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.
Thanks. I paint on the floor, and am now 63. Steven
It is a truly sweet pleasure to view Steven Coreys works. He has a skill in his paintings that welcomes you in. You feel as if you are there too, naked and at ease.
Like in the painting of the four men running together into the waves, you can feel the water splashing around.
The young man upon his surf board intent on his endeavor envelopes you with the life in each stroke.
My days in fine art school, the smell of oil paint, of figure drawing classes and the beauty of the male model come flooding back.
He puts into each stroke a sensitivity of the male to male condition that is so fresh, as if the painting is still wet to ones touch.
I love Corey’s use of colour, line and contrast that so brings the subject into your world, and you simultaneously are there on the water too.
And the two lovers kneeling embrace their intimate kiss is like a gentle first time. Their erections so close that one can sense with expectation that impending moment of touch.
In Corey’s work the experience brought to life on each canvas, by this ‘gay impressionist painter’ this engaging ‘erotic artist’ feels so true.
The painting reflect ones own ‘gay innocence and I feel those deeply feminine aspects of ones being, that are nurtured amid the embrace of nature- it is almost tactile, rising up from a depth of understanding so wonderfully ‘vintage’ to be unaffected.
Each piece becomes an intense conversation capturing the time and place. It mirrors this observers own feelings as I look into each painted story.
Prompting a feeling of heartfelt joy that holds no boundaries to be shared with each new onlooker, appreciating the intensely dedicated and wonderful work of the artist.
How nice it would be to talk with him of his work, to see him at his easel, to smell the oil as it forms and caresses each new idea into being.
Beautiful art that without effort prompts awareness of ones innately youthful bonhomie, to bring forward into present no matter what our age – to enjoy life unashamedly for it’s precious natural beauty.
It tingles in ones own mind and body, this inner happiness that arises in these moments of experience. And with it comes a bountiful energy, clarity and rapture for life. Then passing away like the waves painted, sweet moments in our own lives, unpredictable, always changing, always fresh to be but appreciated.
How blessed we become when the painters strokes ‘of spring and nice people’ lightly grace our heart. J