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The Mission of Alex Kane #1
Sweet Dreams
Gay homoerotica homosexuality gay themed homoeroticism homosexual mm romance
122 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
5 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
John Preston
51 books76 followersJohn Preston wrote and edited gay erotica, fiction, and nonfiction.
He grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, later living in a number of major American cities before settling in Portland, Maine in 1979. A writer of fiction and nonfiction, dealing mostly with issues in gay life, he was a pioneer in the early gay rights movement in Minneapolis. He helped found one of the earliest gay community centers in the United States, edited two newsletters devoted to sexual health, and served as editor of The Advocate in 1975.
He was the author or editor of nearly fifty books, including such erotic landmarks as Mr. Benson and I Once Had a Master and Other Tales of Erotic Love. Other works include Franny, the Queen of Provincetown (first a novel, then adapted for stage), The Big Gay Book: A Man's Survival Guide for the Nineties, Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS, and Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong.
Preston's writing (which he described as pornography) was part of a movement in the 1970s and 1980s toward higher literary quality in gay erotic fiction. Preston was an outspoken advocate of the artistic and social worth of erotic writings, delivering a lecture at Harvard University entitled My Life as a Pornographer. The lecture was later published in an essay collection with the same name. The collection includes Preston's thoughts about the gay leather community, to which he belonged. His writings caused controversy when he was one of several gay and lesbian authors to have their books confiscated at the border by Canada Customs. Testimony regarding the literary merit of his novel I Once Had a Master helped a Vancouver LGBT bookstore, Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, to partially win a case against Canada Customs in the Canadian Supreme Court in 2000. Preston also brought gay erotic fiction to mainstream readers by editing the Flesh and the Word anthologies for a major press.
Preston served as a journalist and essayist throughout his life. He wrote news articles for Drummer and other gay magazines, produced a syndicated column on gay life in Maine, and penned a column for Lambda Book Report called "Preston on Publishing." His nonfiction anthologies, which collected essays by himself and others on everyday aspects of gay and lesbian life, won him the Lambda Literary Award and the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award. He was especially noted for his writings on New England.
Although primarily known as a gay fiction writer, Preston was also hired by a local newspaper, The Portland Chronicle, to write news articles and features about his adopted hometown of Portland. He wrote a long feature about the local monopoly newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, as well as many food articles movie reviews and other writing.
In addition, Preston wrote men's adventure novels under the pseudonyms of Mike McCray, Preston MacAdam, and Jack Hilt (pen names that he shared with other authors). Taking what he had learned from authoring those books, he wrote the "Alex Kane" adventure novels about gay characters. These books, which included "Sweet Dreams," "Golden Years," and "Deadly Lies," combined action-story plots with an exploration of issues such as the problems facing gay youth.
Preston was among the first writers to popularize the genre of safe sex stories, editing a safe sex anthology entitled Hot Living in 1985. He helped to found the AIDS Project of Southern Maine. In the late 1980s, he discovered that he himself was HIV positive.
Some of his last essays, found in his nonfiction anthologies and in his posthumous collection Winter's Light, describe his struggle to come emotionally to terms with a disease that had already killed many of his friends and fellow writers.
He died of AIDS complications on April 28, 1994, aged 48, at his home in Portland. His papers are held in the Preston Archive at Brown University.
Librarian Note: There is more th
He grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, later living in a number of major American cities before settling in Portland, Maine in 1979. A writer of fiction and nonfiction, dealing mostly with issues in gay life, he was a pioneer in the early gay rights movement in Minneapolis. He helped found one of the earliest gay community centers in the United States, edited two newsletters devoted to sexual health, and served as editor of The Advocate in 1975.
He was the author or editor of nearly fifty books, including such erotic landmarks as Mr. Benson and I Once Had a Master and Other Tales of Erotic Love. Other works include Franny, the Queen of Provincetown (first a novel, then adapted for stage), The Big Gay Book: A Man's Survival Guide for the Nineties, Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS, and Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong.
Preston's writing (which he described as pornography) was part of a movement in the 1970s and 1980s toward higher literary quality in gay erotic fiction. Preston was an outspoken advocate of the artistic and social worth of erotic writings, delivering a lecture at Harvard University entitled My Life as a Pornographer. The lecture was later published in an essay collection with the same name. The collection includes Preston's thoughts about the gay leather community, to which he belonged. His writings caused controversy when he was one of several gay and lesbian authors to have their books confiscated at the border by Canada Customs. Testimony regarding the literary merit of his novel I Once Had a Master helped a Vancouver LGBT bookstore, Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, to partially win a case against Canada Customs in the Canadian Supreme Court in 2000. Preston also brought gay erotic fiction to mainstream readers by editing the Flesh and the Word anthologies for a major press.
Preston served as a journalist and essayist throughout his life. He wrote news articles for Drummer and other gay magazines, produced a syndicated column on gay life in Maine, and penned a column for Lambda Book Report called "Preston on Publishing." His nonfiction anthologies, which collected essays by himself and others on everyday aspects of gay and lesbian life, won him the Lambda Literary Award and the American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award. He was especially noted for his writings on New England.
Although primarily known as a gay fiction writer, Preston was also hired by a local newspaper, The Portland Chronicle, to write news articles and features about his adopted hometown of Portland. He wrote a long feature about the local monopoly newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, as well as many food articles movie reviews and other writing.
