What does male sexuality have to do with Martin Brant Novels?
Within the general brotherhood of man, concerning male sexuality, a significant percentage of men live with a closely guarded secret. More common than most people think, these men are dealing a same sex attraction. Most people, other than those they may have shared their secret with, don’t realize how many men have some degree of sexual attraction to other men. Contrary to most moral codes and various religious beliefs, these feelings are quite common and natural. They are feelings that number among the human emotions I deal with through the characters in my novels.
A writer’s first priority, mine included, is to tell a good story. Any writer worth his or her salt wants to create a thoughtfully written story and entertain those who read his or her work. It could be a murder mystery like my latest novel, Copperas Cove, where Jonathon Scott, recently divorced, leaves Pittsburgh to start a new life and finds himself entangled in the bigoted dramas of 1950s Mississippi; or a WWII action/adventure like The Partisans, where two men on an important mission in France stumble upon a bright new future; or a tale of romance like A Song in the Park, where two men at odds with their past cross paths and start facing life’s challenges together. Good stories have characters and characters have personalities, personalities that are very much a part of the whole and make for a more intriguing book. Often the character’s personality can be a story within a story, or it can be the story itself, as in books such as Catcher in the Rye, or my first novel Five Married Men.
Why the element of same sex attraction?
For me it’s a fascination with the vast diversity of human nature. It’s a part of the human race that, for various reasons, many don’t understand. Many of us have been indoctrinated to belief there is something wrong with being attracted to a member of our own sex, which includes the majority of those who are. These are the men who keep secrets, who often feel guilty, who somehow believe there is something wrong with them. Though you may not feel attracted to members of your own sex, you know someone who does. It may be your brother or sister, your neighbor or a colleague at work, your cousin or best friend; it may even be your husband or wife. And chances are you don’t know their secret exists.
Considered a blessing or a curse, or both, the degree of same sex attraction varies from one man to the next; from a mild curiosity that leaves him feeling either guilty or warm inside, to a full blown and exclusive attraction to one’s own sex. Though the same holds true for both men and women, my focus and my novels are about men (and the women in their lives). And for some reason, same sex attractions seem more prevalent in men, though it is also considered by many as more unnatural and less acceptable.
So why would an author that wants to write a compelling mainstream tale include characters with a same sex attraction? Maybe I believe human sexuality in itself is compelling. Maybe, through my novels, I would like to help broaden human understanding. Maybe a part of me wants to say it’s okay.
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“If you can’t swim nude the next best thing is a Speedo.”
Like the head turning beauty of a shapely female body in a well fitted bikini so easily catches the eye of appreciative onlookers and bikini officianados as she passes by, likewise does the welcome and pleasing sight of a well cared for male body wearing Speedos, or some similar comparable neatly hugging brief swimwear designed just for men.
Swimwear eye candy male loving men and women.
When the body looks as good as the one in the yellow speedos above and the next in the blue, and likewise in ‘Speedos-A Good Way to Enhance American Beaches’: the three in orange, red and green; the red in the chair; the light blue and wet; the pair chatting in sunglasses; and for this writer the best of all is the last man standing wet in yellow…!
What’s more for those of us even just a liitle self conscious, they – Speedos and their brazen imitations prompt a justifiable if somewhat vain concern for a fit, markedly masculine and preferably fat free waistline.
Yes of course it does take consistent work, discipline and egotism and certainly as we age the battle takes on a whole new dimension. Oh to have my youthful body again. Tee he…!
But let’s face it nobody (Yes Im generalizing) wants to look like The Fat Controller (from Thomas the Tank Engine) squeezed into a a poorly cut ill fitting bikini bottom on a busy day at Brighton Beach, Bondi, Biarritz, Surfers Paradise, Mykonos, Waikiki or even the Black Sea.
Of course anybody and everybody is entitled to wear whatever they like (and they do to chagrin of we self appointed fashion police) when out by the pool, river, lake or beach, it’s a wonderful free world.
However, really and truly it is nice (if a bit self indulgent) to feel nice and be a nice view for others too.
Beauty is of course always and only truly ever in the eye of the beholder.
As for me, yes I’m a speedos man, I love wearing them and always have. Bottom line (no pun intended) they feel good and they make you feel good, and if you look after yourself, it is flattering to get noticed, by which ever sex or both.
Like the song: ‘you’ve got to exaggerate the positive’
None of these baggy board-shorts for this swimmer.
Splash….
Julian, you are lucky enough to live in Australia, where men aren’t too inhibited to wear Speedos. Actually, my guess is Australian men are more enlightened in general.