News: Director Jerry Douglas Pens First Novel

Jane Fonda is all over these days talking about the “third act” of life in her book Prime Time. Well, guess what? Porn peeps get to have a third act too! Director Jerry Douglas, who has written and directed gay porn since before your balls dropped, has penned his first novel! (He has also done legit theater, and we reviewed his most recent play here.) And with The Legend of the Ditto Twins, Douglas is walking some familiar terrain. Anyone remember his 1996 movie Flesh & Blood? Well, it starred Kurt Young and was about…twins! Jerry’s first novel is about twin bros Eric and Derrick, who play “secret games” at night in bed together. According to the press release from publisher Bruno Gmünder, the books follows these newbies “on their journey from a modest dairy farm in America’s heartland to the glamorous world of Berlin’s physique models, from the wonderland of Prague’s adult film industry to the fast lane of New York’s glittering club life. And ultimately, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.” To where!? WTF!? Well, it beats hanging at The Abbey! Although twincest remains a hot button topic with gay porn fans (some love it, some hate it), we’re sure Douglas brings his witty tone and seasoned point of view. The author will be interviewed about the book this Wednesday, June 20, on The Derek & Romaine Show (Sirius XM satellite radio channel 108). Tune in to hear a master storyteller.

Book Review: Rising Starz

For all those porn fans out there who like to read books (come back! don’t click away!), author Owen Keehnen has penned Rising Starz. The latest installment in this interview series takes you behind the scenes and into the lives of some of your favorite porn stars. Among those featured in this edition are Bruno Bond, Kirk Cummings, Lucky Daniels, RJ Danvers, Mike Dreyden, Conner Habib, David Taylor and Austin Wilde. The studs talk about their careers, goals and turn-ons. They also discuss their lives off-camera and how they got started in porn.

Keehnen has penned three other books in this series, Starz, More Starz and Ultimate Starz, and he recently told VincentLambert.com in an exclusive interview what makes this edition special. “I wanted to focus more on the up-and-cummers (so to speak) of the jizz biz,” Keehnen says. “The 45 XXX stars in this volume were truly a great group of men. I love this edition of the series because the conversations frequently took such unexpected turns. I learned a lot and think that readers will as well. I hope it is half as much fun to read as it was to research.”

Owen went on to share a few of his favorite subjects: “Conner Habib got me hard by uttering the magic words ‘I used to teach English at two universities and now I do porn.’ Tony Buff is simply one of the hottest and most charismatic guys ever to do porn. Cover guy Logan McCree is one of the most sexual beings I have ever met. It’s animal magnetism to the extreme, and the fact that he’s a DJ makes him that much hotter. Gorgeous Ross Hurston is movie star handsome with a British accent, so I am hereby proclaiming him the Cary Grant of fuck films. Damien Crosse, who is another fantasy man of mine, told me all about how he and his partner, porn legend Francesco D’Macho, like to have water sports fun. RJ Danvers is a honors college student during the week and a porn star on the weekends. Kirk Cummings is a cute little number who auditioned for American Idol. Those are a few, but there are so many others.”

Rising Starz is available through Amazon and at LGBT bookstores worldwide.

Short Takes: The Book of Men…and More

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Book Review: Bob’s World

Athletic Model Guild has joined forces with international publisher TASCHEN and book editor Dian Hanson to celebrate Bob Mizer’s late-period color photography in the hardcover book Bob’s World: The Life and Boys of AMG’s Bob Mizer. It consists of 288 pages of Mizer’s color work and an oral history of AMG. This is the first publication to look exclusively at Mizer’s color photos. Mizer’s groundbreaking black-and-white photography was prominently featured in The Big Penis Book (also from TASCHEN and Hanson), and it was in the editing of that book that Bob’s World was born.

“I wanted to do this book as soon as I saw the color photos provided for The Big Penis Book,” Hanson says. “The quirky backdrops, the vibrant gels, the playful attitudes of the models, their straight hoodlum charm, and Bob’s eccentricity shining through all grabbed me immediately.”

