Larry Benjamin. Wordsmith. Writer. Author.

With just 18 days until the release of “He,” I thought I’d share the second song on my playlist—Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s "Didn't It Rain?"  For me this song is atmospheric , a sepia-toned watercolor “painting” of the small, dusty farm town where we first encounter our protagonists Oren and Jackson. That it is sung by a queer Black woman who is widely regarded as “the Godmother of Rock 'N' Roll” is especially fitting for a novel centering queer black love. “He,” like my previous novels, blends romance and history, which makes the inclusion of “Didn’t It Rain?” feel necessary and significant. WATCH: Sister Rosetta Tharpe "Didn't It Rain?" Learn more about Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her impact on music HERE . Missed the first song on the playlist? You can read up on it HERE . "He" will be released on October 11, 2025 but electronic advanced release copies are available in the US and the UK on Netgalley. Request your copy HERE . Photo by Jake B...

I create a playlist for all of my books, because music appears in all of my stories, mostly as a way to place the story in time, but often to reflect how the characters are feeling. Sometimes the songs are just meant to tell us something about the characters. My October release, “He,” was no exception but in the case of this book, the first song on the playlist was especially freighted as it underscores a key scene, and it tells us something important about one of the main characters and colors his relationship. Here is the first song from the playlist for “He.” Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man,” was an obvious choice for a few reasons, one of which is her status as a gay icon—a gay woman who came out and stood up in the 70s saying, yes, I am. Famously, she was deported from South Africa for performing to an integrated audience, which was prohibited by the South African government at the time; her contract specifically excluded segregated performances, which made her ...

Each year since the pandemic, my husband and I (along with my younger brother) take our nephews, Max and Xavier, aged ten and seven rspectively, for a week each August. We call it “Uncles’s Bootcamp.” It was originally conceived as a Christmas present for my oldest brother and his wife to give them a break from their two kids, both of whom are on the spectrum. We planned the vacation as bootcamp because their parents are “free-range,” and thus have pretty lax rules. During their week with us, the boys have a schedule: there are set bedtimes and mealtimes during which they are expected to sit at the dining table and eat. There is an itinerary of activities, combining outings and free time. We’ve visited the zoo, farms; The Natural History museum; the Please Touch museum; went for pony rides and; we’ve fed bison and giraffes and chickens; and petted goats. We’ve been on merry-go-rounds and rides at Sesame Place and watched them on trampolines and in ball pits at Urban Air. They’ve g...