One for the Gods

Peter & Charlie Trilogy #2

by Gordon Merrick

First there was Charlie and Peter.

Their love affair broke a lot of conventions... but it didn't break them all. For Peter and Charlie are in love -- with each other -- and with Martha. And Martha is passionately in love with them both.

From St. Tropez to Athens to Mykonos, this powerful, moving novel follows their devastating triangle of romance and desire through a world of sun-drenched pleasure and Mediterranean adventure.

Back in print after years of being unavailable to generations of Merrick fans comes the follow-up to the national best-seller The Lord Won't Mind. The saga concludes with Forth Into Light.

Genres: Gay, Fiction, Romance, LGBT, Gay Fiction, M M Romance, Erotica

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Son of a stockbroker, Merrick studied French Literature at Princeton before becoming an actor on Broadway. Prior to WWII he landed a role in Kaufman & Hart's The Man Who Came to Dinner and even became Hart's lover for a time. Due to a hearing problem he had a draft deferrment but served in the O.S.S. rising to the rank of Captain for his service in France. His first novel, The Strumpet Wind (1947), told of an American spy in France during WWII. "I have not imagined the world in which these people lived," he wrote.

Besides appearing on Broadway, he worked as a reporter on many newspapers. He also contributed book reviews and articles to The New Republic, Ikonos and other periodicals. In all, Merrick wrote 13 books, but it was his specialized novels that dealt with gay issues which became best-sellers. Merrick's works are rarely included in anthologies, and few discussions of American gay authors mention him. Some dismiss Merrick because of his obvious romanticism; others do so because he sprinkles explicit sex scenes in these later novels.

Merrick examines the likelihood of self-actualization, identity politics and the role that power plays in relationships. He rejected socially-imposed roles and labels, insisting that each gay person question the assumptions underlying their life. Gordon Merrick broke new ground that has only recently become fertile. Deeper probing into Merrick's works will undoubtedly yield richer understandings of the complex social dynamics that construct networks of control over human sexuality.

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon Merrick is the dirty, fetishg loving, Jackie Collins cousin to the more highbrow works of Armistead Maupin. Which means it is melodramatic, filled with sex and two impossibly good looking leads.

I loved it.

Honestly though--the works of Merrick live in a strange twilight world of fiction--one of the first series about gay men, a successful series and written by a straight man. This is second in the Peter and Charlie series started in "The Lord Wont Mind" and follows the two lovers through Greece and the Mediterranean in the 1950s. While there is plenty to wince at with some odd dialouge, groan inducing interalized homophobia within the characters and a sly and slight bit of sexism at play--despite all this I found myself in love with and rooting for the books young-ish lovers and there attempts at happiness.

I think the other reason I loved this book is quite simply this--there is not much fun fiction out there for a gay audience and something like this that is parts fun, lux and sexy is worth more than it's weight in gold.

[Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novels of Gorden Merrick are delicious trash, full of glamour and explicit gay sex -- manna from heaven for one timid gay adolescent in the 1970s whose heart would pound in fear as he handed them over to check out clerk at B. Dalton Booksellers in the local mall and would be up all night reading under the covers with a flashlight.

[BookLuva28 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I was a bit indifferent, if not to say agitated by the overwrought information on sailing, One for the Gods adequately earned it's rightful place as the second installment for this overlooked, underrated trilogy. Gordon Merrick manages to take the reader on a voyage of human nature that is both savage and complex in it's raw emotion. I was worried that along the way, the plot would be lost on me with it's somewhat exhausted take on another man's Odyssey, but it managed to divert itself from the mundane sexual tropes, misadventures and reaffirm the layers of the relationship Peter and Charlie are trying to navigate despite the many obstacles obstructing their goal of living out their lives together in perfect (imperfect) balance.

[reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes you wish you were rich and sailing around the Greek Islands having drama with your hung gay lover.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second volume of the Peter and Charlie trilogy and it was quite different from the first. There was the usual gratuitous sex but this time the sex was used to defining roles in within the relationships. Most of the action took place on a boat and plenty of nautical action in running a sailboat through the Mediterranean. I am starting the third book now.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haven’t seen this much ham-fisted sailing information since Moby Dick. Fitting, I suppose

[Suzanne Stroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saga of Peter and Charlie continues. The war's over and they're on the French Riviera....wearing next to nothing....and going to parties where real Matisses and Picassos hang on the walls. If only Peter would stay indoors!

More great scenes of sex and love... with some pretty girls and great sailing thrown in. This is the second book in the trilogy, and I think it's the best of the three. This was cutting-edge for the 1950s, and if you like retro and gay and packed with great, big, raw, um, intelligence, you can't do better.

[Florebunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to The Lord Won't Mind catches up with Peter and Charlie in 1950 in the South of France and charts a turbulent few months in their relationship, including an interesting yacht trip to the Greek islands. I found the sequel much more enjoyable than the first story, maybe because the emotions felt more real. Although the dialogue still sounded odd and in my head, they sounded like Bertie Wooster. But written in 1970/1, you've got to hand it to the guy, it's seriously racy stuff.

[Mike Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cheesy classic in the genre of over-the-top gay affairs with rich hung "beautiful" men. Gosh, what glorious trash.

[ALEARDO ZANGHELLINI · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Lord Won’t Mind rather a long time ago and I recall thoroughly enjoying it, with a lingering sense of mild embarrassment— for surely (from memory) this wasn’t upmarket fiction? I have been putting off reading the sequels for no particular reason (maybe a sense of urgency about reading more ‘worthwhile’ authors first, because, you know, I could die tomorrow, etc). Now, I finally read in quick succession One for the Gods and Forth into the Light. I’m going to leave a joint review. For sheer enjoyment and the compulsive quality of the reading experience, these both score five. They’re quite different books. One for the Gods is very much about the evolving relationship between Charlie and Peter, and whether it can survive infidelity and Charlie’s heavy handed way of dealing with it. Forth into the Light retains these kinds of themes, but they stay comparatively in the background, before becoming central again towards the end of the book. Instead, centre stage is taken by other characters and their own fraught relationships and infidelities; it is also more plot-driven than One for the Gods (there are puzzles to solve, problems to fix, etc). The books are sometimes overwrought (hence my 4 star rating), especially the conceit of the ‘monumental phallus’. Yet, one must concede that Merrick does an improbably good job of integrating the idea of Charlie’s massive cock into the story (meaning that other people’s, as well as his own, obsession with it is the source of a lot of what happens and transpires in both books). The most remarkable aspect about the books, though, is that while so many elements, in different hands, would have resulted in a trashy piece of work, it never turns out that way in Merrick’s treatment. I suspect this is primarily due to the characters’ convincing psychology, and the depth in which Merrick looks into it, leaving no stone unturned. Personally, Merrick’s interest in the theme of fidelity resonates with me, and I love how he avoids easy answers (neither dismissing fidelity as a bourgeois hangover, nor condemning his characters for slipping; and finding silver linings even in the slips, without thereby justifying them). I was massively put off by Charlie’s behaviour towards the end of Forth into the Light, but whatever — it’s not like we hadn’t been told he’s messed up.

[David Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1971, this is the first of two sequels to The Lord Won’t Mind, Gordon Merrick’s ‘landmark’ novel about gay love and gay sex in postwar USA. Our hunky well-endowed heroes Charlie and Peter are on an extended holiday on the French Riviera. Charlie is heartbroken when Peter two-times him with a cute local lad. After this little hiccup they join their rich friends Jack and Martha for a cruise to Capri and the Greek islands. More hiccups.

The yacht trip begins with a night storm which is almost in the Herman Melville league. Then Charlie, who has bisexual tendencies, decides he wants to have a child with Martha. He also – spoiler alert – wants Peter to have sex with Martha, at which point the novel unravels into tawdry melodrama.

