The Pharmacist

by Justin David

The Pharmacist is a powerful story of Billy, a young man drawn into the sphere of Albert — The Pharmacist — a compelling and damaged older man and drug dealer. As their relationship grows, fuelled by Albert's strange narratives and his endless supply of narcotics, the foundations of Billy's own life shift and change. Alive with the strange twilight times between day and night, consciousness and unconsciousness, this a story of love, of loss and alienation.

Genres: Queer

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

JUSTIN DAVID is a writer and artist living and working in East London. After graduating from the MA Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths College he completed a London novel, ‘The Pharmacist’, set in Shoreditch, about pleasure seekers derailed and looking for love in the wrong place.

His debut novella, The Pharmacist, will be released on June 1st by SALT Publishing as one of the first acquisitions in their Modern Dreams series.

Justin teaches and consults in the Arts in London and has advised the education department of the National Gallery on their schools provision. He is also a regular speaker on their Take One Picture programme.

His writing has appeared in numerous magazines, including Beige Magazine, Gay Times and short story anthologies: ‘The Next Wave’, Millivres, 2001, ‘City Secrets’, Crocus Books, 2002,‘Polari Online Magazine’, 2009, ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’, Tonto, 2010. He has read at Royal Festival Hall for Paul Burston’s gay literary salon, Polari.

His photographic works have appeared on the pages of many magazines including: Time Out, Beige, Out There, Gay Times, Attitude, QX, GlitterWolf, Fluid, Pink Paper, Muso and Classical Music Magazine.

Reviews

[Rainbow Reviewss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This literary erotic fiction tells the story of twenty-four-year-old Billy and his attraction towards this much older man called Albert. The more Billy gets closer to Albert the more he feels attracted to him. Albert opens a new world to Billy introducing him to all kinds of drugs. Billy finds himself totally consumed in that world that he never experienced before. It changes his life, turns it upside down, and affects his relationship with his boyfriend Jamie. Billy gets confused and unaware of how his relationships deteriorate whether it is with his boyfriend or the old man.

Beautifully written with a very captivating story. This is a dark story and sometimes it is disturbing. The atmosphere of the story is grim and the ending is devastating. To some, at first, it might seem to be a triangle love story but it is not. It is more like a study of human vulnerability and addiction. And by addiction, I am not only referring to substance addiction but all types of addictions. I love how the author kept all the characters fragile and sensitive. they felt very human and real to me. There is love, lust, addiction, and some trigger warnings that I don’t want to reveal so the story will not be spoiled. I liked it a lot. The book cover is fantastic too!

The Review

[Sophy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, sometimes trashy, sometimes sentimental story that was really enjoyable to read. I let this one wash over me and completely indulged in the characters and the settings. The descriptions of changing light in summer from a balcony window really resonated and stuck with me.

It felt like sitting down with an old friend and saying "what's been happening with you" and they spill the beans on their forbidden, illicit relationship!

A rather beautiful little story that I shall keep and return to in the future.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an intense, intoxicating read. It takes you on a trip of erratic ecstasy, pleasure and lust. When you experience the comedown you feel dazed and bewildered asking yourself, did that all really just happen? Did you feel that? Was it real? You must have felt that?

The story follows Billy, a 24 year old artist struggling to find inspiration to paint his next work of art. When we are first introduced to him he is watching an old man buying flowers. Billy is captivated by him and appears to be witnessing a sly drug transaction. As the story unfolds they quickly meet face to face and we learn that the old man’s name is Albert Power and he lives in the same block of flats as Billy. They soon embark on an affair together and Billy’s world begins to crack and crumble around him as his lies and addictions catch up with him.

Albert was fascinating to read. He is an older gentleman that has been bruised and broken by love. As I learned more about him I felt my heart break for his unfortunate misfortunes. I was also curious about his own little business dealing drugs and was extremely knowledgable on the matter. You wouldn’t have suspected such an older man to be involved in drugs but he does. I admire how David breaks the taboo, shocking and intriguing the reader into submission. He takes the reader off guard multiple times as you witness scenes you didn’t think you could imagine. Albert doesn’t conform to any normal code of behaviour and Billy likes that about him. There is a lot to Albert that remains unknown as he only gives Billy a vague idea of his former life, he’s done a bit of acting, singing and managed a restaurant in soho. He doesn’t go into detail and expand so when we learn of how he has been burned by love, it breaks you. I was a mess and the ending just cut even deeper. Truly heartbreaking.

