Author Interview: LORI L. LAKE

Author Interview by A. J. Llewellyn

1. Hi Lori, welcome to the Dark Divas den! First of all I have to day how jealous I am that you got to do a book tour with Victor J. Banis…you even got to touch him. You…you hugged him! Was it as wonderful as it looked?

~Victor is a delightful man – full of love and light and humor. We had so much fun that night in Madison. I just wish we’d had more time. I’m hoping to meet up with him again at another event in the near future. From the moment we first “met” online, we hit it off. I’m not even sure why we clicked so readily, but perhaps it’s because he’s a kind soul who is open to anyone trying to flex creative muscles. I’ve had the honor of editing two of his projects, Come This Way and Angel Land, and he was a joy to work with.. That latter novel is brilliant. He *so* deserves awards for that. I hope he gets shortlisted for a Lammy.

2. I read and reviewed Angel Land and loved it. He is really amazing. Now back to you…your sixth book Snow Moon Rising is a consistent seller for you and has also won some significant awards: 2007 Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award Winner, the 2007 Golden Crown Literary Award Winner - Best General/Dramatic Fiction, the 2007 Alice B. Readers Award Winner, and the 2007 Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Award Winner. How do you top this?

~Good question. I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to top the experience of walking up to the podium in a giant banquet hall to receive the Ann Bannon Award from Ann Bannon herself! I am so very content about the accolades I’ve received. I feel very blessed.

3. Content? Man, I’d be delirious. Did you find support from other authors…or a lot of jealousy?

~I’ve found only support. I’ve always spent quite a bit of time serving as a resource for other writers and doing whatever I can to help writers network. Other authors seem to recognize that, and no one has ever begrudged me anything. People have seemed quite happy for me and celebrated with me like crazy.

4. That is heartening to hear! Lori, I really like your “Gun” books. Dez and Jaylynn are a dazzling duo and very believable characters. How much research did you in the area of police enforcement for this series?

~Thanks! I did a lot of research and continue to expand my knowledge base about all things related to police, firearms, and crime. For the “Gun” books, I had cop beta-readers. I spent a lot of time with women officers and went on several ride-alongs with both male and female cops. I’ve participated in a Citizen’s Police Academy and also worked hard to understand firearms and become a decent marksman. I even wrote an extensive, 3-part series for writers about guns at retired police officer Lee Lofland’s website:
Part I - Guns, Guns, Guns
Part II - Outfitting Your Sleuth(s)
Part III - Outfitting Your Crooks - and Yourself

5. What surprised you most about the ride-alongs? I ask this because I did one in San Matteo County, CA and was surprised this tiny force has five cops who are a bit like the blokes out of Mayberry. However these guys deal with consistent cases of robbery, shootings…stuff I wouldn’t associate with small town life. I was also surprised in one day we dealt with three different guys recently released from prison who were out doing stupid stuff again.
What about you? How was your experience?

~I’ve ridden along with cops from the big city (Saint Paul, MN and Ann Arbor, MI) and also with a woman officer in a Minnesota town of 20,000 which had only about two dozen officers. For a couple of years I also updated the website for the Minnesota Association of Women Police, so I was able to tap a lot of information there. I think what surprised me the most about every ride-along was the level of professionalism and knowledge that the officers possessed.
Each had his or her own personality, but they really knew their jobs, the area, and a lot of the people we ran into. Cops practice a lot more restraint than anyone ever gives them credit for. After my experiences with them on traffic stops and in highly charged confrontations, I really respect the fact that there are, statistically, not very many shootings by police after all. They get into some highly stressful circumstances with tense and fearful people, many of whom lack brains, and they defuse those situations with real skill. I don’t think people realize how hard a police officer’s job can be.

6. Absolutely! Can we look forward to more books coming out in the "Gun" series?

~Yes, I hope so. I have an entire contemporary mystery series in mind for Dez to investigate. I’ve got about 9,000 words written on a 4th as-yet-unnamed "Gun" book. I just have to get back to it and focus.

7. I know you have some stories in two upcoming anthologies…can you tell us a little about these and what else are you cooking up there in Minneapolis?

