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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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Black and gay in America: Memorial & The Prophets

23/2/2021

12 Comments

 
It was good to read these two American novels about Black gay men, especially during LGBT history month: the second set in 19th-century Mississippi and an unnamed part of Africa; the first set in contemporary Texas and Japan.

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Memorial by Bryan Washington

Benson and Mike were happily coupled until around four years ago, when they moved in together. Now they’re about to have an unscheduled break. Mike’s father is dying and, despite their years of estrangement, he’s decided to fly to Osaka to say goodbye. If that weren’t enough to piss off Benson, Mike’s mother, Mitsuko, is coming to stay in their Houston apartment while he’s away. The stage is set for a domestic comedy – or are we heading for something more profound?
 
Actually, I couldn’t decide how to take it. Excited initially by the originality of the voice, I found it enervating by the end. While it was good to meet my first Japanese-African-American gay couple, either on or off the page, as well as a 21st-century character living with HIV, it didn’t take me far enough beyond the clever setup. Although readers with more patience for rehabilitating inadequate parents might find it uplifting.
 
Fortunately the author won’t care what I think since he’s already sold the film rights for his debut novel, first published in the US last year. Thanks to UK publishers, Atlantic books, for my review copy.


The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr

By the time Isaiah arrives at the Mississippi plantation known as Empty, he’s forgotten his original name. But, ejected, still shackled, from the wagon that transported him there, he’s approached by Samuel, an orphaned boy his own age. From that first gift of a sip of water, the pair share everything. But that starts to get risky as they reach their teens.
 
Having set to them to work in the barn with the animals, the Massa, Paul, has identified them as breeding stock. They’re strong and, despite the appalling conditions, willing workers, until dispatched to the Fucking Shed. They don’t have a word for the way they enjoy each other’s bodies, but they sense they’ll lose something if they succumb to something similar with a girl.
 
For a while, their closeness is tolerated by the other enslaved people, even approved of by those who remember the old ways. The story develops through multiple perspectives and viewpoints: one of which showcases Kosongo culture, where gender is fluid and love is celebrated in all its hues. But paradise is under threat: first from warring tribes and then Europeans resembling skinless ghosts.
 
As Christianity comes to Empty, touted by Amos, who takes to preaching to protect his partner from being raped again by Paul, the boys’ relationship is deemed immoral. But it’s less the sex that disturbs both slavers and enslaved alike, than the love. In a place where mothers daren’t love their children for fear they won’t survive the pain of separation, or because they remind them of rape, a cold heart is safest. In a business that relies on forced labour, the owners would go mad – as, indeed, does Paul’s wife, Ruth – if they recognised their workforce as human, just like them.
 
The author is more generous with his characters, extending humanity to the villains as well as victims, so that the contemporary reader can understand Paul and his family, even if we can’t condone them. This layering of conflicting wounds and motivations gives the novel a richness, and a strong foundation in reality alongside touches of magic realism, which I personally don’t relish.
 
The story of the transatlantic slave trade requires constant retelling from different angles to stop it going stale. By focusing on the love between two adolescent boys, Robert Jones Jr helps keep the narrative alive. This is the best novel I’ve read so far this year; thanks to riverrun for my review copy.
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With my own event for LGBT history month looming, I wondered about these authors’ experiences of launching their novels in lockdown. Going online can extend the audience, but calculating quantities of wine and nibbles is replaced by time-zone stress. Our event straddles the days of the week as well as breakfast versus dinner, but I thought we’d nailed it until I caught a tweet – thanks, nevertheless, Dorset libraries – aimed at early risers in the UK. The correct day and times are in the image, and the registration details you get if you sign up.

So my response to the latest flash fiction challenge right time, right place is in that territory. But I managed to shift the focus slightly from my own pre-performance nerves to count my blessings I’m not preparing while home-schooling. I’m not the Texas lawyer stuck in a cat filter. When times are tough, there’s always something worse.

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Lockdown literary launch
 
The kids needed the laptop for their schoolwork. I needed it to practice addressing the camera instead of the screen. I’d neglected them, constantly checking the joining link and time zones. Learning my lines. But they were good kids, they’d forgive me. They'd have my attention once the book was launched.
 
“Good evening, and welcome!” On Zoom, no-one would see me wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans. Gaze fixed on the camera, I didn’t immediately notice the kids had taken revenge. Rubbish at tech, I couldn’t cancel the filter. I read out my poignant passages as a cat.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
D. Avery link
23/2/2021 02:04:02 pm

How is it the kids always know how to easily manage that sort of thing?
That second book sounds like a worthwhile read. Best so far for you? High praise. I wonder will it hold this high place as the year progresses.
Good luck tomorrow. I am sure it'll go great.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
25/2/2021 12:10:28 pm

Thanks, D. Was good to have you in the audience.

Reply
D. Avery link
25/2/2021 12:51:09 pm

I was there, shadows and all. I should work on the lighting problem for zoom but have no great reason too. Summer's coming, there's good light then.
Might have a lazy morning today, read more of The Prophets. It has ended up in my kindle and I am appreciating it so far with its exposing the contradictions of christ-i-anity, in a way a good following read to The Mustard Seed, Osho's account of Thomas' account of Christ. (Christianity was not what He had hoped for; that was someone else's retelling and reshaping the narrative, an ongoing project)

Anne Goodwin
28/2/2021 12:46:21 pm

Hope you're still enjoying The Prophets. I'm afraid I glossed over the Christian references, although they would have been more familiar to me once. I looked up your Osho, which was new to me. Reminded me of a novel I started writing in my teens or early 20s about a twentieth century Jesus figure who was more of a revolutionary than what the church became.

Norah Colvin
24/2/2021 11:45:44 am

Hi Anne,
I'm not sure if either of these books are for me just now. The Prophets sounds a bit deep and brutal, and I couldn't get why a mother would come and stay in a son's apartment while he's away saying goodbye to his dying father. I think sometimes I come to your posts too late at night.
I enjoyed your flash. I can definitely see it happening. Love that cat filter.
I don't think I'll be able to join you for your discussion, but I'll pop in if I can. I wish you success with it across all time zones. And who said time travel was impossible?

Reply
Norah Colvin
24/2/2021 11:48:47 am

Sorry, Anne. It's 5 am for me. Too early for me.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
25/2/2021 12:16:17 pm

Would've been lovely to have you there, but while 8am in NZ is fine, 5am in Queensland is a bit much to expect. There will be a recording however.

Anne Goodwin
25/2/2021 12:14:25 pm

The novel does provide a rationale for that, but too convoluted to include in the review.

Reply
Norah Colvin
14/3/2021 09:31:40 am

Pleased to hear it's explained. I haven't caught up on the interview yet, but am still hoping to - one day. :)

Anne Goodwin
15/3/2021 08:09:56 am

No worries, I'll keep up the reminders (but need to remind myself first).

Goldie link
2/3/2021 02:17:41 pm

Thank you for a morning laugh. I haven't heard of the cat lawyer before. Amazing! What a fun, whimsical tale you crafted.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/3/2021 08:08:40 am

Thanks, Goldie. Sometimes bloomers spark great stories, especially other people's!

Reply



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