An involving story about movies and queer life in San Francisco decades ago, another about an immigrant who conflates gender-bending sex with colonialism, and a lighthearted romcom are today’s very different reading experiences.

“Midnight at the Cinema Palace”: by Christopher Tradowsky (Simon & Schuster, $28.99)

(Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)

But that was the thing in SF, one night you might be the life of the block party, the queen of the night dancing high on a stoplight, and by the next morning, you’d have vanished without a trace… he wondered, again, if he would ever know how it felt to have sex without the angel of death hanging over him. — from “Midnight at the Cinema Palace”

What a journey we take into San Francisco in 1993 in this quirky, thoughtful debut novel by a St. Paul resident who teaches art history and mentors in the Augsburg University MFA program.

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Walter moves from the Midwest to San Francisco where he knows nobody. Newly out of the closet, he’s soon captivated by a queer couple; Cary, a woman, and her stylish partner Sasha, a male who could be taken for a woman. The couple, who Walter thinks are straight out of film noir, bond with him over mutual love of cinema and classics from Hollywood’s golden age. They take Walter under their wings and the trio join other young queer people moving from hot clubs to drag parades to making friends like Lawrence, a former child actor and filmmaker living with HIV. Cary and Walter try to write a film script, but mostly quibble over details like a name for their non-existent production.

Although AIDS hangs over this story, there is also a sort of frenetic joy in it, as though the characters know instinctively their scene is coming to an end. So, too, might Walter’s friendship with Cary and Sasha, as he realizes what the couple’s gender bending means to their relationships. And there’s humor, as when sometimes-clueless Walter is knocked over by a drag queen dressed as Queen Elizabeth who falls from a lamp post.

Christopher Tradowsky (Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)

Tradowsky, who drew inspiration for his novel from living in San Francisco in the ’90s, told his publisher he wrote this book at a “dark time” when we were in pandemic lockdown and his teaching job was precarious — “In reaching for joy, I realized that an entire novel could be a love letter to my obsessions, to the things I love best: to San Francisco, to queerness, to the cinematic experience, and above all, to friendship… how to live beyond social conventions, openly, playfully, messily, (sometimes haphazardly), beautifully, deeply, queerly.”

Involving, tender, madcap, filled with references to sometimes-obscure films, this is a big novel you can lose yourself in for a long summer read.

Tradowsky will introduce his book at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 26, at Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

“The Perfect Match”: by M. E. Bakos (Independently published, $14.95)

She looked devastated when I shoved the paper at her, and I felt guilty. There was a spark, too. Animal attraction. She wore that danged cute jeans jacket again, and her tousled hair fell around her face. —  from “The Perfect Match”

(Courtesy of the author)

Merry is having trouble with her landlord in this debut romance from the author of the Home Renovator mystery series. She has returned to her little Minnesota hometown of Reindeer Falls after a divorce along with Fido, the faithful dog she adopted after her breakup. As soon as she moves into her new apartment she’s scolded by Joel, the manager, who thinks dogs bark and poop too much. This testy relationship continues although Joel is becoming increasingly charmed by Merry, who does notice his wavy brown hair and dimple. Merry has her own problems. Her aunt is a matchmaker, sending her to blind dates that do not end well. And her ex-husband makes an appearance asking for forgiveness. Told in the voices of Joel and Merry, this romance, set around the Christmas holidays, is just right for fans who know from the beginning these two are made for each other.

Bakos will sign books from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, June 27 at Lake Country Booksellers, 4766 Washington Ave., White Bear Lake.

“The Seers”: by Sulaiman Addonia (Coffee House Press, $18)

(Coffee House Press)

This edgy, frank and complex account of an Eritrean young woman’s conflating of her sexual desires and her emotions after fleeing to London is not for everyone, but those with an open mind to literature will see asylum seekers in a new way as they follow Hannah, who has escaped war in her home country and ended up in England. Told in 120 pages as one long chapter, with no paragraphs or quotation marks, we see Hannah in limbo in a foster home, unable to work or go to school until the Home Office accepts her. The narrative moves from that foster home, where she experiences racial taunts from the man across the street, to later living under a tree in a park. She often tells her thoughts to her boyfriend, BB, even when he’s not there. With her sex partners, male or female, she finds a home in their bodies:

“BB, we are not in Europe on a quest to find alternatives to our countries lying in ruins but to construct our own in the island of our lust, I said. I don’t understand, Hannah, he said. Are you equating sex to a country? I didn’t know whether his question was genuine or had a hint of mockery about it. But who are we, I thought, if we don’t savour our ridiculousness, our madness, in the way we embrace sanity?”

