A Collection of short stories

DEATHBED KISSES is a collection of quirky and humourous stories, told from a gay perspective, and designed to illustrate the frustrations and obsessions of love, where to find it, and how to get the ultimate revenge.

From the mystery of a suitcase walled up inside the closet of a Hollywood bungalow for fifty years, to the hustler who falls in love with a client, the stories of DEATHBED KISSES are profoundly universal and uniquely entertaining.

DEATHBED KISSES is a sampling of ten amusing stories of relationship and love, some with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, others with a whimsy and penchant for the absurd that make them universal tales for anyone, gay or straight, who has ever searched for that elusive thing called love.

UNDER THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN

The secret of what became of aspiring actress Peggy DeCarlo is revealed, along with why her clothes and publicity photos had been walled up inside a closet of a Hollywood bungalow for over half a century.

JAVA JITTERS

An aging lothario attempts to woo a dazzling counter boy at the local coffee shop only to discover that he has gone to a lot of trouble for nothing.

M4M

An amusing but unsettling story of a Hollywood hustler who decides to better his lot in life and falls in love with a handsome “straight” client who he is determined to seduce into becoming his husband.

DEATHBED KISSES

The title story of the collection deals with a lonely gay man who agrees to tutor a hunky late-in-life convert to the gay lifestyle, only to find that the line between teacher and lover can blur with both poignant and humourous consequences.

37 GRAMERCY PARK

In this urbane and witty story, the reputation of a celebrated Manhattan man-about-town is put in jeopardy when an amourous classmate from a forgotten life in Indiana arrives on the scene and threatens to expose him for the imposter he is.

SPOILED WALLPAPER

A young boy develops a crush on the new “matinee-idol” upstairs boarder. In this story of disappointment in love, the boy learns to see with unclouded eyes the value of those who truly care for him/

A FABULOUS WOMAN

This story of unrequited love follows an alluring woman as she leads a love-struck young man through the tumultuous streets of the last night of Mardi Gras. She discovers that although he had played her game and lost, he will have his final revenge on her in a humourous way that fate alone could provide.

BEAT THE DEVIL

A lonely man consults a homemade oracle to decide his chances of ensnaring a handsome professor as his significant other and realizes that his game is a little off.

RULES OF THE GAME

Two middle-aged women who enjoy a tradition of spending holidays together, along with their philandering husbands, have the last laugh by keeping the twenty-year secret that they have extramarital relationships of their own.

RULE BRITANNIA

A restless young man collides with a captivating anachronistic old woman who lures him into the glory days of the British Empire and allows him to understand his role as the constant traveler.