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A Few Hints and Clews
Robert Taylor, the author of All We Have is Now and Whose Eye is on Which Sparrow?, brings you a complex, moving novel of love and life. A Few Hints and Clews traces the pasts of two men-from their parents' lives through the historic events of the 20th centuryreliving the experience of being gay in America during those years. The novel travels through the confusion of the 1940s and 50s to the Stonewall Revolution through the horror of AIDS and beyond, ultimately emerging as a warm, loving, and hopeful celebration of the courage it takes to throw off fear and uncertainty and live proudly as an openly gay couple.
- GenresLGBT
231 pages, Paperback
First published June 2, 2007
9 people want to read
About the author
Robert Taylor
6 books1 followerRobert Taylor – author of The Innocent (1997), All We Have Is Now (hardback in 2002, paperback in 2006), Revelation and Other Stories (2002), Whose Eye Is on Which Sparrow? (2004), and A Few Hints and Clews (2007) – was born in Abilene, Texas, on July 22, 1940. He lived in a number of towns and cities in Texas while he was growing up, but thinks of San Antonio as his hometown.
As soon as he learned to read, he fell in love with books and started spending as much time with them as he could. Working on his high school newspaper solidified his interest in writing and led him to major in journalism at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock. He was managing editor of the college newspaper his senior year and president of a number of campus organizations. In recognition of this, he was selected to appear in the 1961-1962 edition of Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He graduated with high honors from Texas Tech in the spring of 1962 and was named Outstanding Male Graduate in Journalism.
He had joined ROTC as a way to help pay for college and upon graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Army Intelligence. Graduating first in his class at Intelligence school led to an assignment at the Pentagon, in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. The war in Vietnam kept him from being released after his original commitment of three years was up. He was promoted to first lieutenant and then captain. He was sent to Vietnam in October 1966 and was assigned to the Intelligence staff of the Commanding General at Headquarters, U. S. Army Vietnam. At the end of his year there, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.
During his years in the Army, Taylor had lived with the constant fear that his homosexuality would be discovered, which would have led to an automatic dishonorable discharge. Once he was a civilian again, he was determined to leave that kind of fear behind. Although all the institutions of society were, at that time, still united in their abhorrence of homosexuality, he nevertheless told his family, friends, and coworkers that he was gay and has lived openly ever since.
Taylor’s first novel, The Innocent, was published in the fall of 1997 by Fithian Press in Santa Barbara, California, and is still in print in a second printing. His second novel, All We Have Is Now, was published in hardback by St. Martin’s Press in New York City in June 2002 (later republished in paperback by The Haworth Press in 2006). Eleven short stories and the novella, with the title of Revelation and Other Stories, were published by Puckerbrush Press in Orono, Maine, in the fall of 2002. A third novel, Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow?, published in 2004 by The Haworth Press in Binghamton, New York, was named the “Best Gay Romance of 2004” by the InsightOut book-of-the-month club and won the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award for the best book of the year with a gay or lesbian theme, including both fiction and nonfiction. Taylor’s most recent book, a novel called A Few Hints and Clews, published in the spring of 2007 by The Haworth Press, was a finalist for a 2008 Lambda Literary Award.
In May 1994, an essay by Taylor on the history of gay rights in America was included in Gay Pride: Photographs from Stonewall to Today, a book of photographs by Fred McDarrah published by A Cappella Books. A short story, “One Last Drink on the Piazza,” was published in the Winter/Spring 1999 issue of The Peninsula Review. Another, “Death Is Our Destination,” was published in the Winter/Spring 2002 issue of Puckerbrush Review. An essay by Taylor called “The Story of an Almost Marriage” was included in an anthology called I Do/I Don’t: Queers on Marriage, published in 2004 by Suspect Thoughts Press in San Francisco, California. This book won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for best nonfiction anthology.
As soon as he learned to read, he fell in love with books and started spending as much time with them as he could. Working on his high school newspaper solidified his interest in writing and led him to major in journalism at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock. He was managing editor of the college newspaper his senior year and president of a number of campus organizations. In recognition of this, he was selected to appear in the 1961-1962 edition of Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He graduated with high honors from Texas Tech in the spring of 1962 and was named Outstanding Male Graduate in Journalism.
He had joined ROTC as a way to help pay for college and upon graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Army Intelligence. Graduating first in his class at Intelligence school led to an assignment at the Pentagon, in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. The war in Vietnam kept him from being released after his original commitment of three years was up. He was promoted to first lieutenant and then captain. He was sent to Vietnam in October 1966 and was assigned to the Intelligence staff of the Commanding General at Headquarters, U. S. Army Vietnam. At the end of his year there, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.
During his years in the Army, Taylor had lived with the constant fear that his homosexuality would be discovered, which would have led to an automatic dishonorable discharge. Once he was a civilian again, he was determined to leave that kind of fear behind. Although all the institutions of society were, at that time, still united in their abhorrence of homosexuality, he nevertheless told his family, friends, and coworkers that he was gay and has lived openly ever since.
