AmosL
08-20-2006, 04:47 PM
MEET MICHAEL HOLLOWAY PERRONNE
A Time Before Me and Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Michael H. Perronne is a young and emerging author who already has two books to his credit. We are hoping that he will join us for the Arkansas Literary Festival. I first was introduced to Michael's writing when a friend of mine who owns the FAB Bookstore in New Orleans told me that he had been in contact with an author who was writing about being gay in the Crescent City. When the book arrived , I read it with relish, hoping to find the secret as to why New Orleans has become such an inviting place for our community.
A Time Before Me (iUniverse, 2005 and due to be reprinted soon) tells of Mason who having come of age in a small town in Mississippi moves to New Orleans to live with his Aunt Savannah. Mason as a child spent his free time with his best friend, Billy, and during that period, developed a crush on him. When Billy does not respond in kind, Mason knows that he must relocate to a place where he can be himself without restriction. He experiences a huge sense of freedom while working for his aunt as a cashier at her drag cabaret theater in New Orleans right in the center of the French Quarter. It is here that Mason finds "love" with nineteen year old Joey. Yet he is hampered by his feelings for his old flame and must decide which course his life will take. Miss Althea, a robust drag queen who works for Savannah, instills in him that life is a game of chance and one must roll with the times and make choices. Perronne with his first sentence tackles the reader and draws him in. "Ever notice how life gives you answers to the big questions a day late?" He skillfully presents a prologue that makes the reader feel that there is no turning back. This is a book that must not only be read but savored. Great literature it is not--a great story, simply told is what it is.
The simplicity of the style and the straightforwardness of the plot is the beauty of the book. How often do we find ourselves reading something that requires both a dictionary and a road map to figure out what is happening in the plot? What a relief to read a book that has universal truths presented in everyday language which enables us to identify with the story. I am so glad that Michael Perronne is penning a sequel. Don't misunderstand me--the book needs no sequel. I just want some more of the colorful characters he has painted for us.
"A Time Before Me" is a good book and an auspicious start for a new novelist. It is a beautiful tale of first love. The images will stay with you and Perronne comes across as a writer who can captivate the reader. There is plenty of wit as well. He is an author to keep tabs on and is off to a wonderful start.
Quite unlike his first novel is Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga" (Chances Press, 2005) but then Hollywood is quite unlike the South. In his second book the cast is extended and the plot is thickened-- but the style remains the same. Here is a story told by an expatriate from movie town who has run away and is looking back and remembering. With those memories comes a tale that pulls us in. Five major characters provide a story of life in Tinseltown. First there is Carrington who ran away from home to become the new "It" girl. But her past which is so filled with scandal can be her undoing. Of course we have the standard man in the closet. Derek has become a star and does not want the world to know of his sexual proclivities. Yet when he finally has a chance for true love, he must decide whether his career or his man deserve first place in his life. Enter Jake, an actor who also has skeletons in his past and love in his heart for Carrington. Then there is Loreen, a thinly disguised Heidi Fleiss type madam who knows many of the secrets of the Hollywood crowd. As her hold on her place in Hollywood becomes risky, she must find a way to save it, or does she? Finally there is the agent who is a real insider; he knows all and can ruin all. When the lives of these five intersect, there is fire and plenty of it. This is not the kind of story you will see on E! Entertainment television. This a camp version of the classic Hollywood legend and is a great study of the double standards that exist there. It is a page turner--one of those books where you check out in advance what is about to happen. It's a fun book, full of "our kinds" of people. We have some for every palate-gay men, lesbians, hookers and sluts. And it is all put together in a fun novel that you may not remember but you will be glad you read.
Just an interesting side note. I have recently discovered that Michael Perronne was a student at the University of New Orleans at the same time I was teaching there. We were in the same department; he was getting his MA in creative writing and I was researching queer theory in literature. We had many of the same friends and worked with the same faculty members. He went to Los Angeles and I came to Little Rock. Maybe the Arkansas Literary Festival will finally give us the chance to meet.
