booking freakboy: GOSPEL FOR SUCKERS by Will E. Graham (1971)

“Jesus Freaks were everywhere…” 

Have you been touched by Jimmy Love?  

Jimmy Love can heal you of your maladies by placing his miraculous hands upon you!  You will feel the power of his Divine love blowing through your soul!  Yes, this 23-year old, 6-foot-tall traveling blond Adonis evangelist will fill the deep hole inside you with Glory! 

Surely you’ve read the newspaper articles about how, at a young age, Jimmy’s parents died in an automobile accident and how he was adopted by Brandon Parker, a friend and army buddy of his late father.  Undoubtedly you were captivated in learning how Jimmy became an overnight Prophet after seeing Jesus in a barn in Indiana!  It was a sign from Heaven above!  A sign to guide Jimmy and his adopted father onto the path of spreading the Gospel from town to town!  A sign to milk every last penny from the willfully ignorant congregation!  Hallelujah! 

Now the unthinkable has happened!  After healing the inflicted two nights in a row, Jimmy Love has disappeared, bringing the religious community to its knees in prayer for his safe return!  Where is their Anointed One and will they ever feel the massive power of his love again?  Good things come to those who wait, for prophecy tells us the blessed answer will be delivered in seven days.  Well, at least I can tell you since I read the book.

 
Either through Divine intervention or a coordinated publicity stunt, the missing evangelist has resurfaced in Los Angeles!  Praise Jimmy Love, oh, and Jesus for his safe return to the fold, but what happened to the precious preacher during those seven days?  According to the newspapers, Jimmy Love was lost in the Arizona desert, on the brink of death, when four men descended upon him from above.  The four 5’ 11”, brown-haired studs blew life back into Jimmy Love and now they are his Apostles! 

In reality, Jimmy Love has grown tired of being in the Holy spotlight.  With the help of his adopted father, Jimmy Love has concocted one last revival to blow the minds and bank accounts of his faithful followers.  On a clear pedestal, backed by a screen of swirling clouds and surrounded by streaming fog, Jimmy Love will take to the stage.  At either of his sides will be his four Apostles, clad only in color coordinated posing straps to match the various tints of light shining on them.  Will the spectacle be a raging success?  Will the congregation work itself into a frenzy of religious fervor and sexual arousal? 

SPOILER ALERT! 
The reader will never know!  Just as the four Apostles are literally revealed, Brandon Parker dies of a heart attack backstage and suddenly finds himself in WWII with Jimmy Love’s father.  The man offers his hand to shake in gratitude for Brandon taking such good care of his son.  

Yup, that’s how GOSPEL FOR SUCKERS ends, making me think the terrific double entendre title actually has three meanings, including the reader being a sucker for reading this book.  The ending is wildly anticlimactic, especially because it is made perfectly clear that Brandon had been in love with Jimmy’s father.  Couldn’t the two men have at least experienced a more satisfying afterlife happy ending?  

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some ridiculously entertaining aspects to the book.  The way the religious crowds fall for Jimmy Love’s schtick is amusingly spot on when comparing it with televangelists of the 1980’s and the preachers of modern day mega-churches.  The names of the first three Apostles (Dallas Slaughter, Tony Wolfe and Dale Ducommun) are made even funnier by the fourth one’s more ordinary name (Keith Anderson).  Oh, and I appreciate there are only seven chapters, which I think is a sly wink at the seven days of Creation.
I just wish author Will E. Graham, whose obvious pen-name is brilliant in more ways than one, would have had even more fun putting the satirical screws to religion and fanatical believers.  It’s not quite as blasphemously funny as it should’ve been, but maybe all the queer sex mingled with Christianity heightens the humor.  Plus, it’s frustrating when intriguing plot elements are introduced and then abandoned.  Something scandalous, which is not fully explained, happened in Florida with Jimmy Love and when you think it’s coming back to haunt him, the subplot fizzles out.  I guess I’m used to this style of storytelling thanks to Andy Milligan.  Another thing is Jimmy Love’s too close for comfort relationship with his adopted father.  Yes, they are both adults and not blood related, but it added an ick factor for me.  I know I shouldn’t be so judgy considering some of the incestuous overtones in the films of, once again, Andy Milligan.  Ugh, I hate it when my favorite filmmakers make me feel like a hypocrite! 

