Sad Passage

Recalling the Authors After Dark convention in Philadelphia back in 2011.

I took this picture at a dinner out, not knowing that three of the brightest lights in #LGBT fiction would be gone by 2019. Zam Maxfield is still with us, thank heavens. But next to her, Ethan Day left us sad and yearning a few months ago. William Neale, across from Ethan, passed not long after this photo was taken (I edited his first two books--he had an incredible future as a romance author ahead of him). And next to William, Victor Banis, a pioneer in gay fiction, passed away this week. His efforts paved the way for all of us. Despite our political differences, he was a good friend to me and an inspiration. 

We all read that night at GIOVANNI'S ROOM BOOKSTORE--here are a few pics from that event, too.

Victor J. Banis and Some Very Kind Words

I was humbled and honored by these words from the introduction to Spine Intact, Some Increases, the memoir by gay icon and literature trailblazer, Victor J. Banis.

"Likewise, during this same period of time, I have had the opportunity to read a great deal of new gay and lesbian fiction.

If, as I assert in the original edition, we have yet to see the Great Gay Novel or the Great Gay Novelist, I must say that, with writers of the caliber of Dorien Grey, Rick Reed, Lori Lake, Ruth Sims, Anthony Bidulka, Allen Hollinghurst, Gregg Herren, E. M. Kahn, Adam Berlin, Dean James, and Gregory Hinton plying their craft—and I am sure I have forgotten one or two others—and with old pros like James Purdy, William Maltese, and Ann Bannon still at it, I think that the future of gay and lesbian fiction is in very good hands indeed; and since I have not yet read everything by any of them, it may even be that one of them has already penned that great novel, and the more fool I."