JERY TILLOTSON

'Nights of Fury' makes dazzling debut!
Reprinted from The East Carolinian, 9/02/04

'65 ECU alumnus, Tillotson, publishes memoir
Jery Tillotson adds memoir, "Nights of Fury", to long list of published works
Lisa Tumbarello, Senior Writer
September 02, 2004


Author, Jery Tillotson, a 1965 graduate of ECU, has recently released a memoir collection, "Nights of Fury", revealing his struggles of growing up as an openly gay person from post World War II to Sept. 11.

Tillotson is a native of Thomasville, North Carolina, and has written numerous novels of suspense, horror and gay erotica. He is widely recognized and praised for his writing, especially in the gay community.

Tillotson has a strong fan base from the North Carolina area since many of the settings and experiences, which he writes about, are adapted from the time he spent growing up here. He most often uses the Piedmont and coastal areas in his novels, and also has incorporated some of his experiences at ECU into his stories.

Tillotson assumes several pennames for his stories, each with a different personality and story style. Although there are many, his most recognizable alter egos are Jason Fury, Andrea D'Allasandra and he will soon be introducing yet another as Kandy Kristmas.

Jason Fury is most appropriately the author of Nights of Fury. Nights of Fury is a collection of experiences adapted from his personal journals from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Fury devotes an entire chapter in this memoir collection to his experience at ECU when he studied here from 1963-1965.

Tillotson describes his two years at ECU as a turning point in his life. ECU had not yet encountered an "out-of-the-closet queer boy before...this brought out the worst and the best in people," said Tillotson.

He touches on many damaging times at ECU as a result of being so unashamed of who he was.

"If you were even suspected of being a queer at ECU--and most other colleges in the early 60s -- your life could be made hell," Tillotson said, "Mine was, many times over."

As a gay student at ECU in the 60s, Tillotson found support in the least likely of places. He tells of the jocks who accepted him and the gays who wanted nothing to do with him.

"The gays at ECU were totally in the closet," Tillotson said, "They considered me too obvious."

Nights of Fury tells of the "simply unforgettable men" of the 60s, 70s and 80s. In the Disco days of big hair and high fashion, sex was everywhere and being a sexually free male was much different than it is today. Tillotson's account of this extraordinary era will be an interesting read not only for gays but also for those who want a better understanding of what it was like to be gay.

"I hope readers will be intrigued with how queer people lived, starting after World War II on up to the present." Tillotson said of Nights of Fury.

"Since I witnessed the Sept. 11 massacre at the World Trade Center, this should give the book an added jolt of shock." Tillotson added.

Tillotson worked for 15 years in the journalism field after he graduated from ECU. He worked at the Wilmington Star-News after he graduated and eventually moved around to several notable journalism publications before moving to New York City in 1978.

Tillotson now works for New York Life and continues to write in his spare time. He is soon releasing a more youth-targeted novel, Doofus, The Little Christmas Boy, under the penname Kandy Kristmas.

"I like writing as Kandy Kristmas. She's very down-to-earth, maternal, warm and nurturing." Tillotson said.

The 231 page story is aimed at the Harry Potter crowd and is described by Tillotson as "a fast-paced fantasy novel that should keep everyone on the edge of their seats."

Tillotson will be adding this novel to his already acclaimed list of over 15 stories including Eric's Body and The Rope Above, The Bed Below which have become staples in the gay community. Tillotson is constantly churning out new works and will surely keep his fan base satisfied for years to come.

To check out more about Jery Tillotson visit www.jerytillotson.com. To purchase any of Tillotson's novels under his various pennames visit www.barnesandnobel.com or www.amazon.com.


* * *
The review reprinted below is from the Blue Banner, campus newspaper for the University of North Carolina, Asheville. 09/30/04


FEATURES / Gay erotica writer recalls sexual past in graphic details
Emily Sarkissian / Staff Reporter

Jery Tillotson, gay erotica author and North Carolina native, recently released a book of memoirs, “Nights of Fury.”

