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Rick Karlin has been a freelance journalist and editor for over 40 years. He is currently the Arts & Culture editor for Out South Florida and a contributing writer for ""The Bay Area Reporter"" and ""Grab Magazine Chicago.""His last book, ""Last Call Chicago: 1001 LGBT-Friendly Taverns, Hangouts, and Haunts,"" co-written with Sukie de la Croix, was published in 2022 and ranked number one in Amazon's LGBT Studies category. His memoir ""Paper Cuts: My Life in Chicago's Volatile LGBT Press,"" published in 2019, was about his life over several decades working in the Chicago LGBTQ press.He has also written three novels: ""Show Biz Kids,"" ""Tales of the Second City,"" and ""Death on the Rocks."" His musicals ""Witches Among Us,"" ""Scrapbook, Ladies at Large,"" ""Musical,"" ""and Spin Cycle"" have been produced in Chicago. His plays ""Turning Tables,"" ""Gregg Shapiro '77,"" and ""Patient B: A Case Study,"" based on the poetry of Denise Duhamel, have all had staged readings in Fort Lauderdale. He has also written numerous children's musicals.Recognizing his years as an LGBT community activist and writer, he was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1997. He wrote for nearly every LGBT publication in Chicago, starting with ""GayLife"" in the 1970s, followed by ""Gay Chicago Magazine"" (entertainment editor), ""Outlines""/""Nightlines"" (now ""Windy City Times""), ""Chicago Free Press,"" ChicagoPride.com, and ""Boi Magazine."" He was also an on-air personality for ""LesBiGay Radio.""His son Adam is a Cook County sheriff. After too many Chicago winters, he retired to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he lives with his husband, poet and journalist Gregg Shapiro, and their fur baby, Miss Coco.
""Last Call South Florida provides a wealth of information chronicling the history of the LGBT community through the decades in South Florida. It provides a fascinating history lesson with detailed information about the bars, nightclubs, events, performers, and the progression of the gay community through the years. From the early days of underground parties, raids and arrests to a more accepting time that we now live in, Last Call South Florida takes us along a tumultuous journey through time. This detailed information brings back so many magnificent memories through the decades in south Florida gay life and phenomenal times that we lived through."" -Edison Farrow, Florida LGBTQ Club Promoter ""It provides a fascinating history lesson with detailed information about the bars, nightclubs, events, performers and the progression of the gay community through the years. From the early days of underground parties, raids and arrests to a more accepting time that we now live in, Last Call South Florida takes us along a tumultuous journey through time. -Julio Capó, Jr., History Professor and author of Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940
