Posts tagged gay literature

I like to read. I read anything that grabs my interest. For a while, especially short after I came out, I was very interested in gay fiction, thirst for things I can relate to, like many gay guys did before they became jaded.

I started to notice one thing: very few books have minority protagonists. 

Being Asian myself, I searched for gay books with Asian protagonists. I found two:”Crystal Boys” and “Confessions of a Mask.” “Crystal Boys” was about gay boys in Taiwan in the 70’s. It had me laugh and had me cry; I loved it. “Confessions of a Mask,” by Mishima, made me cringe and bored me to tears. Both settings are so remote I can’t relate to the main characters, who, while having their own challenges, don’t deal with the issues faced by a gay Asian in modern day America: 

• Alec Mapa had a show called “No Fats Femmes or Asians.” It’s funny because it’s true. Just check craigslist.
• One gay book I read (I forgot the title now) had this description for a bar: No one attractive here, only old people and Asians.
• I personally saw how race plays a role in the dating lives of myself and my friends. 

Of course, I think people’ll be bored to death if I only write about racial issues in the gay world. I had a story in mind. Everyone at least for one time had wanted their ex back. So that’s the main plot. A fantasy. 

Then following the rule of “writing what you know,” I chose the setting of Boston, a city I spent almost five years in, and toss in a little of what I know in math and video games to create more realism and humor (I hope). 

Fellow Travelers

By Thomas Mallon

The author dropped the names of so many senators and congressmen that had faded into obscurity, often had me type into Wikipedia. Later on, when I realized many of those “historical” characters don’t really play that big of or role or I don’t care about them, I stopped my look ups. Despite all that, I find the book surprisingly engaging; I can’t stop reading it. The prose is enviably elegant, the setting fully realized, and the story very sad.