Rich people on a yacht drinking too much and screwing their brains out, there’s a faint echo of Scott Fitzgerald, although some of the writing – “his dark eyes were soft with desire” - is more evocative of Barbara Cartland than Fitzgerald. The sex scenes are hardcore without being too crude, but here too there are lapses: I’m not sure if Barbara Cartland ever described a blowjob (I’m trying not to picture her giving one!), but she could well have written “he lay back and surrendered to the rapture of Peter’s miraculous mouth.”

As gay porn One For the Gods delivers the goods, but as a study in gay relationships the story’s artificiality weakens its conviction. A ‘juicy’ read, then, but not much more.

[Roger - president of NBR United - · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this when I first discovered MM romance. Then because new to the genre everything felt fresh. Now as a veteran reader of the genre it seems dated to the morals of the time it was written. A manners novel and infidelity definitely not my favorite. Charlie and Peter are so charming and a bit naive. It is well written just not for me.

[Scott Gundaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely l❤ving this trip back to the 1940's. I feel many Gay men still struggle with the dilemma hurdles Charlie is dealing with.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Challenge 2017: book about travel. Starting on the island of Saint Tropez, Charlie and Peter travel in a sailboat with the Kingsley's, a couple with issues of their own. Sailing in the Aegean Sea, stopping at various Greek islands, until Charlie has a fit, leaves the boat and buys a house on Hydra Island, which ends their journey. A storm at sea, lusty bandits, a drunk captain, a possibly pregnant wife, friendly islanders, and a self-realization make for an interesting tale. This only makes me want to travel to Greece to visit as well. The second book of the trilogy is a vehicle for the third in that it gives Peter and Charlie a reason to leave America behind and live on the Greek island.

[Jonny_Jinx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Generally, if I start a book or series, I go on to reading to the end but that was not the case with Gordon Merrick's 'Peter and Charlie trilogy.

I struggled to read "The Lord Won't Mind" but for some reason, I just could not get more than halfway through the second book "One for the Gods" and "Forth into Light" didn't even get a look in.

Mind you, I bought the series in December 2014 and from memory, it was the struggle to remain faithful and the influence of religion on the relationship, that put me off.

Now nine years later, I might give the series another go, however I have hundreds of books to re-read before I get around to them.

[Reader (Show me, don't tell me) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often wonder why it became necessary to tag people who prefer their own sex as gay= happy, faggots = kindlings, fairy = mythical little creatures with wings, queer = strange, etc. etc.

There was a time when many of those words esp. the above three meant something totally different and it saddened me greatly that I cannot use them anymore to mean their original meanings. None of those words described a human (person).

The fact that I think this way in 2017 must mean that as much as homosexuality has to some extent been accepted, there is so much more that still has not been accepted or tolerated. And that is just heartbreaking.

There are many, many Charlies around still and for the life of love and goodness why can't the world be less hypocritical? Why must people be labelled and villianized because of something they have absolutely no control of? God or Nature created them the way they are. It makes me so, so mad that people have to fight for their lives for a very basic and necessary thing as Love. To love as freely as the rest of us.

Anyway, *deep breath*, this second book about Charlie and Peter is just wonderful and one cannot help but feel compassion and sympathy for them.

[Estarianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to wonder why fictional gay relationships always have to include sanctioned infidelity. I don't generally like it. At least in this book it wasn't all massaged into inertness, with the "it's just sex" line. Basically this entire book was a run-up to a preordained confrontation that, when it happened, was pretty anticlimactic. I will say that the characters are engaging. These two cause each other a lot of pain in the stories, so it is kind if hard to see the elapsed time between them as being peaceful and a sign of longevity, but the stories are suspenseful.

[Doujia2 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rec to anyone who wants to die from misogyny overdose.