Panthers in the Skins of Men

Writer Charles Nelson promises an erotic gay novel, but it's less a story and more a cross-country blitz of free and random sex in the days when that kind of thing was safer. So, okay, it's not Shakespeare, but it doesn't promise to be. It is what it is: gay eroticism, and it comes in heaps here, and the book's jacket is but a glimmer of what lies beneath. There are plenty of guys in (and out) of uniforms, from lead character Kurt Storm who is discharged from the Navy after a year of celebacy in Vietnam. Hitching on the New Jersey Turnpike, Nick is picked up (literally) by another man in unforum, a macho (and married)stud of a state trooper named Nick. From there, Kurt and Nick set off cross-country to conquer whatever temptation comes their way. There are a lot of them, too, from the Navy SEAL hustler, the two hitchhiking Tufts University students, a couple of seductive FBI agents who are packing more than the usual credential, a bachelor party where the seeds of gay sex are planted virtually everywhere and, believe it or not, a six-way guy-bang involving a father and son (talk about keeping it in the family!). Every homoerotic fantasy conceiveable is played out here, and the "story" line is really nothing more than a shot at mainstream literature. That one falls short here but, then again, this isn't Pulitzer Prize material. It's little more than a collection of gay sexual experiences with the goal of getting its reader off, and it certainly doesn't fall short on that count. If nothing else, the cover alone makes the book worth it!

Those of you in the Society for the Suppression of Vice aren't going to like this book, but I found it one of the most electrifying, erotic books I've ever read. Is "one time Kurt" a gay incubus, or homophobe? His modus vivendi seems to be that "nothing succeeds like excess," and he apparently has brought more joy to the troops than Bob Hope. And so our anti-romantic anti-hero plods relentlessly on. I only wish Nelson would write more books.