Lessons from Cruising

Martin Goodman has published thirteen books, both fiction and nonfiction. His debut novel On Bended Knees, just re-released, was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and his most recent one The Cellist of Dachau, takes music and the Holocaust as its themes. Nonfiction books, some award-winning, are about the sacred, fights to save the environment, and the history of medicine. Born in Leicester, he studied English at Leeds, took a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster, and is professor emeritus of creative writing at the University of Hull, and has broadcast widely as a BBC New Generation Thinker. He shares homes in Los Angeles, London and Lowestoft with his husband, the environmental lawyer, writer and Zen priest James Thornton."Such narrow, narrow confines we live in. Every so often, one of us primates escapes these dimensions, as Martin Goodman did. All we can do is rattle the bars and look after him as he runs into the hills. We wait for his letters home." – The Los Angeles Times

"A ravishing collection, remarkably wide-ranging in subject, mood and tone, each story exquisitely crafted. A complicated young man embarked on a romantic adventure and diving into deeper water than he can safely navigate. A clergyman shedding his faith as he retraces the footsteps of St. Paul. Several linked tales chronicling lovely Arnold's wondrous, ultimately bittersweet wet dream of a life. A boldly imagined "missing" scene from Melville's Billy Budd. These stories explore the cadences and crises of gay men's lives with fine, empathetic insight. Goodman's attention to detail often combines with verbal felicity to memorialize even the most ordinary moments. Powerful and affecting work."– Paul Russell, author of Immaculate Blue "Martin Goodman's wild, irreverent and fetching stories pulled me in. I was especially taken by his Melvillian outake on Billy Budd, the fine last story in this collection, which is moving and weirdly plausible."– Jay Parini, author of The Passages of Herman Melville and Borges and Me

• The Lovely Life of Arnold1Lessons from Cruising11Puffins in Flight34Everything I Am. Arnold, Age 2140The Loving Room58My Tri-Athlete. Arnold, Age 2868Queenie and the Boy75Cupcakes at tea85India, by Design. Arnold, Age 3588When toffee-apples turn to juice97Letters to the Parishioners104Mom, In Passing. Arnold, Age 42123Billy Budd: Captain Vere’s Account135