Welcome To The Desert Of The Real…

Marion Zimmer Bradley ~ The Catch Trap
From: Ballantine Books

Now available at Fictionwise

“Listen to me, Tom. You know how I feel about you, so you can say this is something I made up to con you into bed. I know how you feel about Matt. I know you love the guy. Hell, a blind man could see it. God forbid I should come between you two; the kind of thing you two have together, it doesn’t happen often among our kind of people. Hell, it doesn’t happen that often in marriage, even — for two people to love each other, care what happens to the other one, stay friends and partners even outside the sack. That’s something special, something everybody dreams about, not just homosexuals. And it doesn’t happen all that much. I thought Tony Rogers and I had something like that going for us. Only I was wrong about it.”

Far a moment his face was closed and bitter. Then he said, “But there’s one thing you can’t do with that kind of a — a partnership, Tom. You can’t try and pretend it’s something it isn’t. And what it isn’t, is marriage.”

“Hell, I know that.” Tommy turned his face away embarrassed.

Marion Zimmer Bradley ~ The Catch Trap

I have seen a ton of conversations brought up over “authenticity” in writing Gay Romance and after re-reading The Catch Trap on my iPad Kindle app I wanted to bring out this little smidgen of a moment from that story and examine why it makes me love this old book so very much.

First off Marion Zimmer Bradley “might” be just another “straight woman” writing about gay men in love but she is all about showing the fact she is no dummy when it comes to what gay men might actually deal with in relationships. She knows the type of decisions that get made and the type of discussions that define your typical gay relationship.

She knows there are certain realities that happen between gay men and finally that you cannot really define a homosexual relationship using hetero-normative standards. Like it or not we might be able to wear those Barbara Billingsley pearls and heels if we feel like it but you are still talking about two masculine guys defining a relationship from scratch with no easy recipe card listing all the necessary ingredients.

I know many writers will say that monogamy simply bolsters the “romance” in your typical Gay Romance story but I wanted to use this as an example of a talented writer not just taking a swipe at writing what I consider to be an Epic Gay Romance but one also going that extra step and in my opinion taking some chances by having her characters decide not to follow the easiest path between point A and point B on the way to the HEA. Which I think makes the book a lot longer but gives it some bite and a reason to stick around to find out “what happens next”.

In the scene above Tommy Zane who has finally gotten back together with the love of his life Mario Santelli is being seduced by (MZB’s nod to “Rock Hudson before the big AIDS scandal”) Bart Reeder, the highly closeted movie star.

Now this might turn off some readers looking for simplicity and escapism who think that a choice to be non-monogamous at this late stage in the story undermines the final Romance HEA but in my opinion it makes these characters that much more realistic and adds depth to the plot.

Just like their physical fights and their various emotional disappointments with each other even after they “Fall In Love”. I find it adds complexity and maybe even regrets these characters might face later but I think it makes for some good reading watching MZB set all this up in a emotionally logical manner so when the big scenes finally hit the decisions made by the character make sense and even if it might verge on being a tad soapy. OK! maybe it is soap opera worthy… be like that!

It’s a huge book and I still end up reading through each chapter diligently. Something I can tell you I do not do so much with your typical classic Gay Fiction written by your typical Gay Writers even. I say there are simply not that many writers and I mean even Gay Writers willing to discuss these common decisions and differences so frankly and honestly (even in Romantic Fiction where things like this should be focused on) or take such chances with putting their characters in what might be seen as a “bad light”.

But then I am not talking about their books over and over again am I?

For my formal review… Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Catch Trap
Check out this interesting link on the real life Triple from 1964: Circus Anonymous

Tags: eBook Commentary