Gossip (42 page)

I walked sideways up the breakdown lane, jabbing my thumb at the blind machinery racing past, an insignificant, solitary figure stranded in the middle of nowhere. But I was not alone.

I was alone. I was not alone.

T
HIS IS A WORK OF
fiction. For the sake of verisimilitude, however, several real publications, organizations and public figures, including some journalists, are named. They have been used fictionally throughout. All statements attributed to actual persons are purely imaginary.

Many friends, colleagues and insiders generously helped me with facts and ideas. Chief among those whom I can name are Draper Shreeve, Mary Gentile, Mary Jacobsen, Jim Jones, Will Meyerhofer, Ed Sikov, Cedric Tolley, David Fratkin, Patrick Merla, John Niespolo, my editor Matthew Carnicelli, and my agents Edward Hibbert and Neil Olson. Thank you all.

Christopher Bram is the author of nine novels, including
Father of Frankenstein
, which was made into the Academy Award–winning movie
Gods and Monsters
, starring Ian McKellen. Bram grew up outside of Norfolk, Virginia, where he was a paperboy and an Eagle Scout. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1974 and moved to New York City in 1978. In addition to
Father of Frankenstein
, he has written numerous articles and essays. His most recent book,
Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America
, is a literary history. Bram was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2001, and in 2003, he received Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. He lives in Greenwich Village and teaches at New York University.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1997 by Christopher Bram

Cover design by Mauricio Diaz

978-1-4804-2456-2

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com