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The End of Billy Knight
The End of Billy Knight: A novel
A rocky tale that explores the complicated relationship between a young gay hustler and an aging drag queen, set in the intriguing and lost world of 80s porn stars. This is not erotica, but a surprising, genre-bending blend of dark literary fiction and delightful comedy. At turns funny, sexy, and heartrending, The End of Billy Knight goes beyond the obvious stereotypes to portray two deeply sympathetic characters, both lost in their search for meaning, fulfillment and love.
Mike makes his money in the streets and bars of Cincinnati. When a trick goes wrong one night, he decides to change his life.
Dale is an aging drag queen who spends most of his life performing as the fabulous Sasha Zahore. She's the star attraction at the Lucky Pony, a rundown bar in Los Angeles. But Sasha has a dream. She longs to break into the emerging gay porn industry and direct high quality films. “Porn so good it'll make even your mama proud.”
The night Mike and Sasha meet, their lives become connected and their dreams intertwine.
Very quickly Sasha becomes determined to make Mike hers - in more ways than one. But when nobody believes a drag queen can direct gay porn, and when Mike doesn't return Sasha's feelings in precisely the way she'd hoped, how far will she go to get what she wants?
Mike makes his money in the streets and bars of Cincinnati. When a trick goes wrong one night, he decides to change his life.
Dale is an aging drag queen who spends most of his life performing as the fabulous Sasha Zahore. She's the star attraction at the Lucky Pony, a rundown bar in Los Angeles. But Sasha has a dream. She longs to break into the emerging gay porn industry and direct high quality films. “Porn so good it'll make even your mama proud.”
The night Mike and Sasha meet, their lives become connected and their dreams intertwine.
Very quickly Sasha becomes determined to make Mike hers - in more ways than one. But when nobody believes a drag queen can direct gay porn, and when Mike doesn't return Sasha's feelings in precisely the way she'd hoped, how far will she go to get what she wants?
456 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2014
19 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 22, 2019
The one thing I didn't expect this book to have was a happy end. But it does, more or less... It would have been completely plausible to have a Shakespearian (or Soap Opera) level tragedy at the end, mainly I was expecting some kind of murder/suicide trajectory, and I am happy to report there is no murder in this story. I'm not a huge fan of murder.
There is however, a devious, manipulative drag queen and naive, not too bright porn star who have a very codependent, dysfunctional and highly platonic relationship that spans the 80s and 90s. I really liked revisiting 90s Los Angeles, especially the multiple mentions of pagers, which I'd entirely forgotten about and it made me kind of nostalgic for pagers and the number codes we used to communicate in high school.
The portrayal of the porn world, and the 80s/90s drag queen scene is really well done and feels authentic (not that I am an expert). The relationship between Sasha (who at times I really felt for and at other times I really loathed) and Billy (who is a little more vacant and insubstantial as a character, but it works) feels real and really fucked up. They both have so many hang ups and are both so shallow...
There's a lot of really great gay literature dealing with similar topics, but what makes it a little more new/modern, as mentioned above, is that it ends on a hopeful note (again, more or less, because Sasha really is a very sad person).
There is however, a devious, manipulative drag queen and naive, not too bright porn star who have a very codependent, dysfunctional and highly platonic relationship that spans the 80s and 90s. I really liked revisiting 90s Los Angeles, especially the multiple mentions of pagers, which I'd entirely forgotten about and it made me kind of nostalgic for pagers and the number codes we used to communicate in high school.
The portrayal of the porn world, and the 80s/90s drag queen scene is really well done and feels authentic (not that I am an expert). The relationship between Sasha (who at times I really felt for and at other times I really loathed) and Billy (who is a little more vacant and insubstantial as a character, but it works) feels real and really fucked up. They both have so many hang ups and are both so shallow...
There's a lot of really great gay literature dealing with similar topics, but what makes it a little more new/modern, as mentioned above, is that it ends on a hopeful note (again, more or less, because Sasha really is a very sad person).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2022
Set in the 1980's and early 1990's L.A. gay scene/porn industry, this novel could have been a true-story and I would have been none-the-wiser. It stars Dale and Mike, or their alter ego's, "Sasha" and "Billy", who meet at the club "Sasha" works at, and they develop a unique relationship based on an agreement to hopefully benefit each other's career - They both have a dream and need each other to make it happen. Mike is a young and handsome hustler, Dale is an aging drag queen, and uses "Sasha" to (hopefully) get what he wants.
Full of lusty sex-scenes, love, deception and greed, the story also has a level of empathy. I had a clear picture of each character and their development as the story progressed. I did however, find it surprising that there seemed to be at least three or four sections in the novel that didn't seem to have been proof-read before publishing (just a word missing here and there), but it didn't take away from the story at hand, which was an entertaining read that made me want to keep coming back to it, and I didn't really know which way it was going to end.
Full of lusty sex-scenes, love, deception and greed, the story also has a level of empathy. I had a clear picture of each character and their development as the story progressed. I did however, find it surprising that there seemed to be at least three or four sections in the novel that didn't seem to have been proof-read before publishing (just a word missing here and there), but it didn't take away from the story at hand, which was an entertaining read that made me want to keep coming back to it, and I didn't really know which way it was going to end.
December 30, 2018
UNPUTDOWNABLE, AS SOMEONE SAID
The author writes with such assurance, he's obviously intimately familiar with the drag, callboy and pornographer world. He explains sexual situations so easily and casually that you find yourself feeling a familiarity with this world that most of us know little about. His characters, too, become real and understandable and fully fleshed out and we care for them. There's a tense undercurrent that keeps us on edge throughout hoping for the best for these people we've gotten to know so well. It's masterfully written and crafted. I look forward to other works by Ty Jacob.
The author writes with such assurance, he's obviously intimately familiar with the drag, callboy and pornographer world. He explains sexual situations so easily and casually that you find yourself feeling a familiarity with this world that most of us know little about. His characters, too, become real and understandable and fully fleshed out and we care for them. There's a tense undercurrent that keeps us on edge throughout hoping for the best for these people we've gotten to know so well. It's masterfully written and crafted. I look forward to other works by Ty Jacob.
June 17, 2019
This was an interesting book, very well written. It captured the scientific side of HIV as well as the emotional turmoil of the disease. It explored how different people see the definition of love.
March 18, 2020
This book is dark. Creative. Well written. A little long. And so dark it was provoking anxiety in me for the last 100 pages.
February 1, 2019
I picked this book up in San Francisco having heard it recommended on a radio program prior to departing Australia. Whilst I initially thought it would be quite flippant and trashy it actually turned out to be a poignant and moving read. I am now intrigued to read this author's other novel (Ty Jacob is a pen name) which is focused around his move from bustling Michigan to a remote Olive Farm outside of Wellington New Zealand - if it's written as well as this novel it would be most enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews