Deep Sniff
Adam Zmith, Repeater Books
Blue Boy. Locker Room. Pig Sweat. Rush. If these names don’t mean anything to you, strap in. If they do, well, hey there, sister. Either way, you absolutely need to get a load of Adam Zmith’s sensuous, time-bending, and explosively queer history of the world’s most famous inhalant: poppers, or alkyl nitrates if you’re fancy. In an intimate and sometimes psychedelic deep dive into the origins and brokers of these vapours and the little brown bottles that contain them, Zmith goes beyond mere data points and factoids. Rather, the book is a vibrant psychocultural tapestry that tethers together unsung queer heroes of the past to in the least expected ways. From the 19th century German courts to the underventilated dance floors of gay New York in the 70s and all the way up to futures as yet unhuffed, Deep Sniff is a wild rush like no other. Just don’t lose your bottle cap.