~The amazing Earl Kemp, who first published all those pulp novels in the early days of gay fiction, posted a memoir piece I wrote (http://efanzines.com/EK/eI42/#reason) at his e-zine. And I also have a short story called Den of Iniquity coming out in a print publication from Nodin Press. I just got word about that recently, so I’m not sure about the details yet or the name of the anthology. But a bunch of Minnesota crime fiction writers will be featured.

Also, I’m teaching some classes here pretty quick:
Novel Writing from Start to Finish
True Colors Bookstore (formerly Amazon Feminist Books)
Thursdays - 8 Meetings: 6-8:00PM
April 9 - May 28

Novel Writing from Start to Finish
The Loft Literary Center
Wednesdays - 8 Meetings: 6-8:00PM
June 17 - Aug 12 (no class July 1)

Writing "Queer" Fiction
The Loft Literary Center
Saturdays - 6 Meetings: 1PM-4PM
July 11 - Aug 15

I love to teach! And I welcome anyone who can get to the Twin Cities area.

7. You have some famous kin. You are fifth cousins of Orville and Wilbur Wright, but is it true you hate to fly?

~Oh, yeah. It’s so incredibly uncomfortable and claustrophobic. I hate those lousy tin cans. The train is more comfortable. When I flew in January, the man ahead of me put his seat back, and I’m not kidding when I say I could have licked the bald spot on the top of his head. Flying is just awful.

8. That has happened to me…it’s icky…although I kinda get a kick out of you licking the guy’s head…ahem…I read a beautiful quote on your website: "That's what makes [writing] so painful. Eventually at some point you're cornered and you have to deal with all of those monsters you've awakened. So I always feel like with every book, I come out different on the other side. Of course, that's also how you make sausage, so you can draw your own conclusions." ~Libba Bray, American Young Adult author of Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing, and A Great and Terrible Beauty.
It is so strange – well maybe not that strange – that I read this quote on a day when I had two books being released the same day and I felt as if pieces of my soul left me.
Do you ever feel this way about your work?

~Yes, I have. Not only do many writers deal with the monsters they awaken, but also we eventually must let go of the work and allow the rest of the world see it – even if we aren’t as ready as we’d like. I remember when I was working on edits and revisions for Snow Moon Rising, and my mom was dying. I’d flown out to Oregon twice in early 2006 to care for her, and then when I was working madly on the final revisions, she fell ill again. She died in September ’06, and the night before I flew off to her funeral, I stayed up until 4AM proofing the final version of the novel before it went to the printer. To this day, I still think I could have created a tighter, better book, but I didn’t have the time or the energy.


9. I am so sorry for your loss. I am really awed that you managed to turn your book out. Don’t you think though, seriously, we could go back and do ‘fixes’ on every book we write?

Every book poses problems, whether it’s with the actual story or with the living of our personal lives. They never turn out perfect. I’ve been lucky and have had the opportunity to do second editions on Ricochet in Time, Gun Shy, and Under The Gub, and while I wasn’t able to do full-scale edits, I did clean up typos and some awkward phrasing. Congratulations on your two books on one day – I hope you’ve recovered! By the way, you have a terrific website. I was so impressed with all the color and photos. You get around, too!

10. Lori, thank you. No wonder Victor loves you. May I ask a personal question? You recently ended a long relationship after 27 years, according to your website. First of all, may I say how sorry I am and secondly can I ask if this huge change in your life has impacted your writing?

~Thank you for your kind comment, AJ. I was in a committed, secure relationship for so long that this change really threw me for a loop in every way. I haven’t been able to write since before Thanksgiving. I haven’t been able to read either. Until just recently I’ve been so busy dealing with relocating and settling in and trying to get accustomed to a new home, a new town, a new everything that I’ve had no energy for anything else but grief. But I managed to get my office organized last weekend so that I can find things, and after four months I’m feeling like I’m bouncing back. So I’m finally managing to focus on reading and writing again.

11. Good for you, Lori. It is an achievement…believe me, I know. So, can you tell me a little about your writing routine – when you are in the groove?

~I’ve never had a very reliable routine. I’ve always had a lot of activities to squeeze in, including those that bring in revenue. Unfortunately, writing royalties are never enough to live on, so I have many other ways to earn my coin of the realm. When I’m immersed in a first draft, I tend to get up in the morning, work as long as I can, and try to plow through the whole book in three to four months. But once that draft is written, the subsequent revisions and edits I always have to squeeze in between a lot of other things: teaching, editing, working various part-time jobs and projects, taking care of my partner and the house, etc. Now that I’m single, I’m hoping to do a much better job with a regular routine.


