California Screaming by Doug Guinan

Reviewed by Blase DiStefano



Kevin Malloy, and off-and-on fashion photographer and a ridiculously gorgeous hunk, is picked up by wealthy record mogul Brad Sherwood, a thinly disguised David Geffen. The improbable pair initiate a relationship which on the surface appears to be based on money and looks—Brad's money and Kevin's looks.

Beneath their jaded exteriors, however, both are yearning for more, as are the other characters who inhabit California Screaming, a few of whom include: Leon Delvalle, Kevin's roommate, who dreams of being a set designer on a soap; Shane Dunne—Kevin and Leon's next-door neighbor—a flight attendant; and Rob Erikson, an ex ice-skating star and Brad's longtime friend.

Screaming is, well, screaming with stereotypes. (Italics for emphasis, though easily overused, in this book warrant them!) This book has got the gym, the sex, the narcissism, but author Doug Guinan—who calls his debut work "a book proudly without any redeeming social value whatsoever"—has pulled off what seems almost impossible: an interesting, funny, sexy, touching fictional story about stereotypical gay men.

[Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 6/17/98, $23]

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