"Richard Amory" Introduction

Frost:  An Introduction
by

Cesar Love

      My father is best-known for penning Song of the Loon, the classic gay novel and the work that began the gay
cowboy genre 39 years before the film, Brokeback Mountain, but he also wrote seven other gay novels in a
variety of genres. Willow Song set in San Jose, California, resembles both Latin American magical realism
and the work of C.S. Lewis. But when he wrote Frost, my dad explored a genre with a bleaker outlook towards
the world. Frost, which was advertised as "a gay thriller," resembles a hard-boiled detective story.
     Frost was first published in 1971 by Olympia Press. Although it had been pretty much forgotten for years,
Frost now offers an important contribution to the Gay Writers' History Project not only as an entertaining and
enlightening read, but as a document of its era. The book describes the East Bay gay scene of the early 1970s.
It expresses a fierce torrent of anger towards the homophobic and racist elements of its day. Frost also includes
a sprinkling of autobiographical details, which my father wove into the story. In 1976 Frost was actually banned
in Great Britain. (See Rictor Norton "A History of Homoerotica") . British customs officials declared that Frost
was obscene and wouldn't allow shipments into their country.
     Unlike the idyllic pastoral setting of Song of the Loon, where Ephraim MacIver is encouraged to find
self-acceptance and love for his gay brothers, the environment of Frost is a harsh one. The world of Frost
is hostile and homophobic. It is a place where a gay man must live by his wits and be ever vigilant against
those who would throw him down a creek bed or ruin his career. The novel tells the story of young college
professor DeWitt Frost who is hired by a corrupt and wealthy businessman to find a missing Berkeley student
for an unknown and nefarious purpose. While searching for the student, Frost falls in love with a mechanic .
The novel depicts a gay man who operates in a hostile environment, yet proceeds to love and maintain his
integrity in a setting where he cannot trust the motives of many of those around him.
     The story takes place in "San Geronimo", California, which is the author's renaming of Hayward, California,
a city where he lived. The streets inside the novel –Santa Clara, Winton, Redwood Road, Amador and ‘A' Street –
all exist in the East Bay city of Hayward. Scenes take place in a bar called the Aloha Club, which was located
at 58 ‘A' Street in Hayward. (Amory "Song of a Gay Teacher" Vector July 1973) The novel mentions Chicano
rallies in Weeks Park, frequent events in Hayward in the 1970s. Hayward's Portuguese community also
contributes to the texture of Frost. The missing Cal student is a scholar of Portuguese literature named
Johnny Silva. Another historical detail within Frost is the arson of East Bay schools. In the early 1970s,
several school classrooms in the East Bay were mysteriously set on fire. These seemingly random fires
are featured in the text of Frost.
     Although my dad changed the name of Hayward, he kept the name of nearby Los Gatos, and he kept the
name of Columbus, Ohio. The biographical background story within the novel takes place in Columbus, Ohio,
where my father grew up. (Phil Andros, another important gay author and a friend of Richard Amory, also grew
up in Columbus, Ohio.) Today, Columbus has an open and visible gay community, but when my father lived
there in the 1940s, gay life was quite different. (Amory "Love among the Buckeyes" Vector April 1976) The
opening line of Frost describes life for a gay teenager in Columbus: DeWitt Frost was seventeen, a freshmen
at Ohio State, when someone first called him ‘queer boy.'
     Richard Amory, like DeWitt Frost, lived his teenage years in the Midwest cauldron that was Columbus, Ohio.
Richard Amory, like DeWitt Frost, drove a Mercury Comet and drank buttermilk. They also both taught
Spanish literature and lived in Hayward.
     Thanks to Bill Warner who graciously invited me to contribute work of my father to the Gay Writers' History
Project. Thanks to my father who gave so much to me and gave so much to the gay community.

[ Return to Home Page  |  To Frost  ]