12. Every writer I know hates edits. Are you one of them? (laughing)

~No, I don’t really *hate* editing . . . it just takes so long! And at that point, all the joy of discovery is gone from the process because the first draft is plotted and the story is pretty much told so it’s not as much fun. I’ve gotten a lot better about both editing and revising. I’ve learned quite a bit, and that has helped me be able to accept suggestions and edit advice. It’s an uncomfortable and hard process, but so very necessary. I always tell my students that if you aren’t prepared to grow a thick skin and take in diverse opinions on your work, you shouldn’t publish. It’s a long, hard process to go through, and you have to be able to assimilate quite a bit of information and parse out what’s useful and what isn’t.

13. Quick, I just made you Ruler of the World for 10 minutes. What do you do with your time?

~Only ten minutes? Hmm… I’m afraid that anything I’d do in those 600 seconds would be very quickly reversed after my ruling time ran out. I can’t lie though – maybe what I’d do is make sure my next several books would sell!


What a fantastic answer, Lori. On behalf of Dark Diva Reviews, I’d like to thank Lori L. Lake for stopping by today. I could ask Lori questions all day. To learn more about this talented author, please visit her links:

Author Website: http://www.lorillake.com/

Teaching Website: http://www.lorillake.com/loft/

Conference Where Lori Will Lead Workshops this Summer: http://www.goldencrown.org/site/index.php/conference-conference/schedule

Articles Lori has Written: http://www.lorillake.com/articles.html

Publishing Leads for Aspiring Writers: http://www.lorillake.com/glbt_pub.html

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: RICK R. REED

A Visit with Horror Master Rick R. Reed Part Two
Author Interview by A.J. Llewellyn

1. I just ran your name through Who Would Be Your Celebrity Cell Mate and Guess Who you got?



Yep, it’s Pee Wee Herman!!! In one paragraph, please tell me what you would do if Pee Wee begged you to let him suck your toes behind bars.

I love Pee Wee Herman. His show was some of the best TV in forever. I would happily let him suck anything he wanted and would even reciprocate. Anyone as creative and funny as he is would be fun to suck toes with.

2. Geez Rick, that one didn’t even phase you! Lemme just sit in the corner quietly like a good boy while I think up something naughty to ask you and in the meantime…please, do a little shameless self promotion. Give us an excerpt of Dead End Street. BTW, please tell me that house is not real. It is a total creep fest. Where did your cover artist find it?

You’d have to ask the cover artist (Trace Edward Zaber). But isn’t it a great house? It completely lived up to what I imagined. I’m sure it’s a real house somewhere.

Here’s an excerpt from Dead End Street, which is now available from Amazon and directly from the publisher:

Even if all the horrible things that had happened there had never occurred, the house would still look scary. There were solid things one could point to and say: "that's what makes this house look forbidding:" things like the dirty white paint, most of which had cracked and fallen away, revealing the gray and rotting wood beneath.

The windows were empty eye sockets, glimpsing the darkness within, the glass panes long ago succumbing to the wiles of vandals. Pine and Maple trees grew riotously around the house, closing in on it. The steps leading up to the front porch sagged and looked as if the slightest pressure would send them crumbling.

The house's placement, where the woods met the end of Acton Road, gave it a feeling of separateness. Almost as if the house were waiting, there at the entrance to the woods, to suck in the innocent, to make them disappear into its darkness.

Not many people went near the house on Acton Road. Most, in the Ohio River town of Summitville, Pennsylvania, had forgotten what had occurred in the house fifteen years ago. The murders had caused a sensation at the time, but the crimes faded into obscurity, much as the house, once neatly kept and inhabited, faded into rot and disrepair.
***
Not everyone in Summitville had forgotten the house. Over the years, groups of teenagers had tested their mettle by entering the house, searching for bloody handprints on the walls or the chalk outline of a body. There were always one or two who were brave enough—or foolhardy enough—to wander inside, to test the creaking floorboards. These brave souls would often run outside, screaming and laughing, and report back to those less brave, outside and waiting in the shadows, that they had heard a voice telling them to get out, or that they saw a shadow pass along a wall, or simply felt a presence there, watching.

