Book Reviews
Title: Liquid Lover - A Memoir Author: John Moriarty Publisher: Alyson Books	A wise man once said you can tell the quality of a book by the number of fingerprints on its cover. OK, I just wrote that, but as you can see from the smudges on this once-pristine white jacket, I’ve read this several times in the last two weeks, speeding through it initially and then returning to savour the passages that strike out at you, cutting through the effluent of our daily lives. As a self-confessed queer boy who grew up in a small, rural town, alcohol and alcoholism were the easy answers to the problems of life that confronted me in my adolescence and early adult life. From the age of 13 or 14 until I was almost 24 I drank myself silly and then sillier, quickly discovering how easy it was to fake both happiness and normality to everyone except myself. One week my mother had to give me mouth to mouth resuscitation; the next weekend I was back at it again, being questioned by police for charging across 6 lanes of traffic and tumbling to a graceless halt in a garden-bed. Like author John Moriarty, all of this seemed more simpler and more attractive than dealing with issues such as the ingrained self-hatred that underpinned his and my addiction. Moriarty describes his addiction and recovery not in the lamentable prose that some proponents of AA eventually succumb to. There’s little mention of steps (unless he’s falling down them) nor of any higher power; instead Liquid Lover is draped in passages of immense regret and remorse at throwing away not only his life, but also the affection of those around him. Chapter 9, appropriately titled "Wrecked" begins with "This is my world: bruises, broken promises, strained relationships, ugly remarks tossed like a terrorist's hand grenades to shatter and shock." As someone who would throw food at a dinner party because I was denied my request of getting the guests to take all their clothes off, I know exactly where Moriarty is coming from. Liquid Lover is not all doom and gloom, boozers, losers and lamentations. Moriarty’s hope is restored throughout this memoir, a hope not only in humanity as people come to his assistance, but also in himself as someone who can help others, who can appreciate his talents and qualities after a life time of dismissing them, of someone who can finally give love and receive it on level ground, instead of the constantly-shifting decks of destruction that addiction likes to move you on. Liquid Lover isn’t confined to a readership of gay addicts either - there’s enough humanity combined with an engaging and often humorous writing style to appeal to a wide audience. However in writing what is, to my knowledge at least, one of the first autobiographical texts that deals honestly with a queer man’s reasons for addiction and recovery, Moriarty has given others, including myself, the opportunity to see beyond the daily struggle with our demons, to look towards a future where contentment doesn’t lie at the bottom of an empty bottle.
Title: He Kills Coppers Author: Jake Arnott Publisher: Hodder Headline/Sceptre	Jake Arnott came to prominence in early 2000 with his debut novel, The Long Firm, in which he skilfully detailed the lives of gay gangsters in London's swinging sixties. Arnott's weaving of social and philosophical theories into a sex/violence-studded narrative made the Long Firm stand out as a serious work, not content to rest on its generic haunches. With this in mind, his follow-up He Kills Coppers is something of a disappointment. While Arnott uses multi-viewpoint narration adeptly, the required fleshing out of the three central characters - a cop, a journalist and a criminal - takes up a third of the novel. Again Arnott begins the tale in the mid-60s, a thriving London awash in World Cup festivities, and several historical figures from The Long Firm make an appearance, albeit briefly. Covering a 30 year period, Arnott's virtuosity with detail and voices is put to the test, with each viewpoint laid one after the other. Of course their individual histories eventually entwine, and, as far as novels go, He Kills Coppers works well in a conventional sense. But there's no scent of experimentation here, no wild flamboyancy of prose that made Arnott's debut shine. And so, whilst still much better than the average crime novel, and an interesting analysis of England's changing social values, He Kills Coppers isn't astounding in any way. The Long Firm, now being made into a BBC mini series, was Arnott's calling card to literary fame. Here's hoping his next novel excels, rather than sits contently on the shelves of conventionality.