“Turn around if you want to and blow your love on the person behind you!” -Jimmy Love 

In conclusion…
GOSPEL FOR SUCKERS isn’t the best piece of Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction I’ve read, but it’s not the worst either.  It is somehow entertaining and disappointing at the same time.  So, if you’re in the mood for a low-key satirical look at religiosity with a queer twist, then GOSPEL FOR SUCKERS by Will E. Graham may be the book for you!  Just don’t forget to say your nightly prayer after reading.🙏
Amen! 
 😏 

Freak be with you, 
JLH 

P.S.  Be a sucker for my queer books… 

Available from an Amazon near you!

booking freakboy: TO MAKE A HOMO by Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1971)

This is one of the titles I was drawn to when I first discovered Ed Wood wrote novels.  Instead of endlessly waiting for a brave publisher to reprint it, I found a copy on AbeBooks.  All I expected was for Wood to entertain me with his usual craziness and also redeem Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction in my half-blind eyes after a crushingly disappointing  experience with the sub-genre.  (see Abnormals Anonymous)  

1971, Little Library Press

Tommy Grimes is an 18-year-old who always has a plan, including coercing younger fellow classmate Paul Coll into performing a sexual act on Tommy at the church picnic.  When Tommy is done, he doesn’t return the favor, leaving Paul rather frustrated.  Not for long though because fellow schoolmate Mary Kalaski and her reputation suddenly appears.  She seduces Paul into full on intercourse.  At the climax of this twist, they are caught by the minister‘s wife, leaving them both in trouble in more ways than one. 

Parental money is exchanged to terminate the unwanted addition, but that’s not the plot.  It’s revealed that Tommy and Mary are in cahoots and had planned Paul’s religious experience at the church picnic.  Not only that, Paul is beginning to desire his sister’s panties and Angora sweater.  When Paul is dressed up, she is Pauline.  Yes, this is when it fully felt like a Wood novel, but not just because there’s also a Paul/Pauline in DEATH OF A TRANSVESTITE.  I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be the same character or if Wood was just repeating himself. 

Anyhoo, there’s more!  Tommy is not only a sexual bully, but he’s also a drug pusher and a pimp!  After a ménage à trois between Tommy, Mary and Paul, Tommy sends Paul, as Pauline, to a cabin in the woods filled with homosexual clients, some in drag and some not.  Pauline’s job is to pass along some drugs and then to submit to the carnal whims of everyone in the cabin.  The inhabitants of this cabin will also be doing a job for Tommy by getting Paul/Pauline hooked on heroin.  This will allow Tommy to have more control over his newfound prostitute/drug mule!  

Now both Mary, who is still pregnant, and Paul are heroin addicted prostitutes working for Tommy.  After a double duty assignment with a rich old lady client, where Mary nearly suffocated and Pauline had to pull up her skirt and drop panties, they are done with Tommy.  SPOILER ALERT!  Tommy imbibes his one vice, alcohol, and passes out.  Mary and Paul jump at the chance to get their abuser addicted to heroin so they can all be on the same playing field.  That’s how the book ends.  It’s easy to assume nothing good happens to these characters, but who knows?  Maybe they all get clean, forgive each other and live happily ever after as a very modern throuple, assuming Paul/Pauline doesn’t grow up to be a drag assassin. 

Anyhoo, all I kept asking was, “Who the hell was this book’s target audience?”  Before you conjure up an answer, there are a couple more things left to reveal!  I was very surprised to find several photos scattered throughout the pages of very real adults doing very naked activities.  Most of these photos are of a hetero-centric nature, which is odd considering the queer plot.  This makes me assume they were added by the publisher because surely Wood would’ve picked more diverse pics.  Oh, of course, there are the prerequisite straight-porn lesbian shots, but there is only one photo of two men together and it’s the most demure of the lot.  

“There’s a lot of little things you could do for me that might make us real good friends.” Tommy to Paul

Then, as a popped cherry on top of this Wood sundae, there are pages of advertisements at the back of the book.  Loads of plugs for mostly straight adult novels with such classy titles as Oversexed Broads and Hard Doctor.  Though there are a few queer novels, such as I, Homosexual by Adrian James.  As a perfect compliment to the book plugs, there are also some truly inspiring ads for marital aids to make your next key party the social event of the season! 

Reusable means they are environmentally friendly, right?

