In 1978, shortly after I began my “Book Nook” column of book reviews, I conducted an unscientific poll in which I asked readers and passing acquaintances what their favorite book was.

Have you ever woken in the morning steeped in a sense of nonspecific dread? It’s undefined, and even though you have no idea what it’s about, it’s palpable. You recognize that it’s just a feeling, not a fact, yet the heaviness presses. You scan the night’s memories for a bad dream… nothing in jackboots chased you through a field, the mean girls didn’t take your coat.

For decades, the LGBTQ+ bear community has offered something often missing from mainstream gay male culture: a place where bigger, hairier and less traditionally “gym-perfect” bodies could be celebrated rather than criticized.

You know the story, but perhaps not the ending.