BLOG TOUR: Boy One by Jaap Cove (Excerpt + Q&A with Author)

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Boy One 

Author and Publisher: Jaap Cové

Cover Artist: ricacabrex (Fiverr)

Release Date: April 1, 2024

Genres: Gay, M/M Memoir, non-fiction

Tropes: Secret love

Themes: Coming out, shame, fear, intergenerational relationships

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 55 000 words/ 203 pages

It is a standalone book and ends on a sort of cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK 

Coming of age inside the controversial world of the Spartacus Gay Guide

Blurb 

It is 1981. Jaap, a Dutch teenager, is a boy taking his first steps towards becoming a man. He’s reclusive, a wallflower with a handsome face and curly blond hair. He loves playing tennis and plays drums for a student rock band.

He is attracted to men and afraid of desires that he has not acted upon. By fortuitous accident, the Dutch teen meets Briton John D. Stamford, and his life changes. Stamford is the eccentric middle-aged editor of Spartacus International Gay Guide, the crucial book for gay male travelers. It listed both welcoming destinations and countries that carried strict penalties for homosexuality.

Jaap likes mature men; John prefers youths. BOY ONEis the record of their relationship, the deluxe global travel they did for John’s work, the eye-opening experiences of a sheltered teen, and the obsessive sexual relationship that developed.

Amid the glamor of five-star hotels and restaurants, conflicts arise. Jaap still thinks about having a girlfriend and wonders if he is bisexual. John is trying to push his young lover into something he’s not ready for—being openly gay all the time. Moreover, Jaap notices the Spartacus Guide lists opportunities for sex with underaged youths in places like Thailand. He suspects this is wrong. So do the police, who begin investigating John.

Despite the excitement and eroticism of their relationship, the moral issues grow until the two are at odds.

In BOY ONE, Jaap Cové tells the honest and gripping story of a remarkable part of his life. Revealing and outspoken, it is a unique, colorful and compelling coming-of-age story. It captures the excitement of international gay life in the early 80s, but it is also a troubling saga about morality and intergenerational relationships.

Excerpt 

John picks me up at the airport with a taxi. We drop my bag in the RV that’s parked just outside Basel’s old center, but don’t stay there. John has other plans.  I’m in for a romantic weekend. It’s snowy and below freezing point. I never expected the city to be so beautiful, or is it because we’re together again? We lunch in an upscale Konditorei, then walk arm in arm past the historical buildings in the old center. People on the pavement glare at us, but John doesn’t let go of my arm. It feels warm and safe. We visit the Gothic church and head to the quay of the river Rhine, where we kiss. There are people watching, which makes it more exciting. Protected by John, I don’t feel any embarrassment. I exist in a constant state of being crazy in love.

He takes me to my first gay sauna in the old town to warm up. As we enter a dimly-lit steam room, I lose John in the mist. In no time, there are many hands all over my body, touching my ass, my cock and my torso. I am scared.

As I adjust to the light, I look into the faces of the young men groping me and start to panic. I want to break free, but they won’t let me. Someone shoves his tongue between my lips. I wriggle to get away from the mass of bodies. Just as I reach the point of using force, I feel a hand pull me from the crowd. John pulls me close and embraces me. He smiles and tries to calm me.

‘You didn’t like that?’ he asks.

‘No, I panicked.’

‘Come, let’s get out of here.’ 

He takes me to a private room where we make love on a rubber bed covered with towels. Our session isn’t long and elaborate as it would have been in the RV. It turns me on just the same. I’m quickly positioned on my belly by his big hands, feeling the cold KY-jelly on my ass, after which he carefully pushes his warm cock inside. Pleasing John, giving my lover what he wants, in the way he wants it, excites me. I become hard as a rock. This man owns me when we make love.

Downstairs in the bar area later, we have a drink. I play with the thought that John planned the episode in the steam room. At the same time, the thought is ridiculous. I can’t imagine him telling all those guys that his lover from Holland would be visiting, and asking them to give me a warm welcome.

‘It was almost like they were waiting for me,’ I say. ‘All those hands on me.’

‘Why is that strange? Have you looked in the mirror lately?’

‘Huh?’

‘You’re very handsome, Jake. You’re a fucking knockout.’

I don’t know what to say, since no one ever told me that. I know I’m not ugly, but a knockout? I’m tall and slender, not muscled. And I’ve always been on the shy side, not confident about my looks. All my life people have told me that my blond curls are beautiful. But women couldn’t keep their hands off my hair when I was a young boy and I didn’t enjoy that. 

‘And you have such a hot ass,’ he adds with a big smile. Then he kisses me. 

As I take a sip of my drink, I think about how my life has changed. In less than three months, I have made the metamorphosis from Dordrecht wallflower to Basel knockout. My self-esteem balloons.

But something is gnawing at me.

‘So when you’re here on your own, I suppose those hands are on you, too, right?’

‘Why do you ask?’ 

‘I don’t like that thought.’

‘No, that doesn’t happen to me. I’m getting too old, Jake. Older gay people are less appealing in this world. You’ll find out.’

‘I find that hard to believe. When you walk around here naked, people look.’

‘I’m glad you think so.’ He smiles and looks past me, like he’s checking out the other guys. ‘But to answer your real question, yes, I do play around when I’m on my own.’

‘What… you mean, you still do, even though we’re lovers?’

‘Yes.’

‘Seriously?’

 ‘Remember that black kid we met in a bar in Nice on our last evening? I fucked him soon after you left.’

That’s a sudden bucket of ice water. I put down my drink and sit frozen. I want to go home. Now. 

John continues sipping his drink. ‘It’s all right, Jake; it meant nothing. I love you.’

Q&A with Jaap Cové

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing goals.

I’m a 62yo gay man, born and raised in Holland. I started writing seriously in my late thirties after I won a prize in a Dutch manuscript contest. I write in Dutch and English, having lived in the US for a long time.

I started out writing short stories, followed by three novels. My novels are spiritual and mysterious, and based on thorough anthropological research. I studied anthropology at the university of Amsterdam. One is about Sasquatch (which won the manuscript prize), one about cults in Brazil and the third about Lakota Native Americans, Pine Ridge.

During covid I wrote two nonfiction books: a nonfiction narrative and the new release, Boy One, a memoir. Both books are gay M/M oriented, specifically intergenerational relationships, since I’ve always had older lovers.

Congratulations on your new release. Please tell us a little bit about it. What’s your favorite aspect or part of the story? Do you have a favorite character? Who/Why?

No favorite character, since it’s a memoir.

Boy One is a story I was afraid to write, let alone publish, because it’s so much about me, about a part of my life that I’ve been ashamed of for all the wrong reasons. I was the young lover of John Stamford, the eccentric and middle-aged editor/owner of the famous Spartacus Gay Guide, and together we travelled around the world. The memoir covers how we met, the power games he played, and the rise and fall of the guide, as well as the scandals. In the 80s and 90s, the guide was a travel atlas, the roadmap every gay man on the move had in his back pocket because it opened a world of opportunities to its gay subscribers, not unlike the Green Book for Afro-Americans. No matter where one was around the globe, the gay-friendly bars and clubs were identified. It made travel a glorious funfest.

But the farther I travelled, the deeper I was immersed in a seedy underworld of possibly illegal, certainly immoral activity in which I might be complicit. The memoir details what went on behind the scenes, the power and influence the guide generated, and the attendant misuse of that influence. After appearing on the guide’s cover, I strived to escape the magazine and my lover, but it wasn’t not easy. John harbored a manic attraction for me and vice versa.

Are you a planner or a pantser? How much do you know about your story before you start writing? How often does your plan change? Why does this work best for you?