Peter, Marlene, David, Roy and Erin had more of a mission than to merely cross the threshold of the house to see what was inside. The group of five, all eighth graders at East Junior High School, had known each other since they were just little kids, having grown up in the same neighborhood on the hillside not far from the infamous Tuttle house. They too had heard the stories of weird lights flickering on and off in a house that had long ago seen the exit of electricity, or the tales of people who had gone inside, only never to return.

3.That’s a scary little tale, honey! Which leads me to my next question…do you spook yourself writing the stuff you come up with?

Not really. I’m too much like the magician: I’m way too aware of what goes into the trick. But I can make myself laugh and especially cry with certain other parts of my writing.

4. Who is the best, creepy-good horror villain: Jame Gumb, Jigsaw or Chucky and why?

Jaime Gumb…from Silence of the Lambs. He’s scariest because he’s the most real.

5. How do you keep up that relentless pressure in your stories? I mean, it’s difficult to breathe reading them…is it the same when you’re writing it? How do you manage to crank up the heat that way? This leads me to ask, do you do a lot of revision or are you a one-shot guy?

As I said above, that kind of stuff is like a magician’s bag of tricks. If you think I’m gonna sit here and give away my secrets, think again, sweetheart. I do a lot of revising as I write, then again, when the work is finished. But I am not someone who writes the same book over and over again. I think a lot of the organization, plotting, and so on goes on inside my head…or comes from instinct, which I’ve learned very much to trust.

6. I am curious about your writing routine…do you plan things out or are you a panster?

I’m not sure what a panster is. Does it have something to do with Pan, of myth? Then yes, maybe. I plot things out in a very general way. My characters usually end up changing everything, which will make sense to other writers who are reading this. Those who don’t write will likely scratch their heads.

7. I have asked you before about your problem with happy endings. I know you swear you don’t have one but I need to disagree. I just finished reading Riding the El…so I know of whence I speak, my friend. My real question here is about Orientation. A book I loved and not to spoil things for those who haven’t read it, but might we be seeing a sequel some time soon in which Robert finds true love? I’m worried about him…I know he’s fictional…but you know…he’s nice.

Well, many of my stories do have happy endings; that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

AJ: [Laughs himself silly] No, no, go on. I’m listening.

I don’t know if I’ll ever write a sequel to Orientation. I never envisioned it as a series. But we never know where inspiration might lead us… I encourage you to think up your own happy ending for Robert (or to decide if he actually found it…with Jess, his young lesbian friend).

AJ: How can they? She found a potential love interest at the end…with someone else, although I must say I would have been thrilled if she and Robert got together at the end. I’m a hopeless romantic, Rick.
How can they have a happy ending? Well, I think love comes in all forms, shapes and sizes and maybe the most fulfilling love isn’t necessarily one rooted in sexuality.


8. It is for me…maybe I’m not very well adjusted, lol…You recently wrote a very controversial blog about women writing M/M fiction. I know a lot of people had comments but in my opinion you seemed to weight on the side of being against it. How do you feel about that blog now and did you hesitate before posting it?

I don’t think I came down against it at all. My thoughts were that if someone can write a good story, the human elements that link us all are all that’s needed to make it convincing, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. My blog about was just speaking to my curiosity about this trend of straight women writing about male-to-male relationships.

Questioning something doesn’t necessarily equate to being against it. I have written books from a woman’s point of view, a lesbian’s point of view, and beyond, and think I succeeded because I concentrated more on the human bonds that bring us all together, rather than what separates us.

No, I didn’t hesitate before posting it. If I can provoke some thought or emotion with my writing, then I’m doing my job.

9. You provocateur, you! I am not sure if you read my interview with Victor J. Banis, but he said some very interesting things on the subject. I was intrigued when he said that Brokeback Mountain moved him to tears and that a man could never have written it. How do you feel about that?

Victor is a man I consider a friend and I admire him very much. I don’t know that I agree that a man could NEVER have written Brokeback Mountain, although I can understand how someone might posit that a man would never have the sensitivity to write a story like that. But I think some men do have the awareness and sensitivity to write a comparable tale, just as I think some women would not.