Billy in comparison to Albert is the polar opposite, he is inexperienced and reckless. Before they met he had never taken an E and quickly becomes reliant on them to escape from his reality. While his boyfriend Jamie appears to be doing well and putting his job first, Billy is struggling to paint and is falling down a dark hole. It is this conflict that gently pushes Billy into Albert’s embrace. Before they meet officially face to face Billy becomes obsessed with Albert, noting the times he leaves and returns to the flat along with what he’s wearing. This is a small red flag to the reader that Billy is an addict. He needs to be addicted to something, his art, drink, his lover, anything that will cause him to avoid facing up to what he is running from. He drinks to escape and later admits to Albert that painting helps him find out who he is, he can step back and look at a fragment of his life then he can put it down and say he knows that now and leave it alone. It’s extraordinary character development as they have endless layers to them exposing their vulnerabilities.

Set against London’s East End David paints the scene vividly. The inner workings of what happens behind closed doors as you lose yourself to the booming bass amongst the mass of flesh, all dancing as one is hypnotic. You immerse yourself into the scene as David’s writing style is electric. He goes through the motions from the highs to the lows. The way he writes Billy’s first time taking an E is mind-blowing. You can feel the blood pumping, the itchy, the erratic thoughts and the pleasure. It’s a surreal experience.

I give The Pharmacist By Justin David a Five out of Five paw rating.

At the heart of The Pharmacist is a love story. When these two characters meet and spend time together there is a strong, passionate connection. This book will not be everyone’s cup of Earl Grey as it deals with sensitive subjects and has graphic sex scenes. But it is such an electrifying read that I recommend everyone should try it at least once. It’s a story of love, lust, passion and addiction. The characters are mysterious to follow as you feel yourself being pulled further and deeper down the rabbit hole the more you read. It’s an experience that you will struggle to forget and admittedly won’t want to.

[Steph Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a free ARC of this novella with thanks to the author and Nathan at Inkandescent. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

The Pharmacist is a short, contained story, but incredibly powerful.

With a very limited number of characters and settings – mainly Billy and Albert, and their respective flats – there is an intimate, almost claustrophobic feel to the story, which mirrors the unhealthy and isolated nature of the character’s relationships with each other.

At first, I assumed this was a story of corruption of innocence. Billy, young and naive, uncertain in his first long-term relationship, meets older man Albert, who introduces him to drugs, literature and music that expand his horizons, but ultimately send him on a downward spiral into addiction.

I was right, but very wrong. Slowly it becomes clear that Billy’s propensity to addiction was always there in his unhealthy relationships with everything from alcohol to art; Albert merely offered him a new outlet. Also, surprisingly, it is the older, drug-peddling man who turns out to be the ingenue here, as he offers his own experiences of emotional, physical and intellectual pleasure gently and openly, only to come up against the bright, hard edges of modern youth culture.

On the surface this is a story about fucking, getting fucked up, fucking up. Below that is a sad, sweet story about vulnerability, loneliness, and the struggle to get through a hard life with our softer feelings intact.

Intense, brilliant and disturbing, The Pharmacist uses the novella form to deliver a mind-opening dose of hedonism and unhappiness.



Albert stands, moves to the writing bureau, pulls open the front and lifts out a tiny bag of white tablets, shaking out a handful before disappearing through a beaded curtain into the kitchen. A moment later, he returns with two pint glasses of water and sits down next to Billy. Albert places his hand over the table and lets the tablets fall onto the glass surface. For a moment, Billy looks at them. Then he leans over and picks one up, rolls it between his thumb and forefinger and examines its tiny logo.
‘Mitsubishi. Bona doobs!’
‘Eh?’ Billy misses the slang again.
‘Don’t you know your Polari, Darling Boy? Doobs. Drugs. These are good ones. Pure MDMA. Lovely trip.’

– Justin David, The Pharmacist


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...

[Theresa Derwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's London in the '00s and Billy is a part time artist/photographer trying to sell his paintings whilst capturing the essence of the city streets and it's ecclectic characters with his camera.

One such character is old man Albert, smart and eccentric who instantly intrigues him, becoming something of an obsession for him. Meanwhile, though Billy is in a relationship with Jamie who works at the Walter’s Gallery and who has returned to London and is looking for a place for them to live, Billy is somewhat reluctant to make that final committment.


In The Pharmacist, first published in 2014 by Salt Publishing, we see a much later Jamie and Billy than the young men explored in the prequel to this - Kissing the Lizard, published after this story.


I read both novellas in chronological order not publication order, and actually, seeing Jamie in this environment with Billy, doing better after his experiences in New Mexico, adds an extra dimension to this for me, though suffice to say you don't have to read both to understand the story. Each can be read as a standalone.


in this book, one afternoon, Billy finds himself up in Albert's flat, swigging wine, flirting with him, then with danger, as Albert the 'pharmacist' offers him his first taste of ecstasy.


David's descriptions of Billy's blissed-out night through the various drugs he tries are strangely beautiful and lyrical, and amidst it all, there's also some pretty erotic moments. Yet beneath all of this, we see the impact the drugs have on Billy and on his relationship with Jamie.

