Happy Valentine's Day, Gentlemen
Cupid, draw back your bow
and let your arrow go
straight to my lover's heart for me.
There are many ways to observe Valentine's Day.
Romantic:
Over the top:
Cynical:
But earlier this week the Washington Post
recommended five novels that celebrate love,
suggesting good reads for the occasion.
Imagine my astonishment when one of them
was a gay romance novel (!):
Alexis Hall's FOR REAL
I'd never heard of Mr. Hall, but I'm telling you,
this Englishman can write.
FOR REAL is a May-December romance,
for those of you old enough to know the term.
One guy is nineteen (dirt poor),
the other thirty-seven (wealthy).
The poor one is a dom, the wealthy one a sub.
What could possibly go wrong?
This novel is unlike any gay romance
novel I've read.
It's far better, both because of the writing skills
of Mr. Hall (never once insults the reader's intelligence)
and the character development (extraordinary).
To say that the plot is unpredictable is understatement.
But for Valentine's Day,
here's an excerpt describing an encounter
between Toby (19) and his (dying) grandfather:
(My grandfather)..."thinks I'm this astonishing,
talented, wonderful person,
in spite of all available evidence
to the contrary.
But that's sort of what love is, I guess.
A perpetual state of semi-deranged partiality.
And I think he's sort of worrying that,
without him, I'll have nobody
to feel like that about me."
In case you need a push to read the book,
know that it's about a one night stand
from which, months later,
neither man can recover.
But I digress.
Back to the contents of Cupid's quiver:
Robert Rore
German artist and illustrator
born 1954, Berchtesgaden
Visit Mr. Rore's web site:
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