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PARADISE PRESS
fine writing by lesbians and gay men |
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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 
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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?" 204 pages; £7.99; 978 0 9525964 1 7 Buy now by credit card... (p&p free) 
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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. 
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