BLOG TOUR with AUTHOR INTERVIEW
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.
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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 ONE is 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.’
INTERVIEW PROMPTS
The prized possession you value above all others…
A small silver heart with the text “there’s no fear in love” that my lover gave me many years ago. I always carry it with me.
The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…
Leaving my pets behind in Holland when I moved to the US. My book Dog Gone is dedicated to them, a dog and two cats. The cats passed the rainbow bridge by now. The dog is 13yo. We’re together every time I go to Holland.
The book that holds everlasting resonance…
Grand Hotel Europa, by Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer. Excellent novel about how Europe has basically become one big open-air museum, inundated by tourists. It’s something I worry about, and makes me not want to travel so much anymore. Pfeiffer is one of the best authors around, in my opinion.
The film you can watch time and time again…
Mystic Pizza. Such a feelgood movie. Guilty pleasure. Probably nothing special in the eyes of many. It’s not my favorite movie in terms of acting or cinematography, but I watched it so many times. I love the adolescence of the three girls (a young Julia Roberts), their hopes for the future, the Portuguese content (I speak Portuguese), the laughter, the tears, the twists. It takes me back to my own youth and makes me feel nostalgic.
The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
I studied everything about Sasquatch and still follow it on the internet. I won’t say I’m a believer but can’t dismiss it as BS either. Something is out there. My first novel/thriller is about Sasquatch, Walking Among Us.
The poem that touches your soul…
A recent one I came across, by Andrea Cohen. My mom died last January. I pretend I’m doing OK, but I’m really grieving. She meant everything to me. Still does and always will.
THE COMMITTEE WEIGHS IN
I tell my mother
I’ve won the Nobel Prize.
Again? She says. Which
discipline this time?
It’s a little game
we play: I pretend
I’m somebody, she
pretends she isn’t dead.
The event that altered the course of your life…
Meeting my first lover when I was 19yo. He was 42. Coming out, travelling the world. It’s all in my memoir Boy One. It started like a dream but it didn’t end well after a couple of years…
The song that means the most to you…
Willow, by Joan Armatrading. “Come running to me, when it’s more than you can stand.” It’s forever linked to Albert, the man I lived with for 10 years. He died in 1996. I have all of Joan’s music, saw her live many times. She’s an amazing singer/songwriter. Her lyrics don’t usually rhyme, but she totally gets away with that.
The happiest moment you will cherish forever…
Having a long watsu massage by my husband Geno, at Harbin hot springs, California (before the whole complex was destroyed by a fire in 2017). I was being gently moved through the warm water, taken under, up again, in total relaxation. Awesome experience, also because we were so much in love. Harbin was one of the most wonderful places on earth with some hippie-vibe that I liked.
The figure from history you would most like to buy a pie and a pint…
Sitting Bull. I would like to hear all about the Battle of Little Bighorn, the defeat of General Custer, and what the Ghost Dance was about exactly. I studied Lakota history for my novel The Girl in the Web.
The piece of wisdom you would pass onto a child…
Never be ashamed of who you are. You are wonderful just the way you are.
The philosophy that underpins your life…
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s only true if that will comes from the heart, free and determined. If hindered by shame and secrecy, you’ll never reach your full potential.
The character you enjoyed writing the most…
Iktomi, the little trickster in my novel The Girl in The Web. I did a lot of research about Lakota culture and history, and learned that this trickster is quite important.
The character you found difficult to write…
Myself. I had to open up in my memoir Boy One, and that was not always easy. Still, I did it.
And the promo…
Boy One is a memoir I was afraid to write, let alone publish, because it’s so much about me, about a part of my younger life, starting when I was a naïve teenager in the closet; 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. This 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 easy. John harbored a manic attraction for me and vice versa.
My husband Geno encouraged me to go ahead and write it. He convinced me it had to be told, because it’s part of gay history, and people should know. Looking back, it was good therapy: I’m not ashamed anymore.
The picture on the front cover is me at 19yo, in the south of France, very much in love, not knowing what I was getting into. Boy One was the license plate of the RV we travelled in. John used to tell me I was his boy one.
Thank you.
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
Blog/Website | Facebook | Instagram
Lily G Blunt 