Half-Off Boys - by Dani Putney (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Half-Off Boys, Dani Putney's third full-length collection, they build an archive of embodied queer experience that traverses joy to chaos; from ruination to reckoning. As the speaker excavates the depths of their sexuality, they must contend with the complexities of an intersectional queer existence, including the expression of non-binary identity and the bodily reality of being a mixed-race Asian American. The speaker's journey oscillates between the exterior world, punctuated by a catalog of men who know the speaker primarily through perception and physical interaction, and an interiority caught in the throes of self-revision. An unraveling of self, characterized by meditations on gaze, co-constructed identity, the power dynamics of sex, and one's complicity in self-immolation, propels the speaker forward as they explore--for better or for worse--what it means to survive. Half-Off Boys serves as both a cautionary tale and a plea for considering the complex structures--the embodied queer experience is not always what it seems.

Review Quotes

"Dani Putney is a wizard of the first order, tramping into 'Jimmy G's full of desert'. Putney has produced a sensitive, thoughtful text that challenges us and proposes what else is possible: after all, 'the gun is invisible except when not'. A mistress of the unexpected, Dani delivers surprises at every turn. This is a considered, impressive collection from someone--as the cliché goes--at the height of their powers, promising 'a cosmic more manifesting'. Just when you think you have it figured out, Dani says: 'No, actually . . .'" -- Michael Chang, Things a Bright Boy Can Do

"Half-Off Boys is an illumination on the radical intimacy of queer bodies--unafraid and unflinching in its tender, often tragic gaze. the poems here are vivid, clear, and deeply nourishing, everything i hope for in a collection." -- luna del rey, space neon neon space

About the Author

Dani Putney is a queer, non-binary, mixed-race Filipinx, and neurodivergent writer originally from Sacramento, California. They are the author of Half-Off Boys (Baobab Press, 2027), Mix-Mix (Baobab Press, 2025), and Salamat sa Intersectionality (Okay Donkey Press, 2021), finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry. They are also the author of the poetry chapbook Dela Torre (Sundress Publications, 2022) and the creative nonfiction chapbook Swallow Whole (Bullshit Press, 2024), and they have received support for their work from Nevada Humanities, the Nevada Arts Council, the Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference, and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, among other organizations. Their poetry appears in outlets such as Bennington Review, Cream City Review, Foglifter, Grist, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Puerto del Sol, among others, while their creative nonfiction can be found in journals such as Crab Creek Review, Glassworks Magazine, Quarterly West, and So to Speak, among others. They received their PhD in English from Oklahoma State University and MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women. They are a senior technical editor and team lead for an environmental, engineering, and architectural consulting firm and live in Reno, Nevada.