Authors Discuss �the Gay Novel' in Palm Springs

That Term Has Changed Fropm What it Used to Be

Novelists Christopher Rice, William Mann, Dan Boyle and Trebor Healey came to the desert earlier this year to discuss "The Purple Quill - Writing the Gay Novel," as part of the First Annual Palm Springs Book Festival.

The festival was hosted by Peppertree Bookstore in Palm Springs. A question addressed to the panel was: "What is a gay novel?"

Christopher Rice, the son of novelist Anne Rice, has the most name recognition of the four. His works include The Snow Garden and Light Before Day. His answer about gay novels: "I think the requirement is that the gay character's homosexuality plays a pivotal role in the progression of the narrative."

Rice's books are different, though. "I write crime fiction, or you could call it more of a gothic horror story," he said. "By the time I sat down to write these books, I thought that I had read a great deal of truth about the gay male experience in this country, so I was intimidated out of writing exclusively that. So," Rice said, "I wanted to write mystery and crime stories with gay characters. The issue of homosexuality was always sublimated by the mystery itself."

William Mann is the most prolific writer of the group. His works include All American Boy, The Grave Passions, and most recently, the nonfiction book: Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger.

Mann answered by saying "I don't know. Is there such a thing? I'm the senior member of this panel and I can remember the gay book boom of the '90s. I remember being on panels with people like Armistead Maupin and Edmund White. They would talk about it being so important to have this construct of the gay novel."

He added: "I think we have moved beyond the sense of 'this book is a gay book and this book is not'; I think it's more important to talk about the gay market. The idea of a gay novel is perhaps an anachronism. I'm not sure we can continue to use that term."

Trebor Healey wrote Through It Came Bright Colors. His answer to "What is a gay novel?" is that "the protagonist or main character is gay. It's a gay novel, like a black novel. Are Toni Morrison's novels black novels?" he asked.