Book excerpt: OUR LITERARY LEGEND Lambda-Award-winning author and editor Tom Cardamone brings together a diverse collection of queer writers and their supporters to celebrate the rich, innovative works of Edmund White, the eminent memoirist and author of the American literature classic, A Boy's Own Story, not to mention other outstanding works of fiction and several lauded nonfiction works that include Genet: A Biography. In Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book, established writers, new voices, journalists, friends, former students, White's husband, and a recent editor/publisher provide personal appraisals of White's work in the order in which his books were published. The collection forms a unique tribute-cum-biography of the most significant contemporary gay writer in the world. With appreciations by Alysia Abbott, Michael Carroll, Allan Gurganus, Zachary Lazar, Sarah Schulman, Lynne Tillman, Colm Toibin, Charlie Vazquez, and many other exciting voices!