BOY ONE: Coming of age inside the controversial world of the Spartacus Gay Guide , M/M Memoir, non-fiction by Jaap Cové Book Tour with Guest Post
BLOG TOUR
Book Title: Boy One
Author and Publisher: Jaap Cové
Cover Artist: ricacabrex (Fiverr)
Release Date: April 1, 2024
Genres: Gay, M/M Memoir, non-fiction
Tropes: Secret love
Themes: Coming out, shame, fear, intergenerational relationships
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: 55 000 words/ 203 pages
It is a standalone book and ends on a sort of cliffhanger.
Buy Links
Coming of age inside the controversial world of the Spartacus Gay Guide
Blurb
It is 1981. Jaap, a Dutch teenager, is a boy taking his first steps towards becoming a man. He’s reclusive, a wallflower with a handsome face and curly blond hair. He loves playing tennis and plays drums for a student rock band.
He is attracted to men and afraid of desires that he has not acted upon. By fortuitous accident, the Dutch teen meets Briton John D. Stamford, and his life changes. Stamford is the eccentric middle-aged editor of Spartacus International Gay Guide, the crucial book for gay male travelers. It listed both welcoming destinations and countries that carried strict penalties for homosexuality.
Jaap likes mature men; John prefers youths. BOY ONEis the record of their relationship, the deluxe global travel they did for John’s work, the eye-opening experiences of a sheltered teen, and the obsessive sexual relationship that developed.
Amid the glamor of five-star hotels and restaurants, conflicts arise. Jaap still thinks about having a girlfriend and wonders if he is bisexual. John is trying to push his young lover into something he’s not ready for—being openly gay all the time. Moreover, Jaap notices the Spartacus Guide lists opportunities for sex with underaged youths in places like Thailand. He suspects this is wrong. So do the police, who begin investigating John.
Despite the excitement and eroticism of their relationship, the moral issues grow until the two are at odds.
In BOY ONE, Jaap Cové tells the honest and gripping story of a remarkable part of his life. Revealing and outspoken, it is a unique, colorful and compelling coming-of-age story. It captures the excitement of international gay life in the early 80s, but it is also a troubling saga about morality and intergenerational relationships.
Excerpt
John picks me up at the airport with a taxi. We drop my bag in the RV that’s parked just outside Basel’s old center, but don’t stay there. John has other plans. I’m in for a romantic weekend. It’s snowy and below freezing point. I never expected the city to be so beautiful, or is it because we’re together again? We lunch in an upscale Konditorei, then walk arm in arm past the historical buildings in the old center. People on the pavement glare at us, but John doesn’t let go of my arm. It feels warm and safe. We visit the Gothic church and head to the quay of the river Rhine, where we kiss. There are people watching, which makes it more exciting. Protected by John, I don’t feel any embarrassment. I exist in a constant state of being crazy in love.
He takes me to my first gay sauna in the old town to warm up. As we enter a dimly-lit steam room, I lose John in the mist. In no time, there are many hands all over my body, touching my ass, my cock and my torso. I am scared.
As I adjust to the light, I look into the faces of the young men groping me and start to panic. I want to break free, but they won’t let me. Someone shoves his tongue between my lips. I wriggle to get away from the mass of bodies. Just as I reach the point of using force, I feel a hand pull me from the crowd. John pulls me close and embraces me. He smiles and tries to calm me.
‘You didn’t like that?’ he asks.
‘No, I panicked.’
‘Come, let’s get out of here.’
He takes me to a private room where we make love on a rubber bed covered with towels. Our session isn’t long and elaborate as it would have been in the RV. It turns me on just the same. I’m quickly positioned on my belly by his big hands, feeling the cold KY-jelly on my ass, after which he carefully pushes his warm cock inside. Pleasing John, giving my lover what he wants, in the way he wants it, excites me. I become hard as a rock. This man owns me when we make love.
Downstairs in the bar area later, we have a drink. I play with the thought that John planned the episode in the steam room. At the same time, the thought is ridiculous. I can’t imagine him telling all those guys that his lover from Holland would be visiting, and asking them to give me a warm welcome.
‘It was almost like they were waiting for me,’ I say. ‘All those hands on me.’
‘Why is that strange? Have you looked in the mirror lately?’
‘Huh?’
‘You’re very handsome, Jake. You’re a fucking knockout.’
I don’t know what to say, since no one ever told me that. I know I’m not ugly, but a knockout? I’m tall and slender, not muscled. And I’ve always been on the shy side, not confident about my looks. All my life people have told me that my blond curls are beautiful. But women couldn’t keep their hands off my hair when I was a young boy and I didn’t enjoy that.
‘And you have such a hot ass,’ he adds with a big smile. Then he kisses me.
As I take a sip of my drink, I think about how my life has changed. In less than three months, I have made the metamorphosis from Dordrecht wallflower to Basel knockout. My self-esteem balloons.
But something is gnawing at me.
‘So when you’re here on your own, I suppose those hands are on you, too, right?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘I don’t like that thought.’
‘No, that doesn’t happen to me. I’m getting too old, Jake. Older gay people are less appealing in this world. You’ll find out.’
‘I find that hard to believe. When you walk around here naked, people look.’
