Great gay Comedy and a superb Mystery Series

The Perils of Praline by Marshall Thornton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The 1914 film serial, “Perils of Pauline”, was a classic in its own way and so should be the “Perils of Praline” as our hero Peter aka Praline “acquires enough adventures for a tell-all autobiography. With sequels.”

First off, it’s important to understand the difference between a romance and a comedy. Comedies can have a romance in them in the same way that thrillers or action books have that element. However, romances revolve around plot and character.

The best comedies revolve around humor and social statement. The plots can be flimsy or unlikely, the characters need to be extreme or at least remarkable, otherwise the humor drags.

Perils of Praline is a great gay comedy.

The social comment is leavened by amusing action. But it’s worth noting a few examples to show how slapstick humor can work so well with pithy barbs.

Praline’s mother comes up with some gems. First off there are her Ten Commandments. Read the book to find out. As someone who lived by her own rules as to what was legal and what wasn’t. She liked “get-tough-on-crime-candidates” as they were the

“small government” types and, as such, were unlikely to give police departments enough money to actually get-tough-on-crime, leaving her business safe.

These barbs can also be comments on people’s foibles like this: “I love people who work hard. They’re great to have around – never forget to take credit for everything they do. It’s one of the ways to get ahead.” Or this classic:

“Praline, I brought you up better than that.” Said his mama. “The man has licked your asshole. The least you can do is say ‘hey.’

Mind you, Praline’s stereotypical Southern politeness gets him into lots of trouble!

The story contains quite a few trueisms: “One of the best ways to get promoted, besides sleeping with the right people, is to fail spectacularly.”

Comedies are also a great way to make a political comment: “He could pretend to be a high school pal in Hollywood before going off to a war zone (Praline decided not to be specific about which war zone because, well, to be honest he could never remember exactly which countries were currently being occupied).”

Through the eyes of our clueless hero who, in times of stress, immersed himself in thoughts about different forms of confectionary and sweets, Thornton has a go at the culture that uses television and media to form their view of the world.

Praline knew from his extensive television viewing that white people shot their spouses, white people devised confusing and illegal accounting scams, white people sent dangerous microbes through the mail, but white people did not drive around in enormous SUVs committing street crimes. They left that to the ethnicities.

Marshall is a playwright by trade, and I could imagine sitting in a theatre and laughing at lines like these. His sardonic wit and a twisted way of saying things may not appeal to readers brought up on a diet of pure m/m romance.

… he’d become a prostitute. Had (Praline) been given the luxury of considering this life-altering decision before it had actually occurred he would have declined the opportunity.

There is an endearing childlike innocence to Praline whose choice of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as a “safe word” leads to all sorts of hilarious consequences in a BDSM scene. He may be naive, but Praline has a innate sense of what is right and wrong. Not just as expressed here:

long discussions of politically incorrect perjoratives in the middle of a blowjob weren’t exactly, well, stimulating.

However the characters around him aren’t so smart. One depressive when asked “Have you taken anything for it?” Answers

“Sure, Crack, ecstasy, LSD, methamphetamine, Special K, alcohol and marijuana. Nothing works.”

Good comedy makes statements about life, the Universe and shows like Sex and the City (not mentioned by name but clearly identified by)

By the end of each episode, they’d managed to convince themselves, and the viewers, that it was they, and not the men they slept with and tossed aside, who were the victims.

Like all good stories, Thornton’s main characters do learn from their experiences. In Praline’s case, just as well as

“…there were few times in life when it seemed important to concentrate hard, so Praline had never gotten good at it.

If you like sophisticated writing, coupled with biting humor, then I thoroughly recommend “The Perils of Praline.”

Now for the opposite end of the spectrum.
Perhaps it's strange to only review the last book of a series, as all the preceding books are just as good. However, my advice is to read them all - in order - as they give a great picture of living through this important part of gay history, from the first book to where there are only the first inklings that a common illness is killing gay men to the latest, where the consequences of this virus are being felt closer to home.

Boystown 6: From The Ashes: A Nick Nowak Mystery by Marshall Thornton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series justs gets better and better.

You don't have to have read the previous ones to follow the plot, but the ongoing saga surrounding Nick's personal life is better appreciated if you have read them all in sequence.

I loved the way AIDS was handled in this book. In the previous ones we saw the growing awareness of it in the community.

In this one, we see the different ways gay men coped with it emotionally and physically. Some turn to religion and rejection of their former life, seeing it as penance for their sins. Others become celibate in fear of catching the disease. Others research how to have sex safely and yet others live in denial.

The characters are what makes this series stand out. Nick remains the solid core of the story, a mostly reliable narrator. Yet even he changes and grows from episode to episode as he is affected by the people he encounters and the mysteries he has to solve. Even if he doesn't want to change.

There were some memorable lines about how people had betrayed him in different ways and moments later, recognising that he has also betrayed them in a way.

The episode with Daniel was perhaps the most painful of all. I had held out hope that the lovers would one day be reconciled, but this story shows how people can and do change. You can't go back, as they say.

We didn't meet all the fabulous characters in this story, some are obviously waiting on the sidelines: Sugar Pilson, Jimmy English, Christian, but we did meet some great new ones. A parish priest who is obviously struggling with the fact he is gay. An underage boy who is very quick to offer blowjobs because he enjoys them so much.

Then finally, Mrs Harker. Bert's mother could be the stereotypical character from hell. Yet, even Nick is starting to dent her armor creating a fragile truce between two people who loved and lost the same person.

Once again, the city of Chicago provides a chilling backdrop. The seediness of certain areas. The weather.

This series offers so much and is such an easy read. I hope they are easy to write, as I'm eagerly looking forward to the next instalment.

View all my reviews

Keep tuned for an upcoming interview with Marshall where I will ask him all sorts of questions about writing, living in Chicago and whatever else I can twist his arm to reveal.