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The Inside Reader: Greg Herren
Apr. 13th, 2010 10:23 amShow me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir MitchellGreg Herren's Bourbon Street Blues, first in his mystery series that is still alive and kicking, was one of the first mystery to enter my Top 100 Gay Novels list. I think it was recommended to me by another mystery writer, as an example of how you can write a mystery appealing to a wider audience. Being the success and award collector that it was, I think that author was right. And so I'm more than glad to host Greg Herren and his Inside Reader list today.
Greg Herren's Inside Reader List
It’s really difficult to narrow my favorites down to a mere ten. However, I do as I’m told, and I do appreciate this opportunity to bring attention to some books people may have missed in their reading. To that end, I am not going to name any of the obvious titles (Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran, The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren, etc) and since the request was for gay books, I am going to be literal and not name any books by lesbians (Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, People in Trouble by Sarah Schulman, anything by Jess Wells, etc.). So, without further adieu, here is Greg’s Top Ten Gay Books (in no particular order):
1) Second Line by Poppy Z. Brite. Poppy Z. Brite has long written some of the most realistic and honest gay male characters, going back to books like Lost Souls and Exquisite Corpse. But when he decided to stop writing horror and write about the New Orleans restaurant scene, he published some of the best New Orleans fiction out there (Liquor, Prime, Soul Kitchen), and created, in Ricky and G-man, two of the most honest gay male characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about. Second Line is actually a combination of two short novels (novellas) featuring Ricky and G-man that had already been published: The Value of X and D*U*C*K*. In the first, we meet the guys when they are teenagers and starting to realize that not only are they more than just best friends, but also want to go into the restaurant business. D*U*C*K* is a quite entertaining romp about a catering gig the two take on in northwest Louisiana for a duck hunter’s organization. Second Line is a delightful introduction to the characters, and Poppy’s amazing skill as an author. Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Small Beer Press; First Paperback Edition edition (October 1, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2009/10/27/second-line/
ISBN-10: 1931520607
ISBN-13: 978-1931520607
Amazon: Second Line
These two short novels bookend Poppy Z. Brite’s cheerfully chaotic series starring two chefs in New Orleans. The Value of X introduces G-man and Rickey, who grew up in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and who are slowly realizing there are only two important things in life: cooking and each other. Rickey’s parents aren’t quite so taken with the boy’s plans and get him an impossible-to-resist place at the Culinary Institute of America. In D*U*C*K, Rickey and G-man’s restaurant, Liquor, is doing well but there are the usual complications of running a kitchen: egos get bruised, people get fired . . . and then Rickey is jumped in an alley by one of their ex-waiters. On the mend, Rickey takes a side job to cater the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet, where every course must, of course, include the ducks the hunters have bagged. Rickey’s crew are ready to meet the challenge, but Rickey’s not sure he can do it all and deal with the guest of honor—his childhood hero, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert.
2) Gaywyck by Vincent Virga. I loved Gothic romantic suspense novels when I was a teenager (Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney), so I was absolutely delighted when a copy of this passed my desk when I was editor of Lambda Book Report. Alyson republished this classic from the late 70’s in 2000; and I was thrilled to read a gay Gothic romantic suspense. Virga channeled the Bronte Sisters when he was writing this classic, in which a handsome young gay orphan goes to work as a tutor at a gorgeous brooding (and possibly haunted) mansion on Long Island (Gaywyck), complete with a sexy but mysterious master of the estate, and secrets galore. Set just before the turn of the twentieth century, Virga’s attention to historical detail gives the book an authenticity so many other, similar books sadly lack. Paperback: 392 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (May 18, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1439235554
ISBN-13: 978-1439235553
Amazon: Gaywyck
Gaywyck is the first gay Gothic novel. Long out of print, this classic proved that genre knows no gender. Young, innocent Robert Whyte enters a Jane-Eyre world of secrets and deceptions when he is hired to catalog the vast library at Gaywyck, a mysterious ancestral mansion on Long Island, where he falls in love with its handsome and melancholy owner, Donough Gaylord. Robert's unconditional love is challenged by hidden evil lurking in the shadowy past crammed with dark sexual secrets sowing murder, blackmail, and mayhem in the great romantic tradition. As Armisted Maupin urged, “Read the son of a bitch! You'll love it!” And as The Advocate praised, “An extraordinary tour de force that merits special praise.” Angus Wilson agreed, “I enjoyed Gaywyck very much. To me a fascinating mixture of Wilde, the Gothic and, above all, the souls laid to rest in New York.”
( books from 3 to 10 )
About Greg Herren: I am the author of six mystery novels set in New Orleans: BOURBON STREET BLUES, JACKSON SQUARE JAZZ, MURDER IN THE RUE DAUPHINE, MURDER IN THE RUE ST. ANN , MARDI GRAS MAMBO and MURDER IN THE RUE CHARTRES, which will be released in November 2007. I also work as senior editor for The Harrington Park Press, and have edited, to date, five anthologies currently in print. I also have a short story in the forthcoming NEW ORLEANS NOIR called "Annunciation Shotgun."
Murder in the Garden District: A Chanse MacLeod Mystery by Greg Herren Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Alyson Books; 1 edition (October 1, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.alyson.com/9781593501051.html
ISBN-10: 1593501056
ISBN-13: 978-1593501051
Amazon: Murder in the Garden District: A Chanse MacLeod Mystery
Behind the beautiful facade of a Garden District mansion, a powerful political family's secrets end in murder. With another major hurricane heading towards the Katrina-ravaged city of New Orleans, it's up to Chanse MacLeod to dig through decades of murders and cover-ups to find the truth before more lives are ruined....including his own and those close to him.
1) Second Line by Poppy Z. Brite. Poppy Z. Brite has long written some of the most realistic and honest gay male characters, going back to books like Lost Souls and Exquisite Corpse. But when he decided to stop writing horror and write about the New Orleans restaurant scene, he published some of the best New Orleans fiction out there (Liquor, Prime, Soul Kitchen), and created, in Ricky and G-man, two of the most honest gay male characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about. Second Line is actually a combination of two short novels (novellas) featuring Ricky and G-man that had already been published: The Value of X and D*U*C*K*. In the first, we meet the guys when they are teenagers and starting to realize that not only are they more than just best friends, but also want to go into the restaurant business. D*U*C*K* is a quite entertaining romp about a catering gig the two take on in northwest Louisiana for a duck hunter’s organization. Second Line is a delightful introduction to the characters, and Poppy’s amazing skill as an author. 
2) Gaywyck by Vincent Virga. I loved Gothic romantic suspense novels when I was a teenager (Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney), so I was absolutely delighted when a copy of this passed my desk when I was editor of Lambda Book Report. Alyson republished this classic from the late 70’s in 2000; and I was thrilled to read a gay Gothic romantic suspense. Virga channeled the Bronte Sisters when he was writing this classic, in which a handsome young gay orphan goes to work as a tutor at a gorgeous brooding (and possibly haunted) mansion on Long Island (Gaywyck), complete with a sexy but mysterious master of the estate, and secrets galore. Set just before the turn of the twentieth century, Virga’s attention to historical detail gives the book an authenticity so many other, similar books sadly lack. 
Murder in the Garden District: A Chanse MacLeod Mystery by Greg Herren 
Lost Library Release Party, Reading and Book Signing 
Lost Library Release Party, Reading and Book Signing 