ManBug George K. Ilsley Arsenal Pulp  $15.95 When Tom, a dyslexic bisexual Buddhist, attempts to give his boyfriend, Sebastian, a gay entomologist with Asperger’s syndrome, an ironic superhero nickname, he transposes the words “bug man”; “ManBug” is the result. Author George K. Ilsley’s debut novel (he also wrote the short story collection Random Acts of Hatred) follows the bumpy course of their relationship as they traverse Tom’s addiction to deflowering sensitive “manboys” and Sebastian’s Gregor Samsa–esque identification with insects. The strength of the novel comes from Ilsley’s language play and his ability to make Sebastian’s symptoms of Asperger’s, which render him unable to read emotions, serve as a handy metaphor for how at sea anyone can feel when navigating relationships. But Ilsley’s larky and radiant story provides more than the anatomy of a disorder. There’s lots of winking humor—Sebastian named his childhood pet turtle “Salmonella”—along with emotional spelunking, fun bug facts, and even a little Sanskrit, all within the context of a love story that, despite its singular participants, yields an unexpected universality. Karen Schechner