JERY TILLOTSON

When Jason Fury's story collection, ERIC'S BODY, appeared in l994, it became a publishing sensation. Within a year, it went through three printings and in its second year went through four more. In 2001, the Author's Back-in-Print series selected ERIC'S BODY as one of America's "genuine classics" and the new edition quickly shot to the top of the best-sellers list. Twenty-one stories range from the torrid ("Bull of the Blue Ridge Mountain,") the grotesque, ("Animal"), to the poignant "The Last of the Seven Beauties." ERIC'S BODY has taken its place as one of American literature's most enduring literary classics and crowd pleaser!
JASON FURY says today: ERIC'S BODY was turned down by more than l00 agents and 30 publishers. No one thought it would sell anything. Also, my work was pigeon-holed as 'gay erotica' or even worse as 'gay porno.' You could write about a man and woman having fun in bed and be as graphic as you wanted to--like Jackie Collins does. But if you tried the same trick with two men, you were considered instantly as being a hack porno writer. Luckily, a maverick publisher, Richard Kasak who headed Masquerade Books,liked my work. Most of the tales had already appeared in leading gay magazines, like 'First Hand' and 'Advocate Men.' ERIC'S BODY simply astounded everyone and sold out its first printing of 3,000 copies in just two months. The rest is history. Ironically, ERIC'S BODY has never been mentioned in any gay magazine, let alone mainstream publications. It doesn't fit the rules of what erotica is supposed to be about. Gay book editors and agents wanted you to write gay erotica in this boring, nasal, sloppy manner. You're supposed to have someone die of AIDS, you have to use the word 'lover' in every paragraph and there has to be non-stop sex. None of your characters are supposed to ever cry or think about the past or show any tenderness. The men are usually hard, shallow and forgettable. Even when I've contacted gay book stores here in Manhattan about book signings, they've laughed and turned me down. When i showed up anyway, I've been ignored. Maybe their smug attitude is why nearly all the gay bookstores in New York City have closed. Which goes to prove that book reviews and signings are worthless. Readers will always seek out what they want to read." The author lives in a German hotel between the East River and Central Park. Rarely does he see anyone other than fellow scribe, the powerful and legendary 'Big' Bill Jackson.

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