of its times as Stein and Plimpton’s Edie.
For anyone interested in theater, civil rights, gay rights, San Francisco in the 1970s, and pop culture, this is unputdownable and simply not to be missed."
-Deborah Beale
Co-founder, Orion Publishing Group
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm
‘Holy Cow!
(With ‘the Angels of Light’)
"A must-see. Stupendous. There is no stopping this show."
-San Francisco ‘Chronicle
"Almost impossible to describe. Entrancing. Dazzling. Splendid. First rate."
-Los Angeles ‘Times’
‘Awesomely hot. An amazing show! A jamboree razzamadazzle that delights!"
-‘After Dark’ Magazine
"Best New Show of the Year: 1980"
-Bay Area Theatre Critics
"Easily the most beautiful show I’ve seen since the Royal Ballet."
-The Berkeley ‘Gazette’
“This is why I came to San Francisco. Long live the Angels of Light!"
-The San Francisco ‘Sentinel’
‘Leni Riefenstahl’
"Fascinating and compelling stuff!"
-San Francisco ‘Chronicle’
‘Landjuveel’: Ruigoord
(With the ‘Amsterdam Balloon Company')
"A wonderful performance-poetry/art piece of finesse and mystery."
-Margrid van der Linden
Ruigoord News
‘Baikal Express’
"Passionate and eloquent story-telling in an installation out of the Druids."
-Hans van Leersum
Amsterdam Art Flash
‘Equinox Poetry’
‘A mixed media triumph of poetry, storytelling and improvisation. Thrilling!"
-Jungle Telegraph
Baga, Goa, India
