The official website of A. B. Gayle - Author and Editor
Share this:
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • My Books
  • Free Reads
  • Blogs
    • Tyler Knoll's Blog
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
  • Man 'em up Dude
    • Leather + Lace >
      • Chapter 1: Stand Back
    • Red + Blue >
      • R+B - Reviews & Blogs
    • Caught >
      • Caught - Reviews & Blogs
    • Initiation
  • SciFiRomance
    • WIP - Nature
  • Mainstream
    • In Search of the Perfect PinotG!
    • The Lost Diary of Thomas Kendall
  • Coming Soon
    • WIP - Home+Away
    • WIP - Pride+Prejudices
    • WIP - Truth+Lies
  • Bio
    • Links
  • Editing Info
    • Editing Special Forces

Short not Sweet but Good

12/31/2010

0 Comments

 
Love and the Odor of  Red LeatheretteLove and the Odor of Red Leatherette by Barry Lowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First off, in appreciating Barry's writing, you really need to understand the man and his times. Now 63, Barry was "out" in the days when homosexuality was illegal.

Those were the days when if you were gay you had to hide it. Sex was furtive fumblings in the fringes: seedy clubs, dark alleys, cars, toilet blocks, parks, the beats. It would have felt like them against the world; many men would have been almost suspicious of any kindness or suggestion there could be anything more.

Secondly, it's important to understand that Barry doesn't write m/m romance. He writes gay erotica and originally wrote them for men only. So included in his stories are many sexual practices that most women find it difficult to stomach. Licking up semen off dirty floors, multiple partners, sex without affection, heck in some ways the less affection there was, the more some guys liked it.

They almost felt they didn't deserve any more. Society had been bashing them over the head with the message that their attraction for another man was wrong, so if that man bashed them over the head in the process of having sex, well that was to be expected wasn't it?

"Love and the Odor of Red Leatherette" is probably one of the easiest of Barry's books to get into. In it, the character discovers to his suprise that there may be a future for men beyond the anonymous sexual gropings. That there can be tenderness and affection too. Till then he had been:
still too young, too green, to realize just how much I was being used. But it wasn’t like I wasn’t getting any pleasure out of it. I was. In buckets.
Given that Barry has been with his partner now for 38 years, if the story has any relationship to truth, then that chance hook up must have been providential.

Don't look for romance in his stories, look for the nitty gritty (and sometimes it will be gritty).Underneath the rough, tough, sarcastic exterior there is a wistful desire that things would have been, could have been different. But there is a need for survivors to chronicle the situation as it really was.

Barry writes short stories. Often deliberately so for inclusion in magazines, anthologies. There is not time for emotional or even plot arcs. He is describing a situation, an attitude, making a point.

Since the advent of ebooks and his discovery that women read m/m Barry may be tempted to change the tone of his books, soften them. In a way that would be a pity.

Instead of reviewers wishing this book could be different, read and learn what life was like. Being a homosexual in those times was anything but easy. Only the tough survived.


View all my reviews
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    A.B.Gayle

    This is a collection of reviews I've posted at Goodreads and
    interviews authors have granted me.

    Plus from time to time, I'll share my take on writing and marketing. This will be done under the Tyler Knoll banner, because nothing is better for curing the headache these things can be for us.

    Archives

    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    June 2010
    March 2010

    Categories

    All
    Alexis Hall
    Ash Penn
    Barry Lowe
    Bev Dentham
    Brad Vance
    Bryl Tyne
    Chainmale
    Chaos Magic
    Christopher Koehler
    C.H. Scarlett
    C.J. Cherryh
    Clare London
    Damon Suede
    Darla Sands
    Desert Run
    Dirk Vanden
    Don Bastien
    Don Schecter
    Drag Queen
    Duck
    Dusk
    Erotic Horizons
    Habu
    Hank Edwards
    Heidi Cullinan
    Heights Of Passion
    Hot Head
    Hourglass
    Interview
    Isolation
    Jane Davitt
    Jay Lygon
    Jeff Mann
    John Preston
    John Wiltshire
    Josh Lanyon
    J.P. Barnaby
    Julie Bozza
    K.A.Mitchell
    Keith Fennell
    Kim Dare
    Lisa Henry
    Lyn Gala
    Margie Church
    Marshall Thornton
    Mel Keegan
    Mimosa
    Morticia Knight
    Mr Benson
    Opinion
    Out Of The Box
    Patric Michael
    Phillip Mackenzie Jr
    Quotes
    Redemption Reef
    Reversal
    Review
    Reviews
    Robert Reynolds
    Robert Rodi
    Ryan Field
    Scott Terry
    Stray
    Syd Mcginley
    T.A. Webb
    Thom Lane
    Trey #3
    Tyler Knoll
    Vancouver Nights
    Wild Raspberries
    William Maltese
    Writing

    RSS Feed

    Follow this blog
Picture
The copyright to all the material published on this site is owned by A.B. Gayle.