Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Catch Trap

April 23, 2007

Cause It’s Men In Tights And It Feels Alright, Oh What A Night!

27 years ago I was a closeted teenage gay geek. Yep, that’s right, a 16 year old boy that was being raised in a very strict “Holy Roller” household and far too aware of his sexuality and the pain it would eventually cause me and those around me and (Thank god!) I had a ravenous curiosity to read. One day after finding a suitable library far enough away from my parents and my neighborhood and with librarians who were… how shall I say this… gullible as to my exact age, I started picking up and reading any and all gay literature I could get my grubby hands on.

Let me tell you, most of the gay coming-out literature out there is CRAP!

Sorry but even at that ripe old age I was well aware of the fact that even in my great inexperience I in no way wanted to become a stage actor, a screen director, a wearer of women’s dresses, sing show tunes, become an Olympic athlete, worry about my cloths or hair, shave various parts of my body, or be involved with men who hold such things in much import. Unfortunately in most gay literature shelves in a public library blue collar characters are absent and this leaves you with pretty much nothing but the porno section.

This leads me here, to probably the one book that even came close to having any meaning for me at that time.

You may know Marion Zimmer Bradley’s highly entertaining writings the well known author of the vast Darkover science fiction series and the gorgeous Avalon Arthurian fantasy series of books. You might know that she helped found The Society for Creative Anachronism here in the Bay Area. You might even be aware of the real life scandals surrounding her centering on the two husbands she married both of whom were considered to be gay and one of whom was an accused pedophile. I highly doubt though that you have ever read her most ambitious work and the best damn teenage gay male romance I have ever come across.

The Catch Trap originally titled The Flyers was actually written or at least started in 1948 but not published until 1979.

This particular book, considered by her family and close friends to be her best work, was unfortunately hidden in the fiction stacks well away from public view, to be kept away from curious children and sensitive adults, due to the fact that unlike her science fiction and fantasy stories this one was very above board in it’s subject matter. One of the first gay romance novels by a mainstream author, between two masculine guys, with a realistic circus setting and containing a very very taboo topic, and most threatening of all to the puritans of literature, it was damn good.

The Story
Though heavily populated with very realistic historical circus minutia and lots of Italian family members and assorted characters both gay and straight, the real “core” story centers on Mario Santelli (of The Flying Santelli’s) and Tommy Zane Jr. (the Lion Tamer’s kid) both living and working (in the beginning of the book) at a second tier circus during the 1940’s. Mario is 20 and Tommy is 15 when they meet, Mario allows Tommy to start working with him on the trapeze. Tommy’s dreams of becoming a flyer like Mario are quickly realized when he starts to show a real talent for it.

Tommy evolves from a typical boyish childhood crush on Mario to an almost heart aching first love that culminates in an eventual reciprocation from Mario. Sexual tension leads to a few stolen kisses to some heavy petting, then proceeded from there. Which brings on the whole still taboo subject matter involving sex between a young adult man and a teenage boy, even though it is entirely consensual and very much a part of the gay teenage coming of age story being told. The whole argument is just overblown and silly, at this age these kids were both pretty bad at sex anyway. We are not talking anywhere near the level of pornographic description I have read in most modern day romance books, here it was just more awkward and emotional than any real heavy action.

Now don’t go getting the idea this is all about Mario, the senior of the two, leading Tommy on, allot of the initial seduction is fully on Tommy’s part with Mario scared witless that they will be caught (He’s right they are) and he alone will be blamed. I was rooting for Tommy to keep hitting on the guy and thinking to myself, yum, muscular Italian stud in tights, I’d hit it! At the time I kept picturing Mikhail Baryshnikov from the movie The Turning Point *hubba hubba* whenever he turned his back to the camera in those tights and showed those round perky luscious buttocks that even at age 16 I had the distinct urge to plant my face firmly between them and… Never mind!

The book falls into two parts the 1940’s, and the 1950’s. Remember this book was written during these years and should be considered contemporary in subject for that period. So do not be surprised by the obvious non-politically correct homosexual points of view. It was hard enough just to be a homosexual, to just have any type of contact with another man without getting thrown into jail, then add to that actually having a long term relationship, well…

The initial story is of Tommy and Mario meeting and working together and falling in love, then the eventual heartbreak and realization when The Flying Santelli’s troupe they are in falls apart that they too will have to break up and leave each other.
The second story takes place later in their lives when Tommy purposefully seeks Mario out and helps to not only rebuild the troupe (The Flying Santelli’s) but also rebuild a life in which he and Mario can remain together as an adult homosexual male couple.

What I Learned (at age 16)
The Catch Trap is more than just the average gay or even straight epic historical romantic bodice ripper. Sure there is sex and heartache and turmoil and lots of heavy sighs and a couple of very violent moments but they are not the best part. There are distinct gay life lessons, real valid messages falling out of these pages even though it is written by an obviously intelligent but none the less straight woman.

Just because you fall in love with an older guy does not mean that his age will automatically make him the more mature of the two parties involved.

Realize very quickly that being an outrageous swishy queen or an alcoholic psychotic closet case with severe violence issues will not make you popular or a real catch.

Sex is not the most important thing in your life or relationships.

Violence will eventually destroy any relationship and most likely yourself.

Sexuality should be an extension of your life and goals not the focus of it.

Just because you can have sex with a woman does not mean you should and having a child won’t make you straight.

And last but not least…

No matter how desperate and painful life gets because you were being honest about yourself, and who you really are, accept that you will survive and be better for it.

Pretty heady stuff for a romance book huh? I have not even mentioned the emotional growth that is shown or the underlying look at the naturally occurring roles of submission and dominance in a very masculine Gay relationship. All I know is a copy of this book remains forever in my library. It struck several chords with me even at that very early age and those same things continue to resonate in my life.

Besides All That
Don’t get me wrong, the writing in The Catch Trap ain’t in any way, shape, or form, perfect and we are talking about a very very long book. Some of the early parts of the book have a little too much foreshadowing for real comfort. Lines like…
“It was the only promise to one another they never broke.” I mean come on I’m 1/3 of the way through the book, I know there is more to this story, stop hinting about that and get on with it.

Some of the later parts of the book get so philosophical and dated I was cringing for some of the characters going so far outside of how they had been initially written. Tommy turns into a thought context bubble factory in the second half of the book.

“It’s my job to get him back to the Coast in one piece. But it’s because I need to have him in one piece. But we’ve got to find a way to live together without tearing each other up this way. And it’s my job, because his nerves are all to pieces, and mine are in pretty good shape.”

It gets especially obvious that some of these internal discussions were not something that they would actually be thinking and was planned to provide the required nice and tidy ending Marion was going for. It just can become damn awkward reading. And… As far as endings go, sometimes loose ends and unforgiving view points left intact make a book more realistic for me, not everyone should become accepting at the outcome or resolution of the story, just like real life is not perfect.

It’s just my guess that the bigger the book is the more glaring and lengthy the mistakes a writer may make become. The Catch Trap still pays off ten times over despite these quibbles. This in my view really was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s best.

Even though this book is out of print, all I can hope is for you to click over to Amazon and maybe pick up an old used copy for yourself. If you happen to know any young teenage boys who you think might need this type of positive supportive message leave an extra copy lying around inconspicuously, you never know it might save some young gay guy a lot of unnecessary a pain and some pretty nasty, rotten life experiences.

Grade A for one of the unknown classics of Gay Romance.