Kirjahaku

Theo Cinder is a man so full of unbridled rage that to cross his path is to become the unwitting target of his acidic tongue. No adult is immune from his stealth attacks. His gnarly nature makes Scrooge look like a milquetoast. Only his estranged long term partner Trevor is able to see the wounded child within Theo and understand the source of his rage, which explodes to the surface after they separate. When Theo's car breaks down he reluctantly decides to take a bus home. However, he soon realizes the bus has but one other passenger and no driver when it lurches into motion. The eccentric older gentleman who had boarded the bus with him is soon transformed into an animated human silhouette, a professorial "creature of no color" who calls himself Charlie. Charlie informs Theophilos Cinder that he will not be allowed off the bus until he completes a mandatory course in Life 101 consisting of a journey through the painful events in his past that contributed to his becoming a human cactus. Will re-visiting the source of his inner pain result in an epiphany and lead to a reunion with the heartbroken Trevor? In taking this illuminating journey through one man's life we come to realize there is a bit of Theophilos Cinder in us all.

It is 1984, and just about everyone needs a miracle. What better place to seek one than in an enchanted forest? A friendly and casual community of hikers, nature enthusiasts, gay men seeking discrete sexual encounters, and assorted social outcasts had proven socially compatible and peaceful for years. At the center of this group was the park's unofficial "earth mother", a tender but tough retiree named Naomi Livingston, ever happy to interact with the park's younger regulars straight or gay.No one had any idea that ranger Randall Damron had been blinded by the light of a vision, a spiritual calling to "clean up the park" of anyone breaking the law or park rules. He was convinced that he was chosen to do so by God Himself, with Ronald Reagan's blessings. Randall thus initiates an intense crusade to rid the park of anyone involved in criminal behavior, especially the gay men engaging in casual sex encounters, and word soon spreads among the park's regulars that he does not merely entrap gay men and have them hauled off to jail, but that he physically assaults them in the process. Rather than assisting and serving the park's visitors as he had once done, he becomes a rigidly authoritarian and harassing presence to one and all. Even the trees, who share their thoughts and observations with the reader from time to time throughout the book, notice the tension and disruption in their once peaceful midst. When the body of a dead woman is discovered in the park, Randall's frustration exacerbates as he tries to crack the case himself when the LAPD falters. No one in the park is aware Randall is motivated by personal political ambition and dreams of glory in ridding the park of illegal or immoral activity before he is interviewed on television as a hero at an upcoming celebration intended to enhance the park's reputation as a family- friendly gathering place. As Randall's anger reaches the breaking point the community he once served with a sense of professional duty watches helplessly as all hell breaks loose. Meanwhile, a mysterious book that promises miracles to those who read it continues to pass from hand to hand among the park regulars. Will it ever reach the hands of a ranger out of control who needs it most of all?Romance, sex, life and death occur amidst the living, breathing beauty of the park, and even as the sunny optimism of the Reagan era beams forth, a dark and horrific epidemic begins its devastating descent. After reading this book you may never look at a tree the same way again.

Ren Gallagher has it all. He is a handsome and charismatic gay man with a successful career in public relations. He has also been HIV positive and asymptomatic for over a decade when he notices the first mysterious signs of facial disfigurement, which only progress in the year 2000. He is unaware that many other long time survivors of HIV are also experiencing the same devastating side effect of the much heralded "drug cocktail" medications, a terrifying condition called lipodystrophy. Certain that his worsening disfiguration will lead to social isolation, the loss of his job, and the end of his dream of ever finding true and lasting love, he decides to quietly end his life. However, his friends Audrey and Adam, and Night Cloud, the spirit of a young Native American man who had died of AIDS in the early '80s, were determined to help Ren through his daunting crisis. Night Cloud effectively and sometimes hilariously manages to thwart Ren's efforts to commit suicide, then plans to lead him out of his self-imposed isolation to an obscure and strange private club for gay men called The Oh Aces. Ren is resistant and certain he will only be rejected due to his appearance but Night Cloud is convinced The Oh Aces is the exact oasis he needs if he is to survive. Part One, "The Stranger in the Mirror", draws the reader into Ren's living nightmare.

Despite his fear of rejection Ren listens to Night Cloud's hypnotic pleas to take the risk of going to The Oh Aces. However, once there, he hides his disfigurement in the shadow of the club's darkest corner, hungering for the human contact he is aching for. Instead of rejection Ren finds the Aces welcoming and seemingly blind to his appearance. Andy, a man known for his sexual and psychic skills, wastes no time in introducing Ren to the incendiary sexual side of the club. Despite this experience Ren's despair is unabated, but both Night Cloud and Ren's best friends, Audrey and Adam, escalate their efforts to help him through the storm. Ren is soon drawn back to The Oh-Aces but finds that Andy insists on giving him psychic readings and seems intent on more than just casual sex. Others also befriend Ren, offering him reassurance that he is not the only one suffering the painful effects of the HIV epidemic. A hunk named Gust has noticed Ren hiding beneath his over-sized black stocking-cap revealing little beyond the sad but beautiful eyes that long for a love he is convinced is no longer possible.

Just as the guardian spirit Night Cloud intends, The Oh-Aces offers life-affirming support to Ren Gallagher, a disfigured and suicidal man living in self-isolation. However, trouble surfaces when Andy, a gifted but lonely psychic, falls in love with Ren. In his zeal to help Ren come to terms with his disfigurement and his estrangement from his dying mother, Andy violates Ren's personal boundaries and tension between the two men escalates. Nevertheless, when Andy is attacked by a gang-influenced youth on the dark street outside the club, it is Ren who saves his life. In the process of doing so he discovers the good and worthy man he really is beneath his ravaged appearance and is hailed a hero by the Aces. Will new friends and a loving new relationship be enough to convince Ren his life is worth living?