Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood

This is an highly emotional novel and I’m still a bit unsure on my feelings after reading it. BTW it’s also a very long novel, more than 350 pages, so it’s hardly something you can read en passant and forgot soon after.

The novel is divided into two parts. Even if at the beginning it seemed that the story was moving on a pretty physical approach, it was soon quite clear that indeed sex was not the main element of this story, so much that you need to read more than half of it to find some. Dan is an horse eventer trainer and he is working for the family of his lover, Justin; the situation was idylliac until the day Justin was in an accident one year before and now he is in irreversible coma. Despite the desperate situation, Dan has not given up on him and their love, and one year later he is still hoping in a miracle.

Maybe due to Dan’s attachment to who is now only the memory of the man he loved, when Evan and Jeff enter the scene the contrast is pretty harsh: multimillionaire 26 years old pretty boy Evan and struggling artist playing daddy to pretty boy Jeff have what you can define an open relationship; both of them travel a lot, and when they are far from each other eyes don’t see, heart doesn’t suffer. But when they are together they seem the perfect couple, the difference in age and wealth (all in favor of Evan) is balanced by the clear need of Evan to have a fatherly figure to whom he can rely on.

At first Evan, but then also Jeff are attracted by Dan, and Dan sincerely doesn’t like to be in the middle: despite Evan being younger and richer, Dan actually seems to prefer Jeff, and even if he says he doesn’t want to ruin Evan and Jeff’s relationship, I think that deep down himself he is hoping for Jeff to realize that his relationship with Evan is not long-term and that Dan is a better match for him.

Sincerely I’m not sure who is right or who is wrong in this story, or if there is a right or wrong side at all. From Evan and Jeff’s perspective, they have a perfect relationship, but indeed as soon as it’s tested, it starts to crack: Evan is fine with Jeff having an affair only when he doesn’t know it; Jeff, even if with words is saying the contrary, I think he feels overwhelmed by Evan’s wealth, and as Dan noticed, he grew used to it, and in a way he is disappeared into Evan’s world; last, but not least, even if I mostly like Dan’s behavior, when he pratically asks to Jeff to choose between him and Evan, he is not exactly behaving like the good guy of the story.

It’s quite a complex story, and even in the end, it was not completely clear if these three men will ever find a way to be together.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1881

Amazon: Dark Horse

Amazon Kindle: Dark Horse

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood

This is an highly emotional novel and I’m still a bit unsure on my feelings after reading it. BTW it’s also a very long novel, more than 350 pages, so it’s hardly something you can read en passant and forgot soon after.

The novel is divided into two parts. Even if at the beginning it seemed that the story was moving on a pretty physical approach, it was soon quite clear that indeed sex was not the main element of this story, so much that you need to read more than half of it to find some. Dan is an horse eventer trainer and he is working for the family of his lover, Justin; the situation was idylliac until the day Justin was in an accident one year before and now he is in irreversible coma. Despite the desperate situation, Dan has not given up on him and their love, and one year later he is still hoping in a miracle.

Maybe due to Dan’s attachment to who is now only the memory of the man he loved, when Evan and Jeff enter the scene the contrast is pretty harsh: multimillionaire 26 years old pretty boy Evan and struggling artist playing daddy to pretty boy Jeff have what you can define an open relationship; both of them travel a lot, and when they are far from each other eyes don’t see, heart doesn’t suffer. But when they are together they seem the perfect couple, the difference in age and wealth (all in favor of Evan) is balanced by the clear need of Evan to have a fatherly figure to whom he can rely on.

At first Evan, but then also Jeff are attracted by Dan, and Dan sincerely doesn’t like to be in the middle: despite Evan being younger and richer, Dan actually seems to prefer Jeff, and even if he says he doesn’t want to ruin Evan and Jeff’s relationship, I think that deep down himself he is hoping for Jeff to realize that his relationship with Evan is not long-term and that Dan is a better match for him.

Sincerely I’m not sure who is right or who is wrong in this story, or if there is a right or wrong side at all. From Evan and Jeff’s perspective, they have a perfect relationship, but indeed as soon as it’s tested, it starts to crack: Evan is fine with Jeff having an affair only when he doesn’t know it; Jeff, even if with words is saying the contrary, I think he feels overwhelmed by Evan’s wealth, and as Dan noticed, he grew used to it, and in a way he is disappeared into Evan’s world; last, but not least, even if I mostly like Dan’s behavior, when he pratically asks to Jeff to choose between him and Evan, he is not exactly behaving like the good guy of the story.

