A Book of Revelations

A Book of Revelations is built around a single compelling idea. Every life contains a tipping point. It is the moment when a secret can no longer be kept, when a decision can no longer be deferred, and when truth collides with the life we have carefully constructed around it. A. C. Burch’s award-winning collection of eight short stories explores those moments with wit, compassion, and an unflinching eye.

The characters who populate A Book of Revelations are outsiders by choice and by circumstance: gay men and drag performers, aging artists and ambitious socialites, detectives and musicians, grieving widows and more than one young man in search of himself. Each charcter arrives at a crossroads where they must act or succumb to the status quo. The outcomes, as in life, are not always what you might expect.

The Stories

“Private Quarters” opens the collection with dark comedy. A young music student navigates paper-thin walls, bizarre neighbors, and the slow uncomfortable process of self-discovery. “Curtain Call” follows a spurned entertainer who crashes the memorial service of her former lover’s wife, a story of betrayal and loneliness, with a final performance that leaves a lasting impression.

“Götterdämmerung” is the collection’s most ambitious piece. It traces the lifelong bond between a violinist and the legendary conductor who shaped him. The story explores musical obsession, the personal cost of artistic passion, and the complicated dynamics between mentor and protege. “Convergence” brings together an aging artist and a would-be socialite at a dinner party that descends into glorious disaster.

“The Honoree” turns on a quiet act of moral reckoning. A beloved community figure discovers that her carefully managed past is crumbling at the worst possible moment. “Last Chance is a mystery” where a gay detective investigates a murder where his attracted to his prime suspect. “The Midnight Suitor” sends a nephew digging through old family history, only to unearth a secret with an unexpected modern echo. “Even in Death” closes the collection with two unlikely allies working to thwart a dead charlatan’s plans for revenge.

From dark comedy to quiet tragedy, from mystery to literary meditation, A Book of Revelations covers more emotional ground than most novels.

A Celebrated Collection

A Book of Revelations was a 2017 International Press Awards Distinguished Favorite and a Kirkus Recommended Book. It was also nominated for Book of the Year by the Underground Book Awards. The critical response confirmed that this was a collection of unusual depth, range, and craft.

Kirkus Reviews noted that “Burch weaves a collection of crackerjack plot twists in which unlikely heroes seize the day,” calling it “a colorful topography of mostly LGBT-related outings, forays, and adventures.” The US Review of Books praised the collection as extremely well written, both in style and form, noting that the stories examine the variety within the LGBTQ community with humor, style, humanity, and grace. Underground Book Reviews awarded it a Top Pick and five stars, observing that the short stories have an epic feel because of Burch’s exquisite use of language and his ability to place readers inside the characters he has created.

One reviewer captured the experience precisely: “Burch’s writing is lush and so descriptive that you can feel yourself in the environments he creates. You will visit and revisit these stories and enjoy them each time — like looking at a painting, you see something new each time.”

Identity, Courage, and the Truth We Keep From Ourselves

What unites these eight stories is not genre or setting but theme. Each character in A Book of Revelations is carrying a secret, a grief, a desire, or an identity they have not found the courage to claim. Burch writes about these “tipping points” with humor and without sentimentality, which is a rare and valuable combination.

A Book of Revelations is funny, painful, mysterious, and accepting. It crosses genres easily into comedy, mystery, drama, and literary fiction, never settling into a single register for long. A celebration of life in all its variety, and a reminder that the most ordinary-seeming people  often carry the most extraordinary stories.

For readers who have already spent time in Provincetown with Marc, Helena and Lola, A Book of Revelations offers a different kind of pleasure. It moves beyond a single community to explore a wider world of LGBTQ experience. 

A Book of Revelations is a collection to read all at once or to return to one story at a time. Either way, it leaves an impression. These characters stay with you. Their choices stay with you. And the question at the heart of every story—what will you do when your moment of truth arrives—stays with you longest of all.