In Lieu of Flwrz and Queen’s Circle

By Vaughn Frantz Miller

In Lieu of Flwrz by Miki Vale

Annnnd here it is! Miki Vale’s In Lieu of Flwrz is a delightful collection of works whichwill engage all five of your senses! Get ready to laugh, cry, and learn.
You heard me right: all five senses are engaged in Vale’s work.
The first two senses are a given with any physical book: sight and touch.
You see the words and read about a group of broken hearted lesbians meeting up. You grip thebook as you giggle at a conversation about farts, you wrap your arms around it as a daughter loses her mother.
Sound is another sense, and this book is full of music! The characters sing, some dance,and one of the final chapters is a musical. You can listen to the songs of the musical for free on Miki Vale’s website. Despite all four songs being performed by Vale, there’s distinct soundassigning specific songs to characters; it reflects Vale’s incredible talent as an artist. I’mlistening to her song “Tulips” as I write this review.
“I hope that in times of grief, this book brings you some laughs, some introspection, andsome comfort food to share with others… in lieu of flowers.”
The comfort food is literal, and the final two senses are brought to life through this book.Taste and smell interact with Vale’s art when readers try out the recipes she shares between brief plays which cover infidelity, petty jealousy, and family dynamics. Vale offers recipesfrom her early exploration into cooking with a crock pot. There are three recipes in total, each tasty and nourishing. I made my first chili, as well as my first split pea soup, and felt better on days I ate them. The recipes are open to plenty of flexibility as well. I did purple sweetpotatoes for the Brown Suga Babe recipe and really enjoyed it.
If the author’s name rings a bell, you might remember SoulKiss nights at The Flame. This is the same Miki Vale who made those nights happen. SoulKiss was before my time in San Diego, and as a gay white man was not the space for me even if I had lived here at the time. Yetstill I appreciated the glimpse Vale offers in one of her short plays. It was a lively, pointed way to highlight the importance of SoulKiss and the benefit it brought to our community. I’m so glad it was here and that I got to learn about it through her work.
This book reads fast if you aren’t careful, so take your time to savor it. I read it two, maybe three times.
San Diego is found throughout this book, which made it all the more enjoyable to read.Between the recipes, original songs, and snapshots of San Diego from the 2010s-2020s, this book truly feels like Vale giving a part of herself to readers as an opportunity to experience the many chapters of life from excitement to lament to joy. Thanks for the book, Miki Vale, if you’re reading this.
In Lieu Of Flwrz is currently only available from Vale’s website and worth every dollar.You can grab a copy at MikiValeTheMC.com/flwrz.

Queen’s Circle: Cruising Oral Histories of Balboa Park by Parkeology
Wow, what a cool read! Queen’s Circle is a collection of written oral histories of differentperspectives of the historic Balboa Park cruising areas. You hear from people who went there as social workers, a cop, a public defender (comparing those two viewpoints is quite interesting, let me tell you), and some good ol’ gays who just enjoyed the connections and the intimacy.
“We were both hungry for it. And we would just be very gentle and touch.
Touch our face, just go real slow, the eyes, the mouth, the ears, and behind the ears and the neck.”
The many perspectives in this collection come together to illustrate a profound environment full of witty people, curious and eager. The book itself is used as a reference point for an exhibit of these recordings which was showcased in Balboa Park in 2017. Not all the recordings are available, but for anyone curious I did find a link where you can hear the original voices here: https://soundcloud.com/parkcast/sets. I’d encourage you to both read the book and check out the link.
I reached out to every press which has printed this book, and there are no copies availablefor purchase. Lambda Archives, however, has copies available in their library for community members to check out.