Overview

At the end of the 20th century, while mainstream media popularized an expensively dressed version of modern adult life, a rawer, and definitely weirder, reality was playing out off-screen. Columnist and zinester Kathy Biehl chronicled that from a singular and heavily trafficked intersection - collision point, some might say - of young professionals, performing and outsider artists, Unitarians, gays and lesbians, metaphysicians, traveling statues, and people who defied categorizing, many of whom wanted to sleep together, and some of whom actually did. This essay collection, a followup to Eat, Drink & Be Wary: Cautionary Tales, romps through antics, sagas, and questionable behavior that Biehl witnessed, experienced and, at times, instigated. With eyebrow firmly arched, she snapshots sexual tension, ambivalence, and confusion; perils of fan mail and professional caroling; Groucho impersonators, snooping repairmen, and divine manifestations; ludicrous journeys, backstage dramas, and driveway parties; close-ups with a strange, frightening disease; her own, accidental attainment of goddesshood; and other mystery-marvels of life on the bridge to the millennium. All of it really happened. Nobody could make this stuff up.

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9781736432143

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Reviews

"Kathy Biehl travels from the sublime to the ridiculous on the path to find Mr Right, and along the way learns to run from both the maddeningly ambivalent to bad Grouncho impersonators. And we're lucky enough to join her on the ride. - Heather Quinlan, author, Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses Once again Kathy Biehl displays her blunt & humorous style of storytelling into a world that perhaps seems foreign to some (lawyers, gays, musicians, church goers and other assortment of characters), but as you unlock these riveting vignettes you may find yourself looking inward as Biehl loudly and outwardly confesses her own past. - Gregory G. Allen, author, Cool Side of the Pillow, Patchwork of Me, Well With My Soul, Proud Pants and Chicken Boy Fans of Kathy Biehl's Eat, Drink and Be Wary will be delighted to know that she's gathered together a new basket of ruminative and droll essays called Confessions of a Third-Rate Goddess. Anything but third rate, the Goddess' travels take us all the way from Houston (the town) to Houston (the street), and from the Lone Star State to the Lower East Side. Naturally my favorite piece contained her unexpected take-down of a one-man dinner theatre show about Groucho Marx, a humorous reminder that Texans have been bedeviling the Marx Brothers since they first played Nacogdoches. A frolicking, rollicking ride of a read. Or is that ""read of a ride""? Let's just call it both, 'cause it is. - Trav S.D., author, No Applause - Just Send Money"

"Kathy Biehl travels from the sublime to the ridiculous on the path to find Mr Right, and along the way learns to run from both the maddeningly ambivalent to bad Grouncho impersonators. And we're lucky enough to join her on the ride. - Heather Quinlan, author, Plagues, Pandemics, and Viruses Once again Kathy Biehl displays her blunt & humorous style of storytelling into a world that perhaps seems foreign to some (lawyers, gays, musicians, church goers and other assortment of characters), but as you unlock these riveting vignettes you may find yourself looking inward as Biehl loudly and outwardly confesses her own past. - Gregory G. Allen, author, Cool Side of the Pillow, Patchwork of Me, Well With My Soul, Proud Pants and Chicken Boy Fans of Kathy Biehl's Eat, Drink and Be Wary will be delighted to know that she's gathered together a new basket of ruminative and droll essays called Confessions of a Third-Rate Goddess. Anything but third rate, the Goddess' travels take us all the way from Houston (the town) to Houston (the street), and from the Lone Star State to the Lower East Side. Naturally my favorite piece contained her unexpected take-down of a one-man dinner theatre show about Groucho Marx, a humorous reminder that Texans have been bedeviling the Marx Brothers since they first played Nacogdoches. A frolicking, rollicking ride of a read. Or is that ""read of a ride""? Let's just call it both, 'cause it is. - Trav S.D., author, No Applause - Just Send Money Kathy Biehl's new essay collection takes you on a rollicking adventure through time and space, narrated by a performer, lawyer, singer, tarot reader, and collector of eccentric characters. (""Having a multi-faceted existence works when all the facets behave and stay in their designated sectors,"" Biehl writes. ""When they slide across borders and converge, the impact is unnerving."") Tales include dick soap on a rope; a battered, well-traveled bust of Wagner; baby Jesus in a box; raucous parties; the mermaid parade, where sirens whip Odysseus, and other shenanigans. These hilarious snapshots also prompt reflection upon long-term friendships, and boyfriends best forgotten. Above all, this collection exemplifies the power of chosen family (especially within the queer community), who show up for one another and take whimsy seriously, eagerly going along for the ride. - Lindsay Merbaum, Pick Your Potions, author of The Golden Persimmon"

Author Information

Since childhood Kathy Biehl has scribbled down observations of human behavior and attempted to make sense of it. She gave up writing fiction long ago. Her first anthology, Eat, Drink & Be Wary: Cautionary Tales, was shortlisted for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize. Her writing has also won awards from the Association of Food Journalists, Houston Press Club, and Texas Bar Journal. She is a former columnist and associate editor of the Houston Press. She is also the publisher, Editrix, and primary voice of the social commentary zine Ladies' Fetish & Taboo Society Compendium of Anthropology, which existed in print from 1988-1998 and continues online in companion blogs.

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