An Interview with Jameson Currier
by Sean Meriwether
NEW YORK—Jameson Currier is someone you appreciate knowing—he's
a well traveled, infinitely knowledgeable and friendly man with a lingering
Southern charm. After reading Where
the Rainbow Ends,
I knew I’d discovered a kindred mind, and was happy to find him
living here in New York. Since our first meeting, he’s been an
impeccable touchstone to the gay-lit community, a wonderful sounding-board
for ideas and plans, and a welcome face across the table. I was happy
to mark the release of his second collection of short stories, including
two previously published in Velvet Mafia, by sitting down to discuss
it and his upcoming projects.
Sean Meriwether: I once read that the reason
Lucille Ball was such a good comedienne was that she allowed herself
to look ugly. One of the things I appreciate
about your work is that you are able to maintain a comedic voice,
showing situations that aren’t always flattering, but still
keep it erotic. How do you achieve that balance?
Jameson Currier: There’s a germ of truth in everything; it’s
the reality that makes it funny. That’s especially true with
the dating stories – they’re
a shared experience that everyone can relate to. There are three in
particular, “A Date with Dracula, a Trick with Tarzan”, “Flash
Gordon” and “Elvis is Alive and Well and Working on Eight
Avenue”. I wrote them after finishing “Where the Rainbow
Ends” to show I had a lighter romantic side (smiles). They were
originally going to be collected into a novel about a man pushing 40
who is trying to find love for the first time in his life, while he’s
involved with a man who is non-committal. I was trying for something
different, but I had an agent who strongly discouraged the project,
so I put it to the side.
Erotica is a lot easier to write than comedy, but the two are combined
in some of the stories in the collection. For instance, “Lessons” is
the path of someone who is always teaching and how he puts himself
into the role of the student. His epiphany is that he can learn as
well as teach, and can go on and continue to teach. It’s an awkward
situation, which makes it funny, but he still has an erotic experience,
he still learns something. The sexual moment is the climax of the story,
but it’s not the most important part. It’s the path to
it.
SM: A number of the stories read first hand. Are they based on personal
experience? I mean, how many married men did you date?
JC: Let’s just say a number of them (laughs). There’s
a bit of truth to all of the stories, and many of them were inspired
by real
events. But it’s not a memoir. It’s fiction. And not all
of these experiences were based on my own. If it didn’t happen
to me, it happened to someone I know and I’ve retold it in my
own voice, with some of my own details thrown in as well.
SM: Were all of the stories already previously published?
JC: Several of the stories in the collection were published previously
in anthologies or magazines. “Snow” appeared in Velvet
Mafia. “Elvis” appeared in Best Gay Erotica, and I did
an audio recording of “Flash Gordon”.
SM: Was it substantially different reading it aloud than on the page?
Did your delivery alter the story, like how David Sedaris is good on
the page, but much funnier when he reads it because of his delivery.
JC: It is definitely different reading it aloud, but the rhythm is
already there in my head, that’s how it reads for me. In some
ways it’s
easier to read aloud because my mouth moves slower than my brain, and
it forces me to slow down.
SM: You used the second person in a number of the stories. Was that
a conscious decision?
JC: Using the second person gave me some distance. (laughs) To observe
and write things in a different way. It allowed me to be more ironic
than in the first or third person. And gives the reader a sharper experience.
SM: How is this collection different from your
first collection “Dancing
on the Moon”?
JC: The first collection was written when AIDS was at its most tragic.
Even as optimistic as I could write, it was still based in tragedy.
Writing it was therapy – a way to deal with the world as it was
changing. It led into Where
the Rainbow Ends, which is
still about AIDS, but it’s not the main focus. The new collection
is an out-birth of those stories. It’s not about the devastation
of AIDS, it’s about living in an AIDS-conscious community.
The original title of the book was supposed to be “The Man of
My Dreams”. The stories were more focused on finding that perfect
guy, the perfect relationship, not just with another man, but with
yourself. Kensington had another book slated with the same title, so
we had to change it. I chose “Desire Lust Passion Sex”,
which is more accurate for the whole collection. There is a chain of
emotions that happens in a relationship whether it is with a blind
date or a long-term boyfriend. So it’s not just looking for someone,
but also finding him, being attracted to him, meeting him, wondering
about him, becoming involved in him, all culminating in the moment
of sex - the epiphany - even if it is a was-it-all-worth-it moment.