Author of numerous books and stories popular in the gay world, Tillotson writes under several different pennames. One of the pennames, Jason Fury, authored “Nights of Fury.”

This book reeks of over dramatized, stereotypical gay, sexual experiences in conjuncture with the events of the author’s life. While any autobiography will always lean towards the egotistical side, this book seemed almost sensational.

Tillotson grew up in Denton, North Carolina, and attended college at both Brevard College and East Carolina University. He talks a lot about the challenges of being an openly gay male in the South in the 1950s and 60s.

“During the 50s, no one discussed queers in polite society. Boys giggled about them in the locker rooms,” said Tillotson, as Fury in the book. “Queers were so far off the radar that the guys I grew up with thought gay men were drooling monsters. So when I came along, it totally freaked people.”

The book reads more like a fantasy of boundless sex with numbers of gorgeous sculpted men than a believable recount of events.

From the start, the tale of his introduction to the male anatomy at the age of four by his teenage neighbor seems exaggerated at best, hardly believable at worst. Tillotson explicitly tells how his neighbor, Dale, led him upstairs and proceeded to perform, what we would certainly today call child abuse. The way Tillotson tells it, paints a much less-dysfunctional picture, however, and in his explanation, he related how much he loved every minute.

“I clapped my hands when he stripped all of his clothes off and he lay back on the bed,” said Fury in the book. “I had thought and thought about our game and this time he didn’t have to encourage me to make him feel good.”

Enjoying sexual acts of an adult nature at that age is either a fabrication, or a symptom of some other very serious problems.

Before making his home in New York City in 1978, Tillotson wrote as a serious journalist prior to becoming an author of gay fiction. He worked for the Associated Press in both Charlotte, N.C. and Fargo N.D. He also worked for The Montgomery Advertiser in Montgomery, Ala.

The tone he uses to describe his career at this point carries on with the sensationalistic mood of the earlier parts of the book.

“No matter how my enemies felt about my persona, they couldn’t deny that my articles brought me more writing awards than anyone who had ever worked on a Montgomery newspaper,” said Fury in the book. “Medicine, mental illness, the art scene, the drama scene, the civil rights arena, I had brought prominence to all these fields. My contacts ranged in the hundreds.”

When Tillotson moved to New York City, he wrote stories in gay magazines for a while, as he adjusted to life in the big city, during the days of disco. Throughout this part of the book, he does not restrict the retelling of multitudes of sexual experiences in the gay theaters and movie houses. In New York in the 1970s, the gay life abounded.

“Having been ‘locked’ away in closets for decades, the key had finally turned,” said Fury. “Prisoners were released and now they had to make up for lost time.”

I had discovered a whole universe of throbbing men who were like me. We lived for the moments we could merge into the darkness of theaters like The Gaiery Burlesque and become voyeurs.”

The book has a convoluted tone of desiring equality for gay and straight folks, and specifically authors.

Tillotson seems to aim to refute this notion, which he claims still exists today, but he fails miserablely.

While he mentions some personal relationships that do go beyond mere sex, most of his encounters typify the stereotype of gay men being sex-obsessed. At one of his book signings’ he described how he met one of his boyfriends.

“I smiled and pulled an earlier favorite (book) from my briefcase,” said Fury. “I always carry extra copies of my work-in hopes it might convert someone handsome into someone closer than a friend.”

These stories of the authors’ life, as described in this book, seem ludicrous and melodramatic. The writing comes across as mostly unbelievable, often disgusting, and, at times, laughable.