So, was the target audience for TO MAKE A HOMO the male hetero crowd?  I mean, the photos mostly appear to support this theory.  On the other hand, the story is definitely bent at the sexuality.  Then its title and provocative cover art would’ve surely turned off homophobic jerks in 1971 and today, so I don’t know!  All I can say for certain is this book is now for the extremely open-minded readers who enjoy going with the flow and/or for maladjusted Ed Wood fans like me. 

In conclusion… 
Putting aside the skeevy young ages of the three main characters, TO MAKE A HOMO met my expectations and exceeded them.  I was wildly entertained!  Even the sexual descriptions ranged from clinical to vulgar to hysterical.  (…so it just lay there against his leg looking like a limp, kosher hot dog.)  Paul struggling with and then accepting Pauline as part of his/her self was somehow backwards, yet also way ahead of its time.  So, if you want to take a literary walk on a very wild side, then TO MAKE A HOMO may be the piece of Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction for you!  I am once again eager to explore other titles, including more from the incomparable Edward D. Wood, Jr. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. Click a pic to get more Wood… 

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My queer little books are available from an Amazon near you! 

booking freakboy: ABNORMALS ANONYMOUS by Stella Gray

I haven’t been this disappointed in a book since DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige.  The terrific “Real Princess of Oz” trailers promised readers a campy-bitchy fun trip down the Yellow Brick Road… 

…but we ended up with a painfully long and tedious prologue disguised as a novel.  I wasn’t even aware DOROTHY MUST DIE was going to be a series when I wasted my time with it, so the non-ending sent me through the emerald roof!  Hey, I know what you’re thinking, but at least I called my debut ebook “DARK EXCURSIONS: first set” so readers would expect and/or dread more installments!  
As for my latest dive into Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction… 

1964, National Library Books 

From the potentially offensive alliterative title and the gender nonconformity of its cover, I thought ABNORMALS ANONYMOUS by Stella Gray was going to be a fun, wildly crazy, non-pc look at LGBTQ+ life in the mid-1960’s.  It sure as hell started out as I imagined and I was loving it!  Two siblings, Kurt and Bill Rockne are causing Clint, their conservative, strait-laced father, grief by their “abnormal” desires.  Kurt is allegedly hetero-centric, but allows his family to believe he’s queer after he was seen in one gay bar.  He perpetuates this supposed ruse by hanging out with drag queens.  The author never really explores the character, but it seems like there is more going on with Kurt.  I mean, would a straight man in 1964 pretend to be attracted to men for no real reason?  I think not!  Bill, a more fully realized character, is all masculine swagger with new wife Prissy, a voluptuous firecracker of a woman.  The thing is, Bill and Prissy had one of those “Gay Village Weddings” because Prissy is bisexual and Bill is biologically a woman.  

I did not see that gender-bending twist coming and then things got wilder and crazier!  Kurt and Prissy have the hots for each other and Bill agrees to let them sleep together if it means Prissy will “cure” Kurt of his homosexual tendencies.  While Kurt and Prissy are getting busy, a drag queen named Leslie arrives and demands to see Kurt.  Bill won’t allow Leslie to interrupt Kurt’s chance at straightness, so the solid sibling physically struggles with the determined drag queen.  With Bill dressed in traditionally male clothing and Leslie all dolled-up  as a feminine woman, the struggle turns to passion. 

Clint couldn’t be happier that his offspring have finally tasted the “normalcy” of hetero love, even if Bill’s experience was still kinda bent.  Their step onto the straight and narrow path inspires the siblings to take their father’s advice and start an “Abnormals Anonymous” meeting.  Bill agrees to head the meeting and the agenda is ostensibly to help the queer community act straight in front of biological family and at their workplaces.  As I said, it’s 1964, so really the ultimate goal is to make heterosexuals out of all of them.  The first meeting is spectacular with various LGBTQ+ representation.  A highlight is when several members brazenly call out the meeting’s bullshit and proudly leave in all of their queer glory! 🏳️‍🌈 

Teaser page at the beginning of the book.

That is pretty much the last enjoyable moment in the book.  It suddenly becomes all about random hetero strangers showing up to the meetings with kinks and fetishes as their “abnormal” issues.  Bill and the gang help a sexually frustrated Peeping Tom, a masochist and a borderline necrophiliac who needs the woman to remain perfectly still during sex.  All of this was sort of interesting but seemed more like a distraction from the real plot and was not what the cover promised! However, if I had read the back of the book, I would’ve realized what I was getting into. 

