Got 'Til It's Gone

Duplechan (Blackbird) revisits the life of gay, black, and sassy Johnnie Ray Rousseau in this tale of love and loss. A legal secretary during the week, the sometimes-lounge singer now croons over dead friends as deacon and soloist at the First Assembly of Love Church in Hollywood. Middle-aged, a widower-and battling an ominous pain in his testicles that nearly matches his libido in its intensity-Johnnie lifts weights to embody the ""Daddy"" persona he craves: an older man who's hot enough to attract a man half his age. But can he find true love with the youthful Joe Callahan, a former gay porn actor and callboy? Or will he find love where he least expects it? Between scenes of receiving bad news (his mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor) and comforting those he loves, Johnny drowns his grief in bouts of loveless and sometimes anonymous sex, which is graphically depicted in adolescent terms that too often render it-like the entire novel-more silly than erotic.