To all fans of Andrea D'Allasandra: her new collection of terrifying stories, "THE CREAKING DOOR and Other Tales of Madness and Terror" is being published as I write this. It's already garnering rave reviews over at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
"I think I achieved what I wanted to with this book: to give fans of terror and the supernatural a good read for a cold, rainy weekend. These 14 stories of women in big trouble all occur in the South."
The author worked on these stories during one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record in New York City.
"I could just look out of my window and see the ferocious winds blowing the snow against my building and that put me in the mood for writing scary stories. When the snow let up, I loved walking down to the East River and watching the chunks of ice floating on the surface. This is my favorite kind of weather."
She chose North Carolina as the setting--once again--for her new tome. "I grew up in North Carolina but haven't lived there in many years. The longer you stay away from a place you love, the more you appreciate it." D'Allasandra is presently looking for a residence along the North Carolina coast, hopefully near Wilmington.
"My first professional job out of college was to work as a feature writer for the Wilmington Star-News back in l965. Although I hated my editor, I loved most of the people I worked with. I especially loved living right on the ocean at Wrightsville Beach where I had a great little apartment. I've used this era in my life many times in my stories."
Andrea is also completing the third volume in her DEATH HOUSE series. This is being entitled HOUSE OF THE SCREAMING CLOWNS. The Old Saunders Place has been transformed into a mental hospital and our lovable, axe-wielding Benji finds a building full of fresh victims.
She's delighted that her latest thriller, HORROR HOUSE, has proven to be another big hit with readers.
"Some readers have written me for directions to the mountain community of Snow Flake, and especially the Old Saunders Place. I've had to break the bad news to them that these places are only imaginary."
Jason Fury fans will also have occasion to rejoice. By the end of 2003, his much discussed memoirs, NIGHTS OF FURY will also be appearing. This one is especially dear to the writer who says: "These are actual memoirs taken from my journals of the 60s and 70s and 80s. The men I met back then were simply unforgettable--because it was a different ambiance. Sex was everywhere. Disco influenced the great looking clothes, hair styles, colognes and looks of everyone. I've still got a few drops of my favorite perfume from back then, Bain de Champagne, and whenever I smell it, I nearly faint. But those men! Unforgettable!"
Jason Fury is also working intensely on a new batch of supernatural stories with a few zombies, vampires and werewolves thrown in. In fact, his new volume is entitled, ZOMBIE FURY. It, too, will hopefully be in stores by Janury 2004.
"I was really amazed by the reaction to my first story collection of the eerie, THE SECRET OF JIMMY X. This was a lot of fun because my favorite reading material and my favorite movies are horror and fantasy. I'm really into the Italian slasher flicks and masters like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and Ruggero Deodata are my favorites."
'Big' Bill Jackson has returned to Manhattan from his foray into the South, too. He's kept busy running his chain of health spas and he keeps turning down offers to appear in porno flicks--either gay or straight.
"I get offers every week to show off my stuff from the Vivid, Catalina, Falcon, the usual studios. Maybe I've just grown bored with the whole culture of body worshipprs. I'd rather spend my spare time with my good buddy, Jason Fury."
'Big' Bill is still working on his memoirs during the weekends. He claims that Jason has him to come over to his place near the East River and together they work on their various projects.
"Jason has a lot more discipline than I do. But he makes a big pot of Russian Tea, we bake brownies, make sandwiches and because the weather's been snowing and freezing, it's perfect weather to stay indoors."
Both 'Big' Bill and Jason do not socialize. They avoid bars, theaters, coffee houses and restaurants.
"We're both tired of the whole swinging scene," Jason says. "If you've got a companion you really dig, and they dig you, and you learn how to live with each other's weak and strong spots--then that's all you need."
* * *

