Mirage

by Perry Brass

Nominated for a 1992 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Science Fiction, Mirage is a bold new gay science fiction thriller by the acclaimed writer Perry Brass. On the tribal planet Ki, two men-in the spirit of an ancient pact-have been promised to each other for a lifetime. But a savage attack and a blood-chilling murder break this promise, and force them to seek another world where imbalance and lies form Reality. This is the planet known as Earth, a world they will ultimately use and escape. Mirage is the story of Greeland, a hunter from primitive, tribal Ki and his love for Enkidu, the friend promised to him for a lifetime. On Ki, men who on Earth would be labeled "gay" are promised to each for a lifetime of sexual exclusivity and loyalty unto death. Living in tribal enclaves led by elder tribesmen, these men possess an amazing third testicle, called the "Egg of the Eye." The Egg extends their lifespans, allows them to read each other's thoughts, and produces the sweet, sought-after "Seed of the Egg." However, one thing the Egg will never allow them to do is to lie. But a brutal attack on Enkidu and Greeland, by Ert, a handsome leader of the "Off-Sexers," the heterosexuals of planet Ki who live in a constant state of feudal warefare-and his bloodchilling murder in their defense-break this promise and force Greeland and Enkidu to escape through the properties of the "Egg of the Eye," whereby men like themselves can finally dissolve the limitations of time, space-and tiny, constricting Ki itself. Greeland are directed towards Earth, where they assume the bodies and identities of handsome, blonde Wright Smith, originally from a Michigan farm, and his lover, darker Alan Kostenbaum, from New York, both undeniably different from these visitors. On Earth Greeland and Enkidu encounter racism, violent homophobia-with one of the best accounts of a senseless homophobic attack in recent fiction-AIDS, and the decline of urban life. They also experience the strange agonies and thrills of two separate identities fighting and eventually merging within one body.

Genres: Gay Fiction, Fiction, Queer, Science Fiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Perry Brass has published 23 books, including poetry, novels, short fiction, science fiction, and advice books (How to Survive Your Own Gay Life; The Manly Art of Seduction; The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love). A member of the New York Gay Liberation Front, he has been involved with lgbtq rights since 1969, shortly after the Stonewall Uprising, co-editing Come Out!, GLF’s groundbreaking newspaper. In 1972, with two friends, he co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Project Clinic, the first clinic specifically for gay men on the East Coast, still thriving as the Callen-Lorde Community Health Service. His sexually frank novels are visionary: they include Albert or the Book of Man, 1995, which prefigured the rise of a White Christian Party that would control America, curbing reproductive, gay, and women’s rights; The Harvest, 1997, about the wholesale use of “harvested” human organs; The Substance of God, a Spiritual Thriller, 2004, about the rise of a powerful religious fundamentalist network of business interests; and Carnal Sacraments, 2007, about a mega-corporation (Amazon?) that would rule the world. His latest book is A Real Life, “Like Mark Twain with Drag Queens,/b>,” a memoir. He can be reached through his website, http://www.perrybrass.com or on Facebook.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I managed to get 100 pages in before I had to stop for my sanity. Wow.

These people come from a different sort of world, so they don't define things quite the same as us. Right from the start is a sex scene, but since the guys don't use the same manner of speaking, the scene ends up sounding like bad porn. I choose to start reading it while on lunch break at work and several people asked why I was laughing.

The amusement wore off.

Something happened and the guys were forced to flee, and ended up in our world, in different bodies.

Oh, and they have a 'Third Eye' = a third ball, which is magical or something--I don't think I got far enough to find out.

I really hope the author was writing this tongue-in-cheek. Half the time I was shaking my head in disbelief.

[scavola scavola · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story begins in MIRAGE, with Greeland and Endiku of the planet Ki.

It continues in CIRCLES, with Endiku and . . .

It culminates in ALBERT, with their son.

Perry Brass CHEATS, in that his characters travel to a planet called `Earth', contemporary times in the first two books and the future in the third, facilitated by stimulating the `The Egg of the Eye', a mystical testicle.

I say `cheat' in the say way the movie `He-man and the Masters of the Universe' or `Beastmaster 2" cheated, taking the story out of their mystical, magical world into ours. The movies did it to save money, as it was cheaper not to have to make sets back then. Perry Brass does it tell two stories, which do intertwine. 1/2 fantasy, 1/2 historical fiction or, with ALBERT, 1/2 speculative fiction, with a dash of erotica . . . I recommend all three books, as well as any others by Perry Brass.

_____

Seedy? Hell no. Erotic? Hell yes! Now, I did read ALBERT, or THE BOOK OF MAN, first. I devoured it, had to have MORE, and wasn't disappointed!

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perry Brass is my favourite gay author. Very imaginative and creative works of gay fiction. His books contain thought provoking themes, suspense and sexy masculine interactions, mmmm.

Mirage and the other books in the series of Ki took me to an amazing place and I am forever grateful.