In Search of Retold Stories

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I love writing retold stories.

It may seem like a cop-out to take a proven successful plot and characters, tweak them and call the story your own. But to me, if your story entertains, what’s the big deal?

You could probably make the case that all contemporary fiction is derived from ancient mythology, folktales, or parables–there are no original stories out there even though everyone sets out to be fresh and original. The advantage of a novel that is unapologetically re-imagined is there’s an immediate connection with a readership who liked the story the first time and are curious to check it out a second.

I just finished a phenomenal book: Douglas Clegg’s Mordred, Bastard Son, which is drawn from the King Arthur legend.

I had to reorient myself to the source material since my only recollection of Mordred was a snivelling, effete Roddy McDowell singing: “The Seven Deadly Virtues” in the musical Camelot. Creepy stuff. I may have come out years earlier if I hadn’t seen the show.

Luckily, Clegg’s Mordred is an entirely different guy. He was an entirely different guy in the earliest King Arthur legends, Clegg points out in his Foreword. Already I was hooked. We gays have always gotten a bad rap.

Clegg’s Mordred is a misunderstood young man condemned to a life of hiding by his father’s hideous transgressions. Arthur raped Mordred’s mother and stole the sword Excalibur from its sacred place with The Lady of the Lake. A nice thread in the story is Mordred’s finding his place in the world as a gay man. Pre-Medieval Brittanica is not particularly homophobic–it’s still a land of pagan sensibilities–but there aren’t many boys like Mordred while he’s growing up. He’s lonely, curious and frustrated by his attraction to boys he meets that he can never have. Then his mentor Merlin hands him an impossible challenge: he must remain physically pure until he reaches manhood (at approximately 18) or he will lose his potential to master the magickal arts.

The rich development of Mordred is what makes the book so enjoyable and engrossing. He’s a well-intentioned kid constantly thwarted by the people who are supposed to love and protect him.

There’s a love story with the Knight Lancelot who’s the most freely re-imagined character from the conventional tale. Clegg’s Lancelot is the best friend of Mordred’s

father, and he helped Arthur steal Excalibur and try to kill Mordred’s pregnant mother so his bastard son wouldn’t be revealed. When Mordred meets him, Lancelot is estranged from Arthur, living as an outcast, steeped in guilt and desirous of a male companion.

Here Clegg almost lost me. I’ve always thought of Lancelot as the epitome of male heterosexuality. But as I settled in to the latter half of the book, the romance between Mordred and Lancelot was awfully compelling. Lines like: “You’re my hunter, and I’m your stag.” probably make other people cringe, but set things up right and I’ll swoon right in my seat on the train.

Clegg also writes one of the best depictions of magic (magick) I’ve read. It’s inspired from nature–the elementals–and has more in common with native religion than the wand-brandishing wizardry of Harry Potter or the archaic incantations of Lord of the Rings.

The only thing that disappointed was the projected sequels to the book appear to have disappeared unless Clegg and/or his editors are taking their sweet time (it’s been four years since Mordred came out).

Gregory Maguire is of course my favorite author of retold stories. Beyond his humor and his capturing of otherness, he’s a master of setting–the dark but quirky land of Oz, early Renaissance Amsterdam in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and the Italian countryside of the 16th century Borgia family in which he places his re-imagined Snow White in Mirror, Mirror.

So anyone have suggestions for reimagined legends while I wait for Gregory Maguire’s next novel to come out (and perhaps, in vain, for a sequel to Mordred)?

Meanwhile, I’ll be going dark next week while on va-cay in Provincetown.  Wishing good times for all this late summer.

Latest La Bloga column – PANIC! in the East Village

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My article on Charlie Vazquez’ PANIC! reading series just went up today on La Bloga.  This was a really cool assignment–checking out NYC’s queer poets/writers scene.  The readings were fierce, and the event had the feel of an elbow-to-elbow house party.

