Hello, and Welcome

This is the inaugural post of my blog having to do with writing. Specifically, it has to do with the writing of Man Lit. Now, this is not Male Lit, because I discovered that this means Gay Lit. I have nothing against gays or the literature that may be produced by them or on their behalf. But that is not the subject of this blog, and that is not what I write.

I have noticed a deficiency of new literature and fiction in the world written for men. There is plenty of history, biography, current events and sports books around. Even fictional books relating to these topics, but I see little in the way of literary fiction that is intended for a male audience. Chick Lit and teen girl lit abound. In chick lit they flit about shopping, obsessing over some guy, dealing with their issues related to getting old and divorced, or a combination of the two. It’s all about relationships. In teen girl lit it seems that the only theme these days is hunk vampires, and what is called “paranormal romance.” In my Man Lit, it is about the man. His relationships figure in because even the best among us does not operate in a vacuum. But that is not the focus. The focus is the man, or the protagonist, in the jargon of the writer.

I am in my mid-fifties, and there are certain themes that I am interested in as a man that don’t seem to be being addressed. I hope to do that in my writings. So, my work will contain a lot of talk about the concerns of people like me, and will be written in the language of people like me.

For example, I am concerned about death. Although interested in religious topics, and fascinated by religious texts, I do not believe in God. The heroes in my stories have the same affliction. This presents certain issues when contemplating death, and you might call it existential. The hero often quotes the Bible, or the story may involve religious elements and religious themes. But the message is never religious.

I also have a tendency to cuss a lot. I spent six years in the Navy, a lot of that on a submarine. By the time I got out I thought that the word “fuck” was a grammatical device used to separate the major parts of a sentence, or even as a word separator. It is a noun, verb, adjective, article, conjunction, and a meaningless interjection. So, in my writing you will find a lot of “fucks” and the occasional “cocksucker,” of “motherfucker.” I try to keep it down, though, because my goal is to create literature, not filth. The use of these words, and others like them, is intended to create realistic speech for people like me, but not be gratuitous.

On the topic of sports, of course many of us love sports, and I am no exception. I am not a fanatic, but I do love a good football game. Sports will be used on occasion in my writing because that is what we do, to a great extent.

Drinking is another thing that sets us apart from the beasts, such as women and teenage girls. (Although I know a lot of women who could hold their own in that regard). I love beer, wine, scotch and martinis, and so do my characters. They will occasionally have too much, but they do not become snot slinging drunk. That is for the twenty-somethings.

So, that’s it by way of introduction. I intend to post snippets of things I’m working on here, and to shamelessly promote my books. But I’m not going to be a prick about it.