Title: You Are Being Lied To Editor: Russ Kick Publisher: The Disinformation Company Available from: www.disinfo.com	Brain-child of media men Richard Metzger and Gary Baddeley, Disinfo.com began its internet voyage in late 1996.   Now Disinformation is a large scale operation, including TV shows, a music label and its latest book publishing venture. You Are Being Lied To is the first off the ranks, and begins with a typical  piece of disinformation that sets the stage for much of what’s to come: The Disinformation Company Ltd. has not verified and neither confirms nor denies any of the foregoing. The reader is encouraged to keep an open mind and to independently judge for him- or herself whether or not he or she is being lied to. Subtitled The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashers & Cultural Myths, this collection of conspiracy theories, media analysis and cultural criticism is one hell of a trip through 21st Century culture. Featuring the works of, among many, Noam Chomsky, Douglas Rushkoff, Howard Bloom and a roundtable compiled by Australian on-line editor Alex Burns, You Are Being Lied To gives an in-depth deconstruction of the many ways our myths and media-reliance have worked together to deceive us into believing official versions over the more complex and difficult task of sifting through reams of information to reach our own conclusions. Topics tackled include the usual suspects - why no federal agents were killed in the Oklahoma explosions; how the US government assisted South American death squads in Nicaragua during the 80s - and the dangerous. Among the latter include  an in-depth expose on how Alcoholics Anonymous draw much of their material from evangelical Christian teachings and a challenging of the role of sexual identity in youth suicides. What’s most impressive about the book and, at the same time, its greatest drawback in the vast array of material gathered here. It’s not just left-wing radicals, nor right-wink anti-government thinkers writing here. Instead we cross the huge axis of discursive possibilities; each argument is carefully constructed and I found myself swinging from view point to view point as I made my way through the 400+ pages. You Are Being Lied To asks us to ask more questions, certainly more questions than answers given . It calls on us to be educated media interpreters, and demands our attention and our action, rather than a passive acceptance so easily obtained in a world of Big Brother and CNN. Never content to take the easy argument, the success of Disinfo’s first print publication can be seen in the final appendix - 15 pages of recommended reading that encourage you to hunt down the “truth”, to contradict what you have been reading, to ask those fundamental questions about your existence and to demand a responsible answer. This is not light reading, but it is essential.
Title: Dear Dan: Apologies from an Imperfect World Author: Dan Woog & Title: Under the Mink Author: Lisa E Davis Publisher: Alyson	It seems strange that, in Australia, as the queer community achieves more and more in terms of legal and social rights, there isn’t a single publisher devoted to putting out quality queer writing. Whether it’s the small market (if we go at 10% of the general pop., we’re still talking almost two million), or the GST, or perhaps the retiscence on behalf of those with money, we antipodeans have to depend on the kindness of multinationals, or preferably, the releases from overseas publishers such as Alyson to print our stories, our histories and our theories. Anyway, off my soapbox and on to the reviews.  Dear Dan is a collection of “fictional” apologies, posing the hypothetical what ifs, such as Fred Phelps saying sorry for “existing so long as an apostle of evil”, or Dr Laura (bitch, slut, whore) being harangued by a caller for her on-air homophobia.  In the forms of letters, memos, q&a’s and even a press release describing how every single US president has been in some way queer, Dan Woog takes a humorous tack on what are serious issues that are given extra oomph by our apparent desire for media controversies.While obviously targeting American audiences, the book reaches out to all readers and ask us to question how long we’re willing to sit quietly while George W. and co rescind the rights many of our elder queer brothers and sisters fought so hard to attain.  The humour works well here, Woog proving to be a sharp and convincing writer, managing to balance tickling the funny bone and inspiring the activist within. Under the Mink, the debut work of Lisa E. Davis, considers a more historical perspective, setting her tale of crime and love lost and possibly recovered in the mafia-run bars of pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village.  Blackie Cale, drag-king supreme, a butch veneer masking an often-scared fragility, sings cabaret numbers in the Candy Box Club, along with trannie Titanic, a real-number in heels and a skirt.  When a customer is found dead in the toilets, Blackie and co. are involved in the cover-up by boss Stevie, who’s determined to avoid drawing the interest of a police force already out to make headlines in an important election year.  Blackie sets out to discover both the identity of the killer and the killed, and manages to fall for a society dame who is way out of her league. Or so it seems. Davis has claimed in interviews that she wanted to recount the important histories of pre-liberation women in NYC, stories that have not been attended to, and were in danger of disappearing as the tellers passed on.  Rather than recounting a straight-out narrative of persecution and prejudice, she’s managed to weave in an authoritative noir-ness that pervades the novel, and she skilfully reads leaders from what might have been just another lesbian detective book to a combined retelling of mystery, murder and mafia extortion. In an age where the bars of today seem full of clones, happily blasting their weekends away, Under the Mink reminds us at once how far we have come since the 50s and how important some of the pioneers were.  It’s a delicious read, nothing overly done, and will serve well either as a holiday read or a serious enquiry into a covered-over past.
