David Pratt's Blog, page 2
May 21, 2014
Laughter
At Saints and Sinners in New Orleans I was on a panel about humor, and I said, apropos of "Joey," if you can laugh about it, it's going to be okay, and since you can laugh about anything, anything and everything will be okay. To which I would add, if we can thus guarantee that everything will be okay, then maybe there is a God. Thus answering one of Joey's tacit questions about this world. Also at Saints and Sinners, I told a friend, after hesitating and apologizing ten times for saying something so corny, that I think in the end there are only two things in life, laughter and love. And "Joey" is about both. On the actual level and on the meta level. Of course the book also has a lot of mockery and snark. I will address that in the next post.
May 19, 2014
Back from New Orleans!
I have happy and exhausted, back from New Orleans and the always wonderful Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. I saw old friends including "Bob" and "My Movie" publisher Jameson Currier, "Joey" editor Jerry Wheeler, writer and panel moderator extraordinaire Michael Thomas Ford, Miss Bea Oblivious herself (Felice Picano) with excellent career advice, YA author Louis Ceci, masters of the erotic Bill Holden and Dale Chase, warm and fuzzy bear editor Ron Suresha, writer and blogger 'Nathan Burgoine, and many more dear people and wonderful writers. As for the city itself, beignets and coffee with chicory at Cafe Beignet, ice cream at Creole Creamery, yummy sandwiches and salads at Satsuma, wine, hummus and music outside at Bacchanal, funky music at The Spotted Cat, Kajun's Pub, the Freret Publiq House and on the street, colorful gay toys at Bourbon Pride, and the list just goes on. And I got to read from "Joey." They laughed a lot! More on Nola and Saints and Sinners in the next post!
May 12, 2014
Older characters
I am intrigued by a "Looking After Joey" review here and on Amazon, in which a reader gives the book five stars but finds the portrayals of older characters objectionable. His comments really made me think. My response, below, will make sense mostly to people who have read "Joey." And there may be spoilers.
The reviewer specifically dislikes those gay characters who are older than the protagonists. While I do not assign exact ages to any character in the text, there are three characters that are indeed older than the main protagonists: Fred Pflester, who in my mind is 55; Jurgen, who is 67; and Sir Desmond, 72.
I start with Desmond. I love him! I want to play him in the movie! He's hopelessly retro and snooty and a lech, but he says and does just what he wants. No hiding or slinking about. He gets the lads he talks about, and he gets them to do what he desires. He turns his longing for an old school chum into a book and gets it published and it sells. He invests in plays and knows movie stars (and cheese). He is quite self-centered, but at one time or another I critique most all the characters, young and old, for that.
Jurgen is the one really bad guy. He's a kidnapper and a hypocrite. But when Peachy gets him to reveal his childhood traumas, he weeps uncontrollably and elicits Calvin's sympathy and identification, in spite of his crimes.
Finally, Fred is the most interesting. He is a hard-ass businessman and a snob, and, at the height of the AIDS crisis, he marketed a line of condoms whose names suggested they outright prevented HIV transmission. But he tells the truth when he says he did it all to help his disabled nephew. It is not the case, though, that, years earlier, when Calvin worked for him, Fred had to humiliate Calvin. Calvin is ultimately able to confront Fred and let it go, but Fred never repents.
So those are my takes on the three older gay characters in "Looking after Joey." I think they all represent parts of my gay self with which I am or at some time in the past have been uncomfortable. Maybe in a future post I will discuss some problematic (but, to me, still understandable, even lovable) younger characters.
The reviewer specifically dislikes those gay characters who are older than the protagonists. While I do not assign exact ages to any character in the text, there are three characters that are indeed older than the main protagonists: Fred Pflester, who in my mind is 55; Jurgen, who is 67; and Sir Desmond, 72.
I start with Desmond. I love him! I want to play him in the movie! He's hopelessly retro and snooty and a lech, but he says and does just what he wants. No hiding or slinking about. He gets the lads he talks about, and he gets them to do what he desires. He turns his longing for an old school chum into a book and gets it published and it sells. He invests in plays and knows movie stars (and cheese). He is quite self-centered, but at one time or another I critique most all the characters, young and old, for that.
Jurgen is the one really bad guy. He's a kidnapper and a hypocrite. But when Peachy gets him to reveal his childhood traumas, he weeps uncontrollably and elicits Calvin's sympathy and identification, in spite of his crimes.
Finally, Fred is the most interesting. He is a hard-ass businessman and a snob, and, at the height of the AIDS crisis, he marketed a line of condoms whose names suggested they outright prevented HIV transmission. But he tells the truth when he says he did it all to help his disabled nephew. It is not the case, though, that, years earlier, when Calvin worked for him, Fred had to humiliate Calvin. Calvin is ultimately able to confront Fred and let it go, but Fred never repents.
So those are my takes on the three older gay characters in "Looking after Joey." I think they all represent parts of my gay self with which I am or at some time in the past have been uncomfortable. Maybe in a future post I will discuss some problematic (but, to me, still understandable, even lovable) younger characters.
April 27, 2014
Joey's in Paper!
I am very excited that "Looking After Joey" is in paperback as of today. Thanks to everyone at Wilde City Press: Jerry Wheeler, Ethan Day, Geoff Knight, and Adrian Nicholas, who designed that cover. The photo is by the outrageously talented (and just plan outrageous) Eva Mueller, with actor/writer/model Nicholas Gorham workin' the granola. See more of Nicholas and Eva clicking off photos to the beat of Chris Olsen and Pandafan in the book video! (Tastefully titled "Joey Eats in Bed"!) https://vimeo.com/91786797
April 25, 2014
Bob the Book on Kindle
I see that 135 people have put my novel "Bob the Book" on their to-read lists. Wow! I am very excited. Some of you have commented that you would hold off on "Bob" until the Kindle price came down, so I want to make sure you all know that the Kindle is now $5.99. And if you have already read Bob? I have a new and different novel out this month, "Looking After Joey." And perhaps my favorite of all is my short story volume, "My Movie," a sompelling map of my journey and evolution as a gay man. I'll see you in the pages of whichever one(s) you choose! David
