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Reviewing the Year in Books by Jesse Monteagudo Since I began reviewing gay books eight years ago, I have made an annual “Book of the Year” selection. To qualify, a book must be well-written, of outstanding importance, and deal with lesbians or gay males in a positive manner. For the record, here are the Books of the Year for 1978-1985: 1978 Dancer from the Dance, by Andrew Holleran. 1979 Now the Volcano: An Anthology of Latin American Gay Literature, edited by Winston Leyland 1980 Christiantiy, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, by John Boswell 1981 The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, by Vito Russo 1982 Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology, by Evelyn Torton Beck and Faultline, by Shiela Ortiz Taylor 1983 A Boy’s Own Story, by Edmund White In 1984,1 decided instead to honor a writer who dominated the gay male literary scene with the quality and variety of his books. John Preston was the Author of the Year, in particular for I Once Had A Master And Other Tales of Erotic Love, and Sweet Dreams (the first in a series called “The Mission of Alex Kane”). Looking back over the list of books published in the last 12 months, one finds a remarkable literary output in 1985. Surprisingly enough, the AIDS epidemic did not affect gay writing as much as one would have expected, except indirectly by encouraging an increase in erotic fiction. Two of last year’s better gay male novels dealt with AIDS to a large extent: The World Can Break Your Heart by Daniel Curzon (Knights Press) and Facing It: A Novel of AIDS by Paul Reed (Gay Sunshine Press). Curzon’s novel is the fictional autobiography of Benjamin Vance, whose life is a constant struggle against diverse odds. As a boy, Benjy had to deal with his parents and with the Catholic Church; as a youth Ben is forced into an unhappy marriage; as a gay man Bejamin has to deal with a failed career and with the onslaugt of AIDS. His is a bitter world without faith, hope or love, and suicide is never far from his thoughts. The narrative is broken with imaginary letters Ben sent to people in his past, which provide a running commentary on the plot. At the end, having lost everything, Benjamin realizes that writing his book has provided the saving grace in his life. Daniel Curzon is incapable of writing a bad book, and The World Can Break Your Heart is an excellent one. Facing It was the first novel to treat AIDS with taste and understanding. It is the story of Andy Stone, a young man whose bout with the disease greatly affects his life and those around him, including his faithful lover, estranged parents and heterosexual doctor. Combining an interesting story with factual information. Facing It is the perfect AIDS book for those who find medical books boring. It is recommended. There were several non-fiction treatments, some good, some opportunistic, and all immediately outdated: the best of these, A Strange Virus of Unknown Origin by Dr. Jacques Leibowitz (Aries Press) is the story of the French physician’s discovery of the LAV (HTLV-III) virus. Fiction reigned during the past year, as if authors were seeking to escape from a harsh reality. Among the year’s best novels were The Blue Star by Robert Ferro (Dutton), The Swashbuckler by Lee Lynch (Naiad Press), The Woman Who Owned The Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen (Spinsters, Ink), Dancer Dawkins and The California Kid by Willyce Kim (Alyson, reviewed in TFP, September 24, 1985) and The Beat by Simon Payne (Gay Men’s Press). Having written one masterpiece (The Family of Max Desir), Robert Ferro went on to write another in The Blue Star, which offers an exciting plot, believable characters and a marvelous use of the English language. The main thread of the story involves Peter and Chase, two gay men who meet in a Florentine penzione and become friends. Peter (the narrator) falls in love with a humpy Italian who (alas) goes on to marry and raise a family. Chase, the scion of a old American family, is induced to marry (for money) the daughter of an even older Italian family in order to keep it from becoming extinct. The second thread involves Chases’s great grandfather, a Masonic Grand Master, who in the 1850's hired famed architect Frederick Law Olmstead to secretly build a masonic temple underneath New York City’s Central Park. Ferro deliberately keeps the two threads apart until the end of the book where he weaves them together in a way which seems incredible at first but, in hindsight, appears perfectly natural. The Swashbuckler, by Lee Lynch, deserves a high place in Naiad’s catalog of lesbian fiction, just below Faultline and alongside Daughters of a Coral Dawn. Inspired by Ann Bannon’s classic novels of a quarter-century ago. The Swashbuckler does an excellent job in recreating a way of life that is now all but dead. The lesbian colonies of early sixties New York live again in these pages. The women who populate this book, whether black, white, Puerto Rican, butch or femme, are true to life. Several chapters are especially memorable; the description of Provincetown in Chapter 2 is one of the best I’ve read anywhere, while Chapter 10 has one of the best-written pieces of lesbian erotica. All in all. The Swashbuckler is Lee Lynch at her best, which is saying a lot. In The Woman Who Owned The Shadows, Paula Allen deals in fictional form with those themes which form the basis of her poetry and essays. Ephanie Atencio is a Pueblo Indian whose struggle to find fulfillment results in disappointment and tragedy. Not finding what she was looking for in the outside world, Ephanie finds it by looking within — and back ot the traditions and legends which Native American women have transmitted to their daughters for eons. American tribal culture was more feminist than ours, as shown by the score of women — identified Indian legends Allen uses throughout her book. The Beal, an amazing first novel by an Australian author, deals with the mysterious death of a queer basher who we find out was murdered by six gay men who’ve had,enough. Payne looks into the lives and minds of each of the men and tries to determine what drove them to do what they did. A vivid tale of gays fighting back, The Beal is also a good introduction to gay life Down Under. Although not one of the better novels of 1985, Clenched Firsts, Burning Crosses — A Novel of Resistance (Crossing Press) is at least of local interest. The author is Chris South, a writer who lives in Durham. It is the story of Jessie, a Southern lesbian who ekes out a living as a feminist printer and who is the sole witness to the murder, by several Ku Klux Klansmen, of ananti-Klan activist. In order to keep Jesse quiet, the Klan subjects her to harassment, vandalism and rape. While the story is forceful enough, it is marred by South’s valuing, rather vehemently, “political correctness" over good writing. Needless to say, the male characters are one dimensional. South does better with her women — whether beseiged lesbian or Cont’d on page 9 The Front Page is always on the lookout for new advertisers. Some rates: Full Page $162; Half Page-$87; Quarter Page-$50; Eighth Page $32; Sixteenth-$19. Other sizes are available. In many cases, there are small production charges in addition to the cost for space. Terms: payment by certified check or money order in advance. Credit only to established, approved clients. Call us for a complete rate card, or for further information. Better yet, call us to place your ad. Thank you! Next Issues Dec 17-Jan 6 Jan 14-Feb 4 On The Streets By Tuesday, Dec 17 Tuesday, Jan 14 Ad Deadline Friday, Dec 6 Friday, Jan 3 r i i ! I V I V I I I I I I I DONT MISS AN ISSUE! If you don’t pick up The Front Page by the weekend, you might not get one! A year’s subscription (22 issues), mailed in a plain, sealed envelope, costs only $10.00 (bulk rate). If for some reason you desire speedier service or extra protection, you can opt to pay $18.50 (first class postage). A subscription guarantees you won’t miss a single issue! Name Address City__StateZip I Make check or money order payable to The Front Page and mail to P.O. Box 25642, Raleigh, N.C. 27611. 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Dec. 3, 1985, edition 1
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