From *Ascent from Hell* to *Sometimes*

Twenty-seven years ago, under the title Ascent from Hell, Sometimes was completed. At one of the big-5 publishing houses, it got the attention of the first two sets of readers. They sent it up to the Editor, with their recommendation, “an important novel that deserves publication.” The Editor demurred, writing to me, “prodigiously inventive, just not my cup of tea.”
~
Sometimes Lovin' is Hurtful by Vann Turner
Decades have intervened since then and attitudes toward the gay community have changed. On his Hospice bed my husband asked me to dust it off and publish it. The dusting wasn’t much, just a little reworking here and there. It took about three weeks and stands essentially as it was back in 1992 when it was inventive but not somebody’s cup of tea.
~
In these pages magical elements pop up amid the realism:
+ A three-legged dog talks with God.
+ A naked hag swings on a golden chandelier.
+ A sainted mother prays that troubles might descent on her son that he might come to know what love is and call it by its name.
~
The novel is an M/M Romance. But it is not a romance in the way people think about romances—it’s genre-breaking. This genre (in the male version) often contains multiple sex scenes. In Sometimes there is one sex scene (about 2 pages), and that one encounter severs a budding friendship.
~
Romances always contain protestations of love, one to the other. In this novel there is no such protestation. But it is a love song. Bob’s sacrifice demonstrates the depths of their love, one to the other, straight and gay.
~
It’s a love song to repressed love.
~
I think you’ll enjoy it, gritty in places, lyrical in places. Explosive.
~
— Vann
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 16, 2019 18:23 Tags: gay-author, lgbt-romance, literary-romance, m-m-romance, sometimes-lovin-is-hurtful, vann-turner
No comments have been added yet.


The book jacket

Vann Turner
Wherein nuts and bolts, extraneous to the art, find a shelf
Follow Vann Turner's blog with rss.