Eminent Outlaws; The Gay Writers Who Changed America

From a broader perspective I have just completed reading Eminent Outlaws  by Christopher Bram.  He takes a close look at the last 50 years of gay writing from America,  Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal and James Baldwin all feature heavily in the 1950s post war period.  They were often friends but also combative competitors. 

Their writing was often criticised for being too homosexual or read as homosexual pretending to be straight.  Baldwin suffered under the charge of not writing as a black man when he wrote a gay story.  It is these writers who along with Christopher Isherwood and Edmund White showed that gay writing could be good and did not always have to include suffering homosexuals.  Straight people had difficult lives and gay people often lived happy lives. 

The literature produced could be entertaining, informative and for the publishers even profitable.  The details of the plays, poems, novels and essays produced in the second half of last century is amazing.  This could be a book in which to find your future reading lists.

Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov

The famous author of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov seldom mentioned the brother he left behind in Europe.  Paul Russell has very cleverly reconstructed this gay brother’s life from the few known facts.  It is a beautiful journey from the decline of St Petersburg in the early 20^th Century as the time of the Tsars is brought to a close through to the end of Hitler’s Germany and Sergey himself. 

Sergey lives and loves an amazing life.  His father was immensely intelligent and he idolised his gay uncle who ignored him, while focussing his attentions on the elder Vladimir.  Sergey becomes friends with many famous people of the era such as Cocteau and Alice Toklas.  This is the story of an emigrant community and an overlooked brother.  It captures a changing world over a period of just a few decades. 

Queen of Iron Years

By Lyn McConchie ad Sharman Horwood published by Kite Hill Publishing

Its 2035 and the world has gone to pieces.  Just like AIDS did in the 1980s a new disease known as Tensens is causing panic.  It appears that the hormonal balance of transsexuals means any Transgender person infected with Tensens and having sexual relations causes their partner to die.  Our transgender hero Cean finds his life is getting more difficult and the discrimination he suffers causes a halt to his life and his journey to becoming female.

The story progresses to Cean using a friend’s time travel technology to travel back to the first century and the time of his heroine Boadicea.  The subsequent tale is a brilliant example of historical fiction.  The details ring true as we read of battles with Romans and simple village life in early Britain.  Cean is hoping that he can change the future by helping Boadicea win war against Rome, rather than lose as she had done in our history.  Cean uses his knowledge and a stock of antibiotics to gain trust as he integrates with these more primitive people.  By changing the past a better kinder world where female strength is valued may come to pass.

You will enjoy reading this book.  Co-author Lyn lives in New Zealand.  Give her your support.

 

Naked Truth by Rachel Francis published by Penguin.

 

The sex industry in New Zealand occurs in dark back streets, busy street corners, strip clubs, massage parlours, brothels, and all places where gritty real sexual encounters occur.  This is Rachel’s second book, a book where she endeavours to share with all of us the truth and reality of this industry.  Through her interviews with a wide range of people Rachel wants to demonstrate the validity of what these people do for a living.

Sex workers can be entertainment as we see in night clubs and strip bars, while they can also be a safe sexual outlet for people who would otherwise be tempted force sex on someone in their lives.

At the book’s launch a wonderful variety of humanity was on show. These were the people from the book.  The female with long blond hair and great tits on show had grown up to be a farming bloke from provincial NZ, the couple who run a swingers club, young and old sex workers, the memory of Flora Mackenzie and Carmen Rupe who polarised our county’s attitudes to entertainment at the sexual boundary of society.

The interviews are revealing and engaging.  Rachel’s own self comes through in each of the introductions.  This is a woman who has lived life and is proud to be able to share her world with readers who have only glimpsed this one previously.

And then we come across our community’s hero, Miss Ribena.  Miss Ribena tells us she learnt to be drug and alcohol free from her first Madam.  This self control is what delivers spot on performances and a caring person to clubs like Family.  By challenging norms and creating allure she also gives a role model to us all.

Go on, do buy and read this book for its salacious details of the sex industry, but also for the wonderful stories of our fellow Kiwis.