Anyhoo, after all the kink freaks are dealt with, Bill decides to continue to dress an act in a traditionally male way, but Leslie has forsaken his drag persona and is now a “real man.”  Then, in the most horrifically disturbing part of this book, Bill and Leslie fight it out over who will be dominant.  To add to this already triggering scene, Clint, Kurt and Prissy are cheering on Leslie to beat Bill into womanly submission and he does.  Bill agrees to wear dresses again and be called by the previously discarded birth name “Billie.”  To add insult to injury, there is a triple straight wedding ceremony between Kurt & Prissy, Billie & Leslie, and Clint & Mattie, the gorgeous family cook.  I was hoping the cook would be revealed as a biological male, but nope, she’s a woman.  Then the very last page made me wonder if the author was ultimately trying to show how straight people are just as “abnormal” and sex-hungry as queer people.  If that is what it’s supposed to mean, I say, too little too late! 

In conclusion… I won ABNORMALS ANONYMOUS through an overpriced eBay auction, and no, I won’t tell you the amount of my accidental winning bid.  Let’s just say it had been a long time since I actually had to compete at an auction and I thought the price was far lower as I clicked the button which adds a dollar to the current highest bid.  So the double moral for today is…

Be careful what you bid on, because you just might win it…and…don’t judge a book by its awesome cover! 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. click a pic ⤵️ to read about far superior Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction…

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My queer words are available from an Amazon near you…

booking freakboy: VILLA OF QUEENS by Alan Fair

Similar to how my Andy Milligan obsession has shoved me down a rabbit hole to the fringes of the fringes of cinema, my interest in Ed Wood’s literary career has gotten me addicted to Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction.  These often shocking, wildly inappropriate novels with spectacular titles have been an antidote to the general boredom of the mainstream “bestsellers” I experience through a monthly lunchtime book club.  VILLA OF QUEENS was one of those titles that caught my semi-good eye a couple of years ago, but was it worth the wait? 

I felt weak and unprotected facing this giant of manliness.

Glen Andrews a young queer man in his 20’s, is staying at a villa in Cannes with his Uncle Martin.  The young man was kicked out of his brother’s house after being caught in the middle of sexy time with a boyfriend.  Now, away from his homophobic brother, Glen is enjoying the sun and sand and the possibility of a new love in the firm form of Jason Wilding.  

Despite having soft, gentle eyes, Jason is surrounded with dark, lurid rumors of sex and murder.  His last lover David, a wild, snobbish and conceited young man whom Glen resembles, drowned even though he was an excellent swimmer or was he murdered?  This tragedy happened while Jason’s brother Phillip was staying with him.  Phillip now lives in Paris, but what do the other inhabitants of Jason’s château know?  Is Jason’s cook Anna as innocent as she seems?  Does Jason’s facially disfigured companion Paul, who looks after him and takes care of things around the château, know what really happened. 

Glen ignores the rumors and falls in love with Jason anyway.  Never mind that Jason fired a few shots at Glen when he trespassed on the château’s private beach.  Never mind Jason nearly ran over Glen when pulling his car around to give him and Martin a ride home.  Never mind a boulder nearly crushed Glen and Martin as they walked along the beach.  Never mind Martin’s villa was set on fire and Jason just happened to be there as they escaped.  Glen is either deeply in love with Jason or the sex is really that phenomenal to put up with multiple near death experiences. 

Our love poured out, both of us drinking the last dregs of romance that flowed through our trembling bodies.

Who is trying to kill Glen?  Does Glen’s resemblance to dead David have something to do with it?  Is his Uncle Martin also a target?  Does Martin know more than he is saying?  Is Jason behind it all or does he know who is?  What the hell is going on anyway?  

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! 

Paul is really Jason’s brother Phillip and he is behind the ghastly things that have been happening!  When Jason first brought David home, the young man and Phillip started having an affair.  Jason discovered the affair and kicked his brother out.  Phillip stayed with Martin and they began a relationship, but he couldn’t stop obsessing over David.  Eventually Jason allowed his brother to move back in and was even going to let Phillip and David run off together.  David laughed at this because he didn’t want a mental case as a boyfriend.  Phillip and David had a fight over this and Jason saw his brother carrying the young man’s unconscious body into the ocean to commit murder-suicide, so he hopped in a speedboat to rescue them.  He couldn’t find David (his body would later wash up on the beach) but he found Phillip when he accidentally hit him with the boat, disfiguring his brother’s face.  Phillip survived and was committed to a sanitarium.  Upon release, Jason allowed him to come back, but Phillip used the name Paul so no one but Jason and Martin would know it was him.
Now Paul/Phillip believes Glen is David resurrected and he is furious!  He believes his dead lover would rather be with Jason and Martin than with him.  Completely out of his mind, Paul/Phillip brutally beats and rapes Glen.  Then he fights with Jason and ultimately falls to his death down a marble staircase.  Martin is there, distraught over his injured nephew and the death of his former lover, but in Paul/Phillip’s final breath, he tells Martin that he’s sorry.  So I guess that makes everything a-ok because in the end, Martin has a new young boyfriend he met while remodeling his fire-ravaged villa and Jason and Glen are flying off on their honeymoon.  

