f you've been reading/watching the news lately you have probably seen several items regarding the domestic violence charges levelled by Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss against her former boyfriend, actor Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, the China Beach TV series, Pearl Harbor, etc.). Sizemore was found guilty of the charges, but during the break prior to sentencing he is going to be making a couple of independent features (I know, I thought that was kind of odd too). Anyway, one of those movies is going to be the big-screen adaptation of gender-avenger author JT LeRoy's collection of short stories The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Asia Argento is starring in the film as well as directing and adapting the screenplay from LeRoy's short stories. Yep, she is also that 'XXX' gal. JT Le Roy is probably best known for his dark fable/surreal novel Sarah, which director Gus Van Zant has spoke of filming sometime soon. It's also worth noting is that JT LeRoy is the associate producer of Van Zant's upcoming film Elephant, the dramatization of a Columbine-like school shooting. The film won the 2003 Palme d'Or at The Cannes Film Festival.
*****
One of the major perks of writing this column is giving space and voice to some of my favorite writers. (It also gives me an excuse to be somewhat of an e-mail stalker.) I've always been in awe of mystery writers ... and those master-craftsperson brains than can go so logically from point A to point B dropping traceable clues along the way. This past week I was really happy to have a brief 'electronic exchange' with one of the very finest— mystery writer and activist Katherine V. Forrest ... and of course I seized the opportunity to start out by asking her trick of the trade.
Owen: When you are writing a mystery, what is the first piece of the puzzle that comes into play ... the victim, the means, the motive, etc?
Katherine: I think virtually all mystery writers will agree that our novels are the only ones written 'back to front' and the most important elements the writer needs to know from the get-go are who did it, and how, and why. This way you can develop your suspect pool, your clues, your red herrings. Without these pieces of knowledge in place, the mystery writer would be faced with the potential of considerable rewriting and reworking the plot. Other types of novels can unfold and develop as the writer goes along, but rarely mysteries.
Owen: When do your best ideas come to you?
Katherine: For me, they come literally all the time because they consist simply of a dramatic situation I want to explore and there are lots of those when it comes to our community. In Murder at the Nightwood Bar, it was how Kate Delafield, a closeted LAPD homicide detective, would (circa 1985) handle herself in a murder at a lesbian bar. In Murder by Tradition, it was a gay bashing murder. In Sleeping Bones, the situation is a bit more conventional: I wanted to set a novel in the most interesting geographic feature of Kate's Wilshire Division, the La Brea Tar Pits. In Apparition Alley, it was how and why Kate would act when an apparently 'bad cop' asks her to be his defense representative at his Board of Rights hearing, and there is a strong gay sub-theme as well.
Owen: What are you working on now?
Katherine: I've just finished Hancock Park, the eighth in the Delafield series, out next year from Berkeley Prime Crime. The story opens with Kate taking the witness stand on one of her cases, against a formidable defense attorney, combined with a severe personal crisis: her partner, Aimee, has just walked out on her.
Owen: Any more news on the pending movie version of your lesbian mystery classic Murder at the Nightwood Bar?
Katherine: No news alas. It was under option for over 10 years by film director Tim Hunter who was that determined to film it, but after several close calls we can call it kaput.
Owen: How similar are you and Delafield?
Katherine: I don't think any writer can work outside herself, but Kate is not me and not even my alter ego. Over eight books she remains partly closeted, and the damage of the closet is one of the major themes of my work. She lives differently than I ever would and makes far different decisions than I ever would. She's a character with very much her own identity.
Owen: What gay and lesbian titles have you been recommending lately?
Katherine: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (also the author of Tipping The Velvet) is a stunning achievement and she is one of our most important writers currently. Also Lucky in the Corner by Carol Anshaw, who is one of the best lesbian writers working today. Any work of hers is well worth reading. Three Junes by Julia Glass is not a gay novel per se, but it contains a truly brilliant portrait of a gay man and it's no accident the book won The National Book Award.
*****
Newsflash: Anne Rice readers, it's time to take those black capes off the moth balls and slap in your plastic choppers because The Queen of Damned herself has a brand spanking new vampire chronicle due Oct. 28 from Knopf. Blood Canticle picks up where Blackwood Farm left off and has quite an array of unforgettable characters ... along with the usual gay text and subtext galore. Nada on anything new from her gay novelist son Christopher (A Density of Souls, The Snow Garden).
*****
And from the 'Is it Love or Is it Obsession' file ... Here's an interesting tidbit o' trivia on Madonna's The English Roses children's book courtesy of Billboard magazine. On Sept. 15 the book was released in 100 countries and in 42 languages—making it the widest simultaneous multi-language release of any book ever.
But wait, maybe this used to be her playground, but there's another diva on the lot! Grammy-winning country/pop singer Leann Rimes also has a new children's book out (also for the 4-8 year old crowd) called Jag. No, it's not autobiographical! This is about a different type of hellcat! Jag is the story of a jaguar with a fearless image to uphold ... and a big secret. No not that—she's afraid of water!
*****
And while were on the topic of creatures with claws (and I can only say that because I love him), gay columnist/humorist Michael Thomas Ford (Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, It's Not Mean if It's True, That's Mr. Faggot To You, and The Little Book of Neuroses) has TWO new books on the shelves! First off for fans of his columns there's another collection of his hilarious syndicated essays My Big Fat Queer Life: The Best of Michael Thomas Ford. This is a collection of reader favorites and oh behavorites from his four collections as well as a new seven-part essay series called 'My Life as a Dwarf' in which Ford writes about various aspects of his life as evidenced by the personality traits of the seven dwarfs ... so it's MTF as (can you name them all!) Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Dopey, Doc, and Sleepy. Newsflash! Ford's My Big Fat Greek Life was abruptly blocked from sale to the public Aug. 28 due to 'a potential legal issue regarding this title.' ... Michael also has a new flashy and fleshy novel out from Kensington Books, Last Summer
*****
That brings us to this week's 'I Recommend Guest'—Michael Lowenthal (The Same Embrace, Avoidance): 'I haven't been reading many gay-themed books lately, but my favorite gay-themed novels that came out this season are Mark Merlis's Man About Town, which I love for its impatient, misanthropic irony, and Phil Gambone's Beijing, which I love for its wide-eyed lack of those aforementioned qualities.'
