JOURNEYING

JUSTIN SPRING

His latest title, and a bit different from his previous publications, is SECRET HISTORIAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAMUEL STEWARD, PROFESSOR, TATTOO ARTIST, AND SEXUAL RENEGADE.

Steward had a peripatetic career. Sexually active from an early age, he kept notes--often vivid--about his sexual experiences, something Alfred Kinsey found of use when they met. Steward was a friend of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas--the letters were published in his book DEAR SAMMY--as well as Thornton Wilder. Steward taught at the college level for a time. Later, he turned to the art of tattooing, working on Chicago's notorious South Street. In the 1960s, Steward started writing homosexual literature under the name Phil Andros, titles which were republished in the 1980s. Andros was only one of the names he wrote under.

Spring's biography is detailed, generous and full of news. He got ahold of Steward's diaries, journals and his sexual records. Spring's account of Steward's libidinal adventures should have earned Steward a Kennedy Center Award, if such existed in his time. Steward died in 1983.

JUSTIN SPRING will read from SECRET HISTORIAN and discuss the life of Samuel Steward at
Calamus Bookstore
Friday, 8 October at 7 PM

SECRET HISTORIAN is a treasure, beautifully published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It includes notes, a selected bibliography, an index and black and white photographs.   478 pages.

SECRET HISTORIAN is a hardcover, $32.50

Through the magic of fate, they wound up in upstate New York and found the Beekman Mansion, which was then up for sale. They went for it. The two of them became weekend farmers.  Lots of roosters, Bubby, the bionic cat, and 88 goats, thanks to their caretaker, Farmer John. Turns out they got a TV show out of their experience--THE FABULOUS BEEKMAN BOYS--and marketed a line of products--handmade goat-milk soap.

THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE is Kilmer-Purcell's account of these adventures. It's not quite COLD COMFORT FARM in reverse, but along that track, charming, sweet--yet now and then a bit tart--and full of fun.

THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE: HOW TWO MANHATTANITES BECAME GENTLEMEN FARMERS is a hardcover published by Harper, $24.99

MYSELF THROUGH OTHERS is his memoir. He narrates his story through his interactions with people he has known, each memory an account of the  person and an incident or incidents that characterized their relationship. It's a novel conceit and does well by him. Some are from among the famous, others colleagues or people he met professionally. Watmough has had a long and busy life.

Some of the folks we meet are: Bill Reid, T.S. Eliot, Jane Rule, W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, Stephen Spender, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Woodcock, Tennessee Williams, Raymond Chandler and Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

MYSELF THROUGH OTHERS is a trade paperback from Dundurn Press (Toronto). Unfortunately, there are no photographs included, excepting the cover photo of Watmough, $24.99

Here's the set-up: what do you do when you discover your spouse has an insignificant other? Even worse: what do you do when your own insignificant other is becoming more significant than your spouse? This sounds like material good enough for Hal Roach, and perhaps McCauley is the new Hal Roach, the genius comedian of modern manners.

Richard and Conrad are partners. Yet Richard has a passionate affair with Benjamin, who is married to a woman (these days, and in Massachusetts, you have to be specific). As to Conrad? He seems to be spending a lot of time in Ohio. What's with that? With the economy in crisis, Richard's plans for promotion look scanty.

McCauley has, again, written a delightful satire on modern American mores at the bitter end of the boom years.

INSIGNIFICANT OTHERS is a hardcover, published by Simon & Schuster, $25.00

His latest book is ROLE MODELS. Waters has been all over the press with this title--the press loves him (whether the sentiment is reciprocated, I do not know). The book is very handsomely published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Waters casts a wide net for his role models. First up is Johnny Mathis, whom Waters interviewed. Mathis, still at his game and filling halls, is the very definition of a cagy interviewee., but in JW's account, it's pure joy. Waters has a lovely, if brief, tribute to Tennessee Williams ("Tennessee Williams saved my life"). The water gets darker when we get to Leslie Van Houten, known to history as one of the "Manson girls." Water has never been shy about the company he keeps.

We meet Esther Martin, owner of the scariest bar in Baltimore. Also on the list are Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Saint Catherine of Siena and the English novelist Denton Welch. Waters in unashamedly a self-confessed neurotic; the subjects in his book surely have their own parts in his psychological constitution. Also interesting is the question: for how many folks out there is John Waters himself a role model?

ROLE MODELS is a hardcover. There are a few black and white photographs throughout, $25.00

IORY ALLISON reads from THE MERMAID AND THE SAILOR at
Calamus Bookstore
Friday, 22 October at 7 PM

THE MERMAID AND THE SAILOR is a trade paperback, published by iUniverse, $19.95

Whether he has hair the color of gun-metal gray or shimmering white, the erotic appeal of an older man can have a magnetic attraction for younger men. In his stories, Potts offers the adventures of bikers, grease monkeys, soldiers and a town alderman--all mature men more than willing to provide solace and sexual service to the younger men who stop by for succor.

SILVER FOXES is a trade paperback from Lethe Press, $15.00

Reitz sets his subjects against an urban wonderland of skyscrapers, pavement, machinery and chaos. This is a Manhattan of graffiti and grit full of beautiful young men from every corner of the world. The photos are all solos, most in full color, some black and white and some tints.

BOYS IN THE CITY is a hardcover from Bruno Gmünder, $52.99

There is also a calendar tie-in with this new photo title, BOYS IN THE CITY 2011 CALENDAR, $15.99

Contributors include: Simon Sheppard, T. Hitman, Shane Allison, Michael Bracken, Wayne Mansfield, Dale Chase, Xan West, Rob Rosen, Dusty Taylor, Wade Johnson, Jeff Mann and others.

BIKER BOYS is a trade paperback published by Cleis Press, $14.95

Football, friends and movies are the most important things in Simon Murray's life. He's pretty much a lonely guy; his friends despair he'll never have someone special. They talk him into joining them at a party. Simon gets involved with a group in a discussion about football--the story is set in Melbourne, Australia--and Simon passionately defends the career of Declan Tyler--though Simon is unaware that Tyler is there in the room and listening to it all.

Simon and Declan form a bond and create a relationship. One problem: keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret from his well-meaning friends and the prying media. Will Declan sacrifice his career for the new man in his life? Or will he ditch Simon for the celebrated life on the football field?

TIGERS AND DEVILS is a trade paperback from Dreamspinner Press, $16.99

Dermot Meagher was a judge on the Boston Municipal Court for seventeen years. He was appointed by Gov. Michael Dukakis and retired from the bench in 2006. The Boston Municipal Court is the oldest trial court in Massachusetts and can be a colorful and sometimes raucous venue. While on the bench, Meagher would occasionally write about his experiences. His meditations on his years as a judge are now published in JUDGE SENTENCES: TALES FROM THE BENCH.

Dermot Meagher will be reading from JUDGE SENTENCES at
Calamus Bookstore
Friday, October 15th at 7 PM

JUDGE SENTENCES: TALES FROM THE BENCH, published in hardcover by Northeastern University Press  $26.00