Fridae

Set in London, Paul Burston's first novel Shameless is an outrageously entertaining read about being single again in a gay scene obsessed with pills, poppers and pecs. Armed with an arch sense of humor and acute observations of the gay scene, the gay cultural critic and journalist presents an uncompromising chronicle of urban gay life.

Shameless revolves around protagonist Martin whose boyfriend of four years has run off and left him for a male prostitute. Devastated by the turn of events, Martin does what every self-respecting gay man would do - join a gym and throw himself back into the gay club scene with a vengeance.

Supporting Martin in his search for love is a cast of deftly drawn (if at times stereotypical) characters who are also looking for love in all the wrong places. There is Martin's gal pal Caroline who is convinced that her too-good-to-be-true boyfriend Graham is a closet case and lives by the belief that cocaine is "the best social and sexual lubricant there was."

There is Martin's self-absorbed scene queen pal John who is a riot with his obsession with Internet sex and his search for what he believes to be the three essential ingredients for happiness in homoland - "plenty of money, a well-toned body and a boyfriend". And then there is Martin's endearing hippie father who threatens to ruin the upcoming Pride parade by insisting on visiting and staying with his son.

Gay readers would no doubt find themselves chuckling at unfortunate but all-too-true stereotypes such as gossipy muscle Marys who are "never happier than when they were hovering around the bench press and ripping some poor queen to shreds", SM Queens, Scene Queens, Pills-and-Poppers Princesses and Bossy Bottoms etc.

Equally engaging are Burston's unflinching revelations about the trials and tribulations of gay life including the unreliability of gay Internet chat-room statistics, homophobia at the office ("the way straight men assumed that because you were gay you were automatically guaranteed to find them sexually desirable, regardless of what they looked like") and the "gay-clubbing fraternity" made up of "faces that reassured you of your whereabouts, faces that told you where you belonged."

And of course there are the laugh-out loud situations including sex with an amputee (acrotomophilia here we come!), a "spitting" incident at a leather club (American Pie 2 with a twist), a mix-up involving cocaine and nail filings (the word "gross" doesn't do it justice), and an unintentional "outing" of John's cyber-sex partner (enticingly named "CuriousCute28").

What makes Shameless stand out from the usual depressing and/or trashy homo novels are its honest insights about how the gay world is arranged in pecking and "pec-ing" orders, and how gay men "are probably more uptight than straight men because they feel like they've constantly got to prove something."

Thus despite the rather contrite and predictable ending, Paul Burston's incisive humor and his refusal to sugar coat how gay life is really like makes Shameless one of the more refreshing and reader-friendly gay novel to hit the bookshelves today.