Midnight at the Cinema Palace is a tender, exuberant debut novel about a young man navigating coming of age in ’90s San Francisco.
Mark your calendars, LitStackers! Midnight at the Cinema Palace by Christopher Tradowsky is in presale (the best time to buy), and ready to hit the bookshelf. Our anticipation is palpable. Published by Simon & Schuster, Midnight at the Cinema Palace is already making waves with early readers. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s on the cover from the publisher’s official description to early reviews that will help you pre-order your copy ASAP. Let’s dive in!
In This Spotlight On Midnight at the Cinema Palace
About Midnight at the Cinema Palace
Walter Simmering is searching for love and purpose in a city he doesn’t realize is fading away—San Francisco in 1993, at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the dawn of the tech revolution. Out of college, out of the closet, and transplanted from the Midwest, Walter is irresistibly drawn from his shell when he meets Cary Menuhin and Sasha Stravinsky, a dynamic couple who live blithely beyond the boundaries of gender and sexuality. Witty and ultra-stylish, Cary and Sasha seem to have stepped straight out of a sultry film noir, captivating Walter through a shared obsession with cinema and Hollywood’s golden age.
As the three embark on adventures across the city, filled with joie de vivre, their lively friendship evolves in unexpected ways. When Walter befriends Lawrence, a filmmaker and former child actor living with HIV, they pursue a film project of their own, with hilarious and tragic results.
Midnight at the Cinema Palace is a vibrant and nostalgic exploration of young souls discovering themselves amidst the backdrop of a disappearing city. Christopher Tradowsky’s astonishing debut captures the essence of ’90s queer culture and the complex lives of friends seeking an aesthetically beautiful and fulfilling way of life.
Praise for Midnight at the Cinema Palace
“Christopher Tradowsky writes gorgeous, melodious sentences. He also brings mid-90s San Francisco to glimmering life so vividly, you’d think he built its streets and hills and shops and theaters himself. But best of all, Tradowsky creates unforgettable characters. Film-obsessed protagonist Walter, the flamboyant Sasha and Cary, all the friends and lovers within their orbit–everyone absolutely blazes with life and emotion, making us laugh and swoon and, by the book’s bittersweet finale, even cry. I love these characters, and I love this book.”—Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear
“How do you come to life as the city of your dreams disappears, person by person, around you? In Midnight at the Cinema Palace, you make art, fall in love with your friends, make each other laugh, and do what you can to keep the inevitable away. This is a brisk, animated novel about LGBTQ+ life in San Francisco in the late days before the internet changed everything. More than nostalgia, it speaks to this moment: Who might we envision ourselves to be?”—Paul Lisicky, author of Song So Wild and Blue: A Life With the Music of Joni Mitchell
“Midnight at the Cinema Palace is a funny, sensual coming-of-age novel, double-exposing the voyeuristic pleasures of an artist’s life with the sorrowful wisdom that originates within creation.”—Kyle Dillon Hertz, author of The Lookback Window
“Young movie lovers discover friendship, glamour, and heartache in 1990s San Francisco… Tradowsky’s ornate novel is a love letter to a foggy, analog metropolis lit up with nightlife and art, queer friendship and desire, movie houses and day jobs, and 20-somethings aching to define themselves.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Tradowsky thrills in his freewheeling exploration of the characters’ gender and sexuality and their tumultuous attraction to each other…Tradowsky’s film references are as finely tuned as his observations about relationships. Queer cinephiles will be especially enthralled.”—Publishers Weekly
About Christopher Tradowsky, Author of Midnight at the Cinema Palace
Christopher Tradowsky is a writer, artist, and art historian. He was awarded the 2023 J. Michael Samuel Prize from the Lambda Literary Foundation. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Midnight at the Cinema Palace is his debut novel.
You can connect with Christopher Tradowsky on their website, and on Instagram.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781668057261
Pub Date: June 10, 2025
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