Author Alan Fair paints these characters with broad strokes and keeps emotions at surface level, but it makes sense with this novel.  I mean, VILLA OF QUEENS was obviously not meant to be profoundly thought-provoking.  The story is a roller coaster ride awash in convoluted twists and lurid shocks, which is pretty much what I anticipated.  

There is one aspect that rather impressed me.  The characters in VILLA OF QUEENS are unapologetically queer.  There is no struggle with or shame over sexuality.  They are here, they are queer and the reader can rejoice in it!  I think this is remarkable for a book published in 1968, especially since it ends on a happy note.  

In conclusion…
While not quite as emotionally engrossing as DEATH OF A TRANSVESTITE or DESIRE IN THE SHADOWS, this sometimes tawdry tale of love, sex and death was worth the wait.  The crazy plot and openness of its characters kept me engaged, even as I smirked knowingly and lovingly rolled my half-blind eyes as my tablet read the torrid pages to me.  So, if you’re looking for a shockingly entertaining read away from the current literary mainstream, then VILLA OF QUEENS may be the book for you!  

SIDE NOTE: Much like other Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction I’ve reviewed, VILLA OF QUEENS is not readily available.  However, there are some titles available as reasonably priced ebooks, a few of which may or may not be waiting for me on my Kindle app bookshelf. 😁

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH
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A sanitarium…
A treacherous marble staircase… 
A convoluted plot with twists and turns…
Am I referring to VILLA OF QUEENS or DARK EXCURSIONS? 🤔 

You decide… 😉 

booking freakboy: SENATOR SWISH by Aaron Thomas

I said it was going to happen.  I found a (sort of) reasonably priced copy of SENATOR SWISH and used my tablet to read each tawdry, trashy page!

“You know what I’m like in bed, for God’s sake.  How can I be queer?” - Van Clayton 

Van Clayton is an attorney who is throwing his hat in a race to be Senator and hoping to marry Jennifer Parker, the love of his life.  However, Jennifer isn’t ready to give up her career as a fashion editor at a top magazine.  It’s 1968, so perhaps Jennifer has yet to hear how women can marry AND have a career.  Anyhoo, Jennifer’s jet-setting career in the fashion world is taking her away for an extended period, leaving Van alone.  Not for long though! 

During Jennifer’s absence, her brother Jeff arrives in town.  He has secretly quit college and taken a job as an instructor at a tennis school.  Jeff resembles Jennifer quite a bit, which intrigues Van.  Soon enough the tennis instructor is instructing the potential Senator in the art of man-on-man action!  Is Van simply transferring his passion for Jennifer to her brother or does he swish both ways?

Oh, but wait…there’s more! 

Things are going well between the two men until Van takes a trip to Washington D.C. to secure his bid to run for Senator.  There he meets Alex Marshall, “a professional party-crasher and a good-for-nothing polo player.”  Well, Alex wants to play more than polo with Van.  Even though a certain part of Van wants to play, he refuses Alex’s advances.  Then the refusal turns violent when Alex reveals he knows of Van’s tryst with Jeff.  Van punches Alex, who hits his head on the way down.  

Did Van kill Alex and what does Jeff know about this other man?  What will happen when Jennifer returns and why does Jeff have a tie clip with the initials “W.R.” on it?  I suppose since this book is out-of-print, I should just tell you the convoluted ending…

SPOILER ALERT 

Jeff is really a man named Wayne Richards, who is Alex Marshall’s “roommate”.  Together, Alex and Wayne devised this elaborate set-up to blackmail Van and because they both desired his manly physique or whatever.  Jennifer ultimately saves Van’s “manhood” by returning and convincing Van to call their bluff.  The blackmailers (Alex is alive) have trapped themselves because they could get arrested for engaging in homosexual activity, so they give up.

