 Although
Ken Newman is "retiring" from writing reviews for awhile, it is all to
a good cause. He's going to be writing... In this Issue, Ken reviews Blake Fraina's inter-related book of novellas, King of Cats, and also turns his attention to a writing pair: Scott and Scott, who have launched a company and a concept known as Romentics and Spare Parts... |
 King
of Catsby Blake Fraina ISBN: 0595307566 Paperback, 252 pages, $16.95 iUniverse, 2004 From the book’s back cover: “What makes a person fascinating? Is it what they hide or what they reveal? Is it who they are or who they appear to be? “A struggling filmmaker believes he recognizes the face of a man in an old painting and becomes obsessed with finding him. On the cusp of his band’s success, a closeted guitarist walks out on his longtime male lover to live with a woman he hardly knows. After spending one fateful night in bed together, two youthful musicians enter into a bitter and emotionally devastating power struggle for control over their band and one another. And eight years later, tragedy forces both men to confront the inescapable and bitter legacy of their fathers’ influence. “Peopled with vivid characters and told in sharp dialogue, the five stories that comprise King of the Cats tell the provocative, sometimes heartbreaking story of luminous, enigmatic rock star Jimmy ‘Strange’ Lyons. Weaving back and forth through time, from a tenement in Alphabet City to a luxury co-op overlooking Central Park to a semi-detached in North London, Jimmy’s life unfolds like a mystery, gradually revealing his secrets and exposing the vast gulf that often lies between what appears to be and what is.” As the above description states, the five novellas of this book reveal the life of the primary character, Jimmy Lyons. “Jimmy Strange” is his stage name. The story contains a tremendous amount of game playing, manipulation, and posturing by well-developed characters who have either suffered serious physical, sexual, and/or emotional trauma, or are sociopathic. The undercurrent for four of the novellas is sustained by a child-like sociopath named Elliot Carpenter. There is a romance among the novellas that is finally given life, but it seems to be a minor subplot. The primary plot seems to be that all of the primary characters carry such emotional baggage, that none are able to find any real happiness. Another plot is that personal secrets can carry power. A revealed secret can cause a loss of control, and the discovery of it can gain control. I seem to be reading a lot of books lately without happy endings. This book can be quite unsettling, and also does not have a happy ending, depending on where you choose to define the ending. However, it does reveal a great deal about the human psyche, and in this, the author is a master. As Fraina hints in his back-cover synopsis, and in his preface, he challenges the reader to discover that a person is defined by what we will never know about them. These secrets, he states, are what make our characters “interesting.” He illustrates this point quite well, for anyone with enough fortitude and grace to venture there. This is an unusual book, with a genuine heart, and is thought provoking. The novellas are arranged with the fourth being the most recent, and the others are in reverse-chronological order. This may be the order in which they were written, and in this fashion, they do increasingly reveal more about the primary character. However, as the story unfolds, the order of the novellas can make the story telling a bit awkward. It will be up to the reader to decide whether they will agree with this observation. That said, it must also be told that this is a very well written book. Fraina’s ability to tell a story using dialogue is extremely good. Because Fraina is British, there is a liberal use of British colloquialisms, that only serve to endear the reader. His yarn-spinning is quite artful, and the reading is enjoyable, while the subject matter can be very disturbing at times. The first novella tells of a filmmaker, Samson Clark, who becomes obsessed with a self-portrait of Balthazar Klossowski and his cat, entitled The King of the Cats. (It’s a real painting, and Fraina describes it well.) Samson also becomes obsessed with the young looking sociopath, Elliot Carpenter. The primary character, Jimmy Lyons, is introduced in the last two pages. The second novella takes place about a year and a half earlier, and involves the development of the success of the band that Jimmy Lyons has joined. The third novella occurs about six years before that, and tells of the meeting and development of the relationship, between Jimmy and Adam, the torrid love story of this book. The fourth novella, as I stated previously, occurs chronologically last, about a year after the first novella. This story involves the full development of the romance between Jimmy and Adam, and has a tragic ending. We’re not told if the tragedy destroys the romance, but I want to think that it survives. In any case, the romance takes a back seat to the tragedy. The last novella, begins about eight years before novella three, with Jimmy Lyons at thirteen years of age. It tells of his abuse at the hands of his older cousin, his father, and other people who use him. It explains a great deal about why Jimmy is the defensive person he is. All told, the five novellas span a period of about sixteen years and a great deal of human nature is woven throughout. The bottom line: I heartily encourage all readers to expand their repertoire of their understanding of human nature and read this compilation. When you do finish reading the book, go back and reread the preface. It helps to put everything into perspective. I had to think about what this book was teaching me after I finished it. I found that it had taught me not only something about others, but also about myself. What this book has to say is something you may discover only long after you finish it. This will be either a book you’ll treasure or not; you’ll love it or not. I promise there won’t be any in-between. Personally, I’ll keep it to read again. It has a lot to say. |
Reviewer's Bio Ken Newman grew up in the desert of southern California, and has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from San Diego State University. He is currently employed as a mechanical engineer. He devotes his spare time to acting, reading, traveling and writing, and is currently working on his first book. He and his partner of 24 years live in a historic “National Register” house in a small town in central Texas. King of Cats author Blake Fraina lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut with longtime love and sometime sparring partner, Steve, plus four guitars and six cats (naturally). And, like Wallace Stevens, works in the insurance industry.  Spare
Partsby Scott&Scott Publisher: Romentics ISBN: 1-59457-376-X Trade Paper, 194 pages Quoting from the back cover of the book, “Dan is a mechanic with a chain of successful garages and a lonely life. Trent is a recent grad, a struggling photographer with an empty wallet and bills to pay. But an old enemy is trying to ruin Dan’s business. Trent is posing as a prostitute. And a secret from their past could destroy everything. Is it fate or bad luck that brings them together one dark night? And can they build a life out of all these spare parts?” This is not a story about two men desperate for love. This is not a story about confusion, lies, natural human attraction, and miscommunication. This is not even a story about overcoming insurmountable obstacles for two loving men to finally find each other, and then almost destroy perfect compatibility with their own desperate attempts to keep it. Rather, this is a story about two loving men who are trying to put together an outlet for quality gay romance novels. So what if the books are reminiscent of the Harlequin Romance series from decades ago? Don’t gay men deserve good quality romances (and books, too)? Why shouldn’t there be good, quality gay romance novels that can also serve as hope for those who are just trying to find themselves, or need a little more confidence in the search to find someone to share with? This is also the type of material that gives straight women the hope that there’s a gentle, sensitive, handsome, loving straight man that can bring a little fireworks to their lives as well. (Contrary to usual legend, there are a few straight men out there that actually fit that description.) It would also be good for others in the GLBT community to have quality reading material like this, targeted at their interests. Spare Parts is a well written, believable love story about two hunky, but real, men. Either one of these men would ring the chimes of most of us, and they thoroughly ring the chimes of each other. However, emotional baggage, outside interference, and fear, almost tear these two tender souls from each other. But, good sense prevails and yields a much needed happy (albeit joyous) ending. It’s a quick read and is excellently written, although it deserves a better job of editing. Ignore the typos, and you’ll love this book. Curl up with it as soon as possible! Right now this is one of three books being offered on www.romentics.com, and if the others are as good as this one, you owe it to yourself to pick up all three. |