The Gay Detective by Lou Rand

The Gay Detective by Lou Rand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun, camp sixties gay romp.

It's rare to find gay themed books with the hip lingo of the time, calling the older gay men aunties and the boys all swishing and calling everyone dearie (officially called “the Queen’s Vernacular”). Post-Stonewall this kind of effeminate homosexual was seen as stereotypical and derogatory but I think quite often they were just having fun. And it is fun to hear them crack the quips in this light pulp story.

This to me is what The Man From C.A.M.P. should have been. A lisping private eye blows into town, hires a hunky side-kick and the two go all over gay L.A. trying to solve a crime. Similar to many books of the period, this book offers a guided tour hidden in the story, advising what to expect at a gay bar and at the baths, how to get a room, where to put your key, how to get "special massages" and more.

Lou Rand was obviously flaming and happy with it. He wrote this and one other book, The Gay Cookbook, also filled with camp and innuendos.

I enjoyed this story very much, by giving the tour to the sixties audience of what to expect in a gay bar, the author also reveals what such clubs were like at the time to us. It's a funny book with a great picture of gay life at the time and more sex and sin than was customary for books written in 1961.

It's a detective themed story and my complaint would be the characters seemed one dimensional. For example I didn't really get a sense of what the main character looked like. Was he an attractive hunk, being asked to pose nude in one scene, or a gumshoe, as the book cover suggests, with a bottle of hooch in his drawer? Also I feel the hero looked down on the other gays, using them for his own devices and even shutting down the gay clubs at the end without a thought to his community. But these are relatively minor complaints.

I'd love to read more by Rand or know more about him, apparently though he died at sea without a will.

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Signed: Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

I met Maeve Binchy at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto several years ago.  I believe this book of hers, Scarlett Feather, was the first I had read as I think it's the only book of hers I have signed.  I did later purchase all the rest of them, but this seems to be from the period where I first got in to her.

I remember the event well.  I went with my boyfriend of the time and we had to wait for a few others to read before we got to her. Afterwards at the signing my boyfriend and I were interviewed by Book Television, I still have no idea what that is though.

When we stepped up to have the book signed, Maeve was so friendly and outgoing.  I remember she had a huge glass of wine and was just pouring them back. I had my book signed and then my boyfriend had his signed and he had brought another for a friend and asked her to sign it to "Diane".

Maeve asked if he also went by the name Diane.  When my boyfriend said no, she went into a fabulous long speech about how it was fine with her if he walked the streets as a woman.  She said she would always get cards at Christmas from the Catholics telling her to be more religious and she never listened to any of them, she was fine with everyone the way they were and live and let live was her motto.

I remember the night so well and we had such a great time.  If I got to pick 10 moments of my life to live over, this one would probably be on the list.

Signed: Nocturnes for the King of Naples by Edmund White

I met gay literary icon Edmund White at the Toronto International Festival of Authors a few years ago. I forget what he was reading from, and I don't remember why but I didn't buy it.  Maybe I was broke. 

I remember he was very charming in person and I really felt honoured to meet him and I remember being shy and coquettish.

Kindle Publishing Runaround

What a hassle!
Every time I write to Kindle with a problem it takes them two or three days to write back.  Sometimes they don't actually read my email and I have to try again.  Still I can't see the book I'm publishing.

Them: 
The book "The Heart in Exile" you recently submitted to KDP has been published to the Kindle Store and is already available* for readers to purchase here.

Me: 
This link "here" doesn't work, I can't see the book.

Them:
Your title The Heart in Exile is currently live and can be purchased.

Me:
What do you mean live exactly?
When I click the link you provided, it says "404-Document Not Found"

Them:
We've made your book(s) available in the Kindle store, but only in countries where they appear to be in the public domain. Your book may not appear in searches in territories where it is not offered for sale.

Me:
I marked that I have the rights for Canada. I live in Canada. When I click the link below, in Canada, I can't see anything.
When I search for the book on Amazon from Canada I get no results.
This is why I'm asking. If the book is for sale in Canada, why can't I see it?


It continues, will advise.

Book is live in Canada!