It's a sad, beautiful, sometimes joyful, sometimes tragic story and is wonderfully written.

[Simon Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2014 novella was featured somewhere—I can’t recall where—as one of a pair of books to read together, the other being Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones. I haven’t read that just yet!

The Pharmacist focused on Billy, a man in his 20s, who falls into a friendship with Albert, an older gay man who lived in a flat in the same building. As their friendship developed, Albert introduced Billy to illicit drugs, and their relationship became closer and more complex.

I enjoyed this for the contrast between Billy and Albert, as gay men who had come of age in very different eras. It was a book which made me reflect on how much society’s response to people shapes us all, and moreover how much accepted societal norms have shifted over just a few decades. The rapid change in society’s attitude to homosexuality makes contrasting older and younger gay people an interesting tool for reflecting on progress in society.

This wasn’t a book I’d normally come across or read, but I enjoyed reflecting on it.

[Ken Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking read

This story is quite deep. The author presents what might be considered a romance, drawing the artist and his upstairs neighbor carefully, slowly walking towards the conclusion. London, at least the maisonette and the club, become visual components of the plot. Quite moving.

As I am a gatherer of books, I collect books and ebooks from a variety of sources: Goodreads wins, BookBub, BookFunnel, Riffle, Prolific Works, emails from authors and publishers, and others. I do lose track of their sources. But, as a reader, I feel I should give an honest, unencumbered review for all I read.

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pharmacist is a short and intense read about a short and intense relationship. Billy is an artist whose creativity is given a boost when he starts an affair with the much older Albert. Albert himself is the pharmacist of the title - a regular fixture on the local club scene in his panama hat and with his never-ending supply of a wide range of narcotics.
Unflinching, sticky, trippy and tender, the dialogue crackles and the writing is excellent.

[amirahlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gay erotica

TW: drug use,addiction, cheating, suicide, loss of a loved one

Wow so this was quite depressing. A love triangle between Billy (24) who’s in a relationship with Jamie but isn’t committed and starts an affair with Albert who is seventy. Billy doesn’t know what he wants nor who he wants. He slowly becomes addicted to drugs, Albert sells drugs and gives Billy his first E which gradually leads Billy to an addiction.
I don’t like love triangles or cheating. This authors writing is amazing. The descriptions are so vivid and I’m not an artsy person but I was able to envision the paintings and the feeling the drugs caused. Billy is an artist but Jamie is more successful than him, that’s how his affair started in the first place. Though not valid enough for his actions.

[NeilN · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to the overcrowded marketplace for gay relationships, I tend to be cautious. But The Pharmacist by Justin David has truly blown me away. It’s funny, sexy, thought provoking, truthful, surreal and haunting. The writing is filled with wit and tenderness. It’s right up there with Edmund White, Neil Bartlett.

Justin David has the ability to present characters with a brutal truthfulness that reminds me of Edward St. Aubyn. It’s really something special. The novella is agile as a gazelle. Though writing in a very different register to my two favourite authors Brian Evenson and Shirley Jackson, like them, the novel confronts some of the extremes of a fractured human condition.

All that slightly poncy stuff being said, it’s a reet good read and never gets stale.

[Tom Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and enjoyable read. I was done with it before I even realised. It's a very interesting exploration of age diverse relationships, generational differences and drug use within the gay community.
Not necessarily a read for the faint of heart.
The sad and somewhat open ending left me wanting more just how the protagonist was left wanting more after his first dip into the drug and chemsex scene.

[Damian Serbu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick novella, this took less than one evening to read. David packs a lot into this short amount of space! The characters are real and believable, their realities ring true, as does the emotion and angst that runs through the entire story. The twists and turns keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a story about humanity that will have you contemplating life, long after you finish the book.

[Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this almost unbearably cheesy. It's a stack of gay cliches in a pretty coat, with some truly lovely descriptive writing only adding to the feeling of reading an emo teen's creative writing exercise. The more I think about it, the more I dislike it.

Content warnings for drug use, addiction, suicide.

[Willen P · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but there wasn't really anything pleasurable about reading this. For me, it didn't really have a story worth reading about, nor characters I could root for.

I didn't even see the point of the suicide that happened. A big let down I guess, am I being too harsh?

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 93 page British novella about 2 neighbors who start a drug tinged affair. The older man is a drug dealer and the younger is an artist. It does not end well for each man. It had some good moments and deft characterizations but I wish it was fleshed out a bit more..

[José · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely written novel which for me lacked the honed language I expect when I read fiction. The protagonist is intriguing, and the plot is well-structured. I'd like to see more from this author.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by a friend and found it a very engaging read, so much so I finished it in one sitting. Great writing style, I only hope the next one is longer.