There’s always a quest for the ideal relationship; every man
needs to go through it. And then there’s a quest for how you
identify yourself, not just as a man, but as a gay man and an individual.
SM: What about the pursuit of the elusive relationship. Do you think
the pursuit of an unattainable perfection is something that hurts us
as
gay men?
JC: Men, not just gay men but all men, are always
looking over their shoulder thinking “What if?”. I was
in a relationship where my partner always made it clear that I was
not his perfect partner.
He was always
looking at someone else, and it made me sense my imperfection. As a
writer, you’re always aware of your imperfections, but that’s
what propels the story, the conflict. A lot of that conflict ended
up here. But you have to take a step back and take a good look at things.
Do you set yourself up by comparing yourself to the covers of H/X and
Next? How can you? Who are these people? (laughs).
SM: How did it feel to have “Snow” appear
in Best
American Erotica?
JC: I was a little surprised. It’s not an erotic story. The
sex in the story has already happened. It’s about two men who
are forced to spend time together in a non-sexual way, in an enclosed
space,
and how they relate to each other.
There are two specifically erotic stories in the collection. “What
is Enough?” is a man’s thought’s while he’s
having sex, and “First Shave” is an erotic moment that
takes the character out of his situation.
SM: How is the book being received?
JC: I was very flattered by the wonderful blurbs
I received for the book. InsightOut has picked it up and is publishing
it in hardcover,
so I’m
pleased with it. It was so unexpected. Kevin Bentley from Green Candy
Press was wonderful. He’d edited “Boyfriends
from Hell” and asked
if I had a collection ready. I had enough material, but nothing to
really connect them together. I gave him a lot of work and said, “If
you see anything here, let me know.” He must have read 60 or
70 stories and essays, and came back with 13 and asked if I could write
a few more to complete the collection.
Some of the stories were written, but not finished. For instance, “A
Date with Dracula” didn’t have the “Tarzan” part
originally. I thought, here’s the Tarzan guy, he’s the
flip-side of Dracula, the guy you really want, so it completes the
story. And the title stands out – it’s the one your eyes
are drawn to first. Only “Grownups” and “Desire Lust
Passion Sex” were written specifically for the collection.
SM: In addition to your collection, what else is on your plate?
JC: As part of my fellowship from the New York Foundation for the
Arts I had to go upstate to the State University of New York at Oneonta
to do a reading and a question period. The turnout was great and the
students were very appreciative. It was like they had never seen a
gay man before. They didn’t really ask questions about being
a writer, but more about being a gay man. Like “Do you parent’s
know?” and “Have they read the book?”
SM: What’s next for you?
JC: I’m working on two novels and two collections of short
stories. The first novel and one of the collections are ghost stories,
the second
novel is about a personal relationship between two men.
SM: Are the ghost stories written in the
traditional Southern Gothic tradition?
JC: Maybe not gothic, but Southern, yes. The novel takes place in
New Orleans. It’s almost finished, but I feel it needs a more
metaphysical element to it to make it more than a ghost story. The
novel focuses
on a man who is overworked and an alcoholic. The more he drinks, the
more he sees ghosts.
SM: Do the ghosts save him from himself?
JC: No. He’s the only one seeing the ghosts
and the ghosts are only threads in the story. Like Rainbow, it’s about
a family unit – a group of people who work at a guesthouse who
are like a family to each other who are torn apart by an unexpected
force and then brought back together as a stronger unit. It’s
fun and different from my other work, and a challenge to write a good
ghost story. I went through a period where I read as many ghost stories
as I could - Henry James, Shirley Jackson, Edith Wharton has a whole
collection of them. They’re very strong and well-written stories.
I admire the literary craft behind them. I suppose that reflects the
student and teacher part of my personality. I want to learn how to
do that, too, and then show you I can do it.
Online Excerpts from Desire Lust Passion Sex
Read 'Alibis' in
Issue 11
Read 'Snow' in Issue 1
In addition to his work on Velvet Mafia, Sean Meriwether is
the editor of Outsider
Ink,
the content editor of the gay links resource TheGayMaleBody.com and
half of the Blowsquish.com design
team. His work has or will appear in Best
Gay Erotica 2001 and 2002, Love
Under Foot: An Erotic Celbration of Feet, as well as online in Lodestar
Quarterly and 3AM
Magazine. Sean lives in New York with his partner, photographer
Jack Slomovits, and their two dogs, Sasha and Nik Nak.