Letters to One: Gay and Lesbian Voices from the 1950s and 1960s by Craig M. Loftin

Letters to One: Gay and Lesbian Voices from the 1950s and 1960s by Craig M. Loftin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a fantastic window into gay life in the 1950's and 60's and I highly recommend it.

The letters presented are more positive overall than I thought they would be, as the author mentions in the introduction. Even though being gay was a crime and there was no real collection of homosexuals or support system, many simply resigned themselves to the fact that they were gay and moved on with their lives as best they could. I've always believed there could be nothing wrong or immoral about being gay as, as far as I'm concerned, I woke up that way. It was never anything I did or made a decision about, it simply happened. And how could anything I had no control over be something wrong? Apparently many in the past felt the same way.

The book is divided into sections on different themes which I think is a great idea. I can't imagine how many hundreds or thousands of hours of work went into this, it must truly been a labour of love. First the author had to read all the letters to pick out the ones he wanted to use, then digitize them or in several cases type them out. The author even chose to leave in the original spelling and grammar errors, which would have taken even longer to type. Then go through each letter inserting footnotes for ease of understanding to a modern audience and reference where necessary pertinent issues of the magazine ONE, which probably meant reading every issue. The work is staggering and there's no way the editor could have been fairly compensated for his time. It truly deserves a wide audience.

One thing that struck me was the poor spelling and grammar of several of the letters. In the age before spell check, and possibly the age before standard higher education, the written word suffered. Two of the letters I was not able or willing to read through to the end due to the poor spelling and grammar. Also I will say I really wish this book had been published on Kindle. I can understand after all this work wanting something physical in your hands to show for it, but I have carpal tunnel and I had forgotten how difficult it is for me to hold a book for any length of time. I had to keep taking breaks and it would have been faster, easier, and more enjoyable for me to read this on the Kindle.

Several letters really moved me, my book is full of post-it notes. A few of them:

- The man who was 26 who had never been able to find a partner for sex saying "I tried to satisfy my sexual hunger with illustrations I drew but they were found by my folks and I was reprimanded". At 26!

- The letter referring to other gays as "fellow sufferers"

- The letters asking questions, about the most basic of things.

- The letter from the man in Hamilton, Ontario, near where I live, saying Canadian customs had confiscated the magazine as it was banned. A process that continues with some arbitrariness today.

- The letters from people in jail really moved me, people who were set up or framed or put through hell for being gay. The letters from "Timothy" were the best of the book and could have been a book all their own. I wanted more. Being arrested, fired, your picture on the front page of the paper, sitting in jail, being told you could get 60 years unless you pay thousands of dollars. The government needs to issue a formal apology to people so affected.

Once again, a fabulous, unedited slice of gay life well worth picking up.

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Playgirl: Letter to the Editor 2

Loving Dirk Shaffer. Super sexy pics, he looks better than he did 20 years ago, and has less feathered hair.

Your first Dirk Shafer cover was the first Playgirl I ever purchased so it means a lot to me to see him back. I also puchased an oil painting of Dirk from a trip to Berlin in 2008 (photo attached).

The shots of him in the mesh jock strap I think will live in my brain for the rest of time. If you have any more of them, please print them.

Fantastic issue, best ever. If you had a whole Dirk issue, just Dirk, I'd buy 10 copies.

Thanks so much,
Adam Dunn, Toronto, Canada

 

 

The Man From C.A.M.P. by Victor J. Banis

The Man From C.A.M.P. by Victor J. Banis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Has any company in the history of eBook publishing ever proof-read their book before putting it on sale? I'm beginning to think not.
I found about 100 mistakes in this book, from simple things like periods instead of commas, or missing punctuation, to big obvious things like the eight times the word "but" got changed to "hut", or the strange sound at the end of the hail instead of the end of the hall, or music to my cars instead of music to my ears. Music to my cars??? Really, no one picked that up?

The book itself was fun, a quick, light read. I enjoyed it well enough. While I was reading it, I pictured it as a sixties TV show playing in my mind. The story was cute, I would have liked more camp from C.A.M.P., but I enjoyed it.

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