Title: Adios Muchachos       Author: Daniel Chavarria Title: Heart of the Old Country Author: Tim McLoughlin Publisher: Akashic	When most people refer to America, they're talking about El Norte, the great land of coke and cola, Hollywood and Mme Fleiss. What they don't realise is they're referring to the whole continent, north and south, a melting pot of cultures and people that rival the Hindus in India for sheer diversity. Akashic's latest releases, one set in the heart of Italian New York, the other in Cuba, show just how different two countries can be, even when they're less than a hundred clicks from each other. They also show how money, love and betrayal drive the human spirit, regardless of origin. Adios Muchachos tells a wicked tale of Havana's whores, foreign investment and prostitution, focusing on a seductress named Alicia who is seeking a foreign sugar daddy to pay both her and her mother's way in life. She hooks up with Victor, an expert in finding lost loot, and between the two, they set off on a whirlwind journey of back-stabbers, double-crossings and cross dressers. It's a beautiful metaphor for the state of relations between Fidel's Cuba and the rest of the world, and we're never sure, even at the end, who's fucking who around. The satire is well-hidden, yet barbed, and the plot is driven forward by sex and suspense. In Heart of The Old Country, Mikey is confused about sex, his life and the state of the world at large. His extended adolescence comes to a swift end when he watches an old neighbourhood friend being beaten to death, a bad deal gone worse, and ends up following his father into the world of Mob-oriented, family-run affairs. McLoughlin's debut is taut, stretched tight against a spiky fabric where you never know who you can depend on, and death lives just around the corner from the guy who drives your taxi. Mikey's progression from kid to man is brutal, at times even Selby Jr-ish, but there's also an undertow of regret, of loss that holds the novel firmly. Both Adios and Heart make great fire-side novels, something to make you think as we wait out what's looking to be a long winter.
Title: Pass Through Fire: The Collected Lyrics Author: Lou Reed Publisher: Bloomsbury	Let’s face it - Lou’s an acquired taste.  Intelligent people get him; dumb people don’t.  The likelihood of seeing someone with a red cap sitting backwards on their noggin at a Lou gig is pretty close to Buckley’s, yet if it wasn’t for Mr Reed and his happy bunch of marauding cohorts, The Velvet Underground, “alternative” music would not be in the shape it is today.  Punk before the word existed, Lou in leather influenced everyone from Patti Smith to David Bowie, Sonic Youth to Husker Du; you name it, Lou’s snorted, sniffed and shot it, and as anyone who saw him on his Ecstasy tour last year can tell you, he’s alive and rocking harder than ever before. To read Pass Through Fire is to journey into the nightmare of one of our greatest songwriters.  Pick a page, any page - “You slapped my face and cried and screamed/ That’s what marriage came to mean” (Baton Rouge) or “When I watch you come, baby, I just wanna run - far away” (Vicious). Trained by Delmore Schwartz, the man who penned “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities”, Lou’s poetry and prose read like pure literature, a slip-stream chronicle of the darkest streets and drug-fucked corners where few of us dare to tread anymore.  And luckily so - Lou’s face and his writing bares/bears the scars of living “in a world full of hate.”  In Heavenly Arms, Lou practically begs for “arms strong as sunset to reach out” to him; go, find this collection and allow yourself to be swept away in those arms.  Classy.
