Warlock, A Novel of Possession [Kindle Edition]

Perry Brass (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Allen Barrow’s friends are polite, shy men like himself who gather to eat in affordable restaurants and know each other as refugees from their own families. He is a clerk in a bank, dresses frugally, and has a small penis that embarrasses him. One night he meets a man whose presence rivets him. Destry Powars—handsome, vulgar, spectacularly ugly in his behavior and yet disarmingly seductive—has pulled Allen into his orbit and won’t let go. Destry lives in a closed, moneyed world that Allen can only dream about; a world that he can glimpse only through the smoked glass windows of popular media. From generations of impoverished drifters, Powars has been chosen to learn the secret language of wealth, a language based on force, deception, and nerve. But who chose and taught him these “arts”—and what does he really want from Allen? What exactly are the strange Mr. Powars’s dark powers? These are the mysteries that Allen will uncover in Warlock, a novel of international intrigue that is as paralyzing in its suspense as it is voluptuously erotic.

Warlock is a novel about a New York awash in money and yet always a hair away from the bubble’s burst of catastrophe. It is about living outside of the overhyped “New Economy.” If you think I.P.O. [Initial Public Offering] means “I’m Poor, Okay,” then this book speaks directly to you. This is one of Perry Brass’s most compelling stories. Erotic love, surrender, and the total magic of overwhelming needs being met are its main ingredients. It is about our sweetest dreams and worst nightmares coming true . . . and the hard work of warlocks.
Suspenseful. Voluptuously erotic. A demonic, queer Rosemary’s Baby, set in the glittering, international world of greed and power. “In this book, Perry Brass has added to the annals of gay lit.” Richard LaBonte, in Book Marks.
Winner Ippy Award from Independent Publisher Magazine, best gay and lesbian book, 2002.

As gripping as today's headlines exposing the boom-and-bust cycles of the global market that make some men billionaires while others starve, Warlock has solidified Perry Brass's worldwide reputation as "the American Jean Genet."

From the Author

Some people expect Warlock to be one-handed reading material. It’s not. Although erotic, it is not pornographic. Some expect a stick-in-the eye, pulpy horror novel. The horror element in it is much more subtle, like in Ira Levin’s classic tale of urban horror, Rosemary’s Baby, than in Clive Barkerdom. What the book is about is submission and surrender--those two exquisite sexual feelings--surrendering to someone whose behavior you might find repulsive, but whose magnetism is unavoidable. Warlock is about giving up your "common sense," your judgment, and realizing the power of surrendering to your deepest needs and feelings. So this book has an S & M feeling, without dungeon scenes, leather masters, etc. In fact, in one leather bar scene, Destry Powars sneers at the posturing going on: he is much more powerful than that, the real master also in submission to Allen Barrow, the naive creature who, in turn, is enthralled with Powars, yet repulsed by him. The newsletter of NY’s Gay Male S & M Activists, called Warlock "the essence of S & M." In some ways, women may identify with this book more than men: women are often called upon to surrender and to be surrendered to. In gay relationships, this sense of total surrender, and the security to do it, is usually lacking. But, when the moment comes and it happens . . . well, that is the domain of warlocks, those powerful rebels within their own hearts, among us.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 290 KB
• Print Length: 236 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1892149036
• Publisher: Belhue Press; first edition edition (January 7, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001P5GS0A
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,216 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Perry Brass grew up, in the nineteen fifties and sixties, in equal parts Southern, Jewish, economically impoverished, and very much gay. To escape the South's violent homophobia, he hitchhiked at age 17 from Savannah to San Francisco--an adventure, he recalls, that was "like Mark Twain with drag queens." As a young man he worked as a male artist's model, on the floor of an aircraft factory, and, in the "Mad Men" period of anything-goes-advertising, in Madison Avenue art departments.
He's published 15 books and been a finalist six times in 3 categories (poetry; gay science fiction and fantasy; spirituality and religion) for Lambda Literary Awards, as well as winning numerous awards for his poetry, plays, fiction, and other writings. His work is unique in that it combines frank depictions of human sexuality, deep spiritual values, political acumen and insight, and often outrageous humor. This has given him a small but devoted readership that doesn't pigeonhole itself or his writing.
He has been involved in the gay rights movement since November of 1969, soon after the Stonewall Rebellion, when he co-edited "Come Out!," the world's first gay liberation newspaper.
Later, in 1972, with two friends he started the Gay Men's Health Project Clinic, the first clinic for gay men on the East Coast, still surviving as New York's Callen-Lourde Clinic. In 1984, his play "Night Chills," one of the first plays to deal with the AIDS crisis, won a Jane Chambers International Gay Playwriting Award.
As a poet, Brass's collaborations with composers include the words for the much-performed "All the Way Through Evening," a haunting cycle of five songs evoking the tragedies of the AIDS epidemic, set by the late young Chris DeBlasio; "The Angel Voices of Men" set by Ricky Ian Gordon, commissioned by the Dick Cable Fund for the New York City Gay Men's Chorus which premiered it at Carnegie Hall and featured it on its "Gay Century Songbook" CD; "Three Brass Songs," with famed composer-pianist Fred Hersch; and "The Restless Yearning Towards My Self," with New York City Opera composer Paula Kimper.
He is currently treasurer of the Greater New York Independent Publishers Association, and Co-Director of New York's Rainbow Book Fair, the only book fair and cultural conference in the U.S. solely devoted to the books of LGBT authors and publishers. He directs the publication of books through Belhue Press, an independent gay press.

