The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

I'm probably going to get stoned for my response to what many consider to be a daring, edgy novel released back in the days before Stonewall.

I bought and read this about two years ago, thinking I should really see what the hoo-hah is all about. What I was expecting was a detailed period novel, with finely drawn characters and some expose on their internal struggles and motivations. I wanted plot conflict and drama and of course any romantic development would have been most appreciated.

What I got was fairly two-dimension characters with not much to distinguish between them all (white as well as native ... in fact I got confused between a couple of the Native American characters and had to go back to double check on who was being referenced). The storyline read like a dime-store novel (and perhaps that is the purpose of pulp fiction back in the 40s and 50s) with A LOT OF SEX! I reached the point eventually where I started to skip forward entire chunks of the novel.

Now I'm not prudish and I do appreciate sexual prose written by the best of them. However - given a markedly lack of non-sexual plot development to balance things out, the book ended up reading like erotica found in the pages of a gay-porn magazine (wedged between black & white photos spreads).

To be fair, I had come to read this on the back of reading authors such as Stephen McCauley, Michael Cunningham, Michael Thomas Ford and Jay Quinn... so the contrast could not have been sharper. That said, I don't think I would bother to revisit the book for a re-reading experience. If I want a sexy read today, I'd just reach out for some Damon Suede, Manna Francis, Marquesate or James Buchanan.

I had considered tossing the book but then decided I should keep it for it's 'historical' value/purpose. I'm going to risk further outrage by saying I had an identical reaction to my reading of Gordon Merrick's An Idol for Others (ducking for cover! LOL).

OMG, Ste - this book was incredible - we all read it as young, just-out gays in the 1970s. Sexy and romantic but epic. It was the gay "Bonfire of the Vanities"...thanks for reminding me of it. I know I have a copy here somewhere...

I know, I know .... I just didna like it Uly. Do you think you will enjoy a similiar reading experience reading it this time round should you find the book up in the attic?

Ste - You're totally right, "Loon" is not great literature...even when I first read it. I'll bet I'd just roll my eyes now, because the field is full of good writers doing better stuff. Also, even when I was young and it was new, Gordon Merrick stuff made me shudder - but I read several of them because there was not much in the way of alternative.

Ulysses wrote: "Ste - You're totally right, "Loon" is not great literature...Gordon Merrick stuff made me shudder ..."

Yes - I guess that's why pulp fiction is called just that - to be pulped once read. The covers certainly promised all sorts of lurid back then though!

Oh, dear God! I have every single one of the Gordon Merrick novels you have posted. I thought they were garbage way back in the day, and yet I bought every single one I could get my hands on.

On the other hand, I have such good memories of Song of the Loon, and its sequels Song of Aaron and Listen, The Loon Sings....I'm not making this shit up.

I think my parents raided my stash of the really old gay lit (at some point when I was away from home) and gave them to my brother to sell at a garage sale(!!!)

Perhaps it's just as well. I can't revisit them that way......but I'm stuck with all that crappy Gordon Merrick dreck; and he probably got rich off it, too.

Chuck wrote: "Oh, dear God! I have every single one of the Gordon Merrick novels you have posted. I thought they were garbage way back in the day, and yet I bought every single one I could get my hands on."

Don't get rid of them (even if they're dreck) Chuck! You never know what a collected group of these Merrick Avon paperbacks might be worth someday on Ebay!

You mean I may have given away my fortune?! I read - and got rid of - seven Merrick books. I can't believe I made it through that many looking back. I guess there was a certain fascination with how truly awful they were. I finally snapped out of it.

Jax wrote: "You mean I may have given away my fortune?!"

Oh dear ... there goes the retirement house on Prince Edward Island Jax! LOL.

I have all the Merrick novels that you mention as well! BTW... the first time I encountered any references to Song of the Loon was in the novel The Front Runner. It was Billy Sive's shameful secret that he loved that book and had a fantasy of sitting in a darkened theatre with Coach Brown and making out while the movie version of Song of the Loon was playing. Of course with THAT as a recommendation I had to track it down.

Stephen wrote: "I have all the Merrick novels that you mention as well! BTW... the first time I encountered any references to Song of the Loon was in the novel The Front Runner. It was..."

Ah now 'The Front Runner' was a swoon-worthy read. I managed to track down some very grainy clips of the Loon movie online - just to see what it was like. Ummmm - very stilted acting and very obviously anglo-actors posing as Native American characters - ack! Like Mickey Rooney with slanted eyes in 'Breakfast At Tiffanys'.