Title: Puppetry of the Penis: The Ancient Australian Art                      of Genital Origami Authors: Simon Morley and David Friend           Publisher: Random House	When some army jerk was given Australian of the year in late January, I was extremely disappointed.  Not because some guy who’d been trained to kill was given the highest award for doing his job, but because nowhere on the shortlist did Simon Morley and David Friend, Australia's two greatest living artists, appear.  Morley and Friend have been single-handedly, no make that double-handedly responsible for the renaissance of genital origami, or dick tricks as they’re know in the circle of the chardonnay socialists.  Some of you may have caught the live show when the boys were last in town, or seen last year’s documentary where the boys and their dongers toured around the country, giving provincial Aussies the chance to see a part of our nation no Leyland Brother was ever going to show them.  And now, may I present to you the spin-off of that project, the how-to book. That’s right folks, all your favourites are here, resplendent in their morning glory, 26 things to do with your member, or that of the nearest male, from the beginners “Umbilical Cord” to the experts-only “Skateboard”.  Like the yellow pages, Morley and Friend’s motto is “let your fingers do the walking”  - as such, they show us how to warm up, ensuring injury potential is minimised and even provide hints on how to become comfortable with your nudity as a professional willie wiggler.  Warning is given to amateurs - only after many years of practice were these guys able to tug and twist their tools without the risk of serious damage.  So fellow Australian artisans, forewarned is foreskin - take up your schlongs and show the nation what you’ve got.  Classy stuff indeed.
Title: We Owe You Nothing - Punk Planet: The Collected                              Interviews Editor: Daniel Sinker                                             Publisher: Akashic Books	Those familiar with the underground indie/punk magazine Punk Planet will already be aware that it is one of the more intelligent, articulate and dedicated publications out there.  For those who aren’t, a short history lesson - by the early nineties,  Maximum Rock n Roll had become the bible for punk enthusiasts.  Hardcore, to the point of severely restricting the bands and music covered in its pages, after the alterna-explosion of 92, Maximum was seen by many as signing a death warrant on those who didn’t fit into its aggressive ethos.  In 1994, well aware that the scene’s most nascent sounds, emo and riot grrl, were suffering from Maximum’s refusal to publicise them, 19 yr old Daniel Sinker began his own magazine, Punk Planet,  based on the ethos that “punk said anyone could take part - in fact, anyone should take part.”  And this 300 + page tome is the cumulative effort of 6 years spent reporting on, dissecting and praising the culture that has given us luminary artists like Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney and more. We Owe You Nothing begins with a selection of interviews with the trailblazers of US punk - Thurston Moore, Jello Biafra, Ian Mackaye and more.  Mackaye is particularly articulate in his explanations as to why he and Fugazi have fought so furiously for their independence over their 20 year history.  In the next section, Steve Albini waxes lyrical over his achievements, not just as celebrated producer of Nirvana, Palace Brothers et al, but also of his involvement with Big Black and the reasons behind their break-up.  Perhaps what sets this collection apart from other anthologies that look at 90s post-grunge is its insistence on detailing the politics behind the personas, interviewing the legendary Noam Chomsky and highlighting the human side of Voices in the Wilderness, a group breaking the UN sanctions by flying in food and medicine to Iraq’s impoverished population.  Punk Planet  also doesn’t shie away from the failures of the scene - the photo of By the Grace of God’s Duncan Barlow bruised and bloody from a beating by a fellow punk preludes the interview where he explains exactly why the scene has failed to deliver on its potentials of individual liberation and social change. NYC publishers Akashic Books, headed by Girls Against Boys’ Johnny Temple, are to be congratulated once again for putting out what will surely become a definitive account of how the underground struggled in the wake of wanton commercialism and unknown media attention.  Fiercely rooted in the DIY ethic, the interviews are at once and inspiration for action and a warning to be heeded by those who have spent their lives giving their souls and survived.