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Both books have been reedited with additional text and can be obtained in HARDCOVER, PAPERBACK, and eBOOK versions. And OHITS has a new cover!
Thank you again for your significant support and encouragement. While it has only been three years since these books were originally published, each software has evolved offering new challenges.
No one does anything like this alone and YOU need to know how greatly appreciated YOU are!
SYNOPSIS: One of two gay male actors, surviving an epidemic that is ravaging their community, living as an HIV-negative, monogamous couple on NYC’s Upper West Side, and planning their future, has a seizure in the back seat of a cab, is hit with a fatal diagnosis and dies one month before their fifteenth anniversary.
The arcs of these two people unite: One lost in the post-war struggles of the Midwest, the other on the more Ivy League East Coast; both needing to follow their art, forming a circle that gets smaller and tighter, as they struggle unsuccessfully toward inevitable loss.
But in that loss, surprising positive things are found.
Delve into this personal black hole of medical minutia culminating in the death of one gay man in NYC – unrelated to the raging AIDS pandemic – while his partner survives to recognize that some wonderful things can and do exist within that darkness.
Witty, wise, and wonderfully raw, you will find this book’s integrity difficult to match. The irony and absurdities of achieving dreams, growing older and learning to let go covers a roller-coaster of emotions.
J L Homan’s second book serves to augment the narrative of the author’s protagonist in ’Out Here in the Stars A Memoir of Love, Loss & Learning to Let Go. Five chapters pulled from that first book, plus additional short stories and personal essays, offer insights into this gay man’s life, with which you may or may not agree but which you will find difficult to dismiss.
RAWD contains many examples of effective crossovers between these three stylistic modes: Journalistic/ Sociological; Autobiography/Historic; Portrait/Scenic. The mix is seamless – the narration is lucid, vivid, and completely effective. The moments where the three elements blend are among the best of the book, which is both fascinating and rewarding.
Using Erikson’s stages of development as a structure gives the collection a sense of unity and becomes the book’s theme at its heart. Erikson not only develop the eight stages, but also eight Existential Questions, one for each step.
With the word "Reverie" in its title, the collection allows connections and associations to migrate, dreamlike, between narrative layers among the stories and essays of the collection, in an attempt to possibly answer those questions.
a bawdy, intergalactic, gay fairy tale/romance/satire, to be found episodically under the VELLA option on KDP.Amazon.com website.
(First 3 of 8 chapters are FREE!)
Dear “Frieders,” (Friends and Readers)
I am writing to let you know that I have begun a third effort, which is being made available for reading in a unique way on Kindle. At this point in time, I am not sure the material is a novel, a short story, a fairy tale, or the 21st Century’s equivalent of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” – which would then, of course, require both a composer and lyricist.
Kindle Vella is a service, not a product. Kindle Vella is a platform that authors use to share their stories with readers in an episodic style. It is a new way to read serialized stories into short episodes that can go with breaks in your day, allowing readers to consume content one episode at a time.
The first three episodes of each story are free to the reader and presents a communicative format between the author and the reader. If you like what you read and choose to continue reading, then you can purchase tokens to follow each new entry into the narrative. New entries could come daily, weekly, monthly – depending on the author. (I’ve scheduled new chapters for the next eight weeks.)
Roughly, one minimally-priced (~<$0.01) token is worth 100 words; so a 600-word chapter will require about six tokens; however, the price of a token varies by how many you buy.
The more tokens you purchase in one transaction, the cheaper each individual one is, with several bundles you can choose from. The prices are all in US dollars, since that's the only currency accepted currently. This is considerably cheaper than ordering a Kindle download.
______________________
Out Queer in the Stars … a Bawdy Intergalactic Fairy Tale” is a subjective fiction satire, which I began during the pandemic and hope you will enjoy a few giggles. It is currently only eight chapters in length and less than 15,000 words.
* * *
Eight international human astronauts, plus one robot (Mic Kanic), existing on various spectrums of physical, mental, psychological, medical, gender, as well as puritanical morality norms, are on a mission to find alternative locations for possible human habitation. They land on Genitalia, a small planet in the little-known Sub-Solar System, which has environmental conditions similar to those on Earth.
While size is universally respected, similarities and differences exist.
Populated by an unusual species of exceptional beauties who are ruled by the Ian Dynasty and worship their only deity, Lord Richard (that’s long for Dick), the Genitalians find their visitors curiously similar in appearance, but unbelievably provincial in attitudes that require immediately adjustment. As personal barriers are examined, analyzed and resolved, intrapsychic walls crumble and surprising choices are made by the humans as they begin to respect the differences and embrace the similarities of Genitalian life.
Leaving Mic Kanic, along with his Genitalian love ‘bot, Saffo Fell-8TO, to return their spacecraft. The two become Intergalactic Emperor and Empress of a new species, referred to as Affected Artificial Aliens (A3s), that have taken over life on the tiny blue planet formerly known as Earth.
* * *
Kindle Vella stories can be found by going to the Discover page in the Kindle app on iOS devices, or by going to the Store tab on the Kindle app, the Android and/or Fire devices, and tapping the Kindle Vella link. Another way to connect is by visiting the Kindle Vella store at http://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella.
One year following the completion of this Vella showing, Kindle will professionally publish the resulting book, making it available in hardcover, paperback, etc.
Should you find this of interest, please let me know what you think.
Thank you always for your kind support.
PS: My editor at AM Ink Publishing, emailed two weeks ago that Out Here in the Stars … a Memoir is in the “editing process.” How long that will take, I know not. Nor can he estimate a release date. Having signed on March 3, 2022, I was hoping the new edition would be available for this holiday season but there is no way of assuring that is a possibility.