10.Do you really think Proposition 8 will get the chop in California?

I hope not. It will be a sad day for a country that prides itself supposedly on freedom and equality if it does.

11.What was your favorite TV show growing up?

That’s easy and probably not too surprising: Dark Shadows. I was crazy about it. I lived between Pittsburgh, PA and Youngstown, OH and could get TV stations from both areas, which allowed me to watch it twice a day every day. I had a DS scrapbook and my bedroom was covered with posters of people like Barnabas, Quentin, and Angelique.

12. Since it's Halloween week, I have to ask, who is the sexiest to you: Elvira, Yvonne de Carlo or Jocelyn Wildenstein and why?

They’re all women. And I don’t even know who the last one is.

AJ: She’s the woman who’s had plastic surgery to make her look like a cat.

I suppose I would say Yvonne DeCarlo, if pressed (in the right place).

13.What is the funniest sex scene you ever wrote? Please give us a snippet.

Okay. Here goes:
Her fucking nails were bitten to the cuticle. She could barely swallow. Her eyes wouldn’t stay still. She was ready to scream. One more cold shower and her nipples would burst.

Christ, she needed it! And needed it bad!

All week long all Amelia could think of was sex. Commercials on TV reminded her of it. Her cat, Sprinkles, cleaning herself brought on thoughts of oral ecstasy. Her mother, Helen, grating cheese filled the kitchen with the aroma of sex. Amelia could not imagine why. A shaken bottle of Pepsi overflowing practically caused an orgasm with its suggestiveness of the male climax.

But Helen…damn her! wouldn’t give her a moment’s peace. Mother was having her bedroom painted (pewter gray with maroon trim) and was “bunking” with her daughter. The paint job had lasted longer than anticipated and Amelia needed her privacy.

Needed it desperately.

Now, as Helen left to do some grocery shopping, Amelia was practically shaking with her need. She went to the kitchen, got a bottle of Pepsi and poured its contents down the drain. She held the bottle high. “My darling,” she said, “I love you. Take me…now.”

Amelia hurried into the bedroom, dropping clothes as she went. Flinging herself dramatically on the bed, she lay back, legs spread, bent at the knees. She was already so wet she feared leaving a puddle on the chenille bedspread.

Hugging the Pepsi bottle and then kissing it, she whispered, “Make love to me.” She stuck her tongue in the opening at the top of the bottle and thrust it in and out. She lay the bottle tenderly beside her and took time to run her hands over her naked body, stopping to knead her breasts, twist her tortured nipples until she was sure they would be ripped from her body.

She arched her back with the pleasure of it all, moaning and crying out, “The pause that refreshes.” She flipped over on her stomach and with one hand, squished her pendulous breasts together, wishing they were filled with milk so she could pop them like two red-nosed pimples. With her other hand, she reached back and caressed her buttocks. She slapped her ass, pinched it and inserted her finger deep inside, wiggling it around, deeper and deeper until she felt a soft bowel movement, high up and waiting to emerge. The smell almost made her gag.

At last, she lifted the Pepsi bottle and traced an outline down her body with it. When she reached her sex, she paused for a moment, sexual tension humming in the air like an electric current, then plunged the Pepsi bottle deep inside her. She encountered no resistance, having been wet for days. In fact, the bottle went in all the way and slid immediately from Amelia’s grasp.

She tensed, hearing the door open. “Amelia?” Helen called. “For Christ’s sake, what are your clothes doing all over the living room?”

Amelia reached deep inside her love canal…and felt nothing. The bottle was gone. “And I didn’t even come!” Amelia moaned, frustrated.

Helen poked her head in the door, grinning. “Whaaaat?”

14.If you could be Britney Spears for one hour, what would you do?

Fuck Kevin Federline.

15.ROFL! What books are you working on now and what is coming out soon?

I am working on a new novel that gets back to my gay horror roots: it combines leather, a ghost, a horrific murder, and the redemptive power of love. In the next couple of months, I will have a couple short ebooks coming out from Amber Allure, the GLBT division of Amber Quill Press: VGL Male Seeks Same and Through the Closet Door.

