Tom Mendicino (born May 8)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Tom, a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, was fortunate to come under the early influence of the writers Mark Harris, Jerre Mangione, and, especially, the generous and supportive Elaine Scarry. He spent six raucous years roaming the country and barely eeking out a living in the sales departments of several New York publishing houses before attending the law school of the University of North Carolina. While at Chapel Hill, he published one of the first student-authored articles on AIDS and the law in The University of North Carolina Law Review. He began his legal career as a litigator at the Philadelphia firm Pepper Hamilton and clerked for the Honorable Anita Brody of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Since 1994, he has practiced as a health care lawyer specializing in medical staff affairs, physician contracting and hospital-based employment and labor law. He has also acted as an arbitrator for the American Health Lawyers Association.

His stories have been published in the anthologies Best Gay Love Stories 2005, Best Gay Love Stories 2006, Best Gay Love Stories: New York City, Best Gay Love Stories: Summer Flings, Best Date Ever and Best Gay Love Stories 2010 (all Alyson publications) as well as The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica, (Carroll & Graf).

He’s lived with his partner Nick Ifft, a physician dedicated to HIV-care and a founder of the fourth oldest AIDS service organization in the country, since 1979. He’d like to thank the good doctor for tolerating his obsessions with Major League Baseball (Go Phillies! Sorry, Dad), superhero comics, loud music and horror movies.

Source: http://www.tommendicino.com/about.html

Further Readings:

Probation by Tom Mendicino
Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Kensington; 1 edition (March 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758238789
ISBN-13: 978-0758238788
Amazon: Probation
Amazon Kindle: Probation

All it took to destroy Andy Nocera's seemingly perfect life was an anonymous tryst at an Interstate rest area. Sentenced to probation and thrown out by his wife, he spends his week as a traveling salesman, and his weekends at his mother's house where no questions are asked--and no explanations are offered.
To clear his record, the State of North Carolina requires Andy to complete one year of therapy without another arrest. He attends his sessions reluctantly at first, struggling to comprehend why he would risk everything. Answers don't come easily, especially in the face of his mother's sudden illness and his repeated failure to live as an openly gay man. But as Andy searches his past, he gets an opportunity to rescue another lost soul--and a chance at a future that is different in every way from the one he had envisioned.

With profound honesty, sharp wit, and genuine heart, this debut novel portrays one man's search--for love and passion, acceptance and redemption--and for the courage to really live.

"If you're looking for a smart, engaging, witty, sad and unusual book about the complicated nature of family and love, try Tom Mendicino's Probation. You'll be glad you did." --Bart Yates

"Probation is the rare novel that dares to take the reader on a journey through the dark night of the soul. An unflinching look at the dark side of self-discovery, it is ultimately a story of transformation and the worlds of possibilities hidden within each of us." --Michael Thomas Ford

“If David Sedaris were cast as Willy Loman, it might sound something like Probation. Andy, a sharp-tongued travelling salesman, gives us the life events that led to his being taken away in handcuffs, and the hilarious and agonizing self-inquiry that follows. Snarky, yet profound, it is a bold examination of the destructive effects of a life spent in the closet, reported with a Carolina twang.” --Vestal McIntyre

More Spotights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels