Dear Subscribers, Readers, and Occasional Visitors,
Today’s post — Chapter Forty-six, The Passé Recaptured, which follows immediately after this letter — is the final one of the narrative chapters that recount my adventures as editor of Mandate, Honcho, and Playguy. But this is not the end! I will continue to post bonus features from the magazines and from other sources, pictures and text, into the first months of 2024. For an indefinite period in the new year, Did You Sleep With the Models? will remain as active as during the past year.1
Thank you very much indeed for your continuing support, for the comments, the likes, and for the simple fact that you’ve stayed on. I’ll try to keep you informed and entertained in the coming year with the continuation of DYSWTM? and also with the next book.
Which opens on Substack in January 2024.
That’s when I’ll begin posting Beautiful Downtown Sodom. All subscriber emails will be added to this new Substack feature. Chapters of the new book will appear on Fridays, and everything is free until March, at which point I will “go paid,” to use Substack terminology. Subscription rates will remain the same as for Did You Sleep With the Models? — i.e., $5.00 per month or $60.00 for one year. These rates are the minimum allowed by Substack.
Should you encounter any problems along the way, please notify me immediately by email: mandate214@gmail.com. And of course I’m always glad to hear from you with comments, suggestions, or anything at all.
Several of you have inquired, “What is Beautiful Downtown Sodom about?” The “Sneak Peeks” that I’ve posted in recent months have been intentionally cryptic. I hope these hors d’oeuvres have stimulated your curiosity. Beautiful Downtown Sodom, to use a rather highfalutin’ term, is a cultural history of the biblical myth of Sodom and Gomorrah. But it’s more shocking and more fun than the term “cultural history” suggests.
Since the three world religions that arose in the Middle East — Judaism, Christianity, Islam — long ago weaponized the story to “prove” the “sin” of homosexuality, the book is necessarily an attack on those responsible for several millenia of persecution — not only of gays, but of heterosexuals as well.
Roughly one-third of the book deconstructs the ramshackle old tale of Sodom and Gomorrah through a scrutiny of the Hebrew text, which is radically different from the many English translations of the Bible. And let’s face it — not only the story of S&G but the entire Old Testament is shot through with nonsense. Nevertheless, the Bible comprises one of the world’s monumental mythologies, the equal of Greek, Hindu, Chinese, or any other. To be educated, one must have some acquaintance with both the Old Testament and the New.
Alongside the nonsense, the tall tales, the talking animals, the cruelty, the ludicrous laws, the slavery, and vicious texts that promote warfare and bloodshed, there are also unforgettable stories, wise sayings, ethical admonitions, and lofty poems that have become benchmarks of western culture. The King James Version of the Bible, from 1611, stands with Shakespeare as twin Everests of literature in English.
Following the early chapters of deconstruction — or elucidation — the rest of Beautiful Downtown Sodom tracks the tale over the centuries as represented in culture high and low, from Medieval and Renaissance painting to Internet cartoons. Then, the Sodom story in novels, poems, plays; and expecially in movies, from the silent era to the present. That infamous phrase, Sodom and Gomorrah, is such bait to those with creative urges that they can’t leave it alone. Examples of their contrivances veer toward the ridiculous more often than toward the sublime. You’ll find plenty to laugh about in Beautiful Downtown Sodom.
If Sodom comes, can Gomorrah be far behind?
Fundamentalist religions of many kinds have fueled a long gay holocaust. This they have done by wielding the text of Genesis 19 in the Old Testament, where the Sodom and Gomorrah story first appears. Their crimes are unpardonable, and you can expect a take-no-prisoners approach toward such malignity. Snowflakes should exit now.
No, don’t.
Stick around. If you’re offended by my calling the “sacred text” of Sodom and Gomorrah a Hebrew fairy tale, tell me so. I dare you to try and prove the opposite! Even better: let your displeasure hit the fan on social media. I like a noisy fight!
The cover models on Mandate and Playguy were photographed by Kristen Bjorn, who gets better every year. See his latest work at kristenbjorn.com. The Honcho cover was by Graven Image, which is no longer in business.