A Time Before Me and Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Michael H. Perronne is a young and emerging author who already has two books to his credit. We are hoping that he will join us for the Arkansas Literary Festival. I first was introduced to Michael's writing when a friend of mine who owns the FAB Bookstore in New Orleans told me that he had been in contact with an author who was writing about being gay in the Crescent City. When the book arrived , I read it with relish, hoping to find the secret as to why New Orleans has become such an inviting place for our community.
A Time Before Me (iUniverse, 2005 and due to be reprinted soon) tells of Mason who having come of age in a small town in Mississippi moves to New Orleans to live with his Aunt Savannah. Mason as a child spent his free time with his best friend, Billy, and during that period, developed a crush on him. When Billy does not respond in kind, Mason knows that he must relocate to a place where he can be himself without restriction. He experiences a huge sense of freedom while working for his aunt as a cashier at her drag cabaret theater in New Orleans right in the center of the French Quarter. It is here that Mason finds "love" with nineteen year old Joey. Yet he is hampered by his feelings for his old flame and must decide which course his life will take. Miss Althea, a robust drag queen who works for Savannah, instills in him that life is a game of chance and one must roll with the times and make choices. Perronne with his first sentence tackles the reader and draws him in. "Ever notice how life gives you answers to the big questions a day late?" He skillfully presents a prologue that makes the reader feel that there is no turning back. This is a book that must not only be read but savored. Great literature it is not--a great story, simply told is what it is.
The simplicity of the style and the straightforwardness of the plot is the beauty of the book. How often do we find ourselves reading something that requires both a dictionary and a road map to figure out what is happening in the plot? What a relief to read a book that has universal truths presented in everyday language which enables us to identify with the story. I am so glad that Michael Perronne is penning a sequel. Don't misunderstand me--the book needs no sequel. I just want some more of the colorful characters he has painted for us.
"A Time Before Me" is a good book and an auspicious start for a new novelist. It is a beautiful tale of first love. The images will stay with you and Perronne comes across as a writer who can captivate the reader. There is plenty of wit as well. He is an author to keep tabs on and is off to a wonderful start.
Quite unlike his first novel is Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga" (Chances Press, 2005) but then Hollywood is quite unlike the South. In his second book the cast is extended and the plot is thickened-- but the style remains the same. Here is a story told by an expatriate from movie town who has run away and is looking back and remembering. With those memories comes a tale that pulls us in. Five major characters provide a story of life in Tinseltown. First there is Carrington who ran away from home to become the new "It" girl. But her past which is so filled with scandal can be her undoing. Of course we have the standard man in the closet. Derek has become a star and does not want the world to know of his sexual proclivities. Yet when he finally has a chance for true love, he must decide whether his career or his man deserve first place in his life. Enter Jake, an actor who also has skeletons in his past and love in his heart for Carrington. Then there is Loreen, a thinly disguised Heidi Fleiss type madam who knows many of the secrets of the Hollywood crowd. As her hold on her place in Hollywood becomes risky, she must find a way to save it, or does she? Finally there is the agent who is a real insider; he knows all and can ruin all. When the lives of these five intersect, there is fire and plenty of it. This is not the kind of story you will see on E! Entertainment television. This a camp version of the classic Hollywood legend and is a great study of the double standards that exist there. It is a page turner--one of those books where you check out in advance what is about to happen. It's a fun book, full of "our kinds" of people. We have some for every palate-gay men, lesbians, hookers and sluts. And it is all put together in a fun novel that you may not remember but you will be glad you read.
Just an interesting side note. I have recently discovered that Michael Perronne was a student at the University of New Orleans at the same time I was teaching there. We were in the same department; he was getting his MA in creative writing and I was researching queer theory in literature. We had many of the same friends and worked with the same faculty members. He went to Los Angeles and I came to Little Rock. Maybe the Arkansas Literary Festival will finally give us the chance to meet.