In between, I would say. When it comes to fiction, I do a lot of research first, and I usually have a pretty good idea of how it will end. But then I become a pantser. How to get to that ending is an adventure, new twists enter, others are thrown out. I love it when something takes over and I’m channeled, in the zone. That’s always a high. For example, I find that I’m writing stuff that I couldn’t know, and when I check it online later, it turns out to be correct, as if I downloaded it subconsciously from a collective memory bank.

Do deadlines motivate you or block you? How do you deal with them?

They definitely motivate me because there’s no room for procrastinating, something I tend to do when there aren’t deadlines.

Do you schedule a certain amount of time for writing each day/week, or do you just work it in when you can? Would you like to change this, or does your current method work well for you?

I don’t schedule. I write when I can or feel like it. I don’t see any reason to change this. Once I know I’m onto something good, there’s no stopping me. My experience is that I can trust on something good coming by sooner or later.

What was the most difficult part of writing this book? Why?

Boy One is a memoir about a part of my younger life, starting when I was a naïve teenager, in the closet. The most difficult part was opening up, being 100% honest and reveal things that I was ashamed of and feared. But it was this way or not at all, I decided. I opened up and it was scary because it dealt with stuff that I had kept to myself for so long. You have to go all the way or not at all, is what I learned. With Boy One, I went all the way. Now, I can say it was liberating. I don’t care anymore: anyone can read it, and hopefully learn from it.

My husband Geno encouraged me to go ahead and write it. He convinced me it had to be told, because the Spartacus Gay Guide was famous and part of gay history, and people should know, also about the bad stuff. Looking back, it was good therapy: I’m not ashamed anymore.

How do you develop a story idea? Do you always use the same method? Specifically, which do you develop first in your story building, the characters or the plot?

When I get an idea for a book, I write it down and do some brainstorming. When I read it later, it usually ends up in the bin. But it’s mostly headwork. I know something is gestating now; I keep thinking about a subject. I will do research by reading nonfiction, making notes. And at some point, it culminates to a plot that feels solid and I get excited. Characters will appear naturally and they usually stay, new ones can enter along the way. The plot is also subject to small changes. It’s a windy road towards an ending that I usually have more or less fixed, somewhere at the horizon.

What are your favorite genres when it comes to your own pleasure reading? Do you prefer to read ebooks or print?

Spiritual nonfiction, memoirs of people I admire, literary fiction. Print is always better, but when travelling I prefer my e-reader.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

It should energize me. When it exhausts me, it’s time to take a break or rethink. Promotion and marketing I find exhausting, as well as the whole publishing process.

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Self-doubt because of bad sales.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Write only from the heart.

What is the best money you ever spent as an author?

My editor, Jay Blotcher.

What is your favorite underappreciated novel?

Robinson, by Doeschka Meijsing

What do you find to be the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

Two of my novels have female protagonists. As a gay man, I don’t find it hard to write from the perspective of the opposite sex. I wanted to be a girl myself when I found out I was a boy at a very young age.

What did you edit out of this book?

Some spiritual content. My books are usually filled with spirituality. My editor thought this memoir didn’t need it as much. I think he was right.

What were you like in high school?

A wallflower with a handsome face and curly blond hair, who loved playing tennis and drums.

What are the three best things about you?

I’m a caring person. I’m a dreamer. I don’t give up easily.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Strawberry

If you could time-travel, where would you go and when?

Ancient Greece where homosexuality was seen as something noble.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?

Young Christopher Atkins

About the Author  

Jaap Cové (1962) studied anthropology and debuted in 2011 with his novel Walking Among Us, followed by Cajú (2012) and The Girl in the Web (2017). Dog Gone (2023) was his first nonfiction narrative. Boy One is his first memoir.

From my website:

Jaap Cové is an anthropologist, a drummer, a flautist, a globetrotter, and an author of fiction and nonfiction. His novels are filled with mystery, spirituality, symbolism and music. His nonfiction is a reflection of his eventful life.

Author Links

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