GaydarNation

In February, author Michael Holloway Perronne did a very funny thing. In response to Alabama Representative. Gerald Allen’s attempts to legislate the banning of books by gay authors such as Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Rita Mae Brown and Gore Vidal, Michael Perronne shipped the anti-gay legislator a copy of a small shovel and his own debut novel, A Time Before Me.

The thought behind Perronne’s witty package was that if Allen was going to ban great books by gay authors, it would be a joy to have his own book included in the burial. Witty, witty gay man.

While self-appointed thought-policeman Allen continues his fight to rid public schools of purportedly indecent and inappropriate literature, Perronne has been busy putting together another fun summer read for us homos (and hopefully, we can read it at the library!).

Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga tells a very trashy, campy story about a gay actor who has finally made it big in Hollywood, only to find that he will have to struggle to survive the aftermath of a full-on public media outing.

Michael Perronne uses this delightfully fun little book to shed light on one of Hollywood’s biggest double standards - namely, that the big screen is full of gay men and lesbians and that movie moguls and producers and TV big timers are often closeted homosexuals themselves. Even so, coming out in Hollywood can be one of the strangest, most difficult career moves an actor can make.

In a day when big box office names are prancing around with girls half their age, jumping on couches professing their love on daytime talk shows, and threatening to sue anybody who suggests they are gay, it’s no wonder Perronne tackled this terribly wrong yet terribly entertaining subject.

Gays in Hollywood? You’d think nobody had ever been outed before!

Starstruck features a cast of loveable Hollywood characters: Carrington, an Iowa girl who ran away to make it big in L.A.; Derek, the closeted actor who will stoop stunningly low to keep his big secret; Loreen, a former hooker who runs an escort service and finds her empire threatened; Jake, a ruggedly handsome producer who falls for Carrington; and Bert, a loser of an ex-power agent and a nasty little man who has the power to bring everyone down through secrets and sordid pasts.

The book is set against the lavish backdrop of moneyed Los Angeles, from Rodeo drive boutiques (yes, yes, there are homos there) to Hollywood Hills (yes, yes, there are homos there too).

While campy and fun, Starstruck is also an intriguing page-turner. Perronne peppers the novel with enough cliff-hangers to keep you hooked. And hooked you will be. Like a porn pup on poppers. Check it out.

Then again, if it’s been banned from your library, buy a copy! Which you really should do anyway, to support this budding new gay author. Even as you read this, Perronne is toiling away at his keyboard, wiping the sweat from his… brow… writing the sequel to his acclaimed debut novel, A Time Before Me.

Read our interview with Michael Holloway Perronne.

Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga, by Michael Holloway Perronne
Publisher: Lightning Source UK Ltd
Released: 29 June 2005
ISBN: 0977050602

Buy Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga and delve into the closeted world of homo Hollywood. Fabulous. Buy it online and save some money to put towards Perronne's first novel, A Time Before Me.