CODE OF CONDUCT is RICH MERRITT's second book and his first novel. The story is about Don Hawkins. He enlisted in the US Marines to escape an alcoholic father and step-mother. He took to the Marines. He became the unofficial leader of a group of gay servicemen and women, all of whom had to play the cat and mouse game of hiding their sexuality. Bill Clinton becomes the new President, and Bill, famously, promised to change the gays-in-the-military  status. Bill got rolled right out of the box and came up with Don't Ask Don't Tell. Don thought it might have worked out otherwise.

Flash forward: it's been ten years since Don's lover died in Beirut. He's ready to try again. He falls for Patrick, a handsome young helicopter pilot. Their relationship becomes more intimate, and Don lets his guard down, in ways that could be potentially dangerous. There are the hostile forces in the Naval Investigative Service, in Congress, even in the bars and clubs that Don views as his turf, other service persons who would rat someone out if the heat hit.

CODE OF CONDUCT is a trade paperback from Kensington. We have signed copies, $15.00

RICH MERRITT, pictured at right,
appeared recently at Calamus Bookstore.

IORY ALLISON is in the midst of an ambitious project. His series, GLAMOUR GALORE, a prospective trilogy, began with THE FAMILY JEWELS. The second novel in the series, just published, is NAUGHTY ASTRONAUTESS.

Allison's genre is farce, at which he is very good. Lilly Linda Le Strange is the first drag queen astronautess--why hasn't NASA thought of this? We find Diva Le Strange making quite the grand entrance into the front hall of the Essential Shopping Mall. This is no ordinary event. Le Strange is accompanied by a lively crew--there's Ninja Fringers, programmed by Kung Fu movies, who flies into the room, followed by a dozen gay activists, run by South Boston's own Paddy O'Punk, and they did more than just act up, they bounce all over the place, their campaign against the politically incorrect. This is just the beginning...wait till the countdown to the launch!

NAUGHTY ASTRONAUTESS is a trade paperback from iUniverse, $17.95

IORY ALLISON READS AT CALAMUS BOOKSTORE, FRIDAY, 25 APRIL, 7 PM.

JOHN RECHY's latest book is a memoir, ABOUT MY LIFE AND THE KEPT WOMAN. Well-known as a novelist, in this book he writes openly about his life, going back to his childhood, years of living in poverty in the Great Depression, to being a rebel in high school, his defiance in the Army, years hustling on the streets of America, his arrest in Los Angeles, to his triumph as a best-selling writer. This is a fascinating story

Rechy's heritage is Mexican-American, raised in El Paso. When he was a child, the Latino children were separated from their Anglo classmates for daily lice checks and English pronunciation lessons. John grew up different from the others--it was a teacher who told him to change his name from Juan to John--and he became a "ghost boy," someone who preferred to be by himself, somewhat alienated from his heritage and later finding his gay identity. There was also his fascination with the memory of a notorious kept woman he knew in his childhood. We also meet his loving Mexican mother and his violent Scottish father, as well as various famous writers he has met in his journey.

ABOUT MY LIFE AND THE KEPT WOMAN is a hardcover from Grove Press, $24.00

TOM DOLBY's first novel was THE TROUBLE BOY. His latest is THE SIXTH FORM.

Ethan Whitley, from California, is seventeen years old. He's off to Berkley Academy, a upper-drawer prep school in Massachusetts. Ethan is in search of himself. At school he becomes a favorite of a wealthy classmate, Todd, as well as a seductive, enigmatic teacher, Hannah. He takes up with the two of them, which offers him entry into a world of privilege and desire. There are trips to NYC, to swank Fifth Avenue penthouses and gritty artists' lofts.

Hannah has a checkered past; Ethan is fascinated. Todd has his longings. Despite the charms of his two chums, Ethan learns that every deceit has its price, every lie turns into an ugly truth, and the cost of trusting people he doesn't really know at all.

THE SIXTH FORM is a hardcover from Kensington, $24.00

Bette Davis had good timing. She got to make films before the code, titles perhaps not as raunchy as the fabulous Barbara Stanwyck, but pre-code nonetheless. Davis was at the top of the pile in the best years of the Great Beast of Hollywood. I hope she made some money. You know, it's not enough just to be a star.