Perry Brass is an accomplished reader and an internationally recognized voice on gender subjects, gay relationships, and the history and literature of the movement towards glbt equality. He lives in the Riverdale section of "da Bronx" with his partner of 28 years, but can cross bridges to other parts of America without a passport.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Erotic and suspenseful, December 12, 2001

By 

RICHARD MANDRACHIO - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warlock: A Novel of Possession (Paperback)

Warlock, like many of this author's other works, embraces the spirituality of gay romance through a deftly balanced amalgam of erotica and fantastical themes. Though not as exotic as Angel Lust or as adventurous and fast-paced as Harvest, this particular book is crafted on the premise that horror works best on a subtle, psychological level. It is also a testimony to the maturity that Perry Brass has reached in his writing technique. By eschewing its reliance on fictional locales, the settings of New York and Switzerland and the situations they present compelled me to read on.

From a gay perspective, the characters were not as positive as I would have liked. I suppose that their flaws were simply meant to flesh them out as well as to imbue the story with a sense of humanity (a necessity in this genre). Thus, the characterizations of Allen and Destry were credible yet intriguing. The story was further spiced up by a host of colorful minor roles. Occultwise, howevever, I was never quite rewarded in the way I would have thought. Perhaps, this was the author's intent so that the air of expectancy would not be diminished. From the way Warlock resolves itself, I get the distinct impression that there's a good chance of a sequel.

Perry Brass is a sensualist who seems to achieve his literary goals by incorporating mellifluous and very lyrical depictions of everyday actions into his narrative. The fact that he did not rely on the usual horror cliches enables this tale to keep its contemporary edge while exuding a Lovecraftian aura. Granted, this book is not for everyone. But then, neither is Lovecraft or gay erotica.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Confusing til the end, May 4, 2003

By 

"govt_atty" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warlock: A Novel of Possession (Paperback)

This book was not what I was expecting. Or maybe it was, and I just don't know it yet. From the beginning, I just couldn't grasp what was happening in the story. The main character, Allen, is basically a frustrated gay man with a very poor opinion of himself, apparently centered around his small endowment. He is picked up by Destry Powars, a big hairy brute at a bath house who's rough look, vulgarity, and belittlement of Allen just make me wonder "Why?" Allen follows him home basically because he "couldn't say no." Ends up going on a trip with Destry to Switzerland where some pretty wild things happen.

The story just doesn't make sense. The characters are never really flushed out, so you don't know why they are the way they are. They ask questions that are never really answered. There is some mystery and possibly even a little horror thrown in, but it's usually barely touched upon and not fully explored. I mean are we dealing with warlocks, vampires, Satanists, or just some regular folks who follow a troll with some unknown magical powers? There's even a bit of erotica there, but it's not worth the couple paragraphs spent on it, as Allen usually goes on a mind-bending daydream during it so you forget what's going on.

Overall, I think it can be entertaining, but there's a lot better stuff out there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a darker shade of murky, May 24, 2006

By 

Furio (Genova - Italy) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Warlock: A Novel of Possession (Paperback)

This is my first Perry Brass novel, a celebrated gay author.

It is impressive but I shall tell straightforward that my enjoyment was severely dininished by its unhappy ending. I know it is my own personal problem but I have this thing about romances going awry, unless of course the ending is operaticly tragic, in which case I can reconcile myself with it.

This is basicly a romance, if a gloomy one. Not so young, not really beautiful Allen, obsessed with his tiny little penis, meets vulgar, charming, wealthy Destry (what kind of name is Destry, by the way?) but quite soon, while their intensely physical passion grows, things start going wrong: dark, hideous things start surfacing under the glossy film of Destry's life.
Mr Brass chose to give kind of a supernatural colouring to his tale, frightening little and not so little touches of psychological horror, but he could just as easily have skipped all that: I guess the financial world of globalisation is dirty and frightening enough on its own real own.

Anyway the result is duly scary, the writing good, the story fast paced, the book a page turner.
I see just a flaw but unfortunately it is a major one, therefore the two stars (and it could have been one).
The main hero, Allen, is simply foolish and unbelievable: curiosity is one good thing for a character, even necessary to keep the story going, but Allen simply cannot help but sticking his nose nearly everywhere throughout the story without learning better judgement from any of his bad experiences. It is hard to believe and too ordinary a device in the long run, not to mention that such a tract is inconsistent with the character as it is introduced at the beginning: a tiny little individual afraid of life who would never repeat blunders.

There is a lot of graphic sex, but it really gave me a strange feeling of estrangement: its main point seems that of outlining an obsession, a grim sense of predestination.