Works by
James Magruder
(Writer)

Fiction

• Sugarless: A Novel (October 22, 2009 release)
  Things look bad for Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore in a cookie-cutter Chicago suburb in 1976. His mother’s second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick’s only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax.
  
  After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band (by Mart Crowley), the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winning tournaments and making friends with his teammates.
  
  Rick also discovers the joys of sex—with a speech coach from a rival school—just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass—until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria.
  
  James Magruder’s Sugarless offers a ruefully entertaining take on the simultaneous struggles of coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming-to-Jesus.

Plays

• Three French Comedies: Turcaret, The Triumph of Love, and Eating Crow (1996), James Magruder, translator
  This work comprises three translated versions of plays by French writers. "Turcaret", a tale of sexual intrigue and bad manners, and "Triumph of Love", which deals with self-reflection and self-consciousness, were written in the 18th century, while "Eating Crow" was written in the 19th.

• The Triumph of Love by Pierre Carlet De Chamblain De Mariuaux (1994), James Magruder, translator

• The Miser by Moliere: A New Translation and Adaption (2004)

• The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, James Magruder, translator and adapter with Gina Leishman

• THE ART OF THE ONE-ACT: An Anthology
  See "Too Much of Me" by James Magruder

• The American Theater Reader
  See "A Place at the Table" by James Magruder

Other

• Boy Crazy: Coming Out Erotica (January 1, 2009) by Richard Labonte
  See  "Treasure Map" by James Magruder