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Faultlines
San Francisco setting, something evil is beginning to fester, and the most that anyone can figure out is that it's connected to a small time hood and a phony preacher.
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Published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Stan Leventhal
37 books2 followersStan Leventhal was an American writer and magazine editor. Primarily known as the editor in chief of Heat Publications, a publisher of gay erotic magazines including Mandate, Torso, and Inches, he also wrote and published several works of LGBT literature in the 1980s and 1990s. He published three novels and two short story collections during his lifetime; two additional novels were published following his death of AIDS in 1995.
In addition he founded Amethyst Press, a now-defunct publishing company which specialized in LGBT books, including his own books and titles by Dennis Cooper, Bo Huston, Steve Abbott, Kevin Killian, Patrick Moore and Mark Ameen.
He garnered three Lambda Literary Award nominations, in 1989 for Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square, in 1990 for Fault Lines, and in 1991 for Black Marble Pool.
In addition he founded Amethyst Press, a now-defunct publishing company which specialized in LGBT books, including his own books and titles by Dennis Cooper, Bo Huston, Steve Abbott, Kevin Killian, Patrick Moore and Mark Ameen.
He garnered three Lambda Literary Award nominations, in 1989 for Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square, in 1990 for Fault Lines, and in 1991 for Black Marble Pool.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2020
This was an interesting read and a bit of departure for the author. The characters were not as finely drawn as in his other writing and it seems that he was imitating the "Tales of the City" franchise with eccentric characters caught up in a wide ranging criminal enterprise in late 1980s SF. However, midway through the book, a fatal earthquake occurred and the description of this event was an extraordinary piece of writing unlike anything he had ever done. Stan could write..RIP...
May 14, 2023
This book has been provided for free by the editor. The review below has also been published on Rainbow Book Reviews.
As Alexander Inglis points out in his sympathetic foreword to this book, Stan Leventhal’s motto was apparently, “Literature is crucial to our lives; reading is fun.” I feel compelled to shout a loud “hear, hear” to the first part, and a grateful “thanks to you, Stan” to the second. Because yes, this was a fun read. There are criminals in it (plus cops and firefighters), and people die, and yet it’s not a murder mystery. There are pursuits, and yet, it’s no action book. Some characters fall in love, and yet, it’s no romance. No, this was a weird mash-up of different storylines; a romp with loads of unexpected twists and turns, a caper, almost a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the adventure story genre where I could feel the author wink at me at each turn of page.
The whole novel starts with a bang. Kevin O’Connor, a young gay New Yorker on vacation in San Francisco, comes to in a dark cave, bound and with a hurting head. He doesn’t know what happened and how he landed in this odd situation. But he’s not alone. There’s another man, Thad, tied up to a pole, who tells him they’re in the hands of a small-scale yet dangerous mafioso, Jack Corrigan. The two manage to rid themselves of their ties, and Corrigan’s Latina housemaid Leona, who secretly has a bone to pick with her boss (she suspects him to have killed her husband), helps them escape the house in a van driven by Corrigan’s henchmen, wannabe torturer Sam and dimwit Kevin. After a longish ride, when the thugs reach their destination, they discover their stowaways and chase them into the woods, where Kevin and Thad find refuge with Weslya, who lives a recluse’s life in a shack. Little do the three know that their adventures have only started and that their creator, Stan Leventhal, has still many a twist up his sleeves…
After ‘The Black Marble Pool’ (a murder mystery) and ‘Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square’ (an autobiographical novel), this is now the third book of the late Stan Leventhal I’ve read (for the two previous reviews, please look here and here), and it’s also the third time I’ve closed a Leventhal-book sighing and regretting his way too early dearth. I admit ‘Faultlines’ turned out not to be my favorite. But it still captivated me and filled me with awe as to the writer’s capacity to venture into yet another genre and do so with what reads like utter facility. I had the eerie impression that the writer not only had read Armistead Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City’ series (the first six books predate the publication of this novel) but had also liked them so much to allow the influence of their rich cast of characters and their almost hodgepodge tales.
The story of ‘Faultlines’ was oddly riveting. “Oddly” because it was a page-turner even though after a few chapters I realized there wouldn’t be any real suspense. The bad guys were not only bad but so caricaturally stupid (drunk, immoral, take your pick) that I knew they would never succeed in their evil endeavors. It was also obvious that the good guys were guaranteed to reap the rewards for their goodness. All the characters were a bit too over-the-topish, which was partly what made them so endearing (even the evil ones, I admit). So, the surprise as to what awaited each and every one was basically rather limited. And yet, I was unable to foresee what good or bad fortune Leventhal would deal out to each of them. This author excels in what one calls “spinning a perfectly good yarn.”
Therefore, this book gets a wholehearted recommendation from me. I also count myself lucky that there’s one last Leventhal novel for me to be discovered (again republished by ReQueered Tales and already on my TBR).