In the very end, Van meets the real Jeff and has to passionately kiss Jennifer in front of her brother.  Is he trying to prove something to himself or is the author simply making it very clear that Van is a “real man” again?  I suspect the latter, but I imagine Van will eventually have the real Jeff on the side because the possible future Senator  straight-up enjoyed gay sex! 

“Everyone has a little bit of that sort of thing in them.  Some never let it come out.  Some do.  When it happens, it happens.  That doesn’t mean it turns you into some kind of freak.” - Jennifer Parker 

In conclusion…
Unlike DESIRE IN THE SHADOWS, I didn’t feel a connection to SENATOR SWISH.  Oh, I enjoyed the convoluted plot.  I even laughably rolled my eyes at the old “effeminate homosexual villain” trope.  However, my disconnect may stem from broadly drawn characters and an extremely hetero-centric slant to the story.  On more than one occasion, instead of calling the character “Jeff” or “the young man”, the author simply referred to him as “the f—“.  I know it was 1968, but it was a bit jarring and makes me wonder where the author fell on the sexuality spectrum.  Anyhoo, despite its problematic overtones, SENATOR SWISH was an oversexed (straight & gay), trashy page-turner that I’m glad I experienced, though the alliterative title and the amusing tagline are probably the best parts of the book.  

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  Click the pic ⤵️ to learn about the book which started me down this rabbit hole of Vintage Gay Pulp Fiction…

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My books on Amazon… viewAuthor.at/JohnLHarmon 

Cornered View (a poem, of sorts)

Tell me how I feel 

After you tell me I shouldn’t 
Feel disappointment 
In the drop 
From 5 to 3 
Despite the coverage 
Layering eyes and ears 
Of place and time 
Time allegedly bad 
Never you mind 
This ain’t a ghost town 
From 9 to 5 

____________
2023, John L. Harmon 

(This poem, of sorts was inspired by the recent book signing event I blogged about last week.) 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 
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For more about STURGEONS… 
https://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2023/07/and-now-for-commercial-break-in.html

No time for blogging…

Shouldn’t he be reviewing another STAR WARS film right about now?  Where is a new poem, of sorts?  Why hasn’t he obsessively blogged about Andy Milligan lately? 

I hope these are the prevalent questions in your mind, but don’t freak out!  They will all happen, sooner or later.  I’ve just been busy lately.  I mean, STURGEONS (the complete serials) won’t plug itself.  Well, maybe it can with a few fantastic reader photos! 📗 😍

Feline Approved!

Then I have a book signing event approaching like a noose slowly tightening around my throat.  It’s more of a meet & greet situation where readers will approach me, grab a cookie and (hopefully) pick up an autographed copy of STURGEONS.  I’m not sure if anyone will turn up, but I hope so.  I mean, the article in the Custer County Chief should draw out a few curious folk or at least Ms. Minch! 

Kim, a groovy librarian, designed this awesome flyer!

Yes, I was interviewed for the local paper.   Managing Editor Mona Weatherly wrote a great article about STURGEONS, my vision loss and my writing in general.  The headline, Author fights to get back to writing ‘fun, quirky’ stories is newspaper perfection!  Here are the photos which appeared on a different page than the article.  The purple one is my Amazon Author Page pic and the orange one was taken by Mona.  She said I looked like a proud author, but I said I looked positively goofy, as usual.  

Courtesy Custer County Chief 

To top it all off, I no longer deliver bad news 🗞️ around town.  It was time for that part of my life to end and I definitely won’t miss it this winter. ❄️  My predicted post-Covid 19 career of peddling my wares at a truck stop never manifested, but I am getting wet at a local diner instead.  Yes, I am now a visually impaired dishwasher 🍽️ by day and a queer indie author ✏️ by night!  

I saw the sign!  Well, my sister saw it and told me about it.

Plus, thanks to Vinegar Syndrome and AGFA, I just started digging into the films of Jon Moritsugu.  From what I’ve experienced so far, his very DIY/experimental films are like Gregg Araki and David Lynch had an allegedly nihilistic, pseudo-intellectual punk rock baby.  In other words, this box set is going to take a bit and challenge me along the way. 

Well, until I blog about whether my book event is a pop 👍 or a flop 👎, thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words. 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S.  Here is the first review of STURGEONS on Goodreads…