Wednesday 13 July 2011

Dog Roses - Synopsis


While fairly well-known these days, I don't fit into the 'well established' category even as a poet, not least because I write gay-interest alongside general poems; the latter are (still) considered more commercially viable. Whatever, I have decided to share some of my published and unpublished works of gay-interest and other fiction with readers, hopefully reaching many of those who enjoy my poetry blogs and Google Plus site.

Dog Roses is the first novel I ever wrote (in 1994) although it has been revised several times since. Although a gay-interest novel, I hope it will appeal to a wide range of readers. No publishers were interested, but I enjoyed writing it and positive feedback from blog readers has been its own reward. 

DOG ROSES: a gay man’s rites of passage by Roger N. Taber (95,868 words)
  


SYNOPSIS:

Dog Roses is a rites-of-passage story told from the point of view of its narrator, ROB YOUNG.  After the death of his father, Rob feels obliged to help his mother and brother by leaving school and taking a job at a local café.  Attracted to one of a bunch of evening regulars, BILLY MACK, Rob realizes that he is gay. Although Billy appears to have a girlfriend, MAGGIE DILLON, the two young men embark on a closet affair. When Billy is killed during a fracas at the café, Rob is devastated. He feels abandoned and blames Billy for leaving him.
          One of Rob’s best friends is SHAUN DEVLIN whose mother, Nancy offers solace in her bed and also helps Rob come to terms once and for all with the knowledge that he is gay.
Maggie finds Billy’s diary and gives it to Rob but he cannot bring himself to read it and shuts it away in a drawer. By now, Maggie is dating local yob NICK CROLLEY to the horror of all Billy’s friends. Rob is appalled can seemingly forget Billy so easily.
Rob jumps at the chance to manage a new club, The Constellation, owned by CLIVE RIDER. While it is being built, he runs the gamut of management apprenticeship at another club owned and run by the flamboyant BO DEVINE.  Following a disastrous affair with another member of staff, Rob meets and falls in love with MATTHEW JORDAN.
Rob and Matthew enjoy a deep but troubled relationship, and eventually part although each is heartbroken and hope for a reconciliation.
Meanwhile, Rob and Maggie call a truce and she starts work behind the main bar of The Constellation, The club is a huge success. Shaun is now Rob’s right hand man and engaged to marry Maggie’s best friend, LOU Simmons. Rob has also employed ex-con, ED MACK, Billy’s brother, as a bouncer. One of Ed’s tasks is to deal with local yobs Nick Crolley and his brother Vince.
As Rob’s relationship with his mother PATRICIA and brother PAUL goes from bad to worse, Patricia forms a close attachment to her boss, PETER SHORT. Emotions intensify when Rob finally tells them all he is gay.
Following a fight at The Constellation in the course of which Rob pulverises Nick in a blind rage, the Crolley brothers start a fatal fire. Rob has Ed Mack to thanks for his survival and is not only forced to review his priorities but act upon a new maturity that demands he make his peace with his brother and his lover.
At first, Matthew rejects both Rob’s apology and declaration of love. Rob is inconsolable. Even so, he finally makes his peace with Billy Mack and, in doing so, with himself. 
By the end of the novel, Rob has matured sufficiently to have a more positive and less selfish take on life, a fact  those closest to him will certainly appreciate.

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011; 2017

[Note: I hope, eventually, to upload Dog Roses as an e-book. Meanwhile, enjoy the serial.]