On behalf of the Dark Diva Reviews, I’d like to thank RICK R. REED for coming by again and talking about Halloween which for me will never be the same again! Please check out Rick’s Purchase links:

Dead End Street
e-book: http://amberquill.com/DeadEndStreet.html
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/Dead-End-Street-Rick-Reed/dp/1602729174/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224538461&sr=8-3

How I Became Sexually Irresistible
e-book: http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/SexuallyIrresistible.html

Fugue:
e-book: http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fugue.html

Orientation:
e-book: http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Orientation.html
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/Orientation-Rick-R-Reed/dp/1602729379/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224538643&sr=1-4

Author Interview: VICTOR J. BANIS

Victor J. Banis is a Writer: Author Interview By AJ Llewellyn

Part 1

Hi Victor…I so badly want to say Mr. Banis…ahem…anyway, it is such an honor to have you here and you are such an icon to gay writers everywhere that I almost don’t know where to begin with you. You are a living legend and a pioneer of the gay rights movement. I know this embarrasses you, but all writers drool and snivel in your presence so maybe you’re used to an interviewer just gushing over you? Do you need a towel, by the way? You look a little damp already…I’ll try to keep the gushing to a slow drip…
I am so thrilled you were willing to come by and chat with the Divas. Or, me being a man, does that make me a Divo??? But I digress. Thank you again…er…did I say that already?

Thank you, actually, and may I say, I have all my life been the ultimate groupie when it comes to writers. In the course of my life I've mingled with many of the rich and famous, actors, rock stars, athletes, all kinds, and with the rarest exception, none of them greatly excited me – but, put me in a room with a writer and I'm like a kid at Christmas. It's such a magic thing we do, isn't it, even more so than any of the other arts.

Oh, yes, by the way, Divo, though that isn't much used except, I guess, in opera. And thanks for the towel.

1. (Laughing) You were a very controversial figure at the beginning of the ‘gay’ movement if I may call it that in the early 1960s. After Sanford Aday and Wallace de Ortega Maxey were sentenced to 25 years in prison for publishing a series of gay themed paperbacks, in 1964, you were indicted on Federal charges of conspiracy to distribute obscene material. This material was in fact your novel The Affairs of Gloria (Brandon House). There are a couple of mild lesbian sex scenes and one fairly tame word, damn in this book. What exactly led to such extreme charges?

In retrospect, the silly thing (okay, it was not at all amusing at the time) is I was mostly there to drive up the tab for the publisher. Milt Luros, the publisher of The Affairs of Gloria, was one of those publishers of sexy magazines and paperback books that the Federal authorities had decided they wanted to put out of business. To do this, they brought endless indictments against him, all around the country, mostly places like Sioux City where our trial was held and where they thought, reasonably enough, their chances of a conviction were greater. (Poor Gloria had never been seen there up till the day of our trial. Neither she nor I would have willingly set foot in the town).
Of course, the Federales always hoped they could get Milt sent off to prison, which never happened, but failing that, they thought they could run him out of business just by making it too expensive to defend all these actions; and, toward this latter end, they dragged in as many defendants as possible. In our case, there were eleven of us, far from California homes for months, and Milt had no choice but to pick up the tab for everyone, and the expensive attorneys. It cost him a pretty penny, and this was only one of three trials simmering at about the same time.

I don't recall, however, that Milt, who was a true gentleman, ever complained.
There wasn't much to choose from in Sioux City at the time, but we all stayed at the same Holiday Inn, ate and drank what we chose, flew back and forth when he did, all on his tab. If it hadn't been for the ten years in prison hanging over my head, and the dreary location, it might almost have been a swell vacation. But, let me say, if I became a hero as a result of this, it was quite accidentally; I'm a devout coward. At our first court appearance, we were each of us asked by the judge how we pled (not guilty, of course). Afterward, one of my codefendants said, "Gosh, you acted really scared in there, Victor." News flash, Richard, that was no act.

2. I believe you were acquitted of the charges, but is it true the government continued to harass you? Weren’t they opening your mail? Did you feel like you were being followed? Did you continue at this time to write your gay themed novels in spite of the pressure?

