- The Next Step is Oblivion: The future of LGBT+ writing - 2 November, 2014
- In Memory of Stephane - 20 June, 2014
- The End of Your Relationship May Already Be in Your Pocket - 12 May, 2014
And I’ve been asked to write a regular column! Now if I could only think of a subject to write about…
Well, I am a writer. I’ve eight books to my name including a best-selling 18th century romp about Casanova’s gay brother Benedetto. But magazine columns should be about issues and people, and the world around us, not about an author’s ego. So between two new book projects, lectures, signings, readings, seminars, charities in three countries and my frequent travelling, where will I find the time, and what will I write about?
Time should not be a problem. I am spending time waiting in airport lounges and sitting in cramped airline seats. I am actually writing this on a plane, looking around a half-empty cabin and wondering what the readers of a British lifestyle magazine would like to hear from a global traveller, LGBT activist, and author. So while I reach for the champagne glass and fondle the warm nuts of British Airways, I am looking for the subject which unites all my endeavours. And there it is, coming towards me with a glorious bright smile, a head full of blond hair, an adorable accent from somewhere I’ve never been, and a steaming hot towel: A MAN!
I will dedicate this column to men. Mostly gay and bisexual men, but with an occasional straight boy bent unceremoniously over the knee. I’ll tell you about the men I meet regularly around the world, the men who populate my life, my books—and other people’s books, and my over-active imagination.
There’ll be scruff bear types from Oregon living in a permanent threesome out in the woods. There’ll be outrageous queens in LA. There’ll be Czech porn stars, Brazilian escorts, American lawyers, British bankers, Italian gardeners, Jewish graphic designers, and Portuguese football players. There’ll be serious chin-wags about what it means to be a man in a feminized world, and highfalutin opinions about cultural masculinity. My men will be in or out of the closet. We’ll talk about bare-backing, E, ice, house prices, pornography and anthroposophy. We will examine relationships between chubby and skinny, old and young, dom and sub, white and black and brown and yellow. There’ll be workers and oil tycoons; cricketers and rugby hunks. There’ll be guys who embrace life, and those who struggle with it. There’ll simply be oodles of men and their quirky personalities.
Some of the articles will naturally be based on older material. But I am still going strong, still travelling, and still observing, so I’ll report on the men I see, meet, drink and sleep with. I’ll also talk about my 15-year relationship with a wonderful Asian man, who just leaned over and told me to take out ‘sleep with’ in the last sentence—and replace it with ‘fuck with’. Naughty boy!
So yes, there’ll be talk about sex, no doubt. But as in my books, the sex will never be the main goal. It’s the men and their minds, their dreams and aspirations, the flaws and talents which fascinate me.
I’m a word slut. I will talk to anyone, anywhere, about the meaning of life. And you, in this fabulous magazine, shall hear all about it.
(If you have a story to share, or want to buy me a drink somewhere around the world, you can reach me on webmarten@gmail.com.)