There are more than 250 photos in the book, and the accompanying oral history is provided in quotes from David Hockney, Jack Pierson, David Hurles and Hal Roth, among others. The book also includes a one-hour DVD of Mizer films spanning from 1958–1980, specially edited for this edition. “Bob was an extremely reserved person,” says AMG president Dennis Bell. “He hardly ever granted interviews. Bob’s World blows the top off of his closely guarded persona. It’s the most honest, most original book ever published about the reigning king of beefcake.” For more information, visit athleticmodelguild.com.

Short Takes: How to Be a Porn Star…and More

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Book Review: The Great Cock Hunt

BY VINCENT LAMBERT

The Great Cock Hunt
by Alex

Does anyone read books anymore? And does anyone, in this age of easily accessible Internet porn, read them to get off? The editors at Kensington Books sure hope so as they went to the trouble of tracking down popular sex blogger Alex and signing him to a book deal. The result, The Great Cock Hunt, has just been published, and fans of the down-and-dirty blog of the same name won’t be disappointed. Alex started his blog, which grew out of a series of e-mails that he and his friends exchanged divulging their sexual exploits, in 2005. His vivid descriptions of his sex life soon found a wider audience when he decided to share them online. Now, for his first book, the 30-year-old New Yorker takes his explicit experiences and places them in a narrative that is often entertaining and fun.

Cock Hunt starts off as Alex and his best friends Lizzie (the Grace to his Will) and Tommy head to their college reunion. Along the way, Alex encounters numerous guys he’s slept with and one he’s even been in love with. The drama builds as the weekend goes on, with Alex sucking and fucking, drinking and drugging his way through. The writing has a certain blog-like quality with short chapters and Alex often interrupting the action to add pithy commentary. Sure, his analogies are trite (“Tommy’s a total slut with barely any morals and the ethics of an Enron executive”), but the whole thing has a wonderfully gossipy feel. It’s as if someone turned Us Weekly into a novel and all the celebrities were actually gay, or if you just happened upon a gaggle of queens on Fire Island dishing the dirt and they let you listen in. Among the hot hookups and twisted relationships, there are sex scenes—lots of sex scenes (there’s even a straight coupling!). So, again: Does anyone read books for porn these days? Maybe not, but the scenarios Alex dreams up are boner-inducing all the same.

As a lead character, Alex comes across as a tad on the shallow side, a superficial stud with the body of a Chelsea boy and the ego to match, but his experiences in love (and lust) are ones that most gay guys will identify with. He’s an Everyfag for the Manhunt crowd—although it’s hard to believe that anyone out of his teens could be this horny. As a writer, it’s too bad he doesn’t have more faith in his story line; after a while the sex sequences start intruding on the plot and have a tacked-on feeling. And the abrupt ending (the story doesn’t so much end as it just stops) leaves the reader hanging, but it does give the impression that there are more tales to tell. Hopefully, as long as Alex is having sex (and it seems like he’s just getting warmed up), he’ll be compelled to write about it. And who wouldn’t want to eavesdrop on that? (Kensington Books)

Book Review: The Big Penis Book

According to TASCHEN, the German publisher of The Big Penis Book, men with more than eight inches of cock in their pants make up less than 2 percent of the world’s population. Hmmm, wonder how many of that 2 percent end up working in the porn industry. This companion volume to The Big Book of Breasts explores mankind’s centuries-old fascination with big dick. The hefty volume, edited by Dian Hanson, is illustrated with more than 400 historic photos of spectacular male endowments, including rare shots of legendary porn star John Holmes. The majority of the pictures are from the 1970s, when the sexual revolution first freed photographers to depict men entirely nude. Photographers include Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild, David Hurles of Old Reliable, Colt, Falcon, Chuck, Third World and Champion Studios, and each of these iconic artists is interviewed or profiled, along with information about their models. Guess no one’s gonna complain about too much of a good thing here. For more information, visit www.taschen.com.

