The old gays guide to the good life Lessons learned about love and death, sex and sin, and saving the best for last

With about 240 years of dating experience between them, the Old Gays of TikTok know a little something about life. Here Mick, Jessay, Robert, and Bill of viral video fame talk about their lives and impart their hard-won wisdom to new generations. Robert is a sculptor and painter and a bit of a nudist. Bill was an interior designer who partied with Liberace. Jessay is a singer who grew up in the church in the South. Mick maintains a routine of fitness and body building despite health problems. The group memoir delves into first times and first loves; the freewheeling 1970s in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York; the devastation of AIDS (Robert and Mick are HIV-positive); health and aging; modern dating rituals; and speculations on what happens when you die. Each man's voice comes through clearly, and readers will be charmed even as they're shocked by some of their misadventures and awed by their fighting spirit. Theirs is a history not usually taught in books, and readers will have a great time diving in.

In this upbeat account, TikTok personalities Peterson, Bill Lyons, Robert Reeves, and Jessay Martin (known collectively as The Old Gays) reflect on becoming social media sensations during their twilight years and offer witty advice on topics including fitness, fashion, manscaping, and entertaining. For instance, Peterson, the quartet's "beefcake," asserts that "nutrition is more important than exercise," while the flamboyant Martin shares a preference for platform shoes ("The higher the heel, the closer to God"). Elsewhere, Lyons discloses tips to help readers "accentuate size down there" and Reeves offers foolproof dinner party advice: "Smoke lots of pot before you eat." Though irreverent humor is the Old Gays' bread and butter, they also reflect on faith, their struggles with homophobia, and surviving the AIDS crisis (both Reeves and Peterson are HIV positive). Asserting that readers "don't have to become a TikTok star and walk down the street in a couture gown with your junk on full display to change your day-to-day from drab to fab," the authors inspire fearlessness with their own exuberant attitudes. This risqué rule book celebrates making the most of life at any age. Agent: David Dorrier, Abrams Artists. (Nov.)