Racism, colonialism, memories of war-torn countries from which these characters came, are all woven into this imaginative look into an immigrant woman’s experiences.

Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British author living in Belgium. His previous acclaimed novels are “The Consequences of Love” and “Silence Is My Mother Tongue.”

“The Seers” is one of seven titles by authors from around the world being produced and published by Minneapolis-based Coffee House through a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Today is Sunday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2025. There are 192 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 22, 1938, in a rematch that bore the weight of both geopolitical symbolism and African American representation, American Joe Louis knocked out German Max Schmeling in just two minutes and four seconds to retain his heavyweight boxing title in front of 70,000 spectators at New York’s Yankee Stadium.

Also on this date:

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for a second time as Emperor of the French.

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1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive and ultimately ill-fated invasion of the Soviet Union that would prove pivotal to the Allied victory over the Axis Powers.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights,” which provided tuition coverage, unemployment support and low-interest home and business loans to returning veterans.

In 1945, the World War II Battle of Okinawa ended with an Allied victory.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

In 1977, John N. Mitchell became the first former U.S. Attorney General to go to prison as he began serving a sentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to killing rock star and former Beatle John Lennon.

In 1986, Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona scored the infamous “Hand of God” goal in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup against England, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead. (Maradona would follow minutes later with a remarkable individual effort that become known as the “Goal of the Century,” and Argentina won 2-1.)

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, unanimously ruled that “hate crime” laws that banned cross burning and similar expressions of racial bias violated free-speech rights.

In 2011, after evading arrest for 16 years, mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was captured in Santa Monica, California.

In 2012, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted by a jury in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years. (Sandusky would later be sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Prunella Scales is 93.
Actor Klaus Maria Brandauer is 82.
Fox News analyst Brit Hume is 82.
Musician-producer Peter Asher (Peter and Gordon) is 81.
Musician-producer Todd Rundgren is 77.
Actor Meryl Streep is 76.
Actor Lindsay Wagner is 76.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is 76.
Actor Graham Greene is 73.
Singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper is 72.
Actor Bruce Campbell is 67.
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is 65.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is 65.
Basketball Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is 63.
Actor Amy Brenneman is 61.
Author Dan Brown is 61.
Actor Mary Lynn Rajskub is 54.
Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is 54.
TV personality Carson Daly is 52.
Actor Donald Faison is 51.
Football Hall of Famer Champ Bailey is 47.
Golfer Dustin Johnson is 41.

By SEUNG MIN KIM, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — One image shows President Donald Trump staring straight ahead stone-faced, monitoring the mission that took out three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites on Saturday.

In another image, Trump stands as his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, appears to speak. And whenever Trump is pictured, he is donning a bright red hat blaring his signature campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

The series of photos that the White House published on its X account Saturday gives the public a rare glimpse inside the Situation Room — again stirring the intrigue that occurs any time pictures from the highly secret complex are released.

In this image provided by the White House, President Donald Trump, right, and Vice President JD Vance sit in the Situation Room, Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the White House in Washington. (The White House via AP)

(Recall the photo of then-president Barack Obama watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden?)

The photos from Saturday portrayed Trump with senior members of his team, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio — doubling as Trump’s national security adviser — White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They are gathered around a large wooden table in the main conference room of the Situation Room, known as the “JFK Room” — named for the president who was in office when the Situation Room was established.

Trump is always in sharp focus whenever he is pictured, even as other officials in the foreground — like Hegseth or Vance — are softly blurred.

In this image provided by the White House, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in foreground, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio sit in the Situation Room, Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the White House in Washington. (The White House via AP)

The two officials closest to Trump when he’s seated are Vance and Rubio, perhaps underscoring the depth of their influence as Trump deliberated for days whether to strike Iran.

But the president isn’t always sitting still. At points, Trump was roaming around the room, standing behind his top aide Wiles as Caine appeared to speak. Some photos show Cabinet members sitting still, intently watching something, while others show a relative flurry of activities — the joint chiefs chairman pointing animatedly, Hegseth conferring with another official.

There are half-empty water bottles on the wooden conference table, along with disposable cups featuring the White House seal. Colorful highlighters. A thick binder in front of Caine.

