SOLVED. Fictional gay version of Handmaids Tale. [s]

[[deleted user]]

Got it at the library in the 1990's Took place in the Northwest. closeted gay high school teacher lives with mother in the late 1950's Goes to one halloween party in Seattle? Portland? Vancouver? has one sexual experience somehow tied in to the death of Errol Flynn and ends diary. Diary is found 200 plus years is the future and is part of a college lecture about the history of 20th century gays. Hardcover and recal it had two 1950's club chairs on cover. Thanks

[Michele]

Hm, this is intriguing. Do you have any idea if it was a new book at the time you read it, or an older one? Any recollection if it was short, medium, long, doorstop? Any recollection of where in the library you found it -- like, was it in the A's or the P's or the W's?

[[deleted user]]

thanks for the response. It was a great read- very accurate about the late fifties as well as a interesting view of the future. It was medium size hard cover with about 4-6 hundred pages. It was newish as I checked out books there for years before it appeared I found it at the Eureka library and it was in the middle shelves D-T
Went to the library and looked at each self in the GLBT section- no luck

[Rainbowheart]

I agree with Michele. Sounds really intriguing. Did some searching for "gay teachers" but unfortunately didn't come with anything. Do you remember what subject he taught?

[[deleted user]]

Thanks Rainbowheart.

I think he was a high school history teacher. I have a vague recollection of him discussing Columbus. i recall some of the other female teachers flirted with him but he was happy to live with his mother until he goes to the gay halloween party and had sex with a drunken man in a park. Sorry I cant recall more. I have one more lead with a librarian in san Francisco - will let youknow

[Rainbowheart]

Did your librarian friend in San Francisco find anything?

[[deleted user]]

Sadly no. He was looking for a book he had read and we figured out his book was " I am not myself these days" He said he would look through the stacks but i imagine he is busy and the book is no longer there. am trying on reddit and will go to the sf main branch GLBT book section an see what I can find next week. Thanks for checking in
Johnb

[Michele]

I Am Not Myself These Days for the link for that one.

Keep looking, I really want to read this too!

[Rainbowheart]

Bump for Peter....

[[deleted user]]

Hey,
No luck in all SF libraries. I am at a dead end which bums me out because now the book seems unbelievably good now that it is unavailable. Will let you know if anything turns up

[Blue]

Bumping because I want to know what book this is.

[arratavy]

I apologize this is not an exact match but maybe you can eliminate it from future searches or use it as a similar to -
Cures: A Gay Man's Odyssey by Martin Duberman

[[deleted user]]

thanks Tarra and Blue
I went to the gayest library in the world- Harvey Milk Branch in the Castro and nothing. the only option left is New York PL system. Will let you know if anything turns up. Cures sounds good but is not it. Who know 1990's gay fiction was so prolific and so hard to find

[slauderdale]

I *think* I may have found it. I did a couple different search combinations in Google (the last was "Errol Flynn" fifties "halloween" gay book) and found this review: https://www.dailyxtra.com/book-review...
Goodreads:
The Age of Cities
by Brett Josef Grubisic

The only problem is that it's 2006, but it sounds sooo close, is it possible you read it later? Or maybe the author did publish it earlier in an edition that isn't showing up on Goodreads?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The similarities are insane. It even has club chairs on the cover!
Maybe Peter time traveled to 2006 to read it.

[Rainbowheart]

Still out there, Peter?

[[deleted user]]

Slauderdale is my hero.
that is the one. have ordered in on Amazon. clearly in denial about how fast time is passing. but this is the one. Thank you all and hope you enjoy it and find the books of your dreams

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome news, thanks for the update!