Elitist Atheist Warren A. Smith Makes A-List-Who’s Who in Hell

By Frank DiGiacomo

Warren Allen Smith stood in his cramped Greenwich Village studio apartment and recalled the time he scared the heck out of Gore Vidal.

It was 1995, Mr. Smith said, and Mr. Vidal was making an appearance at Barnes & Noble on Union Square. After waiting in line to meet the author of Myra Breckenridge and Live from Golgotha , Mr. Smith made his move.

“I went up to him and said, ‘Hey, you and I are in love with the same man!’ And I was serious.” Mr. Smith, who says he’s 77 though his book has him born in 1921, crinkled his eyes and flashed a sly smile. He wore stylish neo-retro half-rim glasses and, from the neck up, looked like a well-kept Buck Henry. Neck down, he was channeling Ed Grimley, his dark work pants riding high on a reddish-orange, plaid-patterned work shirt. Hanging from a bookshelf behind him was a sash that read “Stonewall Veteran.” Next to the window was a telescope pointed, he had said earlier, at the Archives building, where Monica Lewinsky now lives.

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