Yes, to all. Big Brother was not the least bit subtle in letting me know he was peeking over my shoulder at all times. Golly, if I had only once met a man as hot after me as those guys. Anyway, I traveled to Europe for several months, to investigate the possibility of moving there if need be. I was offered sanctuary in Portugal, but that was a dictatorship at the time and I didn't think I'd feel comfortable living with that; however, I was offered sanctuary in Switzerland as well, and that suited me better.

I rather supposed that at some time, having let me once slip off the hook, the Feds would try again, and I had no interest in spending a decade in prison for exercising what I thought were my freedom of speech rights. There's a reason why the founding fathers put that freedom right up at the top, and that's because without that, without the right to hold and express a contradictory opinion, the rest is meaningless. So, when I returned to the states, I lived for years with a shoebox full of money, in case I had to skip out in a hurry, and a false passport.

3. Did you really?

Yes, absolutely, as Beven Cleo Glover, doesn't that sound glamorous? And, in answer to the last part, yes, again, all this only made me more committed to writing gay fiction. What is it about me, about us, I asked myself, that scares them so? Whatever it was, I definitely wanted to cultivate it.

4. Please tell me about your first gay novel, The Why Not? Weren’t you nervous sending this out after what happened to Aday and Maxey? Did your friends and family support this…subversive behavior?

No, frankly, by this time I was too pissed to be scared, but I have often lacked good sense. Besides, I had that false passport at hand, and Beven Cleo Glover was ready to fly away at any moment. As for my friends, yes, they were supportive. I wasn't really out to my family. Everyone clearly knew about me, but it was never discussed. Later in my life, I felt sad that so much of my life was unknown to my family and unshared with them. I doubt if any of them have ever read The Why Not. My older brother (who has read Longhorns, and Spine Intact, at least) and I have talked about this great gap in our relationship, something he too regrets. But, things were different then.

5. I read an interview with you once where you described your editor Earl Kemp of Greenleaf Books as ‘resolutely heterosexual’ so he must not only have seen your enormous talent, but so obviously not the type to fear intimidation. What was your relationship like with him?

Earl was a dream to work with and still is, occasionally today I write for his online zine, el. To be honest, anytime he emails and asks can I do a piece for him, I drop everything else. I figure I owe the man big time; and, frankly, in my opinion, so does every writer of gay fiction. But, I was lucky to fall into his lap when I did, so to speak.

He tells of the first visit my then partner and I made to his offices in San Diego, and he had arranged all kinds of signals to give the staff in the office if he needed rescuing. But, we hit it off beautifully, and immediately became great friends, and remain so still. He also tells of receiving the manuscript for The Why Not.
They had a fabulous first reader on whom they depended without question; and the reader hadn't gotten halfway through my manuscript before he violated all protocol and took it directly to Earl, who was the chief editor, and said, "You need to read this." Earl did not even finish reading, but sent a contract immediately. We've shared a lot of laughs over the forty years since. But to answer more directly, yes, he was/is heterosexual, and he was not in the least intimidated because he was doing what he believed was right. And, by the way, Earl was one of those who paid his dues, too: he went to prison for doing what he believed in. He has always been one of my heroes.

6. Despite the success of The Why Not, you’ve dismissed it as ‘the sad young men of gay writing’ that it was somehow dishonest because being gay back in the 60s was difficult. And yet, it was an important book. It DID break down barriers. All these years later, how do you really feel about the book?

I do think it adhered too closely to the style of gay fiction that had gone before (I had no other models to go by at the time), insofar as there was way too much doom and gloom, and by the time the book was published, I was a gay activist, ranting and raving in the streets and wherever else I could get away with it. My objection to this school of writing was that, while, yes, it could be difficult, often tragic, to live gay in the era before gay liberation, it wasn't all that bleak. We had fun, we partied and fell in love and did the deed (some of with shocking frequency, but I of course remained chaste), all kinds of great things.
I have friends still from that era, I'm happy to say, and until you experience, it is impossible to imagine what that kind of longevity, 50 years or so, adds to a friendship; it's like aging a great bottle of Bordeaux, what starts out a bit rough mellows into something of incredible nuance and complexity. But life in those early years was a make or break kind of thing for many people.

It either made you stronger, or it crushed you. When people think of strong men, they like to picture the Rambo type, but believe me, those guys are wienies compared to the gay men who grew up in the fifties. That was tough. Oh, and drag queens, those girls have always had to kick ass.


