In the rowdy ol’ Wild Wild West frontier days, “loaded for bear” used to mean that one’s rifle was loaded and ready for attack by any hostile grizzly one might encounter. Now it more commonly means “fully prepared,” as in “The best way Democrats can be loaded for bear in the next election is to get out the youth vote.” Still, I can’t help thinking about some of my pals when they go out to the local bear-bar or bathhouse, juiced up on Vitamin V (aka “big blue” aka Viagra) and downright determined to bag themselves a bear or cub that night: no doubt, they’re “loaded for bear.”
Published by Ron Suresha
Ron Jackson Suresha is an editor, anthologist, and writer. He is considered an authority on emergent queer masculinities, in particular the subcultures of gay and bi male Bears and of male bisexuality.
For Ron's service to the bear community, he was named "Bear of the Year" 2008.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Suresha attended the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, 1976-8), where he studied creative writing, and Vista College (Berkeley, Cal., 1989-92), where he studied American Sign Language. For more than two decades, he has worked as a freelance proofreader for trade book publishers such as Shambhala Publications. He was married in October 2004 to Rocco Russo. He is also a licensed Justice of the Peace in Connecticut, an ordained minister, ULC, and a member of the New London Green Party.
Nonfiction works include Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions; Bi Men: Coming Out (coeditor, with Pete Chvany); Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey (editor).
His latest book is The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, jests, and donkey tales of the beloved Persian folk hero, published by Lethe Press.
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