Taylor’s first novel, The Innocent, was published in the fall of 1997 by Fithian Press in Santa Barbara, California, and is still in print in a second printing. His second novel, All We Have Is Now, was published in hardback by St. Martin’s Press in New York City in June 2002 (later republished in paperback by The Haworth Press in 2006). Eleven short stories and the novella, with the title of Revelation and Other Stories, were published by Puckerbrush Press in Orono, Maine, in the fall of 2002. A third novel, Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow?, published in 2004 by The Haworth Press in Binghamton, New York, was named the “Best Gay Romance of 2004” by the InsightOut book-of-the-month club and won the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award for the best book of the year with a gay or lesbian theme, including both fiction and nonfiction. Taylor’s most recent book, a novel called A Few Hints and Clews, published in the spring of 2007 by The Haworth Press, was a finalist for a 2008 Lambda Literary Award.
In May 1994, an essay by Taylor on the history of gay rights in America was included in Gay Pride: Photographs from Stonewall to Today, a book of photographs by Fred McDarrah published by A Cappella Books. A short story, “One Last Drink on the Piazza,” was published in the Winter/Spring 1999 issue of The Peninsula Review. Another, “Death Is Our Destination,” was published in the Winter/Spring 2002 issue of Puckerbrush Review. An essay by Taylor called “The Story of an Almost Marriage” was included in an anthology called I Do/I Don’t: Queers on Marriage, published in 2004 by Suspect Thoughts Press in San Francisco, California. This book won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for best nonfiction anthology.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 5, 2008
Relationships are complicated. While that fact is hardly news, the trials and tribulations of finding who you believe to be your perfect match, and then having to share your life with him or her while maintaining some semblance of dignity, is still perhaps the most widely examined premise in literature. Robert Taylor's latest novel, A Few Hints and Clews, is an especially welcome addition to the growing catalog of novels about long-term relationships between men, because it beautifully illustrates how the past affects both the present and future of its soul mates, Adam and Tony.
Adam is the Texas-born middle child of Irene and Sam, both teenagers during the depression. While studying at Texas Tech and working as a journalist for a local paper, Adam gets shipped off to Vietnam. During his tour of duty, he meets fellow officer, Richard, and begins his first affair with another man. Back at home and still imprisoned by the war's after-effects, he moves to DC to start his own life and soon finds Richard again, now a successful attorney, who isn't interested in pursuing a same-sex relationship, yet introduces him to the city's gay nightlife. One night at a bar, Adam meets Tony, an accountant. Now divorced and once a proud father to a young daughter who died unexpectedly, Tony is the son of Russian immigrants and the youngest of seven, raised on a Long Island farm. In spite of the different worlds these men come from, sparks fly almost immediately, and Adam invites Tony to move in shortly thereafter.
The detail of Adam and Tony's early lives and upbringing provides an inviting backdrop for what is essentially a simple, endearing love story between these two men. Whether the gentlemen are challenged by personal obstacles, like depression, monogamy and illness, or historical milestones, including Vietnam, Stonewall and AIDS, these events are all the more significant because they face them together and each therefore always takes the other into consideration.
Taylor's prose is to be lauded for seamlessly portraying the genuine love, respect and affection these two have for each other, as they encounter both the good and bad that life has to offer. Aside from providing a veritable history book of gay social issues and culture, the unity Adam and Tony exemplify also serves as a guidebook for model relationships. Taylor's previous work, All We Have Is Now, was a schmaltzy account of a younger man's infatuation with an older gent, both of whom fall victim to the consequences of a hate crime. A Few Hints and Clews will renew your faith in this author's work and is likely persuade its readers to share this romantic adventure with the masses.
Adam is the Texas-born middle child of Irene and Sam, both teenagers during the depression. While studying at Texas Tech and working as a journalist for a local paper, Adam gets shipped off to Vietnam. During his tour of duty, he meets fellow officer, Richard, and begins his first affair with another man. Back at home and still imprisoned by the war's after-effects, he moves to DC to start his own life and soon finds Richard again, now a successful attorney, who isn't interested in pursuing a same-sex relationship, yet introduces him to the city's gay nightlife. One night at a bar, Adam meets Tony, an accountant. Now divorced and once a proud father to a young daughter who died unexpectedly, Tony is the son of Russian immigrants and the youngest of seven, raised on a Long Island farm. In spite of the different worlds these men come from, sparks fly almost immediately, and Adam invites Tony to move in shortly thereafter.
The detail of Adam and Tony's early lives and upbringing provides an inviting backdrop for what is essentially a simple, endearing love story between these two men. Whether the gentlemen are challenged by personal obstacles, like depression, monogamy and illness, or historical milestones, including Vietnam, Stonewall and AIDS, these events are all the more significant because they face them together and each therefore always takes the other into consideration.
Taylor's prose is to be lauded for seamlessly portraying the genuine love, respect and affection these two have for each other, as they encounter both the good and bad that life has to offer. Aside from providing a veritable history book of gay social issues and culture, the unity Adam and Tony exemplify also serves as a guidebook for model relationships. Taylor's previous work, All We Have Is Now, was a schmaltzy account of a younger man's infatuation with an older gent, both of whom fall victim to the consequences of a hate crime. A Few Hints and Clews will renew your faith in this author's work and is likely persuade its readers to share this romantic adventure with the masses.
Displaying 1 of 1 review