Christopher Bram – författare

Decades after his Hollywood success as director of hits like Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Show Boat, James Whale is now retired and slowly facing dementia. His caring housekeeper, Maria, quietly disapproves of Whale's faceless, nameless parade of young gay lovers. But when the director takes an interest in Clayton, the new African American gardener, it appears to be for something more than his usual casual conquest.This haunting new stage adaptation of Bram's best-selling novel explores issues of aging, race, sexuality and bigotry with intelligence, insight and compassion.

Seventeen-year-old Joel can’t be gay if he’s straight After four years of living with relatives in Switzerland, seventeen-year-old Joel Scherzenlieb finds himself in the United States for the summer, working at a Boy Scout camp. There, he meets nineteen-year-old Corey Cobbett, a fellow counselor who''s the only person Joel wants to be friends with. Soon, Joel’s sarcastic, distant CIA father shows up and whisks him away to live with his mother, grandmother, and older sister on a farm in Virginia—he’s not going back to Switzerland after all. As his father pleads poverty and his dreams of going to college vanish, Joel faces his longest year yet. But everything changes when Corey returns to his life, bringing with him the discovery and excitement of reciprocal love.

During World War II, a gay navy sailor works undercover to catch Nazi spies, in this “fast-moving” novel from the author of Gods and Monsters (Publishers Weekly).   During shore leave in New York, Seaman Second Class Hank Fayette, a Texas country boy in the big city, finds himself visiting a gay brothel, where he is swiftly arrested during a raid. Facing the prospect of a dishonorable discharge—or worse—he is given another option: Return to the brothel, near Manhattan’s West Side piers, and work undercover as a prostitute.   Nazi agents are rumored to haunt the area, and Hank is a perfect lure to trap them. This military man is about to risk his life for his country in a way he never expected in “a spy thriller that breaks new ground” from the author of Eminent Outlaws and The Notorious Dr. August (Kirkus Reviews).  

A group of worldly New Yorkers inherit a friend’s last loverA year after the AIDS-related death of filmmaker Clarence Laird, known to friends as Angel Clare, his young boyfriend, Michael, is still in deep mourning. Clarence’s older, sophisticated friends—male and female, gay and straight—find themselves the custodians of Michael, a callow kid they never liked much to begin with. What follows is a dark, intimate comedy about real grief and false grief, misunderstanding, friendship, love, and forgiveness.

A gripping thriller about contemporary gay politicsRalph Eckhart, an unassuming bookstore manager in the East Village, meets Bill O’Connor online and they agree to get together during Ralph’s weekend visit to Washington, DC. The two start a heated, long-distance sexual relationship. But Ralph discovers that Bill is a closeted Republican journalist, whose new book trashes liberal women in Washington—including Ralph’s speechwriter friend, Nancy—and angrily breaks off the affair. When Bill is found murdered, Ralph becomes the prime suspect. This is a complex psychological and political thriller full of the sexy excitement of “sleeping with the enemy.”

The first collection of nonfiction from the author Tony Kushner calls “one of the best novelists writing in the world today” Over a thirty-year period, novelist Christopher Bram witnessed, and lived through, the powerful experiences of coming out, the AIDS epidemic, gay marriage, and the social changes that have occurred in lower Manhattan. From the title piece, which maps the state of gay fiction, to “A Body in Books,” about the gay books that changed the author’s life, the essays in Mapping the Territory form a coherent autobiographical account of Bram’s life. This work wouldn’t be complete without “Homage to Mr. Jimmy,” his account of how his novel Father of Frankenstein grew from his imagination and writing into the Oscar-winning movie Gods and Monsters. Mapping the Territory is a thoroughly engaging and compelling look into a great American writer.

Four novels dealing with a broad range of gay experience—from the “gifted” author of Gods and Monsters, the basis for the Academy Award–winning film (The Advocate).   Whether Christopher Bram is writing about the director of Frankenstein in Gods and Monsters or the characters in the four novels collected here—a sailor who goes undercover in a gay brothel to catch Nazis, a teen coming into his sexual awakening, a group of Manhattanites dealing with a friend lost to AIDs, and a bookstore owner accused of murdering his conservative Republican lover—“what is most impressive in Bram’s fiction is the psychological and emotional accuracy with which he portrays his characters . . . His novels are about ordinary gay people trying to be decent and good in a morally compromised world. He focuses on the often conflicting claims of friendship, family, love and desire; the ways good intentions can become confused and thwarted; and the ways we learn to be vulnerable and human” (Philip Gambone).  Hold Tight: In “a spy thriller that breaks new ground” set during World War II, Navy sailor Hank Fayette visits a gay brothel in New York City only to be arrested during a raid (Kirkus Reviews). Facing a dishonorable discharge—or worse—he is given another option: return to the brothel, near Manhattan’s West Side piers, and work undercover as a prostitute to trap Nazi spies.   “A World War II story Hollywood never filmed . . . entertaining, sexy, and touching.” —Stephen McCauley  Surprising Myself: In Bram’s “superb” debut novel, seventeen-year-old Joel is spending the summer at a Boy Scouts camp in the United States after four years of living with relatives in Switzerland (Booklist). There he meets nineteen-year-old Corey, a fellow counselor who’s the only person Joel wants to be with. Soon, Joel’s distant CIA father shows up and whisks him away to live on a farm in Virginia. But everything changes when Corey returns to his life, bringing with him the discovery and excitement of reciprocal love.   “Captivating . . . Funny, moving, and totally absorbing.” —Newsday  In Memory of Angel Clare: A year after the AIDS-related death of filmmaker Clarence Laird—known to friends as Angel Clare—his young boyfriend, Michael, is still deep in mourning. Clarence’s older, sophisticated friends—male and female, gay and straight—find themselves the reluctant custodians of Michael, a callow kid they never liked much to begin with. What follows is a dark, intimate comedy about real grief and false grief, misunderstanding, friendship, love, and forgiveness.   “Bram’s characters are candidly, truthfully observed. . . . It is the common humanity of these Manhattan sophisticates that triumphs quietly in a surprising, dramatic climax.” —Publishers Weekly  Gossip: Ralph Eckhart, a bookstore manager and gay activist in the East Village, meets Bill O’Connor online and they agree to get together during Ralph’s weekend visit to Washington, DC. The two start a heated, long-distance sexual relationship. But Ralph discovers that Bill is a closeted Republican journalist, whose new book trashes liberal women in Washington—including Ralph’s speechwriter friend, Nancy—and angrily breaks off the affair. When Bill is found murdered, Ralph becomes the prime suspect in this complex psychological and political thriller.   “A tantalizingly wonderfully told tale of human misadventure. A superior piece of literary entertainment.” —The New York Times Book Review