Description Hide Description- Show Description+
''The End of Billy Knight'' is an intense, rocky tale exploring the complicated relationship between a young gay hustler and an aging drag queen, set in the intriguing and lost world of 80s porn stars. This is a genre-bending work of dark literary fiction and delightful gay comedy which moves between sex, humor, and sorrow to reach beyond stereotypes
Mike is a handsome young man who works as a gay hustler in the streets and bars of Cincinnati in the 1980s. When a trick goes wrong one night, he decides to change his life.
Dale spends most of his time in drag performing as the fabulous Sasha Zahore – the star attraction at a rundown Los Angeles drag bar. But Sasha has a dream. She longs to direct high quality gay adult films. “Porn so good it’ll make even your mama proud.”
The night Mike and Sasha meet, their lives become connected and their dreams intertwine. Very quickly Sasha becomes determined to make Mike hers - in more ways than one. But when nobody in the 80s believes a drag queen can direct gay porn, and when Mike doesn't return Sasha's feelings in precisely the way she'd hoped, how far will she go to get what she wants?
''The End of Billy Knight'' is a complicated portrayal of two flawed and deeply sympathetic souls, both lost in their search for meaning, fulfillment and love.
Ty Jacob is the pen name of author Jared Gulian, who live in New Zealand.
Paperback, 454 Pages, Published August 2017
Written by: Ty Jacob
Recommended
Review by Graeme
"If you’re looking for the perfect holiday read this summer, then look no further - this is it! Desire and ambition set against the backdrop of LA’s gay porn world and based on (or inspired by) two fascinating real-life people - the late porn star Joey Stefano and drag queen porn producer Chi Chi LaRue. The characterisation of both characters is exceptionally strong, but Ty Jacob particularly excels in portraying the vulnerabilities of drag queen character Sasha Zahore. Out of drag, Sasha (aka Dale) is a plump, unattractive gay man nearing middle-age and the realities of sex and desire for him are bluntly portrayed. Naturally Sasha falls for hustler and budding porn star Billy Knight (aka Mike) but Billy is firm with him from the outset that they are strictly friends. It’s difficult for Sasha to accept when Billy works as a hustler, selling himself to all and sundry, yet won’t give Sasha a simple ‘mercy fuck’. Although Sasha is closer to Mike than anyone else, it isn’t enough. Inflamed with jealousy, when he realises Billy is falling for a strapping bar dancer, he schemes to sabotage the relationship and succeeds. Similarly trying to break into the porn industry as a drag queen director appears to be an impossible challenge. Masculinity is key in this industry and being a drag queen is diametrically opposed to the image they want to project, but Sasha is talented, passionate and extremely determined. His closeness to Billy is one of his best assets in landing an opportunity to direct and he exploits it mercilessly. Terrified that Billy will seize an opportunity, leaving him behind both professionally and personally, Sasha lies, misleads and manipulates Billy and anyone else in his path to get what he wants! Ty Jacob has done a masterful job in creating these two characters. The narrative is split evenly between them in alternating chapters and although Sasha is perhaps the more complex character, the portrayal of Billy/Mike is equally strong and convincing. The settings and period detail is extremely well rendered and it is especially amusing when Sasha boasts about the technological accomplishments of his various 1980s/1990s video cameras to a readership equipped with the latest high tech phones. Ty Jacob has elevated this sexy, pulpy subject matter into a moving and page-turning character study that is highly recommended. And although this is Ty’s first novel, he has previously written a memoir under his real name Jared Gulian. Moon over Martinborough was published by Random House New Zealand in 2013 and tells the comical story of two gay urban American guys running an olive farm in Martinborough, New Zealand."