Read my article here.  You can find out more about PANIC! and get announcements about upcoming events on their Facebook page.

I Want My Rights Decided By A Gay Activist Judge

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So I made the mistake of reading the New York Post the other day.  I was on the Long Island Rail Road, no reading material in hand, and someone had left the paper on one of the seats.

I’ll admit I’m always a little curious about the Page Six gossip, but the NYP has always confused and frightened me at the same time.   There are guilty pleasures—Star Magazine for instance—but I get really worried about the thousands of people whose only access to news is sensationalized, hyper-cynical, slanted bilge like NYP.

I’m flipping through the stories, which are short, easy-to-read and tend to feature prostitute scandals and sex offenders, and I come to Rich Lowry’s editorial about the recent federal court decision on California’s Prop 8.  There’s the usual rhetoric:  an “activist” judge “defying the will of the people,” and calling gays degenerates who are destroying the “American family.”  But what really bugs me is Lowry’s contention that Judge Walker was unfit to decide the issue because he’s gay.

To be clear, Vaughn Walker is rumored to be gay but has never said anything about being gay or non-gay to the press.  But what if Walker is gay?  Isn’t that exactly the kind of person you want to weigh in on minority rights?  The whole Prop 8 issue is scary to me anyway as I get pretty uncomfortable with the idea of minorities being put up for approval by popular ballot.   That means we gay people—some two to ten percent of the population—have to get the votes of over half of our non-gay counterparts in order to earn legal protections that everyone else enjoys.

So the real question should be:  is it fair for a non-gay judge to decide the fate of gay Americans?

I’m personally a whole lot more comfortable with someone gay evaluating  whether or not my life, my partner is entitled to legal protection.  Historically, left up to non-gays, we’ve been imprisoned, institutionalized and victimized and discriminated against over and over again.  I’m not a separatist.  Some of my best friends aren’t gay.  But this crap about gay people needing to recuse themselves from legal decisions involving our own rights is outrageously absurd.

Not that the same tactics haven’t been used against other minority groups.  Remember the BS about Sonia Sotomayor being “too proud” of being a Latina woman?  She had the gall to say that her cultural background could actually be an asset as a supreme court judge.

Some people say we should live in a color-blind, sexual-orientation-blind society.   I think they miss a crucial point.  Our differences are our strengths.  Most definitely when deciding culturally-sensitive issues, including same-sex marriage.

Wilde Oats Publication!!

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Wilde Oats Issue Five is out and includes my short story “In A Wine Phase.”

Finally, I have an answer to the question:  Where can I read your stuff (without having to pay for it)? You can check it out here.

Wilde Oats is a gay and bisexual fiction e-zine.  Here’s a link to the entire August issue.

So what else have I been doing?

Just finished a guest column for La Bloga on Charlie Vazquez’ PANIC! reading series.  It should be out either later today or next Sunday.

And I’ve been networking on Absolute Write, GayWriters.org and Queer Magazine Online.  Doing some beta reading and sharing triumphs and tribulations with other writers.

The revised manuscript is cranking along.  Happy Sunday to all.

Favorite Writing Quotes

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I turn to wisdom from renowned authors from time to time. You know—those moments when I’m stalled at the computer, my brain clawed open, unable to patch together the simplest thought, my inadequacy a tightening noose around my neck asphyxiating me to a painful spiritual death. We all need hope. We need to believe we’re not in this alone.

Here are some of my favorite words of inspiration.

Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.  – Thomas Berger

Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.  – Gene Fowler

A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.  – Eugene Ionesco

What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.  -Burton Rascoe

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.  -Thomas Mann

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.  -Robert A. Heinlein

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.  -Flannery O’Connor

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.  -W. Somerset Maugham

The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It’s not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work.  -Augusten Burroughs

[To write] you most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. Prayer might work.  -Margaret Atwood

The first 12 years are the worst.  -Anne Enright

Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.  -Richard Ford

Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.  -Neil Gaiman