"I'm Open To Anything" by William E. Jones (We Heard You Like Books)

 

January 16, 2021

I spent the morning reading the last pages of a novel by William E. Jones called "I'm Open To Anything" in the bathtub. I do a lot of reading in the tub because it's a private zone where no one can reach you. Bathrooms are a unique location for such excellent isolation. I have made some of the most serious decisions while sitting on the toilet or in the bathtub. Many work decisions came from the tub and reading the finest literature, such as Bill's book. 

Without a doubt, this novel has the most provocative cover for a book. The cover photograph is by the author and undoubtedly a conversation starter but in some company, not an entrance to communication. "I'm Open To Anything" reads like a memoir of a man's journey into the sexual world of Los Angeles. For reasons I don't fully understand, as a straight man (whatever that means these days), I love the Gay/Lesbian underground subject matter. I admire society's society and how it stays away from the mainstream world in such a fashion that it's invisible unless you know the secret password to that sensual and emotional landscape. 

Jones's novel is one of the great Los Angeles books, and he's an author who knows the city well and understands its sexual energy. All his encounters in these pages are fascinating and mostly with Latin men of all sorts. Jones has a deep appreciation for other characters to tell their tale. Here we get a Revolutionary, a book store owner, and various others who roam the same landscape as the author's character. For those interested in the craft and technique of fisting, William tells it in beautiful prose. It's great to read an author who can articulate his sexuality and practice. It's lovely to spend time in the tub with this book. 

"I'm Open To Anything" by William E. Jones

ISBN: 978-0996421898 We Heard You Like Books

"True Homosexual Experiences: Boyd McDonald and Straight to Hell" by William E. Jones

ISBN: 978-0996421812 We Heard You Like Books

"True Homosexual Experiences: Boyd McDonald and Straight to Hell" by William E. Jones (We Heard You Like Books)

A few months ago, I read this incredible book of film critiques by Boyd McDonald, called "Cruising the Movies."  McDonald wrote on films that were played, usually very late at night, on the local TV station in New York City.  This was before VHS even, so there wasn't a video tape he could watch, but he actually had to view these films in his one room hotel-like apartment in upper Manhattan sometime in the 1980s.  Never mentioning the director, instead he focused on the stars that are in the movie.   And usually beyond their acting skills, but mostly focusing on their ass, crotch, torso, and legs.   For me, I thought that this was a very interesting way of looking at films.   One can presume that Boyd McDonald, an incredible prose writer and thinker, was a homosexual.  

The word "gay" has connotations that really don't fit in Boyd McDonald's world.  For one, he had a zine in the 1980s (and still being produced by Billy Miller) that totally focused on anonymous readers who sent McDonald letters describing their homosexual sexual experiences and encounters.   McDonald took his work very seriously.  He was sort of a budget level version of Alfred Kinsey.   Instead of obtaining information for an academic press, McDonald collected his 'narratives' and put it all in his zine "Straight to Hell."  

Artist, filmmaker, and writer, William E. Jones, has written a magnificent biography and critical study on McDonald's life and work.   A hardcore homosexual subject matter, I, as straight as I can, or may be, finds McDonald and this book totally fascinating.  His "Cruising the Movies" is such a hardcore film geek book, but of a different kind.  On one level, this is critique for the Homosexual's eyes and senses, yet, for me, it's an inside look into a hyper-world of sensuality that just exposes its sexual mores via the big screen, or for McDonald in the little more likely black and white set he had in his apartment.   A recluse, ex-serious drinker, yet by all accounts a loving man to his nieces, is an incredible subject matter for a book.  Jones captures that world, with his intelligence and his grasp on gay cultural history -it is really an one-of-a-kind biography.   

The book is not a super in-depth bio, due that there is very little record of McDonald in existence, except for his work - which I suspect would please McDonald to a great degree. I'm just happy to be introduced to McDonald's writings, and clearly he is one of the great publishers, who worked in the shadowy zine world.  Essential gay culture book, but also a fantastic look into the mind and talent of Boyd McDonald. 

- Tosh Berman

"I Hate The Internet" by Jarett Kobek (We Heard You Like Books)

ISBN: 9780996421805 We Heard You Like Books

"I Hate The Internet" by Jarett Kobek (We Heard You Like Books, 2016)

San Francisco has always been an odd city to me.  There are many wonderful things about it, but then the technology internet companies moved in, and sort of changed the landscape from the literary beats with great bars to Google world.  Yet the city houses one of the great bookstores in the world, the iconic (rightfully so) City Lights, but alas, the literary tradition does continue on, which is Jarett Kobek's novel "I Hate The Internet."   Yet, the novel doesn't prowl through the streets of Dashell Hammett or Jack Spicer, but the sorry state of Google, Facebook, which is now tattooed on the image of San Francisco.  On the other hand, it can be any city in America that embraces a technology that brings riches to a few, yet can leave a greater population empty - as in desire and promises not full-filled. 

I read very little of contemporary novels, but I have to say Kobek's book is really rooted into the "now."   I have never read a book that is so now, and not only that, it is a great novel.  It is my ideal of fiction writing in which it is about ideas, culture and politics. I imagine if Guy Debord wrote fiction it would be like "I Hate The Internet."  Kobek pretty much describes the dangers of the computer world, and what it promises to be, as in opening up new worlds for the consumer/visitor, but more likely the sole purpose is to either collect your personal information, or sell you something.  It's capitalism, but taken on to another tech level.   

There are characters, that are both real and fictional, or fictional real, but what is interesting to me is when Kobek breaks down the ills which are the American world, that is basically defined by Google and other sites.  Without a doubt, the Internet is quite useful, but there is also a price that goes with it, and in many ways, it is sort of the death of a culture that was once much loved.  Or, at least those who lived a long time, or have a memory of a life before the Net.  Excellent commentary on the American 21st century. 

- Tosh Berman