‘I’m glad you think so.’ He smiles and looks past me, like he’s checking out the other guys. ‘But to answer your real question, yes, I do play around when I’m on my own.’
‘What… you mean, you still do, even though we’re lovers?’
‘Yes.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Remember that black kid we met in a bar in Nice on our last evening? I fucked him soon after you left.’
That’s a sudden bucket of ice water. I put down my drink and sit frozen. I want to go home. Now.
John continues sipping his drink. ‘It’s all right, Jake; it meant nothing. I love you.’
About the Author
Jaap Cové (1962) studied anthropology and debuted in 2011 with his novel Walking Among Us, followed by Cajú (2012) and The Girl in the Web (2017). Dog Gone (2023) was his first nonfiction narrative. Boy One is his first memoir.
From my website:
Jaap Cové is an anthropologist, a drummer, a flutist, a globetrotter, and an author of fiction and nonfiction. His novels are filled with mystery, spirituality, symbolism and music. His nonfiction is a reflection of his eventful life.
Author Interview
Introduce yourself and your writing
I’m an anthropologist, a drummer, a flautist, a
globetrotter, and an author of fiction and nonfiction. My novels are filled
with mystery, spirituality, symbolism and music. My nonfiction is a reflection
of my eventful life.
What/who inspired you to start writing?
‘You should think about becoming an author,’ said
a professor at the university of Amsterdam after reading my anthropology
thesis. He was impressed by my writing, which started me thinking. Until then,
my main focus had been on performing music, mainly drums and percussion. I began
writing short stories, and then novels.
Tell us about your new release. What inspired you to write it?
Boy One is a
story I was afraid to write, let alone publish, because it’s so much about me,
about a part of my younger life, starting when I was a naïve teenager in the
closet; a part of my life that I’ve been ashamed of for all the wrong reasons. I
was the young lover of John Stamford, the eccentric and middle-aged editor/owner
of the famous Spartacus Gay Guide, and together we travelled around the world.
The memoir covers how we met, the power games he played, and the rise and fall
of the guide, as well as the scandals. In the 80s and 90s, the guide was a
travel atlas, the roadmap every gay man on the move had in his back pocket
because it opened a world of opportunities to its gay subscribers, not unlike
the Green Book for Afro-Americans. No matter where one was around the globe,
the gay-friendly bars and clubs were identified. It made travel a glorious
funfest. But the farther I travelled, the deeper I was immersed in a seedy
underworld of possibly illegal, certainly immoral activity in which I might be
complicit. This memoir details what went on behind the scenes, the power and
influence the guide generated, and the attendant misuse of that influence.
After appearing on the guide’s cover, I strived to escape the magazine and my
lover, but it wasn’t not easy. John harbored a manic attraction for me and vice
versa.
My husband Geno encouraged me to go ahead and write
it. He convinced me it had to be told, because it’s part of gay history and
people should know. Looking back, it was good therapy: I’m not ashamed anymore.
How did you decide on the title?
Boy One was the
license plate of the big RV we travelled in through Europe. John liked to tell
me I was his Boy One.
Did you learn anything from writing your recent book? What was it?
Writing a memoir is all about opening up. If
you’re not prepared to do that, don’t start. I opened up and it was scary
because it dealt with stuff that I had kept to myself for so long, out of pure
shame and fear. You have to go all the way or not at all, is what I learned.
With Boy One, I went all the way. Now, I can say it was liberating. I
don’t care anymore: anyone can read it, and hopefully learn from it.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Write from the heart, not calculated, from a
commercial standpoint. That will bring out the best in you. And if it sells, it
will give you all the more satisfaction.
Are there any genres you prefer to write, and if so, why?
I have one other published nonfiction book,
called Dog Gone, which is about the time I lived in Spain. It’s not a
memoir, but a nonfiction narrative. And I wrote three fiction novels that are
spiritual and mysterious, for which I did anthropological research.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
The Frontrunner, by Patricia Nell Warren. I read
it when I was 19 on the train from Amsterdam to Paris. One of the best gay M/M
novels ever, I believe, written by a lesbian woman.
Why M/M?
Well, my nonfiction is about me and I’m a gay
man. Specifically, it’s about intergenerational relationships because I’ve
always had older lovers. My fiction is not M/M, although there’s always a gay
character in my books.
Do you have genres you prefer reading, and if so what are they?
I love memoirs and autobiographies about people
that I admire. I love good spiritual nonfiction. Unfortunately, there’s a lot
of trash.
What book/s are you reading at the moment?
Mainly spiritual nonfiction. Two of my best
friends died last year, and my mom died in January 24. I find myself needing to
read about the beyond again, more than ever, perhaps in an effort to be close
to them. I’m sensitive when it comes to paranormal matters. I’m into the
Akashic Records at the moment.
Are you a cat person or a dog person?
Tell us about your pets.
Both cats and dogs. I adore pets, even though I
have been without for years. In my book Dog Gone are many tragicomical
scenes about the pets I had. I had to leave them behind in Europe when I moved
to the US, which was heart breaking. I still see my dog when I’m back in
Holland. He’s 13yo now.
Author Links
Blog/Website | Facebook | Instagram
Comments
Post a Comment