This image provided by the White House shows CIA Director John Ratcliffe, in foreground seated, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, left, speaks with national security adviser Andy Baker with White House counsel David Warrington seated in background in the Situation Room, Saturday, June 21, 2025, at the White House in Washington. (The White House via AP)

CIA Director John Ratcliffe had a binder and papers in front of him as well, although his documents appeared to be blurred — certainly for security reasons.

Senior administration officials not considered principals were also there. In the back in one photo is Dan Scavino, the president’s omnipresent deputy chief of staff. In another, White House counsel David Warrington is pictured.

The Situation Room that Trump and his national security team sat in is a vastly different one than from his previous term. The sprawling complex located on the ground floor of the West Wing underwent a $50 million renovation that was completed in 2023.

By DAVID RISING, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — In inserting itself into Israel’s war against Iran, Washington unleashed its massive “bunker-buster” bombs on Iran’s Fordo fuel enrichment plant.

Those bombs were widely seen as the best chance of damaging or destroying Fordo, built deep into a mountain and untouched during Israel’s weeklong offensive. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation before an official briefing, confirmed their use in Sunday’s attack.

The U.S. is the only military capable of dropping the weapons, and the movement of B2 stealth bombers toward Asia on Saturday had signaled possible activity by the U.S. Israeli leaders had made no secret of their hopes that President Donald Trump would join their week-old war against Iran, though they had also suggested they had backup plans for destroying the site.

It remained unclear early Sunday how much damage had been inflicted upon Fordo. The mission could have wide-ranging ramifications, including jeopardizing any chance of Iran engaging in Trump’s desired talks on its nuclear program and dragging the U.S. into another Mideast war.

Here’s a closer look.

What is the bunker-buster bomb?

“Bunker buster” is a broad term used to describe bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding. In this case, it refers to the latest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal. The roughly 30,000 pound precision-guided bomb is designed to attack deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels, according to the U.S. Air Force.

FILE – In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force on May 2, 2023, airmen look at a GBU-57, or the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri.(U.S. Air Force via AP, File)

It’s believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. It was not immediately known how many were used in the Sunday morning strike.

The bomb carries a conventional warhead, but the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility. However, Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said. U.S. warplanes also hit Natanz.

How tough a target is Fordo?

Fordo is Iran’s second nuclear enrichment facility after Natanz, its main facility, which already has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes. The IAEA says it believes those strikes have had “direct impacts” on the facility’s underground centrifuge halls.

Fordo is smaller than Natanz, and is built into the side of a mountain near the city of Qom, about 60 miles southwest of Tehran. Construction is believed to have started around 2006 and it became first operational in 2009 — the same year Tehran publicly acknowledged its existence.

FILE – This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran on April 1, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP, File)

In addition to being an estimated 260 feet under rock and soil, the site is reportedly protected by Iranian and Russian surface-to-air missile systems. Those air defenses, however, likely have already been struck in the Israeli campaign, which claims to have knocked out most of Iran’s air defenses.

Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of attacking Iran was to eliminate its missile and nuclear program, which he described as an existential threat to Israel, and officials have said Fordo was part of that plan.

“This entire operation … really has to be completed with the elimination of Fordo,” Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., told Fox News.

Why does the U.S. need to be involved?

In theory, the GBU-57 A/B could be dropped by any bomber capable of carrying the weight, but at the moment the U.S. has only configured and programed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver the bomb, according to the Air Force.

The B-2 is only flown by the Air Force, and is produced by Northrop Grumman.

FILE – In this Oct. 25, 2015, file photo, a U.S. Air Force B2 Spirit stealth bomber performs a flyover at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.(AP Photo/Mark Almond, File)

According to the manufacturer, the B-2 can carry a payload of 40,000 pounds but the U.S. Air Force has said it has successfully tested the B-2 loaded with two GBU-57 A/B bunker busters — a total weight of some 60,000 pounds.

The strategic long-range heavy bomber has a range of about 7,000 miles without refueling and 11,500 miles with one refueling, and can reach any point in the world within hours, according to Northrop Grumman.

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Trump was noncommittal

Whether the U.S. would get involved had been unclear in recent days.

At the G7 meeting in Canada, Trump was asked what it would take for Washington to become involved militarily and he said: “I don’t want to talk about that.”

Then on Thursday, Trump said he would decide within “two weeks” whether to get involved to give another chance to the possibility of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. In the end, it took just two days to decide.

Lolita C. Baldor contributed from Narragansett, Rhode Island.