You've still got time to savor JL Homan's memoir 'Out Here in the Stars, a poignant recollection of Homan (now a Westfield resident) and his journey from Broadway chorus dancer to executive assistant; to partner and caregiver to Harold, his longtime spouse, who died of a brain tumor, after they had been together for almost fifteen years.
This story hit home for me. As serendipity would have it, James was in the chorus of the Houston Grand Opera revival of Hello, Dolly!, with Carol Channing recreating her iconic role in a long national tour, which ended up on Broadway in 1978. I was at Houston Grand Opera assigned to the musical’s sales team. We were at numerous events together in Houston, on tour, and in New York, but we hadn’t met. When Hello, Dolly!’s Broadway run ended, James lived in a strange New York theatre world, where AIDS was wiping out a large percentage of the community. I moved to New York a couple of years later, frequented the same restaurants and clubs, and knew similar people, but had never met. When I returned to Springfield to work at the Springfield Symphony and Stage West, I met Bob Plasse (Homan’s current spouse), and wasn’t until a couple of years ago, that James and I sat in the late Press Room Cafe at "The Westfield News" and connected the dots in our parallel journeys.
James’ recollections of his life with Harold, struggling with brain cancer, reminded my of a required high school reading, John Gunther’s 1949 memoir, "Death Be Not Proud." Gunther, a well-regarded journalist of the day, had a teenage son, Johnny, who developed a similar brain tumor, while a student at Deerfield Academy. Homan’s spouse, Harold, had the advantage of almost a half decade of advancements in new treatment of these kinds of brain cancers, which killed Ted Kennedy, John McCain, and my fellow StageWest colleague, Pat Ford Yurkuna.
James is a good storyteller, and he lists, in intricate details, the many chemo therapy treatments and drug protocols alongside Harold’s favorite operas and ballets and theatre. The story isn’t as much about Harold’s finally journey as it is the story of a caregiver, who brings together his partner’s discordant family, and a myriad of friends, connections, and healthcare providers to build a team. I think that Harold, who had enjoyed a filled and fulfilling life, was given that fulfillment to the end of his life, because of James.
There are numerous stories of good people who are sick and dying and the people who stood by them and for them. In the time period where 'Out Here in the Stars is set, so many of the stories of patient/caregiver, like Longtime Companion, As Is, and The Normal Heart are set against the tableau of AIDS. James’ and Harold’s story does not involve HIV nor AIDS but is set in the backdrop of a pandemic which killed thousands. This makes their story poignant with different shadings. 'Out Here in The Stars is not a downer. It’s filled with inspiration and love, and testimony to caring people. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it.
WESTFIELD – James Homan has had many roles in his lifetime: Broadway chorus dancer, corporate executive assistant, head waiter and now, author.
The Westfield resident recently published his first book, “Out Here in the Stars,” which takes readers through the journey of his life and possibly his most important role, caregiver to his dying partner, Harold.
Homan will discuss his book tonight at the Westfield Athenaeum at 6:30 p.m. in the Jasper Rand Art Gallery. He will have copies available for sale.
Homan’s memoir chronicles the 14 months he spent caring for Harold following the discovery of his Glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor. The couple was living in Manhattan at the time and had beaten many of the odds facing gay men in the 80’s and 90’s — they had a 16-year, HIV-negative, monogamous relationship and survived the AIDS pandemic – a feat Homan touches on in his book. He noted that he eventually stopped counting the number of friends and acquaintances he lost to AIDS at 69 in 1990.
Homan writes about loss and feeling lost throughout much of his life, beginning with his abusive upbringing in Wisconsin and trying to find himself as a young gay man in the world of theater.
To celebrate Harold’s life, Homan took a journey to his former partner’s favorite city – Siena, Italy – the year after Harold died. Homan brought nearly 100 pages of notes he had taken throughout Harold’s illness and attended a week-long memoir writing workshop. It was there, in May of 2000, that Homan began writing this book and met Robert Plasse, the man who would encourage him to write about Harold and, 19 years later, remains his partner and spouse today.
“I brought, like, 84 pages of handwritten notes and eight steno pads,” recalled Homan. “I’d tried writing about Harold’s last 14 months before, but I couldn’t; it always ended in tears.”
Twenty years later, Homan feels this journey is complete, and he feels less lost these days. Or at least, lost in a different direction.
“I have come to the conclusion that we are all actually meant to be ‘lost’ to some extent during our lives,” Homan wrote in a letter to Harold in 2019. “Some of us find ourselves completely lost and our journeys become our meaning. Irving Berlin’s lyric ‘I got lost . . . but look what I found’ continues to strike a poignant chord.”
Homan, now in his 70s, said his latest journey is dealing daily with “the existential angst and irony that comes with growing older and learning to let go.”
Completing “Out Here in the Stars” was a labor of love, a learning experience and yet another twist and turn in Homan’s life.
“I contacted over 100 agents online,” Homan said of peddling his manuscript. “I got encouraging responses, but they didn’t want a 72-year-old starting a new career.”
Homan was more determined than ever and self-published the book, which is sold through Barnes & Noble.
Although daunting at the time, the publishing experience, like most of Homan’s life experiences, has not kept him from continuing on to his next chapter and he said he will have a series of short stories published soon.
“Those are about the resilience needed as we grow older,” he said, which is something he learned while he was lost.
COEXIST with TOLERANCE
Embrace SIMILARITIES
and Respect DIFFERENCES
