Young Man from the Provinces by Alan Helms


"Alan Helms was the most famous piece of ass of my generation. We called him 'Scandal Boy' and constructed endless gossip around him. What Denham Foutus was to Truman Capote and Christopher Isherwood, Alan Helms was to us. When Casanova was too old to pursue his amorous career, he became a librarian and wrote his memoir; Alan became a professor and has written his autobiography, every bit as riveting as Casanova's."
-Edmund White

"Alan Helms was the young man I wanted to be. This book was like reading the autobiography of the life I didn't have. I read it with recognition of the long, painful journey so many of us have towards some kind of maturity. I salute his courage and celebrate the self-knowledge he has earned. He has captured perfectly the world of the golden Boyman."
-Terrence McNally

"Usually, the femme (or homme) fatale - from Lolita to Tadzio - is shown only from the viewpoint of the besotted. Now Alan Helms, in his day an Obsession for others, most wittily and sharply reports what it is like to have so many Humberts and Aschenbachs on his case and how smoke from votive candles can get in your eyes."
-Gore Vidal

Click here to read an excerpt from the book