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Home Page of Blake Fraina, author of the novel King of Cats
King of Cats: A Life in Five Novella
2004 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Bronze Medal Winner Gay/Lesbian Fiction
What makes a person fascinating? Is it what they hide or what they reveal? Is it who they are or who they appear to be?
A struggling filmmaker believes he recognizes the face of a man in an old painting and becomes obsessed with finding him. On the cusp of his band’s success, a closeted guitarist walks out on his longtime male lover to live with a woman he hardly knows. After spending one fateful night in bed together, two youthful musicians enter into a bitter and emotionally devastating power struggle for control over their band and one another. And eight years later, tragedy forces both men to confront the destructive but inescapable legacy of their fathers’ influence.
Peopled with vivid characters and told in sharp dialogue, the five stories that comprise King of Cats tell the compelling, sometimes heartbreaking story of luminous, enigmatic rock star Jimmy ‘Strange’ Lyons. Weaving back and forth through time, from a tenement in Alphabet City to a luxury co-op overlooking Central Park to a semi-detached in North London, Jimmy’s life unfolds like a mystery, gradually revealing his secrets and exposing the vast gulf that often lies between what appears to be and what is.
Reviews:
“…this is an intelligent, seductive book.” - Books To Watch Out For
“…[the] characters are fully developed, demanding and believable.” - Stonewall Society
“...[the] characters seem so real that they could jump off the pages and slap you in your face.” - Bella Online
“Vivid characterization brings personal foibles and power struggles to life, and the power of music is a double-edged sword, as is the lure of money in this captivating human drama. An engrossing and intricate parable." – The Midwest Book Review
"...in its evocation of misery and ecstasy, the book King of Cats suggests the inescapable mystery of the human condition." - The Compulsive Reader
“Fraina has the courage to show the reader things that we might rather not see…[W]e owe it to ourselves not to look away.” – Lambda Book Report
"I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s totally contemporary, superbly well written and fascinating. It will move you, arouse you and suck you in until you’re as lost as the characters themselves." - Squashduck.com/ltd
“Quite unsettling…This will be either a book you’ll treasure or not; you’ll love it or not. I promise there won’t be any in between.” - The Independent Gay Writer
“…by the end, I was in tears at least twice. That is good writing, people.” – Ruth Sims, author of The Phoenix
“I emphatically recommend this engrossing tale of love, lust, loss and tangled relationships.” -Forbidden Fruit Zine
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