josh kilmer-purcell

hi you, I'm the author of the NYTimes bestseller I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. (HarperPerennial, 2006) and Candy Everybody Wants (P.S.) ... (HarperPerennial, 2008)What are they about? Glad you asked...
I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. is your typical boy-dressed-as-girl-meets-crack-head-male-s/m-escort story. It recounts my first year in New York as I worked during the day as an advertising Jr. Art Director, and at night as a 7' 2" drag queen named "AquaDisiac" ("Aqua" for short.) Yeah, I know... it doesn't sound like your type of book. Fine then. Let's throw in my first boyfriend, "Jack", who moved me into his brilliant white penthouse where he routinely humiliated and tortured his myriad of escorting clients. That is, when he wasn't on a crack binge. Still not interested? I could go on about how its a universal love story with a clash of egos and alter egos that only the young and foolish could survive (if only barely). But if you don't wanna hear about it, you don't wanna hear about it. What can I do? You're probably Baptist or something.
Candy Everybody Wants (P.S.) .. is a novel set in 1981 about a teenage boy named Jayson (he added the "y" in kindergarten for more "flair") who is determined to achieve the celebrity status he feels is rightfully his. As 15-year-old Jayson leaves his provincial (though anything but ordinary) life in Wisconsin for the “glamour” of New York City, he discovers that celebrity is not always what it's cracked up to be...and always comes at a price. Undeterred by the discovery that his long-lost father is a flaming queen who runs an escort agency for Broadway chorus boys, or by a stint living as a squatter in a Soho loft, Jayson pursues his dream of the spotlight any way he can. But even the thrill of success as the “Picky Prince” on a series of TV commercials and the possibility of sitcom stardom alongside one of show business's sauciest legends can be dampened by the demands of outrageous family and friends. There's a lesson here somewhere, but all Jayson really wants is to catch the next flight to L.A.
I describe Candy Everybody Wants (P.S.) .. as the coming-of-age memoir that I wish I lived.
Let's see, what else? I also write a monthly column for OUT magazine. It keeps me gay.
Entertainment Weekly gave I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. a "B+".
Publishers Weekly said it's "impossible to look away."
Armistead Maupin ("Tales of the City") called I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. "absolutely hilarious and heartbreaking and heartfelt." He also kindly described Candy Everybody Wants (P.S.) .. as “A balls-out joyride through eighties pop culture that enlightens as much as it exhilarates. As always, Kilmer-Purcell’s astringent wit is nicely tempered by his obvious sympathy for human frailty.”
Booklist compared I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. to "Noel Coward's best plays."
Kirkus called I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir (P.S.) .. "a stellar debut."