Who Will Cliff Date? - Paperback

Funny, thought-provoking, historical novelette (short novel) about a man, Clifford Ryan, who as a teen had diffi culty deciding if he is gay, straight, or bisexual. As a college student in 1970, Cliff and his roommate, Ralph, see The Boys in the Band, a movie about gay life that sways Cliff one way, Ralph the other way. As a young adult, Cliff consults a psychiatrist and learns about another sexual orientation: sthenolagnia (pronounced stheno-lon - ya), a Greek word few Americans know but which describes many, many Americans and other people. Some people say sexual orientation isn't a "choice" but Cliff and Ralph each must make a choice: date a male, or date a female. Their choice is infl uenced not only by The Boys in the Band but by people and events Cliff and Ralph see and hear from age 8 in 1961 to age 72 in 2025: JFK, RFK, LBJ, MLK Jr., Richard Nixon, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, the Vietnam War, The Graduate, The Godfather, Herman's Hermits, women's liberation, and gay liberation, all of whom or which are mentioned in this novelette. At times hilarious and heartwarming, at other times poignant and probing.