Reviewed by Andrew Rumbles, Andrew@gayexpress.co.nz

King of the Badgers by Philip Henscher published by 4th Estate

Hanmouth, Devon is an English village where the town’s inhabitants are happily living their daily lives.  In the interests of civic safety they have agreed to install CCTV.  As the story unfolds we also see their lives from the inside and all is not what it always appears to be. Why is Sylvie making collages out of penises cut from magazines? Why is the Brigadier’s wife always so chipper?  What makes the new couple in town think they will fit in? Will their son enjoy his visit and who is his new friend?  Do Miranda and Kenyon know each other, let alone their crazy daughter, Heidi?  And why do the people on the neighbouring council estate have to call their suburb Hanmouth, when it quite obviously really isn’t?  And pervading the novel throughout is Mr John Calvin’s insistence that Neighbourhood Watch keeps authorising more cameras. A mix of motivations and intentions all slowly build to create a quirky picture of what really is going on.

The biggest surprise to me was the in your face gay sex party that is hosted for the Bears by local cheese shop owner, Sam and his boy friend Harry or “Lord what a waste”.  It does circumspectly take place behind the tightly closed curtains.  Throughout the novel one character remains distinctly unknown.  She is young China, a girl from the other Hanmouth who disappears and even the CCTV footage doesn’t seem able to help. 

This is a slow moving, beautifully written novel.  Enjoy it for its language and what it does and doesn’t tell you.  Its journey may be more enjoyable for you than its destination.

Good as Dead by Mark Billingham published by Little Brown

Billingham is one of the big names in crime fiction. His cops are human and focussed on doing their jobs well.  In this story a visit to a convenience store by a police woman quickly becomes a crisis as the store owner pulls a gun and takes Helen and another customer hostage.  Mr Akhtar’s son was taken into custody a year ago and the investigations have determined his death 8 weeks ago was suicide.  This resolution is not acceptable to this father.  In his heart it does not ring true with the son he knew. 

The response by the police gets complicated when Mr Akhtar insists that DI Thorne must investigate what really happened.  Time is against him as the hostage situation gets more and more tense.  Slowly but surely Thorne digs through the known facts trying to unearth the truth of what happened in the youth institution that young Amin was held in.  What lead up to the crime he went down for?  Was he really guilty?  Why was he in the area and the big question is why and how did he actually die?  A key part of this story is young Amin’s sexuality.  His parent’s knowledge or lack of knowledge of his life typifies most families.  The depraved lives lead by the adults in the world he is growing up in have not made his life an easy one.

The plot develops steadily.  Thorne has been in previous Billingham novels; however familiarity with previous books is unnecessary to enjoy this one.  There are plenty of twists and personal connections to flesh out this novel and they all add together to make it a very enjoyable read.

Disadvantage Line by Ron Davis published on Kindle books at Amazon.com

When I met Ron Davis the other day, he told me that he had always wanted to find the time to see if he could really write.  Life had kept him rather busy, but he had found time to do a writing course.  He has since then taken the opportunity afforded by the internet and self published his book Disadvantage Line online.  And can he write?  Yes.  Ron has written the book he knew he had in him.  He has not allowed himself to be hindered by any genre limitations.  This at times one handed read is a well crafted thriller with a love story about rugby player Ryan and our nation’s favourite game at its heart.

Ryan takes us into the heart of his world when we meet him at his first game as an All Black.  During the first game at the big new Christchurch rugby stadium in 2014 he realizes he knows the Lions player kicking the conversion in a way that he doesn’t want to share with any of his team mates.  Ryan then takes us back a few years to when he first realised he had a chance at serious rugby and also when he realised he could get turned on by guys more than girls.  His urges then lead us into a story of sport and lust as this young guy copes with a life of turmoil.   Ryan’s strict father has kicked him out and he is living with his best mate Ethan, whose family is both Maori and devoutly Christian.  Ryan’s team plays rugby in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom, while he lives with his secret desires.  The action does flow well and the plot is well developed.  I mostly enjoyed sharing Ryan’s world.

This book has a strong teen/ young adult protagonist.  In many ways this could have been a book that qualified as helpful reading for a young guy figuring out his sexuality.  However I personally have misgivings about some of the morally repugnant violence in the book, that lacks serious consequences.  This readership group should be offered some guidance if reading this book.

Davis says he will look at other e-publication outlets, so if you don’t like Kindle other formats may soon be available.  If you want to contact Ron you can search “disadvantage line” on Facebook. I was pleased to see that on his facebook page “Ryan” shows some regret for his actions.