A celebration of the most important relationship in a straight girl's lifeher gay best friend.

Thanks to iconic duos such as Sex and the City's Carrie and Stanford and the title characters of Will and Grace, the love affair between straight women and gay men has moved into the mainstream. Never before, though, has a book looked at these friendships in the real world.

The editors, themselves best friends, have put together this collection of hilarious and poignant never-before-published essays that explore this unique relationship. In addition to stories about single girls and gay guys bonding over shopping sprees and brunch, these stories chronicle love and lust, infatuation and heartbreak, growing up and coming out, and family and children.

Straight women and gay men alike will relate to these tales from a diverse array of contributors, ranging from literary novelists to Emmy Award winners, single girls about town to mothers of four, downtown performance artists to Hollywood scenesters. This definitive anthology, the first of its kind, proves that more durable than diamonds, straight women and gay men are each other's true best friends.

A share of the proceeds from this book will benefit The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping gay teens.

"These pages resound with two main sentiments: 'If you're lucky, really lucky, you have one friend in this life who feels like a gift' and 'Getting a gay boyfriend enriches life immeasurably.' This collection of original essays celebrates the fierce bond and special intimacy between straight women and their gay male best friends, as well as the sometimes disheartening realization that the boy you like, likes boys. Many essays soar with strong insights into love, humanity and the nature of friendship. James Lecesne writes a letter to a friend that whimsically deconstructs their 15-year friendship while revealing just how lifesaving it was. Cindy Chupack, on the verge of getting married again, embarks on a bittersweet reunion with her gay ex-husband. And Karen Robinovitz rhapsodizes on the joys of shopping with gay men and why when getting married one should, instead of bridesmaids, opt for 'bridesgays.' Contributors also include some familiar writers from the worlds of journalism, film, TV, theater and fiction, like Anna David, David Ebershoff, Michael Musto and Andrew Solomon. Though bookstores aren't lacking for lesbian and gay anthologies, this one justifies itself by tapping a less-explored subject with fresh voices and fervent first-person accounts." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This anthology brings together 28 personal essays on the relationship between straight women and gay men. De La Cruz, author of the Au Pairs series and other books, and Dolby, author of the novel The Trouble Boy, thought of the book as a result of their relationship and commissioned essays written by both straight women and gay men on different aspects of this relationship: group dynamics, confidants, romantic issues, childhood friendships, and relationships between fathers and daughters and mothers and sons. Authors of the essays range from novelists, playwrights, TV producers, writers, and actors. There is no index. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A charmingly skewered look at best friends. (Plum Sykes, author of Bergdorf Blonds)

A literary "Will & Grace," this collection of essays from a diverse array of contributors celebrates the relationship between straight women and their gay best friend.

Melissa de la Cruz (editor) is the author of the bestselling young adult Au Pairs series and several novels, as well as the co-author of How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files. She has written for The New York Times, McSweeney's, the San Francisco Chronicle, Harper's Bazaar, and Marie Claire.

Tom Dolby (editor) is the author of the bestselling novel The Trouble Boy. He has written for The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, and Out. His second novel, The Sixth Form, set at a New England boarding school, will be published in 2008.

Armistead Maupin (foreword) is the world-renowned bestselling author of the Tales of the City series, which has been the basis for three highly acclaimed television miniseries. His ninth novel, Michael Tolliver Lives, was recently published.