As Alexander Inglis points out in his sympathetic foreword to this book, Stan Leventhal’s motto was apparently, “Literature is crucial to our lives; reading is fun.” I feel compelled to shout a loud “hear, hear” to the first part, and a grateful “thanks to you, Stan” to the second. Because yes, this was a fun read. There are criminals in it (plus cops and firefighters), and people die, and yet it’s not a murder mystery. There are pursuits, and yet, it’s no action book. Some characters fall in love, and yet, it’s no romance. No, this was a weird mash-up of different storylines; a romp with loads of unexpected twists and turns, a caper, almost a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the adventure story genre where I could feel the author wink at me at each turn of page.
The whole novel starts with a bang. Kevin O’Connor, a young gay New Yorker on vacation in San Francisco, comes to in a dark cave, bound and with a hurting head. He doesn’t know what happened and how he landed in this odd situation. But he’s not alone. There’s another man, Thad, tied up to a pole, who tells him they’re in the hands of a small-scale yet dangerous mafioso, Jack Corrigan. The two manage to rid themselves of their ties, and Corrigan’s Latina housemaid Leona, who secretly has a bone to pick with her boss (she suspects him to have killed her husband), helps them escape the house in a van driven by Corrigan’s henchmen, wannabe torturer Sam and dimwit Kevin. After a longish ride, when the thugs reach their destination, they discover their stowaways and chase them into the woods, where Kevin and Thad find refuge with Weslya, who lives a recluse’s life in a shack. Little do the three know that their adventures have only started and that their creator, Stan Leventhal, has still many a twist up his sleeves…
After ‘The Black Marble Pool’ (a murder mystery) and ‘Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square’ (an autobiographical novel), this is now the third book of the late Stan Leventhal I’ve read (for the two previous reviews, please look here and here), and it’s also the third time I’ve closed a Leventhal-book sighing and regretting his way too early dearth. I admit ‘Faultlines’ turned out not to be my favorite. But it still captivated me and filled me with awe as to the writer’s capacity to venture into yet another genre and do so with what reads like utter facility. I had the eerie impression that the writer not only had read Armistead Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City’ series (the first six books predate the publication of this novel) but had also liked them so much to allow the influence of their rich cast of characters and their almost hodgepodge tales.
The story of ‘Faultlines’ was oddly riveting. “Oddly” because it was a page-turner even though after a few chapters I realized there wouldn’t be any real suspense. The bad guys were not only bad but so caricaturally stupid (drunk, immoral, take your pick) that I knew they would never succeed in their evil endeavors. It was also obvious that the good guys were guaranteed to reap the rewards for their goodness. All the characters were a bit too over-the-topish, which was partly what made them so endearing (even the evil ones, I admit). So, the surprise as to what awaited each and every one was basically rather limited. And yet, I was unable to foresee what good or bad fortune Leventhal would deal out to each of them. This author excels in what one calls “spinning a perfectly good yarn.”
Therefore, this book gets a wholehearted recommendation from me. I also count myself lucky that there’s one last Leventhal novel for me to be discovered (again republished by ReQueered Tales and already on my TBR).
March 1, 2024
EARTHQUAKE, ANYONE?
The back cover blurb of the 2023 ReQueered Tales reissue of Faultlines says, “In this madcap, verging on surreal, adventure, Stan Leventhal spares no stereotype of comic treatment, while always employing a velvet, soft hand.” The back cover blurb of the original 1989 Banned Books edition of Faultlines says, “In this suspenseful, humorous novel, populated with unforgettable characters and exciting situations, three people discover the strength of unity.”
If you were to make the assumption that at some point in a novel titled Faultlines, which takes place in San Francisco, an earthquake will occur, you would be correct. Leventhal masterfully begins his sixteenth chapter (the novel contains twenty-two chapters) with the following description: “Beneath the city, under the pavement and soil, in among the strata of igneous and sedimentary layers, threatening gases collected . . . the ancient rock began to crumble from the pressure . . . and thunderous rumbling resonated throughout the city perched above this impending upheaval.”
Some of the characters have sex during the earthquake: “Suzie and Tom, in tune with these vibrations, felt that they were about to experience the most profound orgasm they would ever know.” “’If we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die. Shut up and kiss me again,’ said Jeremy. He stiffened his tongue and probed the back of Kevin’s throat.” “In the bed near the window of the hotel room, Thad and Weslya were oblivious to the faster action, the brighter lights, the louder bells of the city-turned-pinball-machine. They writhed and struggled on the damp sheets, their bodies aching for one another.”
I guess you really haven’t had sex until you do it during an earthquake.
Leventhal also describes other characters’ reactions to the earthquake: “Kurt believed that earthquakes were fun, something to relieve the monotony of existence.” “To Sam, earthquakes were simply a nuisance to be endured like red lights, policemen, and ugly women.” “Corrigan ran up to his roof at the first tremor and looked out over the dark city . . . ran down the stairs and jumped into his bed, pulling the blanket over his face.” “In the kitchen of Paulette’s house, she and Leona drank herbal tea and felt the earth beneath them undulate like a dancer seduced by fast music . . . Both had been through many earthquakes and were aware that there was usually little damage, but the possibility for catastrophe could not be dismissed.”