In addition, Preston wrote men's adventure novels under the pseudonyms of Mike McCray, Preston MacAdam, and Jack Hilt (pen names that he shared with other authors). Taking what he had learned from authoring those books, he wrote the "Alex Kane" adventure novels about gay characters. These books, which included "Sweet Dreams," "Golden Years," and "Deadly Lies," combined action-story plots with an exploration of issues such as the problems facing gay youth.
Preston was among the first writers to popularize the genre of safe sex stories, editing a safe sex anthology entitled Hot Living in 1985. He helped to found the AIDS Project of Southern Maine. In the late 1980s, he discovered that he himself was HIV positive.
Some of his last essays, found in his nonfiction anthologies and in his posthumous collection Winter's Light, describe his struggle to come emotionally to terms with a disease that had already killed many of his friends and fellow writers.
He died of AIDS complications on April 28, 1994, aged 48, at his home in Portland. His papers are held in the Preston Archive at Brown University.
Librarian Note: There is more th
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 24, 2022
Not quite my 'cup of tea' I'm afraid. A MC with wildly unrealistic strength/skills and little character development.
March 13, 2015
I hated this book. It was maddening.
I read it as it was on the list of the best all-time gay series from Lambda's website.
First of all the melodrama is wrenched up to 11. We're not just fighting evil pornographers exploiting children. No these evil pornographers give the kids heroin and tell them it's candy to get the hooked, THEN exploit them. And did I mention the "kids" are in their twenties?
Once in the game the kids can't get out. They instantly get lower grades, drop out of school and then die, sometimes all in one week. Check your realism at the door before you enter this book.
Enter Alex Kane, gay something, police, special forces, who knows. Paid by some shadow organization that is never disclosed but which has more money and Intel than the police, Kane is brought in to solve the case.
So to recap the case is some gay boys (who never told anyone they were gay, the mystery organization just KNOWS) have suddenly slipping grades.
Kane fights and kills (!) the bad guys, saving the kids from sexual exploitation.
Then, the WORST PART, he screws them! Holy hypocrisy, Batman!
"How can I thank you for saving me from the life of a sex slave?"
"By giving me your 18 year old ass!"
Then the mystery organization sends him flowers for a job well done.
The end.
I read it as it was on the list of the best all-time gay series from Lambda's website.
First of all the melodrama is wrenched up to 11. We're not just fighting evil pornographers exploiting children. No these evil pornographers give the kids heroin and tell them it's candy to get the hooked, THEN exploit them. And did I mention the "kids" are in their twenties?
Once in the game the kids can't get out. They instantly get lower grades, drop out of school and then die, sometimes all in one week. Check your realism at the door before you enter this book.
Enter Alex Kane, gay something, police, special forces, who knows. Paid by some shadow organization that is never disclosed but which has more money and Intel than the police, Kane is brought in to solve the case.
So to recap the case is some gay boys (who never told anyone they were gay, the mystery organization just KNOWS) have suddenly slipping grades.
Kane fights and kills (!) the bad guys, saving the kids from sexual exploitation.
Then, the WORST PART, he screws them! Holy hypocrisy, Batman!
"How can I thank you for saving me from the life of a sex slave?"
"By giving me your 18 year old ass!"
Then the mystery organization sends him flowers for a job well done.
The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2021
I love the idea of a gay superhero! Also loved all the descriptions of how Boston used to be. In all of Preston’s books the plot moves very fast. I like that because I’m sick of authors who spend way too much time describing things, Preston goes right to the action!
October 3, 2025
This is not the best piece of story telling. The narrative feels rushed and the plot lacks complexity. However there is a redeeming rawness to the book.
Despite the heart-breaking situations presented to the reader, the book feels like it springs from a visceral need for an overwhelmingly affirming tale of gay life overcoming the repressions of heteronormative society.
Written in 1984, at a terrible time for the gay community, Alex Kane is a ruthless invincible super hero here to bring vicarious revenge to gay readers for all the hurts big or small inflicted on them by the hostile world. For all its gritty realism, the book is fantasy with a cathartic element to it.
Despite the heart-breaking situations presented to the reader, the book feels like it springs from a visceral need for an overwhelmingly affirming tale of gay life overcoming the repressions of heteronormative society.
Written in 1984, at a terrible time for the gay community, Alex Kane is a ruthless invincible super hero here to bring vicarious revenge to gay readers for all the hurts big or small inflicted on them by the hostile world. For all its gritty realism, the book is fantasy with a cathartic element to it.
July 2, 2025
I read all of the Alex Kane books back when they came out, and I enjoyed them for what they are - camp gay action thrillers. What surprised me on this re-read is the depth of righteous anger about homophobia that motivates its hero and the unconditional love for the messy gay world that clearly motivated its author.
February 10, 2025
This is odd. It’s halfway between an afterschool special and Death Wish, but gay.
I think I was expecting more of an erotic romp but this is definitely not that.
I don’t really know that I would recommend it but I will read the next one.
I think I was expecting more of an erotic romp but this is definitely not that.
I don’t really know that I would recommend it but I will read the next one.
April 28, 2025
Power. Muscle, Mission
John Preston’s Alex Kane is the hero we are all looking for. In a world filled with ignorance and evil, he is the antidote to the apathy. I truly enjoyed following Danny’s story and look forward to the next book in the series.
John Preston’s Alex Kane is the hero we are all looking for. In a world filled with ignorance and evil, he is the antidote to the apathy. I truly enjoyed following Danny’s story and look forward to the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews