Every Man for Himself

The efficacy of new treatments for AIDS also signals a milestone in the sorts of stories that can be written about gay men, much as John Rechy's, Patricia Nell Warren's and Andrew Holleran's work reflected the situation in the '70s and Paul Monette and the Dead Generation ferried us past in the '80s and '90s. But Outland does not explore the new environment in this novel, which instead adheres to the flourishing genre of gay pulp fiction, simple stories churned out to affirm gay souls and pass the time on beaches and couches. The narrative is entertaining in parts, but wafer thin. It centers on 33-year-old John Eames and his new beautiful body. Johnnie was always a bit of a schlub, but a post-diagnosis cocktail and steroids prescription turns his life around, affording him the reckless sex-and-drugs-soaked bacchanalia he'd never had. This new hedonism leads to problems with his boyfriend and his old circle of friends, whom he trades in for a younger, prettier set who spend their time at resorts with names like Babylon and clubs with names like Universe. Of the many possible resolutions to this promising scenario, Outland has chosen the least satisfying, leaving most of the issues--narrative and sociocultural--unresolved. The characters are wanly drawn, and the plot not sufficiently dramatic for this approach to satisfy, even as pulp fiction. Yet it is of modest interest for its introduction of the new set of post-AIDS-crisis dynamics that will no doubt fuel much of the gay literature we will see over the next few years. (June)