7. Your next book was the polar opposite, the gay spy spoof The Man From C.A.M.P. What was the public reaction to the book and your hero, Jackie Holmes, who of course is truly a part of gay literary history. Please tell me about the genesis of Jackie and would James Bond ever…you know…have a little fling with him, do you think?

It will probably surprise you, but I really don't remember how I happened to come up with that idea (unlike with The Why Not, which was really a bar, The Castaways, that a bunch of us hung out at, and most of the vignettes in that book are only loosely fictionalized from actual events of the time) But, Jackie Holmes? I only recall that I wanted to write something different, with an out and proud gay man, something fun and happy.
I think poor Earl must have swooned when he read it, it was so different from anything that had been done. What's really funny, by the way, is if you look at the original cover (it's in Wikipedia), that's pretty much what I looked like, white poodle and all .

8. I have seen it. Sort of fuels some fantasies of mine. Geez…did I say that? Ahem. Please. Don’t mind me. I’ll try and keep the groveling to a minimum.

Although the artist, the great illustrator Robert Bonfils, hadn't met me at the time. He did confess, though, that he got descriptions from others. Earl played cagey when I asked him about that. And, the book sold like the proverbial hotcakes, gay men took to it with gusto. Of the nine books I wrote in the series, all of them sold in the six figures. Imagine that for a gay paperback novel today, when 5,000 copies is a best seller. So, I am indebted big time to Jackie as well. I have always seen these as his stories, and I was honored that he shared them with me. James Bond? Well, Jackie always got his man in the end, or vice versa.

9. Why hasn’t anyone made a movie about Jackie and who could you see playing him?

Actually, I was approached in the late 60s by someone who wanted to produce a movie, starring yours truly.

10. Did you say that just to make me happy?

No, gospel truth, and he was as cute as a bug's ear, too, but he was never able to come up with the funding. And – here's a big scoop for you, luv, because until now I have shared this with no one – I recently signed an option with a Hollywood producer for a movie. Not to get too excited, at this point, it's all just exploratory, but maybe…Who to play Jackie? To be honest, I don't have a single notion, I'm not really up on the young generation of actors, but I have insisted on a cameo. I'll have that movie career yet, wait and see. The point is, we didn't need voices then, we had faces…oh, wait, that's a different part.

11. How hard do you think it will be to cast Sophie, his killer poodle?

Now that would be the tricky part. Of course, with today's technology, they can do all kinds of things. Any well trained poodle could do it, I suppose, and the techs could slip in the killer teeth. Or, they could hire Britney.

12. I read on Rick R. Reed’s blog recently that a publisher approached you (in fact you verified this atrocity on the blog) and asked you to submit a story to an anthology and demanded that you write it using a woman’s name! WTF? I mean, not meaning to gush again here Victor, but this is I guess, a two-pronged question. Why ask the literary icon Victor J. Banis to submit a story under anybody else’s name? Second question of course is, in your long history, has this happened to you before? Is it common? Er…maybe there’s a third question here. Did you do it?

Well, first, that was a fairly common thing in the past – I mean, I wrote under dozens of different pen names. Men wrote as women and women as men (early gay writer Vin Packer was Marijane Meaker) For years, I wrote women's romance/mysteries as Jan Alexander, and I can say, Jan was very popular, and no one ever suspected she was a he. Why now? This editor had just launched a new line of M/M fiction, and I think he's worked hard at convincing book stores to stock it with romance, which of course means increased sales, and I think he thought the books would do better with female bylines. So, he did not in fact demand that I do that, he just invited me to submit a novel to the line, but with the proviso that I would have to use a female name. And, no, I didn't.
I've worked hard the last few years to get those old works reissued with my own name on them, and if my name is a poor thing, it is at least my own. I really just have no desire to go back to hiding behind a nom de plume – though I don't fault anyone else for doing so. Writers do what they have to do. Here's the ridiculous thing about this, though – the same publisher had done very well with a gay novel published by Victor J. Banis. You'd think they would want to follow up on that, wouldn't you? There's not a lot of good sense in the publishing world today.

Stay Tuned For PART TWO tomorrow!

In the meantime, to learn more about Victor J. Banis, please check out these links:
http:www/vjbanis.com