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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 13, 2009 www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

eveningsout

Two tales of forbidden love in times of turmoil

by Anthony Glassman

The history of love is closely intertwined with the history of conflict, of battle, of war.

Whether it's grand landscapes of the antagonism of the Montagues and the Capulets, princesses married off to establish political and military ties with other world powers, or just the intimacy of two people staring into each others' eyes when the world around them is saying that they should never be together, love is never an easy thing.

Nowhere is that more evident than in Shawn Stewart Ruff's Finlater (Quote Editions, trade paperback, $13.50) and Robert L. Sheeley's

Of the two, Finlater is the more polished; Ruff is an accomplished anthologist and short story writer.

His novel follows Cliffy Douglas, a 13year old boy living in the Findlater Gardens Projects of Cincinnati. While his school is integrated, his social circle is not, until he meets Noah Baumgarten.

other, their youthful hijinks eventually turn exploratory, sexual. Noah is a devoted friend to Cliffy, but Cliffy's feelings for his friend go deeper, more romantic.

Despite their affection for each other, their own upbringings and the society around them might tear them apart.

Sheeley's Rainbow Plantation Blues is another first novel, and in many ways is far less polished, in part because of the difference between releasing a book through a publishing house and using one of the self-publishing services like iUniverse. Ruff, in addition to his experience writing short stories, also had the benefit of Quote Editions' editors, while Sheeley's friend, novelist Barbara Louise, bore the task on her shoulders alone. Rainbow Plantation Blues is the story of Jonathan Thomas, a young man who returns to his family's estate in time to witness his father's passing. As he inherits the plantation, he is torn between societal expectations of marriage, and his love of Kumi, one of Rainbow's slaves and a childhood friend. Railroaded into marriage with the daugh-

ter of a state senator, he must contend with his own conflicted emotions over his sexual orientation.

Adding to his stress is the specter of his sister Sarah, who ran away from home a decade earlier after arguing with their parents over women's roles in society, his friendship with the ultra-liberal Stephen Wentworth, and witnessing Rev. Robertson, the fire-andbrimstone local pastor, fellating Kumi.

Ruff has honed his craft and is a solid writer, and his first-person narrative in Finlater has a coherent and engaging voice. Sheeley has the potential to become a very good writer, but needs to find his voice. The omniscient narrator in Rainbow Plantation Blues sometimes muddles the story, with too much information coming from too many sources far too quickly.

On the plus side, it is also an engaging story and Sheeley's writing is quite accessible.

They are two very different, but enjoyable, takes on forbidden loves in times of turmoil.

Robert L. Sheeley

Rainbow Plantation Blues (iUniverse, trade paperback. $16.95).

Both set interracial relationships in trying times for the African American community. Sheeley a Clevelander-opts for the antebellum South, while Ruff attacks the more recent 1970s seemingly a decent time, unless you examine the racial turmoil in Cincinnati, where the narrative takes place.

Shawn Stewart Ruff

Noah is Jewish, the son of affluent and very liberal parents, and views Cliffy as his "soul brother." After all, his parents marched on Washington in 1963, and, "My dad says Jewish and black people have a history of oppression together."

Young Cliffy, who has never heard the word Jewish before, wonders, "Maybe they were another kind of Nigger, only they didn't look like it."

Being teenaged boys, at one point or an-

Painbow Plantation Bluesn

a novel by Rober! I Sheeley

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