The House of Rural Realness

Curtis Campbell

• Publisher: University of Queensland Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9780702270345
• Year: 2025

Peter Thompkin is in need of a public image overhaul after his vicious clapback against the most popular gay in school goes viral. When his best friend Alan, aka teen drag queen Aggie Culture, announces the first public drag performance by The House of Rural Realness, Peter steps forward as their producer. It might be the only way he can escape the rumors following him everywhere in his small country town. Peter leads the queens as they survive bigoted backlash and survive one another. But will Mason County' s Drag Extravaganza drop dead before they make their first death drop? And will Peter and Alan' s friendship even survive past curtain call? Touching, sharply funny and a little absurd, The House of Rural Realness explores the pains and pleasures of queer community through one teen' s stumbling journey towards self-acceptance.

Table of contents

• Praise for The House of Rural Realness
• Author Biography
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Chapter One: Middle-Aged Man-Baby
• Chapter Two: Party Killer
• Chapter Three: Pimply Third Wheel
• Chapter Four: The Guy Who Said the Very Bad Thing
• Chapter Five: An Effeminate Gopher
• Chapter Six: A Destitute Vole in a Tacky Pair of Cargo Shorts
• Chapter Seven: Creature From the Problematic Lagoon
• Chapter Eight: Waterlogged Pool Goblin
• Chapter Nine: Homo Humpty Dumpty
• Chapter Ten: A Vicious, Fat Velociraptor
• Chapter Eleven: A Temper-Deficient Toddler Who Just Incited a Hate Crime
• Chapter Twelve: A Resentful Hobgoblin
• Chapter Thirteen: A Fumbling Capybara
• Chapter Fourteen: Swiss Cheese on Legs
• Chapter Fifteen: Pockmarked Sissy
• Chapter Sixteen: A Bacne-Ridden Sea Lion Waiting for His Slop
• Chapter Seventeen: Vile Hate-Spewing Rage Machine
• Chapter Eighteen: Sausage-Fingered Nancy Boy
• Chapter Nineteen: Tubby Little Jack-in-the-Box
• Chapter Twenty: A Perpetual Motion Machine of Narcissistic Cynicism
• Chapter Twenty-One: The Incredibly Off-Putting Young Man
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Unspeakably Horrific Laboratory Mulligan
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Anna Mossity
• Chapter Twenty-Four: A Set of Fangs
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Sellout Hit Maker
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Mason County’s Most Interesting Virgin
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: An Idiot With a Purpose
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: Peter Thompkin, Artistic Producer
• Acknowledgments
• Imprint Page