One of the great pleasures of writing a novel set decades ago is resurrecting long gone places. I decided to let the main characters in my latest novel, Message of Love, go on an impulsive Spring Break trip at about this time of year, back in 1982.
While most of this novel is set in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, I thought, why not let the boys get away?
The gay beach scene in Fort Lauderdale was surprisingly active, and after some research through old gay travel guides and magazines, I found a few tantalizingly retro posts about a specific place, The Marlin Beach Hotel, written about by famous gay blogger Joe Jervis, on his site JoeMyGod.
Jervis' personal recollections are mixed in with some wonderful historic visuals, which also link to some other resources.
The vacation is completely fictional for me, but serves as a shifting point in their lives, being in the company of many older gay men. While a crash course in gay life, for Reid and Everett, some other things - and one person in particular- prove to test their love and trust.
Whoo-hoo! Message of Love is among the finalists for a Lambda Literary Award in this year's Gay Romance category! My boys Reid and Everett have a few new fans. I look forward to reading the other books in this and many other categories.
Now, to decide if I can make the time to go back to New York City for the awards ceremony on June 1.
Here's the full list of Gay Romance finalists for 2015:
The Companion, Lloyd A. Meeker, Dreamspinner Press
Everything's Coming Up Roses: Four Tales of M/M Romance, Barry Lowe, Lydian Press
Foolish Hearts: New Gay Fiction, Timothy Lambert and R.D. Cochrane, Cleis Press
Like They Always Been Free, Georgina Li, Queer Young Cowboys
Message of Love, Jim Provenzano, Myrmidude Press/CreateSpace
The Passion of Sergius & Bacchus, A Novel of Truth, David Reddish, DoorQ Publishing
Pulling Leather, L.C. Chase, Riptide Publishing
Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War, Jeff Mann, Bear Bones Books
The
Companion, Lloyd A. Meeker, Dreamspinner Press
Everything’s Coming Up Roses: Four Tales of M/M Romance, Barry Lowe,
Lydian Press
Foolish Hearts: New Gay Fiction, Timothy Lambert and R.D. Cochrane,
Cleis Press
Like They Always Been Free, Georgina Li, Queer Young Cowboys
Message of Love, Jim Provenzano, Myrmidude Press/CreateSpace
The Passion of Sergius & Bacchus, A Novel of Truth, David Reddish,
DoorQ Publishing
Pulling Leather, L.C. Chase, Riptide Publishing
Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War, Jeff Mann, Bear Bones Books - See
more at:
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/news/03/04/the-27th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists/#sthash.4glSUrMv.dpuf
In the meantime, all the category finalists are listed on the Lambda Lit website, with handy direct links to most of the author pages or product links. Get reading! Whoo-hoo! Enjoy the trailer, with an acoustic version of The Pretenders' song, by Dudley Saunders, plus the full playlist of related songs and clips, on Youtube.com:
When reality coincides with my fiction in a good way, it's slightly amazing, like when a young cross country athlete comes out to his father. Such is the case with Reid Conniff, the narrator of my Lambda Literary Award-winning novel (I still love typing that) Every Time I Think of You.
In reality, the popular Rhodes twins came out to their father in a very modern way, and of course became an internet sensation.
While I was aware of the twins as they came out online (their now-famous video has been viewed more than 15 million times), I wasn't aware of the connection beyond the fact that the two young men, like my fictional character Reid, who were cross country athletes in high school.
It's been around for a while, but once some under-inspired blog-intern on Huffpost regurgitates it, it's viral: it's Hot Dudes Reading! Leave it to New Yorkers to turn something as basic as reading a book on a train into a "trend."
Some say it's a bit creepy to snag random pics of people in public. Some say it's cool. How retro! How analog to not be hunched over one's phone/toy/device!
