Letters

FACTS VERSUS FICTION

Dear ONE:

I just picked up ONE from a newsstand and thought I would write you in praise of the article, "Secrets of the Gay Novel," by Ann Bannon (July, 1961). Miss Bannon has hit the point in question right on the head. Her experience and knowledge of the field have added much to the article. She has definitely exposed the fast sellers in the novel field.

Many trashy paperback books are published to attract the neurotic crowds. They are not geared for the average homosexual, who tries to work hard and live peaceably in his community. They appeal to the public by drawing out their desire for vice, lust and greed.

For the few bad novels, all books on homosexual love and activities are looked upon in a hard light. I enjoyed the article and hope. that ONE will try a follow-up in future issues. Mr. C.

Dear Sirs:

Stamford, Conn.

The issue (July, 1961) is one of the best yet. "Secrets of the Gay Novel" was very well written and informative. I also enjoyed the short-stories, "Overture," and "Two on a Beach. Could we have more short-stories? Since Gay Novels are not plentiful most of us look forward to the stories that appear in ONE. Quite often they answer our reading needs. Mr. O'C. Bronx, N. Y.

Dear ONES:

Your fiction remains on the almost-impossibly-bad level much of the time. I don't suppost there's a chance you could get anything the caliber of Alfred Chester's "In Praise of Vespasian," or non-fiction of the standard of Simon Raven's article "Boys Will Be Boys" on the hustlers of London [see tangents, February, 1961]. 1 know the usual run of writers won't consider you because they need, or want money; because you aren't a name; because you are of the wrong sort for a reference. At least you haven't managed to sink as low as the incredible nadir of the never-to-be-

forgotten "Trio for Two" (February, 1956). Remember that horror?

Keep up the publishing. I may not agree with everything you say, but, in the misquoted words of somebody, "I'll defend to the death your right to say it." You infuriate me often, disgust me on occasion, but you do fill a space which needs it. And, on many occasions, hamburger is fully as satisfactory as Lobster Savannah.

Editor's Note:

Mr. M. Newark, N. J.

A survey of other readers' preferences indicates that a considerable majority would prefer meat to fish under any circumstances. ab sulpy Gentlemen:bovpa

I have become habituated to looking forward to the Editorials, the book reviews and to Tangents. Now and then there has been an interesting series of Letters to the Editor, or articles lifted from news sources but, to be frank, I cannot recall one story or poem which has ever appeared in the Magazine.

The book reviews have been up and down, but have served to keep us abreast of recent publications and have been a great help in avoiding so many of the meretricious novels on which the homosexual wastes his time. Whenever Tangents has been missing ONE has seemed barren and pointless.

Are the Editors aware of the extent to which its subscribers are dependent upon the Magazine for news of the homosexual world? I do not mean some psychologist's gratuitous opinions, or the lugubrious minutiae of ONE Institute, or of the annual Mattachine Convention or, heaven forbid, of some Venereal Disease Council.

The newspapers I read are not inhibited, but homosexuals and homosexuality are taboo to such an extent that almost any trivial event will crowd news about homosexuals out. I'll cite a classic example: Several papers carried an AP dispatch telling that the British Parliament would on such and such a day debate. the Wolfenden Report. Never in one of those papers, not even in TIME, did there appear one word regarding the results of the debate. It was several months later in Tangents that I learned what happened.

I am quite certain the Editors of ONE have no adequate concept of the apathy with which its subscribers regard many of the things they publish, but they do want to know what goes on in New Orleans, in Ann Arbor, in Connemara, Pershing Square, Rittenhouse Square, Union Square; whether the heat is on at Arty's, or at The Bagatelle; whether The Allegro has been permitted to reopen, or is under wraps.

They'd very much like to know which Vice Squads are under investigation for taking bribes, or for extortion, and when some judge