Join author and archivist Isaac Fellman for a conversation with The History Project's Executive Director Joan Ilacqua about his new book DEAD COLLECTIONS, his work documenting queer history, and writing queer and trans stories.

Isaac Fellman is the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Dead Collections (Spring 2022), The Two Doctors Gorski (forthcoming Fall 2022), and The Breath of the Sun (2018). He is an archivist at a queer historical society in San Francisco.

About DEAD COLLECTIONS

A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel.

When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who’s come to donate her wife’s papers, there’s an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the “vampire disease.”

Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.