Book Review: Bisexual’s Guide to Universe

BY VINCENT LAMBERT

The Bisexual’s Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, and Lists for Those Who Go Both Ways
by Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski

According to a 2002 study in The Advocate, about 40 percent of gay men at some point identify as bisexual. This well-written new book from co-authors Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski (pictured, above) addresses the wants, needs and desires of these guys, not to mention the many women who deal with the same feelings. In a series of entertaining anecdotes, quizzes, statistics, lists and fun facts, The Bisexual’s Guide to the Universe will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about those who never limit their options—or their chances of getting a date on Saturday night. Kristal reveals how she came out as bi in high school, while Szymanski (aka veteran porn journalist Mickey Skee) shares the story of “the House That Bisexuality Built.” There are great quotes from the likes of famous bi’s Tallulah Bankhead, Sandra Bernhard and Andy Dick, along with asexual anthropologist Margaret Mead. And just when you were wondering which of your favorite cartoon characters goes both ways (Bugs Bunny!) or which animals are known to fence-sit (oysters!), this enjoyable and informative read will provide you with an exhaustive list. And if you’re considering having a threeway with that hot married couple from the gym, Kristal and Szymanski offer clever tips for being the “guest star” in bed. So take notes, guys, because if the Kinsey Scale is right, there just might be a raging bisexual lurking inside you! (Alyson Books)

Book Review: Male Nude Now

BY VINCENT LAMBERT

Male Nude Now: New Visions for the 21st Century
by David Leddick

David Leddick has established himself as the leading expert on the male nude in photography. His two previous picture books, Naked Men and Naked Men, Too, are now joined by their natural successor, Male Nude Now. With this soft-cover coffee-table book, Leddick aims to create a definitive collection of the best contemporary work on the male figure. And with more than 240 primarily unpublished images from some big-name artists—everyone from David Hockney to Clive Barker, Pierre et Gilles to Nan Goldin—working in the field today, he succeeds with ease.

In the introduction, Leddick traces the history of the male nude in art. From the sculptors of Ancient Greece and Rome to Michelangelo and other artists of the Italian Renaissance, the male nude has been with us. And, ironically, the Greek ideal of the male body—smooth, hairless and voluptuous in all the right places—is still evident on any Chelsea street corner. Leddick attributes the ever-growing visibility of the male nude to the rise of feminism and the gay rights movements in the 1960s. The results of these sweeping social changes have made Leddick’s valuable work possible.

Male Nude Now is divided into seven categories, which creates a cohesive and structured way of looking at the art. (Leddick also provides a brief bio and analysis of each artist’s work.) For example, the section devoted to the Neoclassicists showcases artists who place their subjects in a modern context, but whose work is firmly rooted in the past. This includes celebrity photographer Greg Gorman—who captures former Calvin Klein underwear model Joel West, now sporting a shaved head, in several moody, elastic poses—and J.B. Harter, a painter who is a curator at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Harter’s dark, brooding Trompe l’Oeil painting (one of several in the book) reflects his acceptance of the gay lifestyle following his divorce. David Halliday, another New Orleans artist, presents porn star Jim Buck showing off his Prince Albert with a sly expression. By grouping these works together, Leddick provides the reader with a range of creative expressions within a particular style.

The section on the Eroticists, who share a carnal thrill with the viewer in some way, is especially diverse. Writer/director Clive Barker offers a witty and provocative take on the male organ. Christopher Makos displays his trademark piecemeal style, calling forth the Warholian influence he is known for. And painter Peter Wyman uses color and broad brushstrokes to create a masculine feeling that jumps off the canvas.

In his closing, Leddick ponders the future of the male nude. He writes, “As artists continue to redefine what is erotic, what is beautiful, so will we continue to grow in our ability to perceive the erotic and the beautiful where we hadn’t before.” This comprehensive and sexy book certainly leads the way. (Universe Publishing)

Reprinted from AllAmericanKink.com (2002)