It’s quite a complex story, and even in the end, it was not completely clear if these three men will ever find a way to be together.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1881

Amazon: Dark Horse

Amazon Kindle: Dark Horse

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Event: Edmund White guest at Festivaletteratura in Mantova, Italy

Date: September 12, 2010
Time: 10,15 a.m.
Place: Teatro Ariston, Mantova, Italy

Edmund White, Ragazzo di città, Italian translation by Alessandro Bocchi
EDMUND WHITE will do a reading of RAGAZZO DI CITTÀ (Italian translation of City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s) at FESTIVALETTERATURA in MANTOVA

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s by Edmund White
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1608192342
ISBN-13: 978-1608192342
Amazon: City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s

Groundbreaking literary icon Edmund White reflects on his remarkable life in New York in an era when the city was economically devastated but incandescent with art and ideas. White struggles to gain literary recognition, witnesses the rise of the gay rights movement, and has memorable encounters with luminaries from Elizabeth Bishop to William Burroughs, Susan Sontag to Jasper Johns. Recording his ambitions and desires, recalling lovers and literary heroes, White displays the wit, candor, and generosity that have defined his unique voice over the decades.

Italian version: Nel 1962, un giovane e sprovveduto White sbarca a New York. È l’inizio di una storia, o di un “romanzo”, che dura ancora, ma che ha i suoi passaggi più eccitanti e sorprendenti negli anni Sessanta e Settanta. Allora la città era “così pericolosa ed economica da poter accogliere gli artisti senza un soldo”. Una città allo sbando e in bancarotta, pericolosa e sudicia. Mucchi di spazzatura maleodorante restavano a marcire in strada per giorni, nel 1977 un blackout generale provocò saccheggi e arresti di massa, i newyorkesi fuggivano dalla loro stessa città trasferendosi sulla mite costa Ovest. Pericolosa e libertaria, sudicia e colta, la New York di quegli anni è il teatro della protesta contro la guerra nel Vietnam, delle prime manifestazioni a favore dell’ambiente, delle lotte femministe e infine del movimento di liberazione omosessuale, inaugurato dalla rivolta di Stonewall, nel 1969. “Una discarica a cielo aperto, con aspirazioni artistiche elevate”, un laboratorio sociale e culturale, nel quale Edmund White ha modo di conoscere e frequentare giganti dell’arte e della cultura come Susan Sontag, William Burroughs, Bob Wilson, Elizabeth Bishop, Jasper Johns, Robert Mapplethorpe, qui ritratti nella speranza di contribuire a spiegare il rapporto tra il loro temperamento, le loro ossessioni e la loro arte.

Per il New York Times tra i 100 libri più belli del 2009

Finalista al National Books Critics Circle del 2009

Publisher Link: http://www.playgroundlibri.it/libri.php?lid=47

Event: Edmund White guest at Festivaletteratura in Mantova, Italy

Date: September 12, 2010
Time: 10,15 a.m.
Place: Teatro Ariston, Mantova, Italy

Edmund White, Ragazzo di città, Italian translation by Alessandro Bocchi
EDMUND WHITE will do a reading of RAGAZZO DI CITTÀ (Italian translation of City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s) at FESTIVALETTERATURA in MANTOVA

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s by Edmund White
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1608192342
ISBN-13: 978-1608192342
Amazon: City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s

Groundbreaking literary icon Edmund White reflects on his remarkable life in New York in an era when the city was economically devastated but incandescent with art and ideas. White struggles to gain literary recognition, witnesses the rise of the gay rights movement, and has memorable encounters with luminaries from Elizabeth Bishop to William Burroughs, Susan Sontag to Jasper Johns. Recording his ambitions and desires, recalling lovers and literary heroes, White displays the wit, candor, and generosity that have defined his unique voice over the decades.

Italian version: Nel 1962, un giovane e sprovveduto White sbarca a New York. È l’inizio di una storia, o di un “romanzo”, che dura ancora, ma che ha i suoi passaggi più eccitanti e sorprendenti negli anni Sessanta e Settanta. Allora la città era “così pericolosa ed economica da poter accogliere gli artisti senza un soldo”. Una città allo sbando e in bancarotta, pericolosa e sudicia. Mucchi di spazzatura maleodorante restavano a marcire in strada per giorni, nel 1977 un blackout generale provocò saccheggi e arresti di massa, i newyorkesi fuggivano dalla loro stessa città trasferendosi sulla mite costa Ovest. Pericolosa e libertaria, sudicia e colta, la New York di quegli anni è il teatro della protesta contro la guerra nel Vietnam, delle prime manifestazioni a favore dell’ambiente, delle lotte femministe e infine del movimento di liberazione omosessuale, inaugurato dalla rivolta di Stonewall, nel 1969. “Una discarica a cielo aperto, con aspirazioni artistiche elevate”, un laboratorio sociale e culturale, nel quale Edmund White ha modo di conoscere e frequentare giganti dell’arte e della cultura come Susan Sontag, William Burroughs, Bob Wilson, Elizabeth Bishop, Jasper Johns, Robert Mapplethorpe, qui ritratti nella speranza di contribuire a spiegare il rapporto tra il loro temperamento, le loro ossessioni e la loro arte.

