A Novel by Ronald Nevans
This book arrived on my desk a completely unexpected,
marvelous gift; a gemlike, thoroughly accomplished novel written by someone
who evidently lived and played in the very heart of gay life's golden age,
New York and Fire Island's 1970s - 80s. Unruly Angels is sexy,
witty, intelligent, a little smart-aleck, and ultimately heart-breakingly
wise and true.
— Felice Picano
------------------------
Unruly Angels is a fresh fictional look at New York
in the early 1980s, depicting compelling characters in that unique setting.
Nevan's literary craftsmanship is as sensuous as it is incisive as
it traces the transformationof the wild and wide-open sexual hedonism to
a survival-oriented caution.
— Midwest Book Review
----------------
On its surface, Ronald Nevans's novel Unruly
Angels tells an increasingly familiar story of the "golden age"of
gay life, New York division, circa the late '70s/early '80s. All the elements
necessary for such a tale are included-the cute young things with lowpaying,
arts-related jobs, the summer shares on Fire Island, the fag hags, the designer
drugs, and, of course, the sex.
At the center of Unruly Angels are Timothy
"Tiger" Reeves and his best friend Joel. Both work at City Streets---a Village
Voice-style weekly newspaper known for its investigative reporting and
cutting-edge arts coverage. Their adventures, both journalistic and sexual,
as well as their relationships with a large and eccentric cast of secondary
characters, form the basis of this novel.
As these characters make their various ways through their
lives, negotiating with their bosses, ex-lovers, current lovers, and (most
importantly) friends, Nevans's wit and his sharp eye for detail give them
a depth and dignity that is all too uncommon in current' gay fiction":Tiger
is working on a novel, Joel is trying to maintain a relationship with his
son, and their friend Joanna is caught up in an unhappy and ultimately abusive
affair with her married boss.
Their already complicated lives are thrown into further
turmoil when City Streets is sold to an international media conglomerate
and their new owners decide to focus less on hard news and more on courting
the emerging yuppie class and the advertising revenue that comes with it.The
sale of City Streets is the pivotal event in Unruly Angels
— it marks the beginning of the end.
Told one way, this story is an exercise in nostalgia,
a yearning for a simpler time when the perfect tan, the latest drugs, and
the right haircut were all that was needed to gain access to the glittering
playground of gay Manhattan. When told another way, the same story becomes
a cautionary tale, full of harsh warnings about the dangers of shallowness,
promiscuity, anti excess,
Nevans has struck a delicate balance between these two
approaches. Unruly Angels is a thoroughly accomplished novel
that is both celebratory and elegiac-a vivid re-creation of a certain way
of life and a heartbroken lament for its passing.
— Thomas Fagan, Rain Taxi
![[Unruly Angels cover]](angels.jpg)
Paperback • 1-879194-23-6 • US $14.95
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