I watch very little television, so it was almost an accident that I heard about the new show called “Queer As Folk” which was to premiere on Showtime. A show about a group of gay male friends? I actually knew few gay men, and certainly didn’t travel with a bunch of gay buddies, so the thought intrigued me. But I hated sit-coms and soap operas, so I was skeptical. I watched the new show’s premiere… and I was immediately “hooked” by the character of Brian Kinney, who seemed, in many ways, to be similar to myself (except for being “out” and publicly gay.) A web search found more information about the show and ultimately led to one of the e-groups devoted to a discussion of the program… my first venture into group discussions outside of the gay chat-rooms of gay.com. Some of you will remember those early chats; many people thought Brian Kinney was an insolent asshole… and they didn’t hesitate to say so. Meanwhile I kept trying to defend him with a self-analytical approach to this complex character. “He’s actually a good person that many people don’t understand,” I said. Thus began the endless discussions of Brian’s complexity in the early QAF chat-groups.
My first venture into QAF fiction wasn’t fiction at all. (Well, most of my fiction has some
autobiographical truth in it, because I write from what I’ve experienced.) One of my female
chat-partners, Jay, asked me off-line how it felt, as a guy, to have an orgasm and to fuck a guy… and I responded by writing a long “essay” posing as Brian Kinney describing his sexual practices… which eventually became my first QAF fic, “Tricking.” Another comment by Les, a continuing good friend and chat-mate, concerning Brian’s ability to meet guys on the web triggered a similar first-person account, “Prick Teasing,” which drew heavily on my experiences in the gay chat rooms. The most important entry into true fan-fic was prompted by a simple, off-hand fiction challenge by my nemesis, Nicky… to write a story including a funeral. The challenge prompted “Requiem Aeternam,” the initial episode in the 4-part series, “Requiem” based upon sections of the Roman Catholic Burial Mass. Actually, the first segment was initially intended to stand alone. But Michael Mele encouraged me to continue the series when he realized that the story was largely autobiographical and the cathartic process of telling the story, that had been locked inside for so long, was a therapeutic one.
I had limited prior exposure as a writer… poetry, yes; a lot of college papers; and the special-interest porn… but the thought of being widely-read was attractive and compelling. With help and encouragement from other writers, I think I’ve developed my “niche” in the QAF fan-fic world… almost exclusively from Brian Kinney’s perspective… and in the first-person.
In real-life, I’m a second year law student in Washington, DC, but I’m really a New England boy, having been born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. I was a four year rower for UMass… but don’t get me started describing the exhilaration of skimming across the water or the joy of competition. In my sophomore year, I switched my major from pre-med to pre-law with the intent of being a Supreme Court Justice someday…perhaps the first gay Justice. (Well, I do write fiction, after all.)
While there have been a few love interests in my life - the relationships in “Prometheus Unbound” and the “Requiem” series are autobiographical – I am still basically a loner, tricking occasionally in the DC area and waiting for the opportunity to have enough time to devote to a full time relationship… hopefully before I reach Brian Kinney’s current age.
Outside interests: running, rowing, biking, weightlifting, classical music (especially Requiems, the Catholic Burial Mass set-to-music), gourmet cooking, bartending, bondage-and-discipline, …and tricking, of course.
