I first read this circa 1994, when I for whatever reason had a weekend to myself because my family was out of town and I somehow read the entire series back to back. My standards were not high, my access to queer culture was limited to the shelves of the Radnor Memorial Library, and the PBS series was prob the first queer thing I'd ever seen on TV. (Though I read the books before the show, so that must have been 1993??) 

Since then I've come back to it a few times, probably most recently about 20 years ago. I picked it up again yesterday because my friend was heading to SF for a wedding and I rec'd it as perfect plane reading on the way to San Francisco. I did a quick reread just to make sure that it held up, and ooof. I hate to say this, but it really doesn't hold up on a first read in 2024. The casual overt and subtle racism, the weird-ass problematic storylines, the lack of character development... it's really hard to enjoy, like the rocky first season of a dated but beloved geeky tv show. 

I read More Tales again right after, and thank goodness that one is a little more on track with what I remember enjoying... with the wacky Episcopalian cannibal cult amnesia storyline (love it) instead of child pornography, a character faking being Black, and the lying about rape. Also just more character development in general instead of a series of "first this happened, then this happened, then these bitchy queens happened." I might consider rereading the rest? But I texted my friend to say to skip this and go straight to book two (or skip them altogether). Though oof, book three has Jonestown...