Dare I call the earthquake sequence in Faultlines the climax of the novel?
Stan Leventhal is quoted as saying that he liked to fuck with genre. He does this quite well in Faultlines, which, to quote Alexander Inglis’s introduction to the ReQueered Tales reissue, is “more caper than mystery.” And a caper is supposed to be fast and funny, isn’t it? Faultlines is enjoyably fast and funny. In the last chapter Weslya says, “what’s next? Life is dull without a caper.”
I love the final line of Faultlines: “Suddenly, they felt a tremor beneath their feet.” “Not again!” as one of the characters might say,
What l will remember most about Faultlines, besides the large cast of quirky characters, all of whom are connected in many ways (other reviews on Goodreads describe the complicated plot), is the humor. Leventhal said, “Literature is crucial to our lives; reading is fun.” Although tragedy does occur in Faultlines, the novel, overall, is a fun read. After reading all of Stan Leventhal’s novels and stories, I’ve always wondered if he was as witty and funny in person as he is in his books. Sadly, Stan Leventhal was lost to AIDS on January 15, 1995 at the age of 43.
The back cover blurb of the 2023 ReQueered Tales reissue of Faultlines says, “In this madcap, verging on surreal, adventure, Stan Leventhal spares no stereotype of comic treatment, while always employing a velvet, soft hand.” The back cover blurb of the original 1989 Banned Books edition of Faultlines says, “In this suspenseful, humorous novel, populated with unforgettable characters and exciting situations, three people discover the strength of unity.”
If you were to make the assumption that at some point in a novel titled Faultlines, which takes place in San Francisco, an earthquake will occur, you would be correct. Leventhal masterfully begins his sixteenth chapter (the novel contains twenty-two chapters) with the following description: “Beneath the city, under the pavement and soil, in among the strata of igneous and sedimentary layers, threatening gases collected . . . the ancient rock began to crumble from the pressure . . . and thunderous rumbling resonated throughout the city perched above this impending upheaval.”
Some of the characters have sex during the earthquake: “Suzie and Tom, in tune with these vibrations, felt that they were about to experience the most profound orgasm they would ever know.” “’If we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die. Shut up and kiss me again,’ said Jeremy. He stiffened his tongue and probed the back of Kevin’s throat.” “In the bed near the window of the hotel room, Thad and Weslya were oblivious to the faster action, the brighter lights, the louder bells of the city-turned-pinball-machine. They writhed and struggled on the damp sheets, their bodies aching for one another.”
I guess you really haven’t had sex until you do it during an earthquake.
Leventhal also describes other characters’ reactions to the earthquake: “Kurt believed that earthquakes were fun, something to relieve the monotony of existence.” “To Sam, earthquakes were simply a nuisance to be endured like red lights, policemen, and ugly women.” “Corrigan ran up to his roof at the first tremor and looked out over the dark city . . . ran down the stairs and jumped into his bed, pulling the blanket over his face.” “In the kitchen of Paulette’s house, she and Leona drank herbal tea and felt the earth beneath them undulate like a dancer seduced by fast music . . . Both had been through many earthquakes and were aware that there was usually little damage, but the possibility for catastrophe could not be dismissed.”
Dare I call the earthquake sequence in Faultlines the climax of the novel?
Stan Leventhal is quoted as saying that he liked to fuck with genre. He does this quite well in Faultlines, which, to quote Alexander Inglis’s introduction to the ReQueered Tales reissue, is “more caper than mystery.” And a caper is supposed to be fast and funny, isn’t it? Faultlines is enjoyably fast and funny. In the last chapter Weslya says, “what’s next? Life is dull without a caper.”
I love the final line of Faultlines: “Suddenly, they felt a tremor beneath their feet.” “Not again!” as one of the characters might say,
What l will remember most about Faultlines, besides the large cast of quirky characters, all of whom are connected in many ways (other reviews on Goodreads describe the complicated plot), is the humor. Leventhal said, “Literature is crucial to our lives; reading is fun.” Although tragedy does occur in Faultlines, the novel, overall, is a fun read. After reading all of Stan Leventhal’s novels and stories, I’ve always wondered if he was as witty and funny in person as he is in his books. Sadly, Stan Leventhal was lost to AIDS on January 15, 1995 at the age of 43.
December 26, 2024
A disappointment. A rickety story line that only gets worse as the novel, umm, progresses: unlikely coincidences begin to pile up, and at the climax there's a service at a scam church where somehow nobody notices the collapsed roof or stench of unremoved dead bodies, and where two fire department officials suddenly become police for a moment. The writing, flabby to begin with, increasingly piles on useless descriptions and fistfuls of adjectives. Oh, and Shakespeare could get away with pairing up all of his characters at the end of a comedy with a degree of grace that escapes Leventhal, to no small degree because the former's characters are much more interesting.
Two somewhat generous stars.
Two somewhat generous stars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews