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Something Inside:
conversations with Bay Fiction Writers

,REVIEWED BY ERNIE MCLEOD

Q: Why is Brad Gooch, one of the lesser writers featured in “Something Inside:
Conversations with Gay Writers,” the only writer on the front cover? ‘

A: Because he’s a pretty boy and publishers think—not without evidence—that gay
men only buy books with hunks on the cover. That pet peeve out of the way, let me say
that “Something lnside,” while not a book for everyone, has much to offer any follow-
er or potential follower of “gay fiction” (exactly what is meant by “gay fiction” is one
of the discussions in the book) and is a near must—read for any aspiring gay fiction writer.

As the title implies, this anthology is not so much a series of formal interviews as a
series of conversations between writers. Philip Gambone, who conducted all of the
“conversations,” is a fiction writer himself and, as such, his questions tend towards the
literary and away from gossip, fashion, and political debate. There is, however, a nice
balance between specific questions about each author’s life and work and more general
questions about where gay flction’s been and where it’s going. Some examples: Can you
write eifectively about a plague that’s not over? Is it still possible to write an original
coming-out story? Is there a gay sensibility and, if so, does it depend on the concealment
of homosexuality? Is a gay writer someone who just happens to be gay, or someone
whose sexuality is at the very core of his work?

As a guide through these thorny issues, Gambone is mild-mannered and perceptive,
refreshingly unpretentious. Rather than following a stock agenda, he takes cues from
each writer and mostly lets the conversations go where they will. Some questions are
repeated: Who has inspired you? Do you have any advice for beginning gay writers?
What are your work habits? As someone unnaturally fascinated by the work habits of
others, particularly in comparison to my own desultory
rituals, I was glad Gambone delved into the mundane
By Philip Gambone yet critical matter of how various artists manage to plod

_ through each lonely working day without going insane.
Wm‘ Phoiog mphs bY I found the later interviews in the book to be more inter-

Robert Giord esting than the earlier ones, which may speak to
University of Wisconsin tGambon:’s increasing skill as an interviewer, or simply
o COlI’1Cl ences o arran ement.
Press’ 34 1 pp’ $2495 ‘ So, who did he interv%ew? Twenty—one men, includ-
—'*‘—:—‘j ing established writers like Ed White, Paul Monette,
David Leavitt, and Christopher Bram, as well as relatively new or lesser known writers
like Brian Keith Jackson, Scott Heim, and Bernard Cooper. The interviews are arranged

SOMETHING > PAGE22