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IN PRINT

The Butterfly's Wing Martin Foreman

Cocksuckery
Ian Stewart

First and Fiftieth
and other stories
Martin Foreman

Goodmans Hotel
Alan Keslian

A Little Chat
and other stories

Michael Harth

Merle
Elsa Wallace

Nailing Frank
Paul Mann

A New Man in Old Steine
Graham Robertson

The Physent
and other stories
Michael Harth

The Picnic
and other stories
Michael Harth

The Queer Commando
Paul Mann

Queer Haunts
an anthology of ghost stories

Rid England of This Plague
Rex Batten

The Seaman's Mission
Paul Mann

A Sense of Loss
and other stories
Martin Foreman

A Short History of Lord Hyaena
Elsa Wallace

Slivers of Silver
poems by gay men and women

Weekend
Martin Foreman
FORTHCOMING
Parable With Foreskin And Redheads
Ian Stewart

gay links in London and across the UK




A new man in Old Steine
Graham Robertson

"compelling .... entertaining ... I couldn't put it down"
QX magazine

"Thoroughly recommended"
out-brighton

"You've had a girl up here, haven't you?" James croaked.
"Not so much a girl as an old boot. Remember? In the pub?"
He remembered only too well.
"Why did you take the pictures down?" he demanded.
"Obvious, innit? I couldn't let on I was bent, could I?" said Ron.
"Anyway, I put them back, di'n'I?"


This lively modern novel follows the fortunes of James Weston, the owner/editor of a local newspaper, who leaves behind family and long-standing friends at the local yacht club for a mid-life plunge into Brighton's gay scene, determined to fulfil his sexual destiny.

204 pages; £7.99; 978 0 9525964 1 7



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Review by fellow Paradise Press author: Alan Keslian

In a series of demanding and varied encounters the characters of this short novel demonstrate their capacity to bring each other happiness or cause mayhem. Full of wit, ideas and acute social observation, the interactions between them are sometimes rewarding and sometimes disastrous.

The book opens with the main character's respectable family life increasingly shown to be a sham. After years of hiding his feelings he is no longer able to ignore his underlying sexual desire for men, and this leads him to escape from life in a small town preoccupied with petty snobbery and social climbing.

Aided by a gay childhood friend he takes his first steps into the exciting but unpredictable world of pubs and clubs in the Old Steine area of Brighton. Inevitably he stumbles. His expectations of stable relationships and social convention are soon in conflict with inconstancy and exploitation on the gay scene. He learns and adapts, survives the inevitable disappointments, and in the process makes some good friends and experiences gay sex in both its loving and crudely mechanical forms.

The love scenes are sometimes humorous, sometimes intense, but always integral to the plot. The inhabitants of both worlds are driven by irresistible motives, generous and caring or lustful and avaricious. In one milieu a great fuss is made about whether a 'bloody oriental' should be allowed to join the yacht club with its exclusively male enclave, the 'Fo'c'le Bar', while in the other dangerous strangers are picked up in bars or in cruising areas.

Graham Robertson says that his view of the gay scene is unsentimental, and certainly in his book human weakness and capricious circumstance lead to some dire outcomes. To balance the adversities good account is given of the delights, adventure and fun of the gay world. The people described here, rich or poor, educated or disadvantaged, are not presented as men are in so much gay fiction, debilitated losers who make their days bearable in sexual posturings under a haze of drug or alcohol abuse. Here people sometimes stray into wickedness, but their lives are not futile and in most instances they retain their capacity for good.

One of the most welcome attributes of the book is that it is such an enjoyable read. It will provide an excellent remedy for anyone whose interest in fiction has been jaded by the wearingly dull output of so many big commercial publishers.