ED SIKOV has done Bette well in his new biography, DARK VICTORY: THE LIFE OF BETTE DAVIS. Sikov is also the author of ON SUNSET BOULEVARD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BILLY WILDER Sikov has done his homework and presented us with a very detailed Davis, her personal life and her professional career, It wasn't easy; in that line of work, it never is. Sikov reminds us well how hard it is to imagine the 20th Century without Davis lingering there on screen, on the boob toob, in our imaginations, a goddess on the celluloid Parnassus.

DARK VICTORY is a hardcover from Henry Holt, $30.00

VOICES RISING: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BLACK LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER WRITING was edited by G. WINSTON JAMES and Other Countries. This anthology marks the anniversary of Other Countries, a small organization endeavoring to create a powerful, far-reaching and deliberate legacy of black queer expression. More than sixty writers are included in VOICES RISING. Their works include poems, short stories, essays, interviews and excerpts from dramas. Some are well-known authors; others are emerging talents.

VOICES RISING is a trade paperback from REDBONE PRESS, $25.00

PURE REASON: POEMS BY NIKOS STANGOS is a charming volume. Stangos was from Greece, had lived in the USA and then moved to London. There he made the acquaintance of David Plante; they lived together for nearly forty years. Stangos died in 2004.

Nikos Stangos was a popular and influential figure in the cultural life of London. He was a commissioning editor and director at Penguin Books and Thames and Hudson. He worked with many leading poets, art historians and artists. Accompanying his poems in this volume are reproductions of art works, some dedicated to Nikos. This book is beautifully done and has the feel about of it of a tribute to a man many loved.

PURE REASON is a hardcover from Thames & Hudson, $34.95

ROBERT LELEUX's book, THE MEMOIRS OF A BEAUTIFUL BOY has been getting a lot of reviews, and good ones.

Leleux grew up in East Texas; the most important person in his life was his mother, who was eccentric, flamboyant and fond of wigs. Daddy had left the two of them high-and-dry. They camp out with the in-laws but can't afford the rent. They move to humbler digs. Robert watches his mother begin a desperate regimen of makeovers, extreme plastic surgeries and hairpiece epoxies, all done with the intention of finding a new and wealthy husband

As he grows up, Robert begins his own story, away from Mother, through the local theatre world of aspirants, saddened by thwarted ambitions. And, finally, romance. Leleux has done well that daring thing--writing a memoir while still so young! Bravo!

THE MEMOIRS OF A BEAUTIFUL BOY is a hardcover from St. Martin's Press, $23.95

This is a fun item. A HINT OF HOMOSEXUALITY? 'GAY' AND HOMOEROTIC IMAGERY IN AMERICAN PRINT ADVERTISING, by BRUCE H. JOFFE, is a romp through twentieth century newspaper and magazine advertising--some seem like yesterday; isn't it odd how ads have such a long half life?--wherein the product is sold by images of the boys whooping it up, or coming on to one another, or showering nude (the ad being shower heads). Had the Homintern taken over the ad biz? There are lots of ads featuring men giving other men advice about lingerie. Undergarments are a foundation. There are dozens and dozens of repros of the original ads. Fascinating.

A HINT OF HOMOSEXUALITY? is a trade paperback from XLibris, $19.99

In WE DISAPPEAR, Heim returns, in a way, to the turf of his first novel. We are in Kansas. A teenaged boy's body is found in a field. He has been murdered. We meet Donna; she's been recently widowed and is being treated for cancer. Donna is haunted by the murder of the boy. She turns for help to her son Scott. Donna wants to find out more about the "disappeared."

Scott has his own problems. He's strung out on meth and sleeping pills. He's not in the best shape, but he wants to help his ailing mother in her exotic search; in fact, he thinks through this effort there might be some personal salvation.

Scott then finds a boy named Otis handcuffed in a secret basement. Questions arise that are understandably disturbing. Scott's mother's health is in rapid decline. Scott must deal with his own obsessions, but there lingers the problem of Otis's strange connections to other missing teens. And what will this tell Scott about himself?

WE DISAPPEAR is a trade paperback from Harper Perennial, $13.95