When asked why I selected the name of 'Jason Fury' as the one I've used for most of my writing, I tell the following but true story.
I was reading over some very old history books at my grandmother's house one day in North Carolina when I came across a short history of the massacre of Czar Nicholas and his family in Ekaterinburg, Russia in l917. They were held prisoners in what was known as the Ipatiev House.
Packed into the three story structure was not only a dozen guards, the former emperor, the empress, the four daughters and ill son, but another mysterious lodger: Jason Fury.
It's believed now the handsome, homosexual Fury served as a go-between for the family and the British consul. Whatever his role, he vanished, along with the family, on a September morning in l917. The family was was shot dead by a gang of terrorists. Two of the children were rumored to have somehow escaped. They were Anastasia and Alexis.
Incredibly, a 'Jason Fury' was reported to have escaped the carnage and was seen in China shortly after the killings. He left behind a trunk of erotic poetry and stories, all devoted to 'Sasha' and 'Andrei.'
They were two guards in the Ipatiev House and with whom Fury had intense affairs. More research showed that he was a tremendous favorite with the magnificent Cossack guards who were fixtures around the royal family.
He was equally at home in glittering gowns, wigs, make-up, jewelry as he was in dashing Slavic trenchcoats and fur hats.
Hostesses fought for his presence at their gatherings before the Revolution. He held scandalous but unforgettable soirees at his splendid apartments in Moscow that faced the Neva River.
His magnificent rooms were in a marble building only blocks from where the "Mad Monk" Rasputin was murdered in l916.
Even more striking, he was an intimate confidante of of this charismatic holy man, who advised the Empress on the governing of Russia while her husband, the Czar, was away at war.
Much proof suggests that Rasputin and the extraordinary Jason Fury were lovers. Fury actually warned the monk not to attend the fatal encounter with his assasins on that fateful night in March.
His story grows more extraordinary when reports of a 'Jason Fury' in Hollywood of the 20s, were recently uncovered. He was an electrifying presence in the high-stepping film colony. Among his many lovers there were Valentino, Rod La Rocque, Wallace Reid, Buddy Rogers and the dashing Johnny Mack Brown. He was incredibly popular as a movie extra, too, appearing in numerous Roaring Twenties film delights. But after this, he trial grows cold.
There are rumored to be sightings of Jason Fury in a small town in Wisconsin where he may have lived in an old hotel. Another sighting places him in Fargo, North Dakota in l928. He lived in the historic old Donaldson Hotel. After that, he appears to have vanished for good.
Whatever the truth of all this, this extraordinary character obsessed me. I felt like he and I were one.
#
September 11, 2001 completely shattered my writing flow. The shock of having terrorists attack Manhattan and murder 3,000 fellow New Yorkers within two hours was so great that even today, I remember vividly that day of horror.
I live here in Manhattan and was actually getting out of the subway at the World Trade Center when all the horror began.
And the day had begun so beautiful! Cobalt blue skies, brisk winds and then the terror. It really was just like a movie--only it didn't explode on a TV screen or in a theater.
Those nightmarish clouds of dust racing up Broadway and around Battery Park were real. Those "things" that kept falling from the tops of the burning Twin Towers were smashing into the ground. A light mist of pink actually rose up as a result of the horrendous blood and bodies piling up.
And everywhere, people were racing away, running faster than they ever had. Many stumbled, fell, lost their shoes, their bags, their shirts and blouses.
No one thought of keeping up appearances or preserving their composure. Corpses, buildings, glass, desks and shards of steel rained down. Body parts--a woman's hand, a man's head, half a torso, legs, fingers--they covered the landscape.
I didn't go near my computer for a month after that.
How could one conjure up eerie stories of nightmare when the real one you've seen is beyond comprehension?
Anyway, I'm finishing up now several aborted projects. Readers have asked me when am I ever going to finish my memoir? I hope to have it finished by Spring, 2004. Right now, I'm mulling over titles and the best one so far is THE SEX OF ANGELS. If you can think of a better one, please contact me.
In Manhattan, the most charming men I keep meeting all seem to be either from Texas or from Australia. The Texans are charming, flirty, boisterous and big! These same qualities qualify for those guys from down under, too, and they simply dare you not to like them.
They remind me of the men I encountered in Europe when I lived there for a year twenty years ago. Those Texas and Aussie guys were so cute--and the hunks from Scotland were something else! Think Ewan McGregor and you'll get a good pic of those curly-haired, booze-loving Scottish lads!