Guest post by Ashavan Doyon

Prince died yesterday.

Like David Bowie, Jim Henson, Dr. Seuss, his name is another bit of my cultural history that is gone, a reminder that I’ve gotten old.

As a young man, I hated most of his music. Maybe that was because my brother loved the song “Kiss” and would torment me with it (along with his ultra hot and scarily straight friend Todd). But I envied him (Prince, not my brother. Though I envied my brother too — that’s for another post). He was a bit femme and a lot flamboyant in all the ways I could never be. And he was sexy and masculine at the same time. At that age it made me a little uncomfortable — I was a scared gay boy in the deep south after all.

So, when he passed, I of course had to find a song to listen to. A reminder. And of course I picked “Kiss” — not my favorite, but one that is oh so very powerful in my memory. And tonight, having reflected I put on “Gett Off” a piece I loved for its spectacularly overt sexuality. If you watch Prince in that video, you see a femme man that is also sexual, masculine, powerful in the embrace of sexuality. A crucial message that I still struggle to absorb, and one perhaps unintended.

Thinking about Prince made me think of other heroes. Ones I’ve met, like Margaret Weis and Peter S. Beagle, and ones I’ll never meet. I’m getting older. I don’t write music with deep undercurrents of creativity. I write desperate fantasies of men loving each other. It shouldn’t feel revolutionary, but the dearth of such stories when I grew up assures me that it is.

Now we have a whole genre. And yet sometimes, when I write revolutionary, something from the heart, perhaps something I know to be true, I’m often faced with critique of how it can never happen. Whether it’s lingering homophobia in a college environment, or a young man’s reactions as he recovers from being raped. My writing is still a revolutionary act, because it tells the stories that people are afraid might still be true. And just maybe a happy ending is a revolutionary act too.

Dreamspinner Press is still running their Spring Fling, a 25% off sale of their entire store (until April 24). My rec today is book 2 of the Sam’s Cafe Romances. Why? I’m writing what I hope will be the 3rd story in the series, so I’d love more people to read book 2. Also I love the character of Justin, and the hope he finds in this story is pretty amazing. Becoming sexual after what Justin has been through is a difficult thing. That he can still find hope even though his reactions scare him, that’s not a fantasy. But it’s really hard. I take Justin some pretty dark places, and I’ve gotten critique from people who say no one would react that way.

I did.

It scared the hell out of me. So I wrote a bit of a revolutionary story. Because I think living with those reactions is hard, and overcoming them is harder. But finding joy and sexuality and living… that doesn’t have to be fantasy.

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A Wounded Promise
Sam’s Cafe Romances: Book Two

Having survived one nightmare of a relationship, Justin Tesh thought he’d left the worst behind when he put his ex Peter behind bars. But when his new lover, Russell Pine, explodes in a fit of alcohol-fueled rage, Justin finds himself frozen with a fear he thought he’d long since worked through. While older, more experienced Russ is anxious to put the incident behind them, avoiding personal issues never works, and for Justin, his fear is an open doorway to demons both he and Russ need to confront.

Despite their histories of loss and pain, Russ has faith in the promise of their relationship. But if he can’t heal the wound he’s inflicted on his lover’s heart, he risks losing Justin forever to Peter’s legacy of brutality.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6121

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Ashavan Doyon can be found on the web at his website www.ashavandoyon.com