The Forbidden Scroll

by Robert Joseph Greene

What you are about to read is a fictional gay love story called "The Forbidden Scroll." It is the love story between Terryn of Cole, a scribe, and his relationship with Prince Florian of Deira. Terryn was instructed by the Prince to translate a scroll that had the words "Forbidden" written upon it. The contents of the scroll is sexual in nature and causes the two young men to question their sexuality. The story is based upon some factual "forbidden" text. There are excepts from the original translated copy which are inserted into this story. During the middle ages, monks purposely sought illiterate young men who they could train to copy images ( in the form of letters) but not be able to read what they saw because it was from the forbidden scroll. In 1557, Pope Paul IV compiled and created the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (the Index of Forbidden Books). The Index of Forbidden Books were a list of books all christians were prohibited from reading or even owning except under special ecclesiastical permission. This scroll was listed on the Index of Forbidden Books and an unedited translation of the scroll is included at the end of this story for all to read.

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2013

About the author

Robert Joseph Greene is a Canadian author of gay romance fiction, best known for The Gay Icon Classics of the World, a collection of gay-themed love stories from over 12 different countries. Each story represents a culture and a people. The book was listed by PFLAG Canada as a recommended book in their "Books Worth Reading" section.

One of the short stories in the Gay Icon Classics collection is "Halo's Golden Circle", a tragic love story set in ancient Judea. Author and Jewish scholar Steven Greenberg remarked that it was a "beautiful story".

Following the release of The Gay Icon Classics of the World II in 2012, a group of Russian students translated "The Blue Door", a story from the collection about a young Russian prince who comes out as gay, and used it as a protest against the "homosexual propaganda" laws enacted in Saint Petersburg.

Credit for press photo: Tallulah Photography (Vancouver)

In 2013, German book distributor Weltbild removed Greene's book because the distributor was owned by the 12 Catholic Diocese of Germany and they did not like LGBT material. This sparked a protest when news reporters discovered that the book distributor was selling soft porn.

Greene continues for fight for human rights and supports groups like PFLAG Canada.

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time I have to skew a “little negative” my dear friend on this book. The storyline itself is great. However, the source material which is the original banned scroll is a tad too misogynistic for my liking.

I know the point that the author is trying to make but it’s the subject matter of the debate that bothered me. I also will agree with the author that the Greeks were misogynistic but, as a woman, the debate (which is not the story) just bothered me too much for me to really enjoy the story.

I agree, in concept, that women are allowed to be more sexually fluid than men. I read this from an article about the book. So, I am drawing from outside the book in my review.

I was just wondering were there points in the debate that didn’t stigmatize women so negatively that you could have used?

Never the less, I know this is my “own issue” and not really about the storyline. So, besides that, it was a nice short story.

I do like the fact that you included the entire original scroll as a side note for people to read. I found that quite interesting, too.

After reading the original scroll, I felt biased because it was really that part that bothered me more so than the book.