Per il New York Times tra i 100 libri più belli del 2009

Finalista al National Books Critics Circle del 2009

Publisher Link: http://www.playgroundlibri.it/libri.php?lid=47

Behind the Cover: Robert "Bob" Stanley

By far the most prolific Dell artist, next to Gerald Gregg, Robert Stanley (1918-1996) worked for Dell from 1950 to 1959 and he contributed to the Dell 'look' in the 50s. Concentrating on mysteries and westerns, Stanley always produced covers with action (men fighting, cowboys riding, women threatening or being threatened). Most of the men on his covers he patterned after himself; his men are serious, stern, and usually fully clothed. He patterned most of his women after his wife Rhoda; they are alluring, menacing, terrified, and occasionally semi-nude. Stanley's daughter and father-in-law also stood in as models from time to time.



( more pics )

Robert Stanley began his career as a pulp illustrator, and in the 1950s, he became "one of the two most prolific paperback cover artists employed by the Dell Publishing Company." At one time he worked on the "Kansas City Journal" and the "Star" and "Times", so he was familiar with the set-up of a print shop.

Before his employment at Dell, he produced covers for paperback companies including Bantam, Lion and Signet.

( Read more... )

Source: http://www.pulpartists.com/Stanley.html

Behind the Cover: Robert "Bob" Stanley

By far the most prolific Dell artist, next to Gerald Gregg, Robert Stanley (1918-1996) worked for Dell from 1950 to 1959 and he contributed to the Dell 'look' in the 50s. Concentrating on mysteries and westerns, Stanley always produced covers with action (men fighting, cowboys riding, women threatening or being threatened). Most of the men on his covers he patterned after himself; his men are serious, stern, and usually fully clothed. He patterned most of his women after his wife Rhoda; they are alluring, menacing, terrified, and occasionally semi-nude. Stanley's daughter and father-in-law also stood in as models from time to time.



( more pics )

Robert Stanley began his career as a pulp illustrator, and in the 1950s, he became "one of the two most prolific paperback cover artists employed by the Dell Publishing Company." At one time he worked on the "Kansas City Journal" and the "Star" and "Times", so he was familiar with the set-up of a print shop.

Before his employment at Dell, he produced covers for paperback companies including Bantam, Lion and Signet.

( Read more... )

Source: http://www.pulpartists.com/Stanley.html

Event: ImageOut, The Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival

2010 Festival on October 8 to 17, 2010

The mission of ImageOut [the Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film & Video Festival, Inc] is to inform, entertain, educate, and enrich the Greater Rochester and Western New York community through the exhibition of multi-racial and multi-cultural films and videos, and through various artistic and educational programs by and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. International in scope, ImageOut fosters connections among people from all racial, religious, gender, sexual, ability, economic, class, age and ethnic groups, and serves as a major thread in the progressive art and cultural fabric of the region. ImageOut is dedicated to supporting the distribution and exhibition of LGBT multi-media art forms, and the compensation for and recognition of the creative work of these artists and arts professionals by deepening the appreciation of their work. Its chief program is ImageOut, The Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival.

And I spotted some "old friends" ;-) On Saturday, October 9, 9:45 PM, LITTLE THEATRE: Violet Tendencies. Casper Andreas and Jesse Archer are back with their third film together. Spinning off some of the characters from their first two films, Slutty Summer and A Four Letter Word, their new comedy Violet Tendencies is provocative, hilarious, and heart-felt!

On Monday, October 11, 9:00 PM, LITTLE THEATRE, From Beginning to End (Do Comeco ao Fim): This controversial Brazilian drama follows the love and sexual intimacy between two men…who are half-brothers.

http://www.imageout.org/2010/welcome.php

Event: ImageOut, The Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival

2010 Festival on October 8 to 17, 2010

The mission of ImageOut [the Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film & Video Festival, Inc] is to inform, entertain, educate, and enrich the Greater Rochester and Western New York community through the exhibition of multi-racial and multi-cultural films and videos, and through various artistic and educational programs by and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. International in scope, ImageOut fosters connections among people from all racial, religious, gender, sexual, ability, economic, class, age and ethnic groups, and serves as a major thread in the progressive art and cultural fabric of the region. ImageOut is dedicated to supporting the distribution and exhibition of LGBT multi-media art forms, and the compensation for and recognition of the creative work of these artists and arts professionals by deepening the appreciation of their work. Its chief program is ImageOut, The Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival.

And I spotted some "old friends" ;-) On Saturday, October 9, 9:45 PM, LITTLE THEATRE: Violet Tendencies. Casper Andreas and Jesse Archer are back with their third film together. Spinning off some of the characters from their first two films, Slutty Summer and A Four Letter Word, their new comedy Violet Tendencies is provocative, hilarious, and heart-felt!

On Monday, October 11, 9:00 PM, LITTLE THEATRE, From Beginning to End (Do Comeco ao Fim): This controversial Brazilian drama follows the love and sexual intimacy between two men…who are half-brothers.

http://www.imageout.org/2010/welcome.php