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Joyful, wild, gay stories from award winning Martin Goodman.
Meet his cast of characters:
New York designer Arnold, whose lovely life blossoms from age 7. We watch him grow famous then learn from the bumps of life.
A young priest who leaves uptight England to lose and find himself in Turkey.
Queenie, scarred from her time as a beautiful boy, meets young Tom, who loves the fact that she's a wreck.
A young Indian teacher meets an older London billionaire who’s not yet out.
And the stunning finale is a gay version of Melville's classic Billy Budd, the tale of a beautiful doomed sailor.
"A ravishing collection, remarkably wide-ranging in subject, mood and tone, each story exquisitely crafted."
– Paul Russell, author of Immaculate Blue
"A ravishing collection, remarkably wide-ranging in subject, mood and tone, each story exquisitely crafted. A complicated young man embarked on a romantic adventure and diving into deeper water than he can safely navigate. A clergyman shedding his faith as he retraces the footsteps of St. Paul. Several linked tales chronicling lovely Arnold's wondrous, ultimately bittersweet wet dream of a life. A boldly imagined "missing" scene from Melville's Billy Budd. These stories explore the cadences and crises of gay men's lives with fine, empathetic insight. Goodman's attention to detail often combines with verbal felicity to memorialize even the most ordinary moments. Powerful and affecting work."
– Paul Russell, author of Immaculate Blue
"Martin Goodman's wild, irreverent and fetching stories pulled me in. I was especially taken by his Melvillian outake on Billy Budd, the fine last story in this collection, which is moving and weirdly plausible."
– Jay Parini, author of The Passages of Herman Melville and Borges and Me
| The Lovely Life of Arnold | 1 |
| Lessons from Cruising | 11 |
| Puffins in Flight | 34 |
| Everything I Am. Arnold, Age 21 | 40 |
| The Loving Room | 58 |
| My Tri-Athlete. Arnold, Age 28 | 68 |
| Queenie and the Boy | 75 |
| Cupcakes at tea | 85 |
| India, by Design. Arnold, Age 35 | 88 |
| When toffee-apples turn to juice | 97 |
| Letters to the Parishioners | 104 |
| Mom, In Passing. Arnold, Age 42 | 123 |
| Billy Budd: Captain Vere’s Account | 135 |